“Is there anyone coming…?”
Just as I started to think it was probably just my headache making me hear things.
With the click of the kitchen light and the crinkling of plastic, I realized it wasn’t my imagination. Curiosity got the better of me, and I leaned slightly to peek through the door.
What I saw beyond the door was none other than Siyeon.
Wasn’t she supposed to go with the uncles to the holiday gathering?
In my foggy state, Siyeon was staring blankly at something while placing it on the table with a clatter.
I didn’t know, but I wanted to know, yet I didn’t want to know.
My body felt so limp, I couldn’t even act on my desires.
In the darkness, all I could hear was the beeping sound and the hum of the microwave.
Even after taking medicine, it was hard to sleep; my head throbbed like it was being stabbed.
If I pulled off the blanket, I’d feel like I was freezing to death; if I kept it on, the heat just wouldn’t dissipate.
In that moment, even the inside of my mask felt suffocating from the heat.
“Marie, are you awake?”
Siyeon gently opened the door and asked in a quiet voice.
In the pitch-black darkness, her gaze was wide and sharp.
Standing carefully outside the door, Siyeon was also wearing a mask.
“No…”
I barely managed to answer while clinging to the bed’s railing to sit up.
I couldn’t even pretend that everything was okay.
After stammering a denial in a husky voice, I squinted my eyes and asked Siyeon a question.
“Why didn’t you… go?”
When I asked why she didn’t go with the uncles to the holiday gathering, Siyeon hesitated, taking her time to respond.
After a long pause, she came out with four words.
“I was worried…”
If it was Siyeon, that was just so like her.
At that moment, the microwave timer went off with a beep.
I thought I heard something heating up earlier; what was she warming up?
“I brought porridge from the mart. Can you eat it now?”
“Yeah, I should eat something and take my medicine…”
The porridge she brought from the mart.
In Korea, it’s a basic rule to feed the sick person porridge.
I found it incredibly admirable and heartwarming that Siyeon thoroughly followed that basic rule.
I heard the sound of her sprinkling ramen seasoning from the kitchen, and soon after.
Siyeon entered the room holding a plastic tray and placed it on my desk.
On the lid labeled beef vegetable porridge, there was a little seaweed sprinkle and sesame oil waiting to be uncovered.
She had even set it up nicely for me to eat.
She prepared it all, so I couldn’t just go back to sleep; I dragged a chair and finally sat down in front of the tray.
“Make sure to wear your mask since you might catch something from me.”
“Yeah, let me know if you need anything.”
“Okay, okay… just go back to your room quickly, don’t catch anything.”
Although I found her admirable and heartwarming, it was a whole different issue that was concerning.
Waving my hand to send Siyeon off, I closed the door firmly behind her.
‘Of course, I had to get sick on a holiday.’
If I hadn’t gotten sick, I could have been eating holiday food and chatting about various things by now.
As I took off my mask, I briefly escaped the heat covering my nose and mouth.
Blaming my feeble body for falling ill on such a joyous occasion, I let out a short sigh internally.
I picked up the plastic spoon stuck to the porridge lid and took a spoonful.
Without much chewiness, it had a mild sweetness that spread subtly—a taste far from home-cooked but still a reliable product.
After a spoonful of the plain edge, I mixed the chopped seaweed and sesame oil sprinkled in the middle of the porridge well.
The aroma of sesame oil wafted sweetly in the sealed room.
Once I scraped the bottom of the plastic bowl that held the porridge clean, I took a sip of water from the container I had brought into the room earlier.
Then I popped one white pill into my mouth.
When you’re laid up sick, this method is the best.
Sleep, food, medicine, sleep, food, medicine.
In this hellish cycle, the day passed in the blink of an eye, and the next morning came.
The vibrating of my smartphone, resting beside my head, interrupted my sleep.
Vvvv, vvvv.
I squinted one eye shut and barely opened the other, just enough to glance at the smartphone screen.
There it was, the message saying “Ji-eun Unni.”
If it had been an ad number starting with 02, I could have simply ignored it, but—
“Hello….”
“What’s up? Your voice sounds weird. You just woke up… right?”
I blurted out a basic greeting, and I could hear my sister’s voice from the smartphone on the other end.
Caught off-guard by how my voice sounded like I had just woken up, she hesitated, almost asking if I had just woken up.
Looking at the smartphone’s clock, it was 8:32 AM, a time when I should have already been up if I participated in the holiday activities.
To resolve her doubts, I decided to be honest and revealed the truth without hiding anything.
“I couldn’t go because I’m sick; does my voice sound that weird?”
“Sounds like a boy’s voice, ugh… so Siyeon couldn’t go either?”
As soon as I answered, she asked if my voice was really weird and returned with saying it sounded like a boy’s voice.
With my problem out in the open, the next topic naturally shifted to Siyeon.
I had something to say about that part too, feeling a bit resentful since she didn’t seem to understand the situation on my side.
“Yeah… I told her to go alone because I was worried she’d catch something.”
“Ugh, do you really think she would go alone leaving you behind?”
However, instead of empathy, my sister scolded me instead.
From my point of view, it was better for Siyeon to stay away for at least a day since I might be contagious.
As I vented my unspoken thoughts regarding Siyeon, my sister admonished me as if I should understand Siyeon’s feelings.
Instead of understanding, I got reprimanded.
…Is it my fault?
“Anyway, since you’re sick, make sure to rest and get well. Don’t forget, our family is bringing plenty of food, so call me when you’re better, understood?”
“Yes, thank you….”
“Okay, take care of yourself—”
“Yes….”
As soon as I finished speaking, the line went dead with a click.
I placed the smartphone back beside my head and closed my eyes briefly before sticking a thermometer in my ear.
With a bounce of the spring sound, about a second later, the beep came, displaying 37.7 degrees on the screen.
The headache and fever had lessened considerably.
The pounding head that felt like it was about to split and the hazy consciousness that clouded my vision had settled down to a mid-37 degree angle, feeling quite normal again.
However, even if I felt a bit better, moving around was off-limits.
Now was the time to really settle down to be able to rise completely from my sickbed.
So, despite feeling like I had just woken up, I dozed off again, still barely wrapped in the remaining heat of the illness.
The next time I woke up, Siyeon had already been awake for quite a while, it was around lunchtime.
“Should I warm up some porridge?”
At that point, my temperature had dropped down to the mid-36 degree range.
Rather uncertainly, I decided to have another meal specifically prepared for patients.
I had no idea how long it had been since I last ate store-bought porridge, but surprisingly, some of it suited my taste quite well.
Having eaten nothing but the beef vegetable porridge for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, this time I picked abalone porridge.
“We need to finish what we bought.”
The porridge had an impressively long shelf life, but it was common for food like this to expire if not eaten once opened.
It’s like buying a 5-pack of ramen and cooking two at a time until you end up with one lonely pack left.
Since I had started craving it now, it felt good to clear it out.
Since I was eating, Siyeon seemed curious about the porridge and took some out to heat up.
Thinking back, I realized neither Siyeon nor I had eaten porridge more than ten times in our lives.
There’s this persistent stereotype that porridge is something you eat when you’re sick…
At the very least, it’s hardly perceived as food one eats on a normal basis.
“Oh, this is delicious!”
“It’s decent.”
The portion wasn’t filling, but it felt just right.
After swallowing what I thought would be the last of my medicine, I masked up again and went to the room to open the window wide.
The humid air that had been stagnant in the room was replaced with the cold outside, giving the illusion of freshness.
Refreshing? It was just cold.
“Hmm….”
With the window wide open in the room and the door closed, I sought out holiday food recipes on my smartphone.
Thinking back, I had gotten motivated to work out just so we could have holiday food together, and now that my fever had subsided, I felt guilty towards Siyeon for not being able to do so.
Even though I hadn’t walked out myself, ultimately, it was Siyeon who had stayed behind because she was worried about me.
Though my sister had promised to bring me food, the leftover food would be just that—leftovers.
I thought it would be better to have home-cooked meals, so I did some digging.
Korean perilla leaf pancakes, LA galbi, pollock pancakes, and various others…
While I was scrolling through my smartphone screen, I suddenly heard knocking at the front door.
“Eh?”
With both Siyeon and me at home, who could it be knocking?
Maybe the person changing the water filter, someone checking the gas, but other than that, no one came to mind.
But it was a holiday, wouldn’t they be resting too?
Without suspecting a thing, I opened the door, and there were two uncles standing outside with what looked like kimchi containers.
“Who are you?”
“The Minister told us to give some to the two people who couldn’t attend the event.”
“Oh, thank you… you must have had a tough time.”
Because they were in casual clothes, I hadn’t noticed they were government officials.
Did the event regulations change?
Why were the people who usually came in suits showing up in casual clothes?
Anyhow, the uncles placed the plastic kimchi containers one by one inside the entrance.
Thanks to them, I wouldn’t have to make any holiday side dishes myself; I could get enough from here.
‘Looks like I just need to cook some rice.’
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