Chapter 28

"Selfish"

Min Ji looked up when she heard a loud cough and she saw Na Ri entering the auditorium, wearing a black face mask and a dead expression in her eyes.

"Told you so," Min Ji said when Na Ri sat down on the chair next to her, "why didn't you listen to me and stay home?" Na Ri didn't answer as she was trying her best to control her coughing.

"Wow, you're really sick," Min Ji then added in a softer voice, "shouldn't you have stayed home today."

"I can't... *cough* miss a day... *cough*" Na Ri said and Min Ji was about to say something again when Taehyung joined them.

"Good morning," he said but was surprised by Na Ri's coughing, "wow, you actually got sick."

"I'm trying to convince her she should go home," Min Ji said to Taehyung with a sigh.

"Good luck with that," Taehyung said, "a top student like Na Ri-ssi would never let her health come before her grades." Min Ji gave Taehyung a punch on his shoulder to silence him and he groaned in pain.

"I'm... *cough*... fine," Na Ri said but neither Min Ji nor Taehyung looked like they believed her.

"I can't force you," Min Ji then said, "but at least take it slow today." Na Ri gave a small nod and in the same second, Namjoon entered the auditorium. The silence was the same as yesterday, a mixture of whispers and weird glances, but Namjoon walked with his head up, until he stood behind the desk. He cleared his throat and looked out on the students who quickly turned completely silent, and a relieved smile appeared on Namjoon's face as he was about to begin the class.

Then, just as he turned around and reached for the chalk, a loud cough grabbed his attention and he turned around immediately. For a while there was silence, but shortly after, the coughing started again and he followed the sound to Na Ri who sat on the back row, trying her hardest to control herself.

Namjoon suddenly realized he had been staring at Na Ri and the whole class were staring at him, so he quickly cleared his throat again and said:

"To whomever is coughing, please go and get something to drink or you will disturb the whole class." Again the room was filled with silence until Na Ri slowly got up from her chair and walked towards the door, doing all she could to hold back her coughing.

"Well, shall we begin?" Namjoon said when Na Ri had left the room, and he quickly began teaching.

Everything was going well until Na Ri returned and whatever she had been drinking didn't help one bit on her coughing. Every two minutes Namjoon was startled or interrupted by Na Ri's coughing and his eye was twitching while his insides burned.

"And that's all for today," Namjoon said loudly, trying to drown out Na Ri's coughs. The students immediately started chatting while packing up their belongings, ready to go to their next class.

"Lee Min Ji-ssi," Namjoon said while people had slowly started leaving the auditorium, "can I talk to you for a moment." Min Ji simply nodded and walked down the staircase and up to Namjoon.

"What is it, Professor Kim?" Min Ji asked and Namjoon let out a sigh.

"Why is Song Na Ri-ssi in school today? She's clearly sick." Min Ji looked a bit startled by Namjoon's question and stayed silent for a while, trying to wrap her head around it.

"She... well... I tried to make her go home," Min Ji then said, "but she's too stubborn, she doesn't listen to anyone."

"Of course not," Namjoon said and in the same second, his eyes caught Na Ri walking towards the door and he quickly called out to her.

"Song Na Ri-ssi," he said, earning some glances from the few students that were still left in the auditorium. Na Ri looked around and then lowered her head while walking up to Namjoon.

"Thanks, Lee Min Ji-ssi," Namjoon then said, gesturing for her to leave.

"Song Na Ri-ssi," Namjoon said while looking at her, "go home." Na Ri's eyes widened and she looked at Namjoon in shock as he continued.

"You're not well, you shouldn't be in school today. Go home and rest." There was a thick wall of silence between them, while Na Ri just stared at Namjoon with her big eyes, and Namjoon just looked at her with a serious yet calm expression.

"No," Na Ri then said before coughing again, "I can't... *cough*... miss out... *cough*... on anything."

"I know it's annoying, but going to school when you're sick is never a good idea," Namjoon said, trying to reason with Na Ri.

"I'm fine..." Na Ri said angrily, "I don't need you... *cough*... to worry about me."

"I'm not worrying about you!" Namjoon then said loud and clear, "you always think everything is about you, don't you? Didn't it occur to you I might be thinking about the other students?" Na Ri stared at Namjoon whose eyes were on fire.

"When you come to school with a cold, not only do you endanger you fellow classmates of catching your cold, but you also disturb the class every time you cough."

"But..." Na Ri said as her body started shaking, "I need to... *cough*... keep up."

"And what about everyone else? They don't need to keep up? Are you really so selfish that you'll come to school when you're this sick? Why don't you think about someone else for a change? Coming to school when you're sick isn't something to feel proud of, it's selfish." Namjoon looked at Na Ri with a harsh expression, until he noticed the tears that were visible in her eyes and he realized what he had said. Na Ri held her breath while trying to blink away the tears, and when Namjoon opened his mouth to say something again, she turned around and ran away.

"I'm such an idiot," Namjoon told himself.

***

"You are such an idiot!" Seokjin scolded Namjoon while he was getting the restaurant ready to open for business.

"I know that already," Namjoon said while resting his chin in his hand, "it's not like I want to be this stupid... I don't know what happened. I was just so angry. She was being a disturbance to everyone, but most of all, she wasn't taking care of herself."

"Sounds like you acted on your personal feelings," Seokjin said, "just because she turned you down doesn't mean you can let your feelings interfere with your work."

"Can we not talk about that," Namjoon said, "I should've never told you about it."

"Sorry," Seokjin said and sat down next to Namjoon, "but really, you should apologize to her... soon."

"I know..." Namjoon said with a sigh. Seokjin looked at his friend who stared into the distance with a depressed expression in his eyes, and Seokjin quickly got up from his chair and then gave Namjoon a gentle pat on his back.

"You know what my friend, I have just the perfect way for you to apologize to Na Ri-ssi," Seokjin said and Namjoon looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not sure how to feel about this," Namjoon said.

"No, don't worry!" Seokjin then said, "just wait here for a little while, I'll mix something together."

***

The only sound visible in Na Ri's apartment was the echo of her constant coughing as she walked around trying to clean up the place, but with every step she took, her head was spinning more and more. In the end she decided to sit down on her bed and just take a break as her body felt heavy and weak. She looked across the room and saw her grey backpack she had thrown into a corner when she walked home in anger. Some of her books had fallen out and were simply lying on floor staring at her as she sat on the bed.

For a while all she could think about was the classes she had been missing after leaving school early, but everytime she thought about going back, Namjoon's voice would replay in her mind.

As if on cue, Na Ri heard a few silent knocks on her door, followed by Namjoon's voice which immediately made her head pop up.

"Na Ri-ssi, are you in there?" Namjoon said before knocking on the door. He was about to knock again when he suddenly heard a loud cough and then another one as it seemed to be getting closer.

When Na Ri opened the door she couldn't say anything as she was busy holding her arm up to cover her mouth everytime she coughed.

"Hey Na Ri-ssi," Namjoon said, "I'm sorry to bother you but... I just really wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier. It was mostly because I was worried about you not taking proper care of yourself, but I think I let my emotions get in the way and everything came out wrong." Na Ri looked at Namjoon and noticed the sincere expression in his eyes, whereafter her eyes fell on his hands which held a plastic bag with something inside.

"Ah... this is a soup Seokjin hyung made," Namjoon said when he saw Na Ri was staring at the bag, "I told him you were sick and he made this so you could feel better soon. Here." Namjoon handed Na Ri the bag and she quickly grabbed it and put it on the ground before she would drop if from coughing too much.

"Anyway, that's all I wanted to say," Namjoon then said, "I hope you feel better soon, take care of yourself." Namjoon tried to send Na Ri a smile, but it wasn't very convincing. He then quickly turned around and walked towards his apartment, when Na Ri suddenly took a step outside and said:

"Thank you." 

When Namjoon heard Na Ri's words and turned around, she was already gone and her door was closed behind her.

Na Ri stood inside and looked at the bag on the floor all the while she tried to control her coughing.

"Meow," the cat said as it started walking around the bag, smelling it with great curiosity.

"No!" Na Ri said and coughed again while grabbing the bag, "this isn't *cough* for you."

While Cat was following right behind her, Na Ri walked to the kitchen where she took the bowl out of the plastic bag and then got herself seated. Just the smell seemed healing and she immediately started eating the warm soup.

She needed to thank Seokjin when she got the opportunity, Na Ri thought while happily eating the soup. Maybe she could ask Namjoon to deliver the message for her.

Hello everyone!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, ironically I was sick myself when I wrote and published it.

One of my friends wrote to me with the theory that Na Ri is sick because Namjoon kissed her because you share a lot of germs when you kiss someone and I just found it so funny! I really wanted to incorporate it somehow but I couldn't so I decided to just write it here because I really like that theory and even if it's not why Na Ri got sick it could very well be something she would think because of her OCD.

Take good care of yourself, stay safe and don't forget to leave a comment down below!

Love, Annalise~