“Is anyone coming…?”
As my head hurt, I wondered if I was just hearing things.
Then came the sound of the kitchen light turning on and the crinkling of plastic.
It wasn’t an auditory hallucination. Curiosity got the better of me, and I slightly lifted my body to peek outside through the gap in the open door.
What I saw on the other side was none other than Shiyeon.
Wasn’t she supposed to be with the uncles at the festival gathering?
In my hazy mind and blurry vision, Shiyeon was gazing blankly at something she had placed on the dining table.
I didn’t really understand. I wanted to know, but I didn’t want to know.
I was in such a state of exhaustion that I couldn’t even act on my desires.
In the darkness, only the sound of beeping and the microwave running could be heard.
Even though I had taken medicine, it was hard to fall asleep, and my head felt like it was being pierced with a sharp pain.
If I pulled the blanket off, I felt like I would freeze to death, but if I kept it on, I couldn’t shake the feeling of heat overwhelming me.
In that moment, even the inside of the mask I was wearing was covered in heat.
“Mary, are you awake?”
Shiyeon carefully opened the door and asked in a soft voice.
In the pitch-blackness where not even a step could be seen, I could feel her large gaze cutting across the room.
Shiyeon stood outside the door, cautiously looking in.
Like me, she was also wearing a mask.
“No…”
I barely managed to rise up by grabbing the railing of the bed and muttered a weak reply.
I couldn’t say it was okay, even as a meaningless gesture.
After forcing out a hoarse, negative reply, I lazily directed my half-open eyes toward Shiyeon and asked.
“Why didn’t you… go?”
When I asked why she didn’t go to the festival gathering with the uncles, Shiyeon hesitated and delayed her answer.
After a long moment, she finally managed to say four words.
“I was worried…”
If it were Shiyeon, that was very much like her.
At that moment, the beeping of the microwave timer echoed inside the house.
It seemed like she was heating something up, but what was it?
“I brought porridge from the mart, can you eat it now?”
“Yeah, you should eat something and take your medicine…”
It was the porridge she bought from the mart.
In Korea, there’s a basic rule: if someone is sick, at least give them porridge.
I felt proud and impressed that Shiyeon kept that basic principle faithfully.
I heard the sound of her sprinkling ramen seasoning in the kitchen, and shortly after.
Shiyeon entered the room holding a plastic tray and placed it on the desk.
Inside the lid labeled ‘beef and vegetable porridge’ was a little bit of seaweed flakes and sesame oil.
She had even set it up for easier eating.
Since she had gone through the trouble of preparing it, I couldn’t just sleep, so I pulled the chair and sat awkwardly in front of the tray.
“Since you might get sick, make sure to wear your mask in the room.”
“Okay, and let me know if you need anything.”
“Got it, got it… so hurry back to your room, or you’ll get sick.”
I felt proud and impressed, but that was a different issue from worrying.
After waving my hand to shoo Shiyeon away, I firmly closed the door.
“It’s just my luck to fall ill on a holiday.”
If I hadn’t been sick, I would have been eating holiday food while chatting about various things by now.
As I took off my mask, momentarily escaping the heat that covered my nose and mouth, I let out a short sigh, blaming my frail body for getting sick on such a joyous day.
I picked up the plastic spoon that was stuck to the porridge lid and took a spoonful of porridge into my mouth.
With almost no texture to chew, its mildly sweet flavor spread gently, a taste that was reliable despite being far from homemade.
After eating a spoonful of the bland edge, I stirred the seaweed flakes and sesame oil that were sprinkled in the middle of the porridge.
The aroma of sesame oil wafted gently in the sealed room.
After scraping out every bit from the bottom of the plastic bowl the porridge was in, I took a sip of water from the water container I had brought into the room earlier.
Then, I popped a white pill into my mouth.
In any case, this method was the best when I was bedridden.
Sleep, food, medicine, sleep, food, medicine.
In that hellish cycle, the day passed in the blink of an eye, and the next morning.
The vibration of my smartphone, which I had placed by my head, came as an unwelcome guest, waking me from my slumber.
Bzzz, bzzz.
I squinted one eye shut and barely managed to look at the smartphone screen with the other eye.
There, I saw the words “Senior Jiun.”
If it had been an advertising number starting with 02, I could have just refused the call without answering.
“Hello…”
“What’s wrong? Why does your voice sound like that? You couldn’t have just woken up… could you?”
I muttered the standard greetings, and the sound of my sister’s voice came through the smartphone.
It seemed she sensed something was off with my voice, given how I sounded as if I had just woken up.
When I checked the time on my smartphone, it was 8:32 AM, a time when it wouldn’t be strange to have already gotten up if I had participated in the holiday events.
To resolve her question, I simply answered without holding back.
“I couldn’t go because I’m sick. Does my voice sound really strange?”
“It sounds like a boy’s voice, ugh… so Shiyeon didn’t go either?”
As soon as I spoke the truth, she asked if my voice really sounded that weird, and replied back that it sounded like a boy’s voice.
Since I had a problem, it was obvious that the next topic would be about Shiyeon, and Jiun shifted her focus to her.
Having something to say about that, she continued in a way that made it seem as if she didn’t truly understand my feelings.
“Yeah… I told her to go alone just in case she might catch something.”
“Come on, you think she would go alone, leaving you behind?”
However, what Jiun returned was a reproachful tone instead of sympathy.
From my perspective, since I might show symptoms, I thought it best for her to stay away for a day.
As I spilled what I couldn’t say to Shiyeon, Jiun instead made me feel pathetic for not understanding Shiyeon’s feelings.
Instead of empathy, I received a scolding.
…Is this my fault?
“Anyway, since you’re sick, make sure to rest well… We’ve brought plenty of food from our family, so call me when you feel better, okay?”
“Y-yes, thank you…”
“Yeah, take care of yourself—”
“Okay….”
With a soft beep accompanying my response, the call was cut off.
Before I closed my eyes again, I stuck the thermometer in my ear.
With a springing sound followed by a beep about a second later, the screen displayed a temperature of 37.7 degrees.
The headache and fever had subsided significantly.
The head that felt like it would break at the end of the 38s and the fuzzy thoughts began to return to something closer to normal at a lower temperature of 37.
However, just because I was feeling a bit better didn’t mean I could move around carelessly.
This was the time to definitely slow down, to properly recover from my illness.
It was hard to think that I had just woken up, and I fell back into a doze, enchanted by the lingering warmth.
I eventually woke up when Shiyeon had already opened her eyes long ago, around lunchtime.
“Would you like me to heat up the porridge?”
At that time, what remained of my fever had dropped to the low 36s.
With my indecision, I decided to have patient food for another meal.
I didn’t remember how long it had been since I last had porridge, but there were some I liked more than I expected.
After eating the beef and vegetable porridge for breakfast, I thought I’d try abalone porridge this time instead.
“I have to eat everything I bought.”
Although the expiration date is quite long for these porridge packages, if you start eating them, it’s common to end up missing the deadline.
It’s like buying a five-pack of ramen, cooking two at a time, and then finding you have just one pack left.
Since I was in the mood for eating, it felt good to finish it off while I was at it.
Noticing that I was eating, Shiyeon also took out her own porridge to heat up.
Thinking about it, both Shiyeon and I probably hadn’t eaten porridge more than ten times.
There’s a stereotype that porridge is a food you eat when you’re sick…
At least, the notion of eating it regularly doesn’t exist.
“Oh, this is delicious!”
“It’s not bad.”
It wasn’t a filling meal, but it seemed to be just the right amount.
After popping what seemed to be the last of the medicine into my mouth, I put on my mask and went into the room, opening the window wide.
The hot, stale air of the room was replaced by the cool air from outside, creating an illusion of freshness.
Freshness? No, this is just cold.
“Hmmm….”
With the window wide open, I was currently hiding in the kitchen with the door closed.
I searched for holiday food recipes on my smartphone.
I recalled that we had worked out so that we could eat holiday food together, and as the heat subsided, the days of exercise came rushing back to my mind, filling me with guilt towards Shiyeon.
I hadn’t gone out on my own, but in the end, it was Shiyeon who stayed back because she was worried about me.
Even though Jiun said she would share food with us, leftover food is still leftover food.
Thinking it would be better to prepare what was lacking at home, I looked up various recipes.
Eggplant pancakes, LA galbi, pollack pancakes, and more….
While I was scrolling through the smartphone screen, suddenly there was a loud knock at the front door.
“Hmm?”
With both Shiyeon and me at home, who could be knocking at the door?
At most, it could be the person changing the water filter or the gas inspection guy, and no one else came to mind.
But now it was the middle of the holiday, wouldn’t those people be off too?
Without any suspicion, I opened the door, and there stood two uncles holding what looked like kimchi containers.
“Who are you?”
“The minister said to share some with the two people who couldn’t attend the event because they were sick.”
“Oh, thank you… you’ve worked hard.”
The government workers in casual clothes caught me off guard.
Had the event regulations changed?
Why were the people who usually arrived in suits now in casual wear?
Regardless, the plastic kimchi containers were being placed inside the house one by one by the uncles.
Thanks to them, I wouldn’t have to worry about making holiday side dishes on my own, as I received just enough.
“Now I just need to cook the rice.”
