[8]
I guess the butlers and I were both exhausted after playing in the water. Even with my eyes closed, the sun was warm, so it was morning. I knew I'd had a good night's sleep, but why does my body feel so heavy? It's like a boulder is sitting on me, and I can't get up. Now that I think about it, my head feels throbbing.
"Miss, are you up yet?"
There was a knock on the door, and Jimin's cheerful voice sounded, but I couldn't answer. I didn't even have the strength to open my mouth. Jimin, perhaps thinking I was still asleep, cautiously opened the door and came in.
"You must wake up now, Miss."
Jimin finds me sweating profusely on the bed and puts his hand on my forehead with a serious expression.
"Miss, if you're feeling unwell, you should have told me. You have a high fever. Just a moment. Just a moment, please, miss."
As soon as Jimin left the room, his voice resonated throughout the house.
"It's an emergency! My lady is sick! My lady might die!"
Jimin, I don't think I'm dying. I tried to get up to call Jimin, but I felt the ceiling spinning and lay back down on the bed. Soon, urgent footsteps began to approach the second floor.
"miss!"
"Oh my. My dear."
The butlers came to my bed and made a scene. To anyone who saw me, it looked like I had a terminal illness. Seokjin pushed aside the other butlers and took the seat closest to me, carefully examining my condition.
"It seems like the young lady has caught a cold."
"Does the young lady have a cold?"
Seokjin's diagnosis naturally drew attention to Yoongi. Yoongi recalled the people who had pushed him toward the valley, but was overwhelmed by their momentum.
“The young lady caught a cold because of Yoon Ki-hyung.”
"I also had no choice but to get involved."
“Everyone, stop talking. Jungkook, bring a wet towel, Yoongi, bring some medicine, and Namjoon, make some warm tea.”
Everyone moved in unison at Seokjin's instructions.
"You two take care of the girl. If anything happens, call me."
"okay."
As Jimin and Taehyung nodded, Seokjin quickly went downstairs.
"Miss, it breaks my heart when you hurt like this."
Jimin, feeling sorry for me as I groaned, wrapped his hands around mine. Taehyung placed his hand on my forehead, then felt the heat rising and fidgeted.
"Shouldn't we call an ambulance and take our young lady to the hospital? If this continues."
Taehyung and Jimin look at each other with serious faces. Jimin, alone in his imagination, visits the young lady's funeral and then frantically takes out his smartphone and calls 119.
"We have an emergency patient here. Yes, our young lady is very sick."
"No, Jimin. Please stop."
"Our young lady has a fever coming out of her body."
"It's not just a fever. It's like I'm going to catch fire."
I raised my voice to stop Jimin, but Taehyung stood next to him and went even further. Finally, I struggled to get up and snatched the phone from Jimin's hand.
"Oh, it's okay. I'm sorry. The butlers misunderstood. I'm truly sorry."
"Miss, what if you just hang up? Miss, you need to go to the hospital."
"I'm not sick enough to need an ambulance. I just have a cold, so just let me rest."
Jimin seemed to have a really hard time seeing me in pain. He was even close to tears.
"But, if you die, I can't live, Miss."
"Jimin. I'm okay. Taehyung. Can you take Jimin outside for a bit?"
I felt like Jimin's illness would get worse if I stayed with him, so I asked Taehyung to help me. Taehyung nodded and dragged Jimin out, almost forcibly. Jimin's whining finally stopped. At least now, an environment was created where he could rest a little.
.
.
The one who opened the door was Jungkook, holding a wet towel and a water bottle. He confirmed the young lady was asleep and carefully sat down beside her. Jungkook's hands were busy, carefully wringing out the wet towel, folding it neatly, and placing it on the young lady's forehead. His eyes drifted from the young lady's forehead to her eyebrows, and then down to her eyes. When the young lady's lips entered his field of vision, he instinctively sensed danger and shook his head from side to side. Perhaps the internet search he had done before entering the young lady's room had had an effect. He searched for ways to quickly recover from a cold. Of all the answers, it was Jisineul's answer that had the greatest impact on Jungkook's sensitive reaction.
[My girlfriend has a cold. What should I do to get better quickly?]
-Should we try a crazy, passionate kiss?
After seeing the answer, Jeongguk hastily pressed the back button on his phone to end the situation, but it seemed like the answer still lingered.
"Me too. Against the young lady."
Jungkook shakes his head from side to side, saying that it is not possible, but he cannot take his eyes off the sleeping girl.
"Maybe it's possible because you're a young lady."
Jeongguk's gaze as he looks at the young lady is affectionate.
.
.
Being abandoned by someone has broader repercussions than most people realize. While most people think of abandonment as a singular event, I don't. Of course, being abandoned by my biological mother must have been deeply painful for me as a child. But that wound didn't just remain there; it continued to impact those I encountered later. After being abandoned by my biological mother, I was placed in an orphanage. The pain of abandonment left me maladjusted even in that orphanage, and it was they who first reached out to me.
By the time I was in my first year of middle school, I was still struggling to adapt to life at the orphanage, wandering around the playground by myself. It was time to accept my abandonment, but it wasn't easy. Every time I knew my mother wouldn't come looking for me, I kept hoping she would. I always lingered around the playground I'd abandoned, hoping she'd spot me if she happened to pass by.
"What are you doing here?"
It was Myeongsu oppa who spoke to me first. I hadn't seen him in a while, even at the orphanage, so I was extremely wary from the start. But Myeongsu oppa approached me very naturally and comfortably.
"Are you alone?"
"..."
At first, I thought he was teasing me. I thought he was looking down on me because I'd been abandoned. When I turned to Myungsoo with a sour expression, he smiled kindly at me.
"I'm alone too. Let's play together."
Alone? How can you smile so comfortably when you're alone? That's gotta be a lie.
"Don't lie. People who are truly alone can't smile like that."
"It's real. I'm the only one who's hit. Do you want to see?"
The photo Myungsoo took out showed a young boy, a young woman, and an older-looking man. Judging by the atmosphere, it felt like a wedding photo.
"He's a liar, even though he has a mom and a dad."
"She's not my biological mother. My biological mother was kicked out. And out of our house."
"..."
"He's dead."
Myungsoo Oppa still had a smiling face, but there was a sadness in his eyes that was so deep that it was impossible to guess the depth of it.
"I haven't seen my father since then. Of course, he shows up on TV often, but I turn it off right away."
"Then who are you with?"
"Oh, there are some kids who are a bit annoying. So, I'm not completely alone?"
"The kids who hit the goal?"
I'll introduce you to him, too. Myungsoo entered the orphanage and came back with seven men behind him. They studied me with bright eyes.
"Hello, Miss."
"Wow. That's cute."
"Don't drool. You are going to be our young lady."
Seokjin was the first to greet me politely. Taehyung treated me like a child, but then got scolded by Jeongguk.
"miss?"
"Would you like to go with me?"
Myungsoo reached out to me, my bewildered self. Everything was unfamiliar and difficult to accept. The reason I, backing away, took Myungsoo's hand was because his eyes, as he gazed at me, resembled mine.
"Now, neither you nor I should do this alone. We know how sad that is, right?"
I heard later that Myeongsu and the butlers at the playground often saw him on their way to and from school. After watching him every day for several years, they grew attached to him and became interested in me, so they periodically contacted me. Eventually, I was adopted as Myeongsu's older sister.
"Father wants to teach you how to be the successor. When I grow up and become stronger, I can take responsibility for Yeoju as her older brother. You can be my younger sister without Father's help."
Not long after, my brother told me he had to go up to Seoul for his successor training. Perhaps he was concerned about leaving me in Busan, so he entrusted me to seven butlers.
"Good morning, Yeoju!"
"Brother Myeongsu!"
"I should give my brother a good morning kiss."
The seven butlers began to fill the void left by the departure of Myeongsu, who was as affectionate as real siblings.
"Good morning, miss."
"Kiss! You have to give me a morning kiss!"
When I, a middle school student, kiss Jimin in a daze, the other butlers also start lining up one by one.
"Miss, I want a morning kiss too!"
"I'm happy that I can receive kisses from you every day."
After receiving a kiss on the cheek, Jungkook started preparing breakfast while humming "Lulu Lala."
"Our young lady's lips will all resemble each other. Starting tomorrow, I, Min Yoongi, will be in charge of giving the young lady a good morning kiss."
"Who cares?"
Because of the butlers fighting every morning, I gave all seven of them a good morning kiss. They also stayed by my side until I fell asleep. Thanks to them, my surroundings were always bustling. Now that I'm in high school, the kissing ritual has naturally faded, but the seven still greet me with bright smiles every morning.
.
.
"kiss."
"Huh? What did you say, Miss?
While nursing the young lady, Jeongguk leaned closer to her to listen closely to her mumbling. The young lady, half-asleep, wrapped her arms around Jeongguk's neck and kissed him on the lips. Perhaps the young lady was sharing a good morning kiss from a past morning. Unaware of the young lady's dream, Jeongguk's eyes fluttered. The moment the moist lips of the young lady touched his, the intellectual's answer, "Pretend to be crazy and give me a deep kiss," flashed through his mind. The sanity he had barely clung to crumbled. Jeongguk, in turn, laid his lips against the young lady's. The soft sensation and the ecstatic kiss continued, and Jeongguk barely regained his senses. For a short time, it felt like a sweet dream.
"Don't be sick, miss."
Jungkook's eyes, which were ruffling the hair of the sleeping girl, lingered longingly around her.
"I can be a bad guy for you, young lady."
I also know full well that this is a feeling I shouldn't have for you, young lady. I'll just keep it to myself, cherish it by myself, and raise it by myself. That's okay, right? I can feel his longing in the way Jungkook's hands clasp tightly against the young lady's.
.
.
Thanks to the sacrificial care and attention of the butlers, I was cured of my cold in half a day.
"Miss, I thought you were going to die. Don't get sick again, miss."
"Because the young lady was sick, there was no energy in the house. My heart was empty and somber."
Jimin and Yoongi were rambling to me about the things they couldn't finish while I was sick. I was clearly better, but somehow my cold had spread to Jungkook, who was nursing me.
"Jungkook. Did you catch a cold from the girl?"
Taehyung, who was looking at Jeongguk in response to Yoongi's question, approaches Jeongguk with a suspicious look on his face and puts his face close to Jeongguk's ear.
"You're saying one more time?"
"Are you crazy? Get away from me! I've never wanted to be with you!"
As soon as the words "one more time?" left Taehyung's mouth, Jungkook shuddered as he remembered their terrifying kiss, pulling away from Taehyung and retreating to his room. Taehyung, who was watching Jungkook's back, suddenly turned his sharp gaze to his usual level.
"Are you saying something is fishy?"