Chapter Text
Wei Yuan tosses in what he assumes is his bed, the fever he came down with after walking home in the rain caused his whole body to sweat and ache. He can feel the heat on his cheeks, the clamminess on the back of his neck where the blanket doesn't fully cover him.
Funny, he doesn’t remember falling asleep in his bed. After he left the train and walked to his single bed apartment in the rain, he stripped off his wet clothes and into his pajamas before passing out on the couch, too tired to move from the spot.
He wanted to watch some TV before going to bed, since he has been pulling double shifts at the hospital where he is interning. He can't afford to not show up to work now, he has close to 8 years worth of college debt to pay back, since the only scholarships he could get were the state ones for orphans and children of the state.
He figured if he fell asleep on the couch instead of his bed, he would be so uncomfortable that he would wake up to the smallest things, like the alarms on his phone.
Now he is awake, but his eyes are too heavy to lift. He grimaces, he can feel the crust gluing them shut. He feels a phantom hand on his forehead, the gentle brush of fingers as they check for a temperature.
The last time he had someone to check on him when he was sick was when he was in middle school, before the man he called Dad grew sick. His 100 watt grin dimming, skin turning pallor, and his hair falling out in clumps. The only man he ever called family was dead within a year of his diagnosis. When he was still well, and Yuan was the one who was sick with a fever and sore throat, his father would never leave his side, even calling into his precious job in order to take care of him with calming words and soothing touch. It's still hard to remember that he’s gone.
Yuan is used to loss, especially since he had lost everything once before, when he was a toddler, but losing his father again was more than he could take. Even with his tear ducts blocked with muck, he still felt the tears spring to his eyes. His throat constricted painfully as the memory became too much for him.
“Oh, Baobei” the voice of his father cooed in his head, the memory so vivid that he swore the man was still with him, “It’s okay, when you get better we can play outside again.” he and his father used to garden together in the small single family home they rented before his father died, then he had to move because the landlord didn't want a teenager living in his only multiroom house.
Tears leaked from the corners of his eyes, “Baba… baba… hurts” he had not called his father Baba for years before he got sick due to wanting to sound older, but the fever makes him feel like a child, just wanting the comfort of the memory of his dead father. The phantom feeling pauses in its stroking, before starting back up again, fresh waves of tears flow from his eyes, he can feel his eyes being unblocked by the tears, but he doesn’t want to open his eyes just yet, afraid the memory of his father would disappear if he did.
“Oh Baobei… I-” the voice choked up before sighing. Wei Yuan continues to call out to his Baba, before the voice starts humming to him. He doesn’t remember his father ever humming this particular song, but it's soothing all the same.
Wei Yuan drifts off to sleep again.