Chapter 5:“The Fever in Your Voice”
Jiwoon’s Apartment. Three days post-discharge. Evening. A kettle boils. A storm brews.
Seo Jiwoon (ML)
(typing…)
I made tea.
It tastes like leaves and regret, but you said you’d come.
Dr. Kang Haru(MC)
I’m outside.
Do I need a password to enter?
Seo Jiwoon (ML)
Knock three times, whisper “You’re the only one who touched me gently.”
Dr. Kang Haru(MC)
I’ll just knock.
Sound of footsteps. A door opens. Haru steps into a small, quiet apartment. Books stacked like barricades. Rain streaking the windows.
Seo Jiwoon (ML)
Welcome to the lair.
Where wounded things pretend they’re not still bleeding.
Dr. Kang Haru(MC)
It’s warm in here.
Seo Jiwoon (ML)
That’s just the fever you bring with you.
They stand close. Jiwoon offers the tea. Haru takes it. Their fingers brush.
Dr. Kang Haru(MC)
You’re trembling.
Seo Jiwoon (ML)
Only when I want something too much.
Haru looks at him — searching, slow. Jiwoon doesn’t look away.
Dr. Kang Haru(MC)
Tell me what you want.
Seo Jiwoon (ML)
You.
But not like a wound.
Not something fast and vanishing.
Dr. Kang Haru(MC)
Then I’ll give you slow.
Steady.
Real.
Haru sets down the tea. He reaches for Jiwoon’s jaw — fingertips tilting his face up, not controlling, but asking.
Seo Jiwoon (ML)
Do it before I shatter.
Dr. Kang Haru(MC)
No.
I’ll only touch you when you’re whole.
Dr. Kang Haru(MC)
But Jiwoon leans in — mouth brushing Haru’s, breath trembling. Haru lets the kiss deepen slowly. Lips parted, heat unfurling like thunder under skin.
Seo Jiwoon (ML)
You taste like warnings and winter.
Dr. Kang Haru(MC)
And you taste like something I should have never touched —
but never want to let go of.
They press closer. Jiwoon’s hands slide under Haru’s coat, palms splayed over his chest. Heart pounding. A silent confession between ribs.
Seo Jiwoon (ML)
Touch me, Haru.
Not like a doctor.
Like someone who needs this too.
Haru’s hands slide beneath Jiwoon’s shirt — not hurried. Reverent. Scarred skin kissed with warmth. Jiwoon exhales against his neck, breath hot, shaky.
Dr. Kang Haru(MC)
Your body still remembers pain.
Seo Jiwoon (ML)
Then teach it something else.
They move to the bedroom. Clothes shed like defenses. Nothing frantic — just slow, aching hunger. Every kiss a vow. Every touch a rewrite of memory.
Jiwoon arches under Haru, breath catching. Fingers tangled in sheets. Haru mouths the scars he once wasn’t allowed to see.
Seo Jiwoon (ML)
You make me feel…
like I’m worth the ache.
Dr. Kang Haru(MC)
You always were.
Their bodies align. A fever builds, quiet but unrelenting. Gasps swallowed into skin. Jiwoon’s voice breaks — soft moans into Haru’s shoulder.
And when he comes undone, it’s not pain that shudders through him. It’s safety. It’s being seen.
Later, chest to chest, still breathing hard — Jiwoon whispers the thing he never thought he’d say.
Seo Jiwoon (ML)
Don’t leave tonight.
Stay until I forget how to flinch.
Dr. Kang Haru(MC)
I’m not going anywhere.
Even when the fever breaks.
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