The next day, Leon woke up late in the morning, and he felt worse than yesterday. His body was aching, his head was pounding horribly, and he couldn’t even turn his body up on the bed. Oh, God.

Laying flat on his stomach, his hand stretched to the table on the side of the bed. He grabbed the medicine he left on the desk last night and took the almost empty glass of water as well. He didn’t think. He just took one pill of each kind of medicine that was on his desk and dunk it down his throat. He couldn’t stand the pain.

“Ngh...” he winced out. He was in pain. His breathing was heavy and he was sweating all over despite the air conditioner being on. It’s practically undeniable, Leon’s clearly unwell.

He put his arm above his eyes, preventing the light from directly hitting his face. He needs to rest more—that’s what his body was telling him to do, so he obliged. He slept as his body processed the medicine, and he woke up a few hours later.

Later in the day, he opened his eyes, and the pounding in his head has substantially decreased. His body didn’t feel as heavy as it did when he woke up a few hours ago. He felt better, so he woke up and lifted his back, sitting his body upright. He stretched his body, and then he went to grab his phone.

He snatched his phone and swiped it open, and he just realized something very, very important. Today is a Monday. “Fuck,” he groaned out. The clock was already pointing towards ten o’clock, there was no way in hell he is going to school now.

Though, that doesn’t mean he can just not attend school just like that. Of course, he’s absent from school because he’s sick—but he hasn’t told anyone of that fact. He hasn’t told the class rep, he hasn’t told the teacher, and he hasn’t even told his parents; and he’s bound to have to tell them anytime soon.

However, more importantly than any of that, he’s hungry. He walked out of his room and went to the fridge, taking out the meat he hasn’t eaten yet yesterday. He put that meat into a heatproof bowl, and then he placed it inside the microwave. Now, all he needed to do was wait.

As the food was being warmed up, he took out his phone and began to inform other people about his condition. Regardless of how lazy or tired he was to inform them, they still needed to know.

He started by calling his father first and typed out his number. He clicked the call button and his phone rang a couple of times. For a second there, Leon was anxious. Oh shit, he thought, was this a bad time to make a call?

He understood full well that his father is a busy man, but surely a three-minute-ish call wouldn’t bother him that much, right? Surely...

Thankfully, his anxiety was eased the moment that the call was accepted, and the man from across the phone immediately spoke. “Hello?” his father spoke, his voice echoing through the phone. “Son? What’s the matter? Is everything okay?” he said.

For a moment, Leon was at a loss for words. It was strange hearing his father’s voice. There were a couple of seconds of awkward silence that arose before Leon responded to his words.

“Um, dad... yeah it’s—uh, I forgot to tell you, or mom... and I haven’t told the teacher as well today, uh. But, I’ve been sick since Saturday. I had a high fever and went to the doctor yesterday and she gave me some medicines that I’ve been taking. It’s been better since then, but I don’t think I’d be able to attend school for a few days now,” Leon rambled out, explaining his situation to his father.

“Are you okay?” his father asked. “Do you need extra money for going to the doctor? Or... maybe extra money if you want to order some food?” he followed up.

Leon instinctively shook his head. “Ah, no... no, no. Dad, I don’t—I don’t need anything,” he said, his voice hoarsening slightly. He looked down, his gaze seemed to soften. “I just, I thought you should know,” he continued, a slight smile creeping up his lips.

“Well, okay then. Get well soon, I’ll tell your mom about this.”

Leon bit his lips. “...Thanks, dad.”

“No problem, son. Is that all you need to tell me?”

 Leon blanked out again. “Yeah!” he exclaimed, a late response that came out louder than he intended it to be. “Err... yeah, I got nothing else. It just—just that.”

“Okay then. If that’s all, I’m going to end the call here, alright? I still have work to do,” his father spoke. “Take care then. Bye, Leon.”

“Bye—”

The call was cut short before Leon managed to say ‘bye’ back to his dad. He was stunned after the call, his hand flinching on the phone. He pulled the phone away from his ears slowly, before letting out a deep exhale, somewhat relieved that he at least has done one of his responsibilities.

“Haah...” he breathed out. Well, he’s glad to get that over with.