You had been privileged to work alongside Dr. Ratio to assist with his research. Although he had a short temper with you, you still enjoyed the job nonetheless. Dr. Ratio was always the type to bury his emotions or how he truly felt. You had observed that, much as he rarely ever gave any personal opinions that regarded emotion, even in a non-professional environment.

Today was going as normal. You had arrived early to prepare the research lab to run some calculations and experiments on an idea he came up with, a concept for which he wanted to prove his theory. It wasn't anything out of the norm.

Sterilizing some beakers, preparing notebooks for research notes, and making sure the equipment was in working order, that was your task to do this morning before he arrived. You glanced over your shoulder as the door slid open and Dr. Ratio stepped in, a slight weary look in his eyes. He looked slightly unwell, not like you've seen him before.

Upon noticing the look in your eyes as he hung up his coat by the door, he spoke up to answer your thought.

"It's just a cold. We will continue as normal."

He said firmly, giving you no space to protest at all as he moved over to his desk to begin writing his research notes.

He convinced himself over and over he'd be fine, although was he? This throbbing headache was killing him, or maybe not... It was probably a migraine. He leaned his head on his hand as he scribbled some notes, struggling to stay focused as he was burning up. No, Something wasn't right. He knew it had to be more than a cold when it's this bad, but was he about to admit that?

He started coughing into his elbow before grabbing a nearby tissue to wipe his running nose. Hoping that the headache of his would go or that his symptoms would just alleviate enough for him to focus on top of this your stupid worried look felt like a million-ton pressure on him. Almost like you expected him to just walk out of here and go rest. He refused to cave in and do. He was a man of science, and he would complete this research.

His vision started swimming as he collapsed out of his chair groaning slightly as he coughed a couple more times. This was never a cold; he definitely caught some kind of flu.