One of my colleagues is absent due to the flu. We were wondering if he might have caught the flu because he had been coughing since a few days ago, so we weren't surprised when he called in sick today. Actually, we are jealous of him because he is exempt from his duties. He might be very sick with a fever for only a few days while he has a fever, but he still doesn't need to come back for a while even after the fever goes down. Since he suddenly fell ill with flu, somebody has to take over his work. Everyone is wondering who is going to do his work tomorrow. But we can't ask because if we asked that, we might be asked to do it by him.
There is a good Japanese expression. If you stick around a bush, a snake might jump out of it. That means it might make things more complicated. So you don't have to stick around the bush. Just leave it.
