Hi! You probably have a boil or
abscess on your ear lobe.
Neck lymph nodes can be the result of tonsillitis, pharyngitis (infection of upper throat), infection in mouth, caries in tooth, internal ear infection, outer ear infection, eczema, dermatitis, dandruff, breast cancer, fungal infection, other cancers like lymphoma etc. If you had flu like symptoms initially then it could be due to infectious mononucleosis too. In your case in all probability it is the outer ear infection.