𝐔𝐍𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐘, 𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔

twelve.

- ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ [CHAPTER TWELVE] ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉

IN WHICH SHE
GETS A FRIENDLY
REMINDER.

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THERE'S a few pieces of paper scattered about jieun's desk, a bunch of neatly scribbled down words on the margins and different colors decorating the papers. jieun blinks a couple times, staring at an article before her and averting her gaze to her laptop sitting in front of the article. she glances back at the article, blinding reaching out for a pen that's sitting somewhere on her desk. she grabs ahold of it, immediately twirling it in between her fingers as she thinks.

jieun sighs, setting the pen down and leaning back into her chair, twirling around. her mind goes back to a week ago, replaying the scene that's stuck in her mind like a record. more specifically, jieun thinks about the cherry blossom yeonjun held in the palm of his hand that day. she remembers the pretty pink cherry blossom very clearly.

"that damn cherry blossom," groans jieun, squeezing her eyes shut and pinching the bridge of her nose. "i can't focus."

"hm? miss prodigy can't focus at all?" asks yeonjun. he grins at her from the entrance of their dorm, slipping his shoes off and kicking the door shut behind him. yeonjun waddles in, holding bags filled to the brim with snacks and food in general. "and why's that?"

"it's nothing," replies jieun. she gets up from her seat, looking over yeonjun's shoulder when she gets to his desk, looking at the contents of the bags spewed all over his desk. jieun snorts, "you bought more ramyeon?"

"not just ramyeon," yeonjun says. "i also got strawberry milk, pepero, roasted seaweed, custard cakes, honey butter chips, tteokbokki, smokey bacon chips, and ice cream sandwiches!"

jieun laughs at how yeonjun points everything he bought to her. he gasps and holds a bottle of soda up. "and we can't forget the soda! oh, i also bought eggs and other stuff for the ramyeon!"

"okay," says jieun, "i'm going to put everything away and set up the movie while you make the ramyeon."

yeonjun nods, grabbing the additional things he had bought for the noodles. before he can leave, jieun calls out for him.

"yeonjun wait!"

yeonjun glances back at the girl. jieun holds her laptop and stands in the middle of the room.

"your bed or mine?"

"mine," he replies.

-

both yeonjun and jieun have their legs up to their chest, their bowls of ramyeon sitting atop their knees, jieun's laptop placed in front of them. they're watching some random romance movie yeonjun had found surfing through netflix. jieun complained to him that she didn't feel like watching that movie because, according to her, they had already watched it too many times. but, according to yeonjun, it's jieun's fault for always leaving him to choose the movie they'd watch because, 'she doesn't care about what they watch as long as it's not a horror-like movie.'

"i think i like baek haein."

it happens all too fast.

jieun chokes on her noodles, and the familiar feeling starts bubbling at the bottom of her stomach, twisting and turning until it climbs up her throat at a quick pace. she slaps her hand over her mouth to keep the tulip petals from escaping past her lips, and runs straight towards the bathroom, tripping on her feet when she made it to the door. jieun slams the door shut, locking it and sinks down to the ground afterwards. she finally allows herself to cough and screws her eyes shut, the tulip petals scratching her throat climb upwards and leave her mouth.

the pain is much stronger than usual.

yeonjun starts pounding on the door. "jieun!"

the girl starts coughing out more tulip petals at the sound of yeonjun's voice.

"are you okay?"

tears well up in the corner of her eyes, flowing down her cheeks as if it's a waterfall. "y-yeah!" jieun answers. "i think i ate something that upset my stomach. i kind of just puked..." she hears yeonjun sigh in relief.

"do you need anything?"

jieun rubs her throat with her hand and gulps. "i, um, can you just fill up a glass with water and get some medicine?"

yeonjun frowns. "you sound weird. are you sure you're okay?"

of course my voice sounds weird, jieun thinks as she stares down at the huge amount of tulip petals. i just coughed out a bunch more of those damn tulip petals than usual.

"yeah, i'm fine. don't worry too much over this, jun."

"...okay."

jieun hears yeonjun shuffling behind the door and the fridge opening. she lets out a breath she didn't realize she was holding in, and quickly starts gathering up the petals with trembling hands. scooping them all up, jieun looks at the trash can. she sighs and dumps them inside, making sure they're at the bottom and that the trash is covering them. jieun washes her hands and splashes cold water on her face. she then goes back to the trash can, tying a knot on the bag. jieun walks out from the bathroom, finding yeonjun standing right in front of the door, holding a glass of water and what she assumes is medicine.

"set them on my desk, please. i'll drink it when i come back from taking out the trash."

yeonjun nods. jieun smiles at him, leaving their dorm. she swings the bag in her hand as she hurriedly makes her way out the dormitories and towards the trash. flinging the bag inside, jieun twirls around and heads back inside.

yeonjun can never know that she has the hanahaki disease.

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UNFORTUNATELY,
I LOVE YOU.