withering bloom | TXT

6 | wounds.

the disease of the sunflower

when a friendship starts to grow closer and closer, a person in that friendship grows a yellow sunflower in them

the closer the friendship gets, the more the flower grows, until eventually, it becomes too difficult to breathe, causing the person to throw up yellow flower petals, more severely as time goes by.

the only way to get rid of this is by breaking the friendship or a surgery.

if both of these are incomplete, there will be no way of saving the person with the disease of the sunflower.

by now, it will be too late to break any friendship up.

——

BEOMGYU was discharged from the hospital that day when he awoke from his rest. he went to his home alone, as the others had already been at their places.

he walked into his house, which felt quiet and empty.

nothing new, i guess.

but it felt so abandoned. it was dark without a single light on, even though he had only been gone for a day. something felt off to him, even though nothing was.

he walked over to his kitchen sink to grab a glass of water, as he watches the yellow flower petals fall down the drain. he used to collect the flower petals in a jar, when he first experienced his illness. but now, it has become too frequent and too plentiful to collect.

he started coughing up flowers nine years ago, around the same time he became friends with the four boys. he himself was shocked too as well that he had kept this secret for so long. even though "the boy who coughs flower petals out of his esophagus" is a title he gave himself, he can't tell them what he has, what his illness is.

he found out nine years ago, when he first started to cough up flowers, what his disease is. he learned about the conditions and what he needs to do to get rid of the disease. but in the end, he knew he would never let it happen.

he fought for his life to keep his friends. if they ever found out about his illness, they would never continue the friendship.

he heard knocks at his door, as he wasn't surprised to find the four people he adores most at his door. once he opened the door for them, they embraced him in a hug, worried sick for him.

at that moment, beomgyu felt the flower petals pricking at the inside of his throat, as he held it in pain, screaming.

"beomgyu, is everything alright?" they slowly start to break the hug, as beomgyu still holds his own neck, trying to ease the pain, as if it will do anything or have any change.

he began to feel the petals start to slowly desire to come up to his mouth as he bit his lips, refusing to open them or to let out the petals. it wasn't long before he fought out of their grasp and pushed them away, running upstairs to the restroom.

he dashed upstairs so quickly that he tripped on one of the stairs, possibly spraining his ankle, but he was too far for the others to see. if he was going to let them figure out his secret, it wasn't going to be now.

he stood up from the staircase, grabbing onto anything to help himself stand up and walk. he began to limp, finally reaching the door of the restroom.

he locked the door as the other four looked at each other worriedly, running upstairs to beomgyu, who was trying to be as quiet as he possibly could, throwing up the flower petals in the sink of the locked bathroom.