花 ⊰ [ jihan ]

四

vernon left afterall and there was hoshi, who still couldn't understand what is happening to joshua.

why would he bring here these cherry blossoms? and also when?
we were partying so much that we didn't even notice when he left. poor joshua.

...

soonyoung spent whole night on thinking, when he realised joshua didn't bring them inside the bathroom he started reading articles and looking for sickness that joshua might have.

hanahaki disease?

"a disease where the victim of unrequited or one-sided love begins to vomit or cough up the petals and flowers of a flowering plant growing in their lungs"

this one would make sense! but, one-sided love? then who's joshua hyung in love with? he hasn't told us anything..

joshua instead, was laying on his bed and doing absolutely nothing. he couldn't eat, drink. sleeping was the only way he escaped thinking of how much his lungs hurt. hannah came home while he was asleep but for not long in case she had much papers to sign at work. when joshua woke up and saw what time is it, he got up, dressed himself in some nice clothes and went to the hall. he didn't know hoshi was still there.

"joshua!"

"leave me alone, i'm going to the doctor so get out of this house or i'm going to lock you inside."

"lock me in here i guess. i'm going to stay here as long as you need me josh. even if you won't admit it, i know you need someone by your side."

those words made joshua melt inside. he decided to not lock the door, but he still went to the hospital.

the doctor was waiting for him, he already knew what's going on with joshua, unfortunately, no medicine could help.

"oh! welcome joshua. i'm glad you came."

"of course! i want to know what's happening to me."

"well, let's get this straight. you have hanahaki disease, joshua."

hanahaki?

"may i know what's that?"

"a disease where the victim of unrequited or one-sided love begins to vomit or cough up the petals and flowers of a flowering plant growing in their lungs."

oh.

"do you have anyone that you're in love with right now?" the doctor purely asked.

"i'm not sure but-"

fuck, i can't say that! it couldn't be jeonghan, i'm not in love with him.

"i don't know.."

"huh? you don't know?"

"let me think. when did the itching start?"

"it started when i saw my best friend kissing his boyfriend..?"

"then it must be one of them!"

joshua hated the statement "love". jeonghan was his best friend and he never thought of han that way.

"y-you think so?"

"i mean, isn't that obvious?" the doctor cutely laughed

"uh" shua really wanted to change the topic "could you give me the medicine so this.. disease will end?"

"unfortunately joshua"

don't say that

"there's no medicine that can help, therefore, there are three ways to stop the sickness"

"and, what are they?"

"hanahaki can be cured through surgical removal of the plants' roots, but this excision also has the effect of removing the patient's capacity for romantic love. it may also erase the patient's feelings for and memories of the enamoured.. the second one - the sick person may try to calm their feelings towards the person, but that's pretty hard."

"and the third one..?"

"the rarest one, disease can be also cured by the reciprocation of the victim's feelings."

silence fell in the office. after a while the doctor decided to speak.

"so hong joshua, which one do you pick?"

"the third one."