ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴡɪʟʟ ɪ ʟᴇᴀʀɴ? °ᴋᴀᴠᴇᴛʜᴀᴍ ᴀɴɢꜱᴛ°

̶S̶̶u̶̶s̶̶p̶̶i̶̶s̶̶i̶̶o̶̶n̶̶s̶

It's a start of a new day. Kaveh awoke to the beaming sunshine that struck his eyes. To his surprise, the tightness he felt inside his chest is slowly starting ease up. He got out of bed, went to the bathroom to freshen up, cleaned the house and left for work. Ever since he left the house before even starting on work yesterday, he now have loads of paperwork, unfinished projects and unconfirmed presentations.

He rushed to his usual work place (I'm sorry but I forgot what it was bc I haven't finished his hangout and Alhaitham's story quests), sat down, and thought what he should focus on for the day. In the middle of his train of thoughts, he yet again felt the sudden feeling of tightness he felt  yesterday.

"Shit-"

Bleugh. Was the last thing that escaped his lips after he saw the flowered-pool of blood beneath him before blacking out.

A few hours later, he found himself in a rather familiar place. He weakly sat up and quickly scanned his surroundings. And it was just as he expected. The acting grand sage's office. Alhaitham's office. His office. He prayed to find himself alone in his office because he doesn't want him to know what's been happening to him lately. But when he turned around, he was surprised to see Alhaitham - focusing his attention on him with an obvious concerned expression plastered on his face.

"What's wrong, Kaveh...? You passed out after coughing out a pool of flower-covered blood..." asked Alhaitham.

"Why do you care..? Since WHEN did you care..?!" Kaveh answered as he looked away to avoid the other's gaze.

Alhaitham got up from his chair, approached Kaveh, and held his face in his hand. "Huh..-?!"

"I've known you since our akademiya days, Kaveh. I'll only asked for the last time... What's. Wrong.?" Alhaitham interrogated, with slight of annoyance in his expression and voice.

Kaveh flinched from his expression. He knew deep down that Alhaitham would never return his feelings. His condition is proof. "I told you I-" before he finished his sentence, another wave of blood escaped his lips. Alhaitham rushed to his aid rather quickly.

"KAVEH!!" was probably the last thing he heard from Alhaitham before once again passing out.

Kaveh assumed a few hours has already passed because when he woke up, he found himself in Tighnari's place.

"You're awake.." Tighnari said, obviously worried. Cyno and Alhaitham are sitting across the room, also worried sick.

"Can you just tell us what's been bothering you, Kaveh? We can't prepare for the worst if you keep this all to yourself" Tighnari lectured.

"If you won't tell us, we'll have no choice but to drag Nahida, Paimon and the Traveler here and interrogate them since I saw you with them yesterday. They might have a clue with your condition" Cyno threatened.

"That's a little too much, Cyno" Tighnari scolded.

Soon that conversation quickly escalated into a fight. Kaveh finds himself in a risky situation. He tries to find a way to escape when they're still fighting to avoid suspicions. But before Kaveh could think of a getaway, the Traveler and Paimon entered the picture.

"Hey guys!" Paimon greeted as the Traveler waved.

"Huh..? Why are you here, Traveler?" Alhaitham asked, his curiosity killing him.

"I told them what happen to Kaveh and asked them to come here since they were with him yesterday" Cyno replied.

"Tell you what happened? I thought Kaveh already told you what happened?" Paimon responded, tilting her head in confusion.

"Apparently he didn't, assuming the General Mahamatra even asked for our presence" the Traveler assumed.

"So my hunch was right. You DO know" Cyno smirked.

Silence filled the room as Kaveh tries to process things into his mind. I can't lie now! Paimon and the Traveler are yesterday's witness! Oh what to do.. After about a minute of thinking, his thought were interrupted by the Traveler, who is kneeling I front of him. "Hey.. Should we tell them..?"

"No.. They can NEVER know..." Kaveh weakly replied.

"He's not ready to tell you.. And we can't tell you without his consent either!" Paimon said. "We'll just have to wait for the right time..!"

"But will that time arrive..? Or will mine's end before that happens..?" Kaveh weakly whispered into the Traveler's ears, enough to only let her hear it.

"..."

"I guess I should go now" Kaveh said, getting up. "Let us help you, Kaveh!" Paimon said, flying up to him and gripping into his arm.

"Thanks..." Kaveh thanked.

As they reached Althaitham's house, the Traveler asked Kaveh one last question before heading out. "When will you tell them? Especially Alhaitham.."

"I can never muster up the strength to tell him.." Kaveh answered.

"Then at least tell the others then!" Paimon persuaded.

"I can't.. Even if I only tell them, they'll still tell Haitham.. They can never know... That I have Hanahaki..." Kaveh confessed.

"We'll be here for you Kaveh! So cheer up! We'll find ways to help you in every way possible!" Paimon comforted.

"Thanks.." Kaveh said and smiled before entering the house.

But little did they know that Alhaitham was listening around the corner. Hearing this, his heart ached finally realizing and understanding his feelings. He followed the Traveler, stopped them, and asked this one question. "Does Kaveh really have Hanahaki...?"

Hearing that, Paimon and the Traveler's eyes widen. They look at each other and exchanged a look. They knew that he had to know. "Yes... He does.." Paimon said. Althaitham's heart sank. Even though he knew it inside his heart, it still pains him to find out his roommate has Hanahaki.

"We only found out yesterday.. We were with Nahida chatting away until Kaveh unusually visited us. He asked Nahida to help him identify his illness. And Nahida answered that it was Hanahaki. The symptoms he described fully ticked the boxes. And I'm afraid you know by now why" the Traveler explained.

"Yea.. Because of me.. He probably still liked me even after I regected him during our akademiya days.." Alhaitham said.

"Probably.. Wait WHAT-? HE CONFESSED TO YOU ONCE?!" Paimon shouted in utter shock.

"Yea.. The reason I rejected him was because my parents are homophobic. They are fine with Kaveh as my friend but not as my lover. So I had to reject him in a harsh way to keep him for liking me. But it seems that his love for me deepened.." Alhaitham explained.

"From what I remembered, Nahida said that Hanahaki only presents itself to it's victims when they are in a one-sided love situation. And from your story, you like him but is forced to leave him because your family disagree to the decision. So how did Kaveh have Hanahaki if your relationship isn't even one-sided..?" the Traveler wondered.

"Paimon's wondering the same thing too! But Paimon also has a theory.. What if the disease presented itself to Kaveh because HE thinks that their relationship is one-sided?" Paimon theorized.

"Now that I think about it, it does make sense. Because even if he doesn't know I do love him, but still has hope, then the disease wouldn't have presented itself to him" Alhaitham said as he continue to try and understand why this is happening.

"Let's continue this conversation tomorrow.. I need to look after Kaveh.." Alhaitham said.

"Alright, Alhaitham! See ya tomorrow!!" Paimon cheerfully said, waving goodbye.

Alhaitham finally reached his house, unlocked the door and went in. He went to his room to see Kaveh sleeping peacefully. He left him to sleep in peace and went to the living room to sleep on the couch so that Kaveh can have space.