HOPELESS - [니키]

✭ 04

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

❀ burnt lung
━━━━━━━

Riki breathed in, then opened the notebook. He read the whole list, then when he got to the end, Riki raised his eyebrows and looked at Hana.

"You have a lot of wishes, Hana."

The girl returned her attention to the young man, then straightened.

"What did I write already ?"

"You want to play the piano in front of an audience." Hana nodded, urging him on.

"You want to be happy again. Have someone take you to the funfair. To go to the beach again. See the stars with someone you love, and..."

"Oh, you don't need to read that one."

"Live until you're 17." He says, looking up with a worried look. "Hana, do you really think you won't live to be 17 ?"

She huffed, then picked up her notebook back.

"Riki, look at me, my birthday is in two months and you really think I'm going to make it ?"

"Yes Hana, I'm sure !"

She lowered her head and began to play with her fingers.

"Hana, I'm going to do everything I can to make your wishes come true before the Grim reaper falls on you. Hana, you'll make it, I believe in you !"

Riki took the girl's hand before looking her straight in the eye and saying, "My flower girl, you're going to celebrate your 17th birthday with me."

Hana thought Riki was joking, that tomorrow he'd never see her again and that she'd have to fight on her own like she and her mother always did. But he was so convincing.

Riki tore the page out of the notebook and slipped it into his pocket before taking a few things out of his bag to start doing her homework.

♡

An hour and a half later, they had both finished their homework and Riki suggested, "Let's go for a walk."

He stood up but Hana shouted, "Riki, I can't move !" pointing her hands at all the wires that were connected to her.

"I'm going to negotiate an exit, I can't stand this noise any more." he jerked his head towards her heartbeat.

Hana was beginning to get used to it, she could hardly hear it any more, as if it were part of the set.

Two long minutes later, Riki came running through the door, almost out of breath.

"Hana, do you really want to stay here ?" he said, catching his breath.

"Not for the world !"

He moved closer to her and began to free the girl from all the wires that were connected to her body. Hana watched him unplug her quickly. His eyebrows were furrowed and he looked angry.

Once all the wires had been disconnected, he took her hand and she stood up to follow him.

"If it hurts anywhere, tell me Hana !" shouted Riki as they left the room.

"Hey, young lady !" a nurse shouted, pointing at them before starting to run towards them. "You are not allowed to leave your room !"

Riki looked at Hana with a smile and she smiled back. She'd never done anything like this before because she had always been a wise girl when it came to rules.

She was never the person who was going to 'break' them so even a little thing outside the rules was impressive for her.

Hana was beginning to run out of breath. Her lungs were beginning to burn and her heart was beating rapidly.

"Riki..." she said between two breaths.

The pain began to get worse and worse until she couldn't breathe. She took a breath that burned her lungs and screamed,"Riki, stop !"

The young man turned round before grabbing the girl's shoulders and pulling her into a corner of the corridor.

The nurses ran past them without seeing them and Hana looked at Riki who was still holding her shoulders.

She was still trying to catch her breath but every breath burned her lungs. She put her hands on her chest to try and calm herself down.

"Sit down." ordered Riki, seeing Hana's condition. He didn't think that her illness was that advanced. They had only run a few hundred metres and Hana was already out of breath.

"I'm sorry Hana, I didn't think that-" she put her hand over his mouth before murmuring a small, "Thank you." between two breaths.

She stood up and motioned for him to follow her. They went out into the corridor and looking both ways to make sure they were alone, the young girl said to Riki, "I'll show you the most beautiful part of this hospital, the only one that's still maintained."

Riki smiled and followed her.

They left the hospital and Hana took Riki to a small garden, filled with pretty, colourful flowers. They could even smell the sweet blend of all the flowers.

Here, you forgot that the sky was grey. These flowers brought a little life back into the hospital and made everything seem more happy.

"I bet this is your favourite place." Riki said, tapping her lightly on the shoulder.

Hana nodded slightly and turned back to Riki with a little smile.

"There used to be a piano here." Hana pointing to a place where now there was nothing, not even 1 flower. "And patients could play whatever melody they wanted all day long. One evening, my mother came here and picked some flowers, then she listened to a patient playing music." Hana remained silent, as if Riki needed to complete her sentence.

"Melodic flower ?" he replied, holding up his hands.

Hana snaps her fingers and says, "Find it! This is where she first felt me move and chose my name."

"That's a beautiful story, Hana."

Riki followed the girl, looking at her. Her hair was even more beautiful than before, her hands were even more beautiful than before, everything about her was better. He wanted to prove to her that joy still existed despite the disease eating away at her lungs.

He wanted to prove all that to her.

He wanted to prove to her that despite the illness she had, life could still be beautiful and full of joy.

That was what he wanted to do now, make this girl happy.

༺❦༻

thank you for reading this far <3
I'll try to write better in the future ;)
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