Once is More Than Enough

Chapter 4

Alahitham wakes up on his bed, feeling unsettled. He looks at his clock and startles awake as he sees that it's 6:30 am. He should've been awake 30 minutes ago, getting ready for work. He gets up, changes and heads to the living room, only to be greeted by Kaveh's body on the floor, blood and petals everywhere. He freezes, staring at the body, confused, before rushing over to pick him up, bringing him to his room and changing him, not wanting to get the bed dirty. He sits on the couch, thinking, as he stares at the Kalpalata Lotus covered in blood on the floor in front of him. He can't shake off the feeling that something was wrong. Besides the fact that Kaveh is obviously very sick. No. When he saw Kaveh's body this morning, a feeling of deja vu washed over him even though he's sure this had never happened before. It feels as if he's forgotten something very important, something that's hidden at the back of his mind that he can't seem to recall. He sighs as he stands up and decides to clean the floor before making lunch. It'll come to him later.

Alhaitham finishes making a few Pita Pockets when Kaveh walks out of his room, stopping by the kitchen doorway. "What happened." Something weird is definitely happening. Alhaitham is almost sure this conversation had happened before.

Alhaitham sets the plates on the dining table before answering. He almost says, "That's what I should be asking you. I found you lying on the floor with blood and flower petals everywhere. I think I deserve an explanation. It was a pain to clean up," before stopping himself. Instead, he says, "You fainted. Barfed out a Kalpalata Lotus too."

Kaveh stays silent for a while before saying, "Could you come with me to the Sabzeruz Festival tomorrow...?" He fidgets with his hands, looking down at the floor. It's weird seeing Kaveh like this, timid and vulnerable. He's usually so confident, even when he's wrong. Especially when he's wrong, trying to gaslight everyone else.

Alhaitham, surprised by the sudden question, lets out a, "What?" which seems to be the wrong answer. As soon as Alhaitham said that, Kaveh returned to his normal self.

"Nevermind. Forget about it." Kaveh turns to leave but Alhaitham stops him.

"I'll go with you," Alhaitham blurts out, surprised at his own answer. Kaveh also looks at him in surprise which quickly turns into suspicion. 

"Why?"

"What do you mean 'why.' You're the one that asked me."

"I know but I didn't expect you to accept. You hate the festival and you hate hanging out with me."

"...I don't hate the festival... And I never said I hated hanging out with you." 

Kaveh, whose mouth was open, about to argue back, closes his mouth in shock. "Now you're being weird. What's wrong with you."

Alhaitham rolls his eyes. "Nothing's wrong with me. I'm just trying to be nicer towards you." Alhaitham sighs at that. Even his dense head can tell that he's acting weird. "Look, just eat your lunch. It's going to get cold. We'll go to the festival together  tomorrow."

Kaveh slumps on a chair, reaching for his lunch. "Fine."

Alhaitham nods and after making sure Kaveh is eating, he heads out towards Tighnari's home with the flower.

"Tighnari. Good afternoon," Alhaitham says as Tighnari opens the door.

"Alhaitham! Come in. Is this about Kaveh?" Tighnari opens the door wider, allowing Alhaitham to walk in.

Alhaitham sits down before answering. "Yes. He fainted this morning. Do you happen to know any terminal illnesses that include coughing up flowers?" He takes out the flower to show Tighnari.

"Kaveh barfed out a Kalpalata Lotus?" Tighnari's ears twitch. "I'm afraid-"

"You'll need to do more research?" 

Tighnari nods, surprised. "Yes. I've never heard of such a thing happening before. It would be nice if you could drag Kaveh here. Doing a psychical check-up on him would be helpful."

"I'll try. Anyways, I have to get going. Please notify me as soon as possible if you find something." Alhaitham gets up to leave before remembering something. "Oh, by the way. Would it be possible for you to stay home tomorrow afternoon? I know it's the festival but it's urgent."

"That shouldn't be a problem. I don't celebrate the Sabzeruz Festival that much. I was honestly just thinking about researching about this illness tomorrow. I'll just borrow the books in the morning then."

"Alright. Thank you," Alhaitham says as he leaves, rushing home.

He heads home, stopping by the Akademiya to borrow some books. He sits on the couch, grabbing a book about terminal illnesses. He tries to read but can't seem to concentrate. It seems as if he's experiencing the same thing again but can't seem to remember what happens in the future. It feels as if he had dreamt about Kaveh and death and blood and...there was something else. In his dream, Kaveh had a diary stored in one of his closet drawers. Alhaitham looks at the time. If his dream wasn't actually a dream, he still has about 30 minutes before Kaveh comes home.

He heads towards Kaveh's room, saying a silent apology. Under normal circumstances, Alhaitham would never do such a thing but the circumstances right now are far from normal. He opens Kaveh's closet, reaching for the second compartment of the drawer in the left corner. He opens it, holding his breath, feeling around for a book. He fumbles around for a moment before his hand bumps into something hard, and as he pulls it out, he realizes that Kaveh actually does have a diary and his dream definitely isn't just a dream.

Still trying to respect Kaveh's privacy while breaching it, he decides to only read the last entry. It was dated two days ago.

March 18th, 2022

Dear Diary,

I think my illness is getting worse. I've been coughing up whole flowers now and it's been getting harder to breathe. In fact, even Alhaitham has started to realize it's not just a simple cold anymore. That idiot. I know he's emotionally constipated but did it really have to take him like 2 months to realize???? What the heck. I still haven't found anyone else with this disease nor have I found another cure for it.

Alhaitham stops reading. He ignores the insults directed at him and focuses on the last sentence he just read. Another cure. Doesn't that mean there's already a cure for it? So what's stopping him from doing it?

...At this rate, I really think I'm going to die without Alhaitham realizing anything. I'm scared but not scared enough to tell him. It's obvious what his answer would be. "eW. WhAt Is wRoNg wItH yOu." or "hUh? i tHoUght wE hAtEd eAchOthEr?"  Anyways. Let's just hope I don't die before the festival. I don't want to miss Nilou's performance.

...And that was it. Alhaitham flips through the diary, deciding it would be more helpful if he finds the entry for when Kaveh first finds out about the illness. 

November 14th 2021

Dear Diary,

I visited Tighnari again and it seems like he found it. He thinks it's called Hanahaki. It sounds romantic for something so painful and greusome. This really is unfair. How does love lead to this? It turns out I'm going to keep coughing up petals and blood until I start coughing out whole flowers. That's when it means I'm about to die. I hope-

Alhaitham freezes when he hears keys jingling and quickly puts the diary back, running out of the room and back onto the couch, grabbing a book. A few seconds later, Kaveh enters, surprise written on his face when he sees Alhaitham. "What are you doing here?"

"...I finished work early. Where were you?"

"Just went for a walk. I-" Kaveh stops talking and runs to his room, seconds before he starts coughing. Alhaitham looks at the books. Now that he knows what it's called, these books will probably be useless. And another thing. Ignoring the spelling errors, Kaveh had already visited Tighnari and Tighnari knows everything. So why did Tighnari say he didn't know? It seems like he'll have to visit Tighnari again soon.