SOTUS: The University Days (and Other Universes)

Daisies Mean Loyal Love

hanahaki (花吐き病)
/'ha-na-ha-kI/

a disease in which the victim coughs up flower petals when they suffer from one-sided love.

❀

When Kongpob was young, his cousin would always bring him to the garden. It's full of carnations, daisies, valerians, snapdragons, and snowbells that his aunt spent all mornings to take care of.

"P'Fay, why do you like flowers?" young Kongpob asked while they were sitting in the middle of whites and yellows.

Being also a child and having no other answer, Fay smiled, gave him a daisy, and told him sweetly, "They're pretty."

Kongpob took the flower and stared at it. Starting that day, he believed his cousin and thought flowers are pretty too.

But the white petals aren't pretty when they are scattered on his bathroom floor, stained with his own blood.

❀

The first symptoms came around a week after his rejection.

"Hold on, P'Arthit. You are mad at me."

"No. I'm not mad at you."

"If you are not, why don't you talk to me?

Could it be that day? That I didn't answer your question?

If you really want to know, I can just tell you now.

I don't know when it happened.

I don't know how it happened.

We're both guys.

But I really can't stop my own feelings.

P'Arthit, I always wanted to tell you... that I—"

Arthit really didn't say anything. He just hung up before Kongpob completed his confession. But, it's pretty clear Kongpob was rejected, his love, unreciprocated.

He initially thought it was just a cold. He tried to combat it with capsules and cough drops, but as days went by, the coughing was just getting worse.

Then, he thought of his P'Fay and the orchid flowers that killed her.

❀

Kongpob expects his own to be carnation, yellow to be exact.

Yellow carnation means rejection.

It suits him after all.

However, one morning, he wakes up with a tight chest. It's like something is gripping around his ribs. He goes straight to the bathroom and coughs to no end. The first petals that fly from his mouth and land on his bathroom sink are small. There are four. They were white.

They aren't carnation.

They are daisies.

Daisies mean loyal love.

Kongpob can't help but laugh after his realization. He will stay loyal to him, even after rejection. And for what?

For death to take him too.

❀

The following weeks, Kongpob tries his best to still go to school, but with a lot more bathroom breaks than before. His friends notice it, especially his best friend M.