A Bouquet of Blood

ii

The first to find out is her brother.

Haein opens the door to their apartment and sees his black boots thrown haphazardly near the shoe rack. She gulps. He isn't supposed to come back till 6 p.m.

The girl glances at the clock in the dining room. It is barely 15 minutes after 5.

She sighs. Might as well tell him now. Rip it off just like a band-aid.

'Haein, is that you?' he calls out.

Right. Band-aid.

'It's me. You're early, Hoseok,' she shouts back.

When she takes off her sneackers and puts it on the rack (nicely –Hoseok knows better to not arranged his shoes) and stands up from her crouching position, he stands on the raised ledge of the floor and moves to hug her. His hair and t-shirt is slightly damp and he smells faintly of strawberry. Her soap, then.

'Hoseok, stop using my things,' she whines into his shoulder. His body shakes with laughter, his right hand playing with her hazelnut hair, untangling the knots gently. Her brother tightens his embrace a little before letting go, 'But I like the smell.'

She huffs, 'then buy your own. I can't use yours since it smells manly.'

He raises an eyebrow at that, 'manly, you say?'

'Not this again,' she groans, looks at his bright smile and groans again, 'fine, anyone is free to smell however they want,' she says, watches as she is replied with his enthusiastic nods. This man.

'Good. I came home early since I wanted to know if it went well. How was the hospital, Haein?' he asks as she walks pass him to their small kitchen area.

Haein freezes. She stops, her back to him and eyes going wide for a second before she turns to look at him with a smile.

'Everything's okay,' she replies, continuing her way to the fridge. She rummages around and takes the strawberry milk out before closing it, 'I'll be fine after resting.'

Hoseok sits at the kitchen table with his chin between his palms, squinting at her before asking, 'what did the doctor say?'

Haein is still not looking at him. She opens the cupboard and takes her favourite mug and proceeds to pour the liquid. She knows Hoseok knows she's ignoring him.

'He said that it's nothing to be worried about,' she replies.

Hoseok looks at her back, watches as her body trembles a little at her words.

When he speaks, his words lost its cherry tone.

'Do not lie to me, Jung Haein.'

She winces and waits for her body to stop betraying her. When it does, she takes a seat and sits in front of him. She can't seem to look at him. The mug shakes in her hand.

Hoseok takes the mug and places it on the glass table, his left hand grasping her right wrist gently before moving to close her fingers around his. His fingers are calloused from gardening and warm to the touch. Haein sees that his eyes are also warm.

'Now,' he whispers, 'will you look and tell me?'

His face is so open to her and she feels like crying. His grip becomes firmer when her fingers start to shake again.

'...I...'

The words are there but they're not coming out and she chokes with the need to spill it out. But saying it makes it more real and she just needs a moment to absorb everything and not collapse and collect herself and she doesn't want to see his reaction but really, she's just lying to herself.