Flower Shop | BTS

Chapter 5

Unlocking the door, Hoseok dragged his feet inside the house, grasping the long-awaited reports in hand. It had been a week from the biopsy appointment, and he just received the results. There was a lot to discuss at the physician's office, considering the complex laboratory results. The report was full of statistics that Hoseok didn't understand prior to the physician's thorough explanation.

However, what he understood was ten times worse than his wildest nightmares. The pathological examination claimed that Hoseok was diagnosed with a malignant called alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS).

Then to make matters worse, Hoseok's tumor was recognized as an advanced, aggressive stage IV, which had already spread to the lymph nodes (components of the body's immune system) in his abdomen.

As Hoseok walked in, he noticed that Jimin was not home. Therefore, he sprawled his body on the couch, allowing his exhaustion to take over, and immediately falling into a deep slumber.

Hours later, Jimin trudged into the house, tired and irritated. He was yet finished with the flower shop's renovation, and that tired him out. However, as he was heading for the bedroom, he saw Hoseok sleeping heavily on the couch, and smiled. For some reason, Hoseok's languid position and drooling mouth brought a smile to his face.

Then as his eyes shifted to the file laying on their coffee table, he shuffled towards it and tried examining its content. But as he slowly comprehended the information printed on the reports, his legs gave up on him, and he fell to the floor. His smile faltered as one by one, tears streamed down his face, coating his cheeks. He tried mentally denying what he read, but to no avail. His mind kept replaying the information over and over again as if it meant to provoke him. It kept tormenting him with the thought of losing Hoseok like it was its favorite thing to do.

Afterward, it started flashing him the long-forgotten memories he buried long ago. The memories that he wished to never reminisce again.

Illusions of darkness started engulfing him and the harrowing noise of sirens began torturing him. Sounds of cries, screams and rapid footsteps kept pounding in his head as his delusive eyes caught a young kid sitting in the far corner of the hallucination, isolated and aghast. The kid just learned that his parents died, and he didn't take it easy. His parents were all he had, and now... they're gone.

Then finally fathoming the news, the kid sobbed loudly. He madly kicked and thrashed at the dirt, yet was ignored by all adults around him. At the time, they only cared about the dead corpses, not the young child that was losing his sanity.

However, a sudden embrace took him in and tried to calm him down. Amidst all the chaos, another boy named Hoseok decided to guide him out of it, and lead him to the land of serenity and tranquility. The home of passion, devotion, and majestic splendor of kinship was where Hoseok took Jimin, saving him from his own self.