estrange ✶ huening kai

three.

a few weeks had gone by, and almost every day was the same for sora: avoid her feelings, avoid kai, and especially avoid yuna and kai together. she knew yuna would be able to pick up on how she felt.

today, however, was a bit different.

once waking up, she walked to her window to open it, of course after making sure kai wasn't doing the same. but when she bent down, a sharp pain was felt in her lower back.

"ah," she hissed, holding the area with her hand as she stood up, "are my lungs acting up again?" shaking her head, she decided to just ignore it and get ready for school.

-

"morning."

turning around, sora was shocked to see kai standing behind her after she locked her door, "oh- uh, morning."

"you've been leaving earlier, and i didn't want you walking to school alone, so i woke up early too," he grinned, his steps falling in line with her's.

she bit her lip, trying to hide her disappointment. she had been leaving earlier to avoid kai, and to hopefully extinguish her feelings; yet, it seemed all her efforts were in vain as she felt her cheeks get warm just at the thought that he was thinking of her.

"ah-" sora placed a hand on her back, another wave of pain hitting her, before dropping it in hopes that kai hadn't already noticed.

"what's wrong?" he quickly asked, but sora dismissed his worry as a small cough came from her mouth.

as the minutes went by, it became increasingly harder to breathe, but there was no way she'd tell him that. subtly bringing out her inhaler, sora sneakily used the medicine, then tucking it back into her pocket.

without even turning to look at her, kai asked, "i saw that. what's wrong?"

"just the bad air quality," sora shrugged. seeing the school come into view, she waved bye to kai, hurrying off.

"wait!" kai ran a bit to catch up with her, "you're coming to lunch today, right?" biting her lip, sora opened her mouth to respond, but he cut her off, "don't you dare lie. i know you bite your lip when you're about to lie."

"kai!" one of the guys in their group of friends, kang taehyun, called, "oh, sora!" he waved, his large grin seen all the way from the entrance of the school.

"i'll see you at lunch, then." kai grinned, then running off to taehyun.

how does he know me so well, when i feel like i don't even know myself?

-

"please open your history textbooks," the teacher announced, causing some students to groan. "ah, i know, boring. to be honest, i don't like this course that much either."

"but you're a history teacher, mr. kim," someone called from somewhere in the class, making a couple students chuckle.

sora winced a bit as she reached for her book, the small noise she made enough to catch yuna's attention.

"you okay?"

sora offered a feeble smile, "yeah. my lungs are just acting up a bit."

the class had gotten through a good portion of the lesson, when sora's back started to hurt again, but this time with a more intense pain. she held her chest tightly as her breaths started coming out in wheezes.

students began turning toward her, one of them even calling the teacher. "mr. kim! i think sora's having an asthma attack."

rushing over, he immediately began the procedure for when this happens. "where is your inhaler?"

sora just barely was able to reach her hand into her pocket, but lacked the strength to bring the inhaler all the way up to her mouth. instead, it tumbled to the ground as her coughs turned into gasps for breath.

"back away! give her some space!" yuna screamed at her classmates who were slowly closing in around her.

just as the teacher got the inhaler ready, a gargling sound was heard in sora's throat, as if something was stuck in it. her eyes became teary as she clawed at her throat, the burning pain beginning to be too much for her.

the commotion within the classroom was enough to attract attention from outside, as the bell had rung and students were going to lunch. a few began to crowd at the window of the classroom, kai being one of them.

"what's going on?" he asked, not able to clearly see who was having the attack.

"someone's having an asthma attack," his friend, beomgyu, answered.

"who is it?" kai immediately asked, worry beginning to take over him. shoving past people to get closer to the window, he felt his blood run cold when he realized who it was.

finally, after a few minutes of struggling to breathe, sora's airways were free. but her eyes still burned with tears at the sight in front of her.

blood. lots of blood. and petals. green and black ones. the bloody petals were scattered all over her desk and the floor surrounding it.

"no way.."

"oh my gosh."

"wow, this is really.."

looking at the worried eyes of the people around her, sora began to cry both in pain and embarrassment as the teacher ushered her out of the classroom.

watching her best friend leave, yuna slowly turned her eyes back to the petals.

but.. sora didn't tell me she liked anyone. how could she have this? staring a bit longer, she noticed something else. aren't these kai's favorite colors? though she tried not to let it bother her, yuna could feel her jealousy slowly take over her concern. don't jump to conclusions. it's probably not him.

outside, the students cleared a path for sora and the teacher, before slowly dispersing, the gossip already spreading like wildfire.

"wow, she's just like choi yeonjun."

"don't you remember choi yeonjun? he had an episode like that too.. before he.. you know."

"i never thought sora would have something like that."

"i can't believe sora has hanahaki."

listening to everyone around him talk about it so insensitively, kai could feel his anger rise by the seconds. he looked back into the classroom once more, just to be sure it was true.

hanahaki.. so then who does she love?