𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 ; 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀𝗄𝗂 ✓

05

s: stock for a lasting beauty
𑁍

he gets weaker every night.
he walks even slower.

he seems so drained out.
tired.
his coughing gets worse and worse.

the amount of petals is growing.
the track he leaves behind becomes more obvious, more visible.

but not only that.

now, whenever it's happening, he coughs up blood too.
a dark, crimson red color that later on drops from his chin, also leaving a small trail behind.

obviously he notices the blood, but he doesn't mind it at all.

as if he knew it was going to be like this at one point,
almost as if he has been waiting for it to happen.

for it to go this far.

the petals, this time they are white again.
the same ones like each night before, only today they have some more red on them.

it's a beautiful color, yet there's nothing to
like about it.

there's nothing to like about seeing him suffer like that.
even the prettiest colors can't change that.

and he keeps walking.
it's like a record being played over and over again,
the same exact scene stuck on repeat.

but it's slowly breaking down.

he goes to that very bridge again. he stops.
and a single tear is rinsing down his left cheek.

he looks down onto the surface of the water.
although that whatever is happening to him is getting worse as nights pass by, he appears to be so calm.

and he climbs over. peacefully.
he takes a deep breath after arriving on the other side.

"kihyun, are you there?"

again.
his voice rough from all the coughing.
his face is shown.
his eyes are gloomy. he looks pale.

he looks sick. he's weak, his voice desperate, yet so small.

"please."
"help me out."

𑁍

the way the boy sounded so sincere, it got to kihyun. the whole situation was getting to him. his voice wouldn't get out of kihyun's head. he wanted to help him. he wanted to save him. but how? it was almost like kihyun was meant to be his savior. he couldn't explain why, but each night, kihyun feels their connection growing. he still didn't remember knowing the boy, he has never seen him before. he had no idea who it was or why he knew kihyun at all. if he was even real. but the brown haired couldn't help but feel the need to protect him. he knew this wouldn't stop any time soon and he would never give up until he found the answers he's been looking for so desperately. so one day, he finally decided to go to the bridge.
of course, he considered the idea of going there for a long time already. he knew the exact street the boy was always walking on and he knew which bridge it was, he stood on. but still, something kept holding the older back.

kihyun felt uneasy as he was walking down the street. something didn't feel right about it, but he didn't even think about going back. he looked around carefully, hoping to find something, anything that would help him find an answer. pretty soon though, it seemed hopeless and he was about to give up, as just then, he saw something. that was when he stopped walking. his body stiffened and he stood there at the side of the road, not moving at all. there was a petal. the same exact color of the petals in his dream the night before. it was that very white color and even the blood stains were seen.

a few seconds after trying to collect his thoughts and analyze the situation, he finally decided to walk up to the bushes. this had to mean something.
arriving, he bent down to pick it up when he suddenly felt dizzy. his vision blurred out and kihyun quickly stood upright, leaning against the mast of the street lamp next to him to support his body and prevent himself from falling. unknowingly, he clenched his fist tightly, causing the petal to disappear in the palm of his hand. his vision started darkening as he began to see a few black spots wherever he looked. it was like a sudden, strong rush flowing through his head and yet again, he could not explain it. nothing like that has ever happened to him before and to be honest, it did scare kihyun a bit.
a few more moments of dizziness passed as right after, he was fine again. as if nothing happened at all. and eventually coming back to his senses, he remembered why he was here again. the brown haired looked down to his hand, opening it to look at the petal again but instead, his eyes widened in shock and confusion at the same time. the single petal he had picked up earlier, it was dead. moments before, as he picked it up for the first time, it was completely fine. it had that beautiful, pure white as a color, as if the flower it fell off of would've just ripened. if one saw it from afar, they wouldn't even think of it being a flower petal at all anymore, that's how dead it was. because now, the petal had shrunken together, almost having turned crusty and the color anything but a pretty one.
and yeah, damn right, by now kihyun was actually losing his mind. how in the world was that even possible? a flower petal literally almost turning into dust within such few seconds? it was something happening a bit too far out of kihyun's comfort zone in things being possible and it scared him. he hated it, he hated it so so much and that's why he let it go. he watched it fall down with disbelief in his eyes and as soon as it hit the ground, settling onto the still wet street from the rainfall the night before, he did nothing but bluntly stare down the street. once again time passed and kihyun snapped out of his thoughts, going over what just happened again and again until he felt a cold raindrop hit his neck. it started raining again, so he decided to head back home to continue trying to find any kind of explanation on whatever the hell just occurred in front of him.