Hanahaki (Short Story)

ii

03•22•20
Monday
12:45 pm

"What the hell happened to you?!" Violet jumped at the sudden voice she heard.

She rapidly raised her head to see who it was.

"Connelly? W-why are you still here? I thought the game ended an hour ago." She didn't expect him to be here. Did he skip classes?

Instead of answering her question, he went near her and examined her. "Why are you bloody? Did you hurt yourself?" the boy said with a concerned face.

"I- I don't know what's happening to me either. My chest hurts so much." Her voice cracked in between those lines, her eyes tearing up again.

"Shh, everything's going to be okay. Let me take you to the clinic. Tell me everything there." Connelly flashed her a reassuring smile.

03•22•20
Monday
1:20 pm

After what seemed like forever, the school's nurse was finished examining Violet, but the nurse couldn't point out what her illness is. As crazy as it may be, the school's clinic never had a student with this weird illness— if "illness" even is the right word for this unique illness.

"Based on the x-ray, there seems to be a growth of flowers in her lungs," the nurse told them.

"Flowers? In my lungs? How can this be?" The raven-haired girl asked while wiping her nose.

"This is the first time that I've personally seen this disease, so I don't really know. What I do know is that this disease is called the Hanahaki disease," the nurse stated.

"It's so weird that even the nurse doesn't know what's the cause of it," Connelly muttered, caressing his best friend's hair. "I'll search for it on the internet.

Everything went silent. Only Connelly's keyboard on his phone and Violet's sniffling can be heard. Connelly stared at the girl and back to his phone.

"W-well, what does it say? What is it?" Violet said with a worried face. "Is it bad?"

The boy didn't answer, so Violet grabbed the phone on his hand and read what the article said.

"Hanahaki Disease; a disease in which the victim coughs up flower petals when they suffer from unrequited love. It ends when their beloved returns their feelings or when the victim dies. The type of flower that grows in the victim's lungs are usually their beloved's favorite flower or a flower with their favorite color." She read it loud enough for them to understand what it says. "I remember Xylan saying that his favorite flower was a daffodil. So... it's him, huh."

"Is he your crush? Then most likely it is him," the nurse said. "I heard that you can surgically remove the infection, but your romantic feelings will also come with it. That's the last resort if ever you fail to tell your beloved your true feelings in time or if they reject you," she added.

Her eyes started tearing up again, but the boy cupped her face. "Don't cry, Vi. Remember, there's one last chance. Confess to Xylan, he'll surely return your feelings because you're one of a kind and you're a beautiful soul," the boy complimented her. He is one-hundred percent sure that Xylan will return her precious feelings.

"Who doesn't want to love someone like her? The looks, personality, intelligence, and many more good traits. Everything you can ask for is in her," the boy thought as he stared at her teary green orbs, still cupping her face.

"But, w-what if he rejects me?" Violet sniffed.

"I know he won't. You meet his standards," Connelly smiled at her.

"... Thank you, Connie," the crying girl whispered, loud enough for him to hear.

Connelly was about to complain about her calling him "Connie," but he just sighed and hugged her.

"Tomorrow morning, I'll try to confess to him." Violet was sure about her plan as well as her feelings for her beloved. Connelly answered her with a small smile.

"Even though he might have a girlfriend already, something's telling me that I just misunderstood and jumped to conclusions. I hope it is that way," Violet thought, walking out of the clinic with Connelly.

03•22•20
Monday
02:00 pm

After they visited the clinic, they walked back to their classrooms. Violet worried about the bloodstains on her uniform, so Connelly let her borrow his jacket. That will save her hundreds of questions from her classmates. She'll just have to deal with getting a warning for cutting classes.

While they were walking, Violet remembered that Connelly didn't attend class. She was about to question that, but Connelly started the conversation first.

"You are probably wondering why I was still in the gym earlier," he went on. "It's because I saw you run to the restroom. I thought that you just had an emergency or something, but I grew worried when you were still inside for an hour. After the game, I asked if I could stay in the gym for a while. Luckily, our coach agreed, so I got to wait for you."

"To be honest, I was kind of relieved when I saw you back there, but you shouldn't have skipped your class just for me. You know how bad your academics are; you should focus on them," Violet said with a concerned tone.

He stopped walking and turned to Violet, staring right into her eyes. "I care about you more than my grades, Violet. You know how much you mean to me, so I couldn't just leave you back there knowing that something's wrong," Connelly reasoned.

"But Conn, you're going to fail if you—"

"No buts, Violet Aislynn. That's that." Violet flinched at him mentioning her full name. Connelly started walking again, and the girl followed. This time, she was behind him.

"You saw what that article said about the Hanahaki disease, right? It's fatal. And I'm supposed to be caring about numbers? I'm not like that, Violet. Your life's on the line, and your life is way more important than my grades," Connelly said sternly.

Violet went silent. She couldn't believe that Connelly said that. He wasn't the type to be so serious about things. Did something happen to him?

Connelly broke the awkward silence. "You're going to confess to Xylan tomorrow, right?" he said while still looking straight ahead.

"Uh, yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Care to tell me your plan?"

-End of Chapter 2-