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Shaoyou’s vitality contrasted violently with Huayong’s pale and ashen skin. The young enigma had always looked white as a translucent vase, making him the desired object of many.
His eyes however had always been on none other than the proud S class Alpha Shaoyou, for whom he had love as infinite as the galaxy.
It expanded his chest and took possession of his whole being, as if Huayong’s existence was solely to gaze upon Shaoyou’s beauty and to forever love him.
That forever turned into timed death. Every minute was a breath stolen from him, away from the embrace of his beloved. The same embrace a dozen omegas basked into, unaware of the flowers taking root inside Huayong’s chest.
Each petal is as snowy white as his own ghost orchid pheromones, a cruel joke perhaps. What good is being the strongest of his kind if a simple disease can make him wither like a dried out flower?
Eight year old Huayong made a vow to himself, he will grow up strong and powerful enough to be deserving of being by Shaoyou’s side — the heir to the ShengFang BioTech behemoth. He succeeded in every aspect, he topped his classes, topped his sibling’s achievements and carved his own path, with a heinous struggle but it was all worth it. He was closer to his goal, closer to him.
Yet, the day of his sixteenth birthday, like a divine gift, his first はな - hana bloomed in his guts, filling his mouth with blood stained petals. His chest ached, his heart branded with a scorching heat and his eyes crimson. It landed on his hands, a reminder of the bubbling emotions from earlier that day.
Shaoyou was barely twenty years old then, drunk and flushed, looking as beautiful as he has always been. At his side, a doll like omega adorned his arms, much like a beautiful purse hanging on his shoulder. Huayong had felt a fury erupting in the deepest depths of his core, not even the death of his own mother tugged at his heartstrings the way this fleeting scene slashed his soul.
His usually cold eyes betrayed a hint of repressed jealousy. The type that twists you from the inside, the blood rushing in his veins turning poisonous from the longing. But teenager Huayong did not think that one singular moment, so painfully carved in his memory, burning his skin as if branded by fate, would turn into a hanahaki disease.
Not now, he pleaded. Why now when he was on the verge of taking over Beichao Holdings and finally claim all rights to both his family’s assets and Shaoyou’s love.
He crumpled the few petals in his hands, his gaze focused despite the pain choking him, he will not let it deter him.
Or so he thought, with each of Shaoyou’s libertine nights out, Huayong retched more ghostly petals painted a dark, almost black red. Even as his enigma self healed faster than the average person, his heart was bleeding, a cut too deep, too open that even if he stuffed all those flowers, it would not help mend it.
His soul itched, his words screamed I love you but every はな reminded him that his alpha was everyone’s but his. Other’s did not have to dim themselves for Shaoyou, they just had to be — be an omega, be dainty, be teary eyed. All of what Huayong wasn’t.
All he had to offer was a heart that beats only for Shaoyou. A voice that utters only Shaoyou’s name. A body that belongs only to Shaoyou.
But even that heart was now growing weaker, the stems of every one of those flowers pierced through it like a dagger, and soon, a thousand little pieces. Thousand, the number signaling his end.
As if mocking him, Shaoyou shone brighter, a light gleamed from within him, or maybe it was Huayong’s love for him that reflected on the alpha, akin to the moon’s reflection on a still lake.
Huayong was now eighteen, feared by everyone around him, far from their mind the knowledge of a dying young man, his breathing labored due to the suffocating petals, binding him to his own demise. He appeared as dangerous as ever, making the grass wilt under his every move. Yet his only salvation lays next to another body, warm and unaware.
The symptoms grew worse, his health more precarious. The flowers threatened to rip him apart whenever Shaoyou appeared with another omega by his side. It constricted his breathing and squished his throat, the thorns scrapping every flesh from the inside.
The doctor had warned him, “you won’t make it past twenty” he said, and Huayong knew his days were numbered. In his ideal, he would’ve waited a few more years before appearing in front of Shaoyou, preferably after clearing out the mess in his newly named X Holding, just the way the alpha liked — organized, legal and clean. He would’ve taken lessons on how to properly cry, how to act like an omega, all in hopes of catching his beloved’s attention.
But even when the doctor urged, “you can get it surgically removed on condition that you will forget the one you yearn for”, Huayong simply refused.
What use was his life if not to live for Shaoyou?
The night before his twentieth birthday, Huayong had completely seized the reigns in P country despite his advanced state. His coughing had become vehement, full budding flowers emerged from the pits of his lungs, no longer mere petals. It was a sign, his love intensified with every new breath he took and so did the flowers, trading his feelings for his life.
Mr.Sheng was amongst his peers, now the official CEO of ShengFang Biotech. His eyes wouldn’t leave the orchid scented young man in their circle. In actuality, he was well acquainted with him, it was a face that would appear ever so often around him — not too close yet not too far. He had always known of his presence, tailing him but he let it happen. Shaoyou loved the attention, having such a beautiful admirer left a good taste in his mouth, and he found himself waiting for that angelic face to embellish his sight.
Shaoyou seemed disinterested in those around him, even the omegas flocking to his side were given little to no notice. His orange blossom pheromones filled the place, cocky and seductive.
And like divine punishment, Huayong’s eyes crammed shut, a pain so acute, he struggled to make his way out of the room. Darkness engulfed him and his sweaty body shaking from death throes. He smiled to himself, so long as he got to bask in Shaoyou’s intoxicating smell, it was worth it. He can now let fate take him as it has intended so for years.
In what seemed like an eternity of agony, of his body being torn apart, a warm hand steadied him right on the floor and the melodious sound of worry embalmed him. Perhaps was it divine grace that bestowed him with the blessing of being in his adored’s cuddle, it felt befitting to live and die for Shaoyou. He has no regrets.
Fully bloomed flowers with their leaves were scattered around him, Shaoyou’s hands tremble as he holds the young man in his arms. A smile, the most hauntingly beautiful one he has ever seen, stretches across the pale face. Huayong was finally where he belonged — where he longed to be. Those slender fingers hold onto his frame. A silhouette shaky and drifting.
How the enigma wishes he could stop the time, letting Shaoyou’s breath warm his body, and his orange blossom scent envelop him, and wrap around him. Maybe then, his own orchids can finally bloom on his skin, and let his beloved pick the best amongst them as a last trace of his existence, of his love.
Shaoyou’s heart ached, he had seen this. He too was present when his mother’s last breath was sharply taken from her, a flower escaping her lips as she cried the infidelity of her husband.
He closed the distance between them, placing a kiss. The taste of metallic blood dripping from Huayong’s mouth blended with his own salty tears. It was achingly slow, achingly sweet. Huayong’s lips moved to Shaoyou’s cadence, a single tear falling down his cheeks. In his lifetime, the only moment he ever cried was now, as he lays on his flowery deathbed.