Work Text:
Not again.
Jiwoong feels his stomach twisting, his chest closing up each time he tries to steady his breath. His fist knotted on his shirt as the pain became unbearable, like every fiber of him was being squeezed.
Not here, not with him, please.
His struggle went unnoticed by the boy in front of him, who was still focused on his own thoughts, eyes remain fixed on the snowfall outside the cafe. He tries to shut the pain away, but a few quiet winces still slip free.
Get me out of here.
He tried to form a word, to say his excuse, but something was clogging his throat — something small and delicate, yet pressing heavily against his voice.
"It's nice to be with you at the first snowfall this year," Taerae, the boy he’s very much in love with, said while watching the snow pile up outside the cafe.
Jiwoong tries to answer, a hum at least, but a broken sound slips from his throat instead. Taerae heard it and was about to look back on his date, to ask if he was okay, but a pair of hands quickly snatched Jiwoong from his seat and hid him behind his back.
“Hi, mind if I borrow Jiwoong for a bit?” Hao calmly asks, his left hand steadying his friend behind his back. Jiwoong clutches at Hao’s apron as if he were holding his whole life.
Taerae looked at Hao, confused at the sudden interruption. “Oh, but—”
Hao did not let him finish his sentence. “Actually, it is not a question. I really need him in the back kitchen, I’m sorry.” Hao did not wait for Taerae’s answer, he knew Jiwoong didn't have much time. He quickly dragged him to the staff restroom and shut the door so no one could hear them from outside.
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," Hao panics as he assists Jiwoong to reach the sink, and almost immediately, everything he’s trying to keep inside bursts out of his mouth.
Blood-coated lily of the valley flowers.
“Shit, Jiwoong, I told you meeting him is the worst idea.”
Jiwoong collapsed to the floor, still coughing up a few buds and blood, which quickly stained his white polo. “I’m sorry,” he managed to speak out, voice hoarse from the flowers he just coughed up. “I’m sorry, Hao,” he repeats, blood continuously flowing out of his mouth.
“Stop saying sorry,” Hao said, eyes welling up as he tried to wipe the blood in Jiwoong’s chin with his apron. “I’m going to call Hanbin. Please just stay with me,” he said as he frantically searched for his phone on his apron.
"Tell Hanbin, I’m sorry as well,” Jiwoong said, then choked out another small flower.
“I said stop!” Hao almost shouts as tears begin to fall from his eyes. He rummaged through Jiwoong’s pocket after he realized he left his phone beside the cash register. After finding it in his back pocket, he quickly opened it and dialed Hanbin.
It did not take long for Hanbin to answer.
“Help, please— Jiwoong— there’s blood and flowers, it is everywhere— Jiwoong, please stay awake— Please come here,” Hao stuttered, everything mixing up in his head that he couldn't speak properly.
“Alright, babe, I’m gonna be there. But please calm down and help me make sure Jiwoong stays awake, okay?” Hanbin calmly replied on the other line.
“Yes, yes— be fast. He’s going unconscious—” Hao is already sobbing by the time Jiwoong coughs out one last time.
It is not the usual flower he coughs up. Hao is sure that all of Jiwoong’s flowers are lilies of the valley — white, pure, and almost beautiful if not for the blood embracing each one. But this time it looks different. It is still the same flower, but it is deep red, intense, and almost looks like it is soaked in Jiwoong’s blood.
And it only means one thing. Death.
It was 9 months ago when he first met Taerae and immediately fell in love with him. That day was the first day of spring blooms.
He was well aware of the season. Jiwoong was stupid to think nothing bad would happen.
When he was twelve, his aunt had warned him.
Spring can be a dangerous season to fall in love. Just like people, some flowers can get lost in their direction. Drawn by the promise of a new beginning, they ache to bloom somewhere. If they can't find a land to grow, they can slip inside a person, root in their heart, and get fed by the waters of love they give to a wrong person.
Just weeks later, she died of an unknown death.
He thought those were just some made-up bedtime stories his aunt told him to help him sleep at night. But he started feeling something in the pit of his stomach, he once thought those were butterflies. Then he started coughing up white-somethings. At first, he didn't know what it was, until those white-somethings came out bloody and in their whole form.
Lily of the valley. A spring flower with a symbolism of a new beginning.
It is everything his aunt warned him about.
Some flowers do bloom inside of people, and Jiwoong is stupid to think he wouldn’t be one of them.
But he still pushes through, loving Taerae since the first blooms of spring, through the falling leaves of autumn, until today, the first snowfall. He loved Taerae all through those seasons.
All while knowing that it could kill him.
But Jiwoong knows both Hao and Hanbin would not let him die like that. They would not allow a flower easily defeat their friend.
By the time Jiwoong woke up, the snow had already melted away. With stitches on his chest and a new life ahead of him — life without any romantic feelings for Taerae anymore — the temperature has become warmer, and the greens are painting the fields again.
Another spring is just around the corner.