A/N: I love happy endings so be grateful I gave Seulrene one here ;) enjoy and leave a comment!!! (Yes I read every single one of them💓)

-

It's just a quiet morning that Irene wakes up to. She has a dream. She's walking hand in hand with someone, but when she squinted her eyes and tries to see who's face it belonged to, she couldn't make it out. They smile, a distantly familiar smile. Irene smiles back and closes her eyes. 

She's awake, drool dotting her cheek as she sluggishly rolls around in bed. She wonders who's warmth she had felt and her fingertips buzz. She lets out a choked gasp when she sees the loose petals on her bed sheets. Oh no.. Seeing them sends spiraling feelings down her chest and she feels like she's going to vomit again. 

Joohyun rushes to the toilet and falls to her knees as flower petals as soft as velvet stream out of her lips uncontrollably. They feels like they're bursting from the seams in , fruitlessly trying to dispel a part of her that spends its days longing. As if it would be that easy. Joohyun's being suffocated inside out and she feels helpless. Her ribcage of branches, her lungs of new cherry buds and petal thin heart won't last her long. She knows what'll happen if these feelings continue to grow. 

There's always a prospect of surgery, she thinks. But then she'll forget her feelings for Seulgi. She doesn't know how she would cope. Seulgi has always been Joohyun's everything, her only soft spot, her priority. Call it selfish but to wash away her thoughts of Seulgi so easily was erasing her identity. She wonders life without the prospects of Seulgi, and it hurts too much. It cuts deeper than the flower bed that flourishes in her body, so she gathers the small frail leaves on her bed sheet and cups it in her pale hands. She watches them swirl around in the toilet bowl and disappear. No one has to know. 

-

Joohyun only lasts a number of days she can count on her fingers, before Wendy gets suspicious. Damn her and her intelligence and quick picking up skills, Joohyun thought. 

Joohyun wakes up groggily at 5am in the morning, making sure she's awake even before Wendy could take a peep. She makes sure she cleans and flushes down the increasing amount of petals she coughs up in her sleep. She can't have anyone seeing. Lately they've grown in numbers alarmingly and this time, there were too many to count. She feels sick, like the weight of the world was crashing into her own being and washing her away. 

She scoops up the abundant pile slowly from her bed sheets to the toilet. A couple fall out, but she'll clean them up later. For this fraction of space where Joohyun exists, she feels like she's got all the time in the world. 

-

When their busy day comes to a slow halt and when they crash back at the dorm at hours too early in the morning, thoroughly exhausted from hours spent dancing the same choreography over and over again, Joohyun should be asleep, but she isn't. She instantly heads for her laptop even though her body is screaming for her to get rest, and black bags sling themselves permanently over her eyes. Her joints crick uncomfortable as she situated herself in her computer seat that has its leather peeling away at its seams from years of use. 

Wendy's already herded off the rest of the members to sleep. Joohyun's got her earphones in, mouse clicking all over the page. She gently takes off her earphones when she hears shrill creaking of old wooden door hinges moving. 

"Wendy?" She asks surprised. She really shouldn't be surprised because Wendy also had her fair share of late nights and pushing her body to brinks that are dangerous, and had used Joohyun a couple times to entertain herself from falling asleep as she was clicking. Joohyun pats the bed next to her. "You want to play this game with me? I found-"

"I'm not here to talk about games, unnie." Wendy interjects, almost hesitantly. Sure Wendy may be the best at talking to people and being by their side when they needed her, but when she was facing Joohyun who was older and who was the leader, she had nothing but respect for Joohyun. Joohyun sighs, heart sinking. She motions for Wendy to continue. 

"You've been going to the toilet a lot more than normal. And you seem a lot more out of breath and tired during dance practices. What's going on?" Great. 

"I'm just tired. You know I'm not athletic and I'm always lazy when it comes to dance practice." She tries to brush the bathroom part away, hopefully diverting Wendy's attention elsewhere, somewhere less revealing and less personal. Away from the fact she's only tired because she has to wake up earlier and earlier each day because there's simply too much that she doesn't have the time to clean them. 

"Unnie.." Wendy almost whines before shoving her hand inside her pockets. She can see they're clenched into a tight fist. She knows Wendy doesn't believe her so she placed a fake well-practiced grin on her face and touches Wendy's thigh to give her a sense of empty comfort. 

"I'm okay." She grits out, though lies, clenched teeth and false words. 

"When you went down for breakfast..." Wendy removes her hand from her pocket. They're clenched so tight Joohyun can see her veins straining beneath her pale skin, white knuckles protruding from flesh. Joohyun gnaws at her lips nervously. What about it? Wendy's voice was grim. 

"Joohyun unnie, how- then how do you explain this?" Wendy's voice wavers for a second. She turns her wrist so it's faced up. She opens her palm, and Joohyun's breath hitches in . 

Inside are two, three, four curled petals. 

-

Wendy ends up lying alongside Joohyun in her double bed. Their backs are facing each other but their fingers brush against each other and Joohyun ends up interlacing their fingers, seeking for some comfort. Wendy had never been much for physical contact, but this time she lets Joohyun hang on. 

"When did it start?" Wendy asks quietly. Joohyun might as well say it. 

"A week ago." She replied back softly. Wendy's fingers dig slightly into her own, channeling the hurt Wendy feels. A week and still loving Seulgi, she thought. Even if it's destroying her, Joohyun thinks it might be the best way to go. She sighs softly into her pillow. Oh Seulgi. 

Joohyun quickly recoils her hand back when she feels her chest expand. Instantly, she shoots up from the bed and tries to dart for the toilet. Wendy snatches her wrist back and Joohyun makes a muffled choking sound, shaking desperately to be let go. She can feel the pressure of spit and petals burning a scorching trail through her chest. There's only so long she can contain the stream before they burst free. 

Wendy just drags her back to onto the bed and there are now tears that fall out from the corners of her eyes. Wendy hugs her and something inside her breaks. Flowers escape through the cracks of her fingertips and tumble down gently onto the white bed sheets and Wendy's back. Her body shakes from the violent coughs. Wendy clenches in her fists Joohyun's soft cotton shirt, and Joohyun wonders how the younger girl would be coping. Wendy looks visibly shaken. 

Thin veined petals don't stop falling down until minutesater when Joohyun's breath is loud and ragged in Wendy's ears and her heartbeat begins to slow down from the erratic race. She feels boneless. If it wasn't for Wendy holding her up, she would have slumped onto the bed in exhaustion by now. Wendy pulls them apart and holds Joohyun's shoulders, eyes shining with sadness and she softly brushes a line petal off the latter's shoulder. Wendy didn't like to see her unnie suffer. 

"Please don't tell manager-nim.." Joohyun pleads, voice horse from all the coughing. "Please.