Jackson couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe! He was trying so hard, but the air couldn’t reach his lungs from the flowers that clogged his windpipe. He beat his chest, trying to get them out. The sound of him hacking and wheezing was enough for him to wake Jinyoung from his slumber.

 

Jinyoung sat up in bed and was greeted with the sight of Jackson bent over. He was red in the face from all the force he was putting into getting all the flowers out. His eyes were full of tears, looking to Jinyoung helplessly. Jinyoung was quick to jump into action. He stood behind Jackson and gave him a few good whacks on the back. The last hit finally dislodged the flowers from Jackson’s throat. The bloody flowers spilled all over the beige carpet of Jinyoung’s room. His eyes widened when he saw that whole flowers were coming out of Jackson. The sound of Jackson heaving once more snapped him out of his shock. He rubbed the older man’s back, whispering comforting words until he calmed down. When Jackson finally stopped heaving he turned to Jinyoung. His bared teeth were pink from the blood dripping from his mouth. “How do you know my name?”

 

How did Jinyoung know his name? That was the only question running through Jackson’s head. His throat was on fire after all the flowers were dislodged, but he needed an answer now. Jinyoung looked as confused as he felt. The younger man’s eyebrows were furrowed, his lips in a slight pout at the question.

 

“You told me your name, remember?” Jackson shook his head wildly.

 

“I didn’t tell you my name was Jia Er.” Jinyoung looked more confused.

 

“Jia Er? When did I call you that?” Jackson shoved the hand Jinyoung had on his back off of him.

 

“You just said it. You said it in your sleep, but you said Jia Er. How do you know that name?”

 

Jinyoung sat back on his heels, looking Jackson in the eyes. This was ridiculous. How did Jackson expect him to remember something he had said while he was asleep? But the look in Jackson’s eyes told him he was dead serious. Jinyoung sighed.

 

“I don’t know where I heard that name. I don’t think I’ve ever even heard it. Do you really expect me to know what I say when I’m unconscious?”

 

Jinyoung stood up then. He walked over to his dresser and took a couple of tissues out of the box that rested on top of it. "We have more pressing issues to talk about anyway. Like how you just threw up a garden’s worth of flowers all over my floor?” He said, handing Jackson the tissues. Jackson took them, wiping the blood off of his face. Jinyoung sat on the inflatable mattress to avoid the mess.

 

“So talk.” Jinyoung said as he looked down at Jackson.

 

“What?” Jackson asked shifting so he could sit on the floor and look up at Jinyoung.

 

“Well you’re coughing up full flowers covered in blood. That tells me that you have Hanahaki disease. With how many flowers there are I’m guessing you’ve had it for a long time.” Jinyoung responded, looking softly at Jackson. Jackson felt like he could cry. He would love to tell Jinyoung everything. But how could they tell Jinyoung about how much he regretted being a vampire? How could he tell him he was a vampire to begin with? Jinyoung snapped him out of his thoughts with a cough. 

 

“Does it hurt?” Jackson raised an eyebrow in confusion.

 

“Does what hurt?”

 

“Coughing up all those flowers. I mean some of them have stems. I imagine it’s painful to get them out of your throat.” Jinyoung asked with a tilt of his head.

 

Jackson shook his head. “It used to hurt a lot. I guess it stopped hurting over time.”

 

“So who is the person? Do you still hang around them?”

 

Jackson should have lied. He should have told Jinyoung that he still hung around that person. That they were still alive and well and that he would confess to them once and for all. But looking into Jinyoung’s eyes was the final nail in the coffin. He couldn’t lie anymore. He was caught.

 

“He’s dead. He’s been dead for a long time.”

 

Jinyoung’s soft smile slowly shifted into a concerned frown. His eyebrows furrowed, and his eyes looked struck with sadness. But Jackson didn’t stop talking. It felt like he had bottled everything up for all these years and now there was no way to keep it hidden anymore.

 

“He’s dead because of me! I failed to protect him. My only job was to make sure he was safe. But that day . . . that day he was so angry with me. I told him the truth. I told him everything I went through to become his royal guard and he ran off. I must have looked like a monster to him. Because that’s exactly what I am! He never got to know how much I loved him because he died!”

 

Jinyoung wrapped Jackson in his arms. Jackson was sobbing, his words slurred as he got more and more emotional. But the words confused Jinyoung. Jackson was a royal guard?  For who? Before Jinyoung could ask Jackson continued to speak.

 

“I’m sorry! I’m so so sorry I failed you. I loved you so much but I couldn’t keep you safe Prince Lee Ahn.”

 

That named stirred something in Jinyoung. It felt like there was something pulling at the back of his mind. Like a long forgotten memory that never really left him. His eyebrows knit together as he tried to pursue the memory. It was faint, but at the same time it felt like it wasn’t that long ago. Jinyoung didn’t realize that he had tightened his hold on Jackson in the meanwhile. Jinyoung spoke then. “Say that again.”

 

Jackson looked up. His crying had slowed down to hiccups by the time Jinyoung had spoken. “Say what again?”

 

“That name. What was the name of the prince?”

 

“Lee Ahn?”

 

Jinyoung felt like a door had opened in his mind. Something seemed to click at the mention of that name. Memories that weren’t his flooded his mind. Memories of growing up in a far off palace. Memories of learning to read and write. Memories of a certain royal guard that filled his days with so much laughter and light. Jinyoung looked down at Jackson and saw that face. That face that showed him that he was more than the obedient little prince he had been raised to be. That face that used to sneak him up to the highest guard tower just to give him the best view of the stars.

 

Jackson was worried. Jinyoung looked like he was far away. His eyes were wide and slightly glazed over. Jackson slowly reached up and held Jinyoung by the arms.

 

“Jinyoung?”

 

Jinyoung took a deep breath, tears in his eyes.

 

“Jia Er. You’re alive.”

 

Jackson froze once more, not daring to even breathe incase Jinyoung was playing a cruel joke. But Jinyoung continued to speak.

 

“I thought you had died. My mother told me you put a stake through your heart.”

 

Jinyoung reached up to hold Jackson’s face. Jackson leaned back, a scowl on his face and his nostrils flared in anger.

 

“That isn’t funny Jinyoung!”

 

“I’m not joking! I remember everything!  I remember you telling me you were a vampire. I was angry. I was so angry that you threw your mortality away just to protect me. I remember running off into the maze-” Jackson cut Jinyoung off.

 

“Then you should remember that there was an ambush and the leader killed the prince right in front of my eyes! Or did you forget that part? Lee Ahn died that day.” Jinyoung shook his head.

 

“No, I mean I remember the ambush but I didn’t die. My mother said I was lucky to be alive.” Jackson stood up, his face red and the veins in his neck popping as he shouted at Jinyoung.

 

“Stop lying! Lee Ahn is dead! And it was because I couldn’t protect him from the ambush on the palace. If I had kept him at my side the leader never would have been able to capture him. So quit acting like you know what happened to him!”

 

“I’m telling the truth!”

 

“The how did you survive!”

 

“I don’t know! But I swear I’m not lying to you!”

 

Jackson was about to reply when the door to Jinyoung’s bedroom creaked open. Both men looked to the new presence in the room. It was Jinyoung’s grandmother.

 

“He’s right Jia Er. He is Lee Ahn”