Jinki felt the itch arise in the folds of his throat, he cleared his throat quietly, suppressing it. He couldn’t let go now, not now in front of Jonghyun.

He pulled Jonghyun closer as another sob heaved through his body, his body quivering as he went in another coughing fit, he felt the warm gush of the petals against his chest. A sharp pain rose in his heart at their color; they were a dark purple with blue veins running across their surface, a crimson red fading at their edge. He tightened his embrace around Jonghyun, wishing he could ease the pain, wishing he was what Jonghyun ever wanted.

He had seen it coming the day Jonghyun began showing interest in their senior. He could see it in the way Jonghyun’s eyes would light up whenever they peeked a shy glimpse at their senior, whenever he talked to Jinki about the other.

Jinki was there the day Jonghyun was coughing light pink petals with deep red veins along their surface. He knew then, Jonghyun’s crush had developed into something more.

He was always there near Jonghyun, the only steady thing in the changes that began taking place. He quietly watched the pink petals turn deeper and deeper, till they were a crimson red. He was there when Jonghyun had worked up the courage to confess. He was there when Jonghyun turned up at his place at night, the petals a weave of red and blue. He was always there and he would always be there, just like now, embracing him, trying to lessen up the sorrow.

It took a few hours for Jonghyun to calm down, when Jinki was sure that Jonghyun was in a deep sleep, he left his side, and headed to the garden behind his place.

He knelt down, the small stones pressing into his knees as he let the spell he had been suppressing all this while unwind. A sad smile shaped his lips at their colour, they were a crimson red, the colour never changing through the years.

He buried the petals like he had always, making sure not a single one was in view, buried away every piece of his shattered hope.

He dusted the mud off himself and sat by Jonghyun’s side, watching his distressed self cough up delicate dark petals, the same shade he had buried before. His heart ached like it was being pulled from every direction, ached because he knew they both were fools, they both were ill-fated, destined to bury the falling petals of love.