After their dinner, Jaemin suggested they make a bonfire and enjoy the cool summer night. “I’m so glad your birthday is on a warm night,” Mark muttered to himself, still speaking to Hyuck. “Or I wouldn’t have pulled this off.” Jaemin and Renjun found a good spot near the shore, but not too near that the water reached them. Jeno, who brought the firewood and the matches with him, dropped them on the driest part of the sand and started arranging them with the help of Jisung.

While they waited, he, Chenle and Jaemin tried toeing the water, checking the temperature. Soon enough, Chenle yelped when the water makes contact with his skin. "Cold." he chuckles, making Jaemin and him back away from the water. "This should be warmer tomorrow," Mark approaches, handing him a blanket. "I checked the temperature yesterday it says it should be warmer tomorrow."

Donghyuck hummed, staring at the water as it touched the shore. He doesn't know what to make of things, anymore. Does Mark know? Why is he acting like this? Looking back at his ultrasound that morning, it really didn’t seem like the doctor just asked Mark to take of him, he looked too dazed and solemn for such a simple task. Is that the reason why he’s doing this? Is he trying to make up for the fact that he’s the reason Donghyuck is sick? Mark is never like this. Sure, there are moments when Mark reaches over to put his hand on his thigh, or when he wraps an arm around his neck and pulls him in a sort of headlock. But not like this--he’s never like this. He's allowing Hyuck to hug him for extended periods of time; he allows him to lean in playfully; he allows him to get too close for comfort. If this is all just pity, he isn't sure if he should be enjoying.  

Jeno finally succeeded in lighting the bonfire, as he called them over to gather around it. Donghyuck sunk into the sand beside Chenle, and Mark follows to sit beside him.

They talked for a long time, mostly catching up on the news they've missed for the past few months. Renjun said he has been doing excellently in art school and that he's been enjoying his time. "And I think I have a boyfriend," he added like an unimportant footnote.

"What?" Jaemin exclaims, throwing him a stick he found on the ground. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't think I had to," he defends. "It's kinda new so I didn't want to spoil it too early."

"Understandable," Jeno remarks, trying to get Jaemin off Renjun's back. "You can just tell us about him when you're ready. Plus, maybe then you could allow him to meet us."

"Over my dead body," Renjun mutters, scowling. "I won't let you wild bunch ruin this for me." Jaemin finds another stick and throws it at Renjun.

"Where exactly are you getting all these sticks from?!"

Both Chenle and Jisung complain continuously about school, mutual pining still bubbling over the surface, but they obviously still haven't done anything about it. "Well, it's not that bad." Jisung tried to conclude.

"How is it not bad?" Chenle makes a face. "I just want to rush out of there."

"Well, you're there, so it isn't, really." Jisung insists, shutting Chenle up.

Every single eye turns to Jisung, except for Chenle, who seemed to have frozen. "ZhongChenLe.exe has stopped working," Jeno remarks, making both boys flush furiously.

"We should play a game," Renjun suggested with an evil glint in his eye. He's sure everyone can see it too but they're too caught up in trying to make the whole weekend fun. "Let's play truth or dare with a twist."

"Truth or dare is already a trap, what makes you think we'd accept it with a dare?"

"Because you're fun people and you aren't the most boring bunch of people ever?" That's always how Renjun convinced them to do something they weren't sure they wanted to. "We will be turning this bottle twice,"

"Where did you get that bottle?" Jeno muttered, interrupting him.

"The first person will be the one to answer the question or do the dare, the second person the bottle points to will be subject of the question or the dare, understood?"

"What?" Jisung mutters his signature, small, question when he thinks something is absurd.

"Okay, trial." Renjun straightens up and spins the bottle which stops at Jaemin. "Okay, Jaemin, truth or dare?"

"Dare." Jaemin answers confidently.

Renjun spins the bottle again and it points to Jisung. "Jaemin, I dare you to poke Jisung's nostril with your finger." Within a moment, Jaemin is suddenly rushing to Jisung with his finger out and ready, making Jisung jump and run away, screaming, 'It's a trial! It's a TRIAL!!!'.

It took a few minutes before Jeno caught Jaemin and carried him away from Jisung who was already panting so hard from running around.

"Why are you like this?" Jisung fake cries, trying to catch his breath.

"Okay, so does everybody get it now?" they all nod in agreement, not wanting Renjun to go into another trial. Amidst all the commotion, Hyuck felt a certain warmth as Mark scooches closer to him, relaxing against Hyuck and his blanket.

"Are you cold?" he whispers against Mark's head, slowly feeling the nod against his lips. "You wanna share the blanket?" Hyuck offers, extending the blanket over to Mark's side. He tucks his legs in and folds them in front of his body, as he wraps a blanket, and therefore his arm, around Mark, pulling him into the warmth of the blanket.

While this happens, Renjun spins the bottle, landing it on Chenle. "Chenle, truth or dare."

"I don't want anyone poking into my nose, so, truth." Everyone 'ooh-ed' at his decision as Renjun spins it another time, and unfortunately for Chenle, lands on Jisung again. "Chenle do you feel anything romantic for Jisung?" Renjun ambushes, making them both freeze. Jaemin is stifling a guffaw, stopped by Jeno's urgent hand on his arm. "Come on, Jun-hyung, why are you asking such absurd questions. I'm sure Chenle doesn't--"

"Yeah, I do." The other suddenly answers, effectively quieting Jisung.

Hyuck stifles a screech, holding onto Mark. Jisung gapes, and it seems like it became his turn to stop working.

"I have made a horrible mistake," Renjun noted. "I forgot I was supposed to be sharing a room with them." he clutches his chest dramatically. Jaemin reaches over, in dramatic comfort, "It's okay, Jun, you can just stay with us." Renjun pushes him away. "Ew!" he fake-retches. "Anything but you two." Renjun looks over hopefully at Mark.

"No can doozeville, babydoll." he jokes. "I'm keeping Hyuck with me all night, sorry." Donghyuck then thanks the universe for being dark right now, or Mark would definitely see the flush that's covering his entire face and neck. "You're so warm." he then noted when he sinks back to wrap himself around Hyuck.

They've done many rounds by then, and Hyuck has had to sniff Jeno foot for 10 seconds, while the others have done so much more disgusting stuff care of Renjun. Once again, the bottle lands on Hyuck who chooses dare again, not wanting to enter the 'truth' territory, it's too dangerous. "Hyuck, since you're the birthday boy, I'm giving you one advantage," Renjun announced. Hyuck perked up, interested. "I'm telling you the dare before I'm spinning the bottle."

"How is that an advantage?!" he complains.

"So Hyuck, you should kiss the person the bottle chooses." Hyuck shrugs, easy enough, he's kissed every single one of them at least once in his life. "One the lips." Oh no. He scans the faces around him, and Jaemin momentarily puckers up exaggeratedly, making kissy noises, and he can already imagine his face contorting into a disgusted expression.

"Please no." Hyuck pleads, his fear heightened by the slurping noises Chenle was making. "You're all disgusting please don't make me do this."

"Oh no, you're doing this." he puts the bottle in the middle and starts spinning it. Because it's spun on the sand, it doesn't take long before it stops to the person on Hyuck's right: Mark. Amidst the fear of being disgustingly salivated on by Jaemin and Chenle, he had totally forgotten Mark was part of the game.

Every single person around the bonfire froze, and Hyuck didn't really know how to react.

Suddenly, Mark breaks the silence. “Hyuck, come here.” Everything has faded into the background as Mark takes his wrists and pulls him to face him. Hyuck is in a bind, his mind isn’t working, and he can hardly register anything right now. His brain turned to mush, and he can’t think of a single coherent thought. Mark puts a finger under his chin to tilt his head up, before using both hands to cup his face. Is this really happening? What kind of trippy dream is this? Mark looks at him in the eyes intently, before they shift down to his lips, then back up. “Can I?” he asks, and before Hyuck can even register anything, his head had already nodded for him. Mark inches forward, sliding one of his hands to the back of his head, then down to his neck, cupping it warmly, and urging Hyuck to close the distance. When he finally does, and his lips met his, every nerve inside Donghyuck’s body seemed to all explode simultaneously, and his chest seemed to have expanded, clearing his head and messing it up all at the same time. Mark seemed to have hesitated at first, but then he started to move his lips gently against his, and the rest of Donghyuck's nerves died on the spot. His arms, which seemed to have a mind of their own, wrapped themselves around Mark's waist, pulling him closer to him, as Mark's hand presses insistently against his nape, moving his lips languidly against Hyuck's. Donghyuck's mind seemed to have recovered a little, and all it can think of is soft, soft, soft, love.

Mark seemed to attempt to deepen the kiss when they heard Chenle sneeze, washing over them like ice cold water, making them jump away from each other. "Damn it, Chenle." Jaemin complained, making the younger mutter a tiny 'sorry', "I couldn't hold it in anymore." Hyuck was still panting from lack of air, staring at Mark with an utmost confusion. "Good enough, Renjun?" Mark asked.

"I'm sorry, but," he grins evilly. "It's Hyuck's dare to kiss you, but you kissed him. It doesn't count."

In a bout of frustration, Hyuck suddenly grabs Mark by the neck and pulls him forward, before pressing another kiss on the other's lips before letting him go abruptly.

"How about that?" Hyuck pants.

"Good enough." he chuckles and shakes his head, turning his attention away from the two dazed people.

When it started to get extremely cold, they decided to head back to the villa and watch a movie instead. Jeno got busy with the projector he has previously prepared and sets it up. While Hyuck tries to settle himself onto one of the bean bags, Mark approaches hesitantly. He doesn’t really want to think about it, except for the fact that his lips are still tingling from the contact, and from thinking about the fact that they might have gone overboard from the required peck and had almost made out for everyone to watch. “I’m sorry,” Mark mutters quietly, helping him settle down onto one of the bean bags and knelt beside him. “What for?” Hyuck asked. He does mean it, there is nothing for Mark to be sorry about, it’s not like it’s a crime, Hyuck was pretty into it despite his initial fear. He knows it messes with heart, making him feel like something is there, but constantly reminding himself that the flowers are proof that there is nothing, works. As long as the flowers are there, as long as the leaves are there, he’s sure feels nothing romantic for him--but he’s sure he loves him, as a friend of course, and if Mark does know and is doing this to make him love Hyuck back, then he recognizes the effort. Not that it doesn’t hurt, not that it doesn’t make him consistently wish for the impossible, but he does appreciate that Mark is aiming for the impossible, too. But that doesn’t change the fact that it is what it is: impossible.

“For kissing you so suddenly.”

“It doesn’t matter, Mark.” he smiled. “We all knew we were gonna have to do it, anyway, Renjun never accepts a ‘no’.” He pats his cheek reassuringly, inviting him to sit on the beanbag beside him. Mark nods, although still looking kind of hesitant. “Okay,” Jeno announces. “Mark said we should save this for later but I think the atmosphere might already be perfect for this.”

“Oh no,” Mark mutters beside him. “I must warn you,” he turns to Hyuck and slides in closely. “This is very cringey.”

Jeno presses play, and the notes to his favorite song start to fade in, showing childhood pictures of Hyuck. There was one with him and his sister by the park, another with Mark on their dining table paint smudging both their faces, another one with Mark riding the swings, and another one with Mark eating ice cream. He turns to Mark, looking at how much they’ve grown up through the years. Mark turns to him, “I’m sorry it always has me in them,” he turns to the screen, looking at another picture of the two of them in middle school, messy and with their smiles reaching their ears. “It was difficult to find one without me in it.” It’s not just the pictures, Hyuck’s life, in general, was difficult to think about without Mark in it. As the year's progress in the pictures, his ensemble with Mark slowly got bigger. There’s picture of them in middle school, with Hyuck wrapped around Mark, when Mark still had his glasses and his braces, then followed by a picture of the two of them, but this time, with Jeno and Jaemin in tow taken in a fast food restaurant, a few seconds before Mark gasped as Hyuck’s ice cream cone fell to the tray. He smiles at the memories, he remembers then, he thought Mark was just such a special friend, and he thought best friends were supposed to feel that way for each other since he saw it in Jeno and Jaemin, too. But when he saw the process of them getting together, and when Jeno starts to share how he realizes he’s in love with his best friend, and the process of helping them both confess did only Hyuck realize that what he felt for Mark, wasn’t platonic at all.

He struggled with those feelings for such a long time, and when he confessed, he admitted, he was stupid, and he didn’t think of the strain it would have on their friendship. He was awkward with Mark for months after it, and those were the worst few months of his life, even now when there’s a whole garden in his lungs, he thinks everything is still better because Mark is still there, trying, trying, and trying to pull them out. But he knows there’s no point. He knows Mark if he still thinks it’s another guy, he’s still plotting to look for him, force him to love Hyuck back, even if he had to commit a crime for it, and if he does know it’s him, then he’s forcing himself right now. He loves Hyuck that much. But not the type to make the flowers go away.

The slideshow stops abruptly, showing an awkward Jisung, saying a half-assed birthday message for Hyuck, followed by an ecstatic Chenle, who always knew what to say. Renjun’s message seemed annoyed and rushed, which is so Renjun it hurts, making Hyuck laugh in the process. Jaemin comes in the screen and makes an extremely heartfelt and dramatic message it made Donghyuck want to hit him with a pillow. Jeno was then next, awkward and shy, but pulled off an equally loving message. Finally, Mark comes in front of the screen, smiling and blushing, mostly maybe from awkwardness.

“Hyuck? Hi.” he chuckles, earning a chastise from Jaemin from behind the camera. “Okay, serious.” he clears his throat and sits up straight. The Mark beside him cringes, leaning onto his shoulder and cupping Hyuck’s thigh with his hand. “I still remember the day at the playground when I dropped my iced lollipop,” he pauses, shooing Jaemin and Jeno away. “I thought, ‘who is this squishy- boy, and how do I ask him to be my friend without seeming overeager?’ turns out I only had to drop my beloved iced lollipop to be stuck with you until now. I deeply regret it,” he jokes. “Joking aside, you are my best friend, and I love you with all of my heart, and I won’t let anyone hurt you, not even me.” he pauses seriously, and the Mark wrapped around him holds his thigh tighter. “I know I’ve done it before, and it’s one of the worst things I’ve done.”

“It’s not your fault.” Hyuck whispers against his head.

“I felt terrible, as soon as I ran away I wanted to come back.” video_Mark continued. They’d never talked about this. Hyuck being who he was, insisted that they just forget it ever happened. “I knew I hurt you, and I was supposed to protect you from it. I hated it.” he frowns, holding back tears. “But I just wanted to remind you that if I ever, ever, hurt you again, I have a covenant with Jeno and Jaemin, they can beat me up.” Hyuck laughs.

“Don’t laugh, his mom notarized it, it’s binding,” Jeno says seriously, pausing the video.

“Are you serious?” he turns to Mark.

“Mom was weirded out, but she did it anyway.”

“Why are you such dorks?” he mutters as Jeno plays the video again. “Anyway, happy birthday, I love you with all of my heart, and despite your impending operations, always remember that I am willing to do anything to make you feel better. I just hope you were still in love with me so I can easily love you back.” Hyuck raised his brows and turns to Mark. “Why are you joking like that?” he wanted to get angry at him, he wanted to push him away, but considering Mark was still tightly wrapped around him, sniffing and tearing up, he couldn’t actually do so. “I wasn’t joking.” he shakes his head. “If you were still in love with me I can just love you back, then you don’t have to cough up flowers anymore. I can’t help but think, if I had accepted your confession and loved you back then, would this have happened?” Hyuck looks up, realizing everyone had crept out of the room and left them alone.  “Every time you double up, coughing, every time a petal touches my skin, every time blood accompanies your flowers, I think it’s partially my fault, you know?”

“Don’t think like that.” Hyuck whispers.

“I’m sorry, Hyuck.”

“You don’t have to be. I’m going to get the operation, and it’s going to be successful, and I just have to… forget I ever felt anything for him.” To Mark, this may be relieving, but to Hyuck, looking at Mark right now, thinking all of his feelings for him would go away, was painful in itself. But that is what exactly what he is trying to get rid of.

“You really… want to?” Mark asks.

“What do you mean?”

“You really want to forget you ever loved him?”

Hyuck was taken aback, does he really want to. “He doesn’t love me back, Mark.”

“What if he does? What if he just hasn’t had the chance to tell you?”

“He doesn’t, Mark.” he shakes his head. “I know he doesn’t.”

Mark pauses, wanting to say something, but he holds back. “Does it hurt?” he finally asks.

“Like hell.”

Hyuck wakes up the next morning and only has faint recollections of Mark being tightly around him in his sleep and him enjoying it too much. But right now, the space beside him was empty, and he can hear the bustling outside his door again. Chenle suddenly peeks in, surprised that Donghyuck is finally awake. “Do you want a dip in the pool, or do you want to just pack up and leave?”

“I know Chenle and the others really want to go into the pool, but I don’t want to,” he complains, wanting to go back to sleep.

“I can just tell them to pack up.”

“No!” he stops him. “You can all go, I can just stay here.”

“But I arranged this for you, though.” he pouts, stepping into the room and sitting on the foot of his bed.

“And it’s appreciated, I had so much fun.” he reaches out to pat him. “I can join you for a while, I can just dip my feet in.” he offers, making Mark smile.

“Yay,” he mutters and stands, pulling Hyuck’s arms to help him up from the bed, allowing Hyuck sit on the foot of the bed. The other approaches him and hugs him closely. “Did you really have fun?”

“Yeah,” he nods against Mark’s stomach, hugging him back. “Thank you so much.”

They had another fun day, with all of them splashing around under the heat of the sun, and Donghyuck finally being forced into the pool by Jisung and Jaemin, leaving him no choice but to stay with them in the pool all day, sunburn be damned. They had to finish all their food, as they were supposed to check out late in the afternoon, and they still had a lot of food left since Mark packed so much. They alternated from playing around to eating, and even took funny videos and pictures of them jumping in and out of the water, they had a small mishap when Jeno almost slipped while he was chasing Chenle around with a spatula.

“I told you, no running!” Mark had his hand on his waist, chastising like a mama hen.

Around an hour before they were supposed to check out, they had left the pool and started packing up and cleaning up their mess. As Hyuck came out of the bathroom, Mark had already been bent over his luggage, folding Hyuck’s clothes one by one and quietly putting them in.

“Hey, I can do that myself,” he says quietly.

“I’m almost done, I can just finish this,” he mutters.

When he sits up, finished, he sits close to Hyuck, smiling at him. “Thank you for this,” Hyuck says, cupping his face with his hand. Mark’s eyes flutter closed, leaning into the touch. For a few seconds, Hyuck allows himself to think there’s something there before the logical side of his mind kicks in and reminds him. It’s not happening, stop getting your hopes up.

But then Mark pulls his hand away, and puts his own on Hyuck’s face, caressing it down to the back of his neck. Hyuck looks at Mark intently, not really thinking about what is happening anymore, but he allows himself to be carried away, he knows it’s a bad decision, but he seems to have thrown out all rational thinking out the window, and allows Mark to lean in and press their lips together.

This time is much slower, despite the fact that this time, there’s no one watching them. Mark slowly moves his lips, and pulls Donghyuck closer to him, pulling him by the waist. Hyuck, in return, wraps his arms around Mark’s neck, pulling him impossibly closer, turning his head for a better angle. When Mark bites his lower lip, a bucket of cold water seemed to have been thrown over him as he snaps out of it, making him pull away abruptly and push Mark away.

He pants, scared to look at Mark in the fact when he’d just kissed him without the presence of a dare.

“I know it’s me,” Mark confesses.

I knew it, I knew it, I ing knew it.

“And I love you, Hyuck.” , that’s it. Confessing he knows it and is forcing himself to love Hyuck back may be a little bit acceptable, but making Hyuck believe he does is just low.

“What do you think you’re playing at?”

“Hyuck--I” he tries to reach other but Hyuck pushes him away.

“Why are you doing this to me?” he chokes out, not realizing he’s been crying. “Why are you doing this?” he repeats, more broken than the first one. “Stop forcing it, stop making me believe you do, stop breaking my heart.” he sobs, and it must have been loud enough because Jaemin comes rushing in, freezing when he saw Hyuck’s broken state.

“Hyuck, please--” Mark tries to reach out again but he swerves and grabs his luggage handing them to Jaemin. “Let’s just go.”

It took Mark a while to catch up with them in the car, and he could almost see his expression drop when he sees Jisung in the passenger seat and Hyuck sitting at the very back. Hyuck couldn’t believe it, he knows Mark is not above faking it all just to make feel Hyuck better, he knows he’s willing to do anything, but he didn’t expect he’d actually tell Hyuck he’s in love with him when he knows that Donghyuck knows he isn’t. It’s just cruel. He never expected Mark to be cruel right when he’d just said he wouldn’t hurt him.

When they’d stopped at his house, he had run away right away, not even giving anybody else a chance to catch up to him, running straight into their house, and up to his room in record time. When he steps into his room, he texts everyone a “leave me alone for a while” before he slumps down, sobbing. He had cried himself to sleep that night, the tightness and pain in his chest reminding him that Mark lied. He lied, he lied, he lied. He sobs more, feeling a harder, more abrasive scratch against his lungs. He tried to stop it as he can hear someone trying to turn a key into his doorknob, but he couldn’t. The pain had made him sit up, as he coughed, coughed, and coughed, and right when Jaemin stepped into his room, a whole red rose fell from his mouth. He stared at it, and Jaemin did, too.

Jaemin stared at the rose, then looked at Hyuck staring at the rose in front of him, blood covering it. It breaks his heart, and he realizes that if this is this painful for him, he wonders how Hyuck must feel right now. He steps forward and sees Hyuck’s tears fall onto the rose.

“Hyuck…” he calls out.

“Jaemin…” Hyuck looks up, blood marring his lips. His face contorts into the most painful expression he’d seen as Hyuck breaks down and cries, reaching out to him, desperately clinging onto his clothes. Jaemin hugs him and cries with him, reminding him that it’s okay, it’s going away soon.

Hyuck then developed a fever, and his mother had to set an appointment with his doctor, convinced that he had to take the operation as soon as possible. However, the doctor said he had to talk to Donghyuck and his parents first. So as soon as his fever subsided, Donghyuck found himself in the waiting room with his parents, shivering not just because of the cold, but as an aftereffect of his breakdown.

Not long after, the receptionist calls Donghyuck as he steps into the office of the doctor which he is very much wanting to sue for telling Mark but didn’t have the energy to do so. He was talking with his parents first, but then he couldn’t keep it in anymore. “Why did you tell him?” the doctor looked taken aback, but Donghyuck wanted answers. “I thought you’re in some kind of oath, why did you tell Mark?”

“Wait, Mark? I thought it was someone you couldn’t contact anymore.” his mom asked, but he chose to ignore her, demanding answers from his doctor.

“Okay, let me explain. I didn’t tell him.” he stands, moving over to his table and pulling a huge envelope from his drawer. He takes out several x-ray results and clips on two onto the board. “This is Donghyuck’s x-ray when I first met him.” he points to the result, two lungs filled with small petals which he identifies as the daisies. “In my years of studying Hanahaki, people are usually plagued by roses, sunflowers, or hyacinths, but rarely daisies. So I did a little more research about them, and specifically, yours, that’s why I asked you to bring the petals.” he unclips them and clips two other x-ray results. He faces Hyuck and his parents, “Can you see the difference?”

“There are other flowers in there.” his mother comments.

“But there are also less flowers in there.” his father added.

“Yes,” the doctor pointed to his Dad. “The first thing I noticed was there were less. I studied Donghyuck’s case deeply because I’ve never seen Hanahaki decrease before. Upon diagnosis, it just increases over time, so I considered Hyuck’s case to be special.” he unclips them and clips two others. “These are the results of both the ultrasound and the x-ray I did last week on your birthday, when I had you put on a sleeping mask.”

Hyuck’s heart skipped a beat, and his mom gasped, not believing that the images on the screen were supposed to be his. “There’s… one flower in there.” his father mutters.

“I’ve been suspecting for quite a while, but then I had to make sure. I had to visit one of my mentors who had conducted a study about being loved back during the stages of Hanahaki.” Hyuck looks up, not believing his words. “There has been no proven subject before, so his study hasn’t quite been proven, yet, and then… I showed him Donghyuck’s x-rays.” he pauses. “What we both think, is that Hyuck’s flowers have been accumulated in the past years that he has been in love with his friend, and wasn’t loved back, with the amount of flowers that you’ve coughed up, we estimate them to have started accumulating around a year ago.”

A year ago.

“It’s mostly triggered by rejection.” he turns to Hyuck and he nods quietly, confirming that he was rejected around a year ago.

“However, considering the fact that it just kept on decreasing, meant that the affection, or the love was returned, even when you were diagnosed and started coughing them out. We both think that the coughs were triggered the moment he loved you back, even though unknowingly, because now that the body recognizes that you’re loved back, it wanted to expel all the flowers it had accumulated over time.” he pulls up the x-ray with a rose in it again. “This was the last of the flowers.”

“Does that mean…?” his mother inquires.

“There’s nothing more, it’s gone. It’s been gone the moment you started coughing them out.” he clears his throat as soon as his mother started freaking out. “Although, since Donghyuck is our only subject, we’d have to observed him over time to make sure it doesn’t come back. But right now, we’re both at least 90% sure that his Hanahaki is back.”

Despite all the information he has now, all he can think about is Mark, Mark, Mark.

He found himself standing outside Mark’s door, not really sure whether to ring the doorbell or not. He just walked outside back and forth, sitting on the porch, and standing up, not really sure what to say. When he decides to just, leave, the door swings open to reveal Mark.

He freezes as soon as he sees Donghyuck there, and Donghyuck just stares back, his heart beating so quickly he thinks it might burst. Mark looked worn down, his hair unkempt and his eyes swollen and dark, but he still looked pretty. Plus, he had his glasses on which was always attractive for him. “Hi.” Donghyuck greets meekly.

“Hyuck, hi. Are you okay?” he scans him up and down, making sure he isn’t hurt.

“Yeah,” he nods. “Are you?” Mark looks up and smiles painfully.

“I miss you.” he chokes and frowns, like he always does when he’s about to cry. “I’m sorry.” he whispers. “Do you want me to take it back? Would you feel better if I did? Please, tell me. Hyuck, I’ll do anything.” a tear falls from his eye and Donghyuck couldn’t bear it anymore.

“I talked to my doctor,” he starts, and Mark looked confused. “The flowers are all gone.”

Mark lights up, but goes back to being confused. “Jaemin told me you coughed up another one…? So I thought it isn’t me.”

“It was the last one.” he confesses.

“I… I thought you knew.” Mark admits. “Your birthday weekend, you didn’t cough, not once.” he pointed out, making Hyuck realize it himself. “I really thought you knew… I kissed you twice.”

“I thought you were forcing yourself to love me back.” Donghyuck moved forward, reaching for Mark’s hand. “What did my doctor tell you? Why did you realize it was you?”

“He told me about your flowers, and how the numbers were decreasing, so he thought it could be about someone who didn’t love you back a year ago, but loved you back now.” Mark looks up and connects their pinkies together.

“So…” Mark hesitated. “You believe me now? That I really do love you?”

Hyuck smiles, genuinely this time. “Because I really do, Hyuck, so much. I tried to show you, I tried to tell you. When I sang to you, I was technically pouring it out there, I thought you realized it. But when you told me the Hanahaki was for someone else I realized that I really lost my chance, and I backed away, I couldn’t tell you anymore. But then, I started thinking, what if you loved me again? Would the flowers go away? So I showed you, again and again, how much… how much I love you.” he pauses, caressing Hyuck’s finger with his thumb. “That night… I told you, but you didn’t get it.”

“Which part?”

“I said that, ‘if you just loved me again, I could just love you back’.” He recalls. “And I meant them, Hyuck. I just wanted you to love me again so the flowers would go away.” Mark kept on crying, while Hyuck busied his free hand trying to wipe them all away.

“I know that now, Mark. I know now, I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry.” he pulls Hyuck into his arms and hugs him tight. “I really love you, Hyuck.”

“ you, Mark, I love you, too.” he answers before pulling back to press a quiet peck on his lips.

Mark smiled so widely Hyuck thought he was going to rip his face off, and right now, Hyuck can breath again, and a lot freely now that he knows, that the impossible can actually happen. At first that he can’t breathe because of the flowers, but now he realizes, it’s just Mark, and he always leaves him breathless.

You made flowers

Grow in my lungs

And although they are beautiful

I can’t breathe.

-Anon

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It has finally ended, and I'd like to thank all those who left upvotes and their comments. Since I completed the second hald of this chapter at 3am, I expect this to be full of mistakes, or haphazardly explained. So if anything seems confusing to you, you can always leave a comment, or you can dm me at twitter @choisoftcheol. I also have a curiouscat, @aishjinjaa, if you want your comments or questions to be anonymous! Nothing rude, though, even though this probably .

Thank you very much for reading my first MarkHyuck! I'll try to write better next time.