when jungeun coughed up a petal, she knew she was in trouble. but she would never speak a word of it to anyone.

her and jinsol were out by a river. they'd left the private school grounds to go on an adventure through the woods and had found a river. jinsol was laughing and singing. she was beautiful. ethereal. that's when jungeun knew she was falling.

"hey jungeun! do you like daisies? i love them!"

she'd been coughing up daisy petals for a week now. it was getting harder and harder to hide it. sometimes she'd miss class and just hide in the bathroom, feeling like she was going to cough her lungs up.

she thought the pain couldn't get any worse. that was until she saw jinsol with sooyoung. they were kissing. it felt like someone had just shot jungeun in the chest.

she fell to her knees, coughing so much it became too hard to breathe. when she woke up, haseul was by her side.

"how long has this been happening for?" the older girl asked. "i need to know, please."

"a week." jungeun mumbled as she sat up slowly, wiping . she'd been bleeding.

"and who is it?" haseul frowned.

"jinsol."

"oh... that's not good."

"i know she's with sooyoung."

"...let's get you back to your room."

haseul helped jungeun up off the floor and guided the younger girl back to her room. she made sure jungeun was lying on the bed before she brought her some water and a bucket.

"just in case you feel them coming up again." haseul said, managing a small smile. "i have to go now, but i'll be back to check on you later."

"thanks, haseul." jungeun said.

the prefect left the room, and jungeun was left lying on the bed, a pain in her chest and what felt like a hole in her heart.

jinsol came to see her a few hours later. she looked concerned.

"hey, you're not looking too good. are you sick?" jinsol asked with a frown.

"yeah... it'll pass soon, don't worry." jungeun said, forcing a smile.

"i'm gonna stay here with you for a while then." jinsol said before she flopped down next to jungeun.

she felt the petals coming up again. she tried her best to hold it in, but she couldn't. she grabbed the bucket and wretched, coughing up tons of the petals whilst jinsol watched in horror.

"oh my god, jungeun..." jinsol gasped. "please, get the surgery."

"i don't want to." jungeun mumbled. "i don't want to forget."

jungeun's condition only got worse as the weeks passed and soon she was bedridden. all of her friends visited her often. haseul came with yeojin and yerim one day, the two had drawn pictures for jungeun and told her to get well soon, both being too young to realise the severity of the situation, but jungeun just smiled and put the pictures up on her wall and thanked the two. kahei also visited, the two weren't very close but she'd came with a confession.

"i've been coughing up petals too, jungeun." kahei said quietly.

"because of who?" jungeun asked, sitting up.

"haseul." kahei mumbled.

"she's not seeing anyone though, please, tell her." jungeun instantly thought of jinsol and what would happen if she told her.

the thoughts only made her cough up whole daisies.

"i will. i promise." kahei said.

"before i go, please." jungeun urged the other girl.

kahei nodded. "i will."

jinsol visited a lot, but she never brought sooyoung. jinsol often cried her eyes out and jungeun would just run her fingers through the other girl's hair in complete silence. jinsol knew she was losing her best friend and there was nothing she could do. she'd begged jungeun to have the surgery, but she always got the same answer.

"i don't want to forget."

it was when haseul came to see her to tell her that she'd started dating kahei that jungeun passed. jungeun felt like she could let go after knowing that kahei wasn't in pain anymore, and that haseul would be happy. haseul held her hand through the whole thing and hummed softly, only letting go when jinsol burst in with some daisies.

"is she awake? i brought her some flowers."

"she's dead, jinsol."

jinsol's face turned pale.

"no... please... haseul, don't do that."

"come hold her hand, please. it's what she would want."

haseul let go of jungeun's hand and jinsol came and took her place, now sobbing.

"why? why couldn't you just get the surgery?"

haseul let jinsol cry for a while before she decided to tell her the truth.

"jinsol, she loved you. she'd been coughing up daisies. the flowers you brought her."

jinsol felt her heart shatter.