Minhyuk stands at the sink in the tily-lit bathroom, the fluorescent lights doing nothing to help his sickly pallor. He grips either side of the granite basin as he hacks up cherry blossom petals, their delicate texture feeling like silk as they force themselves from his body. The coughs wrack his form, causing his back to arch as they’re expelled. 

He glances into his own reflection. His blonde bangs stick to his sweaty forehead, and he gasps for air as the last of the petals fall from his lips. He glances down to watch them flutter, joining the pile in the sink stained red by his own blood. He sighs a heavy, shuddering breath as he reaches for a paper towel from the nearby dispenser.  

He’s vaguely aware of the door opening from off to the side, but he’s too worried about trying to hide the evidence to turn and see who it is.  

“... You okay?” Kihyun asks, his tone guarded. Minhyuk huffs out a ragged breath, moistening a napkin in a different sink to dab at his stained lips.  

“Yeah,” he replies, his voice raspier than usual. He clears his throat, still able to taste the copper undertones of his blood on his tongue, before throwing all the petals into the nearby trash bin. He can almost hear Kihyun purse his lips in dismay at this. 

“All these years,” Kihyun sighs out, shaking his head, “and you still think you can lie to me.” Minhyuk chuckles dryly, clearly unable to meet the shorter’s eyes as he passes. Kihyun reaches out, grips his arm tightly. “Does he know?”  

Minhyuk shakes his head, and Kihyun in a breath through his teeth.  

“You should tell him,” he says, his voice gentle and kind, as if he were to speak too harshly Minhyuk would shatter into a billion pieces. Minhyuk adamantly shakes his head, chewing on his lower lip. 

“I can’t, and you know why.” 

He then pulls his arm free from his friend’s grasp, and then marches out of the bathroom. 

Minhyuk sits at his desk with a heavy sigh, his breath rattling wetly within his lungs. He stares dully at the screen of his desktop, though he doesn’t process the digitized datasheets. A whiff of the painfully familiar cologne drifts passed him, and he can’t help but look up at his boss, the stunning Chae Hyungwon, the love of his life, as he passes by. 

“Could you move my three o’clock to tomorrow? Thanks.” Hyungwon says without sparing Minhyuk so much as a glance. He doesn’t even wait for a response before he disappears into his lavish office overlooking the Seoul skyline. Minhyuk automatically begins looking at Hyungwon’s schedule, clicking the little appointment boxes here and there to make the adjustment. He picks up the phone to call the client, as it had been an update on their divorce suit, and starts to dial the number. However, on the second ring, he starts coughing again, and he has to quickly hang up.  

Kihyun, whose desk is only a couple rows off, glances over immediately at hearing the familiar sound. He starts over, a look of defiant rage on his face. Minhyuk scrambles to find a napkin or tissue, holding his hand up over his mouth as flower petals begin falling from his lips. 

“Talk to him,” Kihyun tells Minhyuk as he chokes on the air trying to force its way through the onslaught of petals. Minhyuk shakes his head, making as if to speak, but the coughs wracking his body are just too great. Kihyun’s eyes turn sympathetic, and he reaches over to pat Minhyuk’s shoulder in an effort to comfort him. “Do you want me to say something? Because I will…” 

Minhyuk adamantly shakes his head, but this seems to only worsen his condition. He scoots back in his wheeled chair, doubling over just to try and make it stop. He can’t breathe, his lungs and chest ache with the effort of pushing these damned things out. 

He just wants it to stop. He casts a look of plea towards the door Hyungwon had disappeared behind, his office. He’s just right there. Minhyuk’s probably going to die right here and now, and Hyungwon will never know why…  

The lack of air is getting to him, and his vision is getting wavy and making him nauseous. He grips onto his desk to stabilize himself, to try and ground himself with something, anything. He can’t breathe, can’t think, can’t do anything but keep coughing out those blood-stained petals. He falls out of his chair and onto the floor, curling up in a ball as he keeps going. 

He’s vaguely aware of someone shouting, an ambulance being called, but he’s slipping away. He can’t do anything anymore. This is the end, and there’s nothing he can do about it… 

Hyungwon had been confused by the amount of people seeming to gather at his secretary’s desk. He could hear the shouting from his own office, and he curiously had gotten up to see what all the commotion was about. 

Imagine his horror and shock to find Minhyuk curled up in the fetal position atop a pile of bloody flower petals with more falling from his mouth, and Kihyun on the phone while gripping the man’s shoulder tightly, as if scared to let go. 

“Wh-What’s happening…?” Hyungwon couldn’t help but ask, his tone bogged down by fear, thought it was very clear what was going on. Kihyun had only given him a look of annoyance as he gave the address of the building to who was on the other line. 

The paramedics had arrived soon after, and they’d managed to stabilize Minhyuk enough to get him on a stretcher and into the ambulance. Kihyun had gone with them, and Hyungwon had offered to go, but Kihyun had pushed him away with an angry “You ‘ve done enough.” 

Now, Hyungwon’s speeding towards the hospital as fast as the traffic will allow him to go, fear gripping his heart. He’s holding onto the steering wheel as if it’ll somehow make the journey shorter, but of course it doesn’t. 

Minhyuk has hanahaki… That much is obvious. But, who could it be for…? Judging by the looks of it, he’s had it for a couple months, at least… That’s around the time he’d started pushing Minhyuk away, treating him only like a secretary again and not like his friend. He’d never said anything to the older, but he’d realized then that he’d begun to rely on Minhyuk more and more as a companion, not just a coworker. And, of course, that was only because he’d started to develop… certain feelings for the older. 

He’d never told anyone, never seen the need to. He’d thought then that if he just cut Minhyuk out then everything would go back to normal. He had no idea then that Minhyuk had begun having feelings for him, as well… He needs to make this right. He needs to save Minhyuk. 

Minhyuk awakens to harsh fluorescent lighting and a dull, mechanical beep. He inhales sharply, a mask around his nose and mouth and pumping oxygen into him. He coughs, but only a bit of spit comes out… He confusedly looks down, pulling the mask off his face. What the…???? No petals?? What is this???? This hasn’t happened since a couple months back… 

He glances over at a slight chuckle and is only mildly surprised to find Kihyun there. 

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” he says dryly, standing to offer a paper cup filled with water to the older. Minhyuk takes it wordlessly, downing it in a single gulp.  

“What happened...?” Minhyuk asks groggily, struggling to sit up. His arms are shaky, and he has to lean back heavily on the pillows behind him for support. 

“You nearly died,” Kihyun tells him bluntly, crossing his arms over his chest. His voice is hard, but his eyes shine with nothing but concern for his dear friend. “The doctor was just about to declare you a lost cause when we got here, but then you stopped coughing, your coloring returned to normal... You’ve been asleep for a few hours.” 

Minhyuk is slow to process what the slightly-younger is telling him. He’d been... on Death’s door? But he suddenly stopped? Got better? How is that even possible?? The only cure to Hanahaki is if— 

There’s a knock at the door, interrupting his train of thought. Hyungwon, his object of affection, is standing there, holding a bouquet of flowers. Kihyun chuckles next to him, and Minhyuk hears the chair shift as the shorter stands.  

“Um,” Hyungwon says, shifting on his feet after stepping into the room, ”I just thought I’d... come check on you. Things seemed pretty serious when you were rushed out like that.” 

“Kind of you to check on him,” Kihyun interjects, his tone lilting with a playful tease.  

“It’s more of a professional courtesy,” Hyungwon fires back at him, his eyes narrowing in annoyance at the older’s snark. Kihyun barks out a laugh, shaking his leg. 

“Sure, whatever you say.” He turns to Minhyuk, patting his shoulder gently. “Call me if you need anything. I’ll be by to get you tomorrow.” Minhyuk nods hurriedly, just wanting Kihyun to leave so he could have a moment with the gorgeous younger man currently staring into his very soul with those big brown eyes. Kihyun shoots Hyungwon a knowing smirk as he passes, closing the door behind him to give them some privacy. Hyungwon goes to take the seat Kihyun had vacated, setting the bouquet down on the nearby table. 

“How’re you feeling?” he asks, his voice soft and oh so caring. 

“Apparently I’m making a full recovery,” Minhyuk says, doing his best to sound casual despite his madly beating heart. “I... had Hanahaki, but Kihyun says it went away whenever we got here.” 

“Oh,” Hyungwon says, obviously feigning surprise. “Hanahaki? For who?" 

Minhyuk smiles dryly, tilting his head to the side. Hyungwon’s shoulders fall when he meets Minhyuk’s eyes, obviously relaxing.  

They remain like that for a moment, then two, their eyes saying all neither can say with words. Minhyuk’s heart slows to a normal tempo, feeling the love in Hyungwon’s gaze that the younger won’t admit to. 

That is... won’t admit to yet~