Wonyoung's POV

     "Hanahaki Disease is a disease in which the victim coughs out flower petals when they suffer from one-sided love. It ends when the beloved returns their feelings, or when the victim DIES. It can be cured through surgical removal, but when the infection is removed, the victim's romantic feelings for their love also disappear." ONE-SIDED LOVE? DIES? I stared at the petal I coughed out just a while ago. A petal literally just came out of my mouth. I know it's dumb of me to believe this but this article was the only explanation to what just happened. If this is true then...

     Who do I love? I kept thinking until I felt a pair of arms s around my waist and a chin leaning on my shoulder. I immediately knew who it was since I'm at the abandoned playground next to our school, only two of us knew of this place, it was I and her.

     I felt her warm breath on my neck and immediately hid my phone and the petal in my uniform's pocket. I felt her tighten her hold on me and move her face closer.

     "Why, are you hiding something from me now?"  I looked at her and saw that she was too close, way too close, my face felt  warm. I felt my throat go soar again. It was ticklish and painful at the same time, it felt like my chest was tightening, so I held her face and shoved it away before I covered my face.I couldn't stop myself from coughing. I felt another petal fall on my hand. I quickly hid it in my pocket again.

     "You didn't have to shove me away. What's your problem?", she said, not noticing the flower petal that came out of my mouth since I covered it with my mouth. She was now seated on the swing next to the one I was sitting on, with her arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed.

     "You smell bad. You didn't take a bath again, did you?", I said, trying to cover up why I coughed. I saw her face go red as she tried to smell herself. She looked back to me, clearly flustered and mad.

     "Wha-What do you mean? No, I don't. And of course I took a bath!", she said and pretended that she was about to hit me.

     "Really? We've been best friends for so many years already. You don't think I've noticed that you're too lazy to take a bath sometimes?", I said with my eyebrows raised. Now it's my time to cross my arms.

     I couldn't help but laugh as she was so flustered and embarrassed  that she couldn't speak. After a while, she started laughing too.

     I stared at her while she laughed, realizing only now that her dimples are so deep, her eyes became crescents and her laugh makes me laugh and feel warm. She's pretty. Really pretty.

     "YAH! Why are you staring at me like that? I know my face is pretty but you don't have to make it obvious by gawking at me like that." She said and then laughed again while wiggling her eyebrows repeatedly. Now it was my turn to be flustered. I felt another petal coming up, my throat getting try and painful again. I tried to surpress my cough.

     "Don't you have classes this period, Unnie?" I said making her stop and look at her watch.

     "Oh, shi-, Right. See you later." She said quickly before before running inside the school, to her classroom. I finally coughed out what I was holding, the pain was burning my chest. It gets tighter and more painful everytime I held it in. Everytime I breathe in and out, I could feel the petals in my throat and chest. This time, I coughed out more than just one.

     A sudden realization hit me. Is it her?

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      During class, I couldn't stop thinking about everything, the flowers, the possibility of death and her. I remembered every detail of that face of hers. Her eyes which were playful yet luring, her pointed nose, her dimples deeper than whatever deep thing you can think of and her lips, they looked perfect, pink and so soft, I wonder what they felt li- NO. SHE'S YOUR BEST FRIEND. NO.

      I don't know why it had to be her, but every time I think about her, I feel giddy and warm, but at the same time, it was painful. Petals continue to come out of my mouth as I can't seem to stop thinking about her. Everything she did was normal but lately these days, everything she does and every little touch makes me shiver and I don't know, happy?

      My thoughts were disrupted when I heard the bell ring. Maybe I'm just hungry. I hurriedly walked to the canteen but was pulled immediately when I just exited our classroom's door. I felt a hand grab my right arm. I felt my face become warm again as I remembered who usually waits for me to finish my class so that we could together. Only now do I actually notice these little things she does daily, and it's making my heart flutter. I turned back to look at her.

     "Hey, why are you in such a rush?" She said, still not letting go of my hand. I could only stare at her hand as I felt her soft fingers holding my wrist. My eyes' stare slowly moving to meet hers. Oh my gosh, even her stares make my legs feel weak now. She was staring right through me, worry evident on those golden brown orbs. I felt it again. The petals trying to escape my system. They were much worse than before, I could feel their texture running through my chest to my throat. I held it back.

     "It's nothing, I just need to go the bathroom." I said as I try to take my hand from hers, I regret it instantly as the feeling of her soft hands disappeared. I saw her face confused and sad but I quickly ran to the bathroom as I could no longer hold it all in.

      I stared at all the rose petals I threw up, they were smaller and had lighter color earlier, now they were bigger and red, no wonder it was more painful. I flushed the toilet and saw all those petals disappear. Only now am I taking in the seriousness of this disease. I'm afraid to die, but I'm more afraid to lose her.

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     I felt guilty. She waited for an hour just so we could eat together but I suddenly left her. What if she got mad? No, she won't right? Should I apologize. Geez what's wrong with me? She's never the type to get mad that easily. This isn't the first time I didn't get to eat with her, right? Then why am I reacting like this. Chill.  She won't be mad. She won't be.

     "Oh, Wonyoung? Why are you here?" Yena unnie, her friend,  asked me when she was walking out from their room.

     Wait. How did I get to her classroom so suddenly? Had I been walking while overthinking?

     "I was just waiting for Yujin unnie. I need to talk to her." I said, while peeking inside Yujin unnie's classroom but stopped when I heard Yena unnie.

     "Yujin? But she already left with Minjoo just a while ago?" Minjoo unnie?

     "SHE LEFT ME?" I said, shocked and mad, forgetting about Yena unnie's existence.

     "How could she just leave me here alone? And without even telling me why or with whom? Gosh that girl is driving me mad" I said while storming out of our school. Who the heck leaves her friend without explanation?

     OH. I stopped walking in the middle of the hallway when realization hit me.  I forgot. I left her too just a while ago. I hit my head with my fist for forgetting. Perhaps this is her payback. I coughed as another petal went out, leaving me with a burning chest. Is she gonna replace me now?

     "What did I do wrong?" Yena said as she saw the suddenly angry girl scream and leave.

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     It was lonely to walk alone. I've been used to her presence, everything around me becomes really dull when she's not around. Reaching the school's gate served to be difficult as I watched students with their friends. They were everywhere and they were noisy.

     I saw two girls specifically, one was clearly Japanese and one was this girl who had hair who moved freely everytime she made a slight movement. On the outside, you'd think they were just close friends but as I looked at them walk I could see them intently walk close to each other, their hands brushing against each other every step they make. They somehow made me envious, the look in their eyes obviously meant more than just close friends. I just continued walki-

     "BOO! HAHAHAHAHA", I was shocked to hear her and see her appear suddenly from the side of the gate.

     "Yah! What's wrong with you, Ahn Yujin?" I asked, clearly furious,  but I couldn't help but smile.

     "What's wrong with me? You should ask yourself that. Did you see how you walked? You looked like you were lost. And you're waaaaay too slow. I've been waiting here for hours.", she said as we started walking to the direction of my home.

     "You waited for me? I thought you already left me here." I said feigning sadness.

     "Dude, it's Friday, did you forget already?" She stopped walking and faced me. I stared at her with a confused look.

     "It's Friday, so what?", I replied. She looked at me with a serious a face. That look is dangerous. Way too dangerous for my liking. I felt myself blush so I quickly tried to hide my face.

     "Movie. Sleepover. Your house. We do this all the time, and every single time, you forget about it." We continued walking. "See how heavy this bag is?" She turned her back on me to show her bag. "You should be ashamed, you're clearly unprepared. You might have your clothes and even your underwear sprawled all over your room again." She said with her teasing face.

     "Oh right. I didn't forget. My mind was just preoccupied.", I laughed awkwardly, not doing well with lying about forgetting the sleepover.

     "Uh huh?" She said with her left eyebrow raised, clearly incredulous about my answer.
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