Everything hurt.

What started as a simple pain in the chest became something deadly. He couldn't do anything to cease the pain. There were two ways for him to be cured, but he wanted to do the easier one first.

It started as a pain in the chest. He didn't know why it hurt, but he brushed of aside. He thought it would go away after a day. So he waited.

A day passed,  then two, then three. The pain still resided. It wasn't until the fourth day that things became worse.

He coughed out flowers.

Flowers left his mouth as he would cough. The petals would fall from his mouth and would drop into his hands. When he coughed up flowers, the pain in his chest increased. He knew that this had to mean something. He wouldn't cough up flowers for no reason.

"What does it mean when you- when you..."

His fingers left his laptop's keyboard. His chest felt it was being squeezed. As he expected, flowers left his mouth again. His hand was able to catch a certain flower. Looking at his palms, he couldn't help but feel that his world slowly spun.

The flower was stained in red. It was stained in blood.

"I- I have to continue this..."

He continued to type the letters into his laptop. 'What does it mean if you cough up flowers?' His fingers impatiently tapped the mouse. He was more than anxious to know the answer. As more time ticked by, it felt like his chest was aching more and more. He tried to control his breathing, now was not the time for him to hyperventilate

After what felt like an eternity, the screen finally loaded.

"Alright, let's see here." His eyes scanned the first thing he saw. "Coughing up flowers is a symptom of a disease known as Hanahaki Disease. The victim would suffer from this disease after suffering from one... sided... love..."

This is ridiculous! he thought. But nonetheless, he still pressed the page's load. After loading for a long time, the webpage showed up. His eyes scanned the page, loading for more meanings.

"One sided love... cough up flowers," he would mutter every now and then.

When his eyes finally landed on the cure, he carefully read it.

There are two cures for the Hanahaki's disease. One way is to have doctors operate on you and have the flowers growing removed. But after that, your feelings for that person will forever diasppear. The other way is to confess to your loved one. But it is needed that they would feel the same way.

"Failure of curing this disease can cause the thorns, vines, stems, etc. in your chest to suffocate you until you die."

At first, it seemed ridiculous.  He didn't believe it. That was until he remembered the day his chest ached. It was the day he fell in love with his best friend.

So now, here he was. He was sitting in his couch, coughing up more flowers. He was waiting for her to come. He was waiting for her to show up so he could say how he felt. Her reaction will let him knowing he could finally breathe freely again, or if his lungs would be operated.

But as he coughed once more, he felt his world stop.

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A/N :
Hello guys again ^^
I just want to say that this story is not made by me. This short story is made by -Royal_Empress-. Since she doesn't want to publish this in her account, I decided to get her story and published it here.

And I thank you for that.

Anyway, hope you like the story.. see you on the next chapter ^^