for the next few weeks, yeonjun tried to avoid soobin as much as possible. specially during lunch, when songyee and soobin were together. he spent most of his time with serim and a few other friends, namely taehyun, beomgyu and kai.

today, however, was weird.

waking up before time, he leaned out the window to make sure soobin wasn't already waiting for him. he quickly got ready and ran to school.

midway, he felt a sharp, constricting pain in his chest. yeonjun stopped, clutching his shirt as the ache grew worse with each breath. what am i having panic attacks for now?

a strange bitterness filled his mouth, but he swallowed it down, blinking back the stinging in his eyes.

"get a grip," he muttered to himself, forcing his legs to move again. "it's just... lack of sleep or something. just keep going."

he reached school and spotted serim and songyee talking to each other. he joined them, only to be questioned by songyee.

"where's soobin? you come with him, right?"

"i came early today. i have... some work to do for chem."

"oh, but the teacher didn't give us any homework?"

"nooo, it's just pending works."

after nodding at each other, yeonjun walked off to his locker.

the pain in his chest had decreased but there was still a dull ache. i can't be having a panic attack right now though. i wonder what's wrong.

however, he shrugged it off. he'd just noticed soobin entering the hallway. he quickly hid behind the structure and analysed soobin's every move.

suddenly, someone tapped on his shoulder. stifling his yelp, he turned around to see-

"serim! what?! you scared me!"

serim only wiggled his eyebrows teasingly. "who're you staring at, hm? which girl is it?"

"no..no one! trust me! let's go to class!" with that, he dragged serim away. but serim peered over his shoulder to look at the hallway. every girl was making out with someone or the other. heck, some were eyeing other girls or boys while kissing their partners. the only prominent, crush-worthy, six feet tall, particular blonde was visible. "well, he's obviously a one side-ed lover then!" thought serim. "maybe he likes one of those girls, but she already has a boyfriend. hmm, that should be it!"

-

in math class, songyee sat beside yeonjun and soobin in front of him. since the teacher was always late, the taller turned around and asked the ravenette, "you've been... leaving early these days. you didn't even wait for me this morning."

yeonjun froze for a moment, his heart beating faster, but regaining his composure, he said, "i just, uh... wanted to get here a bit earlier. had some work to catch up on."

soobin tilted his head, studying him carefully. "you know you don't have to do that alone, right? we could always study together or something."

yeonjun swallowed hard, feeling that odd scratchiness return to his throat. "yeah, i... i kno- good morning, ma'am!"

"morning, everyone. sit down," the teacher greeted, flipping through her lesson plan. "i'll give you a few minutes to review last week's material."

as everyone did, yeonjun cleared his throat, hoping the scratchiness would go away, but it only seemed to worsen. "argh!"

"are you okay, jun?" asked songyee, patting his back.

"yes, yes, i'm fine."

as time flowed, it became increasingly became difficult for yeonjun to breathe. he held his chest tightly as the breath started coming out in wheezes. he clasped a hand over his mouth as his body lurched forward, wracked with painful, heaving coughs. he tried to stifle the sound, but the coughs grew louder and more violent, until he was doubled over, his body trembling.

students turned around to look at him. one cautioned the teacher as well. "ms. jung! i think yeonjun is having one of his panic attacks!"

she rushed over, soothing yeonjun's back, asking him to breathe in and out, soobin and songyee stared at him, horrified. they had seen yeonjun's attacks, but never had they seen them this bad.

"soobin! songyee! take him to the nurse, right now!"

they somehow managed to drag to outside the classroom when he suddenly coughed again, this time harder. a bright blue petal slipped out from his lips and landed on the ground. frozen, yeonjun stared at the petal, its delicate edges stained red. a few more petals followed, bright yellows and pastel blues, scattering across the ground.

songyee screamed, attracting attention. everyone rushed out from their classes.

serim ran forward to see what the matter was since he recognised his sister's voice. his eyes widened at the view. "yeonjun, are you okay buddy?"

but he couldn't respond. his throat felt raw, and the coughing wouldn't stop. there was a gragling sound in his throat and he felt a warmth in his mouth, metallic and thick, and when he pressed his hand to his lips, he saw smears of red mixing with the petals. not being able to keep it in anymore, he coughed up hard. he could finally breathe...

there was blood all over. lots of blood. they mixed with the blue, yellow petals, scattered all over the ground.

murmers went through the crowd. "oh no.." "what the hell?!" "hanahaki..." "choi yeonjun?!" "unrequited love"

soobin froze.

songyee stood beside yeonjun in shock, her eyes glued to the petals stained with blood. "oh my god, yeonjun," she gasped, her voice barely audible as she took a shaky step back.

he was still frozen.

serim gripped yeonjun's shoulders, trying to comfort him. "stay with me, buddy. we'll take you to the nurse."

he's still not moving.

taehyun, who was usually calm and collected, was visibly shaken. he covered his mouth with his hand, glancing away as he processed the scene, his fists clenching tightly. "this is... this is insane. why didn't he say anything?"

beomgyu looked horrified, his eyes darting between the petals and yeonjun's face. "no... this can't be real. this... hanahaki? it's just a story, right?" he muttered to himself, trying to make sense of the bizarre, heartbreaking sight.

kai, usually quiet and reserved, stepped forward and placed a hand on soobin's shoulder, snapping him out of his trance. "soobin, we have to help him. he's—he's your friend. we can't just stand here."

soobin immediately moved forward, lifting yeonjun's arm over his shoulder. serim mirriored his actions. both were carrying the fragile boy down the hallways, blood still dripping from his mouth.

he was laid down on the infirmary bed, occasionally coughing. soobin and serim were sitting beside him. songyee and the others had rushed to inform the sick boy's mother.

unknowingly, soobin and yeonjun were holding hands. nobody noticed, nobody cared. when yeonjun realised, his heart fluttered. reality hit him like a wave. there was no denying his feelings for soobin anymore. for a moment, he glanced up at soobin, who seemed to be lost in his own world, or as if in a trance.

for some reason, soobin's blood boiled. he was angry. who was the person yeonjun loved?