花 ⊰ [ jihan ]

二

the pain in his throat was unbelievable. as he coughed more, more petals were getting out of his mouth.

what is happening?! why am i coughing petals and why does it hurt so bad..

joshua lost track of time. he spent fifteen minutes there already. when he was ready to leave the toilet cabin, he realised there are still some petals on the floor.

shoot, i need to pick them up

while picking them up he heard someone walking inside the toilet.

"hey joshua, are you okay?"

that was hansol. he got worried about his friend so with teacher's permission he came to check up on josh.

"yes i am! don't worry" joshua said while walking out of the cabin.

"are you sure? you look really pale man"

"i'm kind of sick but it's nothing!"

"go to the nurse, i'll tell the teacher"

"there's no need to-"

"shush! go there and i take no refusal"

"sure..."

joshua didn't really want to go to the nurse's office because the nurse was his sister - hannah. whenever he came to her because he was sick she wouldn't belive him and send him back to class.

"hi noona"

"josh? what are you doing in here, don't you have lessons?"

"well i do but hansol told me i have to go to you in case i'm-"

"i'm pretty sure you're not sick, aren't you lying again to skip class?"

"no! it's actually something.. else?" joshua caughed and a small petal came out of his mouth.

"what?"

"do you know what's happening to me?"

for first hannah didn't belive her brother. she still thought he was joking but when a tear left his eye, she belived him. she didn't know what is happening to joshua and why is he coughing petals. josh started crying because he couldn't stand the pain. it was just the start of the "infection" and it was already hurting badly. his sister comforted him but as more petals were coming out of his mouth she became more helpless. afterall hannah drove joshua to the hospital and she sent him to the doctor.

...

shua waited for some minutes while playing a game on his phone. then a low, masculine voice came out of doctor's office - "hong joshua" - he stood up and made a step inside. that workplace was really calming. he sat down in front of the doctor.

"so joshua, what's happening?"

"well, i don't really know. since this morning i started vommiting and coughing, now my throat hurts so badly"

"oh then it must be diarrhea or just a food poisoning, i will give you pills for that" doctor said with a smile.

"but! that's not that kind of vommiting. i've been coughing.. petals?"

"huh?" another person couldn't belive it. "i haven't heard of such illness since time long ago but i'm pretty sure i know what that is. i have other patients and that's a topic for a long talk, do you have time tomorrow at 6 pm? you could come to me after my working hours and i will tell you everything you need to know about this"

"sure sir. but let me know now, is it serious?"

"kind of.."

joshua left doctor's office with a smile on his face even though he knew nothing was okay, he wanted people to think otherwise. his throat was still hurting. he looked up and saw his sister waiting for him.

should i tell her?

"josh! are you okay?" taken over hannah asked. she took joshua's hand and led them outside, straight to her car.

"yeah! it's not that serious as i thought." he said with a fake smile.

"bro, you know i know when you're lying, right?"

"but i'm not..?"

shit.

"let's say i believe you, now let's go home. you need some rest."

his older sister never looked that worried. she knew joshua is lying but she also knew how pure soul he is.

shua always acts like there's nothing happening to him, he wants people to think about themselves first.

then she drove straight to their house. hannah left brother in front of it and went back to school. of course, she has work. joshua stayed alone for five hours when he heard someone knocking at the door. he was confused who might it be in case hannah was supposed to come at 8 pm and it was just 5.

brunette looked through the peephole and saw a blonde guy standing in front of his house.

"joshuji, open the door!"

"han? what are you doing here?" shua asked while opening the door. jeonghan came inside and put a tote bag on a sofa in the living room.

"well, vernon told me you went to hannah's office but when i came there to take you to our next classes, she wasn't there. after waiting a whole hour she came and told me you got sick and went back home. so i decided to come and i brought you some donuts!"

this little dork - josh thought and a smile appeared on his face.

whenever he was spending time with his friend it felt like everything's fine. jeonghan was his safe place, he felt really comfortable around him. han loved cheering joshua up, he (just like hannah) knew shua cares more about others so he wanted his friend to also feel appreciated and loved. while joshua was chilling with jeonghan the doorbell rang.

"did you invite anyone?"

"oh yeah! i told some of the boys to come and chill with us, you need something to stop thinking about being sick."

"by saying the boys you mean..?"

"hoshi, vernon and cheol!"

"oh" when he heard seungcheol's name coming out of his friend's mouth, he felt that pain in his lungs again.