The most beautiful flower | Shuca

The other romance

Drifting in and out of conscious, Shu didn't realize what was happening. Someone was carrying him but then he was in a car all of a sudden. It was all so dark. He couldn't see. Warmth. He was being carried again. What was going on? Who was this person? Trying to focus on the face of the person, he only got a quick glance of some rather long dark hair that was falling into their face. Who was this?

He woke up in a dark room, curtains covering the window to block out the sun. The environment seemed oddly familiar but at the same time so unknown. Red curtains with black accents. Dark walls and a bed with black bedsheets. Wait was it-?

A tall figure stepped into the room, carrying some soup in his hands and smiled as he saw Shu was awake. He set the soup down on the nightstand and gave Shu a spoon so he could eat it.
"Eat it, you look horrible. What happened to you? Are you sick? Want me to check if you have a fever?"
He placed his hand onto Shu's forehead and pulled away a few seconds later.
"It seems you do.. Stay right here, I'll go grab some medicine too."

Shu grabbed his wrist, looking at him and shaking his head.
"No need to. I'll die soon anyway.."
The weak grip of Shu's hand surprised the man, his eyes widening as he heard Shu would die soon.
"No. You will take some medicine. And you won't die."
He freed his wrist from Shu's grip, making sure to not unnecessary hurt him on accident. Leaving the room and returning with the medicine in hand soon after, he handed it over to Shu with a stern expression, making it clear Shu didn't have a choice here.

"Fine then.."
Taking the medicine, he felt his throat burning from the lack of hydration. It felt so bad to take this medicine and he would have loved to just spit it out again but he couldn't do that to him. After accidentally telling him that he would die soon, he would at least have to do something to reassure him that he helped at least a bit. It wouldn't matter anyway. He was going to die soon, so why not just now.

"Did you tell the others yet?"
"No. And i don't know if I will."
"Shu, they deserve to know. Especially Luca. You know.. Luca loves you Shu. So you should tell him about this. He deserves to know that you are going to disappear out of his life soon."
"But I don't want him to be sad when we meet. I want him to enjoy his last moments with me without having to know that they are the last ones. I want him to enjoy life. Not be sad."
"Shu.. Not telling him will only make it worse after you are gone. And the others have to know too. If you don't do it, I will. They have to know."

The silence was cutting into Shu's heart like a knife. He was right. They all deserved to know.. but he was afraid. Afraid to tell them. He didn't even know how he could say it this easily just now. It was like something inside him had snapped and just spat it right into his face. He felt bad for telling him. He shouldn't have. He should have kept it to himself but now he knew..
"I'm sorry"
"What are you sorry for? It wasn't your choice to die soon you know.."

After some more time, the kind eyes of the demon looked at Shu with a small, sorrowful smile as he pointed at the bowl of soup.
"You should eat something. Your body looks weak already.. I don't want you to die in the near future at least, okay?"
"Fine. I'll try to keep myself alive for as long as possible.. I'm sorry for being so stubborn and ungrateful earlier. Thank you for doing this but actually, why were you in the city?"

Vox's eyes wandered of to somewhere else, his face seeming to turn a bit red.
"I was.. just buying a gift for someone. Nothing special."
"Come on, be honest. Was that someone a certain Ike Eveland?"
Shu chuckled and immediatly started coughing. The blood in his hand went ingnored as he pulled it back quickly.
"You can be honest with me. I'll die soon anyway.. So is it for him?"
"Maybe.. fine yes. How do you know? Is it that obvious?"
Shu started smiling, trying to cover his mouth with his hand again if he started to cough again.
"You are literally following him everywhere and try to get his attention all the time. Sorry if you thought u weren't obvious with it because you were SO obvious."

"I-.."
Vox turned away from Shu, trying to hide the big smile that spread across his face when he was talking about Ike. What was this man doing that he forgot about all his worries as soon as he popped into his mind. It was actually embarrassing to think about him this much but Luca was in love with Shu too so there was nothing wrong about it, right? Yet Ike always seemed so distant when he tried getting his attention.Was that his way of showing affection? Was he too shy? Or did he not even like him back? Those questions were making Vox go crazy, as he heard Shu call his name.

"Vox? Are you okay or did Ike get to your head?"
He grinned and Vox tried cutting him of by taking the bowl of soup and giving it to Shu. Looking at the liquid in his hands, Shu looked a bit annoyed since soup wasn't really his first choice when it came to food but it would be okay for now, so he took some sips for Vox's sake.
"Shu? You'll be okay on your own, right?"
"Yea, don't worry about me."
"Okay. I have to make a phonecall real quick. I'll be right back."
With that Vox left the room and Shu was alone again.

It felt like he was in the hospital all over again, only that the walls and everything else didn't seem so sickeningly perfect. The room looked inviting instead of paining his brain with how bright it was and after finishing the soup, he layed down in the bed again, his eyes feeling heavy all of a sudden. All the sleepless nights at the hospital and at home were finally coming back to him as he drifted away into a light sleep.

(words 1108)