Minhyung was in 5th grade when he met Donghyuck, the bubbly cute boy who sat next to him  He always admired the way the younger would speak so freely, not giving a damn about what others thought about him, and he was always so proud of himself it made Minhyung feel better. 

But as Minhyung watched the younger grow into a more distinguished person, he felt his heart tug whenever he saw Donghyuck interact with someone with a strange familiarity, one that only Minhyung had with Donghyuck. He didn't like seeing the younger so close to people, that they would end up coming to Minhyung and ask him if Donghyuck was single. It was frustrating, and on top of that Minhyung felt jealous every time they began to speak about Donghyuck.  

So when they rolled into high school, and Minhyung finally got reunited with Donghyuck (though the younger lived not that far away from him and the two used to meet practically every day), he despised it when Donghyuck would sit next to Yangyang. Who was this Yangyang that Donghyuck seemed to treasure more than Minhyung? Why did he like to spend more time with him? Was it because he was younger, or perhaps since he was in every class of his? 

Minhyung used to watch from afar, Yangyang would huddle besides Donghyuck and the two would be in their own world. Their smiles would be so sickeningly sweet, Minhyung couldn't handle it. He tried distancing himself from the duo hoping that by making the two more unknown to him, he would stop feeling so aggravated all the time. The resentment he felt towards Yangyang had already resulted in a grade drop, and his parents were even contacted about it. He couldn't let his parents down because of a silly little crush. 

"Yangyang and I broke up," Minhyung didn't think that those few words would be able to heal the pain he felt in his heart, but they did. Somehow, all the heartache he felt, sadness, disappointment. It all disappeared the second Donghyuck dropped the news on him. At first, Minhyung wanted to celebrate and jump around, glad that the person he liked (yes, liked, it was official) was finally single. But then when he saw Donghyuck's pale face and dark eyebags, a gush of guilt flew through him, and he realised how insensitive and selfish he was being. Instead of doing what he was going to do, Minhyung sat next to Donghyuck, squeezing himself between the younger and the armrest, and engulfed him in a warm hug. 

Donghyuck wept into his arms, constantly asking Minhyung, "am I annoying?" And, "do I really make people's lives a hell?". It hurt Minhyung more that it hurt him whilst Donghyuck was dating Yangyang. Minhyung replied to everything Donghyuck said, disagreeing with all the pessimistic points and then agreeing with all the optimistic ones. For the first time since they had become friends, Minhyung brushed away a part of Donghyuck's hair, before placing his feverish lips against Donghyuck's cold head. The simple gesture was enough to make the younger sob even louder. 

A few days later, Donghyuck was feeling better, but Minhyung still noticed the way his eyes lit up with a joke before they dulled down again. He knew Donghyuck wanted to speak and crack a joke, but he also knew that Donghyuck was holding himself back. He was trying to change.

-

Minhyung coughed in the middle of an English lesson, and it went on for a good ten minutes before the teacher told him to go to the toilet. He excused himself, holding his head down as the people in his class snickered at him, and promptly rushed out. The coughs get worse as he ran, and he wondered what was wrong with him. Just a few days ago Minhyung had gotten the flu, so how could it have come back again, and so soon?

"Shit," Minhyung swore, holding a hand to his mouth as he felt a more brutal cough approach him. Running into the toilets, Minhyung collapsed onto his knees, grimacing as he felt the water soak into his trousers and the discomfort spread through his body. His hand remained over his mouth and he began to tremble because of the coughs. 

Minhyung held another hand to his throat, caressing it as he felt something was stuck in it. He hadn't even had lunch yet, so how could he have something stuck there? Minhyung's breathing hitched a few times and he quickly got a bottle of water out of his bag (he brought it along with him since he felt awkward not taking it). He opened the bottle and chugged it down, the feeling of the cold water brushing down his sore throat hurt, but he guessed it was for the better. Whatever that was stuck in his throat had gotten swallowed and Minhyung let out a sigh of relaxation.

When he returned to class, he saw the way people gave him looks for him wet trousers and his red face. If it was possible, his face flushed even more and he messily brushed his hands through his hair, accidentally hitting his glasses. As they fell to the ground, the voices of the others became louder and Minhyung had to shut his eyes closed to try and ignore them.

-

The first time Minhyung coughed out a petal - strange, right? - was when he had just come back from school. He was surprised but more confused. He held the yellow petal in his hand. It was clean. He examined it with wonder before stuffing it back into his mouth to see if he could eat it. When he couldn't, and as it forced its way back out of his mouth, it came out with a shade of red, this time. 

Minhyung hurriedly ran down his stairs, calling out to his mum, who casually dismissed him with her hand. That was until she saw the petal in his hand. Her mouth dropped and so did the glass in her hand. Her heart crushed the same way the glasses shattered when it came in contact with the ground. She forced herself to look at Minhyung, who only stared back with worry and concern. Her poor, innocent son had the one thing she feared most in her life 

"Baby, where'd you get that from?" She asked, hesitantly took a step forward, managing to avoid the glass shards scattered across the floor.

"I coughed it out," Minhyung answered, the smile on his face far too soft for what that meant. "Am I turning into a flower boy? Is that what a flower boy is?"

Minhyung's mum collapsed on the floor.

-

"We're going to Canada?" Minhyung implored, stumbling into the room after he eavesdropped on his parents mentioning his hometown. "Why?"

"Minhyung, come sit," His dad said, gesturing towards the seat in front of him. Once Minhyung sat down, a stillness followed. His parents shuffled closer to each other and Minhyung stared at them with confusion. "Minhyung need to get the surgery done, the success rates there are far higher than here."

"No!" Minhyung immediately stood up, his shaky leg making him bounce. "You know I can't."

"Donghyuck will not fall in love with you," His mum whispered and Minhyung looked at her with a face full of betrayal. How could she say that? She didn't know whether or not that was true. Donghyuck could fall in love with him by next week, and the flower would reverse on its own before leaving his body through one last cough. But he knows what happens after you get the surgery done( (the ability to feel certain emotions connected to the unrequited love are ripped out your body the same way the plant it), and he doesn't want to leave Donghyuck. 

"He could! You don't know that!" Minhyung was on the verge of tears and started backing away from his parents. "Donghyuck needs time to realise his feelings for me, I'm sure of it!"

"Minhyung…" A single tear broke out from his dad's eye and Minhyung's world came crashing down. The possibility that Donghyuck would never love him flashed through his head, and he wondered how painful his death would be if he continued with his one-sided love. 

With a heavy heart and a broken soul, Minhyung lowered his head, allowing all his tears to spill out, and then he turned to his parents, asking them what day they're leaving for Canada.

-

Minhyung regretted not telling Donghyuck that he was leaving for Canada. He regretted not visiting the younger one last time before he could get his surgery done. As he sat on the hospital bed, getting fed food and other drugs to make his body healthy enough to handle the painful procedure, all Minhyung could think about was Donghyuck. His eyes watered at the thought of the younger and he tried his best to not cry in front of his nurse, a nice guy that wasn't that much older than him.

"You'll be fine," The nurse, Taeyong, said, patting Minhyung's back and trying his best to reassure the patient. But no 'it's okay' or 'you're going to be fine' could help Minhyung. 

He closed his eyes as the doctors began to empty out the room and then filled it with equipment. The doctor gave him one last smile before putting on his face mask and injected him with an anaesthetic. Unconsciousness overcame him quite quickly, and the last thing he remembered was that he shed a tear, loving Donghyuck for the last time.

-

Mark watched as Donghyuck doubled over in his science class, blood poured out of his mouth and fell onto the ground. Mark's toes curled and he looked down at them in confusion. Why were they reacting so weirdly? 

The cries of his fellow classmates were stinging his head, so he scoffed and got up from his seat, ready to leave the room and probably hang around in the canteen, maybe grab a snack. But as he did, a hand grabbed him and he was dragged out of the room. It was apparently a teacher who thought Mark was Donghyuck were still friends and ended up pushing him alongside Donghyuck into the ambulance, another fee climbing it to see what was going on. Mark could see through the window that Jaemin and Jeno were left behind, and rolled his eyes. 

Of course, Donghyuck would do something dramatic like this.

The ride to the hospital wasn't long, thanks to the loud sirens the ambulance gave off, and the weird nurse, or whatever they were, next to Mark kept asking him questions about Donghyuck. How was Mark supposed to answer them if he had no idea himself? Did Donghyuck have any allergies? Why hadn't Donghyuck informed the hospital about how bad his condition had gotten? Who was the person Donghyuck loved?

Mark didn't really care about Donghyuck, but still gave answers out of instinct. Curse his body for speaking against him.

With a bunch of push and pulls, Mark ended up stumbling through a crowd. He raised his eyebrow at everything as he saw Donghyuck get wheeled in and then placed on top of the stretcher. Was this even allowed? And even if it was, wasn't only family supposed to be in this area?

"Mark!" The said boy sighed as he immediately identified the voice, but chose to keep his attention on the boy in front of him. Donghyuck looked horrible. The blood he had been throwing up ended up drying across his face and his skin had holes everywhere, small indicators telling them where the flower had grown to. And when Mark's eyes finally met Donghyuck's empty and depressing ones,

he didn't feel anything.

He didn't feel anything as Donghyuck teared up and his eyes looked at Mark with hope and love. He didn't feel anything as Donghyuck's eyes widened once the girl put her arms around Mark, whispering in his ear about how she was only here to miss out on her lessons. He didn't feel anything when he turned his head to the side giving the girl a little kiss and watching as Donghyuck's heart broke for the last time.

He didn't feel anything at all.

-

"You!" Donghyuck's mum screeched, and she jumped up from the ground, taking Mark's collar in her small hands and brought him down to eye level. "You're the reason my son's dead! Do you even know what he went through because of you? The pain he experienced? The way he felt every time he saw you with someone else? Don't you at least feel bad for him?"

Mark stared down at the lady he once thought of as his own mother. He looked at how devastated she looked, and the way her eyes were filled with hatred for him. Mark raised his hands, wrapping them around hers — and for a moment the heat from her hands reminded Mark of the time when they were younger, and when she would hold his hand alongside Donghyuck's and take them to school — before peeling them off his collar. He looked down at her with an unimpressed expression and said, "Honestly, I don't care."

"How could you say that?!" That seemed to annoy Jaemin the most since he squeezed through the crowd and pushed Mark with a force he didn't even know about. Mark fell to the ground and Jaemin kneeled down beside him. His glare burned into Mark's head, but the older still wasn't affected. "First, you left Donghyuck to go to Canada. Then, you act as if he doesn't matter once you returned, and now you're saying you don't care about your former best friend? Not even pity that he died so young and over the love he felt for someone so pathetic?"

The urge to roll his eyes were big, but Mark decided against it. Instead, he simply scoffed again, got up to his feet and walked away. Jaemin's words didn't affect him. They couldn't. After the surgery, any emotions related to Donghyuck had been ripped out of his body, quite literally. So when Mark had returned from Canada — and he had changed his name because he wanted to start anew — and when he laid his eyes on Donghyuck, he felt nothing. Not even the simple emotion of happiness, seeing a good friend after so long.

Mark walked through the hallways of the hospital, a little lost by the number of turns. He took a left and then was stopped by one of the nurses he met when he had just arrived at the hospital with Donghyuck.

"I'm so sorry about your friend," The girl, Yerim (as the name tag read), said, lowering her head. "We really tried as much as we could, but he had refused to get the treatment done. We really are truly sorry."

Mark nodded before walking past her. Again, he didn't feel any sympathy with Donghyuck. The younger had chosen to die by refusing medical treatment and it was all his fault, not Mark's. 

As Mark took another turn, he was stopped by someone pushing a dead body on a stretcher down the corridor. The face was covered with a white sheet, but Mark could make out who it was. The tiny body, curled feet and slender hands. Mark could tell Donghyuck apart from anyone. 

Mark stared at the body for a while longer as it passed him before shrugging his shoulders. He pulled out his phone to check his social media and that's when a water droplet fell on his screen. He blinked at it in confusion and then soon more fell from his face. Bringing a hand to his cheeks, Mark realised that he had tears on his face. Hastily, he wiped them away, annoyed that his body worked against him for the nth time before taking deep breaths.

He didn't care about Donghyuck anymore, but apparently, his body refused to let him go.