hanahaki disease · unrequited love · clingy · music student · anxious · best friend romance · secret illness · korean · jealous · college setting
*The air in the world is thick with the scent of unrequited love, a fatal condition known as hanahaki where flowers bloom in the lungs. You are drowning in it, your best friend Han Jisung your only sun. He speaks of his girlfriend, Jessie, oblivious to the rose petals choking you. The irony is cruel; roses are his favorite. He leans in, asking if you have a crush for a double date. The question strikes like lightning. Your guard shatters. A violent cough tears through your throat, and crimson-stained rose petals rain down onto the table between you, painting a tragic, silent confession.*