IZ*ONEshots

Hanahaki AU - 2kimz

Ik, ik... totally following the list I made for myself last time. XD this is totally random but I felt like it, so enjoy :D

*

Chaewon felt it. The stirring in her stomach, the bile coating her throat, tasting sour and making the stirring worse. Damn it, not now. Chaewon quietly excused herself from the table and as soon as she was out of sight of the "motherly members", i.e. Eunbi, Chaeyeon, and essentially the rest of the unnie line, she sprinted, practically flying, up the stairs to her personal apartment.

Rushing into the bathroom, Chaewon threw up. No, it wasn't the gross kind that tasted bad and made other people want to puke. No, Chaewon coughed out blood and roses. It was a weird sensation - she wasn't vomiting completely solid mass, but rather, her lungs didn't have space for rose bushes and air. Every time she made a big move, she could feel the thorns piercing the only thing that could help her breathe. This meant no hugging. But it was worse every time she had to come and spit this stuff out. The thorns scratched against her. She couldn't stop coughing, no matter how hard she tried.

A drop of blood trailed from the corner of her mouth down her chin.

After sitting and catching her breath for a few minutes, Chaewon lifted her eyelids. She eyed the rose petals distastefully. Unfortunately, she needed to remove the evidence. Using her bare hands, Chaewon gathered the rose petals and flushed them down the toilet. The blood was still wet on the floor.

Jeez, it looked like someone was murdered in here, Chaewon thought, ferociously scrubbing blood off of her fingers.

And toweling her hands, Chaewon made her way silently and tranquilly down the stairs, as though nothing had happened. Like her one week left to live meant nothing. Like her love meant nothing.

*

Hanahaki is an infection, or infestation rather, of roses that can grow in the lungs if one is completely and fully in love with someone. This love has to have lasted consistently and completely secretly for four years. After the four years, the 'seed of love' is prepared to sprout. Once developed, this gives the subject of the disease four years to lift the burden of love from their own shoulders - to either confess or get the rose bush removed and given to special sanctuaries for these seemingly harmless plants. Having the bush removed is instant loss of any romantic love for the patient. However, if the patient fails to remove the burden of love, after eight years of long suffering, the patient will die.

Researchers speculate that this is what the rose plant represents. A rose, bright, red and fragrant has the consequence of a thorn - grasp it too firmly, and you'll prick yourself. Feeding it only makes it grow larger and more dangerous, but the larger it is, the the richer the smell is. Sharing its existence with another puts that person in danger of being hurt, but it also gives them the joy of smelling the sweet perfume of the rose. Pulling up the innocent roots of this rose and discarding it like nothing takes away the danger but relieves the grower of the aroma forever. But just letting the rose sit there in the sun with lots of water allows it to weave itself deeply into the soil and to the plants around it. The rose's thorns are sharp enough to pierce like a knife and the scent is simply too strong to be pleasant anymore.

The danger is clear, but some find the sweet fragrance worth it.

*

"What was that about earlier?"

Chaewon groaned. This was the sixteenth random question Yena had asked her and this would be the sixteenth time Chaewon told her to shut the frick up and let her read in peace.