Claw's Bridge(Discontinued)

94. Cough Cough

(I don't know who made the fanart ^, but if you know, I will happily edit it on to the picture.)

"Tell me about the norms of your country. I've always been curious about them since you seem to hate them," Yoongi said.

"The gender norms were strict, but not too strict. Women were supposed to take care of the home while men were to work. If the women took up a job, that was on them. They had to balance both. So most employed women didn't have long work hours," I said. "The country runs on mindset, not laws. So defying anything that society established was a death sentence."

"Interesting," he said. I looked at him in confusion. "Despite being so different, our world is not that different. Or at least, your country and South Hitzor."

"It hurts you, doesn't it?" I asked him. "When you hurt me, it hurt you. Didn't it?"

"Yeah," he replied. It was obvious he didn't want to talk about it. Well, too bad. "I don't like the rules of my community, but I had no choice but to comply."

"But after you came out of there. Why did you continue?" I pushed. "You say you didn't like it, you left that place because you didn't like it, but you do exactly what they taught you to do?"

"Sometimes, despite having the state of mind of knowing that it's wrong, you still do it," he stated. I took the Grevillea from his fingers. He was holding it roughly, twirling it between his index finger and thumb at a pace that made it seem like a spinning hox.

(Hox- top; language Blasaeda)

"Stop mistreating the flower. It's not a toy," I complained, running my thumb over the curls of the leaf. "It's not hard to not hurt someone physically."

"It shouldn't be," he agreed. "It's a... headspace, you can call it. I can't control it. It's as if I lose touch with everything I do. I don't even know what happens until after it happens."

"Y-Yoongi," I stuttered out, a cough escaping my lips. I dropped the flower and clutched my chest. "I-It hurts."

He rubbed my back as I went into a coughing fit. "Let's go to Jisung," he said. He supported me as I stumbled the way to the medical room. "Do you think it's because of the flower?"

"N-no," I stuttered out between coughs. "It's... something... else."

"Talk to me," Jisung said, rushing into the medical room. Lana and Kita walked in behind him.

"We were talking and then he started coughing. He was playing with a Grevillea flower. It's poisonous to him," Yoongi informed.

"The Grevillea doesn't cause this. The poison effect is merely on the skin. This is internal," Lana said, pressing her stethoscope to my chest. "He's coughing too much, I can't hear anything."

Feeling something stuck in my throat, I coughed harder, gagging when blood and stomach acid spluttered out of my mouth. Kita held a medical bag in front of me, so I could vomit into it.

"Yoongi, we need you to leave," Kita said. Understanding, Yoongi rushed out of the room.

I grabbed Lana's hand as she prepared silver. "No," I spluttered out, between coughs. I spit out the last of the blood into the bag and slumped against the bed. "Silver will make it worse."

"Do you know what happened?" Jisung asked, pressing his stethoscope against my chest once I was calm.

"Probably starvation. I haven't eaten in two days," I said.

"Silver helps heal such effects of starvation," Lana said.

"Lana, it won't help. Trust me," I said, breaking into another coughing fit. She backed away.

"He'll live for a while. We can run tests on the sample," she said.

"Should we give him something?" Jisung asked. Lana shook her head.

"We don't know what's happening, yet. Anything we give him could make it worse," she replied and glared at me. "If he's not going to let us do anything, then let him suffer for a while."