roses | yoonmin

01

jimin was in the bathroom again, kneeling in front of the toilet bowl and coughing up the flower petals that took up most of the space in his lungs. his coughs became hoarse, his breathing became ragged and his lips turned red because of the blood. he wiped his mouth with a piece of toilet paper and leaned his back on the wall behind him. the hanahaki disease he was diagnosed with was slowly taking over him. he threw the toilet paper in the bowl and flushed before standing up and washing his face and mouth. he stumbled out of the bathroom and into his room, where he let himself fall onto his bed. he gulped down some water and breathed slowly. everything hurt, from his throat to his chest. he was weak, pale, dying.

yet he thought the rose petals he was regurgitating were beautiful. ironic, i know.

he slowly sat up and winced in pain from the movement, took his phone from the table beside him and called one of his best friends, kim taehyung.

"hello?" he asked on the other line.

"t-taehyung, can you come over? i-i'm not feeling very well," jimin managed to say. his voice was raspy because of the thorns that came along with the petals.

"okay, i'll be there in a bit," taehyung replied and ended the call. jimin exhaled and curled himself up into a ball. the front door of his apartment opened and he heard footsteps coming closer to his room. the door opened and taehyung stepped in.

"jimin-ah, are you okay?" he asked worriedly. whenever jimin asked taehyung to come over, ever since he was diagnosed with hanahaki, it was because he wasn't feeling well.

jimin shook his head in response and taehyung helped him sit up. "coughing again?" he asked and jimin nodded. taehyung took something out from the plastic bag he had set down beside him. it was a container filled with warm rice porridge he had cooked a few minutes before jimin's call. he then took out a clean spoon and gently blew on the soup so it wouldn't be too cold. "eat," he said.

"but i'm not hungry —"

"you need to eat, jimin," taehyung insisted. the said boy rolled his eyes and ate the spoonful. despite jimin being two months older than taehyung, the younger took care of jimin as if he were the younger one. they had been best friends since high school and were inseparable ever since.

taehyung continued feeding jimin until he was full. he then helped him take his medecine prescribed by his doctor to help reduce the coughing and drink some water and lie down again. "thank you," jimin said.

"you're welcome," taehyung replied with a smile. "ah, i know you'll probably say no, but there's a gathering at hoseok hyung's place. he wants everyone to be there... do you want to come?"

jimin pondered over it for a while. "why not? i haven't seen him in a while," he finally answered. "besides, i have my medicine, it'll help with the petals and everything."

"okay, i'll tell him you're coming. now rest, because the party is in 3 hours," taehyung said. jimin snuggled up under his covers and fell asleep instantly. taehyung sighed. "please get better, jimin."

an hour and a half passed and Jimin woke up from his nap. he took a shower and changed into a pair of jeans and a plain black t-shirt. he brushed his teeth and left for hoseok's house together with taehyung.