Chapter Text
“Either you kiss him or you die.”
Sunoo groans in a hefty, hopeless kind of wailing noises to which Jungwon considers sharing accurate resemblance with a desperate prisoner about to be electrocuted, hanged, or guillotined, whatever you think is appropriate for a good bon damnation.
It is true that Sunoo has committed a grave sin, a sin that’s hardly explicable to himself. He really should not have done it because it bestows him a whole lot of trouble that need to be dealt with right now. But can you really blame him?
Sunoo has a crush on Park Sunghoon, that obnoxious brat who is notorious for making fun of him since childhood.
First of all, this crush thing itself is very, very, very wrong. Sunoo usually possesses a sense of confident ego that feels entitled to all the praises, compliments, and adjectives of glorious admiration in the world, but one thing he would not flatter himself with is his brain. That brain must be so fucked up to think his all-time nemesis is actually kind of hot.
Secondly, and this is a misfortune for Sunoo but amusingly a scientific wonder for Jungwon who is a premed student, Sunoo is contracted with the Hanahaki Disease, the disease of unrequited love. Sunoo would scorn at the terminology but really it describes the crisis he is currently suffering. The victim of the Hanahaki basically would cough up floral petals as long as his crush is unaware of the one-sided feelings.
It seems that the lovesick disease has on knocked on Kim Sunoo’s door.
The first petal struck him about a week ago when he was studying with his group of friends in the library. Sunghoon was supposed to show up with them but was probably late from his basketball practice, and Sunoo was somewhat very bothered about his absence until the missing person decided to suddenly jolt his back from behind, eliciting a loud, startled squeak from the younger boy that echoes unrelinquishedly in the silent hall.
The perpetrator props onto the seat next to Sunoo who covered his red face from embarrassment. The younger shot a death glare between the fingers, only returned by a zoomed-in face.
“You’re cuter when you’re angry, huh.” Sunghoon’s hot breath, not yet cooled down from the running, smacked themselves on Sunoo’s neck, fresh. That’s when the itches came crawling up his throat like festering vines.
Then, Sunoo excused himself to the toilet only to find a blood-red rose petal unfolding in his clammy palm.
After a few more similar incidents, Sunoo decided to tell this secret to Jungwon, one of his most trusted friends in the college. And to stop the coughs, you’d either wait until you die or get a kiss from your crush, which cures everything.
Well, the first option is obviously not desirable. I’m only 18 and I want to live, thought Kim Sunoo the Freshman.
But the thought of kissing Park Sunghoon gives him cramps. He cannot picture the appalling scene where he has to stick his previous beautiful lips onto his enemy’s vampire mouth. Speaking of ‘vampire’, Sunghoon’s canines are rather sharper than normal which makes them looks like a pair of fangs. So, every time during the lunch break when Sunghoon blissfully chomps on the grilled salmon served in the university cafeteria, Sunoo feels tremendously sympathetic for the poor animal. Being jabbed by Park Sunghoon’s fangs must be hell.
Yet, he kind of have to admit that combining with his ice-cold, pale complexion and chiseled jawline, Sunghoon does scream vampire prince vibes.
“Can’t believe it. I thought Hanahaki is only a fictional thing.” Jungwon shakes his head in disbelief before pulling out his laptop under the pillow to which Sunoo buries his face in. He and Sunoo are currently sharing the same dorm for the freshman year. “Gotta use it as my topic for NCDs research.”
Sunoo rolls his eyes. “Just to remind you that your best friend is dying here, your essay can wait.” Yang Jungwon is indeed Yang Jungwon he swears to God that boy looks at everything like they are germs or cells or microbes. He wouldn’t be surprised if he dies from being dissected by the curious premed student before the illness gets him first.
“So I was saying, just damn kiss.”
“Okay but, do you actually think he will kiss me? Like even if we are the last human beings on earth, I doubt he would kiss me for, I don’t know, the sake of human species survival.”
“Reproduction does not occur from a kiss though.” A flying pillow is hurled towards Jungwon but is successfully dodged. “It’s actually just a small favor, I bet if you tell Sunghoon that you’re sick he would definitely help.”
Indeed, it is only a small favor. Both Sunoo and Sunghoon have passed the age of innocence where they would cover their eyes when the male and female protagonists kiss on the screen. Dating, relationships, and physical skinships are no big deal in university. But not the meaning behind it. If Sunoo reveals to Sunghoon that he got Hanahaki because of him, then his petty, one-sided affection will surely be exposed. In their decade long of rivalry, the first one to yield in is the loser, and Sunoo has all the competitiveness in his genes.
He just doesn’t want to lose.
Suddenly, an idea comes across his mind. Maybe there is a way to get what he wants without necessarily letting his crush know his hidden feelings.
“What if I steal a kiss from him?”
Sunoo now has a big mischievous smile plasters across his chubby face, eyes glowing from the ingenuity that just reignited his hope. Jungwon raises a brow upon Sunoo’s words, whatever his best friend is concocting right now is definitely going in the wild direction; that musical genius has all the whims and imagination in this world.
“Like, what if we set up an accident? Or a condition he cannot refuse?”
Jungwon shrugs. “I can ask Heesung hyung to help me kidnap you both with some fake guns and balaclavas.”
“Well, I doubt you and Heesung hyung’s acting skills meet the bar. But I bet Park Sung——”
“Did someone mention me?”
The door flings open as a familiar voice intrudes into the freshmen’s’ secret talk. When Sunoo lifts his head from the bed to see who the visitor is, he sees no other than the protagonist of his own ruse (and of course, the guy of his awkward affection), Park Sunghoon, and behind their friend Jay. The older boy’s lengthy figure leans on their dorm’s door frame, a teasing smile dangling on the corner of his lips as he stares straight into Sunoo’s eyes.
Sunoo almost chokes on his spits.
He swears he has just tasted the scent of petals in his mouth.
Sunghoon is dressing in a well-trimmed suit to which Sunoo assumes is part of the sim court drill. It fits him well, in fact Sunghoon can manage to look good in any clothes and Sunoo is very much jealous of it. The older boy is a year higher than him and in the college of laws. People who are acquainted with them often describe them as two ends of the extremes. Sunoo on the creative, spontaneous side while Sunghoon on the logical, pragmatic side. Nonetheless, if you put the two together, they strangely click but in a quarreling dynamic. Perhaps that’s why Sunoo can still fall in love with him impossibly.
While Sunoo is still registering the what’s happening, Sunghoon is already lying down next to him and poking a finger to his cheek.
“Did you gain weight, Kim piggie?”
“Shut up, it’s not like you can’t finish five bowls of ramen in a day.” Sunoo snaps off Sunghoon’s hand which starts pinching his flesh. For whatever reason, the law student seems to have developed a weird obsession with Sunoo’s cheek over the years, telling him don’t even dare to lose these fats for his fun would be gone otherwise. Sunoo remembers vividly that during fourth grade, a girl in the next class picked on his weight when he is chubbier back then; the incident got to the parents when Sunghoon decided it’s grave enough to report it to the teacher. Ever since then, Sunoo has been trying hard to lose all his baby fat. On the matter of losing weight, he and Sunghoon have had a huge fight.
Sunghoon only laugh it off at Sunoo’s hisses and Sunoo is trying not to notice the urge to cough and the body warmth at his flank.
On the other hand, Jungwon greets Jay. “What’s up, hyung.”
“Well, Heeseung hyung calls for lunch at 11:30 but none of you two has replied to the chat though. Sunghoon and I just want to check if you two are still alive. Anyways, how’s your NCDs thesis going?” Jay’s actually in the same major as Jungwon, but he’s a sophomore with Sunghoon and they happen to be roommates.
“Well——”Jungwon would love to tell Jay the real topic he’s interested in but that would spare no mercy on his best friend, “——actually haven’t decided yet.”
“We are heading to a coffee shop near the campus to study finals, by the way Jake is also coming. You guys get your ass ready to go.” Sunghoon says while getting up from the bunk. His hand naturally finds the back of Sunoo’s shoulder, squeezing it little in order to get the younger off the bed. What is unanticipated is Sunoo’s abrupt cough, following by the boy’s rather alarmed reaction. And suddenly all the attention land on Sunoo.
“Hey, you alright?” Sunghoon crooks a brow, leaning over to Sunoo in attempt to check what’s wrong. But Jungwon hurriedly shields Sunoo from the sophomore. “Ummm, Sunoo hyung caught a cold yesterday, the weather is getting cold haha…”
In reality, Sunoo started feeling dizzy way earlier than the other three perceived. He doesn’t know if it’s due to the effect of the sickness or anything, the thought of Sunghoon’s kiss has plugged in his mind so firmly it made his head spin. Too close, Sunghoon is too close. Watching Sunghoon’s lips closing and opening becomes a torture as the itch is growing more and more, and the yearning is growing stronger and stronger, as if the throbbing in his chest can only be quenched if he is permitted to suck on those soft folds of flesh.
Furitvely, Sunoo sneaks the petals he has spewed out into his jean’s pocket before putting on a big bright smile; he’s always got a knack of never failing to make people feel assured with his smile.
On the back of his head, however, it piques Sunoo’s pride that he breaks down so easily in Sunghoon’s mere presence. It’s so unfair for the person whose life depends on the love of someone who does not care. And if he has to succumb to this fate, he’s surely not going to wait for Sunghoon to realize his painful affection and feels miserable for him when he’s already a dead body.
He’s going to do it his way. And for his dear life he will safeguard his secret.
tbc.