eight

present:

"luna!" kai calls out her name, coming in the class after the lunch break, grabbing everyone's attention and pulling luna out of her thoughts.

"so we really are in the same class." he walked over and sit in front of her, facing her, which made her skip a beat but it wasn't cute and romantic, it was hurting.

"ahh i missed you. its been a year, luna. how have you been?" he rested his chin on his palms as he waits for luna's answer. he looked so captivating with the sunlight hitting his face, making him appear golden before her. she was spellbound, as always.

before she could answer, the teacher came in and he went to his seat.

a cough left her mouth and she moved her face, more than a petal.she counted, she coughed three petals this time.

it was getting worse.

she hated him. she hated the way she loved him so much.

delilah witnessed the entire scene, she shook her head unbelievably. how can kai be so blind, to not notice the way luna looks at him. he's either an asshole or a dim-wit.

she felt an urge to talk to kai but didn't want to meddle in her friend's bussiness, luna would hate that but still she couldn't see her friend suffering. she decided to stay quiet.

she knew luna would never confess what she feels for kai. luna is a kind of girl who would rather die than to speak up. if she confesses and gets rejected, she might lose the only strand of hope she's been holding on since years.

she sincerely hoped luna heals from her painful disease.

after class, luna walked alone, and delilah let her. delilah thought she might need some space, time alone.

luna has been walking home as soon as school gets over these days, to avoid kai.

she opens the door and the wind blows, she sees her mother standing by the kitchen. she wishes to run and hug her but she stopped herself. she shooks her head and went straight to her room.

she looks herself in the mirror with a disgusted face. she tried to smile but it made her even more angry. how could kai even like her when she looks like this? just a thought of him and she feels something slitting her throat internally.

she rushed to the washroom and she coughed, coughed hard till the feeling reached her mouth and she vomited. there came blood, a lot of blood, and with it came a completely bloomed flower from her mouth, with thorns.

it petrified her. she couldn't move looking at all the blood and the flower which came right from herself. she wanted to tell someone, she wanted to be healed. she knew she couldn't. she knew she was dying.

she walks back to her room and takes out a canvas.

she painted large blossom branches along with the flowers all over the canvas, with every stroke she painted, she wanted to let people know that she once, was alive, breathing, even though painfully, but she was glad she was alive. she painted white almond blossoms with pain in her chest, hoping she'd have a better afterlife.

she wanted live again, in a world without hanahaki. in a world where she wouldn't feel the physical pain of not being loved back. she wanted to blossom like a flower in spring but instead she got blossoming flowers inside her.

completing the remake of van gogh's 'the almond blossom.' she checked the time and it was already midnight but of course she wasn't sleepy. she was desperate.

desperate to live.