Chapter 90 - Special : White Christmas (2)

With his stamina and constant exercise and training, he was normally the last man standing. This time, though, he was tempted to find the closest bench to sit down and chugged down a drink. 

He must have zoned out while trying to subtly catch his breath because the next thing he knew, he heard a warning shout to his left. He whipped around, eyes wide, just in time to duck the incoming dagger that somehow flew out of a customer's hand while trying a new game. 

Fortunately, the thing was dull as it was just a toy but it would've still hurt if hitted right on the face. 

"My goodness! I'm so sorry!" A woman hurried over, worried in her eyes. "I didn't hit you, did I? Are you okay?" 

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Zeke nodded, waving her off before he walked back into his group of friends, who was watching the whole ruckus, before the woman could utter another word. 

Zeke smiled at his friends, sticking close to Jian Yu as best as he could. 

But when he inhaled, he found himself wrinkling his nose at the taste of grass? Or maybe petals? At the back of his throat. He wasn't sure what it was but it gave off the taste of herbs, like plants, roots. 

However, Zeke thought nothing of it, assuming he had probably eaten something he wasn't supposed to be. 

***

It happened again not so long after the first time. A day had yet to even pass.

Zeke awoke late at night, almost wondering what had woken him up in this silent and cold night. But instead, he felt something fall from his face. 

A stray petal fluttered onto his lap. Groggily, the young Alpha picked it up to examine it. 

The color was white and it was wide. 

Then almost like the world had played an unimaginable prank on him, he coughed something tangible and another stray petal joined its kin. 

Something cold settled in his gut when he hunched over to cough due to the itchiness in his throat-- because there's something real tickling the back of his throat and dancing around his mouth-- more and more petals fell over. 

There were tears in his eyes and his breaths were harsh as he eyed at the bunch of petals on his lap. Color drained from his face as he stared at the impossible in front of him. Zeke quickly gathered them and flushed them down the toilet. 

That night, Zeke couldn't sleep at all. Plagued with the thoughts of various kinds of disease his genius brain could supply him with. 

But he couldn't come up with one that had flowers growing inside a body. 

***

The next day, Zeke buried himself in the library and finally found out about it. 

Hanahaki disease. 

A disease born out of love. 

It happens when you love someone so desperately yet the love isn't returned. 

'What the hell…?' Zeke thought. 'This is ridiculous.' 

It sounded like a cosmic joke to him and he wanted to laugh at the situation, but his lungs felt too bristle. It shouldn't be like that, he had read lots of books, it shouldn't be like that in the beginning. 

He picked the petals of flowers he coughed up in the morning. 

Two white huge petals. 

Peony. Also known as Paeonia suffruticosa.

They symbolized prosperity and happiness. So delicate they were on his hand. 

It was really hard to imagine that such beautiful flowers with such beautiful meaning would end up killing him later when they were in full bloom. 

Again, Zeke was in a dilemma whether he should cry or laugh. 

How funny the headlines of the news of his death would be; The Son of Roderick died from unrequited love? 

However, it was still much better than accepting the truth that everything a certain Beta said before was a lie. 

After all, Zeke Roderick was always good at being in denial.

***

"Hanahaki disease? Yes, I have heard of it. Why do you ask?" Lynn asked him casually as the older Alpha was busy reorganizing the mountain of documents into the shelves. 

Zeke tried to make himself useful, picking up any documents he thought were important and handed them to Lynn, which he got a smile in return when he gave the right one. 

"Hanahaki… Don't you think it sounds so fantastical, nonsensical maybe?" 

Lynn hummed. "It does sound impossible at some point, but--"

"I know right?! It IS impossible. How could a plant grow inside someone?" 

Logically thinking, plants needed light and water to thrive, yet a human body was not capable of fulfilling the requirements. Zeke had gripped the documents on his hand hard, causing them to crumple at those unspoken words. 

"Hey, hey, what makes you so angry, huh?" Lynn gently took the staked papers, releasing them from their misery but Zeke merely stayed quiet. 

When he received nothing, Lynn sighed, patient as he pushed the papers into their rightful place before turning to look at his nephew. 

It made him wonder how fast he had grown when the boy only reached his hip before, but now Lynn had to arch his neck back to meet Zeke's eyes, however that didn't stop him from ruffling his hair affectionately. 

"Well, whenever did love ever care about logic, Zee?" 

***

It was really hard. Extremely hard. No matter how much of all of this sounded like a fantasy from some fictional books, whenever Zeke thought of Jian Yu, his breath would feel strangled and he would choke on more and more flower petals. 

He could no longer stay in denial like he originally wanted to. 

There was once; during the weekend, when Mika came over like usual. In his coughing fit, Mika had looked at him worriedly, saying he should go check the doctor as he had noticed Zeke coughing a lot lately. 

Zeke smiled through his cough and waved at him, saying it was merely a small cold. He tried to play it off casually.. He stood up, surprising himself when his legs didn't wobble, and excused himself.