Chapter Text
When Juwon developed a cough, he tried hard not to panic. Though he had been working on his germaphobia and (according to his therapist) had gotten much better, he still hated being sick.
“There’s only so much you can do to prevent it,” his new partner, Bing Kyungsoon, said. She looked over at him in amusement as he pounded his fist to his chest and cleared his throat.
Her expression then morphed into something more sympathetic. “Would you like me to make you some tea?”
”I’m fine,” Juwon said roughly, ignoring the fast beating of his heart. He shook his head, trying to calm his racing thoughts and focus on his paperwork. It’s just a cold. Everyone gets colds. No matter how well you clean and sanitize things, you can’t prevent everything. Even so, he bought an extra pack of wipes, gloves and masks on his way home from work that night.
He tried to ignore it through the following week, soothing what he could with an occasional cough drop and some over-the-counter cough suppressants. Hyuk had even recommended a good tea meant for coating the throat and easing pain.
But it only got worse. He could feel a burning branch of pain up the center of his chest, a sure sign of strep or some other bronchial illness. His cough became phlegmy and stabbing.
Until, on a rare day off, Juwon’s symptoms changed in a terrifying new way. Sitting on his couch, looking over a case file, Juwon felt a strange new itch at the back of his throat. He started coughing, his body trying to chase out whatever was causing the discomfort, only for the cough to turn into a violent retching as something exploded out of his mouth. Gasping for breath, Juwon looked down at the tissue he had been holding to his mouth, disgust overcome by curiosity.
Ice shot through his veins at what he saw.
The tissue was splashed with bright red blood, fresh and speckled from the force of his cough. And in the center was a single, yellow petal.
Juwon’s ears rang and his body shook. It can’t be. There must be some mistake. His quick mind frantically searched through his memories, hoping to find a logical explanation for how the petal could have gotten there, any way but the obvious answer. Maybe he brushed a plant on the way up to his apartment. Maybe it was packaged in the tissues by mistake. The blood was alarming, but without the petal, it could be any number of things. With the petal though…
He quickly crumpled the tissue and flushed it down the toilet. When he returned to his notes, he noticed a speck of blood on the paper.
*****
When Dongsik developed a cough, he was confused. Rubbing his sore throat, he tried to think about the last time he was sick. Discounting any illnesses born out of stress and mental health, it had to have been before his trial. Before finding Yu-yeon. Definitely before an upstart little prince showed up in town. His unconscious smile was interrupted with a fresh coughing fit, causing Jihwa to look up in alarm from where she and Jihoon were in the process of helping tear out several old bushes in Dongsik’s yard.
“Are you getting sick? Did you catch something in prison?”
Dongsik shook his head. “Probably just allergies,” he said dismissively. It had been a month since he was released on good behavior. If he had caught anything there, it would have started much sooner.
“Maybe we should stop,” Jihoon gasped, leaning heavily on his shovel.
“Yeah, stop finding excuses to be lazy,” Jihwa said, throwing a bit of dirt at her sweaty brother. “You’re supposed to be the young, fit one!” She turned again to Dongsik and said quietly: “Honestly though. Are you okay? We can stop for the day.”
Dongsik cleared his throat before nodding. “We’ll take a break. Have some soju. Then back at it harder than before,” he said, ignoring Jihoon’s groans.
It was another week before it began to get worse. They were all over at Jaeyi’s for drinks and it seemed like he couldn’t stop coughing. Jaeyi patted Dongsik’s back in sympathy as he doubled over.
”You should really get that checked out, Ahjussi.”
”I swear it’s just allergies,” he said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “All the dust from cleaning up the house.”
”Even more reason to get it checked out,” Jihwa said. “Who knows what’s in that dust?”
”You mean ‘who’?” Dongsik said before his brain could catch up with his mouth. The whole room fell into an awkward silence. Dongsik tried to smirk away his guilt at killing the mood. “I’ll get it checked out next week. Jihoon, how’s the new case going?”
A few hours later, Dongsik found himself waving goodbye to his friends as they scattered into the darkness. He began his walk home, feet shuffling on the uneven pavement. His usual wave of post-social loneliness began to settle across his shoulders like a blanket. He cursed himself for making everyone uncomfortable. It wasn’t his intention. However the amount of death and life in the air of his house was thought that haunted him as he cleaned sometimes. How many people and lives had passed through his home. His parents, Yu-yeon, his friends, Han Juwon...
He smiled at the last one, trying to focus his melancholy thoughts on a bittersweet memory. I wonder how the young prince is doing.
As he passed under a streetlight, he felt something strange stick in his throat. He stopped, bringing his hand up to his throat, and tried to clear it. He began to panic as it stuck fast like a popcorn kernel. Without another option, Dongsik began to cough hard, trying to push it out. He reached for the napkin he’d stashed in his pocket earlier and grabbed it just in time to catch whatever he had forced up.
In the yellow glow of the streetlight, Dongsik saw something black. Alarmed, he pulled out his phone and lit up the flashlight, hoping to not see some sort of eldritch horror in the palm of his hand. The mucus shone red with blood and, in the center, a delicate flower. It wasn’t black, he realized, but a deep and beautiful purple.
Hyacinth, his brain supplied, ever the gardener’s son. Humble love. Peace. I’m sorry.
I’m sorry.
Dongsik closed his eyes and swallowed hard. Crumpling the tissue in his pocket, he continued his trek home in silence.