Akari smiled at him and said, “I think I can handle myself just fine.”

  Those were the words I told him that day. To be honest, everything I said just spilled out of my mouth without a thought. Even now, I don’t know why I started talking.

  But one thing stayed with me—Misaki’s face.

  He looked so worried. The kind of worried that makes your chest tighten just by seeing it. Yet he kept his distance, careful not to cross a line. Still, his eyes betrayed him. They were practically begging me to say more.

  And somehow, that was enough to make me ask.

  “Misaki… why do you care so much?” I asked quietly.

  The moment the words left my mouth, he froze.

  For a second, Misaki looked like someone who had realized he had stepped somewhere he shouldn’t have. He took a slow step back and lowered his head in a polite bow.

  “I’m so sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to react that way.”

  After apologizing to me, Misaki tried to walk away, but I wouldn’t let that happen. So I grabbed his hand to stop him and said,

  “Can’t you at least answer my question?” I said, my grip tightening slightly.

  “Misaki… why do you care so much?”

  The truth is… when I asked that question, I was hoping for terrible things. I hoped he knew someone with the same illness. Maybe I even hoped he had it himself. Or maybe… I just hoped he was someone who could understand.

  But the moment he answered, I wished I had never asked at all, and to be honest it made me want to kill myself a little.

  Misaki looked at me with a gentle smile, an visible pain in his eyes.

  He held my hand a little tighter before speaking.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “My wife has the same thing,” he said softly.

  “And I don’t know how to help her.”

  He let out a small, tired laugh that didn’t sound like laughter at all.

  “She’s my wife. We’re married… and yet she still suffers from it.”

  His gaze dropped to the floor.

  “I don’t know if she loves someone else… or if she just doesn’t realize how much I love her.”

  Then he looked back at me.

  “But she’s suffering,” he said quietly. “And honestly… I don’t give a fuck about anything else. I just want her to get better.”

  He paused, his grip on my hand tightening just slightly.

  “And the thing that hurts the most…” he murmured, “is that I can’t even ask her about it.”

  As the day ended, Misaki returned home. He lived alone in a house far too big for one person—too messy for a place that barely had anyone in it, yet somehow too empty to feel lived in.

  He stepped through the entrance. On the small counter beside the door sat a picture frame turned face down, a pot with a wilted flower, and an empty lighter.

  Misaki walked into the living room and dropped his coat onto the sofa before heading to the kitchen. He picked up a bottle that held barely any water, but he drank the last small sip anyway.

  When he reached the bedroom, he sat on the bed, which was scattered with business cards from his work at the café, some from flower shops, some from restaurants, and others from companies known for hosting events.

  Slowly, he lay down on top of the cards as if they were the most comfortable place he could rest. Curling into himself, he wrapped his arms around his body as a breath that trembled like a cry he refused to let out quietly escaped his chest.

  Meanwhile, somewhere else in the city, Akari couldn’t stop thinking about the conversation from earlier that day.

  "To have the Hanahaki in that situation is heartbreaking for both of them I wonder if how Misaki's doing right now."

  knock knock

  Noah, entered her room after knocking twice to check on Akari,

  "What did the doctor said?"

  "You mean Ren?"

  "Ren , is your doctor, what did he say?"

  "Same as always, I got painkillers but lower dose because they are not as painful as they used to be, also the flowers are bigger, like they're almost fully bloomed"

  "Bigger? And they don't hurt?"

  "Yeah, I feel normal, like nothings in there."

  Noah looked at Akari with a sense of relief and fear in his eyes.

  "Since you feel better want to go out tomorrow? I'll treat you with Elodie, we should go out together."

  I smiled at him without thinking twice i said

  "Sure!"

  To be Continued