Ghostly Beauty - Minsung

Chapter 26

Minho's friends came back a couple days later. They knew Minho wasn't going to make it to the end of the week. They wanted to say goodbye.

The boy couldn't stand, he was constantly throwing up, and he was extremely weak. He couldn't even squeeze someone's hand.

Jisung had been doing his best whilst also fighting his own battles. His heart pain was getting worse as Minho's condition was crippling.

He tried his best to deal with the pain, but occasionally he couldn't deal with it and, although he hated it, had to leave Minho alone for a while until the pain ceased.

It was nice now that Minho's friends were here, it took a bit of the weight of Jisung for a little bit. He wouldn't mind taking care of Minho if he was in full health, but sometimes he can barely even stand either and it pained him more than his physical pains to see Minho so weak and vulnerable.

"How long do you think he'll last?" Chan asked Jeongin who was currently looking at Minho's state.

Jeongin was studying medicine in hopes of becoming a doctor and so was their only hope of knowing anything about the boys condition. However, Jeongin wasn't perfect, of course, and he was only in his first year, so he couldn't do much but base it off what he's been taught and what he's researched on his own.

Before this, Jeongin had never heard of hanahaki disease and all his research had been done on very short notice.

"Probably not to Thursday..." The younger concluded with a solemn expression.

It was Tuesday.

No one was really sure what to feel. They felt sad, that;s for sure, but apart from that, they were all relatively numb. Their minds were blank and they couldn't process what was happening.

But Jisung felt his whole world crumble.

He felt as if everything he'd ever worked hard to build with Minho was going to fall apart. The boy was going to die and Jisung would be left alone again. He didn't know what he'd do without the older. How he'd cope.

A tear slipped down his face as he looked at Minho.

The boy was awake, but mentally absent. He was sitting up because otherwise, if he lay down, he wouldn't be able to breathe. There was a tree growing up his throat and most likely by Thursday it would suffocate him.

Felix collapsed suddenly, Changbin snapping out of his trance to catch the boy. This was probably all too much for him. Losing two friends less than ten years apart from each other was definitely not something he could cope with very well.

"We probably won't be able to come back any time soon..." Chan expressed.

With that knowledge, everyone decided to day their goodbyes before they left.

Jeongin decided to go first. The others stood out of ear shot to let each person have their privacy, but Jisung stayed, maybe it was intrusive, but he wanted to see what everyone had to say to Minho.

Jeongin, Seungmin and Felix hadn't known Minho very long and so their goodbyes were short. Felix had woken up a little after Jeongin had finished his goodbye. However, Hyunjin, Changbin and Chan knew Minho for many years. Their goodbyes were sure to be emotional.

Hyunjin walked in first.

He went up to the makeshift bed that the older was lying on and held his hand, he brought it close to his chest and caressed it softly with his thumb. A tear slipped down his cheek and he sniffed lightly and gently wiped it away with the back of his free hand.

"Minho..." He caressed the boys cheek softly, "You're so precious to me, I hope you know that, a-and I hope you know that I will a-always treasure you in m-my heart as a dear friend. I will never forget you. Not as long as I live. I-In the afterlife I'll find you...e-even if I'll be crippled and old, I'll always find you. I'll talk to you a lot okay? Every night, I promise. I'll re-remember you forever. You're everything to me, you've taught me so much about myself...I love you so much Minho." Hyunjin broke down in tears as he felt the weakest squeeze of his hand. Minho's head was lulled to the side as the ghost of a smile graced his lips, but Hyunjin still saw it.