It was Wednesday once again Akari has to go to the hospital despite the constant disappointment that it brings. Akari sat on the hospital bed, legs swinging as she waited for her doctor to finish reviewing her chart.

  “How’s the pain this week?” he asked without looking up.

  Akari smiled.

  “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

  That made him pause.

  “Not at all?”

  She shook her head. “Not even a little. It’s… quiet. Maybe I'm getting better”

  For the first time since her diagnosis, she wasn’t lying.

  The constant stabbing sensation, the pressure in her chest, the pain like something id ripping her lungs are all gone. All that remained was a strange heaviness, like something resting inside her instead of tearing her apart.

  The doctor frowned slightly. “Let’s do the scan.”

  ---

  The room dimmed as her lung scans appeared on the screen.

  Akari watched his reflection instead of the image.

  The doctor's expression changed.

  “What is it?” Akari asked.

  He hesitated before turning the monitor slightly toward her. The flowers inside her lungs were bigger. Not more scattered or smaller, bigger. The petals looked fuller. The stems are thicker. Some looked close to blooming completely like a fully grown flower.

  “That’s not possible,” she whispered. “I feel better.”

  “That’s what worries me,” the doctor said quietly. “They’ve progressed.”

  Her fingers tightened around the edge of the bed.

  “In normal cases, pain increases as growth increases. But yours…” He exhaled slowly. “Your body is reacting differently.”

  Akari’s mind drifted to the memory with the hooded man. The way her pain stopped the moment he held her. The warmth in her chest. The comfort yet confused feeling of being held by a person you do not know, a person who could be a stalker for all she knows.

  “Did something change this week?” the doctor asked carefully.

  She stared at the floor.

  “…No.”

  But her heart was racing. With eyes almost tearing and finger that she skins slowly. The doctor notice her subtle stress reaction. He leaned towards her and peek to look onto her eyes and ask, "As a friend, is there something that happened this week that could've been connected to this?"

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "Do you think being love can cause you so much struggling?" Akari asked the doctor

  "Being love? I don't think so.....but loving yes."

  "Akari, if you are thinking about your situation, you are going through this because *you* love someone, not because *someone* loves you."

  “Can I be honest with you, Ren? I have never—never—loved anyone. Not even myself. I know you don’t believe me, but it’s the truth. I lost my memory. You know that. So even if I did love someone once, my brain wouldn’t remember it. And that’s what kills me.

  Why do you think I’m doing this?

  I keep going back to that café—the same one I used to go to before the accident—because maybe I’ll see someone. Maybe something will click. Maybe I’ll remember. But nothing happens. Noah says it’s the only place I’ve gone to every single day for the past five years. Five years. And still… nothing.

  There’s a man there who talks to me like he cares, like I matter. But let’s be honest—I’m just a loyal customer. I’ve been supporting his business for five years. And the other guy? He just started working there.

  This is hopeless. I can’t get better. No matter how hard I try to make it make sense, it doesn’t.

  Someone sends me flowers every day since I got out of the hospital. Maybe it’s him. Maybe it means something. But no—it’s probably just some stranger who thinks he loves me.

  "If being loved doesn't make this any worse, what do I have left, there's no lead anymore"

  ---

  Akari went to the café like she always did. The bell above the door rang softly as she stepped inside. After the hospital, she needed routine. Something predictable. Something that didn’t involve scans or quiet, worried voices. She walked to her usual table without thinking.

  Misaki noticed her immediately. He always did.

  “You’re early,” he said gently as he approached her slowly.

  “Hospital day,” she replied without thinking.

  He paused almost imperceptibly before nodding. “Your usual?”

  “Yeah.”

  When Misaki returned with her drink, she stared at the steam rising from the cup. The scan image replayed in her mind, fuller petals, thicker stems, closer to blooming. Her chest felt heavy weighted with the thought of it.

  And before she could stop herself, she said quietly, “It’s worse.”

  The words slipped out so naturally that she didn’t realize she had spoken until Misaki stilled in front of her.

  “What is?” he asked.

  Her breath caught.

  Why did I say that?

  She looked up at him, eyes widening slightly. “I, nothing. I didn’t mean to”

  But he was already watching her closely now, something in his expression made Akari keep talking.

  “The hospital,” he said carefully. “What’s worse?”

  She hesitated. Why am I even telling him this? He’s just a café worker. Just someone I see every day.

  “The flowers,” she blurted out before she could rethink it. “They’ve grown again.”

  Silence grew between them. And then it hit her. She had never told him about that.

  Not once. Her fingers tightened around the cup.

  “I don’t know why I said that. Sorry. That was weird.”

  But Misaki wasn’t reacting to her embarrassment. He was reacting to what she said. The color drained from his face. His hand slowly tightened around the back of her chair. His breathing shifted, subtle but uneven, like he was trying to steady himself.

  “They’ve… grown?” he repeated, his voice lower.

  She nodded slowly. “The doctor said they’ve progressed.”

  “It doesn’t even hurt anymore,” she added, forcing a small, awkward laugh. “So maybe that’s good.”

  That made his expression change even more.

  “It doesn’t hurt?” he asked, and this time his voice was strained.

  “No.”

  His jaw clenched. For a moment, he looked like he was the one struggling to breathe.

  “That’s not good,” he said quietly. Akari stared at him, confusion overtaking her embarrassment.

  Why are you reacting like this?

  She hadn’t meant to tell him. She hadn’t meant to reveal something so personal, especially not to someone who, logically, was still just a stranger in her life.

  “You look more worried than my doctor,” she said softly.

  He didn’t laugh.

  Instead, he looked at her in a way that made her chest feel heavy again.

  “Akari,” he said, and there was something almost desperate in the way he said her name, “you shouldn’t take that lightly.”

  Akari smiled at him and said "I think i can handle myself just fine."

  **To be continued**