The Hanahaki Club: Episode 3

Episode 3: Losers in Love, Part 3

I just want to say a big THANK YOU! to you all for your positive feedback. This is my first time writing a serial, so your likes and comments are really encouraging and much appreciated.

I hope you continue to enjoy the journey of The Hanahaki Club with me.

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So far…

Emery, Remi, Taran and Merryn have arrived at the Blue Room for the first session of the hanahaki support group, led by the group mentor, Anabelle. There’s just one more member to introduce before the first meeting starts.

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Episode 3: Losers in Love, Part 3

Izaak

Why did bad things happen to good people? More than that: why did they keep happening to good people? If Izaak was in charge, everyone would get the same portion of good and bad luck, happiness and sorrow. If there had to be suffering in life, then it would be spread out so that everyone got a small dose and no one had to go through the same hurt and pain, over and over again.

But Izaak wasn’t in charge and life was disgustingly unfair. Why did some people—good people, like his sister, Hassie—have to suffer more than anyone else? Hassie had never hurt anyone. She was smart, and kind, and thoughtful, and gentle, and she had a wicked sense of humour once she warmed up to you enough to show it. She was, in fact, the very best person Izaak knew. Sure, he was a little biased because they were twins and had been deeply attached to each other the entire twenty years of their lives—as if they were one soul that had been split between two bodies and expressed in two personalities—but even objectively, Izaak was pretty sure Hassie ranked top in the more-than-decent human being rankings. She was definitely a better person than he was: more patient, more understanding, more selfless, more talented, more hard-working, and always more ready to believe the best of others. She wasn’t cynical, suspicious and short-tempered. She didn’t glare and huff, or use a snappish tone to deliberately rile others up when there was a crisis and being petty really wasn’t a priority. She just wasn’t that kind of an obstinate jerk.

But that didn’t stop the universe from being a bastard and giving Hassie the crappy hanahaki gene.

If Izaak was in charge, the hanahaki gene would go to hell.

If Izaak was in charge, Leon Leadley would go to hell right alongside the crappy hanahaki gene.

If Izaak was in charge, Leon Leadley would be gone—disappeared entirely from human history. In the blink of an eye, he would cease to exist. And even though Izaak wasn’t in charge, he was tempted to actually find a way to make Leon Leadley vanish for good. Because Leon Leadley was the bad thing that had happened to Hassie. He’d happened to her twice and Izaak was now legitimately harbouring feelings of murderous intent towards him.

Of course, Izaak knew that, reasonably, Leon hadn’t done anything wrong. It wasn’t his fault that he was not only talented, tall, good-looking and smart but also a really, really, inconveniently likeable person. Such a likeable person that Hassie had developed feelings for him both in high school, and again now, when they’d crossed paths thanks to Hickley University Theatre Society.

Talk about wrong place, wrong time. Of course, Hassie hadn’t remembered Leon at first—hadn’t even recognised him. The operation had scrubbed not only all her feelings for him but all her memories of him too. But Izaak had remembered and his heart had dropped out of his body, through the soles of his feet, and through the polished floor of the Grand Hall, the moment he’d recognised the lean build, fair hair and bright green eyes of bloody Leon Leadley standing opposite him, on the other side of the Theatre Society stand, right in the middle of the Freshers Fair. 

Izaak’s first instinct had been to leap over the stall, grab Leon by the collar and drag him outside to dump him in the nearest river, where hopefully the current would sweep him out to sea. His second had been to tell him outright he wasn’t welcome at Theatre Soc—banned, in fact—and to piss off. But Izaak did neither of those things: instead he just stood there stupidly whilst Myra had buttered Leon up with her sales pitch and got him to sign the membership sheet. Not that Leon had needed the sales pitch; he’d singled the stand out on purpose with the sole intent of joining the society and finding out when auditions for the first performance would be held. And then, having fulfilled Izaak’s worst nightmare, right in front of his eyes, he had turned to Izaak, looked him straight in the eye and said: “Didn’t you go to Gallywood High School? I think we were in the same year.”

Izaak had been forced to admit, through slightly gritted teeth, that yes, he did, and yes, they were. He was also forced to confess, without enthusiasm, that, yes, he had been on the tech-desk team, and yes, he did design the lighting for Gallywood’s performance of The Crucible, and, yes, he was in charge of the lighting crew for Theatre Soc, but no, he was not studying a degree in lighting design but in business studies. And all the while, he was thinking: I’m glad Hassie’s not here. How do I keep this guy away from Hassie? I’m glad Hassie had a prior engagement this afternoon. Can I get this idiot to quit the club before the next meeting? How can I make this guy disappear? Hassie can’t go through all that again; how am I going to protect her?

Izaak hadn’t found the answer to that question, and he’d been utterly helpless as his sister—his lovely, kind, funny, generous, better half—had fallen into the same trap she’d fought to free herself from a year ago. She and Leon had met at Theatre Soc; Leon had been likeable, good company and keen to reconnect with an old school friend; Hassie had been helpful and friendly and had quickly fallen for Leon all over again until she was coughing up white petals into the toilet every day. And now, here Izaak was, having to watch from the driver’s seat of their shared car, as Hassie walked up the steps to the Fenway Community Centre for her first session with a hanahaki support group.

Why did this have to happen to her again? Why of all the universities in the country, in the world, did Leon Leadley have to come to Hickley? Why did he have to join Theatre Soc? Why did Hassie have to befriend him and fall for him all over again?

Why did Hassie get the hanahaki gene when Izaak didn’t?

Life was grossly unfair, and Izaak wasn’t in charge, but he was going to do what he could to fight back. There had been no support group involved last time; Hassie had immediately opted for the surgery and the whole thing had been done in a matter of months. But Izaak couldn’t bear to see her go through that again… and this time, surgery wasn’t such a simple option. So, he had used his lowest, dirtiest trick to persuaded Hassie to try this support club first, before she made a decision on the surgery, and now he had her word she would give it a go and stick with it for the next few months.

Izaak had failed to protect his sister, but maybe this hanahaki group could do what he couldn’t and save her, once and for all, from the clutches of this cruel disease.

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Next time: Episode 4—Losers in Love, Part 4

Teaser:

Ah. They were starting. Wonderful.

Hassie ran her eye along the rest of the semi-circle and saw mostly pink ears and cheeks, and a general avoidance of eye-contact.

Well, this wasn’t awkward at all. Clearly everyone was extremely keen to be here.

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Author’s Notes:

Izaak and his protective sibling vibes 🤍

Next week we’ll get Hassie’s POV and the first session of the hanahaki support group.

Next time: Episode 4—Losers in Love, Part 4

PJ

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