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It doesn’t matter , Seongwu thinks as he brings the flowers to the doorstep of the lady he would soon associate with his best friend. He rings the bell, and when the door opens, he is greeted - not by the woman - but by the man he was in love with more than half of his life.
“Hey,” he beams. “Good timing!” he adds.
He grabs the bouquet from Seongwu’s hands and presses his card in place. Seongwu’s left shoulder is pat, he receives a wink, and the door closes in his face.
Seongwu ignores that Daniel was half dressed, ignores his tousled hair, ignores the red marks that littered his chest.
Because when you love someone, it is what is it.
***
Daniel walks in the flower shop, his coat swung over his broad shoulders. He looks breathtaking - always beautiful, always gorgeous. Seongwu almost cuts his finger hovering close to his bud knife. He sets the tool aside to look at his guest; he admires his handiwork as a pretense.
“Is that mine?” Daniel asks, setting his coat on the table without cleaning the stems and petals that scattered on the surface.
“No, it’s your mom’s,” Seongwu shrugs, never missing an opportunity to annoy his best friend. He picks up Daniel’s coat and dusts away the leaves and thorns before hanging it on the rack behind him - the rack that’s specific purpose is to hold Daniel’s clothes whenever he stops by Seongwu’s flower shop.
“That’s why my Mom loves you more than she loves me,” Daniel snorts as he takes the carnations and hyacinths from Seongwu’s work table.
“Am I supposed to make another one?” Seongwu asks, picking up the bud knife again, knowing full well he won’t need it.
“Nah,” the other man hums. “Mom didn’t like her, so we broke up.”
Seongwu shakes his head as Daniel sniffs the flowers he had arranged. The florist’s breath hitches as Daniel unceremoniously reaches behind him to grab his coat.
“Now, take off that ugly apron or we’ll be late.”
Always a replacement, always the last resort.
But when you love someone, it is what it is.
***
Daniel’s Mom is always a delight to be with. Always smiling, always positive, always doting, always affectionate and sweet towards Seongwu.
“You know,” she whispers to him when Daniel excused himself to the gentlemen’s room. “Sometimes I wish my son would look at you the way you look at him.”
Seongwu nods, a slow smile forming on his lips; it isn't the first time. “Mrs. Kang,” he answers dearly. “My wish is that the next time we meet, you no longer need to say it- because at that time, at that time, it’s already true.”
Seongwu receives a warm hug and a pat on the back.
And for Seongwu, loving Daniel is making flowers for his dates, fixing his coat and dusting it. Loving Daniel is accompanying him to dinner when no girl would hang from his arms, and receiving his mother’s repetitive wish. Loving Daniel is accepting his whole being, and accepting he will never receive the same love.
Because loving Daniel is loving him from the side, it is what it is.
What Seongwu doesn’t know is that Daniel’s love for him is one and the same, but he lets their relationship be as it is.