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Jungeun sets down the bouquet for Haseul on the floor gently, taking her seat beside Sooyoung on one of the auditorium’s many fancy chairs. They’re right in front, which she can’t decide yet if it’s a good thing or not. Sure, they’ll have to strain their necks slightly and their eardrums are most definitely going to be victims of bad singing, but they’ll also do anything to have a great view of their best friend performing opera.
They fill time with mindless chatter, and soon enough, the concert starts. The curtains open, and the emcees step into the spotlight, introducing their first performer of the night.
It’s a vocalist by the name of Heejin, who absolutely crushes her set. The auditorium erupts into cheers, and Jungeun’s almost certain she sees a girl holding a sign that says “Be My Girlfriend?”.
Performers take the stage one by one, and Jungeun grows excited for Haseul’s turn. The yearly faculty singing competition usually disappoints, but Haseul surely wouldn’t. When it’s her turn, she performs her rendition of ‘Magic Flute’ with ease and poise, two things Jungeun could only wish she had. The auditorium erupts in unanimous cheers, the loudest since Heejin’s opener. As Haseul takes her bow, Sooyoung embarrassingly wolf-whistles, causing Jungeun to crack up. Haseul manages to still walk off the stage despite being a little more flustered than usual, shooting Sooyoung a death glare before disappearing into the curtains.
Jungeun’s prepared to be bored for the rest of the night now that Haseul has performed. After all, she’s really only here for her. While some of the performances were good, listening to people sing really wasn’t her thing. Bands, dance, musicals— those were more up her alley. Sooyoung calls her a pretentious bitch, but really Jungeun’s just a nerd that happens to not understand standing in front of a microphone and projecting your voice to a bunch of people who then clap for you. Why people like Haseul enjoy it, she has tried and failed to understand. Something about touching hearts, feeling the emotions in the music and other mushy stuff like that.
An acoustic rendition of “Faded” that startlingly manages to sound like Darude’s "Sandstorm", an objectively bad knockoff Pentatonix cover band and a self-proclaimed Queen of Rap with blonde hair and her apprentice rapper with the same golden hair later, they’re finally a few sets before the end. That’s great news to Jungeun, who’s having a migraine from the rapper duo constantly plugging their SoundCloud throughout the performance. Sooyoung had thought it was hilarious, as did the rest of the audience.
Then, a girl in an oversized red checkered blazer takes the stage. She wears a smile, nervously looking at her feet while waiting for the music to start. She’s pretty, that much Jungeun notices.
“She looks too cute to be good at singing,” Jungeun scoffs to Sooyoung, taking one last glance at the smiley singer before turning to her phone. The music starts playing as she opens Twitter, about to type a shady remark about the blonde SoundCloud rappers and how they’re killing the rap industry.
The girl sings her first note just when she’s about to send her tweet. Sooyoung inhales sharply beside her, softly remarking, “I think you’re going to want to watch this.”
We haven’t said anything in a while
Only awkward air surrounds us
You’re turned away
Sooyoung’s right. Her head shoots up, her tweet forgotten about. She turns off her phone and places it in her coat pocket without tearing her eyes away from the singer. The girl has her eyes closed, absolutely in tune with the music, figuratively and literally.
And you’re only letting out a sigh
You’re standing there with a face
That I’ve never seen before
The same smiley girl from before the music started playing is gone. Jungeun can feel every single emotion she's trying to convey in her voice. This is someone singing about her heart getting broken.
You should’ve just gotten angry
You should’ve told me you don’t like me anymore
Did you want to be remembered as a good person
Until the very end?
It’s almost mesmerising. It was like watching a magician perform an illusion for the first time. Jungeun is in awe. The audience is silent, a juxtaposition to the chaos whenever a mediocre performer was on stage. The girl absolutely deserved every bit of attention she was getting.
I’ll go
Don’t try to put on a sorry face
You don’t like me anymore
Fine, I will leave you
It hurts to see you becoming so cowardly
I’ll go, I’ll let you go
Jungeun smiles a little at how her face scrunches up when she tries to hit a note slightly too high. It obviously isn’t too high for her at all. The singer taps her fingers lightly against the mic stand to an erratic beat, which Jungeun can only assume is a by-product of her nerves. She finishes the chorus off with a little run, and then the instrumentals take over for a while. Meanwhile, Jungeun takes the opportunity to take the deep inhale she desperately needs— she had been unknowingly holding her breath this whole time.
The singer opens her eyes and looks around the auditorium, seemingly trying to gauge the audience’s reaction. It’s obviously great, and she hears applause ringing out already. She turns her gaze to the front row, and locks eyes with Jungeun just momentarily before closing them to continue the second verse.
You slowly changed
I waited for your calls that used to come every day
It makes me sad to see myself getting upset
I guess this is it for you, I guess it’s over
But I was only beginning
Jungeun swears that if angels were real, this would be what they sounded like (except the singing about how she just broke up with a significant other part). Her voice is soothing— it’s soulful, melodious, so pure and musical. It’s all the good things in the world, even when she’s singing such a sad song.
For the first time since Haseul barged into her life, Jungeun is moved by another person’s singing.
The girl finishes up her song. As soon as the spotlight dims, the cheers for her are literally deafening. Only one thought lingers in her mind as the singer flashes an adorably bashful smile while taking her leave: Jungeun’s going to need another bouquet.
She gets up from her seat, attracting the eyes of a few. “I’m going to need another bouquet.”
“Woah, slow down there casanova. You’re leaving already?” Sooyoung questions, just as the lights turn on again, and the next performer steps on stage. Jungeun’s gathering her stuff. “There’s still that terrible Nickelback cover band that you absolutely hate!”
“Yeah, maybe next time,” Jungeun replies. She flips through the programme booklet hurriedly, finally finding the page she was looking for. “Kim Jiwoo. I need to get Kim Jiwoo flowers. I’ll come back before the encore stage!”
And with that, she sprints out of the auditorium.
Okay, maybe it was a terrible idea to run out of the concert without so much of a plan. She’d came in her car and not Sooyoung’s, so at least she had decent transport, but where was she going to get flowers? Sooyoung had bought Haseul’s from a florist near her house, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to go all the way back there and potentially miss the encore.
As she’s power-walking and power-panicking, Sooyoung sends her an address for a florist within walking distance. Thank god for that. She sends a quick text as thanks, and runs down the street.
The shop is a few minutes away, and she’s sweating even before she turns the last corner. Finally, the neon sign comes into view, and she enters it, still panting.
“Hi, welcome to Choerry's! Are you looking for anything in particular?” An employee with pigtails greets her bent over form with a wide smile. She straightens her back with a groan, breathing heavily.
“Uh,” Jungeun tries her best to form a reply between deep breaths. She ends up shaking her head, croaking out, “I don’t know what I’m looking for.”
Yerim—as she finds out from her name tag— places a finger on her chin thoughtfully. “Alright, why not you tell me who you’re getting flowers for? I can help better that way.”
“Um well, this sounds kind of creepy but… There’s this girl who sang really well at this singing competition. I just wanted to get her flowers because uh, her singing really moved me. Yeah.”
“Ooh, so a girl huh…” Yerim coos, looking intrigued before snapping into realisation that she was supposed to help Jungeun, not listen to gossip. Jungeun simply laughs it off in amusement. “I’m sorry, please continue.”
“Oh, I was done.”
“You were done? Come on, there has to be a more exciting backstory to this! You ran all the way here to get her flowers and you expect me to believe that this is an innocent gesture… I’m young but I’m not a fool. You like, like her.”
Jungeun coughs, taken by surprise. “What? I literally just met her today…”
“Well, these things do happen. I would know, I’m a florist!” Yerim throws her a good-natured wink, before looking around her shop.
“You’re single?” Jungeun nods. Yerim gestures for her to follow her, and leads her to a section of brightly coloured flowers. A few catch her eye. She reads the tag, and finds out they’re tulips.
“They’re beautiful. I think these would be fine,” Jungeun says, fingers grazing one of the petals of the tulips softly. The pink ones were nice, but she can’t take her eyes off the yellow ones.
“They have pretty cool meanings, you know,” Yerim speaks, tone mysterious. “In general, tulips signify perfect love. Red for passion, pink for good wishes, and yellow means ‘there’s sunshine in your smile’.”
There’s sunshine in your smile. Jungeun recalls the look on the singer’s face before she sang her song. “The yellow ones. I’ll take them.”
Yerim packages her flowers carefully with pink paper. “What’s her name? And are you sure you don’t want some purple roses with them?”
“Kim Jiwoo,” Jungeun replies, thoughtful. “Well, do purple roses mean anything?”
“Of course!” Yerim writes out the name on a card, and hands over the complete bouquet. She shoots the characteristic smile of hers, but with a hint of a smirk this time as Jungeun takes the flowers. “Purple roses mean love at first sight.”
Jungeun struggles to form coherent words after, opting to leave the florist before the heat on her face stains her cheeks a permanent pink. She hears Yerim’s laughter and chimes of “bye!” as she runs out, and decides she’ll make herself a regular of the shop.
She does make it back before the encore. All the performers are back on stage, singing a Christmas carol together and sounding somewhere between a Kidz Bop choir, and prepubescent Spongebob Squarepants. Long story short, they were terrible. Nonetheless, she fiddles with the tulips in her lap the whole time, pretending she’s not straining her neck looking for a small girl in an oversized red blazer. When she spots her, Jiwoo has a friendly arm around the tiny blonde rapper, and Jungeun stares in amusement as they share a few words. Maybe she hates the SoundCloud duo a little less now.
“Hey, Haseul’s waving,” Sooyoung says with a nudge to her side. She scans the stage—where some performers have formed a conga line and are wreaking havoc— and finally spots their friend in her white outfit. She waves back, throwing her a thumbs up.
The winner is finally announced, and to nobody’s surprise, Haseul wins again for the third year straight. She wasn’t trained professionally for nothing after all. Jiwoo gets second, and Jungeun feels her throat constricting when the girl takes her little prize—a silver trophy— with a smile that could literally brighten a thousand galaxies.
Heejin gets third, and the “Be My Girlfriend?” sign reappears. With the lights on, the singer finally reads it, screaming a ‘yes’ way too excitedly in response. The girl bolts off the stage upon receiving her prize, running into the arms of her suitor. It’s very much like a fairytale, Jungeun thinks, applauding for them alongside the rest of the audience. The tulips in her lap seem to sneer at her as she glances between the newly formed couple, and a particular girl on stage. Giving the flowers to her without looking like a fool would be akin to Jungeun trying to fall in love with a man— nearly impossible.
Finally, the concert ends. They jump onto Haseul the moment she emerges from the stage doors, throwing her in a group hug. The flowers are given, as are words of congratulations.
“Who are those for?” Haseul asks, the corner of her lips turned up mischievously, pointing to the tulips in Jungeun’s hands. She hurriedly places them behind her back, as if that does anything to hide the bouquet. “I didn’t see these with you when I was performing…”
“She has the hots for Kim Jiwoo. Ran out midway to get her flowers and everything,” Sooyoung reports, flinching when Jungeun glares at her and raises her fist. Haseul has to step in between them to break up the impending fight. With Sooyoung cackling this much, it wouldn’t be long before Jungeun actually punched her anyway.
“Well, it seems like you have a few competitors, Jungeun… Better make a move soon,” Haseul says, forcefully turning her friend around. Indeed, Jiwoo was being surrounded by a bunch of her friends, ruffling her hair and telling her how great she did. Jungeun feels her knees go weak at the sight of her smile. And to think this angel has a voice a thousand times more beautiful than her smile… It’s not right, she shouldn’t be allowed to exist.
“She’s with her friends, I-I shouldn’t barge in,” she stammers, heart suddenly racing.
“Haseul, oh my god, she’s shy. She’s actually shy. I have never in my life wanted to see anything more.”
“Shut up!”
“My goodness,” Haseul laughs. “Just go talk to her. Jiwoo’s the sweetest person ever.”
Jungeun groans, turning around to face her friends, absentmindedly picking at the flowers. “I’m not even confessing or anything right? Just give her the stupid flowers, say thank you, congrats, and bolt… Right? It’s simple!”
“Yeah, girl, it’s simple. You don’t even have to tell her your name or whatever,” Sooyoung adds with laughter.
“I don’t?” Jungeun looks up from the flowers, confused.
“Don’t listen to Sooyoung, god. Sweetie, yes, you do. Tell her your name,” Haseul tells her. “Give her your number as well, if you want to keep in touch. Do you want to keep in touch?”
Jungeun just stares ahead, dazed. “I don’t know, do I?”
“Nevermind. Jiwoo broke her, Sooyoung. I think she’s broken.” Sooyoung sighs, grabbing the bouquet wordlessly. She retrieves a pen from her bag, and hurriedly scribbles something on the card Yerim attached. Jungeun snaps out of her reverie enough to realise that Sooyoung had written down her number and name for her. The tulips are shoved back into her chest, and she feels Sooyoung’s strong hand clamped down on her shoulder and pushing her away from Haseul.
“Wait, I-“
With another shove on the back and a “don’t disappoint us!” from Sooyoung, Jungeun finds herself exactly a few feet away from Jiwoo. The Kim Jiwoo, still in her blazer and ribbon tie, laughing softly with her friends. Oh god, it’s happening, it’s happening, it really is happening.
She taps her shoulder, and waits for her to turn her attention away from her friends. “Oh, it’s you! Front row girl!”
Well, that didn't go as she expected. “Huh?! You know me?”
Jiwoo nods excitedly, smiling. “Yeah, you were in the front row and I could really only see so many faces since the light was so bright... I remember the cute ones though!”
“I- Cute? Really?” Jungeun has to laugh. She was far from cute.
“Yeah, you’re cute. Oh wait, I’m sorry. Were you about to say something?” Jiwoo asks, eyebrows furrowed and looking too adorable for her own good. Jungeun feels a little dizzy. With her narrowing vision, she watches Jiwoo gesture for her friends to leave, perhaps expecting a long conversation ahead.
“I uh… I was going to tell you that I heard you sing just now and thought you did great,” Jungeun says, wondering how she managed to get that out without stuttering. “I got you flowers. Congratulations on winning.”
Jungeun brandishes the tulips from behind her back, making Jiwoo gasp softly in surprise. She scratches the back of her head awkwardly when she realises Jiwoo isn’t taking them. “You don’t have to take them really, I just wanted to compliment you on your singing. It just really, really moved me. I’m sorry if this is a bit burdensome, you probably have a boyfriend, I’ll just-”
Jiwoo wraps her in a hug before she can finish her sentence. Jungeun stays in her embrace, having an out-of-body experience. She registers two figures in the distance whooping for joy, but she pays them no mind.
“Thank you for the flowers,” she says, voice lower than a whisper. Just as Jungeun’s about to put her own arms around Jiwoo, she’s released from her grasp. She almost feels disappointed that the embrace is over before Jiwoo adds, “And just because I sang a break-up song well doesn’t mean I have a boyfriend. Or a girlfriend, really. I just sing what the song wants me to.”
Oh. Jiwoo winks at her.
Oh.
“Well, I think you did that exceedingly well,” Jungeun says with a strained laugh. She’s still reeling from the hug. And the wink.
“Thank you for the tulips, really. They’re my favourite, actually, even down to the colour.”
“Wait really? I just chose them because of their meaning. Well, I’m really glad you like them,” Jungeun says, relieved that Jiwoo is finally taking the flowers from her.
“That must be fate working its magic then. So, what do they mean?” Jiwoo asks with gleaming eyes, taking a whiff of the flowers.
Jungeun finds it hard to form words with her staring so expectantly. She hopes she passes off her nervous laughter as amusement well enough. “I-I thought they were your favourite. Shouldn’t you know?”
“I’m just checking if you actually did your research, or you just stalked me to find out what flowers I liked,” Jiwoo replies chirpily. For someone who just accused Jungeun of stalking, she looks awfully cheerful.
Jungeun opens her mouth to defend herself, but realises that being defensive would look even worse on her. So, she just answers as coolly as she can. And by coolly, she just means trying her hardest to not stammer and look like a fool.
“There’s sunshine in your smile,” Jungeun says, looking to her own shoes. “And tulips in general mean perfect love… But look, I didn’t stalk you or anything, I really just thought your voice sounded amazing. I’m not a creep. At least… I hope I don’t come off as one.”
“Don’t worry, you’re pretty cute as far as creeps go. You get a pass.” Jiwoo tells a horrified Jungeun between outbursts of raucous laughter, “I’m kidding! You’re even cuter when you’re flustered.”
Jungeun brings her hand up to scratch her neck again, not knowing where to place her hands. Since she’s sure her face has been flaming for a good minute now, there’s no point in covering it either. Swinging her hands by her side awkwardly becomes her go-to move. That makes Jiwoo giggle again, making another offhand comment about her being cute. Jungeun really wants to tell her she’s dead wrong, and that if anybody’s cute, it’s Jiwoo herself. But she doesn't, because she's struggling to even stand properly at this point.
“Say, Jungeun,” Jiwoo reads off the card stuck carefully between the flowers in the bouquet. “If I ask you out for coffee one day, would you say yes?”
Jungeun resists the scream threatening to let loose from her chest, and just nods.
“Great, then I’ll see you soon?” Jiwoo asks, tilting her head slightly. She really wants to say something, but the words keep getting caught in her throat. So she nods again in reply, hoping that what she just flashed was a genuinely charming smile, and not a constipated, awkward one. “It’s a date then!”
Jiwoo leaves with one last wink. Now, Jungeun really needs to scream.
It’s a date.