Work Text:
Like clockwork, every week there was a new flower waiting for her in a clear vase.
It started four weeks ago when she came to work in the small library her friend owned.
The door was heavy, and Edgar and his boyfriend struggled every day to open it. Once they managed to secure it with a big rock they painted green, it never closed until the end of the day. Ranpo went around saying it was as a way to say that everyone was welcome anytime, too embarrassed to admit it was an agonizing task to move that old piece of wood.
Summers were torture, and their two computers were left alone in the area where the door welcomed the people. The bookshelves were in a separate room with a glass wall and air conditioning, and a big table rested in the middle of the room. There, Edgar sat as he wrote, waiting for someone to come in.
Between the two areas that made the library, there was a gorgeous spiral staircase, with flowers from the lovely shop across the street stuck wherever they fit in the iron rail. The patterns in the metal twisted and bent around, lining the figures of vines, leaves, roses, and their thorns.
Every Sunday, Ranpo came in with colorful bouquets in his arms, and all the employees stayed after work hours to remove the old flowers and replace them with the fresh ones.
On top of the stairs, Ranpo owned a coffee shop. Tantei Coffee was widely known, and it brought curious customers to the shelves underneath it. It was ranked as the number one original blend in the city, and many corporations had tried to take over, but Ranpo stood firm against being someone's employee.
Apart from the blend and the friendly workers, Tantei Coffee had an additional charm. The flower shop had a beautiful garden on the roof, and it was the centerpiece of the view on the terrace. Paired with the sunset it was capable of taking one's breath away.
When Louisa first had coffee on the terrace, it wasn't the view that took her breath away, but something —someone— else.
Since then, every time she went upstairs to drink coffee and write something, she looked for inspiration in Lucy and her garden.
It was on Monday when Louisa came in to substitute Edgar for the afternoon shift and, in the middle of the table, one single bright amaryllis waited for her.
At first, she thought Edgar left it for her, so she thanked him before he ran upstairs, but the man stuttered out it hadn't been him. She played around with the thought it could've been her , but she pushed it down, there was no way Lucy would notice her that way.
They had only met once, ignoring all the times Louisa saw her in the garden and Lucy dedicated her a shy smile and then disappeared behind the plants. Ranpo caught a cold and skipped work, so Louisa received the task to pick up the bouquets he pre-ordered. It took her twenty minutes to gain the courage to open the door, but her resolve was in vain, because of the sudden glass door opening for her. A young man with silver hair smiled at her and invited her to come in, adding a comment that it was cold outside.
She clutched her overcoat and entered, ashamed they took pity in her hesitance and decided to take the matter into their hands.
Behind the crystal counter displaying two grand arrangements, a slim girl with two braids read a book. From the cherry colored sticker on the book's spine, she knew it was from her library. Well, the library she worked at.
She glanced at the girl's tag and learned her name was Lucy. When she realized she was staring, she turned to the man and explained the situation. She couldn't stop her words flowing out, she was too nervous and now couldn't remember what had escaped her mouth that day. Despite the fool she must've made of herself, the man smiled and offered to help her carry the bouquets to the library. She let out a nervous laugh and agreed.
She looked at Lucy, who ignored her throughout the entirety of her stay, and caught her looking away with incredible speed. She blushed thinking she might've been looking at her. By the time she and, according to his nametag, Atsushi made it to the library, she had already discarded the thought.
After a quick thank you, Atsushi left the library, and Louisa was able to breathe with ease again.
A few days later, she saw the book Lucy had been reading on the table for her to put it back in its place. For some reason, she picked it up and, when she finished arranging books, she started to read it.
Lucy didn't seem the type of girl who would read romance novels. She scolded herself for judging her without knowing a single thing about her but her name and that she was beautiful. It was the fourth book of a long series, and Louisa, not knowing that when she started to read it out of curiosity, spoiled herself with a significant character death.
She decided to think nothing of the amaryllis. With no sender and a flower shop in front of her, anyone could've left it there. It was pretty flower, though. When the day was over, she took out her journal and pressed the flower between one of the last pages.
A week later, it happened again.
This time, two white roses. She opened the little card tied to the stems and found her name written in silver ink. It was the same as last time. She looked around, but there was only a couple going upstairs. She sat down and stared at the roses, expecting them to disappear if she stared hard enough, like the illusion she thought they were.
She thought that'd be the end of it. Surely no one could be interested enough in her to buy flowers every week. She wasn't wrong most of the time, but when she walked in the next week and saw a small bouquet of white anemones, she was glad she had been wrong.
That day, Ranpo came downstairs and opened his eyes in surprise at the anemones. He smiled at her and congratulated her. Ranpo stared at her confused face, she didn't understand why he seemed so excited for her.
Ranpo pointed at the biology section. "You should get a book on flower meanings."
She followed his finger at the section behind her. There was someone going beyond the simple gesture of giving a flower. For her, they thought of the perfect flower to express what they meant. And she had three weeks worth of unknown intentions. She turned to thank him for the suggestion, but he was already going back upstairs.
If Ranpo seemed happy, then it couldn't be anything dangerous.
The second she couldn't see Ranpo anymore, she stood up and went to the biology section. She took the A Child's Guide to Flower Meanings and flipped through the pages.
First, Amaryllis.
Pride .
Second, White Rose.
Silence or innocence, wistfulness, virtue, purity, secrecy, reverence, and humility.
Third, White Anemone.
Forsaken, sickness, anticipation, undying love.
She was getting mixed signals.
She wondered why Ranpo seemed happy. She couldn't figure out what kind of message she was meant to decipher. She could ask him, but it'd feel like cheating. The flowers were for her, so she'd figure it out.
The fourth week, she received a White Lily. Before even stopping to admire it, she went for the book.
White Lily.
Purity.
She groaned. There were so many things it could be, she had thought of all the possible combinations of the meanings, and there was always something off about them.
Waiting for the next Monday was torture. They were arranging the new flowers when Edgar asked her to change shifts with him since he had to take Karl to the vet early in the morning. She beamed and said yes louder than she wanted.
That was her chance to see who left the flowers, Edgar refused to tell her to respect the person's privacy, and Ranpo said he was threatened to keep his mouth shut.
Ten minutes before her shift ended, Edgar came in with Karl in his arms. Louisa cleaned the sweat from her palms and reminded herself to breathe, more than ever, she couldn't manage her nervousness.
Was it okay? The person threatened Edgar to keep their identity secret, maybe they didn't want to act on their feelings and settled on something else.
No, she had to know what they meant, she couldn't sleep thinking of all the possibilities, she didn't have enough time in the day to organize all her thoughts. Sometimes, she wished she could slow down time to merely think.
Edgar smiled at her and told her Karl was alright, that he needed some medicine for the stomach and he'd be in perfect condition in no time. Louisa petted the raccoon, she was glad Edgar's friend was okay.
She heard the floor creak and looked up from Karl.
She stared at a pair of lively aqua green eyes. Her heart skipped a beat.
Lucy gaped at them and tightened her grip on the mistletoe in her hands.
Wait, wasn't there a tragic story behind mistletoe?
She opened her mouth, she'd get the answers she wanted.
Lucy threw the mistletoe at Louisa. She tried to catch it, but it dropped to the floor. She hurried to pick it up, and when she stood up, Lucy was gone.
The following Monday, there wasn't a flower on the table.
Instead, Atsushi sat with a closed book in front of him.
Louisa had meant to stop by the flower shop every day since she saw Lucy, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She stood in front of the door, unable to push the door open. Once, Atsushi opened it for her like the first time they met, but Lucy hid behind the counter, forgetting Louisa could still see her through the glass. She left without saying anything.
"Can I help you with something?" Louisa asked. She needed to keep a professional air, she was working after all.
He picked up the book. "I came to return this, Lucy was too embarrassed to come herself," he placed it back on the table and walked out. He stopped at the door. "I recommended it to her, so I feel it's partly my fault."
She saw him pass through the library and leave. Lucy took that book out. Louisa took it. Hanakotoba for Kids . She flipped through the pages. It was similar to the book she used to try to figure out the message Lucy had tried to give her. She went to the introduction and read it.
Hanakotoba was the Japanese language of flowers.
Then, perhaps the meanings were different. A ray of hope lit in her chest.
First, Amaryllis.
Shy.
Second, White Rose.
Innocence, Silence, Devotion.
Third, White Anemone.
Sincere.
Fourth, White Lily.
Purity, Chastity, Lesbian love.
Lastly, Mistletoe.
Single, Looking for love.
With each page she read, her face felt warmer. She had gotten it all wrong. She let herself fall on one of the chairs and pressed her hands to her face as an attempt to cool it down.
For more than a month she had waited for Lucy. Not anymore. She knew the message she had spent sleepless nights trying to figure out, now it was her turn to do something.
She gathered all her courage and marched towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Ranpo asked from the stairs.
She jumped. All her courage left her. She was doomed; she forgot her shift wasn't over. "I was just going to check the computers."
"Sure, but you're going to need this," he threw a book at her. "If you read anything in there, she won't say no."
Louisa smiled, her strength coming back. "Thank you."
She ran to the door, checked if there were cars coming, and crossed the street. Before her brain had time to stop her, she opened the door.
The two employees stared at her. Atsushi hurriedly took his bag and waved at them. "Well, I'll be leaving now!"
And then she was alone with Lucy.
They gazed at each other. Louisa took a long breath, she came to tell Lucy what she felt. She could do it. She clutched the book in her hands, Ranpo said anything in there could be fine. She opened it at a random page and stared at her own handwriting. There was no way she could read anything in there.
Lucy took her hands, and she dropped the book."I like you!"
Louisa stared at her, she couldn't process what was happening. "What?"
"Well, you always help in the library, and it's not just because it's your job, I know you enjoy helping others," she took a deep breath. "You take care of every book, and I really like your poetry. A few months ago, I was reading a magazine and found a page with the winners of a contest, and your poem took my breath away. When I found out you worked in front of me and I saw you, it was hard for me to believe you wrote it, but when I saw you writing one day on the terrace I saw how happy and passionate you wrote, and my heart skipped a beat. I couldn't stop thinking about you and how I wanted to get to know you. At first, I thought I wanted to be your friend, but then I realized my feelings weren't the ones a friend would have."
"Lucy," she started. She couldn't think of words. She couldn't think of anything.
Lucy looked away and let go of her hands. "I understand if you don't want to talk to me anymore, it's okay."
She shouted before she could think. "That's not it!"
It was Lucy's turn to stare at her. Perhaps that was what she needed. To not think.
"I always look forward to drinking coffee while looking at your garden," she confessed. "The flowers are always lively, and your smile is so bright when you are there. And when you softly talk to them, I always wish I could be by your side to know what you're saying; to listen to your voice too. When I saw the Amaryllis, the first thing I thought was that I hoped it'd be you. The reason I look so happy writing is that I'm writing about you."
Louisa couldn't look at her in the eye as she said that, it was too much for her. Lucy extended her hand past Louisa and offered her a flower, it's color the same as Lucy's face. "A red rose will have the same meaning, no matter where you're from."
She felt she'd fall unconscious at any time. "Please go out with me," she said staring at the rose.
Lucy dropped the rose. "No!"
Louisa figured what she felt was her heart shattering, it was a somewhat void feeling.
"Wait, I mean yes!"
Was she imagining things? She heard exactly what she wanted to hear so it must've been in her head.
"What I wanted to say was that I was the one that was meant to ask you out, I've spent the past weeks building up for it, but at the end, I chickened out since things didn't go as planned."
The damage was done, but she felt happiness from the bottom of her heart, in five minutes she had gone through an emotional rollercoaster. The calm she felt after hearing Lucy say that was more than welcome. "I'm free right now," she said although she was technically still working. "And I know a great coffee shop nearby."
Lucy giggled and removed her apron. "I happen to be free right now as well."
The flower shop closed in three more hours.
Louisa offered her arm and Lucy took it. She'd be in trouble, but she trusted Edgar could cover for her this once.