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Giwook looked at the bouquet in his hands. It was a beautiful made bouquet made of only white roses. A black box in the middle of it.
Roses where always something magic for him. You could say so many things with them, each color telling its own story. Especially the white ones always remind him of how he met Dongmyeong.
~🌸~
He was only 8 years old when he first saw the boy, dressed in a white shirt and blue shorts. The boy who seemed around the same age as him sat on a swing and sung. Giwook felt like he was enchanted by the others voice. He really wanted to talk to him, but Giwook was never a kid that had an easy time talking to others. He turned to his mother, who came just out of a flower shop and asked for a white rose.
“I really need it eomma.” The small boy said urgingly, so his mother gave him one. After getting the flower he ran to the boy and held it in front of his face.
“Is that for me?” The boy asked which made Giwook nod. “Thank you! My name is Dongmyeong, and what is your name?” Dongmyeong asked with a smile on his face.
“G…Giwook” He answered shyly before he ran away and left a really confused 8 year old boy behind. Just the white rose in Dongmyeongs hand reminded him of the weird encounter.
He brought the rose home and showed it to his mother “What a beautiful rose you have there. How sweet that the boy gave you such a beautiful flower.” His mother said.
Dongmyeong kept the rose besides his bed until it wilted.
~~🌸~~
The next time Giwook saw Dongmyeong was 4 years later. On the first day of his school Giwook heard a voice he last heard a few years ago. After following the voice he saw the owner of it. Giwook was sure that that was the boy he saw 4 years ago, but he couldn’t gather the strength to say something. At least not yet.
It took Giwook two month of watching Dongmyeong to finally get the courage to talk to him. It was on a warm day during fall. Dongmyeong stood in front of a classroom, waiting for his twin when Giwook tipped his shoulder.
Dongmyeong looked at him confused while waiting for Giwook to say something. “H…Hi, m…my name is ähm Giwook.”
“Hm, Giwook? Do we know each other?” Dongmyeong asked curiously. Giwooks smile faltered, so he couldn’t remember after all. He his grip around the rose behind his back tightened. “Ah no… I just…”
Dongmyeong stared at Giwook and suddenly saw the rose hidden behind the boys back, realization written over his face. “You’re the rose boy!” Dongmyeong screamed. “You’re the boy that gave me the rose a few years ago right?”
“Ah, yes. I…I gave you a rose back then.” Giwook answered dumbfounded. A minute of silence followed that Dongmyeong broke. “Soooo, is that for me?” He pointed at the rose behind Giwooks back.
“Ah ähm, yes. Here” Giwook gave Dongmyeong the rose and scratched his head. “But you don’t need to accept it.”
Dongmyeong took the rose and looked at it. “That’s a beautiful yellow rose. Thank you.” A comfortable silence fell over the two of them. “Did you only gave it to me because of the color? Or do you mean what the color means.” Dongmyeong asked shyly.
“No I…You know what it means?” Giwook asked surprised. Dongmyeong smiled. “My mother is a florist. Yellow roses mean friendship, it’s also my favorite color.” He looked up. “Do you want to be my friend Giwook?”
Now Giwook also shyly smiled. “When you want to…,that would be really nice.”
“Of course I want to. This rose is beautiful, you picked a perfect one.” Dongmyeong halted. “Say Giwook, do you have time right now? We could learn at my house together.”
“Yes. Yes I have time.” Giwook smiled brightly. And his smile became even wider when Dongmyeong put the rose right besides his bed. The place where the white rose stood 4 years ago.
~~🌸~~
With eighteen Giwook realized that he had fallen in love with the older boy. The two of them became close friends during the last few years. Giwook thought about hiding his feelings, but he couldn’t stop looking at the beautiful features of his best friend. For Giwook, Dongmyeong was the most beautiful, kindest, and hardworking person he knows.
Giwook was never good at lying to his best friend, so on the 10th of January Giwook went to a flower shop to pick up the most beautiful bouquet of yellow-red roses. It was Dongmyeongs birthday and Giwook was nervous, after all this could be the end of their friendship.
When Giwook arrived at Dongmyeongs house the door got opened by the olders father. “Oh Giwook, how wonderful that you came. Come in, Dongmyeong and Dongju are in the living room. I need to pick up the cake, but I will be back soon.”
Giwook greeted the twins father and went inside where Dongmyeong and Dongju sat on the couch. Dongmyeong immediately went to the younger and hugged him.
“Giwooooook, thank you for coming!” Dongmyeong said happily.
Giwook smiled. “Of course I came, it’s your birthday after all.” A smile spread over Dongmyeongs face.
“Happy Birthday Dongmyeong.” Giwook said quietly, drowning in his the olders eyes.
“Ey Giwook, you know I’m also still here right?” Dongju yelled from his seat on the couch.
Giwook laughed. “Happy birthday to you too Dongju. Here, your present.” Giwook went to the younger twin and gave him an envelope. Dongju looked at Giwook suspiciously and opened it.
“Two tickets for the cinema and a phone number? Whose phone number is that and why do you gift it to me?” Dongju looked at Giwook with a raised eyebrow.
Giwook smiled and leaned closer to the olders ear. “Oh it’s nothing other than Geonhak hyungs number and two tickets to his favorite movie.”
Dongju stared at him and stood up. “I will be right back.” With that Dongju went out of the room. Giwook started laughing.
“Why is Dongju so weird again?” Dongmyeong asked confused. Giwook turned around and looked at his friend. “He was just happy about his present. And here is your present.”
Dongmyeong looked down. In Giwooks hands he saw a beautiful bouquet. “Wow it’s beautiful Giwook, thank you.” Dongmyeong halted. “Wait, yellow with red tips? Giwookie, what…”
Giwook looked down. “I just wanted to tell you. You know what it means right?“ Dongmyeong nodded. “They’re not too deep yet, but I just can’t lie to you. I can’t keep it a secret from you. I’m sorry.”
“Giwook look at me.” Giwook looked up. “Don’t worry about it, I’m not angry. Thank you for telling me and thank you for thinking about me.” Dongmyeong hugged Giwook, the roses between them.
~~🌸~~
After that it took another year until he could finally call Dongmyeong his boyfriend. It was a quiet Christmas night when the older stood in front of his parent’s house. He just shoved a red rose into Giwooks hands and looked at the ground while blushing. Maybe for most people that doesn’t really sounds that romantic, but for Giwook it was because after waiting for so long his dream finally came true.
That happened exactly 6 years ago. And each year they would gift each other the most beautiful red roses. Because they mean true love. But this year he wouldn’t gift red roses, but white ones.
Giwook took a deep breath and opened the door to their shared apartment. “I’m home.”
“Welcome back!” The voice came out of the kitchen, and while Giwook came closer Dongmyeong continued speaking. “Sorry Giwookie, I know you wanted to eat something else, but I didn’t felt so well so I only made ramen today, but we could….” Giwook saw Dongmyeong turning around and held the flowers in front of him. The older stopped.
“Giwook what are you doing?” Dongmyeong asked skeptical.
“You know, it’s been 16 years since I gave you the first rose. At that time I gave it to you because you looked really beautiful. I still see the image in front of me. Now I think that I should have given you a lavender colored rose instead of the white one. Because the moment that I saw you, you took my breath away.” Giwook could see tears forming in Dongmyeongs eyes and started smiling. He could see the loves in Dongmyeongs eyes, and he knew that Dongmyeong could see his.
“All the years I was with you were beautiful. Every day, every, hour, every second I was at your side made me realize that I don’t ever want to live without you. So I want to ask you. Do you want to be my forever love?”