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“Aww man, it’s starting to rain again today.” “Shit, were you able to bring an umbrella?”
“Wait, huh?”
Kaeya stops dead in his tracks, hearing the continuous complaints from the other passersby on how it has been raining a lot lately. He was hoping that it wouldn’t rain today but it looks like God wasn’t on his side.
“What’s wrong Kaeya?” He feels a light tug on his jacket and quickly snaps out of his own thoughts to look down. He was greeted with Klee’s worried expression and dear lord did it look adorable.
“Nothing’s wrong, Klee! I just..didn’t want it to rain today.” he makes an annoyed expression towards the rain while Klee starts to pat his back saying “It’s okay! We still got to hangout didn’t we?”
Indeed, they did. It was just the perfect break Kaeya needed from his work and Klee from her school. They did all they could to go through the different stores and snack stands they’ve been waiting to go to for so long in the mall.
But now they were greeted with this.
Kaeya dug his hands in his pocket as he tried to find his phone to send a quick message to whoever he sees first to help pick them up at the mall entrance. He takes a quick glance to his left to see if Klee was still there and notices that she found herself a seat near the entrance to also put her backpack down and have a little chat with Dodoco. He smiles then looks back to see that the message was finally sent. “The signal isn’t doing any good either hmmm.” he sighs, walking back to Klee as she suddenly shoves Dodoco to his face, hoping it would make him feel better.
‘It’s not stopping.’
It has almost been an hour and it didn’t even look like the rain died down at all. The sound of the rain hitting on the roofs are starting to irritate Kaeya as he continuously checked his phone if anyone has replied and none so far.
“Why has god and my friends abandoned me?” he cried silently as he rubbed Klee’s head as she took a nap, her head lying on his lap while she hugged the stuffed toy. A few more minutes passed by and it has gotten to the point of Kaeya internally slapping himself that he should’ve brought the car instead.
Klee wakes up shortly after and sees that the rain hasn’t stopped at all. She looks up at Kaeya who was clearly stressing out.
Then pops an idea into her head.
“Let’s run!”
Kaeya has finally lost it. If it would set him free from hearing any more of that goddamn sound and from how humid that area was, he’ll gladly take the idea.
But oh so slowly was he starting to regret it.
From afar, a tall figure with blue hair can be seen piggyback riding a small red figure with a black jacket barely covering the two of them, their screams of terror and laughs of joy can be heard from almost anywhere nearby them.
‘The rain is not going away at all, I need to-’ he stops midthought as he sees a nearby shop they could stop into for a while. He can feel Klee start to shiver slightly and only now did he suddenly regret this idea.
A light jingle of a bell was heard once he got inside, soaking wet with a now sick child with him.
“It seems you guys had fun.” A small girl appeared behind the counter, bringing with her a pot of white Hyacinths. Now that he took time to examine the shop more carefully, he stopped by a flower shop. The scent of the place smelling of fresh flowers with different colors all around him actually made him a lot calmer from their previous run through the cold rain. He finds two seats with a table close by him and looks at the little girl who was placing the pot somewhere on the table of other different flowers. After she finished adjusting the pot, she noticed his gaze and chuckled. “Haha, sure! You can take your time here. The rain doesn’t seem like it’s going away that fast today.” she replied as she slowly made her way back to the counter.
Kaeya quickly puts Klee down on one of the chairs and tries to dry most of the water from her hair and clothes. She suddenly sneezes causing Kaeya to quietly curse at himself for ever agreeing to this idea. After finally drying her, he hangs his wet jacket on the back of his seat and sits down, staring at the small, shivering figure in front of him who decided to sleep once again with her head laying on her crossed arms on the table.
He closed his eyes and breathed out a sigh until a realization slowly dawned at him.
‘FUCK, MY PHONE! ’
He rushed quickly to the jacket he hung a few minutes ago and he seriously wanted to just sleep this all away now. “Looks like I know where my salary is going this time.” he hissed as he sunk his head down onto the table.
Light footsteps were heard again and Kaeya turned his head towards the sound. He finally mustered up the strength to go up to her to thank her for letting them stay.
“It’s no problem at all!” she said in a familiar, enthusiastic tone that Kaeya recognized. “Aren’t you too young to be running the shop all by yourself?” now that he thought about it, the little girl was all alone in the shop. “Oh, Donna is out for a while but it seems she won’t be back because of the rain.”
‘Well, that explains it.’ The air around them was starting to get awkward but right before Kaeya turned around to check up on Klee, “You like those flowers?”
Confused, he asked “Oh, I’m sorry I’m not gonna buy any-” “I know but, you were eyeing at them for a while now.” He slowly looks back at the red flowers that were displayed on the counter they were at. It almost looked like a rose but the more he looked at it, it had its petals more spread out, the red was a little lighter than that of a rose and it had some yellow pods in the middle.
‘Ah, so she did notice.’
She chuckled “No need to be ashamed, it really is pretty after all. Even their meaning is also kind of cute!”
He was gonna be there for a while anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to ask, right? “What do they mean?”
The little girl beamed up as she began, “Those are red Camellias. They symbolize a deep desire for someone like, the thought of that person just flames in your heart!” she made a sort of explosion gesture with her arms. ‘A flame in my heart huh? No wonder..’ His eyes wandered off until it landed on a similar flower except pink. “What about those?” he asked.
“Oooh those are pink Camellias. They represent a longing for someone, given to people you miss a lot...do you have someone you miss?” the little girl pauses, examining the expression that the blue haired man had worn.
“Someone I miss..yes, in fact.” He quickly changes his expression, realizing that he had spaced out again. He took his time examining the different flowers once more, the smell of them filling his lungs. At this point, he has long forgotten the rain outside.
He spotted a small pot of white little flowers, “How about those?” The little girl looks at where he was directing at. “Ah, white clovers. Although small, they’re actually really useful in gardens! They can also represent that you want someone to think of you.” “Heh, it’d be funny if I gave those to him-” “Huh?”
Kaeya quickly shut himself up before saying any more, “I-it was nothing important.” He puts his gaze onto something else, anything other than the growing smirk on the little girl’s face. They spoke to each other some more to pass the time.
“You really are quite knowledgeable on these things.” “Mhmm! I thought that if I was gonna be stuck working here for a while, I should at least know what they mean so that I can give better suggestions to the customers.”
‘She’s also hard-working for these things, impressive.’ He takes a quick glance back at the still sleeping Klee. He gives out another sigh until he notices that there was actually a small potted plant on the table they sat at. It had small blue petals, some of them having a hint of yellow pollen in the middle. “Those are..”
The little girl looked back up to what he was looking at and smiled softly, “Forget-me-nots, they represent true love and giving it to someone means that you truly love and respect that person. Of course because of its name, it also means that you will never forget that person in your thoughts.”
Kaeya paused for a moment, as if those lines together with the other previous flowers' meanings just struck something in him.
The light jingle of the bell from the door rang, causing him to look back and see who it was. A tall figure wearing a black rain jacket with long, fluffy red hair has entered the shop. Kaeya stared right at him, making the other man raise an eyebrow. “Well, well, look who finally decided to show up.” He said, slowly standing up straight while facing the man.
“You said to pick you up at the mall entrance. I waited there for a while as I tried calling your phone but you wouldn't answer," Kaeya quietly hisses, remembering how his phone got broken from the rain. "So, I had to ask if they’ve seen you,” He slowly walked towards the blue haired man who was still staring right at him, “They said they did see a blue haired maniac, screaming their lungs out while carrying a small child in the rain, suddenly running in a small flower shop.” He moved aside to reveal a now awake but drowsy Klee which switched into a little more enthusiastic cute bean.
“Diluc! You came to save us!” She skipped happily towards him, giving him a big hug. “We were ready to just run all the way home!” “I know.” Diluc gave a glance toward Kaeya at that comment and stood up carrying Klee to the door, “The car’s outside, let’s go once you brought everything.”
Kaeya quickly got their stuff until a little girl came running up to him, flowers in her hand. “Wait, Sir! Don’t forget these!” She shoved the flowers right at him but not enough to destroy them at least.
“Huh? But I never-” The little girl shook her head, “It’s fine, now go give them to him!” It took a while for him to register her words until the meaning finally reached him, making him slightly smirk.
“Heh, you really are incredible.” He gives her his thanks as he walks toward the door, now noticing how the rain was starting to clear up a little. He stopped right before opening the door and turned around. “I never actually got your name, how rude of me.” The little girl was about to head to the back room before she heard him. “It’s Flora! Please come again soon!” then she disappeared to the back room.
Before he entered the car, he looked at the flowers and realized how the bouquet was filled with the Camellias, White Clovers, and Forget-me-nots he asked Flora about earlier. He gave a small chuckle and finally went in the car before Diluc yelled at him one more time to hurry up.
‘Was I really that obvious?’