Chapter Text
Standing alone in the rain wasn't the way Keqing wanted her weekend to start.
Having to navigate her way through an unfamiliar city in the rain was even worse. She had just finished officially moving in to her apartment a few days ago, but there were still piles of boxes in her living room that she had just been putting off on putting away.
Keqing wasn't unfamiliar with Liyue harbor– she had lived there her entire life…in the suburban outskirts. Moving into the heart of the city wasn't exactly the goal in mind, but she agreed to do anything to get this position for Jade Co. , and if packing up to move a couple miles was the sacrifice she had to make, so be it.
Trying to shield her phone from the rain, Keqing quickly hopped from store awning to awning, trying to cover as much ground as possible before it got dark. She was on her way to a dinner date with her coworker. Well, not a date, but a...hangout? She hadn't even started her new job yet, but her employer, Ningguang, was so impressed with her resume she just needed to talk more with her. Or something. Keqing was still wondering about it.
Her phone buzzed. She quickly looked down and saw a text from Ningguang:
"Running a bit late. Don't rush to get there, got held up at work."
Keqing sighed with relief. Maybe this won't be so bad, she thought. Since she still had some time before Ningguang would be at the restaurant, Keqing decided she would quickly duck inside a store just to wait out the rain and rest for a bit. Not looking where she was going, she hopped into a narrow building and….a flower shop?
An explosion of different scents and perfumes hit Keqing's nose at once, almost enough to cause a headache. The entrance to the small shop was surrounded by shelves of tiny potted plants and hanging leaves on vines. Behind the counter at the back of the store was a young looking woman, maybe around Keqing's age?
The blue haired woman looked up, smiled, and waved Keqing over to her.
"Hello! How can I help you?"
Keqing blanked. From far away she guessed the woman would be pretty, but up close… she was gorgeous. She was chubby and maybe a little taller than Keqing, with long curly blue hair in a low ponytail. She was wearing a blue apron, a white button up with blue jeans and… her eyes were piercing blue. Now that Keqing was up close, she seemed to have a pile of frost on the top of her hair which faded out into a darker blue. Her eyes were the color of frozen lakes and she had a light dust of freckles all over her face and neck. As Keqing stood there like an idiot staring at the poor shop owner, she laughed.
"Hello?" the woman giggled, confused.
"I–buh– uhm-" Keqing was so flushed she could feel her face heating up.
"Are you here for arrangement classes? Or did you place an order? Because if you did, I'm sorry but I've been a little swamped with orders and oh gosh, it might not be done yet!" She kept giggling to herself.
"Oh I- no, no. I just wanted to step in from the uh...rain and.. um… What's an arrangement class?" Keqing whispered before quickly glancing down at her nametag… Ganyu.
Ganyu smiled. "Oh well, I teach floral arrangement classes on weekends! You know it's way harder than you think it might be though... I say it's this much creativity and this much technique and design principles and...oh! Hold on a moment–"
Ganyu rushed off to open the door for a delivery person carrying a heap of boxes, leaving Keqing to fend for herself with her own thoughts.
Looking at the counter, she saw a sign up sheet for arrangement classes. After checking the time, her schedule, and thinking a bit, she picked up the pen next to the sheet and quickly wrote down her name for tomorrow.
After mumbling a rushed goodbye to Ganyu and hurrying out of the store, Keqing quickly made her way to the restaurant Ningguang was probably already waiting at. Throughout the dinner she was swamped with thoughts about that woman, Ganyu, and what the hell flower arrangement was. All in all she always came to the same conclusion in her mind about that sign up sheet.
Maybe something good could come out of this.