Archive of Our Own

Really, it started like any other day. Like any other day the scent of a hundred and one flowers greeted her as she set foot into her shop and when she turned the lights on, a sea of colors danced in front of her eyes.

It always put a smile on her face, every day, she never got tired of it knowing it was all hers and she’d finally made it. This had been her dream as long as she could remember; making people happy with stunning bouquets and decorating her very own shop to reflect her character. The music she loved echoed through the shop from morning to evening and people she cared about worked alongside her to make her dreams come to life.

Everything she had ever wanted was within the four walls of her shop and it wasn’t until she finally looked out the window one day, noticing the dimly lit tattoo parlor across the street being swept clean by a tall and dark figure, that she started developing a new dream.

Every morning, she would go through her usual routine, preparing for her shop to open, as she would sneak a few glances outside at the girl doing the same thing in her workplace. She’d imagine it was them getting ready for the day together, not in a delusional way, but more in a comforting way. Someone dusting the upper shelves as she refreshed the water or someone cleaning the windows as she got started on making some flower arrangements. They couldn’t talk, of course, but she just enjoyed the other’s calming company.

It wasn’t always her, sometimes it was a guy, objectively handsome, but he didn’t intrigue her like she did. The girl had short dark hair and wore all black clothes, usually tank tops to showcase the tattoos on her arm. When she was working on a client, she had a pair of wire-rimmed glasses perched on the tip of her nose and her full sleeve was on perfect display.

She couldn’t make out more details until that very morning when the girl walked out the door after they had both just opened and headed straight towards her shop. She thought she would turn at some point, go left towards the supermarket or right towards the locksmith, but no, the vintage bell above the door jingled eagerly as she set foot into her shop for the first time since she’d noticed her months ago.

As she walked up to the register, Maddie was desperately trying to utter her usual greeting, but she was too stunned that the girl she’d thought about every day was actually there, in her shop, walking in her direction, looking right at her, noticing her too for once. She straightened her apron and forced her lips to curve into a ridiculous smile while the girl who was usually two windows and a busy street removed from her now only stood one dusty wooden counter away.

For the first time, she could make out her facial features like her thick black eyebrows and her rosy cheeks and she realized she had picked the right person to be infatuated with. Her presence felt all-consuming as she towered over Maddie, but she had such a cute smile, she was barely intimidated, though still a bit shy. Even her arms covered in ink felt more artistic than threatening and her eyes kept wandering over them looking at the detailed spectacle displayed in front of her.

"Hi," the girl said. She looked a little nervous. Or maybe uncomfortable? She couldn't tell, too distracted by the rapid beating of her own heart. Was she making her feel uneasy by being awkward? She mentally kicked herself to act normal, but it was hard when she felt so insane.

"Welcome!" she answered, hoping the trembling in her hands and legs wouldn’t translate into a shaky voice. "How can I help you today?"

"I'm not sure," she said, rubbing her hand against the back of her neck, revealing her biceps which were decorated with even more tattoos, her favorite being a dragonfly. Lord. It was really, really difficult to focus. "I wanted some flowers for Valentine's Day."

She felt an unwanted pang in her chest. She wasn't hers, of course she wasn't, they didn't even know each other. In no way, shape or form did Maddie have a claim over her and yet she felt disappointed that she was getting flowers for somebody else.

"For a friend," she added hastily. "He's going through a break-up and I wanted to, you know..." The unfinished sentence hung in the air between them and Maddie wondered why she had been so eager to add that piece of information.

Secretly, she wanted it to be because she was kind of interested in her, too and wanted her to know she didn't have a valentine yet, but that, unfortunately, was a stretch, because they just met. So, she probably just brought it up because the type of bouquet you’d give to a friend is different from what you’d give to a partner.

"That's really sweet, you're a good friend." She smiled and Maddie could swear that her cheeks had gotten pinker than before. She's not very good at taking compliments, she guessed. Maddie wasn't either, so she couldn't blame her. "Well, do you know what he would like?"

"See, that's the problem," she said, while absentmindedly leaning on the counter, seemingly unaware of the way Maddie’s breath faltered just from her coming merely a few inches closer. "I really don't know anything about flowers and I was hoping you would know what to do." She accentuated those last words by searching eye contact and she tried, she really tried to do the polite thing and look her in the eyes, too, but it was impossible. She gave up after two seconds and stared down at her hands nervously fidgeting beneath the counter.

This wasn't exactly how she had pictured her first encounter with the tattoo parlor girl. In her fantasies, she was much more brazen and flirtier and she would get nervous from her aura alone. Now she was only making her nervous by being the most awkward human being on the planet and she wished she could sink into the ground and enjoy the rest of her days living out her delusions instead of reality.

That, of course, did not happen, so she was forced to reply. "Yes," she muttered. "Let me think."

Her mind unhelpfully supplied her with absolutely nothing but images of the face hovering before her, so she decided the best course of action would be to aimlessly walk around her shop and hope she’d stumble upon an idea on the way. Maddie did not account for the fact that the girl would start following her, almost breathing down her neck as she desperately started spewing unrelated facts about some of the flowers.

Then the bell sounded once again and the two turned around in synch as one of her colleagues walked through the door, looking behind him. “I love you, gege,” a disembodied voice said before his lips briefly came into view to peck Hao on the mouth.

“I love you, too, baby,” Hao answered adoringly, a smile only reserved for his boyfriend plastered on his face. But when he turned around and the door fell closed behind him, it turned into a face of shock morphing into a barely concealed grin.

Maybe she’d mentioned her crush on the tattoo parlor girl once or twice or three hundred times to her staff and maybe they loved teasing her about it relentlessly, always pushing her to “just go over there and talk to her” as if it was that simple. Taerae even suggested straight up getting a tattoo there to have an excuse to spend time together. The whole afternoon had become quite unbearable with Taerae and Hao suggesting increasingly more absurd tattoo designs to permanently ink on her body while Maddie debated jumping in front of a car.

“Morning, boss,” he said in an odd tone as he walked past.

“Good morning, Hao,” she chuckled nervously. “Could you maybe help us-”

“I’m in the back, darling, shift doesn’t start until another ten minutes.” He strutted to the back, no doubt smirking knowingly as he disappeared from view.

She felt compelled to give the other more context to that interaction, but her mind was completely blank and she just asked, “What’s his favorite color?”

It was possibly the most third grade teacher question she could have ever asked, but the girl seemed to seriously think about it. “I don’t know, I’ve never asked,” she said eventually, which made a lot of sense since they weren’t actually in third grade.

“What color do you associate with him?” Is what she came up with then and she was a lot more satisfied with that question.

“Like, red,” she replied confidently. “And purple. Kinda like a sexy vampire, you know.”

So, was she straight? Who would describe a normal friend like that? She probably didn’t have a sliver of a chance with her, but it was okay. Maybe it was better to know relatively early on that she would never reciprocate her feelings, so she could move on or stick to imagining scenarios in her head without actually embarrassing herself and trying to ask her out.

And even if she was disappointed, it did put her a little more at ease. Their whole interaction she had been doing mental gymnastics trying to figure out a way to impress the girl somehow and it had made her unbelievably stiff and tense, but now that she knew she didn’t have a chance with her anyway, she felt like she could finally breathe out in relief.

Then she realized with a jolt that she had been silent for way too long thinking about the other’s words. "Sorry, got lost in my thoughts, I just think it’s a really sweet gesture for your friend.” And maybe that wasn’t exactly what had occupied her mind, but it was still the truth.

“Oh, thank you,” she said, looking at the ground while a raging blush overtook her cheeks again. She really was bad at taking compliments.

“Anyway, I might be able to work with that,” she said, going around the store again, expertly pulling out a few flowers from where they were displayed and arranging them on the spot. “Something that will cheer him up and simultaneously reflects his personality.”

Maddie presented the quick mock up to her and she awkwardly held it in her hands, staring at it perplexed. “Wait, how did you do that so fast?”

“You think so? Should I pursue it as a career?” she asked and the light chuckle she got in response felt almost like a reward of sorts. A weight had lifted off her shoulders when she realized this girl wasn’t going to reciprocate her feelings and her personality was starting to come to the surface.

“Well, if you did,” she said, still cluelessly inspecting her messy arrangement. “Then hopefully you’d be able to explain to me how this works. Like how do I keep these fresh until next week.”

“Oh, hon,” she said reflexively as she took the flowers back. “This is just an example. I’ll have fresh flowers ready for you on the day. Just tell me how big you want the bouquet to be and if you would like me to change anything about the flowers I grabbed just now and then you can pick them up on the fourteenth. Or I could even bring them if you’d like.”

The girl seemed to consider the information she had been given as she straightened the glasses on her nose. She tried not to show how deeply the simple gesture affected her, but she was almost certain she was admiring her eyes for an uncomfortably long time while a faint blush burned on her skin. “So, you do delivery then?” she asked suddenly.

Her cheeks turned a little more red. “Not usually, but you’re right across the street, I could probably swing by,” she said as casually as possible. Valentine’s Day was unsurprisingly one of their busiest days and she had no idea how she’d manage to fit in a delivery, even if it was only for a few minutes, but she’d made the promise even before she could think better of it.

She grabbed onto her shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. “You don’t have to do that,” she assured, which was a major relief, because she unfortunately really did not have time for it. “I’m sure you’ll be busy enough, so I can just pick them up.”

“Oh-okay,” she stuttered, still reeling from the unexpected touch. “But anyway, what do you think of a bouquet similar to this? Obviously a little bigger, depending on your budget but-”

“It’s beautiful.” She tried to look at her, but after just two seconds of trying to reciprocate her intense eye contact, Maddie thought she might have a heart attack and looked away.

“You don’t need me to change anything?” she scrambled.

“No, it’s perfect, you’re great at this. Thank you.” She smiled politely, but anything she did was charming and Maddie was affected by her actions as if she was flirting with her anyway. “You’ll have to consult me sometime on drawing flowers. Lots of people come in for flower tattoos."

“Oh, I’m sure, I mean I might get one myself,” she revealed, which was news to both of them, because she’d never seriously considered getting a tattoo before.

Her face seemed to light up. “Really? Where?”

She was forced to think about it seriously for the first time and make it look as if she’d been wanting it forever. “Maybe on my arm, below my wrist,” she said and the idea settled in her head as if it was an actual plan. Maybe she was losing her mind suddenly entertaining the idea of getting a tattoo for a girl she met three minutes ago, but seeing her eyes shine in enthusiasm was addictive.

“Hmm, here?” she asked, carefully pulling back her sleeve up to her elbow. “Just loose flower heads?” she continued as she drew a few rough circles on her skin, goose bumps prickling up all over her body. “Or with the stems?” Her index dragged some stripes over her forearm and she looked at her innocently as if touching someone you had just met so tenderly was a normal thing to do.

“I don’t know, I haven’t thought it all the way through,” Maddie admitted. She nervously cleared her throat and walked back to the counter as she rolled her sleeve back down. She needed a little distance, a short moment to clear her mind and think straight again after the other had skilfully muddled up her thoughts.

She carefully placed the bundle of flowers on the counter and she tried to act normal as they discussed some of the final details with a safe wooden counter in between. She learned her name was Gowoon, which meant she could finally stop calling her the tattoo parlor girl in her fantasies and she complimented her name when she said hers was Maddie.

“Really pretty. It fits you,” she said as she smiled dreamily and Maddie couldn’t help but swoon when the door ringed once again and she stared at her back, walking away confidently to the other side of the street.

“Wow, Dy,” Hao said incredulously as he suddenly appeared behind her, grasping onto her shoulder. “What the hell was that?” He was either on the verge of gasping dramatically or bursting out laughing.

"What? Nothing," Maddie responded way too fast as her cheeks heated up. She felt like a deer caught in headlights.

"Flirting on the clock,” he said shaking his head, sarcastically disapproving.

"I wasn't,” she lied as she hastily snatched the flowers from the counter and put each flower back where they went.

Cackling, Hao walked to the back once again, leaving Maddie alone in an accusatory silence until the next customer walking in forced her to act like nothing ever happened.

Of course, the first thing Hao did when Taerae clocked in for his shift was fill him in on what happened with an obscene number of embellishments in a way that Hao liked to tell all his stories. “They were practically making out when I walked in, Tae,” he said shaking his head.

“You actually kissed Hanbin when you came in, man! Meanwhile, Gowoon was just standing close,” she said desperately trying to nip all the misinformation he was spreading in the bud.

“Yeah, my boyfriend of almost five years, thank you very much. This is a woman she just met and she was all over her!” Hao made some wild hand gestures to indicate all the places Gowoon supposedly touched her.

“Lesbians,” Taerae sighed. “But I’m happy for you, hon. You should have her ask you out on Valentine’s Day.”

“’Have her’ what does that even mean?” she said exasperated as she tried to finish the arrangement she was working on, but not being able to focus whatsoever.

“We don’t ask people out, okay? People ask us out, we’re the prize. I didn’t ask Junhyeon on a date, he planned everything and asked me, ‘cause I’m worth it.”

“Junhyeon?” Maddie said feeling confused. “What happened to Han-”

“I have no clue what you’re talking about,” Taerae interrupted, sounding dismissive. Maddie decided to let it go, despite the fact he had been raving about Park Hanbin for hours not two days ago. “Hao, tell her.”

“It’s about the psychological push, darling,” Hao chimed in. “Make her think it was her idea, make her chase you.”

“Okay, I get the idea,” she said over the crinkling of the paper she was wrapping her finally finished bouquet in. “But how would I even ‘make her’ do that? Especially since she’s probably into her coworker and-”

“Shhh,” Hao interrupted with a finger pressing on her lip. “Please stop this. She was so obviously trying to flirt with you, I wanted to puke, okay? But lesbians, like men, are clueless, so you have to plant the idea into their head. Like Hanbin thinks he’s going to surprise me with a trip to Paris on Valentine’s Day, but I’ve carefully been dropping hints that I want to go there again for months.”

Taerae nodded along aggressively and added, “Like maybe you could go over there and get a tattoo of-”

“Be very careful of what you say next,” Maddie warned. “Someone still has to refresh the water today.” Taerae closed his mouth as he looked at her with a side eye. “Thought so. But anyway, I don’t even have time that day, you both know how busy it gets the fourteenth. By the way, if you know someone who can help out just for a day, that would be great.”

“You want us to find people who would rather work at a flower shop on the busiest day of the year than go on like a date?” Hao asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, just… try, okay? It would make our job a lot easier.” Maddie sighed as she gathered the flowers for her next bouquet. She glanced outside and spotted Gowoon hunched over someone’s arm with her glasses on the tip of her nose.

And that wouldn’t be the last time she found herself looking out the window that day. She did it almost triple as much as she normally did just to satisfy her need to see her. She swore she caught Gowoon staring back a few times, but the distance was too big to know for sure what her eyes had been focused on and maybe it was just wishful thinking.

Of course, when she got home and relayed all the events to her roommate, she received nothing but blind support and encouragements of her delusions. “Oh, she’s head over heels,” Gyuhee confirmed, nodding very sure of herself.

“Well, that would make no sense, but thanks, Groovy,” she responded and Gyuhee seemed unfazed by the nickname she’d heard over a hundred times at that point. Maddie had relentlessly been pushing that one for months to the point that she felt suspicious whenever Maddie used her real name.

Gyuhee cleared her throat as if she was about to say something serious and Maddie knew that meant she was going to hear some absolute bullshit. “Love doesn’t have to make sense.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Maddie said dismissively. “Thanks for the support. Oh, and speaking of, I think this Valentine's Day the shop is gonna be absolutely swamped. I've never had this many orders before, which is really good for business of course, but there is no way Taerae, Hao and I are gonna be able to organize the huge morning shipment and make all the bouquets and deal with the customers on our own."

"And you want me to help out," Gyuhee deduced.

Maddie looked at her with the sweetest smile she could muster. "Please, it's not like you have plans right?"

“Man, why are you trying to insult me when you need my help?” She pressed her open palm onto her chest in mock offense. "Anyway, I have class in the afternoon and a party in the evening."

"A party?” Maddie said suspiciously. “You don’t party.”

"I do now!” she responded defensively. “Some senior is throwing a big Valentine's Day party and it sounded kinda fun."

"Jackson Wang?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Oh, he throws parties all the time,” Maddie said making a dismissive gesture with her hand. “He has infinite money or something, but they're pretty cool."

“Well anyway, I wanna go, so I’d only really be able to help out until two or something and you know how I feel about getting up ear-”

“Yeah, you feel that you love me and that your poor bestie needs help,” she said being as manipulative as possible with the way she stared at her friend.

Gyuhee laughed nervously. “You know I love you, yes, but also-”

“Aww, I love you, too. We’ll leave together at six, thanks, you’re the best!” she yelled as she hastily made her way out of the living room to steer clear of the somewhat foul mood she predicted her friend would be in for the next couple of hours as she processed having to wake up earlier than her usual 11am.

She knew her grouchiness wouldn’t last long, because their conversation at dinner was about Gowoon again, as it usually was, but with a renewed vigor from the interaction they had had that morning and who knew that a relatively short conversation could be dissected so thoroughly as to be discussed for over an hour.

Though, it wasn’t all about her. Gyuhee also managed to squeeze in a few complaints about her “arrogant, but annoyingly beautiful” classmate, as she described her, whom she was paired up with for a project.

“She just wants everything to go exactly how she has it in mind,” Gyuhee groaned with a dish towel in hands, Maddie passing her a plate.

“Sounds like you,” Maddie fired back without even thinking it through. It was true, though, it was exactly what Gyuhee was like.

“Well, that’s because I do it the objectively correct way!” she exclaimed, sounding defensive while the delicate plate she was holding was receiving the brunt of her frustration. “She just refuses to see it that way and fights me on every little decision, it’s annoying.”

“That’s…” It was probably not worth fighting her on it, Maddie thought, so she decided to let her sentence fade with a smile, unfinished as Gyuhee ranted on. She figured being supportive was the least she could do for her friend helping her out on Valentine’s Day.

To be honest, she could have used some help in the shop on the days leading up to the fourteenth as well, because every day more customers came in with specific requests for bouquets (the majority of which were unfortunately quite uninspired with just a dozen red roses) and their phone was ringing every other minute, too. She trusted Hao to handle those orders, because despite being a raging introvert, he handled phone conversations impressively well.

She did catch him on a personal call one day, to Hanbin she presumed, hiding away in a corner with a notepad in hand, which he hid from her when she caught him. A mysterious smile persisted for a few hours after the call had ended, but it was fine, Hao could take a break to call his boyfriend in the middle of his shift so he could be reenergized.

They had all been working tirelessly, most days staying for a drink from the fridge in the back to rewind before going home. And even then, when it was just them three, she would still occasionally stare out the window to catch a glimpse of Gowoon chatting with her colleagues as well. She thought it was slightly concerning Taerae and Hao had apparently switched from openly pointing this out to her, to exchanging knowing glances with each other, but as long as they weren’t suggesting she’d get a begonia tattooed on her forehead for an opportunity to talk to her, she could deal with their judgy silence.

And she could also deal with Gyuhee groaning dramatically when they had to get ready to leave to the flower shop together on Valentine’s Day morning.

“I hope you know you’re the only person in the world I would make sacrifices like this for,” she proclaimed as she threateningly pointed her spoon at Maddie over the table.

“You mean wake up at a normal time?” she said, acting clueless knowing it would set her off.

“Six in the morning!?” Gyuhee huffed with her mouth full. “Normal for who? Masochists?”

Maddie inhaled sharply at that. “Well, I’m not gonna lie to you, today is gonna be torturous. People have no chill on busy days and you’ll want to shoot every red rose you see after today with a gun.”

“So cool,” she said dryly. “Why did I agree to this again?”

“Because you love me and you get to pick the music in the car.”

As expected, she almost jumped from her seat as her eyes bulged out of their sockets. “I get aux? Let’s go right now, fuck breakfast,” she said resolutely as she abandoned her half-eaten plate on the table. “Drive as slowly as possible,” she added already putting on her shoes.

And so they jumped in Maddie’s car and sang karaoke in the morning. With trial and error, they had discovered which songs made them lose their absolute minds to the point they were barely able to function as human beings, let alone drive a vehicle, so they’d made a safer driving playlist and listened to it religiously whenever they were in a car together.

When they got out of the car, still humming the other half of a song they had to cut short, Maddie spotted Gowoon walking towards the parlor as well. “Morning, good luck today,” she said with a short wave, leaving Maddie to completely short circuit.

“Good morning, too,” she yelled back embarrassingly as the tattoo parlor door closed behind her, Maddie’s gaze still fixed on her every move behind the glass.

“Saying ‘Good morning’ on Valentine’s Day? She is hopelessly in love with you,” Gyuhee confirmed with an entirely ungrounded certainty.

“That unfortunately makes no sense again, but thank you, Groovy,” Maddie sighed, briefly pushing up her glasses before she turned the key on the door.

“Why am I here if not to feed into your delusions?”

“Girl, to sell flowers, we have been over this.” She sounded genuinely exasperated as she flicked the lights on and a sea of familiar colors and patterns greeted her loyally. It was enough to bring back all the energy she was lacking and remind her what she was doing it all for.

Beside her, Gyuhee seemed to be just as amazed, that being her first time experiencing the somewhat magical moment of seeing rows of flowers lit up all at once in the morning right as the smell tickles at your nose. It was different from walking into the shop in broad daylight, which is how Gyuhee had always seen the shop before, but there was some powerful and yet effortless beauty inherently present in a quiet flower shop draped in darkness being unveiled in an instant.

She felt at times it was almost too perfect to disturb. Some mornings she’d even postpone all the preparations that required her to touch any of the flowers, instead resorting to cleaning all dusty surfaces and then with great hesitation touching the first flower.

That day, of course, they didn’t have time for that in the slightest. The shipment of mostly roses could come in any second and they needed to get as much done before then as possible. She had already prepared as many bouquets as she could and freed up some extra space in the back, but she knew that no matter how much she prepared for that day, all hell would break loose as soon as she turned around her open sign attached to the door.

Maddie quickly explained the register and pointed out some other small tasks Gyuhee could do to help. “When you see an almost empty bucket of flowers, try to see if we have any left in the back, okay? If not, just write the name from the label on this list here so I know we don’t have it anymore.”

Quickly, everything became a whirlwind of unloading the shipment, explaining everything to Gyuhee, sorting the flowers, assigning Taerae and Hao to their main tasks for the day and then customers pouring in as an endless stream.

It was hard to keep track of things, everything feeling like a blur, doing it all on auto-pilot, pricking her fingers on thorns more times than she could count and barely feeling the sting anymore.

Then, like being ripped out of a trance-like state, she heard Gyuhee call her from the register, "Madishak! There's a little boy here for you."

It took her some time to process that statement. "What?"

"He says he's here to do child labor,” Gyuhee clarified very unhelpfully.

"I was just supposed to fill in for a few hours,” the boy chimed in, fingers interlacing nervously in front of his stomach. She couldn’t blame him; she would be intimidated too by the state of chaos the shop was in at that moment.

“Yujin!” she remembered. “Yes, thank you so much."

"You hired a kid? Isn't he supposed to be in school right now?" Gyuhee asked skeptically.

"He's Hao's boyfriend's little brother,” she explained. “He just wants to make some extra money and I needed someone for when you were gone, so just tell him what he needs to do, okay?"

She ran back to finish the bouquet she had been working on and just hoped Gyuhee saying, “Okay kid, you’re the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life, so you’ll sell flowers like crazy,” meant she was actually going to explain how everything worked.

When Gyuhee left, it was clear Yujin was still in a slight state of panic, probably feeling like he’d gotten more than he bargained for. He would sometimes mousily approach her in the back as she was working on more bouquets and ask her questions about the register, but she could tell he was trying his best and was slowly starting to understand and even enjoy everything more and more.

By the time the last customer set off the bell above the door and Maddie breathed out a sigh of relief as she turned around the closed sign once again, Yujin still seemed quite energized. Or maybe it was just in comparison to Taerae and Hao sitting slumped against the counter like lifeless dolls, Hao leaning his head on the other’s shoulder.

“I think we should just stay closed during Mother’s Day,” Taerae sighed, absent-mindedly combing his fingers through Hao’s hair.

“Yes, Dy, please!” Hao cried out. “I can’t feel my legs or my fingers and we still have to clean this whole mess, I wanna fu-” He stopped himself, glancing over at Yujin who seemed to be engrossed in tearing tiny pieces off of a leaf he’d found on the floor. “Wanna go home and eat,” he finished sheepishly.

Before she could answer, the bell chimed once again and she experienced something almost like a little war flashback and she could see the others felt the same before she turned around, ready to shoo the apparently illiterate customer away.

“Man, it’s fucking cold,” the guy complained, closing the door quickly to keep the warmth inside and he quickly scanned his eyes around the shop. “Ah there you are. You ready?” His eyes were on Taerae and Maddie came to the conclusion he must be- “Junhyeon, by the way,” he said shaking Yujin’s hand with vigor and going around the room to also shake Hao’s and lastly hers.

“Wait, is this your boss?” he said, as he was still holding onto her hand, but looking at Taerae who nodded briefly. “She’s pretty, isn’t she. You never told me.” His eyes fell on her again. “Well, I’ve heard other great things about you, though. You sounded like an awesome boss.” He quickly squeezed her upper arm, seemingly unaware of his own strength and hurting her just a little, but she tried not to give a reaction.

It was hard to wrap her head around the amount of energy the man seemed to have. Her brain was simply too fried from working all day, but she appreciated his compliments, even if there was no way for her to match his enthusiasm in that moment and thank him properly.

“Thanks,” she said anyway, subtly trying to soothe her arm by stroking it with her hand. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

Then the bell rang again, her heart skipping another beat and her instinct telling her to yell. “Hi my loves, are you almost done?” Hanbin asked with a kind smile, unaware of the hell she almost unleashed on him.

Hao looked at her expectantly, pleading with his eyes and Maddie took a deep breath, considering whether what she was about to do was smart or not. Logically, she knew it probably wasn’t, but it still felt like the right thing to do. “Go,” she said, gesturing her head at the door. “Tae, have fun at your date. And Hao, I’m sure you and Hanbin have something planned. And Yujin, I don’t uh…”

“Hanbin is picking both of us up,” Hao added hastily as he stood up and offered his hand to Taerae for him to get up as well.

“Of course, enjoy your evenings,” she said genuinely and smiled to let them know it was alright.

Everyone made their way to the door thanking her as they walked past and Junhyeon even muttered a “So cool” before she was left all alone in the peaceful silence of her ravaged shop. She took a moment to decide where she wanted to start and then resolutely made her way to the back where she would grab all the flowers that were still left there to try and fit them in the buckets around the shop.

But when she got there her eyes fell to something else. In a messy flurry of petals and leaves covering empty shelves, two unclaimed bouquets remained. One of them was for Gowoon's friend (she supposed she hadn’t had time to come by that day, either) and the other simply had a card attached to it, in Hao's handwriting she knew, reading: "You deserve flowers too, even if you're prettier".

The message was hard to believe being attached to such a breathtaking arrangement. It contained some of her favorite flowers, like lilies, callas and snowdrops in whites and light pastels, almost like a bridal bouquet if it weren’t for the few bright red carnations livening everything up.

She was almost tempted to keep it and display it in her room, but she suddenly got an idea pricking at her sides incessantly. It felt risky, but excitingly so and thus she was willing to give it a try.

Snatching the two bouquets off their respective shelves, a few petals sweeping along and floating to the ground, she walked through the door resolutely. She nearly forgot to check the road as she crossed, eyes too focused on the raven-haired girl with glasses sitting primly on the tip of her nose framed by the parlor's window.

Her heart was beating painfully in her throat, but she felt unstoppable pushing open the door. Gowoon glanced up from her work before focusing back on the needle she was sticking in her client’s arm and then quickly looked up once again with wide eyes of recognition. She hastily whispered something to her client as her head kept turning to one of her colleagues concentrating on someone’s leg and then stood up.

Gowoon walked straight towards her, not looking entirely happy to see her and she took one of the bouquets from her grasp and then held her free hand to pull her to some sort of office, closing the door behind them. Their fingers stayed intertwined for a bit, long enough to make her blush, but not long enough for her liking. She missed their warmth as soon as she dropped her hand to her side in delayed shock.

“Hi,” she said then with a smile that made her feel like everything was alright again despite the strange manner in which they’d ended up where they were. Gowoon looked at the bouquet she was holding and it was red and purple with some black petunias Maddie had managed to get her hands on. “It’s… gorgeous. Thank you so much. I’m sorry I hadn’t picked it up yet.”

She seemed sincere, but Maddie still had some trouble responding to her when she was confused about what had just happened and maybe more so just generally intimidated by her large and charming presence. “That’s- that’s okay,” she stuttered before clearing her throat and trying again, “We’re closed now anyway.”

“Yeah, we’re closing up soon, too. I was genuinely going to pick them up, but there were so many walk-ins who wanted matching tattoos, I can’t count the amount of hearts I’ve had to ink today.” She laughed awkwardly.

“Oh, tell me about it!” she said exasperated, happy to finally be able to contribute something coherent to what she was saying. “Most people can’t come up with something better than a bouquet of red roses. Yours was truly a nice change up.”

Their attention fell to the red and purple flowers in Gowoon’s hand again. “I think he’s going to love it,” Gowoon added, breaking the short silence. “I’m sorry for acting weird just now, my friend Jiwoong is working here today, too and I didn’t want him to see them. You looked a little scared when I dragged you in here, I didn’t mean to.” She laughed again, a self-deprecating chuckle that time, and removed an invisible hair from Maddie’s shirt.

Maddie sighed in relief. “I get it.” She felt a lot more relaxed knowing Gowoon hadn’t gone insane and that she was just as easy to talk to as before. Especially with people she hadn’t known for that long, she was scared their initial chemistry would not be there anymore under different circumstances. Maybe she and Gowoon could be good friends, then, she thought, she could be fine with that.

She looked down at the other bouquet she was holding and debated whether the gesture of giving them to her would be platonic enough or if she would interpret it as romantic and think she liked her (which she did) and would then be grossed out and hate her forever. Maybe that last bit wouldn’t happen and didn’t she bring the flowers over to make a small move on Gowoon anyway? Hadn’t her sides ached with excitement just from the thought of her reaction?

Stretching out her arm to humbly present the other bouquet, she forced herself to explain. “Someone else didn’t claim their flowers either and I thought they was so pretty, it would be a shame to throw them away, so maybe you’d like to have them.”

Suddenly, she felt quite ashamed offering flowers nobody cared to pick up. She was giving her scraps no one wanted, no matter how beautiful she thought they were and she wished she’d thought of that before showing them to her. It wasn’t even specifically made for her, wasn’t even thoughtful, it was just “a waste to throw it out otherwise”. What had gotten into her for her to think it was an acceptable first gift?

Gowoon reached for the card and after reading it seemed… amused? Not offended, but also not grateful. She smirked like it was a joke and the feeling that she’d made a mistake only grew. She had thought the card was kind of sweet as well, but apparently Gowoon thought it was funny.

“It’s for you, actually,” she said before nervously scratching her neck and once again revealing her dragonfly tattoo, Maddie’s favorite.

She didn’t understand. Was she giving them back to her? Did she really dislike them so much she couldn’t keep them?

But luckily, her confusion must have been written all over her face because she began to clarify, “I called your shop a few days ago and Hao, I believe his name is, he helped me make an arrangement for you that he said you would like, because I thought you should have flowers, too.”

“Oh,” was all she managed and her mouth remained open, because how the fuck was any of that real? Hao’s personal call and his knowing look with Taerae made a lot more sense then, but she still didn’t blame herself for not seeing that coming.

She almost felt the tendency to gaslight herself into believing Gowoon didn’t mean it like that, because thus far her crush on the other had been one-sided and based on wishful delusion, but that didn’t make sense anymore when she was buying her flowers on Valentine’s Day. She considered that maybe she wanted this to happen so badly that she was imagining the entire scenario, but then she remembered she had never even fantasized about Gowoon giving her flowers before and how could it be fake when her body felt so real pressed against hers when Maddie instinctively pulled her in for a hug.

Maddie’s arms were slung around her neck and Gowoon’s hands were carefully placed on her middle. The paper wrapped around the bouquet she had given her was undoubtedly scratching at her face, but she didn’t seem to mind as they kept up their embrace for at least a minute. She didn’t know what else to say besides how thankful she was and how beautiful the flowers were, so she kept repeating it as Gowoon grabbed her just a little bit tighter with every sentence leaving her mouth.

Then they let go and a chill ran down her spine from the sudden loss of warmth and she looked down at her feet hoping it would prevent her from blushing. “Thank you,” she repeated one last time.

“So I’ve heard,” she responded and they both laughed. “Do you wanna… do something later? Together?”

And how was she supposed to function after all that. In a matter of minutes, she found out her months long crush thought she was pretty, gave her flowers on Valentine’s Day, even taking the time to make sure they were her favorites, and then asked her out on a date.

“Yeah,” she said instinctively and then, “No wait, I still have to clean the whole shop on my own, I’m sorry. I don’t know when I’ll-”

"I can help," Gowoon suggested and she realized she couldn't think about the fact she was willing to give up her free evening just to spend her time cleaning with Maddie, because if she did think about it for too long, she feared she might combust.

"Okay," she said breathlessly and Gowoon grabbed her hand again to walk out of the office together. It was completely unnecessary; she let go as soon as she approached her colleague to give him the bouquet, but she liked how the touch lingered in her mind, able to conjure up the feeling vividly, and it made her smile.

But what made her even happier was seeing Gowoon's friend nearly tear up as he hugged her tightly. "Nobody's given me flowers before, not even Seobin. I love you, man," he said fingers grabbing onto her back.

That was exactly what kept her going. It had been a horrifically busy day that day and she mostly got to see people picking up their flowers for loved ones, not the reactions of the people they were for. But that moment made it worth it; she finally got to see the joy she was trying to spread with her arrangements.

It was enough for her to feel motivated to clean, so she subtly shuffled her way to the door as the two continued talking and listened for a natural pause in their conversation to interrupt them. "I think I'm gonna get started already, okay?"

Gowoon turned around, a satisfied grin still plastered on her face. "Of course, let me just finish up this tattoo real quick. It's a small one,” she assured.

“It’s really cute,” she said sincerely as she stretched her lips into a parting smile and then made her way back to her shop.

She got started with counting the register, music echoing against the walls and her pausing whenever her favorite parts came on to fully concentrate on singing them, too. The time always went by quicker with music and before she knew it, she was wiping down shelves, swaying and dramatically mouthing along, when she noticed Gowoon standing in the doorway enjoying her performance with a smirk.

Embarrassed, she stopped abruptly while the music kept blaring around them. “No no, don’t stop,” she pressed, approaching her with a silly dance of her own. She grabbed the broom from the corner and clumsily twirled around it before she started sweeping and humming the melody.

She couldn’t help but smile to herself as she cleaned the final shelf and moved on to straightening all the buckets of flowers. They both moved swiftly around each other; cleaning and dancing, talking and singing, almost like it had been choreographed and they were done after just four songs.

It felt satisfying to finally be able to push her key in the lock and turn it as she aggressively pulled on the handle (which was the only way to close the door properly). And as soon as she’d slipped her keys back into her pocket, Gowoon reached for her hand and they walked like that, side by side, to her car. It was hard to act casual with the other’s thumb lovingly brushing her knuckles, but she remembered if she kept holding her breath, she would die, so she inhaled anyway.

She’d never pictured herself as the type to hold someone’s hand like that. It had always seemed like a distant fantasy, something she wouldn’t be able to participate in anyway, so it felt easier to pretend she just hated it. But in that moment, holding a warm hand in cold weather, she had to acknowledge how natural it all felt and she only let go when they reached the car and she opened Maddie’s car door for her, helping her in like she was royalty.

When they were both seated, with her trying not to smile like an idiot from all the sweet gestures, Maddie drove them to her apartment. They’d come to the conclusion all the restaurants would most likely be fully booked at that point, so they were going to prepare a meal together at her place. On the way, they talked and laughed some more and it wasn’t until they were almost there that she even realized her music had been off the entire time; she hadn’t missed it at all.

“I don’t really know how to cook,” Gowoon admitted guiltily as she was leaning against the counter. She had just placed down the vase of flowers on the small table, subtly smelling it before turning around. She hoped Eumppappa wouldn’t knock it over, because unfortunately some vases had met an untimely death by her paw. She would usually spare the prettiest flowers, though, so she predicted these were safe.

It was odd seeing Gowoon in her kitchen. A week earlier she was confined to the tattoo parlor across the street and her imagination and now she was standing before her, tattoos visible in detail instead of looking like patternless black spots from a distance and they were actually talking to each other, everything impossibly real.

Maddie shook off her incredulous thoughts to answer her. “That’s okay, I can just tell you what to do,” she said, collecting the necessary ingredients from her cabinets. She jumped up, reaching for a can on the top shelf and not even coming close to touching it.

Gowoon sprung to action, body against hers and grabbed the can with ease. “Yes, chef,” she joked, handing her the can of beans and she instinctively held it against her heart like it was something precious.

“Thanks,” she said meekly, taking a step back before she could get overwhelmed by her presence. She silently gathered some stuff from the fridge and rummaged around her drawers until her counters were covered completely. “Let’s make ramen.”

She mostly had Gowoon cut all types of vegetables as she did the rest, but she really was terrible. She dropped so much on the floor that Eumppappa was having a feast and she cut pretty slowly, yet still managed to make her thumb bleed. Maddie had to turn her bathroom upside down in search of a band-aid and Hao called her just as she was applying it to Gowoon’s finger. It stopped ringing just when she was done and she figured she’d call him back later.

But just when she’d put the ramen in boiling broth, he called again. “You can take that if you want,” Gowoon said encouragingly.

“Yeah, are you sure?” Her finger already hovered over the green button on her phone. “And you won’t burn my kitchen down, right?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” she said, not entirely satisfying her with that answer, but she accepted the call anyway and instinctively took a few steps towards the living room for some privacy, Eumppappa of course following her.

She absent-mindedly began to pet the dog as she spoke to Hao. “Are you okay?” she asked somewhat concerned since it was unusual for Hao to try to call her two times in a row. The fact that Maddie heard intense wailing on the other side of the line also didn’t help.

“No, it’s Hanbin, he-" Hao got interrupted by his own crying and Maddie was starting to get really worried.

“What happened?” she pressed. If there was some emergency with Hanbin, why would he call her? Images of Hanbin in the hospital flashed before her eyes. Could it be that bad? Eumppappa seemed to notice her anxiety and lovingly dragged her body over Maddie’s leg.

“He fucking proposed to me on Valentine’s Day, Dy! It’s so cliché, isn’t it?” he asked, barely audible from absolutely bawling his eyes out. “And I can’t believe I don’t even care that it’s overdone. Or that he completely missed my hints that I wanted a trip to Paris.”

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes in relief. She was glad Hanbin was okay and that Hao was crying tears of joy, but he’d nearly given her a heart attack.

“I’m sorry, my love. Do you wanna go to Paris for our honeymoon?” Hanbin asked, voice muffled from not being as close to the phone.

“I love you so fucking much,” he wheezed followed by some questionable smacking noises. “I love him so much, Dy.” He sounded out of his mind drunk, but he probably hadn’t even had that much to drink since it was still relatively early in the evening.

She pushed past the last remaining feelings of panic and smiled, thoroughly scratching Eumppappa’s head. “Congratulations, Hao, that’s amazing, I’m really happy for you,” she said earnestly and she was fighting back some tears herself, glancing at Gowoon who was diligently cutting mushrooms, which she’d tried to wash before Maddie stopped her and told her you’re not supposed to.

“The way he proposed, it was just perfect,” Hao cried. “It was fully in Chinese and he learned to play a small part from my favorite piece on the violin and the ring Maddie, God, I wanted to be there to go ring shopping with him, but of course he picked the perfect one already, I can’t stand him. You have to come to the wedding, okay? Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m getting married.”

“Of course I’ll be there and I’ll make sure the flowers look stunning,” she assured him when she had made her way back to the kitchen and apparently just in time because the broth in the pot had started to rise and she took the lid off to bring it back down.

Hao responded by sobbing violently, barely pulling himself together to add, “You’re- you’re the best, I love you. I need to- haaaa, I need to go, okay? I have like… fourteen other people I need to call, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She thought about it for a bit and then added, “Take the day off tomorrow, Hao.”

Hao remained silent, just soft shaky howls on the other side until- “With…”

“With pay,” she added, knowing Hao well enough.

“Thank you, Dy, really. I… I gotta go, but I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she said and she hung up with a content sigh.

She washed her hands again and slightly turned around to see Gowoon looking somewhat concerned. “What was that about? You look like you’re about to cry.” She placed her hand on Maddie’s shoulder reassuringly.

“A coworker got engaged,” she said and she felt a pang in her chest. It seemed so distant to refer to Hao as her coworker when she cared for him as way more than that, even feeling the need to correct herself. “Well, we’re really close. I was there for their first meeting and I’ve seen a lot of their big milestones. I’m just so happy they’re getting married now.”

She felt dramatic falling into Gowoon’s arms then, but it was also really nice sharing big moments with someone and having them hold her tight. They stayed like that in silence for a minute, gently swaying with Gowoon’s chin positioned on top of her head as if she was protecting her. Her hand was caressing Maddie’s back and maybe it wasn’t about the wedding anymore, but just about holding each other and she decided that was okay, too.

They finished up the dish, or well Maddie did as Gowoon tried to take in all the steps while petting Eumppappa. It was delicious, sauce got everywhere around their lips, but it didn’t matter; when their plates were empty, Gowoon gallantly wiped her face clean with a napkin and then did her own. It was surprisingly intimate, but she couldn’t linger in the moment for too long because suddenly Eumppappa started barking which usually meant that-

“I’m home!” Gyuhee yelled and Eumppappa’s nails clattered against the floor as she ran towards her. “Look, this is Eumppappa, our dog,” she said in a baby voice and Maddie looked confused around the corner to see who she was talking to.

“Yo Ricki, what a coincidence!” Gowoon exclaimed as she approached the girl Maddie had never seen before, hugging her tightly. “Hope you’re enjoying the tattoo.” She pointed at her ribs and Maddie realized she was one of Gowoon’s clients.

They got wrapped up in a conversation pretty quickly and Maddie dragged Gyuhee to her room to talk to her as well. As soon as the door closed, they both simultaneously shrieked in excitement. “Oh my God, I can’t believe Gowoon is in our house, hello!” Gyuhee said incredulously. “I know I kept saying she was in love with you, but I actually had zero faith in that.” She did not hold back in her honesty.

“Thanks, well I can’t believe it either,” Maddie said, failing to conceal a smile. “I’ll tell you the whole story later, but first, who the fuck is that?” She pointed behind her with her thumb and instinctively brought her face a little closer to Gyuhee’s.

She waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, she’s just my project partner. We saw each other at the party and she asked me if I wanted to get out of there and I said sure and then we walked here together. We’re just gonna be working on the project.”

Maddie stayed silent for a moment until she found the right words to subtly tell her she most likely completely misread the situation. “You realize that makes no sense, right?” is what she settled on, but Gyuhee immediately looked at her confused.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“You’re saying you left a Jackson Wang party to willingly do schoolwork on Valentine’s Day with someone you do not like,” Maddie summarized, looking at her wide-eyed hoping she would see the insanity of that excuse.

“I never said I didn’t like her,” she said instead.

“You called her arrogant!”

“Oh my god, she is so arrogant!” Gyuhee said angrily as if she was discovering this fact for the first time.

“Then what is she doing here?” Maddie insisted.

“Project.”

“But why?” She was growing a little frustrated from her responses.

“We’re both perfectionists, so we want it to be perfect,” she said which was the closest thing she’d said to something that made sense, but it still wasn’t quite there yet, because why would they need to work on it together that specific night when they clearly had plans?

“You know I have to bully you for being a nerd now, right?” Maddie put her hands up to pretend she had no control over that consequence at all.

“Whatever! I’m getting my degree,” she replied resolutely, and honestly, yes, she really was and Maddie was proud of her, even if she was an oblivious walnut.

“I think you can take a night off and just have fun. You’ve worked hard enough already today,” she said earnestly and Gyuhee nodded in agreement, a satisfied silence falling over them for a second.

Of course, Gyuhee’s favorite thing about silences was breaking them with absurd statements such as, “I think I’m pro-child labor now.” She paused for dramatic effect. “You should hire that kid Yujin as a part-timer, I’m serious. He’s so cute, I wanna chew him up and then keep him in my pocket forever.”

“Then how is he gonna work from inside your pocket?”

“I’ll stuff some flowers in there so he can make them into a bouquet,” she suggested with a straight face.

“Well, unfortunately he can’t because he’s already in my stomach from eating him earlier. He was so sweet, I might have diabetes now,” Maddie said and they both laughed. Not really because it was funny, but more so because it was nice to have someone who could match your energy even if it was all dumb fun.

“Let’s go back, the girls we pulled by being hilarious and beautiful are waiting for us,” Gyuhee said and she offered her hand for Maddie to hold onto.

“You’re right, they’re lost without us,” Maddie agreed and she enlaced their fingers.

“Madds?” Gyuhee asked with Maddie’s hand already on the door knob.

“Groovy?”

“You know, I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she said, squeezing her hand and they walked back to the living room together.