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The rain was lashing down outside as Hyunjin pottered around his shop, the dark overcast sky forcing him to flick on the many vintage lamps dotted around between the flowers, a cozy glow settling in amongst the blooms. It was getting close to closing time so the store was comfortably quiet, only the gentle humming of Hyunjin could be heard over the soft sounds of his pruning shears, snipping through stems. He was probably just going to finish up this last bouquet before deciding to call it for the day, the sudden turn in weather likely sending people scattering back to their homes as opposed to enticing them to wander into the quaint little stores weaving along this street. Snipping a length off the roll of ribbon, Hyunjin gathered the stems of the flowers and prepared to tie them with his usual romantic flourish, when he heard the gentle chime of the bell above his door drift through the silence.
Surprised, Hyunjin abandoned the bouquet and lifted his head to greet them. The man that had stepped in cleared his throat shakily, clutching a bouquet in his hand tightly; fat raindrops dripping from his sodden fringe.
“Um, do you do returns on bouquets?”
Hyunjin blinked.
“Sorry that was a stupid question… I uh- I’ll just…”
Hyunjin recognised him immediately. Han Jisung, comes in every Friday at 9am sharp to buy the same bouquet of lilies for his boyfriend even though Hyunjin is almost fairly sure he is allergic to them (due to this one time he handed him a bouquet and he sneezed with such a repetition Hyunjin thought he would never stop and all he muttered was ‘damn I guess I forgot to take my meds’). As he made to leave, Hyunjin’s arm shot out before he fully processed what he was doing.
“Wait!”
Jisung startled.
“I mean, it’s raining really heavily and… well you’re already soaked so…just, wait a while?”
Jisung eyed the storm that had started picking up even fiercer and nodded mutely, his arms falling limply at his sides as he surveyed the inside of the shop forlornly. Hyunjin dashed behind the counter and pulled out a clean hand towel, the kind he keeps on hand for when he undoubtedly spills a vase of water and holds it out to him. Jisung just stares at it for a while and Hyunjin moves forward to place the towel around his shoulders, snapping Jisung out of his reverie and the hand not holding the bouquet reaches up to wrap around the fluffy fabric. Hyunjin holds out his palm, gesturing towards the bouquet,
“Do you um- want me to take that off you?”
Jisung flicks his gaze down to it and his fist tightens around the stems slightly, before he nods silently and passes the bouquet into Hyunjin’s waiting hand. Hyunjin turns and places it on the counter, biting his lip as he tries to think of the least intrusive way of asking why Jisung wants to return it. I mean, he can guess but it doesn’t sound like a particularly pleasant conversation. Hyunjin is spared any awkward attempts by Jisung mumbling underneath the towel he was currently ruffling through his soaking hair,
“We broke up. If that’s what you were wondering.”
Hyunjin sucked in a surprised breath, the monotone of Jisung’s voice startling him with the lack of its usual warmth.
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that…”
Jisung draped the towel back around his shoulders, his eyes finally meeting Hyunjin’s and a fraction of his coldness thawed, the brown of his eyes warming slightly as he sighed derisively. Slowly Jisung sank down onto the floor, his back pressed against the wall underneath one of the windows and he brought his knees up to clutch at them. Hyunjin lowered himself down in front of him, crossing his legs and fiddling with the ties of his apron. Jisung leant his head forward slightly, resting his cheek on top of his knees,
“I caught him cheating on me this morning,” he sighed again. “I’ve been away on a business trip these last 2 weeks and I wasn’t supposed to return until Monday but I managed to leave a little early. I wanted to surprise him with his usual flowers and a brunch date but instead I found him in bed with one of the guys from his office.”
“That fucking sucks.”
Hyunjin wasn’t the best with words but his unfiltered honesty ripped a surprised laugh from Jisung. Hyunjin guiltily pursed his lips together before mumbling an apology. Jisung just shook his head, a small smile pulling at his lips,
“No you’re right, it really fucking sucks.”
Hyunjin matched Jisung’s little smile.
“Well, I suppose one good thing is I don’t have to keep stocking up on antihistamines all the time.”
Triumph dawned on Hyunjin’s face,
“Ah! I knew you must’ve been allergic to them!”
Jisung’s eyes narrowed in amusement,
“You noticed that?”
Embarrassed that he had been caught being maybe a little too observant, Hyunjin tried to cover his tracks.
“W-well, there was that one time you had that sneezing fit! You said you’d forgot to take your meds.”
Jisung’s smile got a little more sure of itself, a barely audible scoff of a laugh passing through his lips.
“You caught me. Yeah I’ve always been allergic to lilies, nothing super serious though!” He quickly added seeing Hyunjin’s worried expression.
“Why did you keep buying them then?”
Hyunjin’s curiosity overruled his politeness and he was just about to kick himself for being so insensitive but Jisung just shrugged, the light in his eyes dimming,
“They were his favourite, the joy of seeing his smile outweighed the irritation of having to take meds to pick them up.”
Hyunjin’s heart clenched. How was it possible that someone would want to throw away a relationship with someone as kind hearted as Jisung. Hyunjin really wanted to see his smile reach his eyes again.
“Well… That just means every time you come in now you can pick the things you actually like!”
Jisung met Hyunjin’s unwavering gaze with curious eyes,
“I don’t have someone to give flowers to anymore, what makes you think I’d keep coming in?”
Hyunjin pulled his face into an exaggerated expression of affront, clutching his hands to his chest as he started to rise on his knees.
“You mean you’re going to send my shop, and my heart, into ruins by no longer visiting?”
Luckily, Jisung saw this as the light hearted joke it was meant to be and he laughed, pulling back from his knees to watch as Hyunjin finished hauling himself off the floor, dusting off his jeans as he straightened up.
“Sometimes,” Hyunjin started with a flourish, “the best recipient for flowers is yourself!”
Jisung cocked his head as he contemplated it,
“You think so?”
“What, are you telling me you don’t have some favourites? That you wouldn’t get a rush of happiness buying yourself a bouquet of said favourites and then getting to take them home and make your home pretty for the week?”
“Huh, I never thought about it like that.”
Hyunjin nodded enthusiastically, grabbing one of the baskets he uses to collect the individual stems for the bouquets and looks at Jisung expectantly. Jisung blinks back at him unsurely,
“You want me to pick some?”
“Yeah! Now it’s time to tell me what your favourites are.”
Jisung closes his eyes for a second, pondering,
“Well, I really love daisies?”
Hyunjin smiles encouragingly, stepping over to where bunches of daisies are waiting patiently in a display vase, emboldened Jisung lists a few more flowers, his voice starting off unsure but slowly transforming into the confident warm timbre Hyunjin is used to hearing. In what feels like no time at all, Hyunjin is back at his prep counter, gently snipping the stems from the overflowing basket of daisies; lilacs; anemones; sweet peas and dahlias. He adds two of the smallest sunflowers from his current stock (Hyunjin always thinks nobody can see a sunflower and not feel at least a little bit happier) and then carefully wraps the bouquet in his signature baby blue paper with a darker blue ribbon. Satisfied he returns to a bemused Jisung, still waiting on the floor, he holds the bouquet out to him and watches as his face relaxes into a soft, awed smile.
“It’s beautiful.”
Hyunjin smiled back, wide and unrestrained.
“You chose some really good flowers, you have way more taste than just plain old lilies.”
Jisung laughed, peering over the bouquet,
“Should you really be saying that as a florist?”
Hyunjin shrugged, a playful smile spreading across his lips. Jisung’s gaze dropped back to the bouquet one more time, drinking it in with his eyes, his hand raising to delicately touch the soft petals, he turned a questioning gaze to Hyunjin.
“And the sunflowers?”
Hyunjin averted his gaze slightly,
“They make me happy. I hoped they’d do the same for you.”
“They’re really pretty Hyunjin, thank you.”
Hyunjin could feel the tips of his ears reddening underneath his hair and he’s glad that Jisung’s attention is back on the flowers, an intense flash of guilt rocketing through his system at the enjoyment he felt hearing the word pretty followed by his name. He’s snapped out of it by Jisung directing another question to him.
“How much do I owe you for them?”
Standing back up, Hyunjin shakes his head, offering his hand out to help pull Jisung back up off the floor and pushing down his traitorous thoughts at the lingering warmth of his palm.
“You’re returning the lilies right? Only seems fair to do an equivalent exchange.”
Jisung opens his mouth to protest and Hyunjin shushes him with a smile.
“If you don’t want to accept that then treat this as a promotional bouquet.”
Jisung made a confused noise,
“Promotional?”
Hyunjin’s smile was teasing,
“Wel, yeah. I have to convince you to keep coming back somehow right?”
The laugh that this pulls out of Jisung makes Hyunjin feel lighter, the golden glow from the settled weather filtering in through the windows; mingling with the soft amber from Hyunjin’s lamps and washing Jisung’s honey skin in a sticky sweet glaze. Jisung removes the towel from his neck and folds it, passing it on to Hunjin with a smile,
“Oh I’ll be back for sure,” he moves to the door and presses down the handle, “after all, a friend of mine said the best person to buy a bouquet for is yourself.”
Hyunjin laughed,
“You must have a smart friend. Get home safely Jisung.”
Jisung dips his head in acknowledgement, raising his hand in a gentle wave,
“You too Hyunjin. I’ll see you next week.”