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Rumi and Mira are waiting for Zoey to come back from her date with Mystery after she called an emergency meeting.
The apartment was unusually tense for a Tuesday night, and it was entirely Zoey’s fault.
Rumi sat cross-legged on the couch, absently folding laundry that she had already refolded twice, while Mira paced slowly in front of the coffee table with her phone in hand. Ten minutes earlier, Zoey had sent a single, dramatic text into their group chat:
EMERGENCY MEETING. I REPEAT. EMERGENCY.
No context. No explanation. Just that.
Mira stopped pacing. “If this is about another vending machine conspiracy—”
“It’s not,” Rumi said gently. “She used the heart emoji.”
“That makes it worse.”
Rumi smiled faintly. “It means romance.”
Mira paused mid-step and looked at her. “You think Mystery finally did something obvious?”
Rumi tilted her head thoughtfully. “He’s been obvious for months.”
“That’s what I said.”
They both went quiet for a moment.
“You don’t think she’s spiraling, do you?” Mira asked.
Rumi laughed softly. “Zoey lives in a permanent spiral. This one sounds… hopeful.”
The front door opened with unnecessary force.
Zoey burst in, hair slightly windblown, eyes bright, clutching a bouquet of pale pink flowers like she’d just won a war.
“MEETING,” she declared breathlessly.
Mira immediately dropped onto the couch. “You are so dramatic.”
Rumi leaned forward, already smiling. “Hi.”
Zoey held the bouquet out like evidence. “Look at these.”
Mira blinked. “They’re flowers.”
“No,” Zoey insisted urgently. “They’re intentional.”
Rumi took the bouquet gently, examining the petals. “Peonies,” she murmured.
“Exactly,” Zoey said, pointing dramatically. “Mira. Google. Meaning.”
Mira sighed but obediently typed into her phone. “Peonies symbolize… romance, prosperity, and a happy marriage.”
Zoey froze.
Rumi smiled knowingly.
Mira lowered her phone slowly and looked up at Zoey. “He likes you.”
Zoey stared at them both like they had just handed her a complicated math problem. “But what if it’s just aesthetic?”
Rumi laughed softly. “It’s not aesthetic.”
“He could’ve picked them randomly!”
Mira shook her head. “Mystery is not random.”
Zoey sank into the armchair dramatically, clutching the flowers to her chest. “He said they reminded him of me.”
Rumi’s smile widened. “What did he mean by that?”
“He said they look delicate but are actually resilient.”
Mira’s expression softened. “That’s not subtle.”
Zoey blinked rapidly. “But why didn’t he just say he likes me?”
Rumi leaned back against the couch cushions. “Because some people show before they say.”
Zoey looked overwhelmed. “Love is so hard to figure out.”
From the hallway came the soft sound of keys and grocery bags. Jinu’s voice drifted in first.
“Why is the living room glowing with tension?”
He stepped inside with a paper bag tucked under one arm and immediately noticed the bouquet.
“Oh,” he said lightly. “We’re in that phase.”
Zoey pointed at him. “Don’t you start.”
He set the bag down and walked over to Rumi, leaning down to kiss her gently on the top of her head before sitting beside her. She instinctively leaned into his side, and his arm wrapped around her waist in one smooth, practiced motion.
“Emergency meeting?” he asked.
“Mystery bought her peonies,” Mira supplied.
Jinu nodded solemnly. “That man is in deep.”
Zoey groaned loudly.
“You’re not helping!”
Rumi glanced up at Jinu. “Did you ever do something romantic that confused me?”
He looked thoughtful for half a second. “All the time.”
She nudged him lightly. “Be serious.”
“I am,” he insisted. “I once left you a note in your jacket pocket that said ‘You’re my favorite place.’”
Mira blinked. “That’s disgusting.”
Rumi smiled softly. “I thought you meant the café.”
“I did not,” he said, brushing his thumb along her hip gently.
Zoey looked between them. “See? That’s clear. That’s direct.”
Rumi laughed quietly. “It wasn’t at the time.”
“It wasn’t?” Zoey asked.
“I overanalyzed it for three days,” Rumi admitted. “I thought maybe he just meant I was convenient.”
Jinu gasped in mock offense. “Convenient?”
“You never specified.”
He leaned closer, lowering his voice slightly. “You were never convenient. You were inevitable.”
Mira made a strangled sound. “Please stop.”
Zoey stared at them. “That’s what I’m saying! How do you know when it’s serious?”
Mira leaned forward now, her earlier annoyance gone. “Okay. When Abby first started doing things for me, I thought he was just being polite.”
Rumi smiled knowingly.
“He’d remember small things,” Mira continued. “Like how I prefer my tea, or which side of the sidewalk I like to walk on. It felt… attentive.”
Zoey’s eyes softened slightly. “That’s cute.”
“It confused me,” Mira admitted. “Because it felt bigger than casual. But I didn’t want to assume.”
“What made you stop assuming?” Zoey asked.
Mira smiled faintly. “Consistency.”
Rumi nodded. “That’s it.”
Jinu squeezed her gently. “Love gets easier over time.”
Zoey looked at him skeptically. “Does it?”
He nodded. “At first, it’s all decoding signals. You’re trying to interpret everything. But eventually, you just know.”
Rumi tilted her head up at him. “You knew?”
“I knew before you did,” he said calmly.
She rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. “You’re arrogant.”
He kissed her softly, unbothered. “Confident.”
Zoey stared at them with dramatic exhaustion. “I’m trying to have a crisis and you two are flirting.”
“It’s helpful,” Rumi insisted gently.
Zoey looked down at the peonies again. “He also paid for dinner without letting me argue.”
Mira raised an eyebrow. “That’s standard.”
“No, but he said, ‘I like taking care of you.’”
Rumi and Mira exchanged a look.
Zoey’s voice dropped. “What does that mean?”
“It means,” Rumi said carefully, “he wants to show up.”
“It means he likes you,” Mira added firmly.
Zoey exhaled slowly, hugging the bouquet tighter.
“I just don’t want to mess it up,” she admitted quietly.
Rumi reached over and squeezed her hand. “You won’t.”
“Unless you start interrogating him about flower symbolism mid-dessert,” Mira added.
Zoey narrowed her eyes. “I did not.”
“You absolutely did,” Mira said.
Jinu chuckled softly and leaned down to press another kiss against Rumi’s hair. “You’ll be fine,” he told Zoey gently. “You don’t need to decode everything. If he’s consistent, you’ll feel it.”
Zoey looked at them, her expression slowly shifting from panic to something steadier.
“Did love ever feel less confusing?” she asked quietly.
Rumi thought for a moment. “It didn’t get less complicated overnight. But it got softer. Less sharp.”
Jinu nodded. “It becomes less about guessing and more about building.”
Zoey inhaled deeply, then let out a slow breath.
“Okay,” she said finally. “Okay.”
Mira leaned back into the couch. “Also, if he buys you peonies again, just say thank you and kiss him.”
Zoey blinked. “That’s bold.”
“That’s efficient,” Mira corrected.
Rumi laughed softly.
Zoey looked at both of them, then at Jinu and Rumi leaning into each other so naturally it looked effortless.
“I’m glad I have you guys,” she said quietly.
Rumi smiled warmly. “Always.”
Mira nodded. “Even during emergency meetings.”
Zoey looked down at the flowers again, her smile small but real now.
“Okay,” she said softly. “I’m going to text him something normal.”
“Define normal,” Mira said cautiously.
Zoey paused. “Not a dissertation on peony symbolism.”
“Good,” Rumi said.
Jinu leaned over and kissed Rumi once more, just because he could. She laughed softly against his lips.
Zoey shook her head affectionately. “Love is ridiculous.”
“Love is patient,” Rumi corrected gently.
“And occasionally dramatic,” Mira added.
Zoey smiled at both of them.
“Okay,” she repeated, steadier this time. “I think I can do this.”
And for once, the emergency meeting ended not in chaos—but in quiet confidence, peonies resting gently on the coffee table, glowing softly under the living room lights.