Work Text:
Between finding out your boyfriend of 10 years cheated on you with a new female co-worker who screamed youth in every step she took, and having to face your mother's continuous encouraging phonecalls to apologize to him after your confrontation because she knows him and knows he would never do that to you, Pomni appreciated the lightheartedness of the inconvenient situation she found herself in.
The inconvenient situation being a tall purple rabbit standing in front of her, a wide grin in place, flowers in an arrangement she knew she prepared meticulously in his hands.
He was insisting on giving her the flowers.
She was careful when she was arranging them because they were her favorite. Pomni thought to herself that if she only knew this would just end up going back to her, she would've given herself some slack while working on it.
She looked up at the rabbit questioningly with tired eyes.
Pomni was tired from crying. Tired from a full day's work. Tired from her co-worker's insistence that this guy in front of her was a very regular customer who ordered different flowers for weeks, followed by the consistent order of daisies.
She could be tired of this guy too.
But she wasn't.
He made small talk when he would wait for her to punch in his orders, and at times would offer silence as she concentrated on working on arrangements as he waited for his order to finish.
She gave a sigh, closing the door of the flowershop behind her and adjusted her scarf. The evenings were getting colder as winter approached.
She turned away from him and started walking. He followed close behind her.
"How are you, Pomni-noona?"
Oh.
An awful feeling scrounged up in her chest and belly.
Right, of course.
Jax was much younger than her. He probably shouldn't be friends with someone her age. He was better off galivanting and drinking with youngins his age. Someone probably like her ex's co-worker.
"I'm just tired, Jax," she replied with a deep sigh. She felt a heaviness in her shoulders as she did so.
She nearly had a heart attack as he sped up to catch up to her and eventually stopped in front of her. She had to crane her neck up quite a bit. It didn't help with the ache in her shoulders.
He bent down in front of her and flashed her a small smile. "Come drink with me?"
Pomni closed her eyes and counted to ten.
She just wanted to get home. She was so tired. It would do her shoulders and neck wonders to just lay on her futon and call it a night.
Yes, calling it a night in her apartment.
Alone.
On a mattress she used to share with her ass of an ex.
Surrounded by a mess she hadn't had the time to bother cleaning up.
After picking up used condoms and at the very least clearing out the scent of an intimate act that didn't involve her, she didn't even attempt to do anything more.
Everything in there would remind her of she what feared would be true. That she was old. That she deserved to be alone.
She pinched at the cuff of her coat.
"Okay."
Pomni led them to a nearby streetfood tent that also sold drinks.
She took of her coat, and Jax did the same.
She stared at him as he poured out alcohol in their respective shot glasses. He wore white button up and had his sleeves rolled up a third of the way.
He was handsome. Why did someone so young like him choose to be friends with an old hag like her?
He met her stare and teased her with a wink. Pomni simply blinked slowly at the gesture.
The moment he handed her the shotglass, she downed it like a pro.
It had been too long.
She immediately asked Jax for another. The rabbit complied. She downed it again immediately.
She used to spend more time with her friends from highschool. Then... her relationship demanded a lot from her, especially with her ex's tendency to incur debt.
She downed another shot.
She needed to work more hours for it. There was barely any time for other people in her life.
She downed another. At this point, Pomni lost count of how many she'd drank, too busy trying to flush out the memories and feelings of a man she oncd thought she would marry.
Jax stared at her, both worried and impressed. (Mostly impressed.)
Pomni could hold her liquor. After living with someone who preferred to keep bottles available on demand, she treated herself to a few when things got a little too overwhelming.
This was dangerous. She was with Jax, a guy who was basically her stalker for a long time. Sure, they're friends now and he basically checked up on her after seeing that she didn't come to work on the day she discovered her boyfriend was cheating on her, but...
"Pomni-noona, do you love your ex-boyfriend?"
She stared at Jax with eyes already quite red from crying. Huh? Since when was she crying?
"I..."
Does she love her ex-boyfriend?
She knew she loved him when he clumsily admitted it to her at the back of their schoolbuilding while he smoked. She knew she loved him when he gave her a small cupcake with a candle on it during their first anniversary of moving in together. She knew she loved him when he apologized for asking for more money after he said he needed to buy another thing he needed for work.
Did she love him now? Even as he ripped out her heart and didn't even bother cleaning the mess up to display it properly?
Pomni was scared.
She was scared to answer because what if she said what was expected of her, what if she said no, and she found out she was lying? She was scared because she knew the truth either way.
She still loved him.
Pomni broke into sobs against Jax's shirt.
"I'm s-so patheti-tic, Jax," she sobbed, her voice cracking. "He h-hurt me and I... I still love him."
Jax held her against his chest all while shaking his head. "You're right. You really are pathetic, Pomni-noona."
"H-he was right... I-I really am just gonna be a lonely old woman..." She sniffled, wiping tears and snot with her sleeve. "I can't ever be w-with anyone. I'm f-far t-too old. I m-might as well b-be dating dads for choice."
She looked up at the man holding her. "W-why are you even friends with me, J-jax?"
Her vision was starting to blur a lot. Seemed like she had a little too much. "W-why are y-you so... in-in.. invested in me?"
Jax held her by the shoulders and pushed her slightly away from him so he could bend down and talk to her at her level.
His face was close to hers.
He could almost kiss her.
And for a moment, Pomni thought he would. She finds that she didn't mind the thought of them kissing at all.
She closed her eyes, as she waited with bated breath.
Jax stopped just short of her lips before backing up and shaking his head.
"It's because I like you a lot, noona."
Pomni opened her eyes to the bright light of sunshine seeping from her window.
A certain heaviness befalls her head and her eyes from the alcohol she drank the night before and all the crying she was doing for the past week.
Slowly, she sat up. She rolled her shoulders a couple of times, feeling the tension significantly minimized. Pomni raised a hand to squeeze at one of her shoulders and a ghost of a touch that wasn't her own hand fluttered by in her memory.
She then looked at the analog clock on top of her dresser. It was about time she started on cleaning and doing laundry.
Pomni granted herself one last stretch before standing up and heading to the kitchen.
As she waited for her electric kettle to finish heating up water, she leaned with her back against the kitchen sink and stared at the boquet of flowers laid on her dining table.
Some petals had fallen on the tabletop.
Pomni felt herself give into the urge to let out a small smile.
She should look for a flower vase.