#002
Just from meeting Kang Min, I fell ill and took two days off in a row. I holed up in my house and endlessly replayed the image of Kang Min waving his hand saying “see you again.” He was so cleanly handsome, so why did he beat up Seo Ranho like that…
Well, it’s because he has personality problems, right?
I cut off the budding thought that was creeping up: “Maybe if he meets me, he won’t be like that?” They say people should never be fixed and reused. You don’t even take in black-haired beasts. What just crossed my mind was exactly the kind of wrong thinking that suckers usually have.
‘Maybe I can change this person.’
What complete bullshit. If he was going to change, he wouldn’t have hit anyone in the first place. I patted Seo Ranho’s shoulder and comforted myself, saying let’s just live as a single person in this life. Of course, Seo Ranho couldn’t hear it.
Maybe because of the original work’s influence, the moment I recognized that man as Kang Min, my heart started pounding to a gut rhythm, which wasn’t normal. Maybe it couldn’t be helped since he was part of the sub couple.
“Hmm…”
Throughout my listless rest, I soothed my restless heart and instilled in myself the formula “Kang Min = bad guy.”
On the third day, I finally left my bed and opened the store. While sorting through wilted flowers and dusting off the accumulated dust, I received a bouquet order.
Whether lily of the valley was the current trend, the customer showed me several photos of lily of the valley bouquets and requested this style. I explained that lily of the valley was an imported flower, and because celebrities had used it a lot in bouquets making it an issue, the price range had gone up considerably making it expensive, but the groom’s side firmly wanted lily of the valley over the bride’s preference.
“If you do it solo it’ll be more expensive, but maybe a mix…”
“No, please just use lily of the valley.”
“…Then I’ll include the boutonniere and mother’s corsage as a service.”
At the word “service,” the two people looked at each other and smiled. Just looking at them makes me feel good. How nice. A slight envy clashed with the annoyance of the effort required for dating. Rather than dating, I need to build up my stamina first…
“How much is it?”
“A lily of the valley solo bouquet is five hundred and fifty thousand won. Have you been to other flower shops by any chance?”
I asked while writing the order. The two people nodded, saying they’d been to quite a few places.
“If there’s a big price difference from here, it would help to visit a few more places.”
“No, we’ll just order here. Actually, we’ve been to too many places and the price ranges weren’t that different.”
“Ah… Then, wait a moment. Please fill this out.”
I pushed the order form toward the two people and opened the showcase. I took out a few pink tulips, emu feathers, and eucalyptus to make a small bouquet.
“This is a gift. Congratulations on your marriage. I’ll make the bouquet really pretty for you.”
When I handed over the hastily made bouquet, strangely the groom-to-be’s face turned red.
“Wow, it’s really pretty. Thank you. Please take good care of the bouquet!”
I processed the bouquet payment with the card offered along with the cheerful voice and escorted them to the entrance.
“I’ll bring flowers in good condition. Have a safe trip.”
I bowed toward the couple walking away while waving gently.
…
This happened twice more. Whether this was the only flower shop in the neighborhood, everyone said no to my suggestion that they could try other places and filled out order forms instead.
“It’s doing too well…”
I was in a bad mood because the flower shop was doing better business than expected. I wanted a quiet daily routine of opening the doors late and selling about one or two bouquets, but every time I opened the doors, for whatever reason, I ended up making and selling 5 bouquets today too. Crazy. I was way too busy.
I wrote that closing time was 6 PM on the door, but I cleaned up the store a little after 4 PM. The reason was that I couldn’t endure anymore. Just when I could sit down, a customer would come, and just when I could sit down, another customer would come, so I skipped lunch and just poured coffee into my empty stomach, making me dizzy and nauseous.
It was just as I was lying sprawled on the table, blinking my eyes and dozing off. I heard the clear jingle of the wind chime and the sound of shoe heels hitting the floor. I knew I should get up, but my heavy eyelids had no intention of lifting, and my body, heavier than my eyelids, had no intention of getting up either.
Someone who came up to the table made a humming sound and carefully pulled out a chair. When the owner is sleeping, they’d either come back later or wake them up—one of the two—but this customer didn’t seem to have such intentions.
There was the smell of wind brought in from outside and perfume. I decided to count to myself and if they didn’t leave after I counted to 100, I’d open my eyes. And unfortunately, the customer had no intention of getting up from their seat even while I counted to 150.
I had no choice. I lifted my eyelids smoothly as if I had never been asleep from the beginning.
“Oh? You opened your eyes.”
I’ve heard this voice somewhere.
“You must have been very tired.”
“……”
I blinked meaninglessly, then came to my senses a bit and slowly straightened my upper body. My blurry vision wasn’t clear.
“I came to buy another bouquet.”
“……”
“Um… this time it’s for a female friend. It’s her birthday.”
Ah, birthday.
“For the flowers… please pick pretty ones, sir. I don’t know much about them.”
“…Sorry, but we’re closed today. The flowers aren’t in great condition either. I was about to close but dozed off and left it open by mistake.”
I spoke without hiding my deep fatigue. Meeting this bastard again today. I really should have closed for about a week.
“There are lots of flowers over there. None of them look wilted.”
“I misspoke. I’m the one who’s wilted. I’m sorry.”
When I got up while gathering my belongings spread on the table, Kang Min, who was sitting across from me, also stood up.
“Can’t you just make one bouquet?”
“……”
“I went to other places but didn’t like any of them. Since it’s a gift, I wanted to get something pretty in my eyes too, so I waited. Won’t you do it?”
“…Hah…”
Even though I clearly showed my reluctance, this shameless man smiled with his eyes and said “please.” I took my phone back out of my cardigan and trudged toward the showcase. I took out stocks, anemones, ranunculus, and alstroemeria. Then I also took out half a bunch of silene and started packaging in earnest.
The flowers stored in the showcase had tight buds, but by the time I finished packaging, the temperature difference made the buds open up perfectly. I tied the ribbon neatly and handed it to Kang Min with a thud, and his face became as bright as the bouquet.
“I didn’t know much about flowers, but I’ve been studying a lot lately. Is this lisianthus?”
“…That’s ranunculus. A lot of people get confused.”
“Ah, right. That. The names feel similar.”
“…Two hundred thousand won.”
I quickly stated the price as if telling him to stop talking and leave.
“…What?”
“Two hundred thousand won.”
Kang Min stuck his head forward with a dumbfounded expression as if asking me to repeat it. After chewing over my firmly spat out words, muttering “two hundred…” he pulled back the hand holding two fifty-thousand won bills and took out his wallet.
“…It keeps getting more expensive.”
“If it seems too expensive, you can leave it and go somewhere else.”
“Are you only charging me this much?”
“…No.”
“Oh, you avoided eye contact. You are charging me more, right?”
No. I snatched the card and quickly swiped it. When I pushed the electronic pad toward him and looked into space, Kang Min, who had scribbled an unrecognizable signature, grinned. I printed out the receipt, gave one copy to myself and one to Kang Min, then gathered my belongings I had put down. Kang Min, holding the bouquet, turned around with a deflated laugh.
“I came here through a friend’s introduction.”
“Ah. I see.”
I responded indifferently, turned off the lights that had been illuminating the store, and walked ahead of Kang Min. That was the moment.
The door swung wide open and a familiar face popped in and hugged my body.
“Rano.”
“Mo Gyoyeon?”
“It’s my birthday today. I came to buy you dinner.”
Hmm, flower scent. Gyoyeon, who had been rubbing her cheek against my shoulder, lifted her head slightly and smiled while making eye contact.
“Gyoyeon.”
“Huh? Ha-joon! You were here?”
Ha-joon? What, do they know each other? But wait, that’s Kang Min… Ha-joon… That sounds too familiar…
“You were together? I was actually going to introduce Rano to you. This worked out well.”
“Rano?”
“Ah, that’s my nickname. Seo Ranho, so Rano.”
What is this… what’s happening…
“Ranho, this is Ban Hajoon. Um… my male friend who’s as close as you are.”
Crazy… I remembered. Ban Hajoon, the male protagonist from the story. And the person who would become Gyoyeon’s boyfriend, not just a male friend, in a little while. I’m going crazy. I ripped off that man with flower prices.
Wait, didn’t he say he was going to open a cafe here?
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
Well, that was confusing hahaha