#026
Taking advantage of his loosened grip, I pulled my arm free, and Gangmin straightened his expression and turned around with an embarrassed face. Perhaps even he found his crumpled smile distasteful, as Woo Dohwan quickly approached me. Inserting himself in the middle as if blocking between me and Gangmin, he muttered loudly enough for the other person to clearly hear.
“Who is he.”
“……”
“Ah, that guy from back then.”
Following his nodding motion up and down, his fine hair swayed softly. Only the back of his head stood out clearly in my dark field of vision. I rubbed my wrist, which still felt unpleasant from being grabbed, and Woo Dohwan turned his head slightly and whispered with a light laugh.
“I’m not going to hire him anyway. Right, honey?”
“……”
“I told you I’d help if it’s hard. You went to buy flowers alone again, didn’t you? I told you to wait. Why don’t you ever listen to me?”
Ah, wait. I think I heard a word I shouldn’t have heard. Honey?
“Honey. I told you I’d take care of everything.”
Woo Dohwan wrinkled his nose bridge and squinted his eyes. Crazy, what is he saying? This weather vane. The hand that carefully closed my mouth, which had fallen open in shock, was soft.
“I guess he came to ask about the interview results.”
“……”
“It’s the first time I’ve seen someone come in person to hear the results.”
His voice was leisurely as he spoke gently in his characteristic languid tone.
“Ah, they give that sort of thing these days.”
Woo Dohwan, who had been smiling lazily, fumbled through his clothes and pulled out his wallet.
“Transportation money? What do you call this? Ah, was it travel expenses?”
The hand that pulled out two crisp fifty-thousand won bills stretched straight forward.
“Get home safely.”
Gangmin’s gaze on the fine hands, fine for a man’s hands, was unusual. No, but why are you making my heart race by acting like that in front of me?
“Give me a sparkling ring today.”
“…Excuse me?”
“I want to receive one too. A sparkling one.”
There was nothing I couldn’t buy for him, appearing at such a perfect timing. Right now, it felt like I could even buy him a diamond ring with a large stone. What’s the big deal about some fire-producing candy ring? I’d buy him ten of them.
“That won’t be necessary.”
After Gangmin glanced down at Woo Dohwan’s fingertips, he declined. Two bills fluttered annoyingly from Woo Dohwan’s fingertips, and Gangmin, with a disgusted expression, sharply raised his eyebrows and turned his back.
Ha, shit. I’m anxious…! The intervals between my shallow inhales and exhales became shorter.
Clang- Only when the wind chime rang and Gangmin completely disappeared could I finally breathe.
“Whoa…”
My staggering body barely managed to stand upright using the table as support. Cold sweat trickled down my spine.
“Are you okay? Did he hit you?”
“It’s not, it’s not like that, no. No.”
He didn’t hit me. Though I’m not sure if I should say “yet,” but anyway.
“Ranho.”
Heat rushed to my face at the quietly calling voice. Suddenly… suddenly calling me like that makes it seem like we’re close.
“That bastard earlier had a bad vibe.”
“……”
“Makes me uneasy to leave you alone.”
An awkward atmosphere developed. Nothing had even happened, but his voice full of concern sounded ticklish for no reason. Ahem, I let out a slight cough and just rolled my eyes when Woo Dohwan’s hand stretched out straight.
“Why have you been wearing this stuffily since earlier?”
“Ah, wait-“
I pulled my head back to hide my eyes, which were full of burst blood vessels from crying all night, and Woo Dohwan’s hand stopped right in front of my sunglasses. Why is he trying to take off someone else’s sunglasses without permission… I muttered while grabbing the frames with my hand.
“This is just… just…”
“Your car.”
“My car?”
Car? What car…
Ah? As if an eraser had entered my head, I remembered the most important thing I had completely forgotten. Startled, I jumped up slightly into the air, and Woo Dohwan changed the direction of his outstretched hand to awkwardly pat my shoulder.
“Wait. I’ll bring it down for you.”
“It’s okay. I can move it myself.”
I tried to stop him urgently, but Woo Dohwan’s movements were fast. Even though I said it was fine, he deliberately walked with swaying steps and left the shop with efficient strides. Through the cleanly wiped glass window, I could clearly see Woo Dohwan striding away. Without any hesitation, he began taking out and carrying the flowers that filled the trunk, one bundle at a time.
They can’t be stacked on top of each other… I couldn’t take my eyes off him, worried that his help might not be helpful at all.
While anxiously watching him take out flowers through the clean window, I spotted someone loitering around the terrace hesitantly. What’s this? Did they come to buy flowers? The hem of her thin coat fluttered in the wind, and her long straight hair scattered like waves in the breeze.
Who is it? A customer?
She seemed to have been waiting outside for quite a while, her nose tip reddened by the cold weather, and her gaze persistently followed Woo Dohwan. She sent obvious glances and moved her lips as if calling out to him as he approached the entrance.
“Dohwan.”
Following the shape of her smiling lips, I unconsciously made the sound too. Do they know each other? Did they come together perhaps? Woo Dohwan, who pushed the door open with his shoulder, naturally muttered “come in” as if introducing my shop as his own. She swept the interior with wide eyes and smiled awkwardly while brushing back her hair.
Birds of a feather flock together, they say. Just her entrance, radiating much more stunning beauty than what I could see through the window, created the illusion that the surroundings had brightened.
Though not as much as Gyoyeon, she was really, really pretty. Is she the weather vane’s girlfriend?
Seeing me gauging the relationship between the two while wearing sunglasses, she bowed her head politely.
“Excuse me.”
“Ah, welcome.”
“This is my first time at a flower shop, and it’s really pretty.”
“…There’s nothing much to see. Thank you.”
I roughly hung the outer clothing I was wearing on a chair and bowed my head toward her while tying on an apron.
“You still haven’t taken them off.”
A languid voice interrupted between me and her as we awkwardly exchanged greetings. Woo Dohwan’s gaze, holding an armful of flowers wrapped in newspaper, turned toward me.
Anyone listening would misunderstand. It was surely referring to my sunglasses, but words coming from the weather vane’s mouth usually sounded suggestive even when they weren’t meant that way.
“My eyes aren’t in good condition. Did you come to buy flowers?”
When I asked dryly, Woo Dohwan nodded. The flowers that had been cradled in his arms as he approached were placed neatly on the table.
Having brought in more than the usual amount, he went back and forth between inside and outside several times before precariously setting down the last flowers on one side of the table.
“You bought quite a lot.”
“……”
“Move your car. If you park it there, you’ll get a ticket.”
Her feminine voice pierced my ears. I wasn’t close enough to Woo Dohwan to entrust the shop to him, so I hesitated a little. But seeing his carefree face openly examining the flowers I had bought, I just bowed to his companion and left the shop. I moved the car that had been left with hazard lights blinking for dozens of minutes into the underground parking garage.
There was no rush, but when I hurried back, Woo Dohwan was pointing at flowers and explaining something to his companion. Did he know flower names? When I opened the door and entered, only Woo Dohwan slowly turned around and smiled.
“You came back quickly.”
“…There were many spots.”
I huffed out my breath, which had become short from walking quickly, and went around the table.
“Could you wait a little?”
“Why?”
“I need to organize these quickly.”
I should have put the flowers for bouquets in before going to move the car… I felt rushed. If left at room temperature too long, the flower buds would bloom wide open. Even before Woo Dohwan’s head could nod, I first filled vases with water. After dividing roses and irises for bouquets into separate vases and putting them in the showcase, I also stuck the remaining flowers into the lined-up vases by type. The showcase, which had plenty of space before, was now packed with flowers.
Did I buy too much? What if I can’t sell them all? But thinking I could sell the leftovers to Ban Hajoon made me feel better. When I carefully unfolded the last flowers that had been rolled up in newspaper, bright purple lisianthus with vivid colors emerged.
I bought these purely because they were pretty. Because the color was pretty. As I gently caressed the soft petals with my fingertips, Woo Dohwan’s gaze also fell on the lisianthus.
“Pretty.”
“……”
“Kim Yujin. How about this?”
Woo Dohwan picked up a lisianthus stem and asked the person who was peeking out from behind him.
“It’s pretty.”
“I’ll buy this then.”
“Okay.”
A neat tone rang out. When I looked up following the sound, Kim Yujin-ssi, her cheeks slightly flushed, smiled with a bashful expression.
“This one.”
“…Ah.”
When Woo Dohwan, holding a single lisianthus, met my eyes while smelling the flower fragrance, he smiled brightly. What’s with him, why is he acting like that? Is Kim Yujin-ssi his girlfriend? Is he buying it for his girlfriend? I recalled his voice saying he didn’t make such relationships because he hated being responsible, thinking what a complete liar, as I trimmed the lisianthus.
I cut the stems diagonally and plucked off the messy attached leaves. I took out plenty of purple lisianthus, lisianthus blue picotee, and cineraria, grasped the stems, and shaped them.
It was an impulsive purchase, but honestly, when I bunched them together to make a bouquet, even I thought it looked magnificent. The deep purple color was so appealing that it might be the prettiest bouquet I’d made recently. After wrapping it with white float paper, I finished by tying white lace ribbon around the stem area.
“Here you go.”
Woo Dohwan stared at the bouquet I handed him, then passed it directly to Kim Yujin-ssi and opened his wallet. He pulled out a black card from among the neatly arranged cards and handed it over.
“I got it. Thanks to you. They went crazy saying those tulips were pretty. Ice Queen? Is that right?”
He smiled with his characteristic mischievous expression. Each time, his nose bridge, which wrinkled in a way that wasn’t unpleasant, always caught my attention.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
