#034
I thought of the round aquatic plants that grow in water, then looked at the dianthus in Ju Isin’s hand.
“It’s similar, but that’s a flower.”
“Very unique, hmm, unique. That, this, what’s this? This is also unique.”
“That’s helleborus. That flower is also called Christmas rose. It’s a rose that blooms right around that time. There are red colors besides this one, but I prefer the green. I’ll bring more in before Christmas, so I’ll show you then.”
Ju Isin, who had been concentrating on my explanation, blushed and lowered his head deeply. His gaze went toward his feet. Wondering why he was suddenly acting like that, I stopped trimming the stems and observed Ju Isin.
“When hyung explains flowers, really… really. The moment you touch flowers, how does a person change like this?”
“What?”
“This is driving me crazy. Really, really.”
I couldn’t understand what he was trying to say. He kept saying “really, really” and choosing his words over and over.
“…When I asked hyung what this flower is. The moment hyung said ‘this flower is,’ that flower became the most special thing in the world.”
Ju Isin covered and hid his face with his big, long hands. The cheeks visible through the gaps between his fingers were tinted rose-colored.
“My heart is trembling.”
I stopped trimming the pompom chrysanthemum stems. I looked at Ju Isin, who had slightly moved away the hands covering his face and peeked out his eyes, then gently touched his straight forehead with a flower.
“So what was the name of this flower again?”
“…Huh?”
“This one.”
“……”
With slightly dazed eyes, Ju Isin looked at the round white chrysanthemum in my hand and tried his best to recall the flower’s name.
“Pom, hmm… pom, what was it.”
“Pompom chrysanthemum. I’ll ask you again later.”
I naturally redirected Ju Isin’s attention to the flowers and gathered the trimmed flowers in one hand to arrange them.
I placed Miss Holland as the main flower and filled the surroundings with helleborus. Between them, I alternately inserted the dianthus and chrysanthemums that Ju Isin said resembled marimo. Even so, the bouquet seemed a bit plain, so I took out plenty of iberis. I filled the spaces between the large flowers with iberis and secured the stems.
After wrapping the bouquet with pure white wet paper and khaki cloth paper, then tying it with white ribbon, the most neat and calm bouquet I’d ever made was completed.
“Do you like it?”
“Completely.”
“That’s a relief. Just because it’s pretty to me doesn’t mean it’s pretty to you, Isin-ssi, so I was a bit worried while making it.”
“This is almost at the level of creating something from nothing, and you were worried while making something like this? That’s ridiculous.”
Ju Isin received the bouquet and spun it around to examine the flowers. His eyes were similar to when he received the candy ring.
“But why did you come here?”
“Just, to see you, hyung?”
“……”
“Then, to buy flowers?”
Just as I was thinking why he came here to spend money unnecessarily and let out a deep sigh, ding-a-ling, the wind chime rang out clearly.
Click-clack, the sound of high heels echoed. It was the moment when the chime’s resonance created gentle waves and the sound was fading. A woman with a mature appearance that stood out from her very gait walked toward the inside with light behind her.
Naturally, following me, Ju Isin’s gaze also turned behind. Her elegant gait, hairstyle, and upright posture made one anticipate her social status. She had an extraordinary dignity that suggested she wasn’t just ordinarily wealthy, and I stared blankly before suddenly coming to my senses and opening my mouth.
“Oh, welcome.”
It was the first words I uttered only after the customer came to the front of the table.
“I came to buy flowers.”
Even her low voice was incomparably lofty. Ju Isin slowly backed away and came inside the table. Then he lowered his head and put his lips to my ear.
“Hyung.”
“What?”
“He looks like that hyung.”
“Looks like what?”
I whispered without moving my lips like Ju Isin was doing ventriloquism.
“That hyung. That, handsome hyung.”
“What?”
The customer who had been listening to me and Ju Isin whisper right in front of her curved her gracefully drawn lips into a smile.
“It seems like you’re talking about my son.”
“Son?”
The same word popped out of both mine and Ju Isin’s mouths simultaneously. She took out a small white, shiny piece of paper from her wallet and placed it on the table.
[Gallery 蘭]
And below that, the three characters ‘임난희’ were written concisely.
“Ah, ah! Wind, no, Woo, Woo Dohwan-ssi’s mother… mother….”
“That’s right. He brought such pretty bouquets, so I came because I was curious. The last flower Dohwan brought was tulips.”
“Ice Queen tulips. I’m glad you liked them.”
She responded with a consistently elegant attitude. She nodded slightly to finish her answer and slowly turned to stand in front of the showcase.
“I wasn’t particularly interested in flowers, but that rascal— no, sorry. I’m not usually like this, sorry for this on our first meeting.”
She smiled with an embarrassed face. Even her embarrassed smile was beautiful. The languid atmosphere I felt was exactly the same as Woo Dohwan’s characteristic feeling. He must take after his mother.
“My son must have really caused me trouble.”
Her appearance, making eye contact with me with languidly folded eyes and a faint smile, was overly familiar.
“Ah, yes. Yes, of course. I understand. It’s okay. He should be scolded for playing around like that. Actually, I think you might have given him the card too early.”
I nodded as if I fully understood the curse words that came from her refined mouth. If it were me, I would have done the same if someone just spent money on cards without doing anything.
“Thank you for understanding. Mm… there are many types of roses.”
“Do you have a favorite flower?”
As I moved, I lightly tapped Ju Isin’s shoulder as he stood there blankly.
“Isin-ssi. Calculate the flower cost later and hurry up and go. Before sunset.”
“Ah, right. I’ll pay—”
“Later. Or, you can say this is my gift. You said you’re going to talk about me to your parents. So this is a bribe. Whatever Isin-ssi says, I want you to take my side.”
When I made eye contact with Ju Isin and smiled, his eyes curved like crescents.
“I’ll go.”
“Have a safe trip.”
After lightly squeezing and releasing his shoulder, I approached Mrs. Lim Nanhee, Woo Dohwan’s mother. She examined the flowers in the showcase with the most serious face in the world.
“What’s that? That one.”
“That one?”
Following her fingertip, at the end of my gaze was a pink dahlia.
“I think you mean the dahlia. Is this the right one?”
When I opened the showcase and took out a dahlia stem, her head nodded concisely up and down. Over Mrs. Lim Nanhee’s shoulder, Ju Isin passed by. After exchanging eye greetings with him as he walked while preciously holding the bouquet to his chest, I reached out and handed the flower to her.
“It’s pretty, isn’t it? The color too.”
“Can you make something with this?”
“Mm… could you choose a few more stems of flowers that look pretty to you? Then I’ll make it with the flowers you choose.”
At my suggestion, she chose flowers with the most serious face as if solving the world’s most difficult problem. Her smooth hands without a single wrinkle moved busily in front of the glass door.
“I, hmm… actually don’t know much about flowers. I only know roses and such, flowers that everyone knows, so I don’t really know what would go well with this flower.”
“Dahlias are such pretty flowers that any mix would go well with them. If it’s difficult to choose, how about focusing on flowers with small blooms?”
“Choosing many is too difficult. Would it be okay if I just chose one thing?”
“Of course. Naturally.”
At my answer, confidence filled the eyes that had been looking into the showcase with worry. Her fingertip, which had been moving without finding direction, pointed to one specific spot.
“Would that also go well?”
“Mm.”
“Maybe it wouldn’t go well.”
“It will go well. That flower is anemone. You’ve probably seen it in purple or red.”
I also took out one anemone stem and placed it in Mrs. Lim Nanhee’s hand, then took out flowers by type.
Pink dahlia, white anemone, coral peony, white stock, Ajax roses, and aspidistra leaves were placed on the table in order.
“Oh my, goodness.”
“Should I tell you their names?”
“That would be wonderful. Goodness.”
She muttered “goodness, goodness!” as if that was the only exclamation she knew. She carefully caressed the petals of the flowers I had taken out, then said “goodness!” again. Despite her aloof exterior, she seemed to have a lovely personality.
“Since you know two of them… This is peony. And this is stock. Have you perhaps heard of matthiola?”
“Oh my! I know it. So this is that. It’s so pretty.”
“Yes, this is that one. And this is a rose. It’s called Ajax rose, and the color isn’t deep but subtle, so it’s a rose that goes well anywhere.”
While I was explaining gently across the table, the entrance door opened and the wind chime sounded. Both my gaze and Mrs. Lim Nanhee’s gaze simultaneously turned toward the source of the sound.
“Mother!”
The person who affectionately called her mother was someone I also knew.
“Yujin, why are you so late?”
“There was too much traffic. Did you wait long by any chance?”
Kim Yujin, who approached quickly, bowed her head toward me and greeted me familiarly.
“We meet again!”
“Ah, yes. Hello.”
I also bowed my head in greeting. She smiled with curved eyes and linked her arm with Mrs. Lim Nanhee’s arm as she stood in front of me.
“Did you choose flowers?”
“Yes, I chose them.”
Mrs. Lim Nanhee affectionately rubbed Kim Yujin’s white hand and told her the names of the flowers placed on the table one by one. She seemed to have very good memory. Even though there weren’t many types, they would have been unfamiliar, but she told them correctly without missing a single letter and smiled toward Kim Yujin.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
