#010
After resting for a full day, my condition was pretty good today. I went to the flower market to pick up the lily of the valley I had pre-ordered and brought in two to three bundles each of various autumn flowers. I had parked the car in front of the store and was carefully taking out flowers from the back seat when it happened.
“Ah, this is driving me crazy. So what exactly did you see…”
My ears perked up automatically at the irritated voice coming from not too far away.
“I don’t know, I told you I don’t know? You say you saw me with someone yesterday… I didn’t meet just one person yesterday. Yeah, you bastard.”
I slightly turned my head to check the man standing nearby. He was rummaging through his pockets and seemed unable to find what he wanted, kicking the ground in frustration. Then he suddenly turned his head and our eyes met as I was awkwardly bent over at the waist.
“…I don’t know. Who you saw. Anyway, I met a fucking lot of people.”
He was an incredible handsome man who didn’t match his thuggish way of speaking. The man I saw properly from the front had a much more impressive appearance than when I had glimpsed him sideways. How should I put it. Very impressive but… like a gigolo. I made eye contact with the man a bit longer before turning my head first to avoid his gaze.
His voice was so loud that I could hear him even though I didn’t want to, and judging from the content, it seemed like he had either cheated or was trying to cheat, and got caught by his lover at that moment.
Ugh, even a guy like that has a lover.
I shook my head and straightened up while holding the flowers in my arms. When I held all the neatly stacked flowers in my arms at once and straightened my back,
“Huh?”
The man who had approached me closely at some point, having finished his call, made eye contact with a cheerful smiling face.
“Should I help?”
“What?”
“It looks heavy.”
“No, it’s fine-“
I was about to say it was okay, but the man’s hands were fast. The flowers in my arms instantly transferred to his arms. The man buried in flowers exuded an even more impressive atmosphere. When the petals of the pompon chrysanthemums touched near his chin, he wrinkled his nose cutely as if it tickled and smiled. No, if someone looks like that and smiles like that, isn’t that too unfair?
I was staring too blankly, so the man tapped my sneakers with his toes.
“That flower shop over there?”
“What? Oh, yes. No, just give them to me. If I carry them-“
Before I could finish speaking, the man turned around and walked away with steady steps. No, that is a flower shop, but… more than that…
Even ‘a guy like that’ has a lover…?
I stood there with a dumbfounded expression before starting to move at the chin gesture of the man who had arrived in front of the store. I hurriedly brought the security device key to disable the security and opened the door, and the man swaggered inside without even knowing where to put them. Despite his unhesitating steps, he carefully placed the pile of flowers on the table.
“Thank you. You didn’t have to help.”
I hurriedly followed behind him and bowed my head. As I roughly organized while putting down the layers of stacked flowers, the man looked around the store with an expression I couldn’t tell if he found the interior or the flowers fascinating, then nodded halfheartedly.
“A flower shop suits you too.”
“What?”
When I separated the stacked flowers and looked up, the man approached the large flower pot where I kept flowers and picked up a flower stem while muttering.
“What kind of flower would be good to appease an angry person?”
His pale fingertips gripped the stem and naturally brought the flower bud under his nose. Even his voice muttering “Nice” while breathing in lightly sounded excessively seductive.
“…What?”
I couldn’t come to my senses. Although the man’s actions didn’t seem intentional at all, they were languid and strangely had an aspect that bewitched people.
“Flowers, I mean. They say anger subsides when you see pretty things.”
Looking at his face that only turned to make eye contact and smile, I had this thought. If he wants to show someone something pretty, he could just show his own face and that would be perfect.
Aside from the man’s mysteriously bewitching behavior, I gradually became annoyed at the man’s attitude of speaking informally with a consistently flippant tone. He helped without being asked, and his naturally informal speech like breathing also bothered me.
“…These are flowers that came in today. Teddy bear sunflowers, white pompoms, I mean pompon chrysanthemums, and this…”
But the door was closed, and I was a bit scared to be alone with that rough man, so I couldn’t show it and unfolded flowers wrapped in newspaper.
“Whatever.”
“What?”
“I’ll pay the money, so you handle the bouquet however you want.”
I felt even worse. His rude attitude from in front of the car until now… I didn’t really want to sell flowers either, but I held back and gradually took out flower heads.
Teddy bear sunflowers, pompon chrysanthemums, and gentians. I also took out white lisianthus and eucalyptus. When using sunflowers as the main flower, it definitely looked prettier with green added. Plus, since his lover seemed angry, I tried to match the flower meanings of the included flowers accordingly.
I gathered the flower stems, fixed them with twine, then spread out kraft paper. I placed the flowers on top, gathered the wrapping paper carefully so it wouldn’t wrinkle, then cut twine again. Since the flowers were large, I tied the ribbon small and handed it directly to the man.
“Can you memorize the flower names?”
“Flower names?”
“All the flower meanings of the flowers inside are like that. Love or something…”
“Ah.”
The man nodded as if he finally understood what I meant. His reddish lips curved and his tall nose bridge descended onto the bouquet.
“You probably know sunflowers, so those round cute ones are pompon chrysanthemums, the blue ones are gentians, and those fluttery flowers are lisianthus. If you search them up, all the flower meanings are similar. Only that blue flower has the meaning ‘I like you when you’re sad,’ but since they’re angry, I think it’ll be okay.”
“Wow.”
“Good luck with reconciliation. It’s one hundred fifty thousand won.”
“…?”
“I gave you a discount. For helping carry the flowers.”
The man showed a somewhat incredulous expression. Maybe because he felt ripped off? Really. The other two bought bouquets for two hundred thousand won each. It’s not because I was scared, but anyway, this doesn’t even count as overcharging compared to what I sold to those two.
“Wow. That’s expensive.”
The man took out his wallet from his pocket and pulled out three fifty-thousand won bills to hand to me. I habitually asked if he needed a cash receipt, and he said no.
“Have a safe trip.”
The man stuffed his wallet into his pocket and headed toward the entrance while waving the bouquet. He walked with long strides, then grabbed the door handle and turned back to make eye contact with me. Our gazes met in mid-air and lasted quite long.
“See you again.”
Fuck. What “see you again.” He must be crazy.
***
I should have properly ripped him off… Ah. I really shouldn’t be doing this flower shop thing or whatever. I stopped organizing flowers and stood in front of the showcase like an idiot for a while, then started organizing flowers again. Right, let’s get it together. It seems like I’ve succeeded in finding Kang Min, so now I just need to avoid him somehow.
I put all the flowers I brought from the flower market today into vases in the showcase and carefully placed the lily of the valley buds so they wouldn’t fall off.
Then while cleaning up fallen leaves and cut stems, I sold three bouquets to customers who came in succession and received two more bouquet orders. No, wait a minute. This makes it hard to close the store. I wrote down bouquet delivery dates in my scheduler and calculated when I could close the store. I should probably keep it closed for a while anyway…
There were bouquets every week without fail. Am I making all the wedding bouquets in this neighborhood?
“Hah… I’m dying from exhaustion.”
I sat at the table trying to rest a bit when the phone rang.
“……”
Just checking the name that popped up on the screen, the buzzing vibration quickly stopped. I straightened my upper body then collapsed forward onto the table and closed my eyes. Annoying. I was just sighing deeply enough to make the ground cave in when suddenly the wind chime rang with a clear jingle.
It seemed like a customer came, but I couldn’t get up. Today’s energy was depleted. I wilted. I didn’t straighten my upper body, pretending not to hear footsteps, pretending to be deeply asleep, with my eyes closed.
“Ranho-ssi, I know you’re pretending to sleep. You deliberately didn’t answer my call.”
A familiar voice rang from above my head.
“……”
“I can see your eyelids trembling, Ranho-ssi.”
There was giggling laughter. I had no choice but to straighten my crumpled body, and Ban Hajoon plopped down across from me.
“Knowing it was my call and not answering hurts a little.”
“It’s not that, I was trying to get my head together before answering, but it hung up…”
“Liar. You were just looking at it. You must have been busy today.”
His smug face being cheeky was funny, so I let out a weak chuckle.
“Just a bit…”
“Then it’ll be hard to make bouquets today?”
Ban Hajoon placed his neat hands on the table and tapped the wooden table at a steady pace. They were hands with neatly cut nails and pretty half-moons showing underneath. I placed my hands, messed up from thorn pricks and scissor cuts, on my thighs and fidgeted for no reason.
“I’ll make one for you. Actually, I bought flowers thinking of you.”
I took a deep breath and got up. When I opened the showcase and took out a vase I had set aside, Ban Hajoon’s eyes widened greatly.
“Wow. What are all these?”
“I went to the flower market today.”
I took out red cockscomb, carnations, pompon chrysanthemums, gentians, and lisianthus that Ban Hajoon always gets the name wrong.
“Did you memorize this name now?”
“Lisianthus.”
“Oh, you memorized it.”
When I burst into laughter, Ban Hajoon also smiled along.
“What’s that?”
“Cockscomb. Cockscomb comes out in autumn. The petal color is also autumn-colored, so I thought it would be good to put in the cafe.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
