#023
I removed Ju Isin’s hand that was gripping my wrist as if it were something I couldn’t afford to lose, and asked. I didn’t much care for being caught between the two of them.
“To look for the ring.”
“What?”
“That’s my ring, you know. The fire-breathing ring. The pretty one. I remember lending it to you because hyung said you liked pretty things.”
Ju Isin looked down at his own hand and pouted his lips.
“Ah. That one.”
“But is your back okay?”
His neat hand naturally reached toward my waist. Ju Isin’s fingertips touched the part where my apron strings were tied, gently rubbing my waist with a worried expression.
Woo Dohwan’s gaze as he watched Ju Isin and my actions was menacing.
“Back?”
Woo Dohwan’s low voice resonated, followed immediately by Ju Isin’s voice filled with suspicion.
“You said you got into an accident with a friend back then.”
“Accident?”
“Accident.”
The two men who simultaneously uttered the same word turned their gazes straight toward me. What the hell is wrong with these guys.
“There was an accident, and it still hurts. I’m going to close up and go to the oriental medicine clinic, so please leave, both of you.”
I don’t know why I have to make excuses to both of them about this, but anyway. Even though I gave them a rough explanation since they seemed curious, the two kept asking questions.
“Why does your back hurt?”
“Why did your back hurt? I couldn’t even sleep properly after sending hyung away like that.”
“No, but why are you curious about that? Go, both of you. Stop being annoying.”
I reached out and grabbed both Ju Isin and Woo Dohwan’s arms. As I moved toward the entrance again to chase them out, the quick-witted Ju Isin moved his body nimbly and slipped out of my grasp.
“I came to buy flowers.”
“……”
“Pretty ones.”
I definitely sold flowers too cheaply to these guys. I should have charged five hundred thousand won each time.
“But what’s that flower? It’s pretty. That purple one.”
“Sweet pea.”
Woo Dohwan answered instead of me to the finger pointing at the flower. Ju Isin’s gaze turned toward Woo Dohwan and the bouquet he was holding preciously in his arms.
“Make me one of those too. That one.”
At Ju Isin’s cheerfully spoken words about liking pretty things, Woo Dohwan’s expression turned fierce.
“No.”
“Why not?”
Even though they were meeting for the first time, the two conversed without any hesitation. By the way, Ju Isin really… damn, that way of speaking…
“No. Buy something else.”
“Hyung, please make me that one.”
Ju Isin lightly ignored Woo Dohwan’s stubbornness and asked with a bright smile for a bouquet with sweet peas.
“If you make me that, I’ll leave.”
“Really?”
“Yes!”
At Ju Isin’s words that he would leave, I turned my body that had been at the entrance and went inside. Following my movement, the two men trailed in like a string of sausages.
“Hey, aren’t you leaving?”
“……”
“Go, quickly.”
I waved my hand back and forth as I took out the sweet peas that were on the table. It meant to leave quickly, but Woo Dohwan clearly understood yet pretended not to and averted his eyes.
“Haa…”
The more I trimmed the sweet peas, the deeper Woo Dohwan’s sighs became.
Did he not like making the same bouquet? I found myself watching his mood. Bothered by the wrinkles that had formed on his previously smooth forehead, I decided to only use the same sweet peas and opened the showcase.
I sequentially took out butterfly ranunculus, spray roses, iberis, and white pompon mums that Ju Isin liked and placed them on the table. Ju Isin’s eyes sparkled as he recognized the familiar flowers.
“I know this one.”
“What is it.”
“That thing. The one I like.”
“So, what.”
Ju Isin struggled desperately to recall the name of the flower that seemed about to come to mind. After making sounds like “that thing, that thing,” he clapped his two fingers together and made a snap! sound.
“Butterfly!”
“Oh.”
“Wow, I thought they only came in yellow.”
Ju Isin murmured as he gently stroked the light pink petals.
“Pretty, right?”
“No joke.”
“So, about that…”
“……?”
“I can’t remember where I put that ring, so come get it another day, not today.”
At my words that I didn’t know the ring’s whereabouts, Ju Isin’s eyes drooped sadly. What’s so special about that jeweled ring… is it worth being that depressed?
“Ring?”
And Woo Dohwan kept wanting to butt into Ju Isin and my conversation.
“What ring.”
I met Woo Dohwan’s eyes as I gathered the bouquet stems to shape them.
“Do you like sparkly things?”
“I like them.”
Woo Dohwan spoke without even a second of hesitation. His words weren’t very trustworthy, but I nodded roughly and stuck mums between the other flowers.
“I’ll tell you what it is later.”
I muttered as I wrapped hemp string around the stem part. Woo Dohwan’s bouquet had a calm feeling, while the bouquet I made for Ju Isin had a lovely feeling. I suppose it’s because pink was included.
After layering white tissue and kraft paper to wrap the bouquet, I tied a knot in the middle with light pink ribbon.
“Ah, it’s pretty.”
It was pretty even to me.
“Here.”
When I handed it toward Ju Isin, his eyes widened. He preciously embraced the bouquet I handed him and immediately buried his nose in the flower heads. It was a sight that naturally brought a smile. But that’s that and…
“Two hundred thousand won.”
“……?”
“Pfft-.”
Woo Dohwan’s face became the brightest I’d ever seen it.
Why are you laughing. That’s strange. I had a sullen expression and then quickly checked the sequence of Woo Dohwan showing his brightest smile and the drunkard glaring at him with the fiercest eyes I’d seen.
Ju Isin rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a card. Even while doing so, his gaze persistently stayed on Woo Dohwan. Even when I put the card he handed me into the terminal, charged two hundred thousand won, and handed it back, the drunkard continued to glare at Woo Dohwan with the same expression as before.
He looked like… an angry Pomeranian. I barely held back my laughter as I got Ju Isin’s signature on the electronic pad and tore off the printed receipt to hand it to him.
“Here.”
Ju Isin put the card in his wallet without even checking the amount. At this point, he could at least ask for a discount once, but all three of them didn’t say such things as if they had made a pact. Even Woo Dohwan, when I offered to give him a discount, told me to take the proper payment and paid in cash. I guess it’s because they’re originally rich.
I put the receipt in the counter cash drawer and started tidying up around me.
“Please leave now, both of you.”
I gathered the leaves I’d removed and stems I’d cut while making the bouquets, threw them in the trash, and untied the apron I’d been wearing. Perhaps because I finally met Kang Min after being anxious about when we might meet, the tension in my stiff body released and my whole body ached.
“Ahh…”
A groan naturally escaped. I patted my back. It hurts like hell. This crybaby bastard made my back like this and why hasn’t there been a single call. Is the cafe busy? I shook off my apron and hung it on the hanger, then put my arms through the sleeves of the cardigan I’d brought down.
“What did you do to make your back hurt.”
Woo Dohwan’s gaze, which had been stuck to the sweet peas the whole time, dropped down toward my waist area.
“There are such things.”
I couldn’t bring myself to say that I got drunk and hurt my back while supporting someone who was even more drunk than me. As I trailed off and avoided his gaze, more persistent questions came.
“What did you do that it still hurts today? Huh? Hyung?”
“There are things. Anyway, I told you to leave, so why aren’t you going…”
At my vague answer, both Woo Dohwan and Ju Isin narrowed their eyes and looked me over. Why are these guys really like this. If you came to the flower shop and bought flowers, you should leave. If you don’t leave and just stay put, people will think this place is doing well and crowd in!
Feeling ominous, I quickly went between the two and turned off the sign light first. Then I came back, closed the window I’d left open, and reached up to lightly touch the dried petals. They had dried quite crisply. A few more days of drying should do it.
“Please go. I’m really tired today and want to rest.”
I waved my hands at the two of them shooing them away. When I gathered my belongings spread on the table and passed by the two to leave, the two men who couldn’t be left alone in the ownerless shop followed behind me. I closed the door without any deviation from usual, set the security system, and when I turned around, two cleanly handsome men were looking at me, each holding large, full bouquets.
“See you again.”
Woo Dohwan was the first to greet. He waved his hand while very preciously holding the bluish tulips and light purple sweet peas in his arms. After his hand waved gently, he turned around without lingering. He headed straight ahead, apparently toward his car parked right in front of the shop on the roadside. Woo Dohwan’s gaze, as he went around the sleekly stretched hood to open the driver’s door, went toward a piece of paper fluttering in the wind. Ah, is that it.
“Ah, shit…!”
As expected. That must be it. I saw it from inside the shop when they were removing the ticket earlier.
It seems I saw it but Woo Dohwan didn’t. He held the paper that was stuck between the windshield wipers and took a moment to catch his breath. Right, buddy. It’s your fault for illegal parking, how could it be the fault of the civil servant who issued the ticket.
Tsk- I clicked my tongue without realizing it. He closed his eyes for a moment and took several deep breaths in and out. About a minute passed? Perhaps having calmed down a bit, Woo Dohwan moved and opened the passenger seat to carefully set down the sweet peas, then opened the back door to set down the Ice Queen. My gaze naturally followed him. Even though the weather was chilly, wearing only a white shirt with the sleeves slightly rolled up reminded me of an actor you’d only see on television.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
