#055
“Seo Ranho.”
“I’m Kim Yujin. As you know.”
“I know. I heard Woo Dohwan-ssi calling you.”
“Right, Dohwan really likes this place. What does he do when he comes here? Does he learn flower arranging or something like that? If so, please let me know. I’ll come tease him. I have to take pictures and send them to oppa and the unnies. Woo Dohwan doing flower arranging.”
Kim Yujin-ssi giggled continuously as if just imagining it was fun. But, oppa and unnies? Does he have many siblings? At first I thought he was an only child, but it was surprising that he had many siblings.
“How old are you, shop owner? You look really young.”
“I’m not that young, I’m twenty-five.”
“I’m the same age as Dohwan. Twenty-six.”
Woo Dohwan had a face that looked a little older than his age, but Kim Yujin-ssi looked young enough to believe if she said she was younger than me. Of course, she is young… but she looked more like twenty-two or twenty-three than twenty-six.
“You’re getting married early.”
“I like Dogyeong oppa so much. I had a one-sided crush for over ten years.”
So she succeeded in her one-sided love and got engaged. Her love story was quite romantic.
“I got pregnant while we were dating. It feels like a gift from heaven. Oppa’s and my child. I can’t believe it.”
Kim Yujin-ssi’s eyes moistened. The overwhelming emotions were clearly pooled in her clear eyes. I rummaged through my pocket, took out a handkerchief and handed it to her, then pushed the chocolate box closer to her hands.
“I think it will be pretty. If the child resembles Kim Yujin-ssi for sure.”
“Thank you. It’s already pretty now. When I see the ultrasound, I can see a baby as small as a bean in my belly. Even though it’s so small, it’s so… so pretty.”
She pressed the handkerchief against her eyes to wipe away the moisture, then curved the corners of her eyes and smiled sweetly. I also responded with a light smile and stood up from my seat. Really, flowers are all I can give. I naturally continued the conversation as I moved between the tables.
“Woo Dohwan-ssi must have many siblings.”
“Five including Dohwan. Dohwan is the youngest among them. First Dohee unnie, second Doye unnie, third Dohoon oppa, fourth Dogyeong oppa, and Dohwan.”
“Wow… that’s a lot. Five siblings?”
“Five siblings.”
I opened the showcase and took out several grapefruit tulips. A handful of matricaria too. There was no flower cuter than this these days. I put the flowers on the table and trimmed the matricaria stems. Tulips are pretty even with just tulips, but adding matricaria like this seemed to make the bouquet much cuter. I wrapped the flower part with overlapping white tissue paper and wrapped the stems with light beige cloth paper. After tying a white ribbon, a mini bouquet was quickly completed. Meanwhile, Kim Yujin-ssi’s story didn’t stop.
From Woo Dohwan’s childhood to his adolescence, which was hard to imagine. She chattered away like a lark.
“Because he was the youngest, he lived doing whatever he wanted. The unnies and oppas doted on him so much. Everyone said Dohwan should have been the youngest daughter, he was so charming.”
He was so loved, so why did he grow up like that? I couldn’t bring myself to say it and just nodded.
“He would have been pretty… as a daughter too.”
I thought of Lim Nanhee, who had an atmosphere exactly like Woo Dohwan’s. I guess she had more children than I thought. Her smooth face without a single wrinkle and delicate hands were vivid in my mind. The fact that Woo Dohwan was the youngest was quite surprising when I thought about it again. He looked like he would live alone his whole life, but he monopolized all the affection.
“They were all born consecutively, so mother must have suffered a lot. She went through senior year of high school for five straight years.”
“Woo Dohwan-ssi probably didn’t like studying much.”
“Huh? No. Dohwan probably did the best?”
“…Wow.”
Oh my.
“Pfft, that’s really funny. Shop owner, you look completely surprised. Dohwan does seem far from studying, right? When he was in school, he was really popular with girls. He was good at sports and studying.”
“I see. He does look like it. Anyone would like that face.”
Woo Dohwan seven years younger than now… I couldn’t imagine it well. It would probably be different from now.
“Not just his face, but his personality is good too. He has money. Being the youngest, he’s charming. Having noonas, consideration and manners are ingrained in him like habits, so he was really popular. He probably still is. I’ve never seen him take a break from dating.”
Kim Yujin-ssi poured out Woo Dohwan’s dating history that I didn’t even ask about, like opening floodgates. I wasn’t that curious and didn’t want to hear it, but I didn’t know when to cut her off, so I just listened quietly. I fiddled with the neatly tied ribbon while occasionally adding responses.
“Wow, I see. That’s amazing.”
“He was especially popular with unnies. He has that smooth side to him. That languid atmosphere he got from mother too.”
“His atmosphere is unique.”
“Right? When he smiles too. No one in the family smiles like that, only he smiles like that. Making eye contact and smiling like that, who wouldn’t misunderstand? I misunderstood too. I thought he liked me…”
Anyone would misunderstand, smiling like that really. I swallowed my words and nodded. I thought this was the right timing to cut off Kim Yujin-ssi’s words, so while she was catching her breath, I held out the tulip bouquet.
“Amazing! What’s this?”
“When you order a bouquet, I give a mini bouquet as a gift.”
“Are these tulips?”
“Yes. Tulips. The color is pretty, right?”
Grapefruit tulips had a unique petal color. The color that seemed like pink paint mixed with pastel orange was so pretty and special that it was hard to define exactly what color it was.
“They’re really pretty. Oh right, didn’t Dohwan buy flowers yesterday?”
“Pardon?”
The conversation turned back to Woo Dohwan. Kim Yujin-ssi, holding the bouquet in her arms, continued with a smile.
“Flowers. Yesterday Minju unnie, no, someone Dohwan used to date? What should I call her, an unnie who went abroad to study while they were dating? Anyway, that unnie came back to Korea yesterday and Dohwan went to pick her up. He’s probably meeting her today too.”
“I see…”
“When I asked if he bought flowers, he said he did, so I naturally thought he bought them here. He said he bought her favorite kind…”
The flowers Woo Dohwan took from here weren’t bought, they were a gift I gave him. They were flowers I had carefully selected from the flower market. Did he take the flowers I gave him and give them as a present? Seeing my stiffened expression, Kim Yujin-ssi worried whether she had made some mistake.
“Did I say something that upset you?”
“It’s not that. Woo Dohwan-ssi did come yesterday but…”
I shook my head without thinking further. Since I didn’t receive money and sell flowers, strictly speaking, he didn’t buy them.
“He bought them here, right?”
“No. He didn’t buy any.”
Kim Yujin-ssi was laughing with a relaxed face when her expression hardened. When an “oh my” exclamation unconsciously slipped out, her delicate hand covered her mouth.
“He did come, but there was no talk about flowers.”
“I’m sorry. I thought he bought them here…”
“What for? He could buy them somewhere else.”
At my words saying it was fine, she rolled her round eyes and awkwardly straightened up.
“I had so much fun being with Ranho-ssi that I didn’t notice time passing, but I should go now.”
“Get home safely. On Saturday… when I bring in flowers, I’ll see you then.”
“Yes. I’ll see you Saturday.”
I thought about Woo Dohwan while following behind Kim Yujin-ssi. He said he liked me, but wasn’t it true? He said it wasn’t a joke. But if he went to pick her up, they must be close. It doesn’t seem like they’re nothing to each other. If they dated before, will they meet again? Or… are they connected through family ties? If they broke up because of studying abroad, now that she’s back, they might meet again, something like that.
My thoughts scattered randomly. I quickly reached the entrance, opened the door for Kim Yujin-ssi and bowed my head toward her.
“Get home safely. It’s cold, wouldn’t it be better to zip up?”
“I’ll get in the car right away, so what.”
She waved her slender hand gently and slowly walked away. I watched her back as she headed toward the parking lot, then closed the entrance door and let out a deep sigh.
“I’m just worrying for nothing. Those flowers, he could give them away. I gave them to him, so he can give them to someone else, right.”
But I felt strangely bad.
“Weathervane… he said his heart was urgent. It was a lie…”
***
As if my head was clouded with fog and even my vision was blurred, I cut my hands several times while trimming flowers. Each time the customer who ordered flowers was more surprised than me and pulled out clumps of tissues from the table to hand to me, I smiled awkwardly.
“…Thank you.”
At my brief thanks, the customer also awkwardly bowed their head. Only after seeing blood each time did my mind clear up. After waiting for the bleeding to stop, I finished by giving the customer who ordered the bouquet and a separately wrapped rose, then turned off the sign. I should stop business here for today. I was tired, and if I sold more, my fingers wouldn’t survive.
I roughly tidied up the shop. I decided to empty the half-full trash can tomorrow and dragged my suddenly lethargic body to sit on the sofa. What time is it now? My sluggishly turning head checked the wall clock. 3 o’clock. An awkward time. I lay down sideways with my drooping body and blinked slowly.
I didn’t know what to do with the sudden powerlessness that struck me. This is all because of Woo Dohwan. Would I feel better if I slept a little and woke up? The moment I fell into shallow sleep, the familiar bell sound rang. I reached out to the table and pressed the call button without even checking who it was. Even before I heard a voice, Ban Hajoon came to mind. Why did I just remember the missed call he left?
“Hello.”
– Ranho-ssi.
I was going to call you, but just in time…
– Did you get home safely yesterday?
It was Ban Hajoon.
I heard a familiar voice through the receiver, and then the wind chime rang continuously. I had turned off the sign light and changed the small sign to [CLOSE], so who on earth…
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
