#009
“Ah…”
“Since Ranho-ssi is sick, I’ll have to deliver the drinks again later.”
No, why are you speaking so affectionately for no reason… My heart pounded to a gut rhythm like when it mistook Ban Hajoon for Kang Min.
“That…”
My gaze naturally turned downward. The sight of eight drinks without ice neatly placed at Ban Hajoon’s feet caught my attention. Why do I feel so sorry about sending back what he brought all this way?
“Ranho-ssi?”
“If you’re not busy,”
It doesn’t seem polite to just send back someone who walked here earnestly. I moved bit by bit, pulling only half my body out of the elevator and rubbed the bridge of my nose over my mask.
“Would you like to have some tea…?”
“Yes.”
To my hesitant question, Ban Hajoon answered without even a second of consideration.
“I’d like to.”
He had been leaning against the wall pressing the door open button, then straightened up and gently pushed my back. I ended up completely exiting the elevator and placed my hand on the door lock pad in front of the entrance.
I unlocked the door with fingerprint recognition and opened the front door wide, standing aside at an angle.
“Come in. There’s nothing special.”
Ban Hajoon quickly checked the entrance with only living room slippers and one pair of comfortable slippers sitting alone, then smiled brightly and parted his well-shaped lips to speak.
“Excuse me.”
Finding something amusing, he smiled cheerfully while neatly taking off his shoes and naturally pulling out disposable slippers stuck in the wall. So naturally that anyone would think he’d been here several times. He pushed open the sliding door and took exactly one more step in, then waited obediently until I entered.
He patiently waited for me to slowly take off my shoes and stepped aside as if telling me to go in first. At Ban Hajoon’s behavior, I awkwardly took off my shoes as if I were entering someone else’s house even while entering my own. I slipped my feet into the slippers I had worn this morning and even bowed to Ban Hajoon like an idiot.
“Welcome.”
Ban Hajoon said. This is my house, you know.
I passed through the narrow hallway and slipped into the kitchen attached to the open living room to wash my hands first. Then I took out two vases that had been cleanly washed and disinfected. I divided cold water into the vases and unwrapped the bouquet that Ju Isin had given me and I had received back.
After arranging the peonies and hyacinths separately, I placed one on the dining table and the other on the living room sofa table, then took out a thin, long vase. I gathered the remaining flowers in groups of two or three and placed them throughout the bedroom and house. Maybe because the peonies had large buds, even though I hadn’t arranged many stems, they looked full, and the bright colors made the house look brighter.
While I was busy moving around placing flowers, Ban Hajoon naturally toured the house. He followed me wherever I placed vases, taking pictures with his phone camera and stroking the soft petals. Ban Hajoon seems to find the butterfly ranunculus pretty too. Like Ju Isin, he annoyingly poked at the glossy yellow petals.
“They don’t like it if you keep touching them either.”
“Oh, really?”
Ban Hajoon, genuinely surprised by my words, made a truly sorry expression and brought his mouth close to the butterfly ranunculus to whisper.
“I didn’t know. Sorry.”
“Tea…”
“Anything warm is fine.”
“Just a moment.”
I took out a glass bottle containing marigolds from among the glass bottles with dried flower buds. I took out well-dried yellow flower buds one by one, put them in two teacups side by side, and carefully poured hot water. When I poured water against the wall of the teacup so the flower buds wouldn’t flip over, the dried petals of the floating marigolds unfolded.
A sweet fragrance spread with the warm steam, and a subtle yellow flower tea colored the water.
“Come this way.”
Ban Hajoon, who had been examining the picture frames on the display shelf, approached while tapping his lips.
Lips? Ah.
Only then did I realize I was still wearing a mask. No wonder it felt stuffy. I grabbed the hooks on my ears, pulled it off and threw it in the trash, then picked up the teacup emitting hot steam and fragrant smell.
“What is this?”
“Flower tea. Marigold.”
“Marigold?”
“Also called calendula. You don’t know what it is, right?”
At my question tinged with laughter, Ban Hajoon nodded his head up and down.
“Look it up later. This is pretty good. Sweet, savory, and fragrant.”
Ban Hajoon, who picked up his teacup, sipped the tea. After holding it in his mouth briefly and swallowing with his Adam’s apple bobbing, his eyes widened greatly.
“Wow, it’s really delicious.”
“Fragrant, right? The aftertaste in your mouth is also savory, and since it’s flower tea, it’s sweet too.”
“That’s right. It’s unique.”
Ban Hajoon sipped and held the tea in his mouth several times.
“The taste is pretty too.”
Making eye contact and smiling, he seems to like the marigold. I felt much more at ease thinking I gave him something tastier than that flavorless herbal tea, and leaned back against the chair. I had been chilly, but with something warm going in, my body relaxed a bit.
“I was sorry about that day. I didn’t know you’d be that surprised. I thought you’d know it was a joke.”
“Ah. No. It’s okay. I don’t have friends, so I didn’t know friends play such pranks.”
“……”
At my answer, Ban Hajoon swallowed whatever he was about to say. Then he looked even more sorry.
“Anyway, that’s okay. It’s all in the past, and when it passes, it becomes something that doesn’t matter. Whatever.”
“I won’t let such things happen again from now on.”
Instead of answering his words spoken with an almost solemn expression, I just nodded. I didn’t think such a moment where we’d be alone together would come anyway.
I diligently emptied my remaining tea, wanting him to leave now. When the sloshing tea showed the bottom, Ban Hajoon tactfully put down his teacup.
“And I have something to ask you.”
“A request?”
“Flowers. Can you send them to the cafe regularly?”
“Regularly?”
The tea I was swallowing got stuck in my throat. I coughed lightly, and Ban Hajoon, who pulled out a tissue for me, hummed thoughtfully.
“I want to receive them twice a week.”
“How much?”
“Enough to put on all the tables in the store.”
“That’s a 3-story cafe.”
“It is 3 stories, but I hate things being cramped together, so despite the scale, there aren’t many tables. About… 80 tables maybe.”
Is 80 tables few?
“The cafe will prepare the vases, and twice a week, Tuesday and Saturday-“
“I won’t do it.”
Ban Hajoon doesn’t seem to know well that Seo Ranho has a lot of money. Even if I don’t have as much as him, I have enough to live without working until I die… I should have left this country with Seo Ranho’s money instead of opening a flower shop to use my aptitude. Then I wouldn’t have had to worry about Kang Min finding me and wouldn’t have ripped off innocent people.
“You can bring flowers according to your taste each time… I was going to say…”
I sighed deeply while listening to Ban Hajoon’s voice gradually breaking down.
“First, I don’t deliver. I only went that day because I had no choice due to the flower price.”
“……”
“To fill 80 tables, you’d need at least 3 stems of main flowers each, which is 240 stems alone. That’s over ten bundles… Plus you need accessory flowers to go with the main ones, and even if you put in few flowers, I’d need to bring in over fifteen bundles each time I go to the flower market.”
“……”
“I used to go once a week and buy about five or six bundles, but if I do that, I’d have to buy over twenty bundles each time… and go to the flower market two or three times.”
Ban Hajoon’s expression gradually wilted at the gentle explanation.
“And aside from all that, I don’t like it because it’s bothersome.”
“Still, if you reconsider-“
“I hate it just thinking about it.”
Ban Hajoon silently fiddled with the teacup handle. After rambling unintelligible words like “That, um, I, no,” he raised his head again to meet my eyes.
“What if I go to the flower market with you and I do all the flower carrying?”
“……”
“Ranho-ssi only needs to move your finger. I’ll do everything else. I’ll buy whatever you point at with your finger.”
My sigh deepened. No… so what I’m saying is… buying isn’t the problem.
“I said I don’t like it because it’s bothersome…”
“……”
Ban Hajoon didn’t properly grasp the point of my words. If I accept the work he’s asking for, it becomes something I can’t just quit because I don’t like it. Making one or two bouquets is nothing, but putting flowers on every table in a gallery-scale cafe is a different story.
“Then how about making five bouquets a day? If you just make them, I’ll do the pickup.”
“……”
“I’ll also divide them into vases.”
“Aren’t there flower shops near the cafe?”
At my question, Ban Hajoon averted his gaze. Seeing him avoid answering while rolling his round eyes, there seems to be some.
“…Uh… there probably… aren’t any.”
He answered with a face that clearly showed there were. Ban Hajoon, apparently feeling guilty about his obvious lie, jumped up and grabbed the drink carrier.
“Just think about it a little longer.”
“The thinking is…”
“Thank you. I’ll go now so you can rest. I’ll come to the store tomorrow.”
Ban Hajoon turned around abruptly without listening to my answer and left. The drinks were sloshing like they might spill, but whether he was skilled or not, he walked well without spilling any. The sounds of slippers sliding across the floor and the door lock clicking open and the door opening and closing rang out in succession.
“Five bouquets is also a lot…”
I collapsed on the dining table thinking maybe three bouquets would be manageable…
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
