TIME: Mark Tuan edition

Chapter 22 special

=dream chapter=
A/N these are all collections of memories relating to the black rose. I decided to add this little bit for missing out on my days last week.

--

"Why do you color your roses black? It's such a dark color. Aren't they red? Or pink? Or yellow?" The boy asks his seat partner.

"There are black ones too. They're the prettiest," she states confidently.

"You're weird!" He yells.

--

"Look, a black rose!" The preteen boy points to the flowers in the fridge of the flower shop.

"I thought you said those were weird," the preteen girl sasses to the boy.

"I said you're weird. And this is my first time seeing one in real life," he tells her. She scowls at his first statement making him panic. "I said that but I didn't mean that. I mean your not weird. Liking black roses are fine. There's nothing weird about it. I actually find it really interesting."

--

"Someone got me a black rose," the girl mumbles as she sits on her porch. The black rose was in a box that had a plastic opening for it to be seen. She took off the cover and lifted the rose out of its box.

"You like?" The girl slowly looks up at the figure in front of her. She nods. "I'm glad. That's one expensive rose."

Her eyes widen in realization.

"Why would you buy this!" She exclaims. She places it back into the box and hands it back to him.

"I thought you liked it?" He asks confused.

"I do but not when you bought it!" She argues.

"Why? It's Valentine's Day. I wanted to get my best friend something," he tells her.

"But this is expensive! You could have given me the chocolates we got from class and I'd be happy!" She kept trying to give it back but he wouldn't accept it.

"Just keep it and enjoy it. I can't return it anyway. The least you can do is accept it," he tells her pushing it back to her. Her eyes flicker back and forth from him and the rose before she smiles and bites her lip.

"Thank you," she whispers.

"No problem," he smiles proudly.

"This is my first time owning one. I've always looked at them but never owned one or held one. This is amazing," she mumbles as she sits back down. He follows her lead and sits next her but a step lower as he turns in her direction and looks up at her.

"I feel honored to be the first to give it to you. Let's make it our rose, yeah?" He asks her. She nods happily and hugs his neck.

"This is really thoughtful. Thank you--"

--

"What's this?" She asks her parents the day of her high school graduation. A black rose was sent to her house the morning of.

"I don't know. Is it the wrong address? Maybe there's a note?" Her mom asks. The teenager looks all around the bouquet and finds nothing.

"No. There's nothing. Why would this be sent here?" She asks. She had already forgotten the meaning of that rose.

"Well, it's your graduation. Maybe someone sent it?" Her brother suggest. She shakes her head wondering why there was a single flower sent to her house. And of all flowers a black rose.

"They would have left a note at least. It doesn't matter. I love this flower. I'm going to keep it," she says. She runs up to her room and quickly hair sprays it before tying it upside down onto a hanger to dry. "This should do it."

Little did she know she did that exact same thing four years ago with the first black rose she received.

--

"Congratulations!" Was heard all around the college graduate.

"This is for you. Special request." A black rose was handed to her and she was confused. "He said you'd be happy when you receive it. I was suppose to take a reaction picture but that was really bad."

"He?" She didn't know what her friend was saying.

"Yeah, my brother. Your best friend. Your soul mate! He said this is your favorite and I had to buy this and give it to you for him." She took the rose and looked at it.

"Why does this seem familiar?" She asks herself. Her friend was about to say something but more people came to congratulate the graduate.

--

"Chris! How many of these roses do you have! There's two here that I'm finding in this freezer!" Her moms voice rang through the phone.

"Two?" She asks. She's gotten one on her high school graduation and her college graduation. She has the one from the latter in her own freezer.

"Yes! I'm going to throw-"

"No! I'll come get them. Don't throw them," she quickly tell her mom.

--

She came back to her apartment holding the box containing the remains of the roses. She places it onto the dinning room table and takes the other rose from her freezer. She sits in front of the box and lays the rose next to it. She opens the box and finds two black roses. You can tell from each of the roses which came first. One has wither so much that the petals were completely removed from the bud. The other had deformed. The latest one still kept most of its shape.

"When did I get you?" She asks herself as she looks at the withered rose.

A/N oh btw, I'm on spring break now! Yay! Are any of you on spring break? Or any break? If you are what are you doing?

I'm going to Las Vegas (:
If I went any other time I wouldn't care much of it but now all I can think about is how Mark and Yugyeom went in January.