Flowers are the Language of Love - Kokomi x Hu Tao

Chapter 19 - ℝ𝕠𝕤𝕖𝕓𝕦𝕕

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Hello! It's me sorry for such a long break, with holidays, several celebrations and my own birthday I've been very busy. I'm sorry for pushing this chapter behind by so much I have been all over the place. With that being said please enjoy this chapter!

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It was a regular day at the office, the blazing Liyue heat had taken a toll; allowing the god of listlessness to take over Hu Tao's motivation. The funeral director scribbled on extra sticky notes, perhaps waiting for a burst of eagerness. Hu Tao huffed and puffed, the day just seemed to drag on, that was until her door practically crashed open, to which Hu Tao could swear her heart stopped for a moment.

"M, MASTER HU...WE HAVE A LETTER ADDRESSED TO YOU HERE-" Ferrylady finally verbalized out loud, by her side stood Meng.

"JEEZ YOU TWO, I was about to have a heart attack. All this fuss over a letter..." Hu Tao wiped away the evidence of her panic.

"MASTER HU IT IS A LETTER ADDRESSED TO YOU FROM um...FROM," the letter held in Ferrylady's hand shook frivolously, her nervousness almost as noticeable as the heat.

"It's a letter from Kokomi," Hu Tao had just had her second heart attack of the day. The air had been sucked out the office for a brief moment, until Hu Tao broke the silence. "W, well...please pass my note over..." Hu Tao tried playing it cool, like a chill winter's day, however Hu Tao's face was the burning fireplace and the hot chocolate.

"Of course, Ferrylady...could you calm down for one second..." Hu Tao bounced up, she shot towards Ferrylady, snatching the note out of her hand, unwilling to wait for the woman to become responsive, and thanked her 'calmly.'

"AHEM. W, well...thank you again for delivering this, you two can go home for the day." Hu Tao's eyes shot to the side.

"Thank you, Master Hu..." Ferrylady grumbled, her entire posture went from straight to downturned. The two clearly tired workers sluggishly left Hu Tao's office, when sure that the two were out of sound reach Hu Tao slowly opened the envelope, taking great care not to damage any of the properties. Hu Tao closed her eyes and attempted to calm the tsunami crashing in her chest, her vision was obscured, Hu Tao could swear the sun had just gotten a few meters closer. After finally getting the strength to open her eyes again and read she made sure to soak in all the words Kokomi wrote out for her.

...

"To Miss Hu Tao,

Thank you for the flowers, it shall decorate my office nicely. About your business proposal I shall go to Liyue in around a weeks' time (around the time you receive the note,) and we shall discuss our continued partnership. I have other business matters to also attend to so I will be in Liyue for around two weeks. Within three weeks I hope you can find time in your schedule for a meeting.

-Sincerely,

Sangonomiya Kokomi."

...

The old butterflies began to wake up, their wings tickling Hu Tao's stomach once again. Unlike the foreign feeling they came with in the past, this time the butterflies comfortably fluttered around in her garden of feelings. The hopeless woman didn't know how to react, she wanted so desperately to hold the sweet Kokomi, but her heart stuttered at the thought, a sense of Deja vu crashing into her. All Hu Tao could do was bring the letter close to her chest.

"I only like Kokomi because I'm attached...I don't know her enough to love her..." Despite Hu Tao's straight to the point mindset, her heart contradicted her thoughts. No, her heart was intoxicating her brain and making it become clouded, when that happens Hu Tao becomes something deranged, something that didn't even resemble herself, she cannot go back to that. Hu Tao questioned to herself whether she even had feelings for Kokomi in the first place or if she just wanted someone perfect to corrupt.

CLING

Hu Tao snapped back to reality, her eyes darted to the floor where the metallic noise came from. The sound came from a long pin with red flowers presumably red cherry blossoms. After examining it Hu Tao picked up the pin and noticed an additional note. Upon reading the small letter, Hu Tao's heart felt much lighter than before.

'Thank you again for the flowers, whenever I see them, I think of you. I want to get you back after that shocking but admittedly pleasant surprise, I remember your last hair pin breaking and this pin reminded me of you so I hope you like it!'

"Heh, what am I going to do with you," Hu Tao dug her face into her knees, she had no idea how she didn't notice the extra weight in the envelope beforehand, but she settled on the explanation on it being because of her nerves. As Hu Tao softly sighed her door was opened but much calmer than before.

"Oh Miss Hu, it was so quiet in here that I didn't even notice you," Zhongli looked down and hesitated momentarily. "Why are you on the floor?"

"It's just hot and the temperature is cooler on the floor!" Hu Tao jumped up and dusted herself off.

"Well, I suppose it is quite warm today," Despite his statement Zhongli stood unphased not even a sign of the heat showed on the man. "Let's head out for today, from the looks of it you can't do too much work in this weather."

"Haha yeah, wanna get an early dinner? It's on me!" Hu Tao proposed, and Zhongli agreed. "Also, for the next two weeks could you clear my schedule?"

"You have a meeting with The Adventurers Guild after so long of you requesting, a business meeting with a fishing Liyue owned business, a meeting with a famous adventure team, and a meeting with Mr Childe," Zhongli recited, and when Hu Tao didn't budge, he asked one final time. "Are you sure?"

"The Adventurers Guild will pull the same excuses to not do business with us, so we should wait for a time where they need us. From what I've heard the adventurers from the team won't be doing any dangerous expeditions for a few months after half a dozen of their members sustained extreme injuries. We could push the meeting with the fishing business forward since I am free for a few days this week. We can't really cancel the dinner with the harbinger since this could open big business opportunities with the Fatui." Hu Tao looked up to Zhongli, her eyes wide and glistening, determination brimming.

"You're an observant one, I expect nothing less from the Wangsheng Funeral Director," Hu Tao could only laugh at Zhongli's kind words.

"I am quite remarkable and eminent, you should never doubt my dedication to my grandfathers pride and joy!" Hu Tao pointed to a painting of Wangsheng Funeral Parlour. "But I do truly care about this old building, so I'll do anything to bring it to glory once again! However, I do have personal and other business matters to attend to. I'll be sure to tell you about it over dinner!"

"Very well then, it seems you have it all planned," Zhongli pulled his hair back. "Also, Miss Hu..."

"Hm?"

"Did something good happen today? You've been smiling this entire time."

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