Winterbloom [BL]

Chapter 4: Picturesque

Yes, it was indeed canteen guy that looked as if he had been ripped straight (lol) out of Huey's childhood fantasies; just an older, post-pubescent version.

Coincidence... way too much of a coincidence. Way too many coincidences! From Huey finding an ideal research program right in his hometown where he had a dream about a boy who he later idealised in his fantasies, then seeing his grown version in his university, locking eyes and now the exact same dude being his freaking labmate!

It was insane.

Almost as if this was-

But Huey didn't think that far. He had lost all his sense regarding romance, remember?

Wow, what a coincidence. He blinked twice to confirm his identification of this guy Luan.

"Luan Lann, my other precious protishe, welcome to your lab! This nerdy-looking handsome child right here is Huey Yun-Si. "

Luan Lann...

"Now say hello to one another and become good friends because you'll have to see each other's face everyday from here on! And mine as well, of course, but mostly each other's." Umi continued treating them like kindergarteners. Luan revealed an awkward grin while Huey just kept looking like Huey; expressionless - but internally crying in a bittersweet manner.

He realised by that point that for the first time in forever (lol), he was kind of ever so slightly looking forward to this new company! The confusion of this fact was eating him bit by bit from the inside.

The woman then proceeded to, without warning, slap them both twice on their backs towards one another. It was supposed to be an encouraging gesture symbolising something along the lines of 'well done and keep it up' that elders would do to aspiring youth. The concept was alright; the issue was that fact that Umi had a lot of arm strength that made them stumble forward head first... towards each other. Fortunately, both men regained balance on time and uncomfortably leaned away, being mere inches apart.

Umi didn't sense the discomfort and just walked out, "Well, gotta go! You got a pretty busy mentor, in case you didn't realise from my refreshing personality. Your shifts officially begin tomorrow so feel free to look around, bond with your colleagues or go home if you like. Bye bye!"

And then, she left them... utterly alone and awkward.

We're alone. It's so silent... Why's my pulse so high that I can hear it?

Huey looked down at his hands... Why're they sweating? Is it always this damn hot in winter around here? It was fine yesterday though and I haven't read any reviews about the area that said this area has an irregular climate. It's also only my face and... hands and... abdomen... that are heating up.

He swept his dark bangs out of his peripheral vision, allowing him to clearly view this new labmate. Luan was currently leaning onto one of the glass cases that had glowing orange daylilies (Hemerocallis fulva).

Wow... they're really fluffy and shiny...

He was analysing Luan's hair; his eyes tracing the wavy strands that fell over his forehead into a soft fringe. Below it were his eyes. Just like Huey's when he first looked into those bioluminescent plants, Luan's too, we're gleaming with mesmerisation. He was smiling as well - very softly.

That was the first time in Huey's entire lifetime that he felt like committing cannibalism. As soon as he realised this sudden emotion, a revelation struck him like a volcano erupting which left the land of his inner peace in an even more unsettled state than the earthquakes earlier.

Oh sh*t no... no no no no no no...

...freaking hormones?

Okay, well at least he knew his biology enough to figure that out.

But what hormones? Why hormones? Why would I need these hormones? Why him? Why does someone like this even exist as though he was stolen right out of my hippocampus?

Screw hormones.

And that was how Huey still managed to remain dumb about the whole situation... somehow. It was just good ol' Huey being himself once again.

He watched as Luan proceeded to pick up the custom-decor camera hanging around his neck. This was followed by the faint sound of camera shutters as the other man went hunting for the perfect angle for the next minute or so. All this time, Huey was still staring.

Actually, he had somewhat zoned out and didn't realise. Luan didn't realise either because he was too engrossed in the daylilies until he turned towards Huey, still holding camera in front of his eyes. This way, he ended up seeing a zoomed-in version of Huey's tensed facial muscles and dark eyebags through the glasses. As mentioned earlier, Huey liked to keep those lenses clear and crystalline, which let Luan also get a defined view of his iris... a deep indigo.

Another camera shutter.

The raven head blinked twice upon hearing the sound directed towards himself. Luan also blinked and straightened his posture.

"S... sorry it was reflexive! I... didn't mean to take a photo of you. I sort of... sometimes... when I'm taking too many pictures together I get into a rhythm and accidentally clicked the capture button before I realised where it was—"

"Um..." Having been broken out of his trance, Huey was trying to figure out how someone could 'accidentally' take a photo of him while being initially focused on a bunch of flowers. Did he look like a daylily?

"—directed. I am so sorry once again!" Luan bowed his head in remorse. Still, he didn't offer to delete it.

After all, that eye colour seemed to remind him of something. Something he hadn't been reminded of in a long time. An indescribable feeling of nostalgia. Déjà vu perhaps?

But he had never known anyone with giant round glasses and indigo eyes that was around his age and studied botany, so it had to be déjà vu. It was only that déjà vu would typically vanish after a short moment as a result of an epileptic electrical discharge in the brain that causes a temporary neurological anomaly.

After observing something, it is malfunctionably processed through the temporal lobe, being responsible for familiarity and memory recollection, because of miscommunication between different parts of the brain. Thus, a new memory is accidentally thought to be familiar, but you can't remember anything else associated with it as if you've never recalled that memory before. A memory that you don't remember? Then, the brain realises it's mistake and corrects it, hence it only lasts momentarily before you overcome that sense of familiarity and it's all alien to you again.

So it didn't seem to go away; the intense sensation of familiarity persisted so Luan concluded that he's either forgetting to draw an important connection here or there's something wrong with his brain. Maybe he had seen some aesthetic eye image on Pinterest before that looked like that? He wouldn't be surprised if that were the case - after all, they were truly quite... beautiful. He could only thank his 36 megapixel high-resolution camera for that.

Luan had no intention of deleting the image.

In fact, he wasn't so moved just because of the eyes' aesthetic appeal. It was that... familiar feeling. Plus, he could also see the soft orange glow of daylilies reflected off the corners of those glasses; quite a picturesque shot overall.

Luan had been making large scrap journals about different plants and their many aspects as a hobby since he was young. He had also worked a page or two on daylilies - he was planning to print and paste the photos he just took to it. As he took notice of this strange phenomenon with his memories occurring under the glow of these flowers, he suddenly remembered something he had written about them.

It was quite funny, actually.

Daylilies are known to symbolise forgetfulness.