Arrange Devotion | SS

Chapter 4. Roses for Rose

You know what they say? You crave what you lack.

Seokmin lives by that saying like it's scripture, each word etched deep into the marrow of his bones.

He craves what he lacks—money, power, control, desire. He devoured it all, indulged every hunger that clawed at his soul. But now... now, it’s something different, something far more tantalizing.

Innocence.

Innocence wrapped in the flesh of a twenty-eight-year-old American man who refuses to vacate his thoughts. A man whose very existence gnaws at Seokmin’s patience, driving him to the brink of obsession.

Hong Joshua.

It’s Joshua’s innocence Seokmin craves, an innocence that mocks him with every passing second.

It’s not just a desire—it’s a need, feral and unyielding. It’s a hunger that twists inside him, dark and consuming, a relentless ache that refuses to be silenced.

Seokmin isn’t sure when the craving began—maybe it was the first time he saw Joshua, all wide-eyed and pure, sitting beside him in the car with a serenity that felt almost unreal.

A spark.

It was an unfamiliar feeling, one that gnawed at him, haunted him in the dead of night. He’d seen it all before—innocence, naïveté, hope. But this? This was different.

Joshua’s innocence wasn’t a façade, wasn’t something easily shattered by the world’s cruelty. It was genuine, untouched by the darkness Seokmin reveled in.

And that’s what made it so irresistible.

Seokmin found himself drawn to Joshua, unable to stay away. He watched from the shadows, drinking in every detail—the way Joshua’s lips curled into a soft smile, the way his hands trembled slightly when he was nervous, the way his eyes sparkled with a light Seokmin had long since forgotten.

He watched, and with every passing moment, the craving grew stronger, more insistent. It wasn’t enough to just watch. He needed more. He needed to taste that innocence, to feel it beneath his fingertips, to see if it would crumble under his touch.

He wanted to consume Joshua, to take that purity and make it his own, to see if he could taint it, destroy it, and in the process, fill the void inside him.

But he knew he had to be careful. Joshua was fragile, easily frightened, and Seokmin was all too aware that even the smallest misstep—an accidental snap, a moment of lost control—could shatter the delicate balance he was trying to maintain.

If he scared Joshua, it would all be over. Hell would break loose, and Seokmin’s carefully laid plans would crumble to dust.

No, Seokmin didn’t want that. He wanted to treat Joshua the way he deserved to be treated—softly, delicately, like something precious. Like a rose with thorns, beautiful and dangerous, yet utterly irresistible.

Seokmin knew he had to handle him with care, to let his obsession simmer beneath the surface, hidden away where it couldn’t frighten the very thing he desired.

That’s why, according to his extensive research and the advice gleaned from various sources, he settled on the most traditional way to show interest.

You send flowers to the person you want to captivate.

So that’s what he did. Every day, without fail, Joshua received a massive bouquet, an overwhelming display of Seokmin’s devotion.

Three hundred, sometimes four hundred different types of roses, each one handpicked to convey a message Seokmin couldn’t yet put into words. He still didn’t know which flowers Joshua liked, but that didn’t matter. He would figure it out.