Flower Blossoms

Chapter 3

Ash :
I wake up next morning forgetting about the ball of happiness I had to deal with upon reaching the store. Its like I totally missed one day of my life as I knock at the store next to mine. When 'Nicholas' doesn't open the door quick enough I abruptly get inside and as I see Chen I gasp. 'Oh no'. I am about to turn around and leave but the condition in which she stays stops me. She lays in between pots of flowers, sleeping. I guess she was decorating the whole night and she slept in here too. The walls of the flower shop are bright pink, absolute contrast to my black ones. Somewhat similar to my ex's bed room. Wreaths, flower crowns, bouquets and vases with sweet smelling flowers enclosed the room. It feel like this room has been taken right out of a fantasy book. I pick up the flowers which fell on her and place them in a vase. I'm not good at waking someone up, even back home home I could never wake my sisters up because of the distress and annoyance on their face after I do. It makes me feel that I did something wrong. Chen is a stranger to me moreover, how am I supposed to wake her up? But I cannot leave her laying on the floor too. "Chen," I whisper and the voice in my head calls me a dumbfuck because how on earth can she listen to me whispering while she's sleeping, "Chen," this time I make it more audible but still she doesn't even twitch so I decide to walk a bit closer to her, I take two steps forward and I disastrously fall. On her. "Woah," she mumbles, "what the actual fuck in this infinite universe is going on?" I quickly stand up and the petals which got stuck to my tshirt fall on her. "Nice way to wake me up, grand" She laughs and stands up too. Her dress from yesterday now has several creases and her tidy ponytail is all over the place. She stumbles as she wears her shoes but regains balance almost immediately. She looks attractive still. I look at her eyes and they appear to be dull, maybe because she just woke up. Groggily she asks, "do you like it?", err what? What do I like? How am I supposed to answer if she doesn't specify it? I obviously have a confused look on my face because she adds, "My store? The decor?", I should've thought. I give her a thumbs up and head towards the door to leave. I feel I should say something like, goodbye, or have a nice day but I am not obliged to am I? There is no written rule? I smile to myself because I remember I used to have the same argument with my mom, when she was there, and she would always begin to beg to God so that I would have some manners. I enter my shop and turn the tag to 'open'. "Know what I think?", and she is obviously sticking her face through the wall, I look at her with a straight face and she continues, "let's go out and eat breakfast, come along. Last night I saw this place and ate there too, its fire man. Outright Fire", I'm not sure, its business hours plus I already ate breakfast. I look at her and she looks back at me like a kitten with big crystal green eyes, and I shrug like 'oh okay' shrug. Why can't I ever say what I think? I am quiet around people and quieter around gorgeous people, for example Chen. "Alrighty mate ! I'll be there at your door in a while! Prepare yourself to eat some great lasagna!", She speaks as if giving a motivational speech of some sort. I wonder why did she not go home? Why did she eat dinner alone? I groom myself in front of the washroom mirror even though I don't want to go, I'd say it is a reflex motion associated with going out but actually deep inside I know I want to look good for her. I sheepishly smile at my thoughts and hear the bells jingle. "Tattoo Artist? Again pissing?" She laughs to herself outside and I realise she doesn't even know my name but is going out for breakfast with me. I could be a murderer. And then I develop a paranoid thought, what if she's a murderer? Cannot be. She would've killed me already and plus what do I have that can be so valuable? Nothing. I smile at her and she guides the way, "Follow me okay?," she speaks like a mother and I reluctantly nod like a kid, "so this place, I am taking you to has wonderful Chinese food, trust me you'll love it", I want to ask her how would she know whether I like Chinese or not? But I obviously don't. I know where she's taking me, that's my usual chill out spot, where I chill alone with some Chinese food. It's way too close to the complex in which I have my store in so its compatible with me. We reach there, 'Xee's Chinese Heaven', and as soon as we step inside Mona, the head server calls out to me, "Ash, after so long!". I give her a wave and she looks at Chen and back up at me, as if asking me who Chen was. I mouth 'new shop neighbour' to her from behind Chen. I don't even know if shop neighbour is the correct term to describe a shop neighbour but Chen said it so I just say it. "You know her?" Chen looks up at me, I sense a bit of insecurity in her voice, but I could be wrong too. We both give our orders, I give my usual order, wonton soup and Chen asks for some pot stickers. Usually when I wait Mona would give me company but today she just winks from behind Chen like a billion times. And I know why. As we eat our food, Chen asks, "so your name's Ash huh?", I nod and give a smile too and she adds, "like the Pokémon Trainer Ash huh?" and I speak for the first time today, "like the Pokémon trainer ash" and we both laugh. "I love when you laugh or speak, do more of them".
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