“Your flowers are ready! That would be 2200 yen, please." YN smiled politely as she handed the beautifully wrapped red rose bouquet to the customer in front of him. The customer, a man who seemed to be in no less than 30 and clad in a wrinkly white shirt, didn't seem to hear her as his attention was focused in between his watch and the exit door.
YN coughed, trying to get the man's attention, but immediately felt bad as she saw the man jumped and widened his eyes in surprise. “Your flowers, mister.” she said softly, not even dropping her polite smile from her face, even though the customer didn’t look like he intended to return the smile back.
That seemed to catch the man's attention as he riveted his stare to the flower bouquet in YN's hand. As soon as he took the bouquet, he darted outside hurriedly as he fished out his iphone from his pocket and started typing furiously, without so much as a glance back to the shop.
Well, he does seem in a hurry. YN shrugged as she collected three 1000 yens that was slapped carelessly in the register table by the man with a hurried whisper, “keep the change.”
After putting the money safely into the register, YN started to clean the mess of thorns and dead leaves on her table, along with several tools like scissors and knives she has used to clean the red roses.
Red rose. A flower of passionate love.
YN wondered if the man knew what the meaning of the flowers he bought, and if he realized that he was giving a person something that held such a deep, passionate meaning. Judging from the man's indifference, YN guessed that the man just randomly chose red rose just because it was, you know, red rose.
He wasn't wrong, though. Red rose is the classic “I love you” flower, the first flower that came to mind when you want to gift it to a lover. A very beautiful flower, yet so overrated.
YN sighed as she stared at the flower pots beside her. The rose pots was almost empty, while the other flower pots like lilies and chrysanthemums remained untouched.
It's been like, what, three days, and she already has to restock the red roses. YN grumbled as she stared at the almost withering red orchids. The red petals of the moon orchid conveys “I miss you” but people seemed to think that a cliché red rose was better than a coveted exotic orchid.
YN sighed as she picked up the trimming scissors and cut the withering orchid unwillingly. As pretty as it was, the dried orchids were not appropriate to be sold.
The ringing of the entrance bells ceased her sullen mutterings and stopped her busy hands from cutting another dead flowers to greet the customer. “Welcome…”
Words got stuck in her throat as her eyes landed on the figure who just walked in the store. The man was attractive. He had a unique double colored hair of red and silvery white, with the same set of beautiful double colored eyes, a beautiful color of teal and silver. There was a red, burnt scar on his left eye but it didn't mar his beauty at all. His skin glowed radiantly in the afternoon golden warmth, making YN unconsciously seek his face for imperfections that weren't there. The way his jaw was set hard in concentration compelled YN's eyes to trace the sinuous muscles in his neck down to his muscular body. A perfectly ironed white shirt hugged his body firmly, maybe too firmly because YN could see the way a few buttons were struggling to hold the shirt together to cover his broad chest.
He was undeniably the hottest man YN had ever seen in her past years of living.
The moment he set his foot in the store, he was determined to find the right flower, that alone was visible in his intense eyes that scanned every flower pots with full focus.
He browsed for a while before finally settling on a bouquet of Daffodils. YN raised her eyebrows, surprise were written in all over her face when she finally saw someone buying flowers apart from roses.
