prettier than flowers (jookyun) [✔]

2

yet when he looked back at the name "lee jooheon" that appeared on the screen, he wanted to see the boy again.

changkyun massaged his shoulders as he walked home from the days work. it was tiring work despite how it looked like easy work to some. changkyun had spent the whole day besides lunch time standing and walking around. he had to serve customers, carry big pots of flowers and had to ensure that the flowers were as pretty as they could be, which meant he had to go around the whole shop trimming, spraying water on the flowers and more.

he sighed. if he had a choice, changkyun would never choose to be cooped up in a small florist. his dream was to become a poet. but not any poet. he was more into abstract poems. those that didn't delve into such a deep and meaningful topic but still held some meaning when being read. the poems changkyun liked to write were more of a fusion between abstract poetry and song lyrics. his literature teacher in high school had deemed his work inappropriate and told him if he ever wanted to become a poet, he would have to change his writing style, but his art and music teachers had told him that his works were creative and new.

of course, not all new works can be recognised and acknowledged straight away. but what was hard was that even his parents were not supportive of his dream. they knew changkyun was smart, he was in the top 5 for all his subjects and stayed that way for his whole high school life. they wanted him to become a doctor, a lawyer or a teacher. when they heard he wanted to pursue poetry, they were thrilled but when changkyun told them his type of poetry wasn't taught in colleges, they changed.

they wanted their one and only son to go to college and so they had arguments nearly every day because of this. after months of disagreement, changkyun's mum had made a deal with the boy. if the boy didn't want to attend college, he would have to work at their florist. changkyun's parents wanted their son to know how hard of a life they had had. they wanted the best for changkyun, they knew how the world would look down at you if you didn't go to college. that was how his parents grew up. changkyun's parents didn't help at the store anymore, they were getting old and only did the paper work for the store.

changkyun didn't understand though. why weren't his parents supportive of his choice? changkyun never stopped to think about it and so he blamed his parents.

changkyun sighed again. he had chosen to walk home and he was about 10 minutes away when he heard noises. it was nearly 8PM now and the road he had chosen to walk was a dodgier one as he wanted to take a short-cut. changkyun's eyes widened as the noises were approaching him.

it was definitely fighting and changkyun could hear the sound of people getting beaten up and the scattering of shoes on the asphalt as some tried to run.

changkyun could judge by the proximity of the sounds that they were just around the corner and he knew he had to run but he couldn't. he was so shocked and scared that his feet felt as if they were glued to the ground. 

"urghh", changkyun grunted softly as he tried to pull his legs up but it was as if he had been hypnotised. he really couldn't move his legs.

"catch him!!", a voice roared out and changkyun could feel the cold sweat on his forehead and back.

changkyun saw 2 men staggering towards his direction with 4 others running behind them. changkyun was on the left of the road and he prayed they wouldn't see him as it was dark and there were no lights, or that they would just ignore him. 

but that didn't go well as the two men being chased thought that changkyun was part of the other gang trying to catch them. one man that had reached changkyun punched him in the stomach and changkyun fell to the ground with an 'oomf'.

the 4 men that were trying to catch the two men had now gotten the men in their arms and changkyun watched with fright as one of them picked him up.

"hey jooheon! we found another one, don't think i've seen him around though", the one that was holding onto, and examining changkyun said.

a man who was obviously the boss of the 3, walked towards the group, kicking the two men before he reached changkyun and bent down to get a closer look.

changkyun's eyes widened as he recognised the man in front of him -lee jooheon. he wanted to say something but his mouth was so dry from the fright and all he could do was make whimpering sounds. he probably looked very pathetic at the moment but he couldn't help it. he had never been in these types of situations before.

"let him go", jooheon said with a low and deep voice, "you go help with the other two and bring them to the place".

the man holding changkyun let him go and walked off with the others.

"you okay?", jooheon said whilst staring at changkyun.

changkyun felt somewhat uncomfortable with the way jooheon was staring at him. his gaze was strong and unfaltering but it made his cheeks red and he was thankful it was dark so jooheon wouldn't see.

changkyun just nodded and jooheon helped him up by grabbing his arm and pulling harshly.

"do you live around here?", jooheon asked again in a serious tone.

"y-yeah, up that way", changkyun stuttered before pointing to his right.

jooheon nodded. "i'll take you"

changkyun back to jooheon in surprise, "what?"

"i said i'll take you home"