There are Many Flowers in Seoul

Chapter Three

'You're so bad at this!' Hitomi laughed when Rose fell onto her backside on the dance machine buttons. The clear winner of the battle, Hitomi offered a hand to help the girl back up and challenged, 'Two out of three?'

'Are you trying to kill me?' Rose asked.

'Give her a break,' Yuta said. 'We're meant to be making her feel better, not showing off.'

'I can't help being the best,' Hitomi pouted.

'It's fine,' Rose said as she climbed down from the machine. 'I'm going to find something safer to try. Something that doesn't involve dancing. Or moving.' A twinge of pain shot through her rear, prompting her to add, 'Or sitting.'

'I'll come with you,' Yuta told her. 'Hitomi, find us when you're done. Don't wander off.'

'Haiiii!' the girl replied cheerily before dropping another few yen into the machine and setting off again, barely breaking a sweat, her legs moved with a speed and grace that Rose couldn't help but envy. It was clear Hitomi had been born to be a dancer; it was impossible to picture her as anything else.

All around them, lights flashed, and electronic machines blared their tinny electronic sound effects into the otherwise dimly lit game centre. Groups of junior high students and tourists huddled around individual units, taking turns to jab at buttons while instructions were shouted by their friends. They celebrated together when they emerged victorious, and relentlessly mocked one another when they failed. Oblivious to the grown man following the high school girl, Rose and Yuta were largely ignored by everyone, and she wondered if she ever had to leave.

Sad though it might have been for a nineteen-year old girl to prefer an arcade to almost every other aspect of her life, Rose only ever felt invisible in Tokyo when she was surrounded by people more interested in a computer-generated reality than the lives of celebrities and their children.

'Here,' Yuta said, placing his hand on her shoulder and steering Rose to the UFO catchers. 'Let's try this.'

'I know you said you'd win me something, but you really suck at these.'

'It's just luck,' Yuta said, a hint of red across his cheeks. He handed Rose his briefcase, dropped in a few coins, and tried to snag a Hello Kitty toy in a puppy outfit. The claw barely grazed the plush, and the machine announced Yuta's failure with a loud burst of music. He reached into his pocket for more coins and said, 'See? That was close.'

'I worry about your depth perception.'

'Why don't you try?' he asked.

'Not this one.'

'I thought you liked Hello Kitty?'

'When I was fourteen,' she scoffed, mentally apologising to the Hello Kitty plush sat on her bed at home. There was no way she could let Yuta – hot, grown-up, amazing Yuta – know that she still cuddled a plush toy before she fell asleep. Rose cleared her throat gently and tapped the glass. 'You see how its legs are wedged? It's only recently been placed. You won't get this one until someone else knocks it out of position.'

'How much time do you spend in these places?' he asked.

'More time than my parents think.'

'Win me a toy and I won't tell,' he laughed.

God, how she loved his laugh, and his dimples, and how cute his butt was in his suit...

Rose pressed her hand to her cheek and let out a long, slow breath. She was flushed, and immediately blamed the humid air pumped around the arcade. It was nothing to do with Yuta standing so close to her or smiling down at her like he loved her or anything.