Faces Of Love: JJ Project Short Stories

4 - Bloom

//Mature//

The bell tinkled, indicating someone just opened the front door. Jaebum looked up from the flowers he trimmed as he automatically shouted a welcome to find a man entering the shop. The man walked up to the counter, and only then Jaebum noticed that the customer had a beautiful face. However, it was marred by the bleakness in the dark of his eyes, and the weariness plastered on every crinkles of his fair feature. He gave his best smile to the new customer.

"Can I help you?"

Without a shift on that expressionless face, the man flatly answered, "Give me a bouquet of flower. A small one."

"What kind?"

"Whatever."

"Do you have any preferences?"

"No."

"Who are you giving it to?"

"Me."

Not letting his smile wavered, Jaebum asked the customer to wait a bit. He walked up to the rose section and took seven of the pale pink roses. He brought them back to the counter and started working. After tying the white ribbon into a bow as the finishing touch, he gave it to the man, whose expressionless face finally distorted by a tinge of irritation.

"I'm pretty sure I said I'm giving it to myself. Do I look like a woman to you? Are you trying to mess with me?"

Jaebum put the bouquet back on the counter. He just smiled to the man's outburst. "Do you know? Flower has magic in it. It either expresses, shares, or soothes people's feelings. Whatever magic it casts, it always bring smile to people."

The man furrowed his eyebrows. "What are you trying to say?"

"Pink and rose don't necessarily associated with woman. Rose is just another flower with it's own magic, and pink is just the color of its spell. Light pink rose's magic is a joy charm that embraces you gently, and hopefully it can enchant you to smile."

The customer just stared at Jaebum for a while. He thought the stranger would yell at him, but he was wrong. Instead, the man laughed. Jaebum waited until he finished with tears in his eyes, a small spark glimmered its void.

"Do you quoted it from some fairy tale book? I really want to read it."

Jaebum shrugged and held out the bouquet again. The man took it, with a lopsided smile this time. "It's been a while since I laughed like that, thanks. How much is it?"

He paid for the bouquet and left. However, the smile shaped by that man's mouth lingered in his mind for a while, distracting him from his job. Jaebum sighed.

How can a smile looked so lonely?

--

"Hey, you're the florist, right?"

Jaebum turned his head around from his drink to see the caller. It was the customer with lonely smile. Wearing that very smile, the man sat beside him.

"You probably don't remember me. I bought a flower at your shop once."

Jaebum smiled back and nodded. "Yeah, I remember you."

The man rested his elbow on the counter and leaned his cheek on his fist. "Never expected to meet you in a gay bar, or rather, batting on this side. Are you looking for a partner?"

Jaebum shrugged. "Well, if there's someone who catch my eyes, I won't mind spending the night with a fine man."

"Top or bottom?"

"The latter."

"Ah, what a shame, me too. Guess it's not my luck."

Despite that, instead of getting up and looking for another man, he called the bartender and ordered a drink. They eventually fell into a comfortable chatting. Jaebum found out that his name was Jinyoung, same age as him, and he worked as an editor of a publishing house.