Coffee and Flowers | Seungjin

Chapter 5 - Lavender Rose

If there was one flower Seungmin was surprised to see lying on the counter a few days later, it was a rose. But there it was, a beautiful rose, the soft lavender hue gracing its delicate petals. Seungmin picked the flower up to admire it closer, and as he did, he swore he could hear shuffling behind him. He turned quickly, hoping to get a glance of whoever it was, hoping it was the admirer that left the rose he held in his hand. But much to his disappointment, he saw nothing. They had already left, and Seungmin only managed to catch a glimpse of what they were wearing before they were gone. Jeans and a black hoodie. He would be sure to remember that, just in case.

The card that lay beneath the rose looked exactly the same as all previous ones at first glance, every letter written perfectly.

Lavender rose,
because the first time I saw you, was the first time I knew what I wanted, and that I needed to change for the better, ~ H.H

The writing became slightly sloppy as it got to the end of the message. It almost seemed rushed, as if whoever wrote it was in a hurry. That's who was leaving, Seungmin thought. They had obviously heard him coming and rushed to finish writing the message. That's cute, he thought. He looked back over the words they wrote. "I needed to change for the better." What did they mean by that? Were they that much of a bad person before? Seungmin found it hard to believe that would be the case. Either way, he would have time to think about that later. The flowers could wait. Unfortunately, work can't.

He took his place behind the counter, immediately looking up to find Hyunjin stood in front of him, smiling. There was something so irresistibly attractive about the way Hyunjin looked; his jet black hair was messy, and Seungmin couldn't possibly comprehend how someone could look that effortlessly good in just jeans and a plain white t-shirt. Too bad Seungmin was too focused on that to notice the black hoodie Hyunjin was holding.

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They were almost friends, him and Hyunjin. Seungmin had grown so used to the other boy's presence, annoying as he may be sometimes, that he knew exactly when to expect Hyunjin to walk through the doors of the coffee shop. He liked how strangely comfortable he felt with the other around, despite how he originally took a disliking to him.

And, as he found out a few days later, he felt unusually uncomfortable when Hyunjin was nowhere to be seen. Seungmin had started his shift at the coffee shop and hour ago, and he was starting to worry. Hyunjin hadn't arrived yet. He would usually be there the moment Seungmin started work, if not minutes later. But he wasn't there yet. As much as Seungmin was trying to deny it, he missed Hyunjin. Every time the front door opened for someone to enter the coffee shop, he found himself looking over in expectation, hoping for it to be Hyunjin arriving. False hope. He never did arrive, even in the four hours afterwards, and Seungmin left work that evening with a sour feeling in the pit his stomach. He didn't even find a flower when he arrived at work that afternoon. It was almost like both his admirer and Hyunjin had... forgotten about him? No, that's not possible. Hyunjin will be there tomorrow, I know it, he thought.

Seungmin had decided to take his route home through the park to clear his mind. However, the thought of clearing his mind was soon forgotten when he started hear quiet whimpers coming from nearby. He followed the sound, coming to a halt in front of a boy. His face was mostly hidden, except for quite a large, dark purple bruise, prominent on the side of his face. He approached the boy. "Are you okay? What happened?" He asked quietly. The boy slowly looked up to meet Seungmin's eyes.
"Seungmin?" He said, although the way he spoke almost made it seem question. It was dark, and so Seungmin had to squint to get a good look at the boy's face. His eyes looked dark, quite sad, as if he had been crying, and not only was the bruise on the right side of his face larger Seungmin had originally thought it was, but there was also quite a large cut on the left.
"Hyunjin?"
"You got me," Hyunjin laughed half-heartedly.
"What happened to you?" Seungmin asked, concern evident in his voice.
"I... I just got into a fight, that's all. It's nothing."
"That's all?" Seungmin said, "Hyunjin, you look awful. It's not nothing."
That was a lie. Hyunjin could never look awful. Even in that state, he was beautiful.
"Look, I appreciate the concern, but I'm fine."
"You're not fine," Seungmin replied, "I know it's late, but come back to my house. I can try to do something to help that cut."

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A/N: I think I actually know where this is going now