Until the Flowers Bloom [Jeon Wonwoo x Miyawaki Sakura]

Chapter 8 of 12

Sakura's POV

Since my parents died in an accident, my grandpa whom I'd only seen once before took me in. He's a Korean so I've move in to Korea. Mom was a very serious person while dad was very kind, but grandpa is an oddly serious and silent man. It feels difficult to get close to him. So, we don't talk much. We only exchanged greeting each other. He used to write something until late.

Three years after moving into grandpa's house, the summer of my first year in high school, I went back from school and found an unfamiliar pair of shoes. I also heard people talking in living room. That's the first time I met Ong Seungwoo, he seems to be one of the students who's participating in grandpa's research work. Although I knew grandpa was always sitting at his desk, working on something, and knew he would sometimes go to university as substitute teacher. I just found out that the subject he teaches is botany. I thought Ong Seungwoo-ssi is a very friendly person when he smiles.

It feels as if he and grandpa are from completely different worlds, so it's hard to believe that they are so close. When chatting with Seungwoo-ssi, grandpa becomes more talkative as well.

...

That night I was studying in living room when Seungwoo-ssi visited. I prepared to move into my room when Seungwoo-ssi told me that he only came to borrow a book from grandpa. Seungwoo-ssi glances over my shoulder to look at the homework I was working on, he suggests that I did a calculation problem wrong and proposes to me about being my math and science tutor since back then he used to be a part-time home tutor. He asked me to take it as a gift in return for the care I and my grandpa's have given him to. Suddenly grandpa came and said to me not to expect him to be able to teach me history and literature. Then we are laughing.

Just like that, at the same time that Seungwo-ssi's care, my conversations with grandpa started to increase and my interest in the plant-related subjects they talked about grew because I wanted to know grandpa and Seungwo-ssi better.

...

That day grandpa asked me to accompany him to buy cigarettes but we walked pass the cigarettes vending machine while grandpa asked me whether if I like flowers. I said that I don't know but talking about flower together with him and Seungwoo-ssi made me happy. Then we kept walking until we arrived in a greenhouse.

"Sakura, this place is a place that only you, your grandma, and I know about. I come here every day to take care of them. Before I knew it, I've reached this age and my back is starting to hurt too," grandpa paused. "Sakura, will you take care of them for me?"

"Eh? But this place is very important..."

"You know, staying busy like this every day is the only way to forget the loneliness," then I remember that was two weeks before the anniversary of my parents deaths.

...

Two years passed, the day I will never forget, after school I stop by the greenhouse and I went back to my house only to find my neighbour waited for me to say that grandpa fainted due to myocardial infarction. It had happened before and he managed to keep his life but this time he didn't make it to the hospital promptly. The operation failed.

Standing vigil and such were all done by the lady living next door and grandpa's friends from university. I got asked to find grandpa's photo. I wondered where he kept them. Then I found a box only has pictures of plants and one photo of mom, dad and me as a baby held by them. In the back of the photo there's grandpa's handwriting.

'Sakura, March 19th, I hope you can grow up to be a child surrounded by happiness'

"Kkura-ya, sorry I came late," Seungwoo-ssi arrived. "I just happened to be out of town at the time like this, I heard at the hospital that you came back first,"