flower boy [seongsang]

iv ;

[ begin. ]

at home, yeosang quickly sets his backpack on the floor and sits at his desk. he jots down his ideas for his english poet project so he won't forget them later. his teacher ended up not letting him down when she assigned the same assignment his classmate, who he now knows as jung wooyoung, told him about. he had learned his name when he checked out his book for him.

after his thoughts are written out on the white notepad, he puts the pen back in its place and stands up, leaving his room. he walks to the kitchen and finds a quick snack to eat and washes it down with a bottle of cold water. he makes sure he has his phone and wallet and leaves his house, locking the door behind him.

he drives to his favorite place in the entire world with caution, not wanting to get pulled over. he hums to himself to fill the silence until he parks the car and gets out.

upon opening the door, yeosang is hit with a multitude of powerful scents. this shop is like an aromatherapy for him, the flowers heal him somehow. yeosang's grandfather left him this shop because he knew how much it meant to him and the boy was forever grateful. the shop is all paid off, so whatever money doesn't go toward the electricity and water bill he gets to keep. the bills aren't that much money either because the shop isn't open for too long and during the day he doesn't need to use the lights because there are many windows. he also doesn't really use water except when he needs to refill the watering can.

he opens the shop as soon as he gets out of school until eight. no one ever comes that late, but he stays to make sure the flowers are well kept and watered. he cherishes this shop and all of the pretty flowers in it after all.

after eight, yeosang goes home to his mother and father, eats dinner shortly, then goes to his rooms and does homework and studies. after that it's often already way too late so he just sleeps away the exhaustion that eats at him during the day.

today goes by as any other day: yeosang sits on a sodden bench next to one of several windows after caring for the flowers and giving them attention and reads his book of choice. today, his book was his favorite collection of poems as he had checked it out for the umpteenth time. all in a typical day at the kang flower shop until about 19:20 when none other than jung wooyoung walks through the door.

"hello? is anybody working?" the purple haired boy calls out.

"i'm right here," yeosang answers, marking his place in his book and standing up to greet his customer.

"oh, yeosang! funny seeing you here," wooyoung exclaims loudly.

"yeah, i work here," yeosang replies quietly. "actually, i own this place."

"wow, really? that's amazing!"

"anyways, what can i do for you?"

"well," he starts shyly, "i'm going on a date tonight and i need a bouquet of flowers. a really beautiful one!"

"okay, i can definitely do that for you. do you want something cliche and typical like roses or a different approach?" yeosang asks, wanting to know exactly what to put together.

"hmm, maybe something different! don't want anything typical and boring for my boyfriend. he's one of a kind and he deserves a one of a kind and expensive bouquet of flowers. don't you agree?"

"that's a beautiful gesture, i think. what is his name?" yeosang doesn't know where the confidence to hold a normal and legitimate conversation came from, there's just something about wooyoung that is so inviting. plus, yeosang can talk about the things he loves for hours– if he feels comfortable that is.

wooyoung smiles so brightly. "his name is choi san. he's in our grade, too, actually. have you heard of him?"

"maybe, but i can't be sure," yeosang replies honestly while clipping flower stems to length. "i don't know really anybody at our school."

"oh. who are you friends with? maybe i know them."

the flower ship owner's face goes red with embarrassment and slight shame. "umm, i don't have friends? at all?" why did i say it like a question?

"well, you have me now. i think we'll become great friends! i can introduce you to my boyfriend and to my best friends, too, if you would like?"

yeosang's heart warmed at his new friend's innocent and genuinely kind offer. "maybe we'll start with san. i'm not great with people and just thinking of meeting more than one extra person is overwhelming me." yeosang hands wooyoung the finished and wrapped bundle of flowers.

"okay. where will you be at lunch tomorrow? i'll introduce you to him," wooyoung smiles and takes the bouquet, paying yeosang.

"the library is where i eat lunch everyday."

"okay, well, i'll see you tomorrow at the library then. thank you so much for these. they're so pretty." with that, wooyoung leaves the shop and yeosang smiles, walking to the beach and picking up his book to continue reading.

i can't believe i just made a friend.

[ end. ]
soon he'll start meeting the others and eventually seonghwa.