Seasons of Love - Chaelisa (CONVERTED)

8. Jealous

The wind has picked up over the last few days; in combination with the four inches of snow on the ground, it's shaping up to be a terribly harsh winter. Nonetheless, Lisa leaves the wonderfully warm parlour and braves the cold to walk next door.

She enters the flower shop, expecting to see Chaeyoung working the counter (since Hyeri has travelled out of state to see her family for the holidays) but there is no one in the storefront at all. She calls Chaeyoung's name and listens for a reply.

That's when she hears the muffled noises – harsh, irregular breathing. She follows the sound into the back room, where she finds Chaeyoung sitting on the floor next to a row of wilting flowers. The tears are rolling freely down her cheeks, and she's stifling her sobs with a white-knuckled fist.

Lisa wants to ask, she really does, but she knows that now isn't the right time. Instead, she sits down beside Chaeyoung. She gently pries the fist from her mouth and straightens her fingers, tangling them between her own. She talks Chaeyoung through a few breaths, trying to get her to breathe evenly.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Lisa says quietly, when Chaeyoung appears to have calmed somewhat. "I'll be here regardless."

Her heart aches when Chaeyoung gazes at her sorrowfully, her breathing shallow but steady.

-

Chaeyoung breaks the silence after a long few minutes.

"My flowers are dying," she says despondently. "I've tried my best to keep the temperature steady and give them all enough sunlight but... the weather has been terrible lately – there's no sun and it's bitterly cold and even the grow lamps aren't helping much. The other day, I told you that not all flowers die in the winter, but now almost everything is dyingand I can't do anything to fix it because I suck at being a florist-"

"Shh," Lisa says consolingly, pulling Chaeyoung from her self-deprecating spiel.

She knows that Chaeyoung doesn't mean what she is saying, and she hates to see her doubt herself like this. She untangles her fingers from Chaeyoung's and wraps an arm around her shoulder instead. When Chaeyoung leans into her embrace, Lisa smiles despite the sombre mood.

"I feel like I failed them," Chaeyoung confesses, blinking tears into the material over Lisa's shoulder.

Lisa sighs. "You've been in the business for what, a few months? Don't be so hard on yourself. You give your flowers time to grow – how about you do the same for yourself? Learn from this and allow yourself to develop. Maybe you lost them this winter, but you can always try again next year."

Chaeyoung doesn't respond, but she doesn't say anything to disagree. Lisa decides to continue on.

"Maybe you've forgotten, but you're dealing with things that are living. And everything that lives will eventually die – it's just a part of life," Lisa glances down at her covered ankle, where she knows the lavender and daisy are inked, and smiles sadly. Chaeyoung reaches up to tangle her fingers with the hand that is hanging over her shoulder. "Who knows, maybe it'll do us all some good to remember that spring isn't nearly as wonderful without winter."

-

The winter months are the coldest and harshest of the last few decades, but when the weather finally begins to thaw, it sets up for what looks to be a warm and welcoming spring.

Lisa is walking through the slushy snow on her way to the tattoo parlour when she sees Chaeyoung on the other side of the glass of her flower shop. She's standing at the front counter and someone – a male someone – is leaning over it. Chaeyoung is smiling and laughing at him, and Lisa feels an unpleasant seed begin to grow in the pit of her stomach.

I'm not jealous, Lisa tells herself, because Chaeyoung is not some thing she can possess. Chaeyoung is not hers to have.

She's so caught up in her internal musings that she barely notices Hyeri, who is standing outside setting up the outdoor display.

"Oh, is it finally warm enough for the flowers?" Lisa asks her, temporarily distracted by the sight of blooms after weeks of walking past an empty display.

"Yeah! These are a few of the ones that managed to last the winter. It's a shame that the others didn't make it, but no one anticipated such a severe cold season; I can't blame the little guys for calling it quits," Hyeri says, shuffling around some of the flower pots and stepping back to see if it made any difference.

Lisa glances back inside the store and can't help her but let curiosity get the better of her.

"Hey Hyeri, who's that guy Chaeyoung is talking to?"

"Hm?" Hyeri's gaze flickers from her flower display to the boy leaning against the front counter. "Oh, that's Jungkook – he delivers special-order flowers from the growers upstate."

"Oh. Cool."

She gives Hyeri a somewhat strained smile and then excuses herself, pushing her way into the tattoo parlour with more force than necessary.

-

She doesn't mean to do it, it just sort of happens. Lisa has bailed on a week's worth of standing lunch dates and she's all the more jaded by Chaeyoung's absence. Jennie and Jisoo notice her surly attitude, and so do all her other co-workers.

Lisa is sitting at the tattoo station in the far corner working on a design for a customer when she sees it all unfold in her peripheral vision.

Chaeyoung comes storming into the tattoo parlour, all clenched fists and stomping feet and just a tiny ball of anger. She doesn't say a word when she reaches the front counter. Lisa sees Jisoo point wordlessly in her direction, obviously not wanting to get caught in the middle of anything.

She waits until Chaeyoung is standing right beside her before she turns to acknowledge her.

"You're coming with me," Chaeyoung says firmly.

It's decisive, and leaves no room for objection, so Lisa reluctantly follows her out of the parlour and into the flower shop.