Flower Boy [Kim Taehyung]

Part 3

    "Omigod, you're sure it was from him, though?" Mina asked for the thousandth time.  "That's so adorable, Kim Taehyung?"

            "Well no one else was around and when he saw me it... it had to be him!" Rin said, clutching her books to her chest. She watched the morning traffic buzz by in the hall, mind still whirring from last night.

            She'd gone through every possibility in her head, that maybe it had been a mistake on Taehyung's part, that perhaps he'd gotten the wrong house.  But as far as Rin knew, no one on her street shared the same birthday as her and no one else made sense for Taehyung to give flowers to.  Old man Herbert?  The little McCain twins?  All the married couples?  And when he looked at her--

            "Caught in the act!" Mina's voice cut into Rin's thoughts. "Ugh, and the note, too? That is too cute, Kim Taehyung!" She squealed and fell next to Rin on her locker, sighing despondently. "Why can't these things ever happen to me?  I'm the hopeless romantic, not you, and...and... what eighteen-year-old guy up and does something like that?"

            "I know!" Rin said, raising her eyes to the ceiling. "How many times do you have to say it?"

            "As many times I feel until you've got it through your head!  He so likes you," Mina said.  She gripped Rin's arm, eyes gleaming. "What kind of flowers were they?  What color?  How scared did he look when he saw that you saw him?"

            "Wha- d'you expect me to remember everything?" Rin said. "And how should I know what kind of flowers, all I knew is that they were the kind that made me sneeze."

            "But what color-?"

            "Pink!" Rin said, glaring when Mina's face lit up, if possible, even brighter.

            "Pink," Mina whisper-yelled.  "Do you know what pink means?  Sweetness, appreciation, grace, happiness. Oh, Rin, I can't even!"

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            Rin stared at her. "You're reading too much into it."

            "Everyone knows what pink means in flower language," she shot back.  "Oh, but what did you do with them?  Put them in a vase in your room? Did you take pictures? Can I see them?"

            At Mina's rising excitement, Rin felt her mouth go bone-dry. "Erm..."

            Ever the observant friend, Mina fastened Rin with an intense stare. "Rin... what did you do with the flowers?"

            "I...I just..." Rin put a hand to the back of her head. "I threw them away," she said in a very small voice.

            Mina's expression melted into horror. "Rin!"

            "What was I supposed to do!" Rin said, guilt clawing at her throat. "My mom's allergic and I'm allergic and my dad, well, he's not a flower guy! They would've died at his care!"

            "Rin!"

            "A-and there was no way I could've gone back and returned them to him, it's not like I was trying to be a jerk--!"

           "Rin!" was all Mina seemed capable of saying.

            "Stop, please just stop," Rin said, eyes darting everywhere. The image flashed back in her head, the one she'd been trying to block, of the pretty bundle of flowers sitting amidst broken egg shells and red velvet cake crumbs in the kitchen garbage.  Oh, god, what had she done?

            Mina had gone off into a rant.

            "...believe you, he probably worked so hard to get his confidence up, go pay for those flowers with the money out of his pocket, then have the guts to place them on your doorstep, with a little cute note attached for God's sake! All for your birthday! Then what do you do?  I mean, yeah, you're allergic to flowers, but to throw them away-?"

            Mina's voice caught in her throat with a strangled gasp.

            Rin's head snapped up and swiveled in the direction Mina's eyes had latched onto - only for her breathing to come to a standstill.

Behind them, there stands non other than Kim Taehyung.

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