Floriography - KhunBam

Chapter Nine

Khun could barely see in front of him with the size of the bouquet he was carrying.

"Khun!? Is that you?"

"Hey, Shibisu, if you're there could you give me a hand."

His irritation was clear as Shibisu took the bouquet from his hands.

"Is this the gift you were talking about for Endorsi?"

"Yup!"

He announced this smugly, quite proud of the bouquet Bam had created as if he had created it himself.

"Wow, this is beautiful.... where did you get it?"

"It's from the florist next door, you recommended the place to me last week."

"Oh right! I've never used them myself so I didn't know if they were any good."

Shibisu shrugged as Khun audibly sighed at his assistants uselessness.

"Go give those to Endorsi now, before she starts raging that we've forgotten."

"Got it, but what about that one?"

Nodding his head at the orchid in Khun's hand, Shibisu waited for an answer.

"This one is mine."

"Again?"

"It's another gift, get going!"

Shibisu ran off as he was told, whilst Khun entered his office placing the orchid into the vase next to the rose.

Taking his seat, he leant back in his chair as he admired the two flowers. He considered the explanation he had been given earlier about the orchid.

Masculinity huh?

Something didn't sit quite right with him and so he opened up his laptop and typed in to search for the orchids meaning.

Skimming the results, he could see that he had certainly not been given incorrect information. However he also noted that he hadn't been given up to date information either.

It was true that the Ancient Greeks used to use the orchid to show masculinity but, more recently, the orchid was used to represent something else. You would usually give an orchid to someone you considered a rare and delicate beauty.

Sitting back in his chair with his new found knowledge, Khun was only interrupted when Shibisu entered the room.

"How did it go?"

"She absolutely loved it. I can't even describe how much she loved it. It was absolutely perfect for her."

Grinning, Khun felt pride well up inside him and made a mental note to tell Bam just how please Endorsi was with her gift. He wanted to go and tell him right away so he could see his happy reaction but he, unfortunately, had work to do.

"Great! That's good news."

"So what's the deal with these flowers then Khun?"

Shiubisu suddenly shifted the conversation as he approached the vase.

"Two days in a row and you have flowers as gifts? Seems a bit weird. They're only single flowers as well."

"It's actually the florist who gave them to me."

Khun felt that telling the truth would be the easiest answer. He wasn't doing anything wrong, he had nothing to feel guilty about. So why did he?

"The florist? You were there yesterday as well?"

"Yes, when I went in last week it turns out they have a little coffee shop inside as well so I've been in a couple of times before work."

"No way! I didn't realise. I wonder if they serve food, that would be convenient."

"Actually, they do. But I don't know what it's like. I can only vouch for their flowers and their drinks."

"Right, well, I would have said be careful they might just be trying to give us freebies to gain our business but I guess it's too late for that! Their quality seems top notch though so I'm happy with using them as your preferred supplier."

Khun nodded in agreement. Having finished the conversation, Shibisu turned to return to his own desk but called out to him first.

"Shibisu, I have.... a question for you."

"Okay? Why do you seem so unsure about this question of yours?

"Well, it's a bit of an odd question but.... what if I told you that someone called me masculine?"

It had been playing on his mind since Bam had mentioned it. Obviously he was a man and therefore masculine however, when the word masculine first comes to mind, people would think a big, macho type of person. Someone that would fit the stereotype of being a strong man, and Khun certainly didn't consider himself as someone to fit into that stereotype. Obviously there were other interpretations of masculine but Khun just didn't quite fit any of them.

His thoughts were further confirmed by Shibisu's roaring laughter, which also irritated the hell out of him.

When he calmed down, he echoed Khun's thoughts.

"Yeah, masculine wouldn't be the first word that springs to mind when I hear your name. Ah, that was a good laugh, thanks Khun. Honestly, if someone is calling you masculine, you should not trust them, they are definitely up to something."

Although pleased that his thoughts were confirmed, he was concerned by Shibisu's comment about the person being up to something.

I don't think Bam is that type of person.

He decided to press Shibisu's opinion further.

"So, if someone asked you to describe me and said, which of these words suit me better 'masculine' or 'rare and delicate beauty', what would you choose?"

Without hesitation, Shibisu replied with a straight face.

"One hundred percent, rare and delicate beauty. I mean come on, you're a Khun. Your entire family are rare and delicate beauties.... actually I don't think I can necessarily say your family is rare but, anyway. Basically, if you were female, I would do you."

Shibisu finished his rant with a thumbs up as Khun put his head in his hands, thankful that he was born a male.

"Great, just what I wanted to hear. You can go now."

Khun responded in a monotonous voice as he shooed Shibisu out of the room.

"Glad I could be of help, Mr Masculine."

Shibisu cackled at his own joke as he left the room, leaving Khun to ponder on exactly what Bam was trying to tell him. He soon grew very curious as to the meaning of the Rose he was given, but had no way of discovering what it meant.

Sighing, he pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind and continued with his days work.

As he had been out of the office for so long, using Endorsi's gift as an excuse, Khun had stayed late at the office to finish some work that needed to be done.

Checking the time before he turned everything off, it was just after 8pm when he left the office. Walking out into the cold Autumn air, he shivered slightly before turning to walk home.

However, he was surprised to notice the lights were still on in the florists next door.

I thought they closed at 7pm...

Sneaking over to the window he peeked through to confirm if anyone was around, before approaching the door, grinning.