Roses | woosan

Thirty-Three

"One of the couples has arrived!" Yunho says as soon as San and Wooyoung get to the table he's sitting at with Mingi and Jongho during lunch.

"About time! You two didn't come to school yesterday and I wasn't able to see San after school either. Just what were you doing?" Jongho raises an eyebrow.

"Sorry... we skipped school yesterday to go get some ice cream." San tells him and Jongho crosses his arms over his chest.

"So ice cream is more important than school now?"

"I'm sorry, sir." San jokes. "It won't happen again."

"Just tell me what happened yesterday! So you two are together now?" Jongho looks back and forth at San and Wooyoung with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, didn't you get my text?"

"Listen here, Jung Wooyoung..." Jongho turns to him. "You better treat my son right or I will seriously crush you and you will wish you were able to turn back time." He glares at him.

"N-no worries." Wooyoung nervously laughs since he had never seen Jongho so serious. "Of course I'll treat him right."

"Dad..." San jokes. "Don't be so hard on him. You'll scare him away."

"Anyway... congrats guys!" Jongho's expression quickly changes and he smiles at them. "I can't believe all my friends are in a relationship and I'm still single." He fake cries.

"Wait..." San turns to Yunho and Mingi. "You two..."

Yunho tries to keep a serious expression, but ends up smiling, and San gasps.

"When did this happen?! I'm so happy for you guys!"

"Yesterday." Mingi tells him and reaches for Yunho's hand.

"Seriously? How is it that three new couples formed within our friend circle yesterday? We have to go celebrate!"

"Well... I kind of got the courage when I saw Yeosang confess to Seonghwa in front of a lot of people. I figured... if Yeosang was able to do it in front of so many people, I'd be able to tell Yunho how I still feel about him, with just the two of us."

"That's great! I'm so happy for you guys." San smiles at them.

"Thanks." Yunho smiles back at him and rests his head on Mingi's shoulder.

"Yeosang!" San yells at him when he sees him walk into the cafeteria.

"Hey guys." Yeosang rushes over to them and sits down. "And wait... what did I miss?" He asks when he sees Mingi and Yunho so close to each other.

"They got back together." Jongho tells him.

"Wow, congrats guys! That's great."

"Thanks, Yeo." Yunho smiles. "By the way, where's Seonghwa?"

"Oh... I'm not sure." Yeosang looks around, trying to find him. "I thought he was already here, but I see he's not sitting with his friend group either."

"I'm here! I'm here!" Seonghwa rushes over to them, out of breath.

"What happened to you?" Wooyoung raises an eyebrow.

"For some reason, I forgot I had lunch now and I thought I had a class on the other side of the building... so I went there and then I realized I had lunch, so here I am. I walked to and from the other side of the building for nothing."

"Wow, I guess love does make people stupid. I will stay single forever." Jongho crosses his arms over his chest.

"Hey!" Seonghwa glares at him. "But anyway... is it okay if my cousin joins us for lunch?"

"Your cousin? But he's already here." Jongho points at Wooyoung and Yeosang hits his arm.

"Wooyoung isn't his only cousin."

"I meant Hongjoong." Seonghwa tells him.

"Oh... that guy from a while back? I've only seen him once so I don't remember him much."

"It's totally fine. He can come sit with us." San tells him and the rest agree.

"Oh, hi Yeosang." Seonghwa says shyly and finally sits down next to him.

"Hi." Yeosang blushes and looks down.

Jongho stares at them with a blank expression before speaking up. "What is this awkwardness?" He asks in disbelief. 

"Oh, let them be. They just confessed their feelings yesterday." San tells him and Wooyoung agrees.

"Hey Sannie, can you follow me for a minute?" Wooyoung asks him once they finish their food.

"Of course." San nods and stands up. "I'll see you guys later."

They both walk out of the cafeteria, hand in hand, and start walking towards the school's exit.

"Where are we going?" San looks over at Wooyoung.

"To the bench that has the pretty tree next to it." Wooyoung tells him. "I have to tell you something."

San just nods and they continue walking out of the school. Once they get to the bench, San sits down and Wooyoung takes a rose from the tree.

"This is for you." Wooyoung hands the rose to him and San looks down at it and smiles.

"Thank you." He looks back up at Wooyoung. "B-but I thought you hated-"

"Sannie..." Wooyoung takes his hand and San gives him a confused look. "Honestly... thanks to you, I don't hate them anymore. I can actually see roses now and not feel guilty anymore. I can actually now look at roses and only see them as something positive."

"Wait... Woo, that's great!" San's eyes start to water. He had to witness Wooyoung blaming himself all the time in the past. He saw how he broke down into tears and how he didn't even want to be around roses, so hearing him talking positively about them for once, is really making him emotional.

"Lately, I started realizing that whenever I looked at roses, I didn't feel sad or think about what happened five years ago like I used to. Instead of feeling sad, I realized that I'd be happy whenever I looked at them now... And you know why?"

San just shakes his head as he can't help but cry.

"Because now when I look at roses, I'm thankful to them." Wooyoung answers and wipes San's tears away. "Because thanks to them, I got to see you again... at the flower shop, remember?"

"B-but you don't hate them thanks to me?"

"Yes, thanks to you." Wooyoung nods. "Since you went to the flower shop that day, I started going to school just to see you. Because of you, I was able to move on with my life instead of just blaming myself all the time. You made me realize it wasn't my fault, and your mom's the best too. The therapy sessions have been working so well."

"You have no idea how happy that makes me." San wipes his tears and smiles. "It really broke my heart when I saw you break down outside of my house a while back."

"That won't happen ever again." Wooyoung cups his face. "I would never want to make you sad again."

"Does that mean I can give you roses now and you won't get mad at me?"

"I'll never get mad at you for giving me roses ever again, Sannie. I'm sorry for that time." Wooyoung frowns, remembering the time he slapped a rose out of San's hand.

"That's in the past. You're forgiven." San smiles at him as Wooyoung's still cupping his face. San wraps his arms around his neck and leans in to give him a kiss.

I hope you liked this chapter! Looks like Wooyoung's hate for roses is really in the past now <3