A girl and a boy quickly ran their way down a sidewalk on a blistering hot day. The sun shined down upon the small fishing town, heating up all the places and corners the sunlight could reach.
With the minimal clouds in the clear blue sky and gusts of wind coming from the beach, it made it the perfect weather to enjoy the outside world, under some shade of course.
“Yah No fair, An Yujin!” The boy shouted as he looked onto the figure of the girl in front of him.
“Just accept that you’re slower than me!~” The girl shouted back as the two approached a shop with a sign hanging on top of their wall and with a vending machine to the side, which was perfect for a day like this.
“Aha I won!~” The girl jumped upon her last step, stopping in front of the refreshment machine with her arms aloft her head. Her bright smile beamed along with the sunlight that lit up the street next to them.
The boy stopped shortly after her and was the polar opposite of the cheery and bubbly girl. He placed his arms on his knees, heaving heavily after each second that passed.
“N-no…fair…you pushed me.” The boy groaned out.
“Pushed you? It’s not my fault you didn’t turn the corner quick enough!” Yujin placed an hand over one of his shoulders, patting it softly.
“Now what should I get?~” The girl turned to the main reason why they decided to run all the way from the school, a vending machine for drinks.
Yujin stared at the stack of bottles and cans through the glass that separated them. Upom making her choice, she pulled out some pocket change for her to use.
(YN) breathed in one more heavy breath as he stared at the floor. Looking down to his feet, he saw that the shoelaces had become undone. He leaned down before grabbing onto the thin pieces of cloth.
He tied them slowly, making sure he got the two bunny ears correctly before tying them together.
The boy turned his head towards his other shoe when something stopped him, something that was refreshingly cold. He looked and found that Yujin was pressing down a cold can of soda by the side of his face.
“The machine ran out of orange soda but I got you a grape one instead.” Yujin said, showing him the purple can.
His eyes followed her extended arm until he looked at her face where she was pressing an orange can on her cheek. They locked eyes just as Yujin smiled at him. It was a smile that was distinctly hers, one that had two dimples appear on her cheeks.
A cool breeze suddenly flew by the two young teens. The girl’s short hair danced along with the air as (YN) continued to stare.
“Take it, it’ll warm up quickly with this heat around.” Yujin shook the can in front of him before shaking his head.
“I thought they ran out of orange soda.” (YN) sighed out as he stood back up straight. He took the can out of her hand before holding onto its pull tab.
“They ran out after I got this one~” She gave him a teasing smirk that made scoff softly. As if they were in sync, they both pulled open their cans of sodas that made a loud sound of gas exiting into the air.
They drank down the cold sweetness gulp by gulp.
“Oh when did you two get here? Have you stayed in the sun for long?” A voice of an elderly man came from behind the two. The pair turned and found a large man walking towards them.
He wasn’t large by height but instead was large that they almost resembled a large friendly teddy bear, according to Yujin’s words.
“We just got here, Mr.Kim. We ran all the way from school to get sodas from your machine.” Yujin explained, showing her can of soda with a smile.
The man immediately noticed how sweaty the two had gotten. Yujin’s hair was a mess and the (YN)’s uniform already had wrinkled up from their shenanigans.
“Aish, why did you two run from the school, especially in this weather? Look how dirty you two have gotten.” Mr.Kim told the two young teens.
“This was the only place we knew had anything cold to serve so we just had to go here.” It was (YN)’s turn to explain themselves.
“Aigoo~ You two shouldn’t stay in the sun for too long. It’s lucky that I found you two. You can cool down inside, if you’d like.” The older man offered them.
Yujin immediately nodded her head with (YN) following after her just as eager.
Since they would always pass by the small flower shop on their way home from school, it became some sort of place for them to hang out. Even more so because they knew the owner and he would let them stay inside for as long as they would like.
“Let’s head inside then. Luckily for you two, I just bought your favorite cream puffs. You can eat them as snacks while I water some of the flowers, okay?”
“Ooh, can I help?~ (YN) can help too!” Yujin raised her hand excitedly with the older man nodding his head at her.
“Okay, okay, let’s get ourselves inside. I can barely stand the heat much longer.” The man walked towards the door of the shop, with the two young teens following behind him. He slowly twisted the keys and pushed the door open.
*KRING!~*
“Could anyone tell me what the petals are for?”
Lim (YN) never would have thought that he would once again be sitting down and listening to a teacher ramble on and on to their students. He thought he had escaped this whole ordeal once he graduated from college but he guessed that he couldn’t run away from this one.
He looked at the class of kids that were inside the flowershop. All of them stared intently at the woman discussing at the side of the store. She had a rose in her hand as she enthusiastically explain its different parts.
(YN) could tell that she really enjoyed her job just from how happy she looked as she taught. She made sure to interact with the kids to keep their eyes on her by asking questions and joking about. It truly surprised him that each one of her questions were answered quickly, not just thrown into dead air.
If she was his teacher back then, he might’ve enjoyed the subjects she taught. Teachers like her felt hard to come by, most of the ones he studied under where either grumpy, an oldhead or both of them combined.
Her tone was as sweet like honey, smooth and soft, not strict nor harsh. Maybe that was how she got her name.
“Now everybody, how about we share our favorite flowers? Who would like to start?~” Hanni asked her class, clasping the flower with both of her hands.
One by one, the kids raised their hands. Each one of them went to the front and stood next to their teacher, naming the different flowers they liked, some had a liking for roses, some for tulips and some even said the sakura blossoms that bloomed in the spring.
“Hmmm~ Would anyone like to guess what mine is?” The teacher once again asked her class. Just like clockwork, her students started naming flowers left and right. But as they continued, none of them seemed to get it right.
He already knew the answer so why not give the kids a helping hand?
“Seowon-ah!” He softly whispered to the young black-haired girl sitting not too far from the front desk. She slowly turned around to her older brother who was cupping the side of his mouth.
“What is it, oppa?” She whispered right back.
“Her favorite flowers are daisies! Say it quickly!” (YN) replied, glancing back and forth between his sister and her teacher whom was still busy answering to the other kids.
“Whoever gets it first will get 3 plus points on their next quiz! Oh Seowonnie wants to try~” Hanni quickly turned to the girl’s direction, she also noticed the man sitting right beside her. He took a look at her eyes before turning his head away suspiciously.
“Teacher Pham’s favorite flowers are daisies!” Seowon shouted her answer towards her teacher and classmates. Hanni nodded her head, still with a smile.
“That’s right. My favorite ones are daisies! Looks like Seowonnie will get extra points~” Hanni announced. She looked at the small girl who quickly turned around to her brother for a small high hive.
Hanni already knew that she got her answer somewhere so to be fair, she’ll give everyone points.
“With that said, I’m still curious about one thing. If you took care of different flowers everyday, what would be your favorite one be?” (YN) slowly looked back at the teacher who was still looking at him.
“To answer that, why don’t we ask someone who does just that? (YN)-ssi! Could we have some of your time?” She pointed towards the man with the flower in her hands.
(YN) watched as the students, including his own sister, slowly turned their heads in his direction. He shyly smiled back at them before standing up to answer their teacher politely.
“To answer Teacher Pham’s question, I may take care of beautiful flowers but my favorite ones are not here.” (YN) said aloud to the now silent class.
“And to save everyone’s time, my favorite ones are yellow acacias. They look like if yellow circles covered a tree branch and sometimes even a whole tree.” He continued.
“Wuah~ Even I haven’t heard nor seen those yet but why do you like them?” Hanni said with amazement.
“I like them for what they symbolize…” (YN) told the class but he didn’t seem to continue on with his words. To not let the cheery air die, he quickly thought of something else to tell the class.
“Speaking of, does everybody know what roses symbolize?” (YN) asked the class.
“Love!” The whole class shouted back at him with their loud voices and smiles on their faces. Seeing them like that gave him some sort of an idea on why Hanni loves her tough job.
“That’s correct so it would only be right if someone that was so full of love would hold it. That’s why Teacher Pham could keep that rose~” (YN) quickly pointed at the bright red rose their teacher held.
The class turned towards their teacher before letting out teasing ooh’s, making her even more stunned than what she already was. She smiled before she chuckled as she swiped some strands of her hair back to the back of her ear.
The man’s quick thinking led him to tease her and it looked like it worked well with the class now smiling cheekily at their teacher.
Hanni only looked at him, shaking her head with (YN) replying with only a shake of his head before sitting back down on his seat. He saw her roll her eyes, before crossing her arms across her chest.
“Aish, who knew the florist had a few jokes up his sleeve? Anyways, I want everyone to roam around and look at the flowers with the remaining time we have left and might I remind everybody to be careful!” Hanni announced to her class before they stood up from their seats and divided themselves in flocks around the humble flower shop.
(YN) took this chance to once again relax. He leaned back against his chair, slowly tilting it enough to balance it on it’s hind legs. He placed his hands at the back of his head, just blankly listening to the sounds of shoes shuffling soft chit-chatter in front of him.
“Yellow acacias, that’s new.” Hanni’s voice came from his side unexpectedly. Her tone was much deeper than the high pitched one that she used as she taught.
He quickly opened his eyes and looked up at her. She still had a smile on, albeit small and she had tied her hair up with itself to make a ponytail.
Her eyes were wide, like if marbles were in place of her pupils but now they seemed to close in on themselves from how tired she was.
(YN) always taught that there were two sides of Hanni, same to the way that there were two sides of a single coin. One side was the one she showed most of the time when she is teaching, the side that most, if not all, of her students knew her.
The other side was one that she didn’t show anyone or has only shown to a select few people, the man next to her somehow found himself in that select group.
It was a side that she rarely showed because she really had no idea how to exactly describe it. Instead of being happy and cheerful teacher she was in the morning til the afternoon, she was a quiet and sometimes sappy person.
In her own words, it was one side that she could be herself.
“Never knew that you like those.” Hanni mumbled out as she leaned back on the wooden wall behind her.
“Well, you only asked me now.” (YN) replied, slowly standing up his seat before offering it to the teacher. She mouthed out a thank you with a smile before taking the seat and sitting down.
“I thought you were the type to like tulips or dandelions, not yellow acacias. I’m not even sure they’re real.” She continued, finally getting the chance to take a break.
“Of course, they’re real. It’s just that they don’t grow here. Plus, they hold a special meaning to me.” (YN) softly explained, turning his head forward.
“Meaning? What could flowers mean?” Hanni looked up at him in curiousity.
“It’s the same with what it could symbolize when you give flowers to another person. Sometimes it’s love and sometimes it could be friendship.” He glanced back down at Hanni.
“Then what do yellow acacias mean?”
Just like how one word could mean many things, it was the same for flowers. From one book of flowers to the next, their meanings could vary but there was one that he imprinted right on his heart which made the simple yellow flower grab its special place within him.
“Don’t worry about it.” (YN) said after he gulped down a breath.
Hanni raised a brow slightly in suspicion but she quickly brushed it off. She looked around at her students, each enjoying their time talking with their own groups but there was one of them that was standing in the middle of the shop, looking around as if she were lost.
“Yeonhee-yah~” Hanni called out from her seat. The girl turned towards her teacher, with her short bobbed hair swinging along. Hanni gestured her to come closer which the small girl did without a second thought.
“Don’t you want to take a look around?” Hanni asked the young girl.
(YN) silently watched over as Hanni continued to talk to her student. He quickly noticed the young girl acted shy and quiet with her always adjusting the thick glasses that she had over her eyes.
“Hanni, what’s happening? Is there anything I could you two with?” (YN) stepped closer to the two. Hanni looked at him cautiously, unsure about how she should tell him.
“Well…you see, Yeonhee here is havi-”
“No one wants to be my friend.” The small girl suddenly said, interrupting her teacher and surprising the man next to her. Hanni was stunned as she left her hand hanging in the air. The pair seemingly forgot how blunt kids could be.
“I’m sure that’s not true.” (YN) told her, as his best way to start consoling the young girl. He nodded his head towards the girl discretely, hoping Hanni would continue what he started.
“T-that’s not true so please don’t say that. If it were true then what would you call me?~” Hanni awkwardly chuckled, reaching for the young girl’s hand and holding it in between her own.
“Teacher..” Yeonhee mumbled out. Her teacher not only shook her head in disagreement but also gave her head a comforting pat as she ran her hand down her hair.
“I may be your teacher but I can also be your friend too, got that?” Hanni’s words must have gotten through the young girl as she nodded her head.
“Since I’m your friend, why don’t we take a look at some of the flowers?~” Hanni slowly stood up from behind the counter. Yeonhee looked at her teacher, now with eyes of excitement.
With the seat now free, (YN) slipped his way past her to get to it. That was until she suddenly tugged on one of the sleeves on his shirt which pulled his attention along with it.
“Where do you think you’re going sitting back down? This is the perfect time to bond with your sister, don’t be lazy now.” Hanni glared her eyes sharply at his.
“I-i was just getting something..” (YN) mumbled softly, averting his eyes from her gaze.
Hanni rolled her eyes at his excuse before they soon walked out from behind the counter.
“If I remember correctly, your favorite flowers are tulips, right?” Hanni then approached the young girl and softly held her hand. With a shy nod, Yeonhee answered her teacher.
“Tulips, now where could those be..”
“It should be at the shelf near the front door, and second vase from the top.” (YN) popped up beside her and pointed at one side of the shop. His response almost sort of robotic how he immediately knew where it was.
“Gee thanks, flower guy.” Hanni moved past him and giving his shoulder soft little push in the process with her arm.
As he watched Hanni go with her student to one side of the store, it was now time to do one of the other roles he played. It was time to become a good brother.
He looked around the flower shop, trying to spot a small girl with long black and curly hair. Seowon wasn’t that hard to spot as he immediately found her smal figure at another side of the store, standing alone before a big basket filled with the long stems of sunflowers.
(YN) wondered if she had a similar case to that of Yeonhee’s. Making friends might be difficult for anybody, especially children, so he hoped that his little sister wouldn’t have to experience it.
He watched Seowon as she lifted herself up on the tips of her shoes before she tried tugging on one of the petals of the yellow flower.
“Even though you’re my little sister, I would still have to charge you if you break those.” He told her, catching her off guard and making her land flat on her soles.
She placed her arms at her back as she hummed a tune, pretending not to hear her older borther.
“I’ll just pluck the ones in the garden then.” Seowon mumbled below her breath.
“As if I’ll let you do that but hey, I guess I’ll let this slip for now.” (YN) went beside her and picked out one of the sunflower’s in the basket.
“You can show this off to your classmates, bet that’ll make them jealous.” He offered the flower to his sister. The small girls took it in her arms before holding it closely, examining its petals.
“How about your friends? Maybe you’d like to give them some flowers too.” (YN) couldn’t find a better place to put his arms so he placed them in his pockets.
“Well, we can’t get them whole cherry blossom tree, right?” Seowon glanced up slightly.
“So that’s what they want? Why don’t you give them roses instead. Last time I checked, I have some pink ones around.” He told the smaller girl.
“What? I don’t want them to think that I like them.” Seowon shook her head.
“You’re only giving them a flower, what’s wrong with that? And what do you know about liking someone ah?” (YN) raised a brow at her.
“If roses mean that you love someone then they might get the wrong Idea.” The small girl argued back.
“What’s wrong with that? You love your friends, don’t you?”
Seowon looked away with a puff of her cheeks and a defeated pout on her lips. (YN) smiled as he picked up a basket of smaller flowers.
“Here, why don’t you give these around. You can say it’s from me.” He showed her the basket.
“But why do I have to do that when you work here?” Seowon replied.
(YN) didn’t really have an answer for you but if it helped his little sister make friends and socialize, he might have to pull out the big guns that would surely have an effect.
“If you empty out the basket, I’ll make you fried tofu and I’ll buy you cream puffs when I go home.” He said, leaning down for a whisper.
“Y-you will?” Seowon suddenlu glanced at her brother with a quick turn of her head. He nodded his head reassuringly before she exhaled softly and then taking the basket from his hand.
“Just make sure you get the puffs strawberry flavored.” The small girl told her brother before turning her back.
“Will do~” (YN) gave her a small salute with his fingers before he watched her approach her classmates who seemed to have accepted the flowers in her little basket.
(YN) chuckled thinking that if she had a red hood on, she would’ve done great acting as little red riding hood. Now with his sister, their teacher and every other student busy, he decided to walk back to his station behind the counter.
From his seat, he looked at the flower shop that bustled with the sounds of conversations from left to right. Despite being used to only a couple of people dropping by throughout the day, he wouldn’t mind if it was this busy everyday.
“Everyone walk out of the store in one line please!”
Hanni shouted to her class of children as they adjusted themselves near the front door of the store.
(YN) was standing on her side, watching as she adjusted her students until they formed a line with spaces in between each other.
Hanni clapped her hands together as she tidied them up. The same rose was in her hand throughout the class.
“I couldn’t really thank you enough for letting me use the shop.” The woman turned towards him to bow her head.
“It’s no problem, Hanni. Just know that if you need to use the shop again, I can always free up some space for you.” (YN) smiled at her before nodding his head down back at her.
“You really are so generous, aren’t you?” Hanni looked up as she chuckled widely. Her. eyes glittered off the light that shined down on her.
“I just know how to lend a helping hand whenever someone needs it.” (YN) replied.
“Well, I’ve been thinking of how to repay you for this…and I think I found a way.” Hanni told him, placing her arms on her back as the wind from the open door swayed through the long skirt she had on.
“What is it? O-oh I’m not telling you that you should repay me, I’m just curious.” (YN) shook a hand at her, chuckling softly as he did.
“Are you free tomorrow night, by any chance? I’ve been wanting to go to that new seafood place that recently opened up near the docks.” Hanni shyly offered, looking away from the man.
“Tomorrow night?…I um…” (YN) squinted his eyes for a moment, seemingly in thought.
“I understand if you’re busy! You could be resting or maybe doing one of your many jobs, it’s fine.” She reassured him with a smile despite fearing that her offer might be rejected.
“Aish, I’ll go with you. You should know that I don’t do any work at night. Even if I did, I would just save it for the next morning.” (YN) gave her shoulder a soft push as she panicked in her place.
“Wait really? You don’t have to put me first, we could just go another time.” Hanni continurd to question him.
“Didn’t you say you’ve been wanting to go there? So the sooner we get there, the better. Just tell me what time to show up and I’ll be there.”
The woman smiled widely before glancing down to the floor shyly. By the looks of things, her mood suddenly went ecstatic.
“How does six sound? I should be off work by then. And I probably have enough time to prepare.” She said, clutching the flower tightly in her hands.
“Sounds great, I’ll meet you at your door, Hanni.” (YN) agreed, sharing the wide smile she had.
“I’ll be seeing you then. For now, I need to bring these guys back to school.” Hanni then turned to her class that had gotten out from their line.
The small woman walked to the front of her students. “Is everyone ready?” She shouted to gather all of their attention. Soon after, each child turned around as they shuffled their way back into their line.
“Before we leave, I feel like we should say something to the very generous florist!~”
The class suddenly turned towards the man behind them, almost surprising him.
“Goodbye and thank you, Mr.(YN)!~” They all shouted in unison before giving him a bow.
(YN) smiled at their act, one part of him was glad that Hanni taught them some good manners but the other asked if they really had to do that outside the shop.
He waved goodbye to the class and their teacher before he watched them slowly walk away. He found them quite funny as their line quickly disappeared and they quickly bunched up behind the small woman.
It reminded him of ducklings following their mom everywhere they went.
He headed back inside the shop, closing the door behind him. As he walked to the counter, he glanced upon the clock hung on the wall.
(YN) sighed before unwrapping the straps of the gardening apron he wore, leaving his top half with a clean white polo. He placed the apron over the counter before grabbing his coat and bag that were hanging on the wall.
He wore his coat quickly then slung the bag over his shoulder.
One thing about the man was that despite running the shop all on his own, he still had the time and energy to do another job, one that he actually needed to do.
(YN) walked towards the front door. Once there, he flipped the open sign on the door and flipped the lightswitch off.
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