Chapter 9!

༝ ˚ ｡⋆ 𓇼 ⋆｡ ˚ ༝ ˚ ｡⋆ The Following Day ⋆｡ ˚ ༝ ˚ ｡⋆ 𓇼 ⋆｡ ˚ ༝

“So…is Yujin really back?”

(YN) blankly stared at the brown wooden table in front of him. In his hand was the stem of a rose and the other was a sharp pair of scissors. He carefully turned the flower around his hand until he found a thorn sticking out of its side.

He carefully placed the sharp thorn in between the blades of the scissors before he clamped down on his hand, cutting it off entirely.

With a heavy deep sigh, he placed the scissors down and placed the rose inside a basket filled with other red roses. He leaned back on his seat before glancing at Haein who sat to his side.

“I guess she is.” (YN) mumbled out a reply.

Haein looked at the expression in his face. In a way he looked blank, as if not a single thought was in his head but it was the complete opposite. He was sure that there was a storm going in his head, way stronger than any typhoon that could blow by town.

“She’s back in the town I swore she forgot.” (YN) continued with a bitter and venomous tone.

“You really hate her that much, huh?” Haein asked as (YN) nodded his head briefly. A small smile appeared on his face. Knowing him as long as Yujin did, that usually meant that he was feeling the opposite of hatred.

“Wait, if you’re here, did you leave Seowon alone at home?” Haein asked once more.

“Of course not. She had a playdate set with a friend today so I dropped her off at their house and made my way here. Gotta say, they really have a nice home.” (YN) chuckled.

Even if it was nothing but an empty let off of air, Haein was glad he still had some sense of what happiness was.

“Could you bring the roses out? I’ll go get the daisies.” (YN) stood up from his seat before walking towards the back of the small shop.

“Yes, sir.” Haein replied with a hint of sarcasm before picking up the basket of the red-petalled flower. He walked towards the door of the shop before pulling it open with a hand.

Haein was suddenly surrounded with a warm atmosphere. The sun was streaking through the streets with an extra flare today, lighting up even the darkest of corners in the street.

He took in a breath as he squinted his eyes and placed the basket next to the other sets of flowers on the rack. He looked at the different flowers and found that some of them had wilted and withered.

“That’s not a good look, is it?” He asked himself just as he decided to pick them out of their baskets to throw away.

He hummed out a soft tune.

He wasn’t expecting to look after his friend’s shop on his day off but here he is. After knowing what (YN) had seen last night, he felt that he needed to help and not only with taking care of the shop and its delicate flowers.

As he continued to pick up flowers, he could hear footsteps approaching.

“Look unnie, gerberas!”

Haein straightened his posture to find two girls walking together. One had shorter hair than the other yet, he could have still mistaken them as twins. The long haired girl looked at the flowers before she approached them.

“Good Morning~” Haein bowed his head at them to greet them.

“Good Morning, mister!”

“Good Morning.”

He heard them greet him back and he could tell that one of them had more energy than the other.

“Are you planning to get some flowers? These are the new batches, it’s best to get them while they’re fresh.” Haein told the pair, pointing an arm at the assortment of flowers on the rack.

“Actually, I was hoping to ask if you know the directions to the beach. We weren’t really planning on getting any flowers but maybe we could pick some up along the way.” The short-haired girl told the man.

“Ah, is that so? Let me see…” Haein turned his head down the street before finding the door opening and (YN) going out with a fresh set of daisies.

“Perfect, (YN) here knows the direction to any place like it’s on the back of his hand. It’s best to ask him.” Haein patted the back of his friend before he set down the basket in his hands.

“What’s going on?” The man asked, patting his gloved hands.

“They’re asking for directions to the beach. I was hoping you could tell them in clear detail, preferably.” Haein shrugged before letting his friend take the center stage.

“The beach? Well then, you could go down that path and then take a left. Walk further down the path and if you see a crossroad, take the one on the right. It leads to the beach while the other could be used to circle around back to the neighborhoods.” (YN) pointed his arm in front of them, mimicing the directions he was saying.

“That’s it? Alright, I got it. Thank you very much for the help. For the flowers, I was hoping you could bundle those up for her?” The short haired girl pointed back to the flower racks where her long haired companion had grabbed an assortment of colors from.

“Sure thing, just follow me inside.” (YN) flashed them a smile before guiding them inside the store with Haein following close behind.

Once (YN) reached the back of the table, he grabbed a piece of parchment paper and grabbed the roll of tape along with his trusty pair of scissors. He quickly bundled up the flowers in front of the group, all of them surprised that he could do that so quickly.

Grabbing pieces of decoration from a drawer under the table, he placed them all around the bouquet.

“Just one last piece of tape then…voila~” (YN) showed the girls the bouquet he had made in such a short span of time.

The long haired girl slowly took it into her hands while the short haired lady looked at it with a sense of familiarity, as if she had seen the same style of bouquet before.

“Wuah~ it looks so pretty~ I’m gonna brag this to Yujin unnie~” The long haired girl embraced the bouquet in her hands.

(YN) widened his eyes at the sound of her name. He glanced over to Haein who was already looking at him with the same shakened look in his eyes.

“This should be enough for it, right?”

The florist took the payment out of the short haired girl’s hands before navigating his hands through the register. With the right amount of change needed, he handed it back to the girl.

“Thank you again for the directions.”

“Thank you, flower man!”

The two men bowed their heads at the girls as they made their way out of the front door. Once they were out of sight, (YN) once again sighed heavily.

“Call me crazy but aren’t those Yujins’ groupmates? I swear I’ve seen them somewhere before.” Haein mumbled.

“They are. Mentioning her name was just the cherry on top. The long haired one was Leeseo and the other was Gaeul.” (YN) explained, trying his best to act unfazed.

“Wow, spoken like a true fanboy, you still recognized them through their facemasks.” Haein replied jokingly, making him scoff.

(YN) shook his head before taking off the apron he had. He pulled it over his neck before putting it over the table.