Dahlia

40

"What's with him?" Hyunjae squinted his eyes to see Haknyeon better from inside his car. That boy with a navy blue apron hugging his body was anxiously standing in front of the shop and once in a while would wipe his palms against the fabric.

Well, Hyunjae simply ignored the weird behaviour of the younger and took his time to climb down his car, and locked it before he trailed the sidewalk to get to the shop. For, he never knew that Haknyeon was waiting for him. Approximately a meter gap, then only he noticed the boy stomping his foot in frustration, hands balled beside his frame.

"Why are you so late?!" He yelled whispered, still stomping his foot. "Faster, bro!"

The younger beckoned him with the furious move of his hand, but Hyunjae being the unserious human on Earth - he delayed it more. And it got Haknyeon frustrated more and more, he was then jogged towards the older, draped an arm around his shoulder and strongly pulled Hyunjae closer to him.

"Your wife is here," he announced.

"What?!" Hyunjae tried to untangle the not-so-friendly hug but Haknyeon wouldn't let him go. "Why are you only telling me now? Where is she?"

"Inside, obviously," Haknyeon rolled his eyes. "But..."

He trailed off, along with his gaze towards the shop. Hyunjae followed suit, once again squinting his eyes as he noticed the glimpse of his wife behind the window display, blankly staring at the flowers lined up.

She looked distraught. Even from a distance while Hyunjae had bad eyesight, he still could see the subtle movement of her eyeballs along the width of the accessed sight. And that meant serious - because she would do that whenever she was in a deep thought.

"She has been like that since she arrived," Haknyeon pondered. "And she never focused when I talked to her."

"Why though?" Hyunjae then exhaled a lump of air and moved towards the shop just to prove that Haknyeon was right.

When the entrance was opened, there would be a wind chime ringing to alert the people inside that there were customers at the door. But, Nara did not hear that or she wasn't able to hear because her ability was blocked by thousands of unwanted thoughts in her head.

In her hand was a dahlia that once in a while she would bring closer to her nose, taking a sniff of it. She did it very casually as if the flower was a therapy for her and like it was a remedy for her sickness.

"Nara..." Hyunjae called and that was when the female flinched, immediately turning her head to the voice's source.

There was a fear on her face which made Hyunjae knit his brows upon seeing. Why does she look scared? Hyunjae thought hard about it which had invited anger in him. He started thinking that Younghoon might have done something traumatic to her, but he couldn't lash out so freely.

For, she hated hasty action.

"When did you arrive?" She questioned, slowly softening her tense body. "I... didn't notice."

"How would you if you were in your own world," the reply unfortunately came out stern and then a nudge was felt on Hyunjae's arm.

"Calm down..." Haknyeon whispered.

Nara slightly nodded as she stared at the dahlia in her hand. She seemed to understand why such a reaction would be coming out from her husband and so she would never complain. It was partially her fault after all.

"I... brought you a drink," she suddenly announced, hesitantly pulling her smile. "I put it in the office. Drink it if you feel like it."

It was then that Haknyeon scoffed and all pairs of eyes then darted on him. The younger obviously, never expected to see this coming from a couple whom he looked up to a year ago. The awkwardness between them was not their thing, to begin with, but, here they were living a life they had never been in.

"What exactly happened to you two?" The boy questioned, and his eyes then flickered between them both. "One time Nara is mad and another time Hyunjae is mad. Then, when your problem will be settled?"

"I wonder too," Hyunjae replied, his dark orbs staring deep into his wife's. He hoped Nara could see the emotion in his, he hoped she could tell that this anger built up inside him was because of the worries he had over her. "I'll be at the back."

At the announcement, he disappeared behind the opaque door, the thud after it was slammed was quite loud. But, Hyunjae didn't seem to care to check on the people he left behind, and neither did he glance back.

He went into his temporary office - the one that was Nara's and would forever be hers, noticing the drink she highlighted earlier on the table, next to the frame of their wedding picture. Just from a glance, he could tell what flavour it was because Nara was well aware of his favourite.

This was the best part of being a husband to Lee Nara. For, she would show a mountain of effort once she realized that she probably had done something wrong. She did have her ego and wanted to win in all arguments. Nonetheless, within the moment of silence the two created, she would never hesitate to back down.

Admitting my defeat doesn't mean I'm losing, she once said.

There was a letter she prepared - written on a blue mid-sized paper. Now, it felt real that Lee Nara had come back, and Hyunjae totally, looked forward to receiving more letters in the future.

Plopping down the chair, Hyunjae excitedly opened the letter, her neat handwriting greeting him. And at the first line, he couldn't hold his smile.

You know that I will always love you, right?"

"Tch... do you want me to answer that loudly?" He shyly scoffed.

I was being too much, I'm sorry. Looking back, I don't think that I should be mad too much at you. You have the right to be concerned and I should've understood. Maybe, I was too anxious if this plan failed. But, Jaehyun...

He paused again, admiring the name.

I don't mean to avoid you. I guess, I was too sensitive and I hope you can forgive me. Jaehyun, you can be mad at me but I hope you can accept the gift I prepared for you.

"Gift?" Hyunjae frowned as he skimmed the table and eventually breathed out as he spotted a rectangular box next to the plastic cup of the drink. "When did she have time to buy all this? She said she was sick?"

He might have complained a lot but deep down he was the proudest husband on Earth. He definitely, needn't do much to have a good wife and he was too grateful that they were fated.

Hyunjae did not expect a Rolex watch or a luxurious car key inside the box. He would accept it with all his heart even if it was only a meal coupon his wife prepared.

But, there was this saying: that the best thing would come in the moment we less expected.

And the gift she prepared for him was so luxurious that he dropped his jaw almost instantly upon seeing it. He tried to stand but his legs eventually turned jelly, no words could be generated and he did not know what to do either.

Nonetheless, he managed to recover from the shock, collecting all the stuff before he headed back into the front compartment of the shop.

"Nara..." He called but she wasn't there. It was only Haknyeon talking to the flowers. "Where is she?"

"She said she needs fresh air," Haknyeon pointed outside. "Why?"

"Nothing," Hyunjae rushed to the exit, momentarily halting to glance over at Haknyeon. "Your query about when will we be in peace... I'll declare it now."