exo ; chanbaek | one&only ✦

16 | smile flower/laughter

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Upon landing both his feet onto the ground, Baekhyun leaned onto the ladder and admired his work with a sickening stare. 'Happy Valentine's Day!' the banner hung in bold lettering against a pastel red-like background colour. "More like 'Guess Who's Still Single Day'," Baekhyun rolled his eyes, sticking out his tongue at the new wall decoration as he began to open up the store.

On a usual occasion, the shop was minded by one salesman (/woman) at a time since the flower place was never a centre of attraction for the passing crowd. But on this cursed day, the manager tended to get the whole staff together and working; and that meant Baekhyun would not only have to face the rude customers, but the unfamiliarised co-workers as well.

And when the time came, and the clock announced the early hour of eight o'clock - Baekhyun flipped the door sign from close to open and awaited the day with a dreadful mind.

His companions were two (luckily) friendly girls who'd he seen before, their name tags clipped onto their jumpers as 'Joohyun' and 'Seungwan :)' and they busied themselves with the arrangement of rose bouquets. They laughed occasionally, keeping the atmosphere light, while Baekhyun sighed and wondered what happened to the fourth person on shift.

♫

Needless to say, Baekhyun's fingers stung from handling the excessive amount of roses; blame the cliché customers. But he'd been serving polite smiles and flower advices to each client possible - making sure they withdrew from the store with a warm beam on their faces; excited to present the newly purchased gift to their other half.

Every now and then, Baekhyun found himself feeling a little jealous, glancing at the couples as they walked hand in hand with grins on both their faces. Yet he also witnessed the cutest thing ever, in particular the exchange of daisy crowns that happened between the two girls that he shared his shift with that day, Joohyun and Seungwan. They both blushed madly, but as Baekhyun overheard them whisper; they were now just another happy couple, going out, dating.

In truth, he found it adorable as he let himself fanboy behind the counter while an old man picked out (thank God) not a bunch of roses, but instead a gathering of seasonal daffodils. "My wife appreciates simplicity in life," he explained with a wrinkled chuckle.

Baekhyun smiled genuinely at his words, for a moment wondering if he would have a special someone to share his future with. But trying not to ponder over the thought; he occupied his mind with work instead, assisting the consumers with care.

And as he fixed the buckets of flowers; and mopped the floors from time to time, he found himself recalling the days he'd spent in Chanyeol's company over the past month that they've gotten closer. Of course them days were probably the most memorable moments of his life; working on music and spending time with friends - all he really needed to be happy.

But one could not forget, and one could not but doubt the younger boy's intentions. And Baekhyun understood; he was fully conscious that Chanyeol was most likely only acting nice for him to join his record label, after all - the boy was desperate. But at the same time, at this point in particular, he didn't care if he was being used. Sure it was quite hurtful to withstand the oblivious pain but it's not like it wasn't worth it.

Because it was most definitely worth it.

♫

The little bell above the store echoed for the thousandth time that afternoon, and Baekhyun looked up from the tulips in expectation to see just another common customer; not Chanyeol.

But the tall boy's hands were flustered into his coat pockets, his ears and nose red, and lips blue from the troublesome weather outside. His eyes momentarily landing on Baekhyun's as a small smile tugged in the corner of his mouth, slowly, he approached the boy; careful not to slip over the fallen petals and the wet floor.

"Chan? Hi- Happy Valentine's Day," Baekhyun couldn't stop the forced introduction of the day.

Taken aback for a second; Chanyeol shook his head and then returned the words in the same simple manner, "How you been? Still alive I see," he chuckled.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes sarcastically with a grin, "Shift's almost over, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be," he stood up, leaving the tulips and pacing towards the lilies that he heard Joohyun request earlier; Chanyeol following him behind, "Yeah? Well that's good then," he heard him mutter.

"But don't get me wrong, I still think Valentine's is a day just to mock all of us single people," Baekhyun reasoned as Chanyeol nodded in agreement - the older boy then handled the lilies over to his co-worker, she smiled in response and murmured a 'thank you' before skipping off.

"What's with her? Haven't seen a girl so happy before," Chanyeol glanced back and forth, his tone amused but not mean.

"Oh Joohyun? She's just cheerful about getting a girlfriend," he laughed, "See that daisy crown? Her girlfriend has the same one; they've managed to get identical ones for each other by accident before they confessed and so now they're matching - isn't it so cute?" Baekhyun faced the taller boy that held both an expression of happiness and ultimate surprise.

"That's so sweet," Chanyeol whispered but then faced the older boy with a smirk, "Should I question why you know this?"

Baekhyun blushed, "Hey! You can't blame me for eavesdropping-"

The younger boy laughed, his lips in a thin line as he shook his head and then reached his hand to mess up the boy's hair, tickling him lightly with his other hand, "Now this is what you get for eavesdropping-"

"-Chan, oh my God, not here - I'm still working!" Baekhyun yelped from the attacking sensation, a laugh escaping his lips.

"Well then I'll just have to wait until you finished, I've something to talk to you about," he stopped with the tickling and leaned over the counter-table as thoughts flashed through the older boy's eyes. "About wha-" his question was cut off by a girl's voice.

"Hey Baekhyun!" she got his attention from the other corner of the store, "It's fine, you should go now, don't keep the guy waiting! We'll close everything up ourselves!"

"Are you sure Seungwan?" he called back uncertainly, but she only nodded eagerly. With that, Baekhyun didn't hesitate, and so he quickly disappeared to the small staff room to take his bag and coat, leaving Chanyeol for a minute as a smirk grew on the younger boy's face.

And once Baekhyun returned, he waved a goodbye at the girls, "Thanks guys, and Happy Valentine's Day!" for once he didn't want to throw up after saying the phrase, but as they left the shop and were out of ear-shot; the older boy murmured, "They were totally eavesdropping.."

"Well that's what you get," Chanyeol laughed at him, suddenly pulling out a blur of colours from a paper bag that Baekhyun recognised was from his flower store. "Here," the taller boy placed the blue flowers on the other's head, "Now you have your own little flower crown."

Baekhyun stood, his feet plastered onto the ground as the blush on his face made him want to sink right through the concrete surface.

"Now let's go, how about some tonkatsu? There's things we need to talk about," Chanyeol smiled, tugging his flower-boy along.

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written: april 15, 2017
니카 :3

uploaded: may 24, 2017