Now and for the Last Time

18 장

The boss thing was new, since the incident earlier when I'd told him that no, he couldn't accept when one of the bridesmaid asked him to dance. I assumed he'd known this already, having extended the same offer to me at his own mother's wedding. My assumptions were always wrong when it came to Sehun.

"No dancing?" he wined, once I'd told him to decline. Still, I could feel the bridesmaid, ever hopeful, hovering behind me. "Aren't we here to make sure the party is perfect?"

"You really think that much of your conga skills?"

"Well, no," he replied, although clearly, he did. "but a good wedding is at least ninety-five percent based on a great dance floor experience. I can help with that."

In the business less than a week and he was quoting statistics. Made-up ones, but statistics. "We're not here to enjoy the party. We're here to make sure everyone else does."

"What if their enjoyment could be enhanced by us contributing our own?"

"It doesn't work that way," I said, as a girl in their late twenties, wearing a pink dress, began crossing the dance floor in his direction, that look on her face. What was he, a dancing magnet? "Just politely say no, tell them you're working, and move off the dance floor. If you're not here, you can't be asked."

He pointed at me. "That's my motto in general when it comes to dancing. You have to put yourself out there!" I looked at his finger. He lowered it, slowly. "I mean, unless you're working. Sorry, boss."

"I'm not your boss," I grumbled, walking to the buffet line. When I looked back, he was shaking his head, smiling, as the girl in pink tried to lead him farther into the shifting crowd. When he backed away, she made a sad face, then pretended to wipe a tear.

Just recalling this was making me even crankier, so I got to my feet, collecting the vase from the table where I'd been sitting, then the one next to it. I was all set to snap at Sehun as he finally did come over, but when I saw he was carrying three others, one in each hand and another pressed to his chest. "Where should I pour these out?" he asked.

"I just put them in the crate for now and we'll do it outside," I said. I always hated a wedding when we had to collect equipment after the fact, preferring the ones my mom called Zero Fingerprint, where we just left it all for the venue to deal with. As I picked up another vase, I saw Jessica walking the room, shoes on now, the bouquet dangling down beside her. "What was she saying to you?"

"Who?" I nodded at her. "Jessica? Nothing much. Just wondering where she could grab a martini at this late hour. I told her I knew just the place."

"You're going out with her tonight?"

"It's just a drink. And a ride for me and Vivi, which is a good thing. Our dogs are tired."

I walked over to the wooden rack we'd stored under the cake table and slid the vases into them. The flowers, white daises mixed with those peonies I'd loved, had held up well, still perky as they bobbed in their water.

"So what happens to these now?" Sehun asked, as he added his vases to the rack.

"The flowers?" I questioned. "Usually we toss them."

"Really? Seems wasterful."

"Maybe," I said. "But after picking them up, arranging them, putting them out on the tables, and then collecting them back up, I feel like our relationship has run its full course."

I could sense him watching me as I slid another vase in, a few petals falling off one sunflower as I did so. "Do you look at everything in terms of coupling and uncoupling?"

I shrugged. "Unavoidable effect of the business, I guess. Grab those across the room, will you? I'll get this side."

"On it, boss." This time, I didn't have the energy to correct him.

"I need to go to the restroom, so I'll take final sweep," Wooyoung called as he and my mom, ritual completed, got up from their chairs. "What's left besides that and vases?"

"Cake top from the fridge," Eomma told him. "Tiffany's mother is supposed to come by the office for it first thing Monday morning."

"And then we're done," he replied, holding up a hand. She gave him a high five - the champagne was showing - and they headed in their separate directions as Sehun and I finished filling the rack and carried it outside to the van. There, in the parking lot light, we dumped the water out of each vases, putting the flowers on the curb. By the time we're done, all I could smell were the flowers.

"So long, flowers," Sehun told the blooms, a sad look on his face. "It's not you, it's us."

I rolled my eyes but didn't say anything, instead focusing on getting the rack secured for the trip back to the office. By the time Wooyoung and my mom came out, I'd slipped my feet out of the backs of my own shoes, feeling ever closer to the night's end and my barefoot drive home.

"Good job, team," Eomma said as she pulled her keys out of her purse. "Thanks to Sehun and Suzy in particular for finding a lost child."

"Thank you, ma'am," he replied, giving her a salute. "It was the least I could do for the company."

Wooyoung laughed. "I like this kid. So dedicated!"

The child wouldn't have been lost if it wasn't for his dog, I wanted to say. I didn't.

"Monday," my mom continued, "we turn our full attention to the Somin Jeon Wedding. It's a double hander, with a very deatil-oriented bride. So rest."

With that, Wooyoung climbed into the van, taking off his suit jacket, while my mom headed toward her car. I reached back, taking down the bun I always wore when working, then rang a hand through the locks as I looked for my own keys. When I looked up, Sehun was getting to his feet, a bunch of the discarded flowers in his arms. He'd wrapped them with a crumpled program, fashioning a huge, trailing bouquet, which he held out to me.

"Oh," I gasped, suddenly feeling bad about how short I'd been with him all night. Not that it was exactly proper to give a co-worker flowers, but still, a nice gesture. "You shouldn't -"

"No?" He looked down at them. "You said you were throwing them out, so I thought it was okay if I took them."

I heard footsteps, and then Jessica stepped out from behind the next row of cars. "Sehun? You ready to go get that drink?"

He was still looking at me. "Of course," I said. "It's fine."

"See you Monday, Suzy," he said, then walked over to her, holding the flowers out in greeting. Taking them, she ducked her head down to breathe in the scent, and I thought of her waiting for the bride to throw the bouquet earlier, how she'd gone into a crouch, eyes sharp, determined to be the lucky one. It was so calculated, so different from this, unexpected in that way only weddings could be.

"Later," I answered, not that either of them heard me as they walked over to the loading bay, I assumed to get Vivi. I waited until they were out of sight before I walked back to the curb, where all the flowers still lay, petals around them. I picked up one daisy, succulent, and a sunflower, then thought better and left them where they were. There's a difference between things given and those you simply find. Jessica knew it, and I did, too. I never expected anything from anyone. Which was not the same thing as not wanting, ever, to be surprised.