𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 ☾︎ soonhoon

C H P - 1

"Get out," the blonde shop owner said again, tagging onto his friend's previous words. His face was composed yet burning with anger. "Don't cause any more trouble than you need to."

The ex's saddened expression distorted with what could only be a combination of denial and disbelief. He moved to protest their words, but when he realized that this conversation could be postponed for another time--a time when he wasn't outnumbered--his mouth screwed shut. He had waited before, so of course he could wait again. "Okay..." Then he froze for a moment--perhaps doubting his decision to let this be--before he just sucked in a breath and scurried away.

"Oh, gosh..." Soonyoung's anger quickly dissipated, and, as always, it left his body full of exhaustion. His shoulders slumped from their squared position as he stretched his fingers, hoping that the action would prevent any cramping later on.

He wasn't used to getting so worked up over things. Normally, he was already consumed with so much mental pain that he didn't have the time to feel anything else. Something was wrong--he knew that--but the only thing that could possibly explain the change in his disposition would be his lack of sleep. Then again, he didn't know if he could pin it on that; was it even scientifically accurate?

"Are you alright?" Seokmin questioned in a soft voice, carefully placing his hand on the male's own. There was silence for a few moments before he received an unsure nod; and one might think that he would be mad about the lack of response, but he wasn't. He understood, so to drop the subject, he smiled, adding, "I brought some more ribbons! If that makes it better."

"It does, thank you." Soonyoung took it upon himself to offer a smile, too--although it was not nearly as believable. Exhaustion tugged the ends of his lips downwards, making it obvious to Seokmin that it was forced (he would give him an A+ for effort, though). "Would you mind setting them up under the counter before we open? I've got to wipe things down."

The male once again sent the other a smile, one that conveyed the words, "Of course," and gave two quick pats to Soonyoung's upper arm. He knew better than to push things, meaning with that and nothing more, he returned to where his plastic bag still sat, slung his fingers beneath the straps, and took it over to the counter.

Soonyoung soon began working, as well. He followed all of the steps on his mental list, until every surface inside of the flower shop was squeaky clean. Or at least, it should have been squeaky clean. However, he was way off his game, so every few tiles or so, there was a build up of dust particles. 

The seconds passed quickly as the silence lingered between them; in what seemed like no time at all, the third and last employee, Wen Junhui, was walking in from his lunch break, two high-schoolers attached to his back. It was no doubt that both of the students were handsome--absurdly so. The first was Xu Minghao, a talented foreign exchange student, and the second was the silly but observant Lee Chan. 

Chan, the youngest of the two, was the type of person to annoy anyone at any given time--it was how he showed his love--so he spent almost every day at the shop: completing school work, pestering the workers, doing whatever he felt like doing. He was too loveable to shun away, and because of that, people (employees and customers alike) were forced to deal with him.

Minghao, on the other hand, had an agenda. Sure, he liked the flower shop, and sure, he liked to hang out with the employees, but he wasn't here to make friends. No, he was here to get a boyfriend. Half a year ago, one of the employees had caught his attention, and ever since then, he had dedicated all of his time to hanging around Junhui, vowing that one day--even a year would be okay--he would get the male to fall in love with him.