FLORA IN SPRING | ksj

02 | ROSES

THE WELCOMING SCENT of baked treats hit seokjin as soon as he opened the door of sweethearts. the shop attendant, francine, glanced up, a bright smile splitting her face as soon as she saw him. "hey, jin!" she waved. "hey, fran!" he grinned, holding the door open. he caught the teasing look and thumbs up she gave him when her eyes fell on flora. chuckling softly, he shook his head.

ushering flora towards the counter, he glanced around. the pastry shop was fairly full, only a couple of tables were unoccupied. luckily, one of those tables was right next to the window. he hoped it wouldn't be taken before they made their order.

"who's your friend, jin? seems to be a new face around here." the green haired girl whispered, eyes shifting quickly to the woman and back. seokjin glanced at flora, glad she had strayed behind, too distracted by the interior to hear francine's words.

"flora?" he called softly. she turned to look at him, walking up to stand next to him. "welcome to sweethearts." francine beamed. "flora, this is fran. a friend of mine. fran, this is flora. we went to the same high school and she just got back into town. she's a new contemporary ballet teacher." seokjin introduced. "at hoseokie's?" fran looked at him in question and he nodded.

"nice to meet you, fran." flora smiled graciously. "nice to meet you too, flora." francine grinned, holding a hand out over the counter. flora took it with a bigger smile. "what would you like?" fran returned to her professional self.

seokjin glanced down at the display case and gasped. "winter made apple rose tartlets?" his eyes fixated on the pretty mini rose shaped desserts. "i thought she said she won't be making any more until summer." he looked back at francine. "she's been in a good mood since last night." fran replied with a conspiratorial tone in her voice.

"her date with jimin?" his brows went up. "whatever he did, can he do it everyday?" his eyes were back on the mini tarts which had been crowned with thin apple slices carefully arranged to look like roses.

fran let out a laugh. "i wish. she even made the blueberry pavlova i've been begging her to for the last two weeks." she pointed. seokjin's mouth fell open. flora chuckled at his expression and he looked at her. "i'm guessing you get excited about desserts." she remarked softly. "food in general." fran clarified. "nice to know."

the tips of seokjin's ears flushed scarlet. "uh," he cleared his throat. "what would you like?" he asked as evenly as he could manage. "i guess i'll have one of the apple rose tartlets you're going crazy for." she grinned. "you can't have just one, trust me." he replied. "a proven fact." fran chimed in. "okay," flora laughed.

"i'll have the same." seokjin said. "i'll get our order. you could go take a seat at the table." he gestured the table he'd been eyeing earlier. "sure." flora smiled before heading for the table.

"so," fran began as she plated the dessert. "flora, huh?" she sent him a knowing look. "shut it, fran." he replied. he and flora were about to have an awkward discussion, he didn't want to feel self-conscious. she grinned at him in response, pushing the tray towards him. "good luck." she sent him a wink.

"thanks." he replied with a shake of his head. making his way to flora, he took a deep breath. placing the tray on the table, he sat across from her. "thank you." she smiled gracefully. "it's nothing." he replied easily. the conversation they were about to have, on the other hand, wasn't.

after agreeing to meet up today to talk about what had transpired only the day before, seokjin had barely been able to sleep. he'd replayed the moment he hadn't corrected mark's assumption and how flora hadn't clarified their relationship either. if what they had could even be referred to as one.

for a short blissful while, neither of them said a word, simply enjoying the sweet treats in front of them. seokjin savoured the taste of the tartlet, as well as the silence that hung over them.

"so," flora ventured, instantly sending his heart rate into a frenzy. he looked up in waiting. "you're probably wondering who exactly he was." she stated. rather than respond, seokjin pressed his lips in a line. he had an inkling but still he didn't want to outrightly assume.

"mark is my ex." she said, confirming his suspicions. "we broke up a little under two months ago after a three year relationship." she continued. his left brow arched in surprise. that was a quick recovery from such a long relationship. "actually, i broke up with him." she added with a humourless laugh.

fork digging into her tartlet, she glanced out the window. seokjin watched her carefully, curiosity travelling through his bloodstream. she seemed to be more affected by the breakup than he had. resting his hands on the table, he laced his fingers through each other. head turning, her eyes landed on him. "i mean yeah, i broke things off officially but he'd already ended things with me before that."

seokjin frowned, not quite understanding what she meant. his eyes moved over her face, patiently waiting for her to speak. her lips pressed together in a thin line and she let a heavy breath out her nose.

"i found out he was cheating on me. i couldn't bring myself to confront him about it no matter how hard i tried. i struggled with coming to terms with it, especially since he was still acting oh so sweet and loving with me. after debating with myself for over a week, i broke things off. told him i no longer loved him and just let him go. and to find out he's still with her..."

seokjin cast his gaze on his half eaten tartlet, trying to think of the right thing to say. it was heavy information, one that was she was clearly still delicate about, judging from her reaction to seeing the man again. he unlaced his hands.

she let out a dry laugh, hiding her face in her hands. "this is so embarrassing to talk about, especially when we barely know each other." she mumbled with a low groan.

"why should you be embarrassed?"

her head shot up, eyes meeting his. he gave her a small smile. "you weren't the one who cheated, neither were you in the wrong. no matter how i look at it, he should have been ashamed. to think he even had the effrontery to call out to you when he should have been hiding in shame is astounding." he continued in disbelief.

"wow, i wish i'd punched his stupid smug face in." he drawled in irritation, left hand clenching into a fist. flora let out a giggle, and then another until she was laughing unabashed. "thank you, jin." she smiled genuinely. he found himself smiling in response to her softened features.

"but i can't help but wonder why you stepped up." she added after a quick moment. "ah," he shifted his fork on his plate. "it was your face. you looked a bit... frazzled and panicked. but even more so, his face kept pissing me off and the words just tumbled out before i even realised."

his hand rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding her gaze. "i thought you were going to correct his assumption for a second. but you didn't." he pointed out. "yeah," she looked down, wringing her hands. "i didn't want him to know i was still single."

seokjin stared at her face, locks of her hair falling over her eyes as her head hung low. he let out a sigh, understanding what she meant. "you know, flora, you don't have to be in a relationship to show that you're much happier than when you were with him. you don't have to be with someone to be happy. and you definitely don't need to prove to that asshat that you're good without him." he told her softly.

her lips pursed and she shot a flitting glance his way before looking away. a soft smile tickled the corners of his mouth. "but if you need a friend to talk to and a hand to hold, i'll be there."

she looked at him, grinning widely. "thank you again, jin." she said. "you can thank me by finishing up that tartlet and enjoying it." picking up his fork, he pointed at her dessert. a small laugh escaped her lips, causing his smile to deepen.

and he hoped he could hear the sound more often, because he realised he'd missed it more than he knew.