WARNING: There will more than likely be side couples. If you have a problem with that, or if you decide to make a problem in the comment section, your comment will be deleted.
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"Soonyoung... I can't accept these."
"Oh, I thought.... I'm sorry."
"What kind of person buys flowers for their lover and just leaves it at that?"
"I'm sorry."
"... You know I don't feel that way about you."
"I'm sorry..."
"Why are you giving me these? I thought I told you I was dating somebody."
"... I meant to give you these as a congratulatory gift. I'm sorry if it came off in the wrong way..."
Soonyoung frowned as the familiar voices circled around in his mind. They were always lingering there, waiting; and even though they had existed inside of him for many years, he still had yet to understand why every time he stopped moving, the hurt they managed to cause doubled in magnitude. He had kept himself busy for years with the intent of forgetting the voices--the memories he had buried away--yet he just couldn't. They reminded him of everyone he had tried to love, and they reminded him of him.
"Soonyoung...?"
At the sound of his name, his head snapped up, his heart jolting with a volt of surprise. He hadn't expected a voice to interrupt his thoughts, as the flower shop he ran was on lunch break--meaning that no person should have come inside. "Get out," he ordered almost instantly, his voice unusually low. He had somehow said the words before his mind processed that the customer standing on the other side of the counter was not a customer; no, this man was far from it. "I told you to stop coming here."
The "customer" didn't respond to the command with words of his own, only took a few small steps back. He was obviously some type of nervous: his hands were shaking, his forehead was dotted with sweat, and his natural blue eyes couldn't seem to focus on anything. Perhaps he was even on the verge of a breakdown. In the end, though, it didn't matter. Soonyoung didn't care; he had seen this act too many times to be falling for it now.
"I... thought I'd come to see you," the male finally uttered as his eyes trailed up to meet Soonyoung's. They were sparkling and blue, and they were filled with what appeared to be anxiety.
"Really?" Soonyoung's hands clenched into angry fists at his sides, the veins popping beneath his skin. All of the hatred and resentment he held for this man came rushing back to him in waves, and soon enough, he was shouting. "Come and see me? Really? You cheated on me three years ago. Three! There is nothing for you here!" He rushed from his work station and stood before the male, hoping that this would be the action that would finally get his point across. His fists were burning, but he kept them exactly where they were. No matter how much his heart shouted at him, he would not resort to violence.
"But--"
"Soonyoung, I-oh?"
Suddenly, a third, much calmer voice interrupted them. It belonged to none other than the 2nd flower shop employee: Lee Seokmin. He was Soonyoung's long-time friend, and he--sweet as he was--had no tolerance for people who wrought pain upon others, so he immediately reacted to the situation. "You're here, huh?" He set the grocery bag that hung from his fingers down by the entrance, taking a step forward--towards the male that he recognized as his friend's cheating ex boyfriend. "I don't recall there being any reason for your visit."
"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.
"Nice to see you all again," Chan chided in a playful tone, waving lazily to the two employees that were already inside. He may not have sounded all that genuine with the way he chose to speak, but it was true: he had missed them, and it was nice to see them. They were his family just as his cat, Dino, was, and nothing would ever change that.
With a smile, he treaded over to the corner nearest to the door, where the table he occupied regularly was located, and slung his school backpack into the extra seat beside his own. "Oh, cool!" he exclaimed, noticing that an ice cold soda had been waiting for him.
Soonyoung just hummed happily, forcing his joyful facade as he did every other day of the year. "You're welcome, my dear student." An amused snort was immediately sent his way. "What? Am I wrong?" He added a laugh at the end of the question for effect and set his hand on the student's shoulder. Everyone was somewhat smiling, meaning the act was working so far. He was thankful for that, yet in all honesty, it was a shame. He was trying not to notice, but the pain still throbbed in the back of his mind.
Why was it he could convince everyone but himself?
"What's up with you? Your voice is more down than usual." Chan didn't hold back as he raised a suspicious eyebrow, narrowing his gaze. Often times, he noticed more than he let on, but it seemed today that the word "restraint" was not in his vocabulary. "Did it have to do with that guy walking out of here? I could of sworn he was crying or something. You didn't get into a fight, did you?"
Soonyoung's body instantly went rigid. He didn't want to answer any of those questions, whatsoever. His heart soon caught up with his mind and began to race. "I-I..." He had promised himself never to let on more about his pain than was absolutely necessary, but he wasn't sure what to say to satisfy everyone to the point that they wouldn't question him. Should he change the subject? Maybe tell them that he didn't want to talk about it? He didn't think he had it in him to stand there any longer. Those eyes, those eyes... They were too much.
"So, you see, what actually happened was..."
Seokmin quickly became the hero of the day. He jumped in to save his friend with words as smooth as he could make them, knowing that the blonde was less than comfortable. Maybe the way he felt towards the situation if have been different if he hadn't been there to experience it first hand, yet he had been there, and the look on Soonyoung's face then was not one that he would forget.
Thankful that the attention was being drawn away from him, Soonyoung took this opportunity to excuse himself to the backroom, where they kept all of the flowers, aprons, and extra work supplies. He made short a mental note to thank Seokmin later--though it was soon forgotten. There were too many things already bustling about in his mind that he couldn't have remembered anything else.
He silently slipped into the dark room and shut the door behind him. There in the darkness, where no one watched, he was okay to display what he was truly feeling. He allowed the exhaustion to drag him down, where he sat against the wall, his knees tucked to his chest. What had he done to deserve this constant suffering? Was it because he held his emotions in? Or was it because of him?
"Soonyoung, am I good to come in? I need to grab that purple vase."
The male jolted in his spot when Junhui's gentle voice broke the silence. "Y-yeah, just one second," he called out immediately, though just one second alone wouldn't be enough for him to calm his mind the way he wished to; truthfully, the thing was never calm, but he still valued the times where he made an effort. It was always better to try than to let it be, and when it came to the memories he held inside of him, there was no way he wouldn't try, whether it be to forget or to come to terms with the past.
He shakily gripped the handle and allowed the door to open.
"Thank you." Junhui, not noticing the heaviness in the air, ushered past him, to one of the very back shelves. He was fast in his steps, which made his trip in and out of the room a record breaking 5 seconds. "Alright, I will let you be now. Sorry for the interruption." As he said these words, he had an elegant vase clasped in his hold, weighing his arms down.
"Hey, Junhui?"
The male perked up at the sound of his name, tilting his head to the side. It didn't bother him that his apology hadn't been accepted, as now that he had been addressed directly, he saw the unusually sad depth held within his best friend's irises. "What is it?" he asked carefully.
Soonyoung didn't respond with anything for a few moments. His lips were pursed, his gaze drawn to the foreign student in the main room, who sat waiting, waiting, waiting for Junhui. The look in his eyes showed that he didn't care if the next day didn't arrive, so long as the man he loved still sat beside him.
The blonde's brows furrowed with recognition. He remembered when he himself used to be like that, and the thought of it made the painful throbbing inside of him that much harder to endure. "Is it nice...?" he finally whispered.
"Is what nice?"
"Is it... nice always having Minghao there?"
The other glanced down at the vase in his hands wordlessly. Was it nice? He wasn't sure. "I suppose it is," he settled with, and it was obvious that--in his mind--he was having some kind of battle with himself, yet neither of them made an effort to speak about it.
"You suppose?"
"Yeah, I... just suppose."
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Hello, welcome back if you've read one of my stories before, if not, welcome! *finger gun*
-Author 🖤