"Yeah, I... just suppose."
----
"Hey... Did you know there was a saying about dandelions?" young Soonyoung asked softly, his nervous gaze trailing upwards to meet his friend's own. His cheeks were already burning, and his heart was already pounding. He curled his fingers around a little dandelion and plucked it from the grass. "Jihoon?"
Lee Jihoon, the other's childhood friend, looked down from the bright blue sky, to face the male who had called for his attention. The clouds floating up above casted faint shadows on the ground. "What? There's a saying?" He, too, yanked a dandelion from its roots and pulled it close to the tip of his nose, getting a better look at it. "What is it?"
"Well..."
Soonyoung sighed softly. He was beginning to wish that he hadn't started what he had planned to be his confession--but it was too late for regrets and second thoughts. No matter what, he had to say it. With shaky hands, he slid the dandelion behind his friend's ear and said, "Apparently, if you rub a dandelion on someone and there is a yellow mark left behind, it means that you like them."
Jihoon's thin lips parted in surprise. "Really?"
"Yeah."
The other quickly retrieved the bud from behind his ear and pulled it down, so he could see it clearly. His wide eyes studied it in awe. He didn't know that the weeds everyone thought were so annoying could do something so important. It was crazy. "Here." He gave the dandelion back to Soonyoung--who took it clumsily--and uncurled his fingers, allowing his palm to be accessed. He was curious, now--and not just innocently curious. No, he wanted to know. "Rub it on my hand."
Soonyoung's innocent eyes grew larger. He had already planned on confessing using this method, but having Jihoon go along with it like this? He hadn't expected it at all. It almost knocked the air out of him. "I... okay." He gulped and gently ran the bud of the flower over his friend's palm.
And just as he knew there would be, there it was: a streak of yellow.
Soonyoung looked down to his lap bashfully, his cheeks and ears burning with more of an intensity than they were before. His heart was pounding as he waited for the rejection, but it never came.
"Okay, my turn." After a few moments of silence, the other retrieved a single dandelion from the grass and pulled Soonyoung's hand over to him. He grasped the stem of the weed between his thumb and index finger, and froze--but then, with a slight nod to himself, he proceeded to run the bud across the male's open palm.
Soonyoung gasped.
Yellow....
"Now you know," Jihoon said, smiling softly up at him.
"Yeah, I..." Soonyoung watched his friend's warm eyes: warm and kind like the summer heat around them. The organ within his ribcage had slowed with relief, and he knew then that nothing would ever beat this moment. "I guess I do."
With a quiet gasp, Soonyoung jolted awake, the bittersweet dream still fresh in his mind. However, it wasn't a dream so much as it was a memory: a memory from long ago, when he was oblivious and happy, when he was with him. His tired eyes glazed over against his will, and with only a sigh to disturb the silence, he rolled over and once more shut his eyes.
He wanted desperately to go back.
----
Per usual, the first customer of the day was Chwe Hansol, a handsome male with beautiful hazelnut eyes and corresponding brown locks. He was always the first guest in after the shop opened; and he had to be, not just because he wanted to visit the workers, but because he had a responsibility: picking up flowers for his boyfriend, Boo Seungkwan, every morning.
"Good morning!" Soonyoung greeted enthusiastically, breaking out into a large smile. "Let me guess, flowers for Seungkwan again?" He didn't need to wait for the answer to his question, though, as he was already preparing the silky green wrapping that Hansol always had his bouquets wrapped in. "Am I right?"
Hansol simply nodded. "Yep. There is no way that I'll won't get him flowers, not when he cares for me so much." He distractedly shuffled around in his pocket before pulling out his worn, black wallet. "Besides, today is the anniversary of the day we first kissed. He deserves something extra special." On the counter, he set down the amount of cash he knew he would owe and stepped back to survey all of the flowers lining the back wall--this wall was one that had been there since before he first became a customer. It put on display every flower they had in stock, by setting twelve of each in their own respective vases, which were labeled neatly. Some of the vases were placed on shelves, others on the counter just below. Beautiful would have to be how it was described. "Do you think there is a special flower I should get for the occasion?"
Soonyoung let out a thoughtful hum, then nodded. "Probably."
"What would you suggest?"
"Well... what about red irises?"
"Red irises?" Hansol repeated, as he had never heard of those kinds of flowers until now. "What do those mean?"
Soonyoung just laughed and reached for a few of the crimson flowers in the vase behind him. "Well, I guess you could say you burn and pine for whoever it is that you give it to." He playfully looked up from his hands, which were already preparing Hansol's bouquet. "What do you think?"
And honestly, Soonyoung half expected the male to freeze up from shyness, yet he could only giggle when the customer's dark eyes brightened and he declared, "That's perfect!"
"That's good, then."
Only a few minutes after Hansol left--his Christmas-looking bouquet held to his chest--the second customer of day appeared. He was one that didn't visit everyday, nor did he have a specific time he liked to come in; actually, his visits were pretty scarce, but when he did show up, he always had the sweetest smile gracing his lips, like he was coming back to greet an old friend.
"Hey, Soonyoung!" he called out cheerfully, his brown bangs hanging just over his eyelashes. His face was one that was naturally flushed.
Hearing his name, the shop owner turned away from the display bouquet he was preparing and smiled. "Seungcheol! Hi!" Everyday that this customer visited, he always requested the same kind of flowers, so with not a single second of thought, Soonyoung followed up with, "I take it you want red roses?"
"Of course." Seungcheol smiled contentedly at the blonde. "And can you add a tag? One that makes it out to my boyfriend Yoon Jeonghan."
"Oh, of course!" Making use of his muscle memory, the blonde reached beneath the marbled counter and pulled out a bin of tie on tags. On the card, he neatly wrote the name "Yoon Jeonghan," then placed it to the side for when he would need it.
The male's fingers worked skillfully in preparing the bouquet of crimson flowers, and only a few minutes later, Seungcheol had payed and left, allowing the next customer to step up in line.
"Hi, I'm Hong Jisoo," an awfully pretty yet nervous sounding male said, his eyes flitting from his feet to the counter. He must not have picked up flowers before; it was more than likely a nerve wracking feat for him... poor guy. "Can I get a bouquet of red roses? Out to my boyfriend Yoon Jeonghan?" His fingers were intertwined and rubbing up against each other, creating raw patches of skin along his knuckles.
He really didn't have to be so nervous.
Soonyoung sent him a caring smile, as he hated to see his customers scared--or even embarrassed, if that was what Jisoo was. His place was supposed to be one of peace and serenity, not one where people had to try to keep from running away. "No need to be so nervous," he assured softly. "No one here is going to think you're weird for wanting flowers." He sagged his entire frame, hoping it would keep him from looking intense, and reached around to grab the requested flowers. "And you said red roses? To who?"
"Yoon... Yoon Jeonghan."
At the sound of the name, Soonyoung's eyebrows immediately rose in confusion--he almost asked if he heard right--yet he decided to say nothing about the odd occurrence. Instead, he waited until his first break, so he could consult with his fellow coworkers and get their opinions on the situation.
"Guys!" he called out once the hands ticked against the correct numbers on the clock, hurriedly approaching Junhui and Seokmin. "Guys, guys, guys!" He pat both of their arms with an urgent excitement--as excited as the sad memories would let him be--when he was finally close enough to do so, even though the situation was nothing to be excited about.
Junhui and Seokmin faced him with interest, simultaneously questioning, "What?"
Soonyoung only smiled. "I had two customers come in asking for red roses addressed to their boyfriend, Yoon Jeonghan--and both said they were dating Jeonghan. You think this Jeonghan person is cheating? Think they're in a three way relationship? What's your take?"
Junhui went rigid at the news, more than likely from shock, before gradually relaxing and offering an unsure smile. "I'd say this guy might just be... in love with two people... maybe." His words became more and more quiet as his sentence progressed, until he eventually silenced himself. It... wasn't really his place, anyway.
"Hmm..." Seokmin's head teetered left and right in a moment of consideration before he simply shrugged. "Probably cheating. That's my guess."
"Oh, come on, you're so negative..."
"Pffft, no, I'm not."
"Yes, you are. Always."
"I'm really not. You're the negative one."
"I am not!"
"Sure, sure. Whatever you say."
"Well, have fun. I'm gonna head back to the counter." The blonde, not wanting to stick around for their impending argument, quickly waved goodbye and headed back to his work station.
Once there, he pulled out the metallic purple wrapping he had planned on cutting for a small project and slid the scissors he grabbed up and down, then left and down again. He began to hum a quiet, made-up tune, which was something he almost never did. Then again, the humming might have just been another action to keep his mind from traveling back to that dream he had, one that offered so much nostalgia it hurt.
He couldn't afford to miss his childhood love any longer; it was too late for that. Sitting around and moping would do nothing for him, so he would just have to forget, forget, forget...
"Excuse me?"
"Yes?"
And when he looked up at the voice, he could of sworn it was Jihoon standing in front of him.
----
Kidult is really such a good song :(
-Author 🖤