✓LOVER BOY | hwang hyunjin

25. Thundering and Bouquets

It was raining harshly. The streets were filling up with puddles, and the yawning didn't do much to keep away the splashing rain. It felt peaceful and delirious at the same time. The stubborn static only seemed to take up it's pace when one lend an ear to hear to it's tales. Yeseul couldn't wander around much today since Hyunjin was nowhere to be found. Their manager later told Yeseul snippets of him arriving early to bring in the new flowers that had been delivered earlier. He had left soon after in hurry. This made Yeseul feel a bubbling worry ignite inside, but she pushed back the thoughts, resuming to smiling at the customers, listening to their stories of where their flowers would reach today.

Yeseul adored the idea of receiving flowers a bit too much. Despite spending the past few days in the shop, putting bouquets in neat orders, she could never fill up the desire to be on the receiving end of it. She smiled dreamily, wondering about her friends.

______

Hyunjin was drenched from head to toe. He gritted his teeth, trying not to be effected by the cold, but the wind kept lashing all around him, putting him in the middle of an extremely inconvenient moment. He glanced at his phone, cursing beneath his breath. "Why is he so late?"

"Hyung!" A distant voice called out to him. Hyunjin rolled his eyes, turning back. He gave a very displeased smile to Jeongin who was now running towards him, safe from the rain under his umbrella.

"You're drenched." Jeongin awkwardly examined his friend who could murder him on spot if he wanted to. "Sorry." Whispering the apology he pulled out a folded napkin. "Here. Dry yourself up."

"This thing is enough to dry my face, not the rest." Hyunjin snatched the cloth despite his comment. "Why are you late?"

Jeongin almost poked Hyunjin's eye while trying to cover both of them under the umbrella. "Things were busy today. I had a lot of errands to do. Sorry Hyung. But I really did come here running, all the way from the ward to the spot." Jeongin pouted, looking down at the ground.

"Yah. It's okay." Hyunjin hesitated. He licked his lips before continuing. "How's she?"

"She's okay." Jeongin nodded. A silence took over. Not much was exchanged for a long stretch. "Do you want to... see her?"

"Not today." Hyunjin sighed, taking out the bouquet of pink carnations out of a paper bag. He pushed it gently in Jeongin's arms. "Give it to her."

Jeongin nodded, smiling at the flowers. He took a deep sniff of the flowers, grinning back at his friend. "So, how is it going?"

Hyunjin pressed his smile inside. "Good. It's going really good so far."

_______

The lightening was scary. Every time the lightening would scintillate inside the place, Yeseul would push her hands against her ears, and shut her eyes, hoping the thunder isn't too loud. The shop was almost empty now, and Yeseul still had an hour left to stay back.

Mister Kim passed by, putting a box of records on the table. "Yeseul, can you please sort these out?" Yeseul nodded, taking the hold of the box. At least she found something to keep her mind busy.

She pushed it down, not careful enough, because something behind her fell over. She glanced back, a bunch of papers sat scattered over the floor. Yeseul sighed, sitting down to pick them up. She couldn't help but skim through the material, until something stopped her movements.

It was from today's purchases.

Hwang Hyunjin:
Pink Carnations | Total = 9970 won

Yeseul didn't know much, and she had no right of assuming things, but somewhere deep inside she felt a sore pain arise.

Before she could put the mess away, the door opened, Hyunjin rushing inside, hands on knees, breathing hard.