Seasons Of Love ❤️

8. Jealous

The wind has picked up over the last few days; in combination with the four inches of snow on the ground, it's shaping up to be a terribly harsh winter. Nonetheless, Mahir leaves the wonderfully warm parlour and braves the cold to walk next door.

He enters the flower shop, expecting to see Bela working the counter (since Emma has travelled out of state to see her family for the holidays) but there is no one in the storefront at all. He calls Bela's name and listens for a reply.

That's when he hears the muffled noises - harsh, irregular breathing- He follows the sound into the backroom, where he finds Bela sitting on the floor next to a row of wilting flowers. The tears are rolling freely down her cheeks, and she is stifling her sobs with a white-knuckled fist.

Mahir wants to ask, he really does, but he knows that now isn't the right time. Instead, he sits down beside Bela. He gently pries the fist from her mouth and straightens her fingers, tangling them between his own. He talks to Bela through a few breaths, trying to get her to breath evenly.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Mahir says quietly, When Bela appears to have calmed somewhat. "I'll be here regardless."

His heart aches when Bela looks at him sorrowfully, her breathing shallow but steady.

-

Bela breaks the silence after a long few minutes.

"My flowers are dying," she says despondently. "I've tried my best to keep the temperature steady and give them all enough sunlight but...the weather has been terrible lately - there is no sun and it's bitterly cold and even the grow lamps aren't helping much. The other day. I told you not all flowers die in the winter, but now almost everything is dying and I can't do anything to fix 'cause I suck at being a florist-"

"Shh," Mahir says consolingly, pulling Bela from her self-deprecating spiel.

He knows that Bela doesn't mean what she is saying, and he hates to see her doubt herself like this. He untangles his fingers from Bela's and wraps an arm around her shoulder instead. When Bela leans into his embrace, Mahir smiles despite the sombre mood.

"I feel like I failed them," Bela confesses, blinking tears into the material over Mahir's shoulder.

Mahir sighs. "You've been in this business for what, a few months? Don't be so hard on yourself. You give your flowers time to grow- how about you do the same for yourself? Learn from this and allow yourself to develop. Maybe you lost them this winter, but you can always try again next year."

Bela doesn't respond, but she doesn't say anything to disagree. Mahir decides to continue on.

"Maybe you've forgotten, but you're dealing with things that living. And everything that lives will eventually die- it's just a part of life," Mahir glances down at his wrist, where he knows the lavender and daisy are inked, and smiles sadly. Bela reaches up to tangle her fingers with the hand that is hanging over her shoulder. "Who knows, maybe it'll do us all some good to remember that spring isn't nearly as wonderful without winter."

-

The winter months are the coldest and hardest of the last few decades, but when the weather finally begins to thaw, it sets up for what looks to be warm and welcoming spring.

Mahir is walking through the slushy snow on his way to the tattoo parlour when he sees Bela on the other side of the glass of her flowers shop. She's standing at the front counter and someone - a male someone - is leaning over it. Bela is smiling and laughing at him, and Mahir feels an unpleasant feeling settling down in his chest.

I'm not jealous. I can't be. I'm not, Mahir tells himself, because Bela is not something he can possess. Bela is not his to have.

He's so caught up in his internal musings that he barely notices Emma, who is standing outside setting up the outdoor display.

"Oh, is it finally warm enough for the flowers?" Mahir asks her, temporarily distracted by the sight of blooms after weeks of walking past an empty display.

"Yeah! These are a few of the ones that managed to last the winter. It's a shame that the others didn't make it, but no one anticipated such a severe cold season; I can't blame the little guys for calling it quits," Emma says, shuffling around some of the flower pots and stepping back to see if it made any difference.

Mahir glances back inside the store and can't help his but let curiosity get the better of his.

"Hey Emma, who's that guy Bela is talking to?"

"Hm?" Emma's gaze flickers from her flower display to the boy leaning against the front counter. "Oh, that's Jackson- he delivers special-order flowers from the growers upstate."

"Oh. Cool."

He gives Emma a somewhat strained smile and then excuses himself, pushing his way into the tattoo parlour with more force than necessary.

-

He doesn't mean to do it, it just sort of happens. Mahir has bailed on a week's worth of standing lunch dates and he's all the more jaded by Bela's absence. Vish and Amelia notice his surly attitude, and so do all his co-workers.

Mahir is sitting at the tattoo parlour in the far corner working on a design for a customer when he sees it all unfold in his peripheral vision.

Bela comes storming into the tattoo parlour, all clenched fists and stomping feet and just a tiny ball of anger. She doesn't say a word when she reaches the front counter. Mahir sees Amelia point wordlessly in his direction, obviously not wanting to get caught in the middle of anything.

He waits until Bela is standing right beside him and before he turns to acknowledge her.

"You're coming with me!" Bela says frimly.

It's decisive, and leaves no room for objection, so Mahir reluctantly follows her out of the parlour and into the flower shop.

One more update and that's it :)