MUST'VE BEEN A DEADLY KISS

16: why i feel this way, i don't know

seungmin was currently engaged in reading a magazine he had bought from the convenience store across the street. a juice pouch was tucked into his hand and he would squint his eyes whenever he would come across something interesting. he was so caught up in reading that he almost missed the chime of the bell sounding across the shop, signifying someone's arrival.

"hello, welcome to— oh," seungmin stands up from the stool he was sitting on, brushing himself off as the individual comes up to the counter, slight smile on his face.

"seungmin."

"jeongin." the omega blinks, not expecting his presence in the flower shop. jeongin's smile widens just a fraction, scratching the back of his blonde locks.

"hey, kind of unexpected but i'm here in place of minho." the alpha sets a hand on the counter, tapping his fingers. seungmin raises a brow, eyes squinting in confusion.

"in place for minho..?"

"ah, the flower pick-up. for felix and hyunjin." jeongin confirms.

"oh, i see," the omega turns towards the storage room and shouts out, "hannie, an order for an arrangement of red chrysanthemums!"

"yeah..." jeongin watches as seungmin types on the computer's keyboard to print out the receipt, the low humming of the printer soon coming to life. "usually it'd be the couple themselves picking it up, but sometimes they're busy so minho picks it up, but now, he's unavailable so i guess i'm their last resort."

"do you think they'd be interested in our monthly arrangement subscription?" seungmin gives jeongin a paper to sign, to which he easily complies.

the alpha hands back the pen, rubbing his chin. "hm, maybe. they're out here making us run errands and shit like they rule the world so, that'd save us a lot of time."

the corners of seungmin's lips curve up into a small grin. at the same time, the door to the storage room opens and jisung emerges from it, hugging the vase of chrysanthemums to his chest. he has earbuds tucked into his ears and his hair is a fluffy mess. he sets the vase down and looks up, eyes gleaming in surprise as he lifts up the frames sliding off of his nose.

"jeongin. hey," he greets simply, voice spoken and a bit sleepy. the alpha gives him a friendly wave, and jisung acknowledges it with a faint smile before turning to go back into the darkness of the room.

seungmin sighs, getting ahold of the vase. "sorry about his dismissive nature today. he's been a bit drowsy lately."

"no," jeongin blinks, not taking much note into it. "it's fine."

"seriously, i thought he was in pre-heat because of how grumpy he's been, but when i asked him, that's when he finally broke down and cried for like thirty minutes on my shoulder," seungmin gestures to his shoulder, where a still damp spot still remains.

"ah..." jeongin finally starts to piece two and two together and he looks down at the counter, the tapping of his fingers coming to a halt.

"emotional people." the omega sighs out unseriously and scans over the bouquet to make sure nothing is missing. he nods in satisfaction and is ready to hand it over to jeongin to wave him goodbye until the alpha speaks again.

"he ever tell you why he's been sad?"

seungmin lifts his head up and blinks, confused, until he lets out a sigh again, looking out of the shop window.

"i've had my suspicions," the omega starts softly and lets a somber expression take over his features. "i know he and minho have started to get serious again. they've been taking things quite far, but i don't think they themselves even know that."