Rose Petals | Changlix

Chapter 1 | When I Saw You I fell in Love

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Blow by Jackson Wang

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"You taste like cigarettes." A dark-haired man sang aloud as his black boots stomped along.

"I hit it every chance I get." The black walls seemed to hug the twenty-year-old's aura as he danced, his small hands sliding through the metal racks of hardly-organized clothing, his body sensually snapping as the rain pattered against the sidewalk outside.

"Girl, you got me dripping sweat," Lee Felix's head rolled back, his hair brushing against his shoulder. "You pull me back every time I quit." He smiled, his body completely relaxed; a calm river flowing down his bloodstream while his slim figure swayed, his darkly patterned crop top hanging against his torso, his fishnets encasing his legs under his high-waisted bluejeans, ones that his hands draped over as the beat of the song kicked up.

"Yeah, you taste like cigarettes." The bell Felix had attached to the entryway chimed above its opening, causing him to stop singing and just mouth the lyrics. He hoped that whoever the customer was, they'd be the final one of the day; he didn't want to stay open stray hours in the night on a very dull week. He'd much rather go out.

"Good afternoon!" He sang, moving over to the racks that had the skirts on them and piling through them.

There was a faint response, but he didn't hear it, nor did he give it much thought. The rain was beginning to pour, and a part of him wondered why the person in the store had come out and shopped while the clouds cried.

He didn't manage to find the piece of clothing, so he turned to make his way to behind the small, squarely enclosed counter, but seemed to shortcircuit as his eyes landed on his customer: A head of deep, raven-wing black hair sitting atop a stout man, arms that had Felix's brain drooling covered in tattoos that slid down the man's fitted tee-shirt and up his neck.

How easily could he choke me, goddamn?

A pair of black pants hid what he would guess to be even more tattoos from the July weather. A rose was prominent on his shoulderblade, an inking that tickled his mind as he averted his eyes just as the two of theirs met. The customer smiled, his cognac eyes titling in a way that almost seemed to both intensify how he looked and also bring out a soft-looking side, both sides that he didn't have a problem with.

His eyes slowly scanned his figure as the customer walked up to him, his heart ramping up as he began to feel the warmth of his cognac eyes digging into his open skin.

The sound of an item being pressed against the counter caught his attention: a small oil painting of a rabbit racing through a purple forest as its predator chased right behind. He looked back up at the customer, who hadn't seemed to take his eyes off of him the entire time. The idea of that made heat rush around his body, his blush covering his freckles as he awkwardly smiled.

"You run this place?"

The gravelly voice caught him offguard: "Wha? Yeah, yes. I do; I own it."

"For a place called Moonlight, you're quite the sunshine."

Jesus. He stammered back a response, blushing. "Thanks, uh, it's named after my cat. She lives upstairs with me, but uh, thanks."

The man cocked his head and nudged the painting closer to Felix, eyeing his heart-shaped lips. "Well, sunshine, how much for this?"

"18,000 won."

Pulling out a wad of cash and his phone, the man set them both down on the counter. "Here you go," another word slipped in through the fast Korean that he didn't catch. A sliver of embarrassment rifled through him, and he blushed heavily, biting down on his lip as he exchanged the cash and looked at the guy, who stood with a sexy smile.

"What?"

"I thought you had an accent. Cute," he repeated. Felix picked it up this time and began tapping his leg.

"Jesus, I'm so sorry. Gosh..."

"Don't be. It's cute."

They chuckled as the man leaned his elbow against the counter, causing his entire arm to flex, which only made Felix's blush increase, most likely across his entire chest by now.

"So, where are you from?"

He picked up that they were flirting and fumbled with what should've been an easy response. "Uh- Sydney."

"Australia?"

"Yeah."

The man hummed and looked to the side, giving Felix a good look at his side profile, which lacked nothing more than the rest of his body. God, was this guy sexy. "Well," a smirk planted itself on the corner of a pair of cupid lips, making his chest flutter, "I have to get going and take care of some things, but after that I was planning to head off to bed." Eyes scanned his stomach, then met his eyes. "But, for someone like you, maybe I'll just stay up."

"H- How so?" He raised an eyebrow as he flirted, a sudden surge of confidence striking him after being "picked."

"Well," a gesture was made to the black-cased phone.

Felix licked his teeth and fumbled with the android, typing in his number and labeling himself Sunshine before handing it back, along with a receipt for the oil painting. His heart felt unnatural with how fast and heavy it was beating, pumping way too much blood into his body and making him feel warmer than he thought was even possible. God, was he way too red right now? Was that some type of turn-off?

"I'll text you, sunshine."

By the time the man had left the store, leaving him to try and catch his heart, it was near midnight. He felt his phone buzz after a few minutes but put it off, assuming it was only his best friend or just one of his friends, and decided to close up his little shop, the entire time wondering what the flirtatious man had meant when he was going to stay up for him.

Maybe they were going to go out, or maybe the man wanted to sext. Oh god, his eyes widened; he'd never done anything like that and hadn't planned to do it at all, honestly. How was he supposed to send sexy pictures—take them, for that matter—and say hot things? He is probably just going to fumble through his messages like he does when he's speaking. Oh no...

The rain was slowing down by the time he had changed his pink neon sign to CLOSED and made his way up to his apartment, very gracious for the door that begins downstairs. A soft pawing and a few meows had his freckled face beaming by the time his door was shut and locked behind him.

He picked up the white ball of fluff rubbing between his ankles and kissed her nose, her sunkissed eyes dilating as she purred. The noise only made him smile even more.

"Moonlight, I think I just got flirted with."