apartment block 17

[ 019 ]

love letter flower & gift shop

upon arriving at love letter, hansol noticed that indeed, the area was much more crowded than normal. a long, haphazard line seemed to be overflowing outside the gift shop.

"wow, this is really getting out of hand," hansol sighed.

"hmm, i heard a classmate was having her birthday this week. maybe i should get her a gift," seungkwan pondered.

"i guess we have to go in then," hansol said.

the store was bright and colourful, filled with all sorts of cute keychains and gifts. the display window on the right was piled to the ceiling with shelves full of meticulously arranged flowers ranging in size and colour.

a boy in his early 20's was standing at the door, wearing an apron with 'love letter' printed across it in an ornate font. he had fluffy brown hair and distinct almond-shaped eyes. he wore a kind smile and had a cross-shaped piercing in his upper left ear. looking closer, hansol saw a name-tag pinned to the top of his apron, but he moved before hansol could read it.

"welcome to love letter! please understand that we'll expect you to buy something if you're here to catch that pokémon," the boy told hansol and seungkwan.

"ah, okay," hansol began sheepishly. "we need to buy a gift for a classmate, so it works out anyway." the boy nodded.

"oh, you're jisoo! jeonghan's boyfriend," seungkwan said, noticing his name-tag, as well as having recognised him from around the apartment block. hansol glanced at his now still name-tag, and saw that it indeed read 'jisoo'. hansol didn't really peg jisoo as jeonghan's type for some reason, yet it somehow made sense at the same time.

noticing jisoo furrow his eyebrows in confusion, hansol quickly interrupted. "we met jeonghan just now! he told us to come here," he explained hurriedly.

"oh, right," jisoo nodded. "well, if you're buying something, then go on in. i have to move the line along, but i'll talk to you later," he said with a warm smile.

hansol nodded and followed seungkwan into the crowded store. their phones vibrated as they neared the charizard, and after much difficulty, managed to catch it before it ran away. they spent the next ten minutes deciding on a gift for their classmate. hansol had no idea who it was, but seungkwan insisted a box of chocolates would do.

"everyone likes chocolate," seungkwan reasoned, though it wasn't true, as hansol knew a guy who absolutely hated it for unknown reasons. as they proceeded to pay at the counter, they noticed that jisoo was their cashier.

"did you rotate jobs?" hansol asked as he handed jisoo the chocolate.

"yeah, i'm grateful. it's a riot out there," jisoo sighed.

"oh, i'm hansol, by the way. i don't think i introduced myself just now. and this is seungkwan," hansol pulled seungkwan's arm, as the latter was distracted by the 3d bookmarks in a shelf near the counter.

"wait, hansol and seungkwan? no way!" jisoo's eyes widened in a similar manner to jeonghan's when he recognised them.

"oh yeah, jeonghan told us that you both watch our videos!" hansol said.

"yeah, we do! we haven't been able to lately, since we've been busy, but i've watched them since the beginning," jisoo said as he scanned and bagged the chocolate. "i grew up in los angeles with a korean family, though i didn't know that much about korea itself until i came here a few years back and experienced the culture myself. that was when i found your channel, and i've been watching ever since."

hansol cringed when he remembered the first videos he had made with seungkwan - back in their first year of high school, when they were so much younger and so much dumber. though he wanted to delete all history of his 15-year-old self, seungkwan refused to let him, saying it was important to embrace their previous mistakes and embarrassments.

hansol mentioned he was from new york, which promoted them to start conversing in english (with seungkwan desperately trying to follow with his limited knowledge). after noticing the glares from both the customers behind them in the line and Jisoo's coworker on the other register, they bid jisoo goodbye, with promises they would return some other time when the shop wasn't so busy.

"so, what were you two talking about?" seungkwan asked as they made their way outside and back into the mall itself. he had tried for a nonchalant tone, but it had come out rather interrogatively.

"just about american life versus korean life. he's so cool! i'm glad i got to meet another english speaker," hansol said happily. "i feel like my english has become a little rusty lately."

"hmm, that's great," seungkwan mumbled.

"sorry, seungkwan, i promise i'll teach you more english so you can practise with us!" hansol said, slinging his arm around the latter, who looked a little sulky.

"what are you talking about? my english is the best quality," seungkwan huffed in his heavily accented english. hansol laughed loudly, attracting curious stares from surrounding shoppers.

"looks like i've got some work to do..." hansol said in between laughs, earning a light shove from seungkwan.