camellia (knj) -ON HOLD-

ch. 2

Namjoon's P.O.V

-Tuesday-

11:46 a.m

I was organizing the display flowers when I spot the same girl from yesterday walk by the window. A second later, I hear the ting of the bell and I know that she's back. 

I scramble up from my crouching position and my elbow accidentally knocks a vase to the ground. Thankfully, I catch it before it breaks. 

"Hello?" I hear her timidly whisper. "Is anyone here?" 

I pop up from my spot and clear my throat. She whips around with fear in her eyes. I put my hands above my head to appear harmless. "Uhm, hi. I'm sorry if I scared you. I was arranging the display flowers." 

"Oh," she merely mumbles. "I see." 

I walk to the counter. "What can I get for you today?" 

She gives me a small smile. "The same as yesterday, please." 

I inspect her a bit before I nod and head to the back to get the white camellias. She looks worse than yesterday, to be honest. Her eyes were puffy, as if she'd been crying all night, and the dark circles were more prominent than ever. But like yesterday, she has her hair tied back in a ponytail, challenging society to judge her appearance. 

I grab the vase of camellias and set it on the counter. "Pick one," I say, knowing that she knows which one's the best. Like yesterday, her fingers glide over the petals of the flowers and she points to one that is almost fully in bloom. 

I grin and take it out of the vase. "Good choice," I praise. "It'll open up fully tomorrow so you get to see it bloom." 

She nods and whispers, "I know." 

A smile is creeping on her face while I ring her up and place the flower in her hands. "There," I tell her. "You have your camellia." 

She takes it, bows, and waves goodbye. Like yesterday, I watch her figure through the display window until she's gone. 

. . .

11:04 p.m 

I lock the door to my shop and look up at the new sign. I sigh in frustration and start to walk home. I usually don't close this late, but an old lady came in last minute and wanted to pick the best flowers for her husband's funeral next week. I couldn't stop myself from taking pity on her so I helped her make her order. It took her awhile, since she couldn't make a confident decision. 

After a walked a block, my phone suddenly rings and I stop in my tracks when I see the caller ID. For a few moments, I debate if I should pick up, but in the end, I ignore the call. 

I call my best friend instead. 

"Who the hell dares to call me at this time of the night?! I swear to God that if this isn't important-"

"Hi Yoongi." 

. . . 

11:27 p.m 

"Your mother called?" Yoongi guessed. We were sitting at an almost-deserted bar, taking shots of soju. It took him a while to get to this place since he was sleeping when I called him, but he eventually made it. 

"Yep," I say. "I didn't pick up though." 

Yoongi looked surprised. "Why?" 

I shrug and take another shot. "She doesn't approve of my career and my life choices. She's disappointed in me. Ashamed, even. Why do I have to talk to her?" 

"She's your mother, last time I checked." 

I roll my eyes. "All she's ever done is force me to do things I don't want to do. Remember that time when she enrolled me in medical school without me knowing?" 

"Oh yeah..."

"Yeah. And I barely canceled the enrollment before the classes started. Just barely. Then she got mad because she only got a 70% refund." 

Yoongi nods solemnly and takes a shot. "I guess. But she's getting older, Namjoon. She's, what? 49 now?"

"Yeah," I mutter. "But she acts like a ten years younger." 

Yoongi shakes his head and puts his hand on my shoulder. "No, what I mean is, you need to cherish the time you have with her while you can. You don't know when her time is gonna come." 

I sigh and push his hand off my shoulder. "Stop guilt-tripping me." 

Yoongi just chuckles and pours us another shot. "But it always works. You're so weak, Joonie. Build walls around your emotions and everything will go how you want it to." 

I sigh. "If it was only that easy..." 

I take my shot glass and lift it up. "To building walls around my emotions," I slur, the alcohol getting to my brain. 

"To... what you said," Yoongi cheers, and we clink glasses and down the alcohol.