Plumeria Petals

eight

"It's a Plumeria petal."

Jungkook raised his brows at Mingyu, quite surprised. "Wow, really?"

The taller male nodded with a hum. Holding onto the straps of his backpack, he adds, "when you sent me the photo of the petal, I immediately forwarded it to Wonwoo and since he is literally a walking encyclopedia for flowers, he was able to reply in less than a second. Additionally, I was about to thank him but then he started sending more information about the flower: Where it came from, the meaning of the flower, the common name for it, the rank, the family, the order, basically everything you need to know about Plumerias."

Jungkook stifled a laugh, shaking his head. "That sounds like the typical Wonwoo."

"Of course it's the typical Wonwoo!" Mingyu exclaimed, throwing his hand in the air. "I didn't even ask for all of this information and I didn't know what to reply to him so I made a joke about the common name of Plumerias. The common name is actually Frangipani so I joked, 'isn't that the last name of Halsey? Ashley Frangipane?"

Expecting to receive no reply, Jungkook chortles and this earned a delightful reaction from Mingyu. "Look, see? At least you appreciated my lame joke! I don't think Wonwoo appreciated it as much as you did." He crossed his arms over his chest and let out a disappointed huff.

Jungkook shrugged, "I mean, it's understandable if he'd give you a blank reaction since it is really lame"—Mingyu pouted—"but what makes you say that he didn't appreciate it?"

Mingyu glanced at the ceiling in thought, "uh, well..." He gestures his hands in circles, thinking, "after I said that joke, he replied 'hahaha' as in all small caps which makes me believe that he didn't find it funny."

All because of this one reply did Mingyu believe that Wonwoo did not find the joke amusing, and Jungkook could almost laugh because of it. He covered his mouth, trying his best not to laugh nor to make any sound so that he wouldn't disappoint his friend even more. But he just couldn't help it after hearing his explanation, leading him to let out a few audible chuckles. "I guess it does sound as if he wasn't interested but you know that simple reply can mean that he also found it funny right?"

Mingyu wanted to defend, and he was about to, but hearing this from Jungkook made him realize that yeah, he may be right. "Well, thinking about it again, I guess it does sound a bit as if he found it funny."

Once again, Jungkook shakes his head, "you're just doubting yourself, Mingyu. If you think a bit more positively, and probably make fewer lame jokes,"—Mingyu sulked—"then maybe he'd finally be interested in you."

"Oh, I wish." The taller male pouted once again. "Maybe I should bake him a flower cake so that he'd start liking me."

It was meant to be a sarcastic⁠—half sarcastic⁠—comment, but it seemed that Jungkook liked the idea. "That's honestly not a bad idea." He remarks. "I don't know him that well but I bet he'd like that."

"I bet he will."

No one had said anything afterward, at least, for a short while. However, Jungkook could tell the slight doubt and worry in Mingyu's voice that he had towards himself. Hoping to ease this doubt, he smiled at Mingyu with empathy and pats his back reassuringly.

It was lunchtime at the moment and, like the usual, Jungkook was on his way to Taehyung's classroom to pick him up. But this time, Mingyu decided to tag along because one, he needed to update Jungkook on what kind of flower petal he had⁠—as requested⁠—and two, Jungkook had asked him to join him and so he agreed.

As they continue to walk, a thought popped up inside Mingyu's head, something that he had been meaning to ask his friend for a while. Slipping his hands into his pant pockets, he asks, "how is it going with Taehyung hyung?"