“Seungcheol, we’re going to head out now okay?” Jeonghan’s voice could be heard coming from the back of the flower shop.

“Bye Scoops, see you in the morning!” Jisoo stuck his head around the corner, smiled, and then ducked out the back entrance to follow his boyfriend. Seungcheol could see them as they walked across the street to where Jisoo’s motorcycle was parked. The couple shared a sweet kiss before driving off in the direction of their apartment building.

Seungcheol sighed, sweeping up stray plant bits from the floor into the dustpan. It was great having his friends as coworkers, but sometimes it got a little bit depressing being the third wheel. The Jihan couple tried to tone it down as much as they could to spare his feelings, but he could still find the sharing kisses and sweet words in the greenhouses or holding hands as they watered the fruit trees.

Would it be too much to ask whatever god was up in the sky to send him a sign that he’d find someone too? Seungcheol (as much as he liked to deny it) was a hopeless romantic. He wanted a boyfriend to spoil and cuddle and do cutesy couple things with. As much as he had tried dating, it never seemed to work out; he just could never find that person who could make him feel that special spark.

So, at twenty-one years of age, he owned a flower shop, made beautiful arrangements for loving couples, and cuddled with his cat Woozi more than he’d like to admit. Despite the lack of a love interest, he still had a good life and good friends.

Seungcheol turned to look at the clock hanging on the wall behind the counter. It read 5:30PM, close enough to closing time that he could start with the final cleanup but not soon enough that he could call it quits and go home early. Finishing his sweeping, he ducked behind the register to pull out the old laptop that the store used for finances and to update their website. He was scrolling through the numbers representing sales when a little ding alerted him to check his Facebook, which he’d left open.

He clicked on the little message icon in the corner of the screen to see a message from Junhui, another one of his friends and coworkers. All he could see were emojis and a lot of exclamation points, but he opened it anyway.

Wen Junhui: Coups! I found it! :D :D :D

Typing back a reply, Seungcheol scrolled through his newsfeed while waiting for Jun to message him back.

Choi Seungcheol: what’d u find?

Wen Junhui: THE RING YOU ! I FINALLY FOUND THE ING RING!!!!!

Seungcheol’s jaw dropped. He didn’t think that Jun would actually get around to doing what he’d blabbed about on a drunken Friday night a few months before. It’d been a long week and him and the guys had gone out for drinks. Also known as him being the 7th wheel to three annoyingly cute couples--oh well, it gave him an excuse to drink more to ignore the fact that he wasn’t in a relationship. It’d been getting late, and Jun being a lightweight had crashed at Seungcheol’s place because it was closer to the bar and his boyfriend Minghao had his parents visiting from China so Jun didn’t want to risk them seeing him in such a state.

Jun had been lying on the couch, waving his arms around in a drunken attempt to dance and word vomit had been spilling out of his mouth for a good hour. Most of it was about how much he loved Minghao and how he couldn’t get enough of his adorable baobei or his kisses or things that Seungcheol would rather forget. But what had shocked him was when Jun stood up and for a moment looked extremely serious, making direct eye contact with Seungcheol and smiling softly.

“I want to marry him.”

“You’re serious?”

“More than anything. I’ve been thinking for a while. I actually asked his parents for permission yesterday.”
“You really are serious, wow. Congratulations.” Seungcheol had said.

“I haven’t proposed yet, I still need to find the perfect ring. I don’t care if I have to wait another year before I find it, but the second I do, I’m going to drop down on one knee in the middle of the street and propose to him.”

Seungcheol shook his head and smiled. It made him sad that his friend was ready to move onto an important phase in his life and here he was, still sitting in a flower shop.

Choi Seungcheol: congrats man. hope everything goes well...when are you going to propose?

Wen Junhui: I was kinda hoping that I could do it at the flower shop? bc it’s where we met and maybeee you could be the amazing hyung you always are and make a flower arrangement for mee???

Choi Seungcheol: What kind of hyung would I be if I didn’t do something like that for my dongsaengs?

Wen Junhui: YAYYYYYY THANK YOU HYUNG

Wen Junhui: when do u think u could have that done by???

Wen Junhui: like tomorrow-ish? it’s our anniversaryyy

Choi Seungcheol: yeah yeah. it’ll be done by six tomorrow, you can come in after closing. i’ll leave the key under the sunflower pot

Wen Junhui: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Choi Seungcheol: aish, that’s enough! just go figure out how ur gonna sweep your soontobe fiance off his feet

The green dot in the chatbox changed to a little phone as Jun logged off, probably to go plan his master proposal. Shutting the laptop, Seungcheol went into the back room for his sketchbook so he could begin the flower arrangement of a lifetime. If he was going to do something for his dongsaeng, it was go big or go home. He was deep into his headspace, fixing details about the arrangement, adding a rose here, moving a vase over there, when the little bell above the door dinged. That was strange; he looked at the clock and it said 6pm. People generally didn’t come in this late to buy flowers.

“Welcome to Pledis Flowers, is there anything I can help you with?” He flicked his eyes to the customer who’d just walked in and his breath caught in his throat.

Standing in front of the counter was possibly the cutest human being he’d ever seen. The boy looked like he couldn’t be older than sixteen, with pastel pink hair falling softly over his face, framing lovely cheekbones and pale skin. Warm brown eyes regarded him with curiosity and a small smile appeared, making him look absolutely cherubic. He wore a cream colored sweater that had to be a few sizes too big paired with light colored blue jeans and pink converse. Seungcheol looked a little bit harder and he could make out a few glittery hairpins scattered throughout the pink locks.

“Jihoonie was wondering if you had any advice on flowers. Jihoonie wants to make flower crowns for an art project but doesn’t know what to use.” A soft voice floated from cherry colored lips, parting to reveal small white teeth that were perfectly aligned.

“Um flower crowns? I’ve had some people ask me about those before. What are you going for in terms of size and price and stuff?” Seungcheol snapped himself out of the infatuated daze he’d become trapped in.

“Whatever’s not expensive. Jihoonie doesn’t have a lot of money but he wants the flower crowns to be really really nice.” The boy mumbled, a blush painting his face a pale pink as he fidgeted with the hem of his oversized sweater.

Seungcheol melted a little bit. He felt the temptation to just give the boy, Jihoonie, whatever he wanted for free. But his logic won over, so he began to explain the various materials used to make flower crowns and what people preferred versus what they found was hard to use. Jihoonie stood there and nodded and absorbed Seungcheol’s words with an earnest face, eyes lighting up at the idea of so many pretty flowers. Eventually, Seungcheol finished his spiel and realized that he’d been talking for a good half hour.

It was getting late and he didn’t want to say goodbye to the adorable boy who’d wandered into his flower shop. Mind rushing frantically, he tried to think of a way to see Jihoonie again.

“I’ll give you a deal,” Seungcheol blurted out before his brain could catch up with his mouth. “I’ll sell you the materials you need for your flower crowns if you agree to get coffee with me sometime.”

Jihoonie giggled, causing Seungcheol to blush a little.

“Of course! Jihoonie would love to get coffee with…” He trailed off as he squinted to read Seungcheol’s nametag. “Cheolie! Jihoonie likes how Cheolie knows all about flowers! Let Jihoonie have your phone number! He’ll call and let you know when he can meet Cheolie!”

Seungcheol couldn’t believe his ears when Jihoonie accepted his sudden request to get coffee. He honestly was in shock at the fact that the literal angel (don’t tell Jeonghan) in front of him had agreed to a date with him of all people.

And so, Seungcheol ended his day by sending JIhoonie off with a large parcel of flowers and other materials, a new phone number on his contact list, and a fluttering feeling in his chest. As he watched Jihoonie walk away, he whipped out his phone and sent a message to the groupchat that his friends started ages ago.

Choi Seungcheol: guys, i have a date

Yoon Jeonghan: WHAT

Kwon Soonyoung: wtf dude what have you been doingggg

Lee Seokmin: OMIGOD HYUNG HAS A DATE

Hong Jisoo: its about time

Xu Minghao: what

Lee Chan: yay hyung!!! XD

Wen Junhui: why did you not say anything earlier????

Choi Seungcheol: literally just happened. he came into the shop and asked about flower crowns. i told him i’d give him a deal on the stuff if he got coffee with me and he said yes

Boo Seungkwan: what the literal is going on here

Lee Chan: BAD LANGUAGE SEUNGKWAN

Chwe Hansol: congrats man

Yoon Jeonghan: what’s he look like?

Choi Seungcheol: he looks like an angel

Choi Seungcheol: no offense to you jeonghan

Choi Seungcheol: like, idk how someone can look that cute

Choi Seungcheol: guys i think i’m in love

He put his phone away, locked up the store and started his walk home. Walking through his front door, he collapsed on the couch and let out a happy groan. A buzzing noise came from his phone to let him know that he had a text. His heart jumped a little bit; it was from Jihoonie.

Jihoonie: do u want to meet tomorrow at 17carat coffee? =^_^=

Seungcheol: that’s great, i’ll meet you there?

Jihoonie: okay :)

Jihoonie: it’s late, jihoonie is going to bed now

Jihoonie: goodnight cheolie! <3 :)

Resisting the urge to do a happy dance and jump up and down in a way that was not dignified for a twenty-one year old, Seungcheol settled on letting out a (manly) squeal. Maybe he was finally going to find love after all.

A/N: My inbox is always open and i’d love some prompts to motivate my lazy to write! love, thanks!