[Note: To those who might be confused. Their blind date was last week Sunday. I just realized that I messed up on the days so I wanted to clear up any confusions.]

“K-kisum-ssi?”

The words stabbed Junghan like daggers. He swallowed thickly as he tried to speak up again. Nothing came out once he opened his mouth.

Seungcheol’s eyes fell on name tag that was pinned onto Junghan’s chest.

“Junghan?” Seungcheol looked back at said Junghan.

Junghan’s eyes blinked rapidly. He was so screwed. There was no way Seungcheol didn’t realize that he wasn’t a guy. The panic attacks made Junghan’s chest throb and he felt light headed. It was like being caught red handed for stealing something. Seungcheol’s accusing eyes made it even worse. Junghan wanted to disappear into the air.

“I-I can-“

“Explain?” Seungcheol said. “Yes, please do.”

Junghan took in a shaky breathe before continuing. “It’s not what you’re thinking. I didn’t do any of this to fool you. I just, I had an unavoidable circumstance…” he avoided Seungcheol’s eyes.

Junghan continued as he noticed the latter was waiting for him to finish. “The thing is, my sister asked me to go as her because she couldn’t make it and it was supposed to be a one-time thing but then you mentioned the second date and I just wanted to return your coat and I didn’t mean to fool you like this, I’m so sor-“

Seungcheol put up his hand, “I get it.”

“You do?”

 “I do, but I need some time to process this all. In the meantime, can I get some flowers for a funeral?”

The way Seungcheol was acting made Junghan even more anxious than before. He didn’t feel the relief of being spared the disgusted looks he had expected, nor the cruel words. Junghan slowly moved to the left side of the store and towards the white flowers. He felt Seungcheol follow him and his shoulders tensed up. Junghan quickly grabbed a dozen of the nicest flowers he could spot and before he could walk back to grab the wrapping material, he felt Seungcheol’s presence right behind him. Junghan’s breath hitched as he felt the latter lean in to take a closer look at the flowers and his left shoulder lightly grazed against Junghan’s back.

“A-are these g-good?” He asked, his voice shaky and low.

Seungcheol moved back. “Mhm, please wrap them nicely.”

“O-okay…” Junghan let out the breath he had been holding in. He cautiously made his way back to the storage where he kept his wrapping material.

-

As soon as Junghan disappeared into the back of the store, Seungcheol grabbed the windowsill to support his wobbly knees. He placed his other hand over his chest and patted it, unsuccessfully trying to calm down his beating heart. The smell of Junghan’s hair made him a bit light headed and he had forgotten all the frustration and disappointment he felt once he found out that he was a guy and not the girl he had imagined.

Seungcheol tried to tell himself that maybe it was for the best. Now he could at least forget about this girl- no, guy. There was no way Seungcheol was going to go down that path again. Not for the 2nd time. The first time was enough to ruin him.

As soon as Junghan reappeared from the back of the store with the white flowers now nicely wrapped in a plastic covering, he walked up to the counter. Junghan’s face was pink as he looked up and Seungcheol felt the damn heart on the verge of exploding. It was the same face from their date, the same hair, the same eyes, the same red cheeks and the same lips- No, this isn’t the same. He’s a guy. It’s not the same!

“Here are the flowers,” Junghan placed them onto the counter gently. Seungcheol noticed his long, slender fingers and a small cut on his index finger. It looked fresh.

Without moving his gaze from the latter’s finger, he asked, “How much is the total?”

“It’s free of charge,” Junghan’s voice sounded so much better when he wasn’t pretending to sound like a girl, Seungcheol noticed.

“Free?” Seungcheol’s gaze moved back to Junghan’s face. Another pang on his chest. He flinched slightly at that. “I can’t-“

“No, please. I insist. This is the least I can do for what I’ve done.”

Junghan gave him a light smile and Seungcheol found his hand moving on their own. He reached for his wallet and pulls out a band-aid. He always kept a few of them because paper cuts were a regular happening for him. He ripped it open and reached for Junghan’s hand that sat on the counter.

As soon as he touched his finger, he felt a small electric shock move from his finger tips to the back of his spine. He quickly but gently lifted Junghan’s hand and began to wrap the band-aid around his index finger.

“W-wha-“

“I don’t do free so consider this as payment for the flowers.” He said before he let go of the latter’s hand and grabbed the flowers from the counter.

Seungcheol felt like the look on Junghan’s face was enough to repay him for playing with his feelings. He gave a tiny smirk and left the store.

-

Junghan stared at the door as he felt his pulse going out of control. What was happening? He was pretty sure his face was flushed by now and nothing was making any sense. Why was Seungcheol so calm about everything? Why wasn’t he mad at Junghan for fooling him? And why the heck did he put a band aid around his cut like that?

Junghan felt lightheaded for the rest of the day and every time a customer walked into the store, he jumped to his feet, thinking it might be Seungcheol. Of course, it wasn’t. He was just feeling very anxious. He pulled out his cellphone and was about to text Kisum about what happened when he got a notification.

1 New Message from Choi Seungcheol

Junghan nearly dropped his phone. He blinked and looked back at the phone. No doubt he wasn’t hallucinating. By now, he had thought that Seungcheol wouldn’t want anything to do with him. Why was he still texting him?

He hesitantly swiped his lock screen, biting his lower lip.

“Should I pick up my jacket from your store?”

Junghan felt dumb for forgetting about the jacket. Of course he’d want his jacket back. Junghan began to type his reply but before he could finish, he felt his phone vibrate again and another message from Seungcheol had just arrived. He actually dropped his phone this time.

“Or do you still want to go for the movie on Friday?”

-

The office was nearly empty and Seungcheol had no intentions of getting off work anytime soon. He wanted to physically bury himself under all the files he could get his hands on because his stupid impulses took over him and he somehow ended up asking Junghan if he still wanted to go on their movie “date”. He wasn’t really going to send it. It was just a thought he typed out on his phone after his first message. It was just that at that moment, his assistant had just knocked on his door and he jumped and accidently pressed ‘send’. Now he was groaning at the thought of Junghan thinking of Seungcheol as a creep for still asking him out even after finding out that Junghan is a guy.

Seungcheol didn’t know for sure if Junghan even was into guys. He just went on the date for the sake of his sister, but that didn’t mean he was actually interested in men. For all he knew, Junghan could very well have a girlfriend. And it wasn’t Junghan who had asked Seungcheol on the second date. It was him that implied and insisted it. Junghan just probably wanted to return his jacket that he had imposed on him forcefully. He felt like a complete idiot.

He closed his eyes and placed his head on his desk. The invitation card suddenly popped in front of his eyes, and then Jihoon’s face. Seungcheol groaned at the thought of it and tried to shake it out of his head. Happy thoughts, Seungcheol, happy thou-

Suddenly, Junghan’s back view at the flower shop appeare