| I. where two roads meet (again) |

Jongin's awakened to the sound of his ringtone on an early Friday morning. 

At first he chooses to ignore the noise, directing his attention to how comfortable he was on his bed right now and hoping that the person calling him would at least get the message. Unfortunately, whoever was calling him seemed very intent on doing so for his ringtone kept going on and on until Jongin finally got tired of the deafening noise and decided to take matters into his own hands.

When he looks through the blinds and sees that it's still pretty dark outside, he grumbles to himself. Who the hell is calling him at... (he squints to make out the fuzzy numbers on the clock sitting on the nightstand besides his bed) 4 am in the morning? Warily, he fumbles for his phone (which was charging on top of the night stand) and rubs his eyes before staring at the name that flashes on the screen: Kris Wu. Once he sees that, he groans inwardly before answering the call with a groggy "Hello?"

"Good moooorning," A low voice greets him. 

There's silence before Jongin asks, "What is it?" even though he's 95% sure that he knows why Kris is calling him at this hour.

"Rise and shine, Jongin. Duty calls." Kris responds, a hint of amusement in his tone which signified that Jongin was right about his previous suspicions. If he listened carefully enough, he was able to hear the faint sounds of sirens blaring and several other muffled voices in the background. His thoughts are interrupted when Kris starts talking again. "Or did you forget that you've been a police officer for almost two years now, and that I'm your police chief?"

"I didn't forget." Jongin mumbles, running his fingers through his hair. Sometimes, he wonders why he chose this job. "I just didn't want to remember."

"How rude. Get your over here, we're kind of close to the department but you'll know where we are due to the many police cars surrounding the area. It's really not hard to miss." Kris then says. There's a short pause before he adds, "and wake up Sehun for me, will you? I can't seem to get a hold of him, and you two live together anyway so might as well. I'll see you idiots in twenty minutes."

Jongin mutters a few curse words in response as he reluctantly leaves the comfort of his bed, hearing Kris chuckling before he hangs up.

---

After changing into their police uniforms, Jongin and Sehun make it to the scene in fifteen minutes.

Kris approaches them as soon as Jongin gets out of the car and locks it, Sehun following him while rubbing his eyes. Jongin takes note on how Kris looks very much awake, unlike the two of them who had just arrived on the scene. Next to Jongin, Sehun was falling in and out of consciousness, snapping back to reality every few seconds.

On the other hand, Kris is bobbing his head from side to side as if he was listening to music. There's a wide smile on his face (which is kind of uncharacteristic of him, Jongin notes) as he calls them over. In his right hand he's carrying a cup of coffee, which probably explains why Kris is in a good mood. "It's nice to see both of you finally joining the party." He says, shaking the cup at them. 

"What'sgoingon?" Sehun mumbles, attempting to blink the sleep out of his eyes. 

Kris sounds a bit bored when he answers. "Attempted robbery." He points to the bank with his free hand, where the glass was shattered. There were detectives already on the scene, murmuring amongst each other and taking samples, probably checking for fingerprints or for any other pieces of evidence. "We haven't got the person responsible yet but we certainly scared them off."

"So why exactly are we here again?" Jongin says, raising an eyebrow.

"Because," Kris sighs, brushing some of the invisible dust off his shoulder. "a lot of people are paranoid and believe that this person is intent on robbing their houses. They demanded to have more officers to patrol the area until they could rest easy. I mean, I can't blame them. This bank is near a rich community after all. I would've appreciated it if they didn't shout at me so early in the morning though..." He shakes his head and crosses his arms. "Call me if you see something—anything—suspicious." 

Jongin expected it to take a while until they were allowed to leave, and it did.

When they finally manage to catch the robber about five hours later (someone caught him trying to hide behind a bush), Kris finally tells Jongin that he's free to go home. Jongin's already starting to imagine how good it would feel to get back to his bed and sleep the day away—until his ringtone starts playing once more, ruining his temporarily good mood. Slightly confused and also slightly worried, Jongin blinks at the screen reading Mom before turning to Sehun.

"Hey, you can take the car and go back home without me."

"You're not coming?" Sehun asks, eyebrows raised in surprise. 

Jongin holds up his still-ringing phone in response, and Sehun's mouth forms into an 'O' in realization. He places a hand on Jongin's shoulder reassuringly before walking slowly back to the car. Jongin then turns back around and gulps, not really sure on what he's supposed to suspect. He's pretty sure that he hasn't done anything bad recently... "Um, hi, mom. What's up?" 

"Jongin, sweetie, are you busy?" Jongin's more than tempted to say yes but he stops himself from lying.

"Not really."

"Well, in that case, can you do me a favor and stop by that flower shop I keep telling you about?" Jongin wrinkles his nose, remembering the times where his mom kept insisting that the flowers there were in amazing condition, blah blah blah. He hasn't really thought much of it because Jongin never really paid attention to flowers on a daily basis, but there must be a reason why his mom won't buy flowers from any other florist.

Although he doesn't really want to do it at first, Jongin finds himself being interested in visiting the flower shop. If his mom really liked the plants from there, then maybe he can see the magic in them too. His mom is a very hard person to impress, and he wanted to personally congratulate the shop owner in managing to do so. Jongin only knew one person in the whole world who could impress his mom almost effortlessly, but the last time he's seen him was a really long time ago.

"I ordered some daisies but I don't have the time to pick them up right now. I called in yesterday so they should be expecting someone... you know the store's name, right? Are you in the area?" She asks. The multiple questions that she asks manages to bring Jongin back to reality, and he shrugs before forgetting that she can't see him through the phone. 

"I'm not really sure, but yes, I think I know the name of it. I can go over there and get them for you, though." 

Jongin can hear his mom sigh in relief from the other end of the line, and even though his mom can't see him he ends up smiling to himself while tapping his hand rhythimically on his thigh. "Thank you so much, honey. You can visit the house and drop them by, put them on the dining table so I won't forget to water them."

"You got it." He says, feeling a little more cheerful now.

"I love you, dear. Say hi to Sehun for me."

"I will, and I love you too."

As soon as she hangs up, Jongin realizes that he probably doesn't know what the store's name is. Damn. He should've asked his mom to make sure the name he was thinking about was the right one. Looking up from his phone, he sees Kris standing there with his back facing him and had a weird feeling that maybe the taller male knew where and what this place was.

"Hey, Kris?" Jongin asks, stuffing his hands inside his pockets. Kris turns around with an odd mixture of exhaustion and exasperation on his face. 

"I thought I told you to go home."

Jongin ignores him. "By any chance, do you know any popular flower shops near here?" 

"Uh, why? You have a date or something later?" Kris snickers. "I didn't know that you were the romantic type."

"Shut the —"

"—okay, okay. Calm down, you lovebird." He thinks for a moment, before frowning and placing a hand on his chin. "I know a guy who buys flowers off of this other guy... but that's irrelevant. I think he mentioned that there was a store somewhere in the middle of the city or something like that. It should be pretty close to where we are."

Kris raises his head and looks around before exclaiming, "Aha! There." He points diagonally from where they're standing, where a medium sized building was located. Jongin can't really make out the words from here (he squints and thinks it says We Are Gone... what), but he's able to see the outline of a bouquet which seemed to be painted next to the muddled up words on the building. Huh.

Jongin's a little skeptical. "Are you sure that's the one?"

"Can you at least trust my judgement for once?" Kris complains. "But yeah, I'm like 76% sure."

"Um, okay. Thanks."

"Have fun on your date," Kris shouts, his hands cupped over his mouth as Jongin begins to walk away. He ignores him.

---

Everyday is some sort of routine for Do Kyungsoo.

Wake up, turn the annoying alarm clock off, climb (or fall) out of bed, wash his face, stuff a piece of toast in his mouth and at the same time pull on a white dress shirt, buttoning it all up to the top neatly. He smooths out his shirt and checks his reflection in the mirror before pulling on a pair of dark jeans, tugging on some socks and then his shoes as he finishes his light breakfast. Then, Kyungsoo walks into the bathroom to brush his teeth and fixes his hair to get rid of that awful bedhead.

After he gets out of the bathroom, he grabs the flower shop keys and also his apartment keys (so he won't lock himself out later), stuffing both of them inside the pockets of his jeans. Kyungsoo's wide eyes sweep the floor of his apartment before making sure that he didn't forget anything, when he sees a small Starbucks bag placed on the coffee table. Oh, right. Luhan (his old college roommate, as well as fellow employee) never eats in the morning, so Kyungsoo, being the great, caring friend that he is always brings him breakfast. Kyungsoo actually only does it because it gives him a good excuse not to throw out the leftovers he has since he lives alone. 

His phone buzzes just as he's about to place his hand on the doorknob (Starbucks bag on his arm), and he sighs at the noise.

Either one of three possible situations was about to take place. Either Luhan would text him that he's running late today because he overslept, Luhan would text that he's at the flower shop but he forgot his keys so Kyungsoo would have to "hurry his up or he'll break in", or Luhan would text that he is surprisingly early and will continue to spam him until he got there.

A little disgruntled, Kyungsoo checks his most recent messages and frowns slightly. 

Luhan: hey I'm here but I forgot the keys again lmao
Luhan: where r u
Luhan: if u don't come in 15 mins I'm breaking in

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. Apparently it's situation #2 today. He quickly types in a reply saying I'm on my way, opening the door afterwards and locking it behind him as he makes his way out of his apartment building. He gives curt nods to the people that he usually passes by every morning, and tosses the Starbucks bag in the passenger's seat as he gets into the car. Digging into his back pocket, he takes his phone out again to see if Luhan said something back.

Luhan: you just left didn't you

Kyungsoo doesn't reply but smiles to himself upon seeing it, mainly because it's true.

---

Kyungsoo sees Luhan waiting in front of the flower shop, his arms crossed. He gives Kyungsoo a huge grin as soon as he sees him.

After Kyungsoo parks the car in the back, he grabs the Starbucks bag from the passenger's seat and tosses it to Luhan who catches it with both hands. "That was twenty minutes. I'm surprised that I didn't try breaking in sooner." the taller boy sighs, shaking his head. "But, I'll let you off this time because you brought me a chocolate crossaint. O great and powerful one, how could I ever repay you for this wonderful deed?"

"By remembering not to forget your keys next time," Kyungsoo replies, grabbing his flower shop keys out of his pocket. With a little shake, he hands them to Luhan expectantly. The latter stares at the keys in Kyungsoo's palm before rolling his eyes, taking them from him and unlocking the door in one swift motion. He stuffs some of the crossaint in his mouth before turning the lights on and approaching some of the flowers in the shop. 

The other boy grins before crossing his arms. "Sorry, Kyungsoo. I can't help being distracted."

"In that case, you should focus on not having any distractions."

"Aw, come on. You have like, no distractions. Loosen up a bit. There's no harm in having fun once in a while."

"I just want to do my job well." Kyungsoo mutters. He doesn't say anything about seemingly having "no distractions" as Luhan likes to put it, because like any other human Kyungsoo was not perfect. He really only had one distraction, and it was a person. He never told Luhan about it since he really didn't need to, and he also felt a little embarrassed by it.

Also, as bothersome (and annoying) Luhan could be sometimes, Kyungsoo has to admit that he actually does his work like he's supposed to. Not to mention the fact that he also actually does it pretty well. It's one of the few reasons why he decided to hire his former college roommate to work for him. 

"You're the owner of this shop. You're doing plenty well already. Tell you what, maybe it's time for you to figure out what Jongdae and I are up to in the late hours of the evening." Luhan flicks a leaf before addressing Kyungsoo again, who's now busy rifling through the order sheets. "Do we have anything important to take care of?"

"I appreciate your offer, but no thanks. And, I really don't want to know what you two are up to." The shorter of the two says, rubbing his eyes. "Chanyeol told me yesterday that he's going to come in late today, so some people might be receiving their flowers later than expected. I'm going to ask Jongdae to call them if they're fine with that, when he comes in later." 

"What's Chanyeol doing today that's so different from yesterday?"

Kyungsoo shrugs. "I didn't ask. Also, stop eating so close to the plants. You're going to get crossaint crumbs in the soil." He takes one of the dark gray aprons from a coat hanger and hands it to Luhan, who ties it to his waist after stuffing the rest of the breakfast material inside his mouth. "Do you know what time Jongdae's going to be in today, by the way? I know you saw him after work."

Luhan nods, as he grabs the watering can and starts to water the sunflower next to him. "Yeah, I saw him last night. I see him mostly every night, actually." When Kyungsoo gives him a weird and suspicious look, Luhan stutters. "Oh no no no, not like that. Seriously, Kyungsoo, I thought you of all people wouldn't think of some kind of weird situation—" 

"—anyways, did you ask? Or did he tell you?" 

"Yes to both."

"So... ?"

"He's actually off today because his manager, uh, Junmyeon was it? Anyway, Junmyeon thought that Jongdae was doing a very good job recently so he gave him a raise as well as a three day weekend." Luhan muses. "Although, I don't know if I should believe what he says." When Kyungsoo opens his mouth to say something along the lines of why would you not, he's interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

"I got it." Luhan says suddenly, and Kyungsoo smiles at him gratefully before returning to the counter.

Kyungsoo rummages through many different kinds of old orders, sorting them into boxes. He hears Luhan in the background saying the usual greeting: "Hello and good morning! Welcome to our flower shop, We Are One. Are you looking for anything in particular today?" as Kyungsoo places several papers on the counter for him to look at later.

"Uh, I think my mom ordered something from here. I'm here to pick it up." The customer replies, and Kyungsoo frowns at the sound of his voice. Something about it sounds awfully familiar, but Kyungsoo shakes it off and moves on to checking people's names off the order list, marking an x next to the people who already got their flowers and leaving the spaces next to the names blank if they haven't received them yet.

"Oh, okay. Do you know what she ordered?" Luhan asks.

"Daises."

"Well, in that case I'll hand you over to Kyungsoo over here."

"Kyungsoo?" The customer repeats.

At the sound of his name (he doesn't know why the customer sounds so surprised), Kyungsoo finishes marking the last x and grabs the pot of daises which were already perched on top of the counter. "Yep, that's me." He says, patting the space next to the flowers gently. "I have the flowers over here for you, we'll talk about the payment and stuff over here."

He raises his head and looks at the customer at last, a big smile on his face—

—staring straight into the eyes of someone he had no trouble recognizing. 

"Kyungsoo?" The other male says once more, gasping.

Jongin.

Kim Jongin.

There was no mistake. That was him, all right—Kyungsoo was able to recognize those eyes of his anywhere. Jongin was standing right there, in the middle of his shop with his hands in his pockets. Kyungsoo's old childhood friend, that he hasn't seen in such a long time. His only distraction. The distraction that he never bothered to tell anyone about, because Jongin was his weakness.

Kyungsoo wanted to shake his fist at fate for cursing him like this.

A strange, fluttery feeling inside his chest starts to come back, something that Kyungsoo only experienced in Jongin's presence. When he realizes this, he curses inwardly. That moment was when he realized then and there that he was very, very, very screwed. Kyungsoo was sure that this feeling had completely died away years ago, after he moved away. "Jongin?" 

Kyungsoo's expression of surprise is mirrored on the other's face, eyes widened and mouth slightly open. Luhan stares at the two of them before clearing his throat awkwardly and shifting on his feet slightly. "Uh. Hello? Are you guys okay?" 

"Um, yeah. Sorry." Jongin snaps out of his thoughts first, running a hand through his hair. "Hey."

Kyungsoo watches him as he approaches the counter, eyes still widened. Of course it was quite a shock to see Jongin after all these years, but what was even more shocking to him was the fact that the younger male seemed to be wearing a police officer's uniform. A small smile tugs at Kyungsoo's lips. To think that Jongin would graduate college to become a police officer... 

Luhan then clears his throat a little louder, and Kyungsoo jumps.

Jongin stares at him now with mild amusement on his face, a hint of a smile on his lips. 

"Uh, sorry." Luhan apologizes. "He's usually not like this." 

Jongin grins before responding. "That's okay."

Kyungsoo mumbles an apology before reaching out to grab an order form. He places it in front of Jongin, and gives him a pen to sign the bottom of the paper. After he does so, Jongin digs into his pocket to take out the payment and gives it to him. In return, Kyungsoo grabs the flower pot and hands it over to Jongin with a small smile on his lips.

"Police officer, huh?"

Jongin blinks at him, evidently surprised that Kyungsoo said something. He shrugs and takes the daises from him, their fingers brushing lightly against one another. Kyungsoo flinches a little at the touch, but if Jongin notices he doesn't acknowledge it. "It's complete hell, but it's also good pay." He mumbles as the other male nods in understanding. 

"The outfit looks good on you." Kyungsoo notes. To say that he looked good was an understatement, though, but he doesn't admit that out loud.

He doesn't notice the fact that Jongin's cheeks were turning a light shade of pink at his compliment. "Haha, thank you." 

"No problem." 

They lapse into silence, staring at each other momentarily. 

"I've gotta—" Jongin then says, jabbing a thumb towards the door.

"Huh?" Kyungsoo blinks. Then realization dawns on him. "Oh, right. I'm sorry."

"It's fine, really." 

Jongin looks at Kyungsoo for one last time before turning to Luhan, smiling at him. "Thanks for your help." He says, as Luhan blinks twice and smiles back. Kyungsoo watches as Jongin walks towards the door and pushes it open hesitantly. He looks like he wants to say something, for he looks back at Kyungsoo and tilts his head to the side. "Hey, Kyungsoo?" 

"Yeah?"

"I'll see you later?" Jongin says, making his statement sound more like a question. 

Kyungsoo smiles brightly, his spirits suddenly lifting. "Sure. We really do need to catch up, don't we?" 

"Yeah, we do." 

"Bye then," he raises a hand to wave him a goodbye. "come visit when you have the time to." 

Jongin smiles softly in response, and with that he pushes the door open and leaves. As soon as he's out of sight, Luhan rounds on Kyungsoo. "What the hell was that?" He gasps, his eyes widened in complete surprise. He starts pacing the store and stops only to see Kyungsoo's confused expression. 

"What was what?" He deadpans. 

Luhan wants to strangle Kyungsoo for being so oblivious. "You two obviously knew—well, know—each other." 

"Yeah, we used to go to the same elementary school." Kyungsoo reminisces. "I never really saw him afterwards, I moved away before we got into middle school. But yeah, we used to be pretty close." He doesn't mention the fact that he used to have something for him, instead taking the payment Jongin left on the counter. He puts it in the cash register and doesn't notice Luhan gawking at him until he looks up again.

"Um, did you see the way he was looking at you?"

"What about it?"

Luhan gapes at him. "You seriously didn't notice..." 

Kyungsoo sighs and shakes his head, pushing away the weird thoughts that sprung in his mind. Jongin's certainly gotten tanner the last time he's seen him not to mention that he also got a lot more attractive. He wonders if Jongin had a relationship with someone the past few years. Not that Kyungsoo particularly cared (okay, maybe he cared a little... or a lot), but it's really been a while since they've last seen each other.

He told Jongin to come visit him when he had the time to—which was probably the worst (or best?) mistake that Kyungsoo's ever made. 

As much as he doesn't want to admit it, Jongin's presence alone is enough for Kyungsoo to go crazy.

"Well," Luhan snickers. "maybe you do have one distraction after all." 

Kyungsoo turns around to hide the blush spreading across his face. "Get back to work, Luhan."

"Okaaaay." The other male grins, as he walks over to the store's entrance. "And Kyungsoo?"

"What?"

"No distractions," Luhan says in a sing-song voice, kicking the door open.

Kyungsoo opens his mouth to retort, but decides against it because Luhan's already outside doing whatever (probably checking on the flowerbeds) and instead buries his head in his hands. He replays the events that just happened in his head, groaning inwardly when his thoughts keep returning to Jongin. There's only one thing that's for sure. 

This was not part of his regular morning routine, but maybe this change was going to be a good thing.

---

"Sehun?"

Sehun eyes the door apprehensively.

"Sehun." 

He smirks, hearing Jongin's voice from the other side of the door. Did he forget his keys to the apartment or something?

"Sehun, you . I know you can hear me. Open the damn door." 

Sehun sighs, and sweeps a hand through his hair before getting off the couch. He walks over to the door and opens it, revealing Jongin who was holding a small pot of white daises. Oh, Sehun realizes. It's probably why he wasn't able to open the door himself. Wordlessly Sehun steps back and lets his friend in, who instantly walks over to the coffee table. Sehun watches as Jongin sits on the couch and gently places the daises on the center of it.

"I wasn't aware that you were going to get house decorations." Sehun observes, taking an interest in the flowers. 

His friend exhales. "It's not for us. My mom ordered them." 

"Why do you have them, then?"

"Because," Jongin says, staring at the flowers on the table. He rubs a petal between his thumb and forefinger gently. "I don't really feel like dropping them off right away. She lives a bit further away from here too. It's okay though, she won't notice because she's at work, so I just took them back here instead." He explains, eyes still trained on the flowers.

Sehun notices how Jongin doesn't seem to be completely focused. He's smiling slightly, as if he was remembering something.

"Um, Jongin?" 

"Yeah?"

"You look... distracted. Did something happen?"

Jongin blinks before tearing his gaze away from the daisies. "Nothing big. I just saw an old friend today."

"An old friend."

"Mhm." 

Sehun crosses his arms. "By any chance, was this old friend Kyungsoo?" 

His friend visibly flinches, and that's when Sehun knows that he was right. He doesn't know much about this Kyungsoo guy, except for the fact that Jongin probably had some kind of crush on him during one point in his life. Jongin never really talked to Sehun about Kyungsoo that much, but when he did Sehun would always notice how Jongin's eyes lit up every time he mentioned him. When Sehun would tease Jongin about it, the latter would just smile and look down in embarrassment.

"You did, didn't you." Sehun says, grinning.

Jongin leans back into the couch before responding. "Yeah."

"So, how'd it go?"

"Okay." His friend answers, staring at his fingers. "It was okay." 

"Is that a good or a bad thing?"

"It was just... okay."

"Please elaborate." 

"He recognized me before I was able to recognize him." Jongin says, as he continued to look at his hands. "There was this other guy who I was talking to and then all of a sudden he just says well in that case I'll hand you over to Kyungsoo now, and honestly after he said that I was really surprised because I wasn't expecting to run into Kyungsoo at all. And then Kyungsoo finally looked up from whatever he was doing, and he looked pretty surprised and... yeah."

Sehun whistles. "Wow. I think that's more than okay."

"You think so?"

"Yeah. Did he say anything else?" 

"Uh..." Jongin thinks for a bit before answering. "He said that the uniform looks good on me." 

Sehun's smirking now, nodding in satisfaction. "Niiice. But do you know what that means now? You'll have to wear that uniform every time you see him from now on. The only times that you won't be wearing that uniform would be well... you know." He trails off, raising his eyebrows suggestively. 

"... I don't think I want to know." 

"You know what I'm talking about." 

"Whatever."

"You're going to see him again, right?"

"Of course I am." 

"Ehehehehe." Sehun then giggles, giving his best friend a wide grin. "Kris was right. Jongin's in love." 

"I am not. Shut the hell up." Jongin grumbles as he rolls his eyes, but Sehun also doesn't miss the fact that his friend's face was starting to turn a dark shade of red. Jongin frowns before continuing. "But why did you bring Kris into this? What the hell does he have to do with anything?" 

"Oh... it's nothing. Don't worry about it." 

Things were about to get very interesting.

---

A/N: oooh, man. idk about you guys but i'm pretty hyped about this story. 
a HUGE huge HUGE thank you to those of you who subscribed and thank you to the person who commented. they made me feel very happy :,)
btw the rest of the members will show up in the future chapters, don't worry! 

thank you so so much for reading this (if you read it)
here's an emoticon for good measure: （*´▽｀*）

let me know what you think below in the comments! 

-seokminz