Zhoumi was hopeless when it came to flowers. He had always been and he feared he always would be. He first realised so one summer when he was staying with his grandmother who loved flowers more that anything and forced him to stay in the garden with her all day.

“It’s good for your complexion, dear!” his grandmother insisted with a happy laugh.

Zhoumi sat hopelessly and stared at the sunflower he had planted earlier this summer and had tried (key word: tried) to tend to. It was flaccid and looked just about ready to give up. He sighed deeply.

“I think I killed my sunflower, grandma,” he pouted. His grandmother came over to take a look at the flower.

“Oh dear, I think you drowned it,” she exclaimed softly causing the 5 year old to start tearing up.

“No no, it’s okay Mimi, we will just plant another flower! Maybe one that needs more water, okay?” she tried to soothe. Zhoumi nodded but couldn’t help but feeling hopeless when it came to flowers.

Many summers later his grandmother had not yet given up on trying to teach him the magic of her garden and Zhoumi had not yet given up on trying to learn. Zhoumi loved coming to his grandmother’s and he looked forward to learning something new each year. Even though he never managed to keep a single plant alive, he learnt something. For example, that plants should not have too much water, nor not enough. Some should have a lot of sun while others thrived in the shadows. Some needed sticks to help them hold up their twigs and branches while others could keep going towards the sky with no support.

Even so, his favourite flower was still the sunflower and he had yet again tried to plant some this summer. He was excessively careful with the flower, and did everything he remembered his grandmother telling him to do. He refused to ask for help though, as he felt that he had the information, he just needed to apply it in real life.

It was one splendid summer day when he sat and stared at the little sunflower when a young boy, maybe a bit older than the 14 year old Zhoumi, came into the garden with a box of flowers.

“Hello,” he greeted with a stunning smile and Zhoumi was sure he fell a little bit in love with the boy right then and there.

“H-hey,” he greeted with a tentative smile, beating himself up for stuttering.

“I was supposed to deliver these to Mrs. Zhou. Is she in?” the boy asked, looking curiously at Zhoumi.

“Oh, there you are Geng!” a shout came from the greenhouse. Zhoumi’s grandmother came out and took the flowers from the boy, Geng, after he had bowed to her.

“Here you are Mrs. Zhou,” Geng offered with another stunning smile. Zhoumi could only stare, not noticing that his mouth was open in awe because of the beautiful boy standing in his grandmother’s garden.

“Thank you. You are such a sweetie! Have you said hey to my grandson, Mimi? Mi, Geng works at his parents’ flower shop just downtown” she asked, gesturing to Zhoumi with a smile. She had caught Zhoumi’s completely verliebt expression and figured she would help the boy a little.

“No, not yet,” Geng said and turned to Zhoumi and bowed. “Hello Mimi,” he greeted with yet another smile.

It was only then that Zhoumi realised he must be looking ridiculous, crouching down on his long limbs in front of a sunflower and staring at it. Zhoumi scrambled up to return t