When Jongin wandered into the shop at 2.40 in the afternoon, he was still mildly dazed – so much so that even IN BLOOM’s most oblivious employee, noticed. The sweet-sharp fragrance of mints tickled Jongin’s nostrils as a long- hand waved itself exaggeratedly a few inches in front of his face.

“Hyung, you ok?” As always, restless energy and an overpowering scent of peppermint radiated from tall, rangy Oh Sehun. Fully recovered from last week’s food poisoning, Sehun was back to his usual daily regimen which included the obsessive consumption of Life Savers Pep O Mint. Luhan often complained that they should include a No Mints rule in their employee handbook because Sehun’s ridiculously excessive mint intake made him unbearably hyperactive and chatty. Each time Luhan brought it up though, Sehun would blithely ignore the insults and double his consumption of mints for the next two to three days. It drove Luhan insane with (mock) fury.

“Sure. Ok.” Jongin answered as he moved listlessly across the shop floor, which intrigued Sehun even further. Jongin could never be classified as an energetic kind of guy, but he always moved around the workplace with a sense of purpose. He never drifted around like a zombie as he was doing now.

“I’m no expert on such things but Jongin looks a little – what’s that old-fashioned word my halmoni likes to use? Lovestruck, that’s it. Jongin looks lovestruck.” Chanyeol made the pronouncement in his usual sober, stoic way.

“What? Hyung! You’re in love?!” Sehun shouted in astonishment and he was loud enough to startle Jongin from his stupor.

“Shut up, Sehun! What are you trying to do? I am not in love and Luhan had better be out on deliveries or else you’re sweeping and mopping the work-room floor for the next six weeks!” Jongin hissed in a mixture of annoyance and panic. He really didn’t want Luhan overhearing and hounding him about Kyungsoo. He wasn’t even sure himself what he was feeling yet so he certainly wasn’t ready to dissect the whole thing with his best friend.

“Hey, that is way harsh? All I asked was whether you were in l-” and Sehun found his stream of disagreeable words cut short by the palm Jongin had clapped firmly over his mouth. Chanyeol chuckled in amusement as he gingerly placed five exquisite posies of lavender and forget-me-nots in the chiller.

“Dude, silence really is the best policy sometimes,” Chanyeol advised Sehun sagely before directing at Jongin, “Luhan’s out. You’re safe. For now, anyway.”

“So hyung, who is he? It is a ‘he’, right? I seem to remember you being into guys in high school. Didn’t you date Yoo Seung Ho for a while? Y’know, before he moved away. So it’s gotta be a guy right? Who is he? C’mon, you can tell me.”

“Stop.” Jongin held up a hand dismissively, grimacing at his cousin. “We are not having this conversation.”

But as much as Jongin fought to withhold information from Sehun, the younger man had this way of always wheedling things out of him. In a way, he was like Luhan’s younger, whinier, more annoying brother – his protégé in gathering intelligence about all things pertinent to Kim Jongin. Jongin shuddered at the thought of having his feelings for Kyungsoo laid bare by Luhan and Sehun, aka Agents 007 and 008.

“What’s his name?” Sehun persisted.

“Not. Having. This. Conversation.” Jongin pointedly ignored him as he began selecting stalks of tall, deep purple gladioli. He had to prepare a dramatic table arrangement for a charity benefit downtown and he’d have to make his creative juices flow a little faster than usual because his impromptu tulip delivery had set him back considerably time-wise. But he didn’t regret a single lost second of time though, as he’d gotten gamjatang and Kyungsoo’s company out of it. Ok, who was he kidding? He’d also gained Kyungsoo’s gorgeous face and warm smile and his attractive voice and …

“Um, your ears and cheeks are pink, hyung. Are you thinking about him? You’re totally thinking about him, aren’t you? Who is this guy? What is his name? Hyunggggg – this is serious! Who is this guy you’re in love with?”

“Who said anything about love? And who says I’m thinking about him? I’m working out the design for this table arrangement – which is due for delivery in two hours. And you should … go and do something work-related till it’s time to deliver this. Don’t we pay you to do some work around this place? I’m sure we don’t pay you to interrogate the bosses.”

“I’m not interrogating you. I’m … concerned because you’re acting all weird and . And like gladioli ever made you blush, please! You were definitely not thinking about flowers when you blushed.” Sehun snorted sarcastically.

“Why did I even give you this job? No respect for your bosses …gossipy ... insubordinate ...” Jongin muttered darkly – not quite under his breath. Sehun pretended not to hear.

“Is he a customer? Someone you met at the record store? Bookstore? Growers’ market? Come on, hyung, you can tell me. I won’t tell a soul, I promise.”

Somewhere in the back of the shop, someone emitted a loud and disbelieving snort.

“Yah! Park Chanyeol! I heard that! I'll have you know I'm very trustworthy!” Sehun yelled, his voice filled with mock outrage.

“Why was I even worried about Luhan? You’re ten times nosier than him!”

Sehun disregarded all the insults and repeated his question, asking if it was someone Jongin had met at the bookstore, music store, or growers’ market. And there you had it, the summation of his pathetic life, Jongin reflected. Even his impervious, immature 21 year-old cousin knew that his interactions with people tended to be confined to the spheres of his interests: flowers, grunge music, and the fantasy books he loved so much. He sighed. No wonder Luhan was worried about his lack of social life.

"Hyungggg, who is he?"

Sehun continued to pelt him with a barrage of questions about the object of his affection, and Jongin let him rant on without answering a single question – all of his attention channelled towards the rich purple blooms before him. Unfortunately, his cousin was unstoppable. Completely and utterly unstoppable. And after another three minutes of relentless ‘Hyung-who-is-he?’, Jongin just wanted him to shut the hell up.

"He's an accountant, dammit! That's all you're getting from me. Now get lost before I condemn you to sweeping and mopping the workroom for the next six weeks! For real."

"You mean you hadn't sentenced me to hard labour yet? Scoooore!" Sehun grinned smugly and Jongin growled in frustration as he threw cut flower stems and stalks at his insufferable cousin.

"Love you too, hyung!" Sehun grinned cheekily at Jongin before making himself scarce. Jongin shook his head in resignation. It was really really hard to get good help these days.

----------

The edges of this afternoon's euphoria had worn off and Jongin was currently pacing the gunmetal grey carpet of the corridor outside his apartment. His frame was rigid with tension and his bottom lip was caught nervously between his teeth.

"Jongin?" Tao's elegant eyebrows arched in surprise to see his young neighbor in such a state of agitation.

"Tao! Help! I have to pick him up in half an hour and ... what do I say?" Jongin dragged his hand jerkily through his hair.

"You'd better come in," Tao pulled the door further ajar so Jongin could enter the stylishly appointed apartment he shared with his partner, Kris. With a photographer and an architect in residence, the apartment couldn't help but exude impeccable taste and subtle touches of the avant-garde.

Once he was inside the apartment and in Tao’s company, the anxiety seemed to drain visibly from Jongin and he flopped onto the boxy leather sofa in the most ungainly and dramatic manner, "You have to save me, Tao. You know I at small talk and he makes me all nervous and ... I have this horrible feeling I might blush when I'm talking to him. It’s something Sehun said this afternoon. I was thinking about Kyungsoo - that's the accountant's name - anyway, I was thinking about Kyungsoo while I was talking to Sehun and he claimed my ears and cheeks were red! I am so totally screwed, Tao." Jongin practically wailed.

He never let himself act like a child with anyone but Tao and Kris, and that was because they had always allowed him to behave like the bratty little brother they'd never had.  Growing up, Jongin had never had the chance to be a bratty little brother to his very distant, and very absent biological elder brother Jong Ho. Because of the drastic 10-year gap between the two brothers, Jongin had essentially been an only child at home from the time he turned 8. So when he had moved into this apartment building and become friends with his next-door neighbors, it was like gaining two elder brothers who doted on him like his own never had. He often turned to Tao and Kris with his problems but it was more for the comfort and assurance they gave him rather than for the answers they might offer. Luhan was his best friend and he confided in him about most things but Luhan's bold approach to life and his blunt way of expressing his opinions could be intimidating. So for something as fragile and sensitive as an incipient crush, Jongin was definitely more comfortable going to his de facto wise big brothers, Kris and Tao.

"Have you guys actually ... well, conversed?" Tao sat across from Jongin on the sofa and rubbed his temple with his index finger - something he often did unconsciously when he was giving something careful thought.

“Yeah ... we spoke for 30 minutes on the phone.”

“How’d that go? Was it painful?” Tao couldn’t help chuckling after making that last remark.

“Oi! That’s not even remotely funny!” Jongin threw a royal blue linen covered cushion at Tao before answering seriously, “It wasn’t bad at all, actually. We had some things in common so we just chatted till his phone battery ran out.”

“I don’t see a problem then, Jongin. You seem to have the talking thing all sorted out.”

“But tonight will be face-to-face. I won’t have a phone to hide behind. You know how I tend to freeze up with people I haven’t known forever.”

“Ok, back up a bit. How is it you’re seeing him tonight? Whose idea was it? I somehow get the feeling you weren’t the one who did the asking?”

“I went to his office after lunch to deliver flowers,” Jongin admitted sheepishly.

“From you to him?” Tao smirked, “What happened to sending him flowers just the one time?”

Jongin ignored Tao’s good natured teasing and went on to relate how Kyungsoo had suggested they eat dinner together that night; and God only knows how and why, but Jongin offered him a ride to the restaurant.

“Why the hell did I even do that? Now I not only have to worry about what to say to him during dinner, but I also have to worry about to say to him before and after dinner! What if I get tongue-tied or say something stupid and he thinks I’m a complete social reject? Taoooooooo … I’m so dead.”

“If the guy asked you out on his own, he’s probably genuinely interested. And if he is, he’s going to work at keeping the conversation going so just relax, ok? It’ll be fine! Don’t over think .” Tao smiled reassuringly at Jongin, then threw a cushion at him to distract him. Jongin caught it easily before burying his face in it.

“Did you know, Tao? When you first met Kris, did you know you guys would be together?”

“Honestly? It wasn’t an instant, head-over-heels thing. We met at a photography exhibition – did I ever tell you that? No? Anyway, I was studying this black and white photograph of a Spanish villa. It was a study in the use of light and shadow and I thought it was beautiful in its stark simplicity. Suddenly, there was this deep voice to my left saying he really liked the beautiful, simple lines in the photograph. When I turned to look at him, I didn’t fall instantly in love or in lust. He was just a very attractive stranger to me. We viewed the rest of the exhibit together, walked around the gallery and talked about the photographs we saw. And by the end of the evening, I knew I wanted to see him again. Luckily for me, Kris felt the same way. After three dates, I think I knew we would be together.”

“Three dates, huh?” Jongin worried the corner of the cushion, grimacing.

“Kris claims he knew after one date but I seriously doubt you could be that sure that fast,” Tao rolled his eyes sceptically, “Here’s my advice, kiddo. Try not to think about how much you like him. Talk if you have something to say and just be quiet if you don’t. And most importantly, don’t be stressed if you have nothing to say because it’s normal to have gaps in conversation. Kyungsoo doesn’t sound like the kind of guy who expects you to talk non-stop, anyway. Just try to be yourself – like how you are with Kris and me – and he’ll probably find you irresistible. I know Kris and I do.”  

“But I get so nervous when I see him.” Jongin fought the urge to whine.

“It’ll be okay, trust me. And the more time you spend with him, the less nervous you’ll be. Now go! Or else you’re gonna be late picking him up. You can do it, Kim Jongin. I promise you can. Good luck.” Tao ruffled Jongin’s hair affectionately and pulled him off the sofa before dragging him firmly towards the front door.

--------

Jongin willed his nerves to settle as he rapped his knuckles on the heavy mahogany door. Five seconds later, the door swung open slowly to reveal a casually dressed, radiantly smiling Kyungsoo. Jongin couldn’t help staring as he’d never seen him in anything but office wear till now. The deep green cotton of Kyungsoo’s button-down, short-sleeved shirt set off his fair skin beautifully and he looked younger and more relaxed in fitting blue denim. The corners of Jongin’s mouth lifted as he sniffed the familiar citrusy scent that clung lightly to Kyungsoo’s skin, and admired the way Kyungsoo’s midnight hair looked softer and more natural as his bangs touched the tops of his thick eyebrows attractively. Jongin had only ever seen Kyungsoo's hair swept neatly off the forehead at work, and he much preferred the way it looked tonight. Kyungsoo at work was handsome, but Kyungsoo at play was simply devastating. Jongin hoped he wouldn’t forget how to breathe tonight.

“Hi.” Kyungsoo smiled.

“Hi.” Jongin smiled.  

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Hi guys! Sorry for the delay but as usual, real life has been kicking my so that doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for updating, orz. I was originally going to have more Kaisoo interaction but then the Exo maknaes kind of railroaded me and so Sehun and Tao got a lot more chapter time than I initially expected lol. Don’t kill me! But not to worry, Chapter 12 will be all about Kaisoo at the Potato Palace and Jongin’s car and who knows where else … stay tuned to find out lol.

Thanks again for reading and subscribing and I hope you guys are enjoying the story.

Love you guys!