"Click." Jongin's finger depressed the switch and all of a sudden, the stark lines of the bedroom were illuminated. The lamplight had drenched Kyungsoo's porcelain skin with a golden glow and Jongin gazed longingly at the two moles on the left side of his slender neck. They were about two inches apart and he moved forward slowly to kiss each little mark, nuzzling the skin as he did. Kyungsoo moaned in response, emerging slowly from his slumber and instinctively pulling Jongin nearer. 

 

"Jongin? What time is it? Is it time to get up?" Disorientated, Kyungsoo curled up closer into Jongin's warm body.

 

"No, not time to get up."

 

"So why are we up?

 

"I've been trying to sleep for the past two hours but I can't." After hours of tortured contemplation, Jongin had decided to just end the misery and wake up his boyfriend.

 

"Why?" Kyungsoo looked up at him, still bleary-eyed from sleep but concerned.

 

"Guilty." He said quietly and Kyungsoo sighed before tightening his arm reassuringly around Jongin, "Is this about your being not quite just a delivery guy? Don't feel guilty, Jongin."

 

"I'm not even a delivery guy - not even close." Jongin confessed in anguished tones before

burying his face in Kyungsoo's pristine white pillow.

 

"I think deep down I always knew that." Kyungsoo murmured against the sensitive skin on Jongin's nape.

 

"Aren't you mad?" Jongin turned to face him.

 

"No. You're just confirming what I already suspected. Everyone's young and stupid once, Jongin. But if you ever lie to me again, I swear to God I will whoop your ; or worse still, I will make you sell Girl Scout cookies from door to door so you'll have no choice but to talk to strangers."Kyungsoo warned threateningly as he punched Jongin's shoulder, which didn't faze Jongin at all. It was the words 'talk to strangers' that made him flinch.

 

"And I would still like to know why you told me you were a delivery guy."

 

"I didn't exactly say that at first, you just assumed. I never do deliveries, hyung, because talking to strangers freaks me out, and also because I'm actually a floral designer like Chanyeol. In fact Chanyeol is my assistant." Jongin wanted so much to reach out and touch Kyungsoo's hand and just feel his skin against his own - but he didn't feel like he had a right now all things considered. So he lay back down and focused on a small speck on the ceiling in a less than subtle attempt to avoid Kyungsoo's eyes.

 

"Whoa, that's a little more than I anticipated." Kyungsoo sounded surprised but fortunately, not upset.

 

"There's more - Luhan and I ... we're business partners. We own IN BLOOM. He hates Nirvana and grunge music but he agreed to the name because 'bloom' goes with the whole flower shop theme and ... I'm rambling. I'm so sorry, hyung. I know I should have told you from the start but I ... I needed an excuse to see you again. That's why I pretended I was a delivery guy - so I could keep seeing you."

 

"Oh Jongin, you could just have asked me out!" Kyungsoo couldn't help laughing and hitting Jongin on the shoulder.

 

"Hyung, you know what I was like with you before!  I would never have had the guts to ask you out. I was hopeless. Delivering flowers gave me a legit reason to come see you." Jongin said miserably.

 

"I suppose all those flowers were from you then?"

 

"Yes. But I chose those flowers specially, hyung. I didn't just throw any old flowers together. I mean they were never JUST an excuse for me.  They all meant something. I'm sorry  ...  I'm not making any sense." Jongin made a frustrated noise and covered his face with a pillow.

 

"I get you, Jongin, I get you." Kyungsoo snatched the pillow away and peered down at Jongin's face, "So, I guess that makes you my not-so-secret admirer?" Kyungsoo asked and Jongin nodded sheepishly.

 

"Why didn't you tell me last weekend? You were comfortable with me already."

 

"I had stuff planned out and I wasn't done with the delivery guy thing. That's why I didn't say anything. Junmyeon hyung's been reminding me not to keep the truth from you too and I told him I'd tell you on Wednesday. But when you went ahead of your schedule just now to tell me ... saranghae ... It made me feel really bad for trying to keep my own schedule. So that's why I tossed and turned for 2 hours and eventually woke you up. Keeping it secret for the sake of my schedule was a really lame reason anyway." Encouraged by Kyungsoo's lack of censure, Jongin turned to face him, his fingers tentatively his jawline.

 

"I'm glad you finally told me. The curiosity was killing me and I am about the most un-curious person on the planet. It drives Jongdae mad when he dangles bits of gossip in front of me and waits for me to prod for more information and I just shrug and say nothing. He always complains I'm the most indifferent, unfeeling person ever. Which reminds me, I should just scare the crap out of him by asking him about Yixing." Jongin chuckled at that before leaning forward to kiss one of Kyungsoo's moles tenderly.

 

"Did you know you have two moles on the right side of your neck?" Jongin's fingertips caressed the two marks.

 

"I don't think I ever noticed them. Stop! That tickles."

 

"I've not been able to unnotice them all weekend." Jongin placed his mouth over the second mole and Kyungsoo laughed, pushing him away. 

 

"This afternoon's anemones - you said they meant unfading love so is that what they were? A declaration of unfading love?" Kyungsoo tried to distract Jongin before he could dive in on his neck again. 

 

"Hyungggg," Jongin groaned in embarrassment, now burying his face in the mattress since Kyungsoo still held his pillow hostage.

 

"Just say yes or no, Jongin."

 

"Yes," his voice was muffled by the bedding but it was a definite yes. 

 

"And you said you weren't romantic." Kyungsoo shook his head and maneuvered Jongin into a spooning position since the taller man seemed too self conscious right now to face him. 

 

"Jongin-ah, if I knew one end of a flower from another, I would make a bouquet of anemones for you too." Kyungsoo whispered into his ear and Jongin turned around to face him, transparent yearning in his eyes. They reached for each other and for the next little while, no one gave a thought at all to getting any sleep.

 

* * *

 

"Dude, why do you look like you're dying of the Ebola virus?" Luhan sat down abruptly on Jongin's worktable, a fierce expression on his face. 

 

Severely sleep deprived and groggy, Jongin answered without thinking, "I told Kyungsoo last night that I wasn't a delivery guy so I didn't get much sleep."

 

"WHAT?! You told him you WEREN'T a delivery guy? Can we go allllll the way back to the part where you somehow forgot to tell your dope of a best a friend that you WERE a delivery guy?! The hell, Jongin!"

 

"So I guess I'm telling you now?" Jongin mumbled vaguely, resting his forehead on his folded arms in exhaustion.

 

"You will tell me what the hell is going on right now, you little !"

 

"So tired ..." Jongin mumbled before emitting a little snore and Luhan made strangled noises before leaving the workroom in disgust.

 

* * *

 

"Jongin, wake up, I want to know why you were pretending to be a delivery guy!" Luhan yelled at the still slumbering Jongin.

 

"Too loud ..." the words were muttered hoarsely and punctuated with a loud snore, followed by a long silence.

 

"KIM JONGIN! WAKE THE HELL UP!"

 

"..."

 

"Arghhhh! Seriously?!" Luhan spluttered, gave his oblivious friend the finger, then left in disgust yet again.

 

* * * 

 

"Soo, can you make it for drinks on Friday night? Ryeowook is going to be in town on business and he wants to meet up." Yixing had called Kyungsoo a couple of minutes earlier but was only now mentioning their old classmate, who also happened to be Yixing's ex. They'd remained friends though for reasons Kyungsoo had never fathomed or ventured to find out. That had always been Kyungsoo's way. If people didn't offer details about their personal lives, he didn't probe further. So he wasn't even sure why he was about to do what he was about to do.

 

"Sure, Friday is fine. After work?"

 

"Yeah. I'll let you know where later."

 

"Xing, about last Sunday,"

 

"Sunday?" Yixing sounded mildly confused.

 

"You and Jongdae and the footsie thing, what was that about?" Kyungsoo swore he heard a sharp intake of breath which was highly uncharacteristic of cool, calm Yixing.

 

"I ... you saw that? Damn." At least he wasn't trying to deny it, Kyungsoo thought. But then Yixing had never been one for subterfuge. He didn't go out of his way to offer information about his personal life but if he was asked things directly, he wouldn't lie. That was how he had always been.

 

"So has it been going on for a while or ...?" 

 

"The night before. Effing Sambuca."

 

"What the hell happened?"

 

"That idiot was hellbent on having six shots of Sambuca. I couldn't watch him reduced to road kill so I stopped him at four."

 

"How?"

 

"I grabbed the fifth glass and ..."

 

"And? Don't keep me in suspense."

 

"I drank it, of course. How else was I going to stop him? So he yelled at me for breaking his stride and he was having that Sambuca one way or the other and the lunatic kissed me. He fricking kissed me and dammit to hell, I didn't hate it."

 

"Wow. Of all the scenarios I was expecting, that was not one, Xing."

 

"I'm disgusted with myself. Kim Jongdae for the love of ..." Yixing sighed.

 

"Do you have ... feelings for him?"

 

"I don't even know to be honest. I'm still trying to come to terms with the fact that we made out and I didn't give him a black eye." Yixing said exasperatedly and Kyungsoo had to laugh.

 

"So what happens next?"

 

"Who the hell knows? I sure as hell don't."

 

"Well, I'm here if you need help sorting out your existential crisis."

 

"Are you trying to be funny, Soo?"

 

"I would never!"

 

* * *

 

"Soo. You got a minute?" Jongdae was very subdued for Jongdae and Kyungsoo had a funny feeling he was about to find out more about Sunday's footsie incident - whether he wanted to or not.

 

"Sure. Sit." Kyungsoo gestured at the corner of his desk. 

 

"I'm having a crisis." Jongdae sounded almost miserable. 

 

"Does this have anything to do with you and Yixing playing footsie  at Imperial Treasures?"

 

"WHAT? You saw? Or did Yixing say anything ...?" Jongdae sounded positively uncertain and anxious and completely un-Jongdae. Kyungsoo really wasn't sure what to make of it.

 

"No, Yixing didn't and yes, I saw. So did you guys hook up or something?" He tried to sound as casual as possible and he told himself he wasn't lying about Yixing because it was him who had brought up the issue, not his longtime friend.

 

"I don't know. I kinda attacked Yixing - but it was his fault, I swear. He shouldn't have hijacked my Sambuca, the ." Kyungsoo was relieved to see Jongdae hadn't lost all his fire.

 

"Define attacked."

 

"I kissed him," Jongdae confessed in strangled tones, "on the mouth." 

 

"That's a pretty extreme reaction to someone taking your drink, dude." Kyungsoo gave him a questioning look. And Jongdae looked away evasively.

 

"I've ... been wanting to do it for a while, I guess. The Sambuca just gave me the excuse I needed and taking four glasses of the stuff in one shot can make one a tad reckless. Besides, I figured if he got pissed and beat the crap out of me, I could blame it on the Sambuca making me stupid."

 

"Did he beat you up?"

 

"Not exactly."

 

"So that's good, right? And what do you mean by you've been wanting to kiss him for a while? I totally didn't pick up on that."

 

"It's his fault for always picking on me and giving me a hard time. It just made me notice him more and next thing I knew, I was watching him all the time and he never even realized because he doesn't notice me at all other than when he's poking fun at me."

 

"So your crisis is ...?" Kyungsoo prompted carefully - still not sure where Jongdae was going with this. 

 

"I think I actually like him but I don't think I'm much more than a fling to Yixing. What do I do?"

 

"I thinkkkk, I think you need to speak to Yixing." 

 

"I was hoping he might have said something to you about it."

 

"If he did, and I'm not saying he did, it would have been in confidence so I couldn't tell you anyway. Talk to him, Jongdae. You never know what he might say. Talk to him."

 

"I'm not much of a talker, Soo. I tend to yell a lot and talk AT people but I don't talk TO people all that much." Jongdae looked and sounded troubled. And Kyungsoo was surprised that Jongdae had such an astute assessment of his own nature - he would never have expected that much navel gazing from someone as extroverted as Kim Jongdae. You really never knew what depths people sometimes had.

 

"Talk to Yixing. That's the best advice I can give you and you should take it."

 

"I'll think about it." Jongdae assented and left shortly after.

 

Kyungsoo shook his head in disbelief. With all the excitement he'd had today, it would be a miracle if he got any work done. He tried to force himself to focus on financial formulae. Before he did though, he allowed himself to replay the scene from the night before when Jongin had woken him up from his sleep. He held the moment close to his heart, and the corners of his mouth lifted unconsciously.

 

* * *

 

"KIM JONGIN! I swear if you don't get up I will -" Luhan used his most strident tones in a last ditch effort to awaken his best friend.

 

"Shhhh ..." Jongin's words were slurred and punctuated by a not very gentle snore.

 

"Yah! Jongin!"

 

"..."

 

"Goddammit." 

 

* * *

 

Head tilting upward, Kyungsoo studied the graceless, industrial white round clock on the opposite wall. 4.52pm. Only eight more minutes, thank God. Jongin had texted him earlier to say he'd pick him up after work and he had been obsessively counting the minutes since half past four - even though Jongin probably wouldn't arrive till 5.30 at the earliest.

 

"Soo, your delivery guy is here." Baek called out from his workstation.

 

"My delivery ...?" Kyungsoo jumped up with indecent haste and rushed to the reception area - practically skidding to a halt at the counter. 

 

"Hi, hyung," a sleepy-eyed Jongin stood there, smiling tiredly at him. 

 

"I thought you weren't a delivery guy?" Kyungsoo teased.

 

"I still have my schedule to keep." Jongin's smile was half sheepish, half amused.

 

"What have you got for me today, then? And do I need to sign for it?" Kyungsoo leaned over the counter to take a peek and Jongin rolled his eyes at him, "You know I'm not going to ask you to sign for it because it's not actually from a customer. I can see you're going to be giving me about this for years." He sighed and Kyungsoo chuckled unapologetically.

 

Then he shyly proffered a lush but simple bouquet of elegant scarlet tulips. As Jongin stepped closer to the counter and handed the flowers over to Kyungsoo, he whispered self-consciously, "Red tulips mean undying love."

 

Heart not quite racing but not quite calm either, Kyungsoo took a quick look behind him to make sure none of his colleagues were wandering around in the vicinity. Satisfied, he boosted himself up and forward and quickly kissed a surprised Jongin on the mouth. 

 

"Hyung, someone might see."

 

"Let them. I love you always, too." Kyungsoo whispered.

 

 

-------------

 

Hi everyone, I never thought I would be posting the next chapter so soon but I guess there's something about Singapore air which is conducive to writing lol. Much of this chapter was written on buses and trains and shopping malls - don't ask. So much for being on vakay otl. And I'm dying from lack of EXO because hardly any online time - which is probably why there's more writing going on lol. 

 

Whatever it is, this is the penultimate chapter and In Bloom is almost complete. I hope I can stay true to the spirit of the story and continue to capture what Kyungsoic calls "tes personnages sont si vivants" (your characters are so alive). Thanks Nancy for inspiring me all those weeks ago with that comment :). 

 

PS: The scene where Jongdae talks about his feelings is dedicated to ruined_reverie who wanted to know what was going on inside his head. It's not much Courtney, but I hope it'll do for now :)

 

PPS: In Bloom just hit 500 subs! Tq everyone!