alstroemeria- friendship

Recap- Myungsoo gets a call from his sister, Rania, telling him that his mother is in the hospital; he finds out that she might have liver cancer. He bumps into Jessica and finds out that she is mute. Rania leaves for China, leaving him to take care of their mother. After Myungsoo figures out how Jessica communicates, he tries to do the same- with flowers. 

Myungsoo was ready to leave to the hospital with his vase of alstroemeria flowers when he remembered that he forgot his camera. Rolling his eyes in annoyance, he drove back to his house, running up to the front door. He noticed a small, white, beautiful envelop sitting in front of his mat. Curious, he pulled the envelop open and immediately flared up in anger. 

Im Yoona was his ex and they had broken up on bad terms- or, bad terms in his mind, anyway. A year later, he still thought about her, wondered if she'd had breakfast yet, left for work...and now, here was her envelope, inviting him to her wedding. Her wedding.

It was like a cold gust of wind on a hot summer day; Myungsoo felt like he had been slapped in the face. She'd requested, under the invitation, that he be their photographer, and to phone her ASAP as soon as he found a location for the pre-wedding photo-shoot. Grinding his teeth at the nerve of Yoona, he threw the envelope down on the mat and pushed open his front door, grabbed his camera, and left for the hospital, not sparing the envelope another glance. Taking the elevator, he found himself on the fifth floor again; knocking softly on his mother's door, he pushed down on the handle and walked in.

She was still asleep. Myungsoo frowned; did she wake up in the night? Had she gotten her food? Where the hell was the doctor? He was supposed to tell him what was wrong with his mother! He tore his gaze away from his mother. Seeing her like his was repulsive- this wasn't his mother, she wasn't the mother he had grown up with. She wasn't the strong, independent female who always seemed to laugh. She was just someone who slept all the time now. The shadow of who she had been.

He felt the room quietly, shutting the room firmly behind him. Clutching his vase of alstroemeria flowers, his knocked on Jessica's door. There was no reply, as expected. When he pushed down on the handle, he found Jessica awake, looking at him in surprise. Myungsoo grinned, showing her his vase of flowers. "Good morning," he greeted her. "Here, these are for you. You, er, you know the meaning of these, right?"

The corners of Jessica's lips twitched.

"I mean, I'm not expert in flowers, these might mean something totally disgusting but, I mean, you know...." Jessica pulled the blanket off of her and took the vase of flowers in her hands, bending down slightly to smell them. She then walked over to her window where her pots of flowers were waving in the slight breeze, carefully placing the vase in the middle. "They, they mean friendship, right?" Jessica looked over her shoulder at him, gave him a smile, and nodded. Myungsoo let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. Good, the flowers don't mean something else.

"Are you always stuck in this room?" Myungsoo asked, glancing around. You couldn't really call it a room- it was a poor excuse for one. There was only the bed and the bench, with all the medical equipment jammed into a corner. And of course, the flowers by the window. Jessica nodded. "Well, that , doesn't it? Can't you leave the room? For like, a walk?" She just shrugged. Myungsoo pursed his lips. "Okay... do you want to walk? I'd hate to be cooped up in here."

Straightening up, Jessica turned around to face him. She nodded slowly, a smile tugging at the ends of her lips. 

 "...so I'm going to find out today if my mom's going to be okay," Myungsoo concluded. They were walking around the tiny park the hospital had provided. "Well, the jackass of a doctor promised that he would have an analysis today morning, but it's already, what, ten o'clock? Eleven?" Jessica laughed, and at this, Myungsoo turned to look at her with shock. When she gave an inquiring look, Myungsoo turned away, shaking his head. "Anyway, my sister, Raina, just moved to China so I'm kinda alone in taking care of my mom. Not that I don't like it! I mean, my sister worked really hard to get a chance to study in China, you know? I can't just let her not go." Jessica nodded, signaling that she understood. "But I'm curious though, why're you in the hospital? Being mute isn't life-threatening, is it?" 

The smile that Jessica was wearing slipped. How was she supposed to explain this? "I guess it was kinda stupid to ask you a question, huh?" Myungsoo said, grinning in his embarrassment. "You can't reply. Well, that's fine. I don't need to know anyway." Jessica looked relieved that he had let go of that question. She started to fan herself as the heat from the sun was increasing and she had forgotten to bring her hat. "Let's go back inside," Myungsoo suggested, taking a hold of her elbow to steer her back inside the building. His cell phone buzzed in his pocket; glancing at the ID, he picked up the phone. "Good morning, Junghyun-shi. Yes...yes, I saw your request. Yes...today is fine, yes...of course."

Pointing at the phone, Jessica looked at him. "That was one of my clients. Remember how I told you I'm a freelance photographer? Well, she wants me to take her pre-wedding photos and I'm going to try to find a place where I can shoot them." At this, Jessica pointed at herself and back at Myungsoo. "Do you want to come with me?" Myungsoo interpreted. Jessica nodded. "Can you do that?" She nodded again. "Okay then, I'll let you change. In the meantime, I'm going to sign you out of the hospital, okay? I'll be back in ten."

Three hours later, Myungsoo collapsed on the floor. "Please," he begged Jessica. "Please, let's just choose this place." Jessica shook her head, starting to walk back to his car. It was two in the afternoon and they were still looking for a place to shoot. If it was just him, he would have found an acceptable place hours ago and decorated it according to the client's preference, but Jessica wasn't relenting. She was aiming for a place that incorporated nature.

They had arrived at a small studio, with a backyard fit for decorating. "I seriously don't have the energy to look for any more places," Myungsoo said, rubbing his legs. When she noticed that he was indeed about to faint from exhaustion, Jessica finally nodded. "I'm going to rest for a few moments, okay? Wake me if you need anything."

The few moments turned into a few hours and when Myungsoo woke up, he fell off the bench he had fallen asleep on. He wasn't sure if they were in the same place for it looked completely different. Spotting Jessica, he walked over, rubbing his knee. "Did you do all this?" he asked incredulously. Jessica was startled to hear his voice, but nodded. "Jessica! You should've woken me, I would have helped!" She shrugged it off as if it was nothing, when in fact, it was something. The place was covered with flowers but arranged in a way that it looked elegant, effortless, and neat. "Jessica..." Myungsoo trailed off, looking at the place. "Thank you." It was far better than what he could have ever done.

Jessica laughed, turning back to the flower she was plotting on the ground. Myungsoo, smiling, bent down and joined her. 

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The next chapter is going to be called Daffodil.