“Jinah-yah! I’ll go and deliver the orders, okay?”, a woman called from the shop’s entrance. Jinah appeared from the back of the store. “Okay, thank you, Unnie!”

Four days had already passed since her encounter with the drunk men and that mysterious guy. She had run away right away out of fear, but now she felt sorry for not saying ‘thank you’ to her saviour.

Carrying a bucket full of roses to the front of the shop, she thought about the man. Since that night the image of his face had been stuck in her mind. Especially his eyes. They had been unhumanly blue and she was quite sure that he had been a man. But could a human possibly have such blue eyes?

Maybe she had imagined it or the lighting had been strange... she tilted her head while arranging the flowers.

Just who was that man?

The past few days he hadn’t been able to forget the smell of that woman. That sweet sweet smell... He had never before thought about one person for such a long time – especially not one of his meals.

Again and again he had caught himself looking for that smell, feeling kind of pathetic to be so mesmerized by a puny human. The more shocked he was, as he found himself in front of a flower shop. That woman’s smell was so strong in this place and the next moment she walked out of the store.

Quietly and out of sight, he observed her. Of course the smell of fear had gone but it definitly was her and the strange feeling he had about her was still there.

“All right, I can start inside now, I think...” When the woman turned around, their eyes met. It was then that he realized what the strange thing about her was. Why didn’t he notice before?

“Ah!”, she smiled brightly as she recognized him, “You are the one who saved me!” Quickly she bowed. “I’m sorry for just running away like that. I haven’t thanked you yet, so... thank you so much for saving me!”

“No need to.”, he said coldly, ready to leave again. If that girl knew the truth about his appearance that night, she wouldn’t be that thankful. Her reaction irritated him.

“Wait!”, she told him and disappeared into the shop just to come out again a moment later, “I want to express my gratitude. This is a precious plant.” Without waiting for an answer, Jinah handed the plant to the man who’s expression was still emotionless.

“This is lavender. It has a wonderful smell and needs a lot of sunlight. But actually it isn’that difficult to take care of it.”, she explained with a wide smile, “Oh right! I haven’t introduced myself, yet! My name is Im JinAh. And yours is...”

He gave her a glance which said ‘None of your business’ but she didn’t give up. “Please, I want to at least know my saviour’s name.” Since she still got no response from him, she then started. “Okay, I’ll just call you my saviour then. Saviour-shi... or Knight-shi... Hero-shi! That sounds nice! I’ll go with Hero-shi!”

Actually he wasn’t interested in how that woman called him but ‘Hero’ was a bit...

“Wait one moment, Hero-shi. I’ll get you a box for the plant.” Left behind with the small plant in his hands, he looked down on it. It’s smell was sweet and strong. Somehow it reminded him of Jinah’s scent.

While he observed the flower coldly, its leaves slowly began to turn brown before wilting and falling onto the soil. Without a change of expression, he watched the plant dying down.

“Here is a – omo! What happened?” Jinah who had come back with a small box, was shocked by the state of the plant. “How did it wilt like this?” Quickly she took it from the man, oberserving it carefully. “Don’t worry, you’ll be alright soon.”, she told the plant like a mother talking to her injured child.

He raised an eyebrow at her words. “That plant is dead. It won’t grow again.”

“Of course it will. There is still life in it.” There isn’t, he thought. He could clearly see the small strand of energy ebb down.

“I’m sorry, Hero-shi. I’ll take care of it for now. Hopefully we meet again!”

Although he doubted that would happen, he nodded slightly and watched her hurrying into the shop again.

“It won’t.”, he quietly said, “Just like you.”

[a/n]

Wow...I finally managed to upload the next chapter... sorry for the long wait >.<

I hope you enjoy this small chapter ^^

MikiApple