For lucydiggory + -dewdrops

Anemone

Luhan joined the gardening club unbeknownst  to his girlfriend Chorong. She had wanted him to join the basketball or football team, not the gardening club. However, when Baekhyun asked Luhan to volunteer for one day, Luhan immediately fell in love with it, and joined the club on his own will.

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

"They say that when the petals of an anemone closes, it will rain"

"Really?"

Chorong fiddles with the ear cap of her phone as she talks with her long-time boyfriend, Luhan. It was summer break and they didn’t have anything to do. They had already gone swimming, played at the park, and had lunch. In short, they were bored. They decided to just sit in the middle of Chorong’s lounge room, plopped on two giant bean bags, waiting for the afternoon to pass.

"Yep"

"What else do they say about it?"

"Apparently it symbolises luck and anticipation..."

"You seem to be quite the expert on this subject..."

“I have a thing for flowers…”

“Oh God…”

Luhan looks up from what he was playing on his phone.

“What?”

“Did you join some gardening club?”

“No.”

“You denied that statement pretty quickly…”

“I just heard it on National Geographic…”

“You watch National Geographic? And do they even have those kinds of programs on NatGeo?”

“I was just passing by…”

He shrugged his shoulders and went back to his game. Chorong didn’t like being bored, so she leaned over to see what he was doing.

“I can’t believe it! You play Farmville?”

“It’s pretty addictive…”

“Are you sure you’re not in the gardening club?”

“Yes. Now let me get back to my game.”

She let him do what he wanted for the next five minutes, then gave up on her patience and finally started to poke his side and hit his legs when he didn’t pay her any attention. She blew her bangs away from her face in frustration.

“Chorong-ah…”

“Oppa, I’m bored…”

“What do you want to do?”

“Let’s go out…”

Before he had any time to reply, Chorong had dragged him out the door. Luhan lifted the corners of his mouth in annoyance; he hadn’t even had time to properly harvest yet. He put his phone away in his pocket and grabbed Chorong’s hand. He saw Chorong smile, but then he smiled to himself thinking that at least she didn’t know what he was thinking in his head.

If she knew that the reason I held her hand was to stop myself from playing with my phone, she would hit me over the head.

He felt Chorong stop in the middle of the sidewalk and then turned to him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Your hands…”

“What about them?”

“There’s something weird about them…”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah…you have that baby-soft skin…but now…they feel kind of rough…like they’ve been used a lot…and now that I look at you…”

She leaned back a bit to get a better look at Luhan’s overall appearance and had to squint with the sun in her eyes. Then her eyes widened with a sudden realisation.

“You look…tanner…have you been spending more time in the sun?”

“Not really…but it is summer…maybe it’s just that…”

“And combined with your hands…I’m serious, Luhan, did you join the gardening club?”

“What? No!”

“Keep denying it all you want…but I’ll find out the truth eventually…”

This time, Luhan didn’t even dare to hold Chorong’s hand in fear that she would start examining his fingernails for any signs of dirt.

They arrived at a small café and took their seats. Chorong ordered for the two of them: two ham, cheese and tomato toasties and a bowl of wedges with aioli sauce and two glasses of cola. They were making small talk, well, Luhan was making small talk, to try and distract Chorong from making any futher inquiries into Luhan’s gardening history. It worked for a while, until Baekhyun and Hayoung spotted him and made their way over to their table.

“Hey guys!”

“Hey!”

“We don’t mean to sound rude or want to intrude or anything but…”

Chorong spoke up first once she saw that the rest of the café was crowded.

“But you guys are hungry and you need a table?”

“Yeah..”

“Sure! Sit down! Let’s double date!”

As much as Luhan loved his friends, he didn’t think he could survive the rest of the meal without having the topic of gardening coming up, and sure enough, Chorong brought up the topic.

“Hayoung-ah…I noticed that the garden look a lot better since you and Baekhyun started working on it together…”

“Yeah…we get a lot more done since he can lift the heavy pots and trays of seedlings…you should thank Luhan too…”

Luhan began to choke on his water, and Chorong stifled a scoff.

“Really? I didn’t notice that he was spending so much time at the gardens…”

Baekhyun picked up the conversation, and Luhan wanted the ground to swallow him up.

“He can’t get enough of it! You should see his look of accomplishment every time he finishes planting something…”

The rest of the meal proceeded with Luhan not being able to say anything. He hoped that Baekhyun and Hayoung would tag along with them for the rest of the day so that Luhan could avoid the teasing from his girlfriend, but after they finished eating, Baekhyun whisked Hayoung away for their own private date and Luhan and Chorong were left alone.

“So…”

“So…”

“You lied to me…”

“I’m sorry…I just didn’t want you to be disappointed that I didn’t join one of the sporting teams like you wanted…”

“Let’s make a bet…”

“What?”

“If what the thing you said about that flower you were talking to me about earlier today is true, then I’ll grant you a wish. But if it isn’t true, then you grant me a wish…”

“Deal…”

“Okay…”

When they walked out of the café, Chorong felt a droplet fall on top of her head.

 “Just our luck…”

“What?”

“It’s sprinkling…”

Luhan takes out something from his bag like a magician conjures up something from his magic hat.

“Here, I got you something…”

He opens up his palm and presents her with an anemone, its petals curling up.

“Well, I’ll be damned…the petals are closing…”

“I told you so…”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Join the gardening club…”

Chorong couldn’t help but to roll her eyes.