As soon as you stepped out of Les Fleurs—your little flower shop, you instantly felt the cold wind whipping around your face. The temperature of the cold winter was a little unbearable that night, so you wrapped your shawl a little closer around yourself in order to keep yourself warm before you locked the shop up. 

 

You’ve been living in this small but peaceful town for as long as you can remember and you love it here.

 

Maybe it’s how the people in this town always seemed so serene and happy, enjoying whatever they do. Maybe it’s how everyone is friendly and nice to each other. Or maybe it’s due to how this small little town has got everything you need in the world—your family, Les Fleurs and the cafe that serves the best ice chocolate and croissant you have ever tasted.

 

Even though most people would do whatever it takes to leave this town for a better future prospect, you still couldn’t bring yourself to leave somewhere you love so much. 

 

As you were about to reach home, you saw a tall, lean man standing on the opposite side of the road, looking up at the sky with his hands tucked into the pockets of his coat. You saw the steam of his breath coming out from his mouth and realized that he let out a sigh.

 

Why is he sighing? You thought to yourself, stopping the bicycle beside the road. You have always been a bright and optimistic person. You dislike seeing others being sad or angry so naturally, after seeing how depressed the man seemed to be, you wanted to replace that frown on his face with a smile. 

 

You looked towards the flowers lying in your basket and then to the man. The corners of your lips quirked upwards before you reached to grab the bouquet of flowers. 

 

“Hi mister,” You tip-toed to lightly tap on his shoulder and you realized how he was a head and a half taller than you, “this is for you.”

 

He looked down at the source of the voice and found himself meeting the gaze of a petite young lady. A bouquet of flowers were being pushed to him, snapping him out of his reverie and he saw how you raised your eyebrows, urging him to accept it.

 

“You looked kind of gloomy, standing here all by yourself in the cold. So I thought, maybe these flowers can brighten up the rest of your day a little.” You clarified before he could even ask, seeing how he squinted his eyes and scrutinized you and those flowers inquisitively.

 

You gave him a small yet sincere smile, patting on his arm lightly before heading back to your bicycle, already prepared to ride back home.

 

“Thanks for the flowers! I’m Kris. What’s your name?” Kris shouted when you were already some distance away from him.

 

You stopped your bicycle again, turning your body slightly as you replied him, “I’ll tell you my name if we ever meet again.” Smiling sweetly, you bid goodbye with the stranger. “Have a good evening, Kris.”

 

Kris let out a slight chuckle and shook his head, feeling amused that this lady actually have the guts to approach him when his face just screams intimidating to everyone else.

 

That was the very first time a girl has ever made him felt enthralled.

 

* * *

 

The next day, you found yourself frowning at the guy sitting behind the tall chair, facing away from you. Crossing your arms, an angry frown creased your forehead. “Sir, pardon me, but you do know that it’s really impolite of you to ask your scary looking men to drag me all the way here, right? Adding on to that, I didn’t even come here on my own accord.”

 

You heard a light chortle and felt your anger rising. You couldn’t help but scoffed at how he still has the cheek to laugh when he literally ‘kidnapped’ you here. The chair swirled around and the man finally turned to greet you.

 

“I’m really sorry about that. It wasn’t my intention to scare you.” Your eyebrows flew upwards when you realized who he was. “So we meet again. Are you going to tell me your name now?”

 

You stepped back in reflex, preparing to escape if he tries to do anything to you. “Are you a stalker?” You exclaimed accusingly.

 

“What?!” His eyes widened in surprise as well before he shot up from his seat, frantically waving his hands in front of his chest. “No! No, no, no! I-I’m not a stalker. I’m the mayor’s son.”

 

You nodded and gestured to the two scary looking men who dragged you to his office, “So… the mayor’s son is entitled to make his men forcefully drag someone to his office like that huh.”

 

“Yes! No— I meant, I—” He groaned and slapped his hand against his forehead for being so embarrassing, even his men shook their head, feeling the secondhand embarrassment from their Kris’s actions too. “Oh god, I swear I was suave before I met you.” He muttered under his breath but you managed to hear it.

 

Feeling your anger dissipate at how flustered he was, you let out a giggle at what he just said. “Alright. I’ll hear you out.” His face broke into a wide grin, heaving a sigh of relief as you took the seat in front of his desk before he signaled his men to leave you two alone.

 

“So…?”

 

“Aren’t you going to tell me your name first?” Kris asked, arching an eyebrow.

 

“Well, I suppose you already knew my name. Seeing how your men came to Les Fleurs to drag me over to your office, you must’ve looked through my personal information.”

 

Indeed, you were right. Kris did already know your name—which, you find it a little disturbing, but you weren’t about to comment on it.

 

“Honestly, I just wanted to see you again.” He admitted, a hue of red spread throughout his cheeks. “I’m sorry for having to resort to this method though, because it wasn’t my intention to offend you.”

 

You nodded at his explanation, “Apology accepted but I would appreciate if you don’t use such methods the next time we meet. I was almost scared to death when your men barged into my shop to claim me.” Arching an eyebrow, you asked, “So all these big hoo-ha was just to see me?”

 

He shook his head with a gentle smile gracing his lips before taking out a little red velvet box and opened it, revealing the glistening diamond ring. You stared at Kris wide-eyed and swallowed the imaginary gulp formed in your throat, silently praying that he’s not doing what you think he is doing.

 

“I want you to marry me.”

 

Apparently, luck wasn’t on your side.

 

* * *

 

“What’s with all these expensive gifts?” Yixing asked as he entered Les Fleurs, being extra careful not to step on those gifts piling at the entrance of your shop.

 

“Kris.”

 

You replied absent-mindedly as you tied up those daisies and larkspurs with a silver satin bow that you’ve arranged into a bouquet for your neighbor, Minseok, who was finally going to confess to the love of his life.

 

“I’m pretty impressed by this Kris guy.” Yixing sat on the stool near the counter. “It has already been two weeks and he’s still chasing after you. Most guys would’ve given up after a week of constant rejection. I’ve got to say he’s quite a persistent one.”

 

You clicked your tongue in annoyance, knowing that Yixing was going to start preaching you on how stubborn you were and how you should give guys who are interested in you a chance, rather than constantly rejecting them.

 

Yixing has been your best friend since you both were toddlers. Being the inseparable duo, both of you often go around pranking others. He has always been there for you whenever you needed him and vice versa, you love Yixing but not in the romance sense. That’s the reason why Yixing was the first person that came into your mind when you needed someone to talk to after you left Kris’s office that day.

 

At first, Yixing was kind of apprehensive about Kris and questioned his motive for proposing to you—a person whom he only knew for just 24 hours. After all, marriage is not a child’s play. But lately, his impression of Kris seemed to have changed for the better after knowing how determined and patient Kris was towards you.

 

For the past few weeks, Kris has been showering you with gifts and phone calls or text messages asking about your day. Sometimes, he’ll even buy lunch for the both of you over to Les Fleurs just so he could spend a little time with you. Being the mayor’s son, Kris must be one busy man so you couldn’t deny that you were flattered by the amount of attention he’s giving you.

 

But it was the first time someone ever proposed to you out of the blue, much less a person you barely know, so you weren’t sure what to do.

 

You were confused.

 

“You know, not many guys can accept being rejected by the girl they love countless of times and still not get dejected by it. You should really give that poor guy a chance before he runs away.” He said, breaking your train of thoughts before giving you a smile, causing those endearing dimples on his cheeks to appear.

 

“Who knows, he might be the one for you.”

 

* * *

 

Yixing is always right, well, most of the time and you’ve always trusted his judgments because you know he wouldn’t ask you to do something that will eventually hurt you.

 

Which was why you took up his advice, thus finding yourself in a posh restaurant, sitting in front of an ecstatic-looking Kris.

 

It turns out that Kris and his father were actually one of those people from the big cities but decided to move to this town for good.

 

“When I first visited this town, I fell in love with it. I love how the people here always seemed to be enjoying whatever they do and how they are always friendly to each other. It makes me feel happy and lighthearted whenever I’m here.”

 

You saw how his eyes twinkled with merriment as he talked about the town and you unconsciously smiled to yourself. You were surprised by how coincidental it was for the both of you to love this town for similar reasons.

 

“On my 18^th birthday, my father decided to move into this lovely town as my birthday present, knowing how much I love it here.”

 

His father must’ve doted on him a lot. You thought to yourself.

 

As you were cutting up your steak, you realized Kris has gone quiet and was looking at you intently with a smile on his face. You looked up, meeting his eyes before you cocked an eyebrow upwards, “…yeah?”

 

He shook his head, chuckling, “I just feel really elated that you agreed to be here with me.”

 

The corners of your lips jumped upwards. Slowly, you found yourself finding Kris really endearing because compared to the guys you’ve dated previously, he felt genuine and sincere to you.

 

“Have you been on a date like this before?”

 

You nodded, “Once or twice. But we went for movies and had street food instead. You?”

 

“No,” His face brightened—suddenly in a shade of crimson red, “This… is the first time I’m out on a date with someone.”

 

Your eyes widened in surprise. It’s a given fact that Kris is a really attractive and good-looking man, so you were rather flabbergasted to know that his first date was with you.

 

“Can I ask you something?”

 

He nodded, gesturing you to go on.

 

“Why do you like me?”

 

“I just do, I guess.”

 

His good-looking face creased into a smile as he continued, “Love is an unexplainable feeling and though this may sound cheesy but when your smile made my stomach start its own trapeze act. I guess love at first sight happened on the day you gave me those flowers. I’m sorry to scare you off with my sudden proposal though.”

 

You tucked your hair behind your ear, smiling shyly.

 

“Honestly, I was really taken aback by the proposal.” You giggled, “Maybe next time you should start by asking a girl out on a date and get to know her for a while before you propose to her.”

 

“I don’t want to do all those things with other girls, I only want to do it with you.”

 

Unknown to Kris, he was also slowly but definitely taking a piece of your heart away from you, too.

 

* * *

 

You don’t know how but somehow he managed to intertwine your fingers together with his as he walks you back home. Much to his surprise, you didn’t pull away, causing the grin on his face to spread wider than it already was.

 

“So you told your parents about me?”

 

“They thought you were insane to propose to someone whom you just met for less than a day.”

 

“Oh god, does that mean they’ve had a bad impression of me already?”

 

“Not really. You should meet them someday, they’ll love you. You should meet Yixing too. He’s the one who encouraged me to try going out with you.”

 

Kris raised his eyebrow teasingly, “We’re only on our first date and you want me to meet your parents already?” You hit his arm playfully, causing his eyes to crinkle as he laughed. “I would love to meet your parents. And I should really thank your best friend for that wise advice he gave you.”

 

Both of you stopped outside of your doorstep, turning to face each other. “So… this is me. Thank you for the date. I really had a lot of fun.”

 

Kris nodded with a gentle smile on his face before saying “I had a lot of fun with you, too. And… hopefully this wouldn’t be the last time you agree to go out with me.”

 

He let go of your hand reluctantly, before leaning down to place a chaste kiss on your cheek. “Goodnight.” He said, looking at you longingly before he started walking away.

 

“Kris!”

 

He turned around immediately at the call of his name, raising his eyebrows quizzically.

 

“Do you want to go to the movies and have street food with me next time?”

 

His expression brightened in delight, his eyes crinkling and gums exposed as he grinned widely.

 

“I’d love to.”

 

Maybe, in the near future, Kris might also be added to your list of ‘reasons why you love this small town’.