Chapter 1: Contretemps

"Ça coûte combien?"

Naeun asked the florist whilst eyeing a pot of exotic purple and white orchids.

Perfect subjects for her next painting... And for Eunji to totally terrorise.

A shiver ran down her spine when she remembered the last time she was out of town. Needless to say, all her plants had been neglected. There were so many wilted plants that their house looked like an asylum where flowers went to die.

“Quarante.” The florist replied hastily as she served another customer.

40 Euro's for orchids! Naeun cringed at the price, when it happened to be 30 Euro's just a few weeks ago. Frowning lightly; she tapped her bottom lip with her forefinger and sighed in defeat.

They were just too lovely and tempting; she just had to have them.

“D'accord je la prends.” Naeun said with a wave of her hand.

She could just imagine Eunji's voice when she'll reprimand her about wasting money on 'frivolous ornaments that will decompose in our house!' as the older girl gently put it.

“They produce oxygen! If plants didn't exist, YOU would be decomposing!” Naeun would argue back.

The florist went to wrap her flowers and she scanned through the plethora of blossoms.

Her body froze when her gaze landed on a bouquet of deep magenta lilies; innocently tied with a black satin ribbon.

It was no secret that Naeun had an aversion to this particular flower.

The smell, the colour, the shape, it all had developed into some twisted erse reminder for her.
It was a symbolism of hatred and its presence simply disturbed her.

Memories of that awful night flittered back into her mind; a painful sharp thud impacting her skull. 

Not again.

Rummaging through her handbag, she fished out a clear orange bottle. Discreetly swallowing a pill; her heart rate became steady again and her intense migraine disappeared as fast as it came.

“Comment vas tu?” The florist asked, coming back with her flowers in a bag.

She was definitely not fine. But she ignored it and refrained from saying anything strange.

"Oui, merci." Naeun said, paying the lady and taking her goods, leaving behind the already forgotten and painfully nostalgic orange lilies. Quickly getting back in the pace of her Sunday morning.

The Marché aux fleurs was situated in the middle of the Seine, on the Île de la Cité.

It came to be Naeun's most favourite place in all of Paris.

For there were always an abundance of opulent buds and blossoms.With the exceptions of Sundays; when the cut florist rested, instead of potted plants, sculpted shrubs, coveted birds took over and were haggled under the shadow of mint candy-striped tents.

Birds of paradise chirped in their little prisons; preening their feathers that were as colourful as the flowers themselves.

Parakeets, hummingbirds, parrots, canaries, macaws, budgies and the pure white doves... Every bird you could think of was there, gathered at one place to be bartered off as the pets of rich and spoiled children or as cheerful companions to the elderly.

Too distracted by the colourful displays of nature and the songs of birds, she accidently bumped into someone, causing her to almost fall and drop her treś expensive orchids.

Almost.

A hand caught her waist.
And steadied her.
Holding her shoulder.

So easily touching her... Tch!

She hated that.

She flinched away from her 'saviour' when she found her grounding. The abrupt disorientation dissipated away as her mind became alert.

"G-gwenchana?" The voice blurted out unexpectedly.

"Deh" She automatically replied.

Then immediately gasped when she realized she had spoken in Korean. This mysterious bloke had caused her to drop her French so easily.

Curious, she peeked up at the taller man and looked away blushing.

He was breathtakingly handsome. 

Deep arresting eyes with the sharpest of gazes, tousled hair and wearing a crisp dress shirt and jeans.Even an authentic looking Louis Vuitton satchel hung on his shoulder. Grasping a DSLR camera in one hand. All in black from head to toe. Giving her the air of aristocracy.

And Korean.

He was Korean.

And that irritated her.

"Excusez-moi." She said coldly and walked past him. Not even glancing at the handsome stranger again.

'It's been a long time since I've been back to Korea. I miss the food.'

Shaking her head as she brushed the thought away. She could never go back after last year.

She wouldn't dream of it. It actually brought back nightmares.
Never.

"Taxi!" 

Not in the mood to haul orchids through the cramp tourist-packed Paris metro, she hailed a cab back to her apartment, nestled in the crevice of the artistic neighbourhood of Montmarte.

After all... She had just been delayed.

"You often meet your fate on the road you take to avoid it."                                                                                        -Goldie Hawn

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A/N:

Ça coûte combien       : How much does it cost?

Quarante                     : Forty

D'accord je la prends  : Okay I'll buy these

Comment vas tu?        : Are you okay?

Oui, merci                   : Yes, thank you

treś                              : very

okay... How did i do?

It's a short start since I just want to tease...But I think it'll get longer as I write more...

And I apologize for all the French terminology...I've been busting out all my old French books to write this... So just ask if you're curious or don't understand...

And thank you for reading ~

kamsa~

*sorry for not translating the terms earlier