“What can I help you with?” He stuttered a bit, slightly taken aback at the sight of the beautiful girl. She had black wavy locks with bangs, doe-like eyes and milky white skin. She was wearing a black-and-red checkered button-up which sleeves were rolled up, denim shorts with a pair of Converses. She wasn't just a pretty face he'd quite oftenly seen on the streets, or among internet fashion models or even idols whose large-scaled posters and standees were hung on the streets of Myeongdong.

To him, her beauty was quite fascinating; certain features of her gave off an impression of arrogance and frostiness, but the one that interested him most was the pair of brown eyes that seemed matured yet innocence gleamed in them. He felt the want to look through her eyes and admire them, but he discarded the thought immediately because, hey, it's creepy to stare into a stranger's eyes on the first meeting.

Unknowing of Minho's thoughts, the girl looked around, scanning the variety of flowers that put her mind at ease, before taking a single vibrant yellow rose from one of the buckets. With the rose in hand, she walked towards the cashier table, towards him.

To him, this gorgeous stranger emitted this certain aura of grace, despite her boyish attire and her steps that were quite wide, as if she was rushing for something. She placed the flower on top of the counter. “I’d like this, please,” was her answer coming from her thin lips. He noted that her voice was light and slightly raspy.

“Just one?” Minho asked, holding a finger up.

“Just one,” she repeated, mimicking his move, as a confirmation to his answer.

“Okay then, please wait for a moment. How’d you like it to be wrapped?”

“Just wrap it with a ribbon, please,” she requested.

Minho then went to the back of the store to pick a large white satin ribbon, and then went back to the counter immediately. As he meticulously tied the ribbon around the stem, he asked without looking up, “Who’s this for?”

After he finished tying the perfect bow, his customer still hadn’t answered, so he looked up, and at last, her eyes were finally introduced to his. Now that he'd seen closer, although briefer, her eyes, as cheesy as it may sound, looked clear and enchanting, yet held a certain glint of mystery. Minho looked away, dodging further awkwardness and his own embarrassment, and gave the yellow rose to her, before directing her to the cashier table.

“That’d be 3000 won,” he said, discomfort slightly veiled his words, feeling that maybe, this girl didn’t want to enclosure anything to a mere store employee, and he’s just butting into her business. Keeping in mind that next time he shouldn’t ask his customers unless they’re the one sharing, he took the money from her hands.

“Um, where’s the usual grandma?” Without a notice, she questioned, looking around like a lost puppy searching for its mother.

“Huh?” Minho looked up, distracted from finding change for her 10 thousand bill. “Oh, Grandma Lee is on vacation with her daughter. She hired me in her place, since we’re neighbors and she knows that I like flowers, and I also need extra pocket money, so I’m going to work here until the end of summer…” Realizing that he’d been babbling, he quickly shut his mouth, ending his nervous monologue with a faint, “So, yeah…”

“Is that so,” the girl answered, receiving the change Minho had given to her. “I think it’s great.”

“Pardon?” Minho asked, not quite hearing her response.

“For you to work somewhere you enjoy; I think it’s great,” she answered. Her tone of voice was sincere and not mocking, and her pink lips were curved into a dainty smile. It was the first time she had ever smiled to him during their brief, silent meeting, and that single smile thoroughly melted her icy first impression, even to the smallest of frosts.

Like in all those romance films her sister would force him to watch, he secretly hoped that she would suddenly give out her number or at least her name, or maybe even promise to come by once more the day after. And when she turned her heels to leave and said not another word, he’d still wished for her to turn around with a cheeky grin and introduced herself.

But his life wasn’t a romance movie—meticulously written, carefully directed, and edited with so much precise. Minho didn’t hope for much, so he wasn’t disappointed much when things didn’t go his way.

He really should refrain his sister from dragging him into watching rom-coms and chick-flicks.

She did turn around, though, but only to finalize their goodbye with a small bow, in which Minho returned with a deep one, before going through the other side of the glass door and into the streets.

Minho had only realized that his heartbeats raced faster by the tinkling of the bell from the door closing; a signal that the girl had already left.

***

With a small bowl of milk in hand, Minho went out of the flower shop through the back door and into the small open space where Grandma Lee would keep her fertilizers and tools. Being the shop located at the corner, to the right of the building was a pavement for people to wait to cross the streets, and beside it, of course, was a zebra cross.

Minho sat down on the concrete ground, with his back leaning against the red brick wall, the bowl of milk left untouched beside him. As if on cue, a meow was heard faintly, and he looked up for his eyes to be greeted by a fat white cat, sitting leisurely on top of the wall.

“Come here, Stocking,” he called out. Through the stack of crates used to contain that day’s fresh flowers, the cat leaped to the ground swiftly. He the cat’s fur when it rubbed its body against Minho affectionately, before going to the bowl for a of milk.

Stocking was a cat that Grandma Lee adopted from the streets a few months ago. Its condition wasn’t as good as it was now; it used to be sickly thin before Grandma Lee would nurture it and give it a few extra treats everyday.

Why’s the name Stocking, though? Grandma Lee’s pun-loving grandson named it. Despite its pure white fur, Stocking had black fur covering its feet, looking like it had been wearing black stockings all its life; thus, the name ‘Stocking’.

“I kind of wanted her to visit again, King-ah,” Minho muttered as he Stocking’s fur. As ‘Stocking’ was too much a handful to say, they decided to nickname it ‘King’, since Grandma Lee had pampered it too much, like a king.

The cat only meowed as a reply, and Minho sighed as the fat cat blissfully finished its milk. “Why would I tell you this? You won’t be able to reply me anyway. You’re a cat,” he stated the obvious.

It’s only been a day since the beautiful stranger’s visit, yet he was already anxious for her next. He had been anticipating her arrival, building scenarios inside his mind at night, on how he should talk to her, on how to be less antsy, and if all goes well, maybe he could even catch her name.

He had been pondering so much about her that he arrived late at work. Grandma Lee’s grandson, Taemin, had to wait for Minho outside the shop, enduring 30 minutes of the merciless summer heat alone because apparently, Grandma Lee trusted Minho more than her own grandson since he’s the one holding the keys to the store, and not Taemin. Although Taemin could just wait for Minho at the cafe next door, Taemin's not the brightest kid Minho had ever known, so he'd just going to let that one pass.

Minho was in a daze over the effect this girl had over him. It’s quite dumbfounding, actually. He’s only spent about 10-15 minutes with said girl, and it wasn’t even in a proper way since he was just serving her, and she didn’t even answer his question, which is truthfully quite rude, but she had been on his mind constantly. And on top of that, he wasn’t someone who could get star-struck by a girl easily.

But the girl looked so pretty, in an effortless way. He noticed and liked the way her hair bounced as she walked, and how her eyes twinkled in interest as she scanned through the buckets for the perfect blossom, and the way her delicate hands held the equally dainty rose, of how her fingernails tapped against the wooden counter, waiting for him to finish her order.

Her manners and body language emitted class, despite her tomboyish attire, and he was quite amazed at how cold and aloof her demeanor seemed, only for all of it to dissipate away with a miniscule, angelic smile.

And that’s when Minho realized that Oh god—I’m head over heels. What he didn’t realize, though, was the fact that he was too deep in thought, he had been voicing out his thoughts out loud.

His train of thoughts were interrupted by the excessive amount of loud ‘meow’s, courtesy of Stocking. The bowl of milk Minho had prepared earlier had no longer any traces of milk, and Stocking seemed to beg for more by letting out purrs and rubbing its body against Minho repetitively.

“Your aegyo only works for Grandma, King,” Minho sighed, as if he’d been saying the same phrase for the thousandth time, and he stood up, taking the empty bowl with him. “Now off you go, I have to work.”

Stocking meowed before climbing up to the top of the brick wall through the crates, and Minho dusted off his pants from dirt before walking back in to the shop. Although it had been a relatively slow day, he couldn’t let Taemin work alone, although he had actually left Minho alone the day before just to go out on a date with his girlfriend. Taemin went back a few hours after the beautiful customer left though, just in time to complete Mrs. Han’s hefty amount of orders.

But it didn’t matter to Minho, as he wouldn’t be able to meet with that girl alone had Taemin had been there with him, and the latter would tease the hell out of him.

Minho didn’t know that the fat white cat with black-furred feet wasn’t the only one listening to his troubles. There was, indeed, someone on the other side of the red brick wall, holding a single flower in their hand, a ribbon messily tied to a bow around its stem.

First chapter is up! Sorry if it's too short for your liking, adding another scene would be too long for me (as the next one would be quite lengthy). So, awkward, cute dork Minho is head over heels. Ha. Only over her physical attributes, though, mostly, for now. Note their first meeting's details, you might find some subtle hints for the future chapters here and there! I'm busy with exams at the moment, so I'm not quite sure whether I'm able to update next week or not, but I'll try to manage. Please tell me of what you think in this chapter. I hope you enjoy this one as well!