On the Saturday after the concert (that Lay spent moping in his room), a delivery was made to the Zhang-Huang-Wu residence by one Kim Minseok, better known as Xiumin.

“Lay?” Xiumin called out to the empty living room. He closed the door behind him, pocketing the spare key. “Layyyyy. Oh, Kris, where’s Lay?”

“Moping in his room.” Kris replied, tiredly making coffee in the kitchen. “It’s early, Xiumin. What’re you doing here?”

“Making a delivery. Oh, and to congratulate Lay. He placed SM Studio in first place!” Xiumin said happily. “We had a dance competition this week.”

“Oh? He didn’t tell us. Good for him.” Kris stirred his coffee absentmindedly. “Maybe Tao and I should get him something.”

“Maybe. I think it’s nice to just tell him.” Xiumin told him. “It wasn’t a huge competition, but it was still fun to win.”

“Mmm. Maybe we’ll get him some flowers then.” Kris mused.

Just then, Tao stumbled out of his room, yawning widely and blinking at Xiumin. “Xiu-ge, what’s that?”

Xiumin looked down at the bouquet Tao was pointing to. “Oh. This is why I came. It’s for Lay.”

“For Lay?!” Now Tao was wide awake. “Xiumin, I don’t think-”

“I’m just a messenger!” Xiumin interjected. “It’s from someone else. I’m not supposed to tell who.”

“Suho.” Kris and Tao chorused. Xiumin blinked at them. Then he sighed and shook his head.

“It’s that obvious?” He asked. “I mean, I told him, but he’s a bit of an idiot.”

“So is Lay, so it’s all good.” Tao nodded. He snatched the flowers and inspected them. “Lilacs. How very cheesy of Suho.”

“If you damage them, Tao, I swear to god.” Xiumin tried to grab them but Tao held them above his head. “Tao goddamnit!”

“Kris-ge help me!” Tao squealed. Kris took one look at Tao before sighing and retreating to the kitchen. “Kris you son of a .”

“What’s going on?” Everyone froze as Lay stuck his head out of his room. He looked at Tao. Then he noticed Xiumin and opened the door all the way. “Xiumin-ah, I didn’t know you were coming over.”

“Yeah, I figured you’d be here.” Xiumin shrugged, then made another swipe at Tao. “Jesus Christ Tao they’re not even for you goddamnit-”

“Tao, whatever you’re doing, stop.” Lay scolded. Tao sulked, but handed the flowers to Lay. “Flowers? What are they for?”

“You, officially.” Xiumin paused at Lay’s panic-stricken face. “Don’t look at me like that! I just came to deliver them!”

“They’re from S-” Kris slapped a hand over Tao’s mouth and gave Xiumin an apologetic look.

“They’re from a secret admirer.” Kris corrected. “They’re very pretty. Do you know flower meanings, Lay?”

“Yeah. One of my professors convinced me to take a botany class. It’s quite relaxing, given that it’s right between my bio and chem classes.” Lay paused and shuddered. “Guts and explosions are a good way to sum up those classes. I like having a break filled with plants.”

Tao pulled Kris’ hand off his face. “Kris and I studied flower meanings as well. They’re fun for symbolism in designs sometimes.”

“So what do they mean?” Xiumin asked. “Lilacs? Are they romantic or something?”

“Very.” Lay smiled, bringing them up to sniff them. “They mean a first love.”

“Cute.” Tao and Kris droned together. Xiumin smiled at Lay’s peaceful face. It really was cute.

The following week, more flowers bloomed in the apartment. Xiumin dropped by almost every day with a new bouquet. They filled the living room and kitchen.

Kris unlocked the door next Friday and sighed. “This apartment smells better than it has in weeks, but it’s also sickening. What’s today’s flower?”

“Yellow roses.” Lay announced as he emerged from the kitchen. “But the tips are stained red.”

“Eventually you should start throwing them out.” Kris suggested. Lay flopped onto the couch and grabbed one of the pillows. “Lay.”

“I pressed the lilacs.” Lay replied, face muffled in the pillow. “They’re just so pretty. I want to keep all of them.”

“You pressed a flower?”

“I asked Chen. Kris, this guy is really sweet. I want to know who it is.” Lay whined, shoving his face back into the pillow.

Kris shook his head at him. “Hey, chill. It’ll be alright.” He looked down at Lay’s phone. “Suho’s waiting for you downstairs by the way. You promised to go shopping with him?” He pushed Lay’s shoulder as he spoke.

Lay froze. In the hype of the secret flower bearer, he had forgotten about his mini (not real) crush on the singer.

“Heeeeeeeelp meeeeeeee.” Lay groaned, rolling over and forgetting how small the sofa was. He landed on the floor with a thunk.

“I don’t think you need help.” Kris commented as he grabbed Lay’s keys, coat and wallet before gently shoving him out the door. “Have fun, don’t embarrass yourself, be home by like eight or something.”

“What are you, my mother?” Lay grumbled.

“I think that title goes to Tao.” Kris waved before shutting the apartment door. Lay grumbled again and turned to walk down to the lobby.

Suho was sitting on a bench when Lay walked out of the elevator. He stood up immediately and smiled at him. “Hey.”

Lay only managed a weak smile back. “Hi.”

Suho offered his hand to him and nodded towards the door. “Shall we go?” Lay linked his fingers with Suho’s and nodded.

“How do you know where my apartment is, by the way?” Lay asked as they walked out the door.

“Lucky guess?” Suho laughed. “Actually, it was. You know Kai? His crush lives in your building and apparently also knows Luhan. I remember you said Luhan was your neighbor, so I took a guess and it was confirmed when Luhan came downstairs and asked me if I was planning on stalking you.”

“Typical Luhan.” Lay sighed. He thought back to when he ran into Kai at the arts college. “Kai’s crush wouldn’t happen to be named… Key-ung-soo?”

Suho smiled, widely, at Lay’s attempt to pronounce the name. “Kyungsoo. Yes. He’s a vocalist, like me.”

“Ah.” Lay nodded. Suho looked at his face, at the contemplating look.

“You don’t typically have trouble with words.” He commented. Lay looked at him in confusion.

“Sorry?”

“Oh, it was just your pronunciation of Soo’s name. I never noticed you struggling with any Korean words before.” Suho explained. They stopped at the bus sign and nodded politely towards the older woman sitting on the bench.

Lay turned back to Suho. “It’s just new words, or names. I have to listen carefully to how other people pronounce it. Sometimes I forget words too. It doesn’t happen that often, but it can be hard.”

“Well, it’s hardly noticeable. It was just when you mentioned Kyungsoo.” Suho said. “I’m guessing you didn’t really catch his name?”

“It was more like watch-as-Kai-ran-after-him-type deal.” Lay shrugged. “So yeah. What’s the plan for shopping?” He quickly changed topics, not wanting to go further down that memory lane.

“Well, I need new sneakers for class, for starters.” Suho held up the hand that wasn’t intertwined with Lay’s and started listing. “Winter is coming soon and I found my warmest jacket being used as a bed for Kai’s dog. Plus my mom needs a new rice cooker, and I’m visiting her soon so I figured I’d get her one.”

Lay nodded as Suho dropped his hand and looked at him. “That’s nice of you. I should send something back to my family. I haven’t seen them in a really long time.”

“Will you visit them during the holidays?” Suho asked.

“Probably not. The flight’s too expensive.” Lay sighed. “I talked to them last week. It probably won’t work out so I’m going to mail their gifts to them instead.”

Suho frowned. “That’s too bad. I can’t really imagine how that feels.”

“Don’t worry about it, my parents put a lot towards me studying in Korea.” Lay reassured him. “They’re happy for me and they want me to work hard and focus.”

Just then, the bus for the mall pulled up and they boarded. It was crowded, so Suho and Lay opted to stand in the aisle and grab onto the rail. The bus lurched forward and Lay bumped slightly into Suho.

“Sorry.” Lay mumbled. Suho smiled and as the bus bounced along, he untangled their fingers and wrapped his hand around Lay’s waist. Lay’s breath caught in his throat.

“It’s really bumpy today.” Suho commented. Lay nodded quietly, too flustered to say anything. The rest of the bus ride was spent in silence as Lay tried to relax in Suho’s embrace.

It would’ve been easy, however Lay kept thinking back to the girl on campus. He wondered, though, what it meant if Suho was so comfortable to do something like this so casually. Perhaps it was a Korean custom? But neither Xiumin nor Chen ever did that to him. These thoughts troubled Lay until they reached the mall and Suho, almost reluctantly, removed his arm.

At the mall, they quickly found the dance store, and Lay cooed at the toddler ballerina tutus while Suho searched for the right shoes. Suho smiled to himself as Lay squealed and played with the young children in the store. He soon found the shoes and payed.

“Lay?” Suho thanked the cashier and turned around to look for the other man. He found him surrounded by little girls in the children’s section, gently teaching one how to lace up her ballet shoes properly. Lay looked up after sending the happy girl back to her mom, and saw Suho watching him with a warm smile. He felt a bit fuzzy at that.

“Sorry, were you done already?” He mumbled, quickly looking down at his shoes.

Suho laughed. “Don’t worry about it. Where to next?”

They spent the day laughing at each other and finding gifts and things for the upcoming season. Lay helped Suho pick a cute new jacket, and they argued over the best rice cooker to get for Suho’s mother. Lay also bought some Korean candies for his family and made a note to send it off before Tao discovered there was sugar in the house.

Soon it was dinnertime, and Suho offered to take him out to dinner as they were passing a flower shop.

“There’s a nice restaurant around the corner, if you want-” Suho started, when a man poked his head outside.

“Suho-ssi! You haven’t stopped by in a while.” The man smiled. “How did your lover like the roses?”

Lay stopped. “Roses?” He turned to Suho, who had a frightened look on his face. “You bought roses?”

“Oh yes.” The man exclaimed. “Yellow roses with red tips. Very cute. He’s probably bought flowers every week!”

“Every week?” Lay repeated. Yellow roses. It clicked in his head. He looked at Suho. “You were him?”

Suho was completely frozen. As Lay thought, it became clearer to him. He took a step forward.

“You bought flowers for me every week? You made Xiumin-hyung come to my apartment every week?” Lay took another step forward. “I don’t understand.”

By this time, the man had gone silent, and slipped back into the flower shop. He silently apologized to Suho.

“I- uh, well.” Suho tried to form words. Lay’s heart dropped. Suho had a girlfriend. Suho had a girlfriend. Was Suho… trying to cheat? Did he think he could trick Lay into this? Was it a joke? It had to be a joke. Lay’s stomach curled with the thought.

“You’re disgusting.” He whispered. Suho reached out, but Lay took a step back. “Get away.”

“I don’t- Tao- I just thought-” Suho stammered. Lay shook his head and clutched his shopping bags.

“Just get away.” And with that he started running, as far away as he could. Leaving Suho grasping air in front of the flower shop.

Stupid roses.

---

One THOUSAND apologies!!!!!!

I'm very happy I managed to get this chapter up. It'll be slow goings from now on unfortunately. I really hate standardized testing.

Most of the italicized dialogue is in Mandarin, which is important to note since they speak Korean with Xiumin and Suho and the others in previous chapters, but the foreign quartet doesn't feel the need to when they're alone.

Thank you SO much for your concerns and comments, and for all the new subscribers even when I didn't update!!!

xoxo Lucy Louis Lee