Pink carnations have always been Cho Saera’s favourite flower.

Pink carnations make her smile. They make her heart falter. They soften her heart. It was ironic how the flowers she adored so much, would also be the reason behind her teary heart.

Oh Sehun used to give her pink carnations all the time.

Oh Sehun- again, it was funny how the same name she used to love hearing past her lips, would cause a bitter aftertaste in .

They started dating in the end of high school. Sehun was the popular kid, the one who had lots of male friends and female attention, and Saera was the resident genius, scoring straight As effortlessly. Like a cliché story, they ended up together against all odds.

Things were wonderful the first year together. Sehun made her happy- he made her smile the widest, and became her social beacon of hope. Sehun helped her break out of her cocoon, and before she knew it, Saera made more friends than she ever dreamed of.

Sehun, on the other hand was a slacker. He hated schoolwork and he hated working on things he didn’t favour, like math. He would rather spend hours in the dance studio with his best friend, Jongin instead of cracking his brain in algebra.

Saera however changed that and made his studying sessions the very least bearable, and towards the end of the university year, Sehun scored decent enough grades for him to get by his university years (and he swore he couldn’t love Saera any further than he did at that time).

Things started to go downhill in June- when it was summer break and there was too many plans, too many friends and too little time-

“Saera, can you pass me those scissors? Saera..? Yah, Saera-yah!”

A gentle flick to her forehead broke Saera from her daylight trance. “Wh-what?”

“I said, can you pass me those scissors?” Luhan flashed an easy smile at her, hand outstretched for the scissors lying next to her undone bouquet of carnations.

“Oh, sure,”

Luhan is the son of the owner of Bloom, the floral shop Saera works at. He is a good four years older than her, but he has never seen her as someone lower than him. He looks like a youthful child, bright and inquisitive and innocent. Saera has taken a liking into befriending this flower boy (who reminded her of soft pink azaleas on a nice spring day).

“I told you not to think about Sehun, didn’t I?”

Saera couldn’t help but scoff as she hands the scissors towards the older boy, rolling her eyes so hard. “I wasn’t,”

“Liar. You do that thing with your eyes whenever you talk, see or even think about him,”

“What thing?”

“Oh, you know… the dull, glazed look. See, you’re doing it again,”

Saera looks away with a ‘tch’ in her voice before her nimble fingers resume working on the bunch of pink carnations laid perfectly on the table.

“Anyway, as I was saying- seriously, Saera, you are so much better than that good-for-nothing jerk. You are smart and beautiful and cute and a lot of other things and honestly, he didn’t and still doesn’t deserve you. He doesn’t even deserve anyone. What a waste of space…”

Luhan grumbles into space as his hands work on the fresh batch of sunflowers, prepping them ready for display.

Saera hums back indifferently. Luhan wouldn’t understand- he wasn’t in her shoes. He wouldn’t know how difficult it was for Sehun to call the relationship off, as difficult as it was for her to accept that their two and a half year relationship has ended.

“And besides, who does he think he is? Just because he looks like that and has nice hair and a great build, he can just… just dump you like a neglected toy? What a douchebag,” Luhan grumbles again underneath his breath, hands furiously manhandling the sunflowers.

“Luhan…” Saera calls out his name with a hint of worry in her voice.

“Luhan,” Her tone gets a bit persistent this time.

“Luhan!”

“What?”

“You’re going to hurt yourself again if you’re not careful,”

Before he realises it, Saera’s tiny hands are holding onto his, with a pair of scissors in one hand and a stalk of sunflowers in the other.

“I’ll be fine, Luhan. I’ll get over it, don’t worry,” Saera mumbles as she resumes to her own bouquet of flowers, rearranging them as she pleases.

“Okay. It just hurts to see you like this. I don’t want my favourite little sister to have her heart broken by some douchebag of a person,”

Luhan is a little too late- Saera’s heart has broken into a million pieces, and she isn’t sure how to fix it back.

“Man, I don’t know what’s better- Suho hyung’s One Piece collection or you looking like a kicked puppy,”

Jongin fist bumps Sehun in the shoulder before he plops down next to him at the university café.

“Buzz off, face,” Sehun grumbles in return. His fingers are scrunched in his hair as his eyes scrutinisingly stare into the sheet of paper in front of him.

“Why the long face?” Jongin peers over his best friend’s shoulder before raising an eyebrow. “Another F?”

Sehun nods in defeat, slumping his shoulders. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, man. Have I not studied enough?”

It is definitely the third F during the week and Sehun is very close to giving up in his studies. He hates math and everything that is associated with it, and if it isn’t for his father, he would’ve given this up a long time ago.

“Apparently not enough. You gotta admit though, bringing notes to the studio just to make you feel as though you studied is not going to cut it, Sehun,”

Sehun huffs in frustration. “I don’t know man. I hate math. Why am I doing math again? How in the world did I get this far?”

“Not trying to make your day feel worse or whatever, but… your grades were much better when you were still with Saera, you know,”

Saera- all of a sudden, she seems like someone constricting, someone who is suffocating him. The person who makes the best of him is also the person who bring