The sound of glass bells chiming merrily streams across the room, a signal that a customer has entered. Yifan, who has been working on a bouquet of flower with his back facing the front of the room, smiles like a flower blooming under the ray of sunshine. 

'It must be her,' he speaks quietly to himself and turns around to face the customer. Just as he had specuted, it is her. As usual, she is wearing a white blouse with a black pencil skirt completed with a pair of shiny black pump and carrying a fuschia colour tote, from which several sheets of paper ends were sticking out from the corner. She is wearing her hair into a neat French roll today with several wavy strands falling off from the side of her face. Not to his surprise, her cheeks are tinged with the exact same shade of fuschia from her bag.

"Hi, how can I help you?" he speaks out of courtesy and waits for her to respond as she looks around his store, her head slightly tilting to the side and her lips pursing into a thin straight line. She never responds but looks around the store with her long, fluttery eyelashes blinking several time for a few minutes before she makes a firm decision. It was awkward at first but he has gotten used to it. Just like how he has gotten used to the fact of how she always comes to his store everyday at 5pm - on the dot - just before the store closes at 5.30pm.

Several minutes later, she smiles and speaks quietly with a sniffle that she wants 5 pink peonies - as usual. He walks over to the bucket where he keeps the peonies and pick out the prettiest five for her. "Would you like to be wrapped?" he asks, just like how would ask any other customer.

Her eyes flutters close once again as she shakes her head gently. He notices that she doesn't speak much. "It's free of charge," he catches himself speak. There is a roll of brown paper that he had bought recently to wrap the flowers to a cheaper wrapping price as opposed to the clear plastic films, which are slightly more expensive. Giving out several extra centimeters for free shouldn't hurt his revenue. 

"If you say so," her lips curved into a slight smile as she nods once and her eyes flickered as she holds up her head to meet his eyes. 

Yifan smiles and strides toward the workstation to cut the flowers and wrap them. She waits for him to finish as she stands on her spot straight up like an obedient student with her both hands holding onto her tote bag. Even though he cannot see her, he could feel that she is watching him move as he wrap the flowers. When he has finished his handiwork, he hands the flowers to her. 

"How much does this cost?" she smiles and receives the flowers with one of her arms and holds it in place as if she is awkwardly holding a baby for the first time. 

Yifan smiles, "That would be $10 please." She nods and carefully fishes out her black wallet to pay him. After a ding of cash register and rustling of paper notes, she bows politely while wishing him to have a lovely evening and leaves his store with the glass chiming of his store.

Now he has to wait. Again.

~~~

It has not been that long that Yifan has decided to start a florist as his business. He bought out the ground floor of a 2 storeyed building at a corner of a busy part in the city to start his business with an intention of providing fresh flowers to the locals at an affordable price. 

The store is usually busy during the mornings. Since he stocks a variety of flowers, his store has managed to amass a steady flow of customers on a daily basis. 

Amongst the many visitors, he manages to spot this one girl who visits his store everyday at the same time. He doesn't know her name nor what she does.

She always appears at 5pm everyday just half an hour before his store closes for the day. From the way she appears in white blouses and black skirts on weekdays and in casual clothes, he assumes that she is a typical office lady who works in an office. She always ways crisp white blouses of different styles with fitted pencil skirt everyday with the same pair of black pumps. Her hair changes depending on the day. On colder days, she has her hair down with a dark hair-tie. On warmer days, her hair is either in a french roll or a top-knot with spiral strands framing her face on the side.

Everyday, she appears without a fail - her face tinged with the same shade of fuschia as her tote bag. She speaks softly with a sniffly voice that her nose is slightly blocked. It was strange to hear at first but Yifan has gotten used to it. He actually prefers it now. The way she behaves reflects her voice - gentle, and feminine. She has long, fluttery eyelashes, which rims a pair of bright, alert eyes. She always waits for him to finish wrapper her flowers without speaking a word and will always leave after paying him and wishing him to have a lovely evening.

What is the problem? He asks himself. 

Not much. Just that there is only one problem. He has been mesmerized by her presence in his store in a timely manner that it makes him uneasy if she does not appear in his store by 5pm - on the dot. The fact was unknown until the day she didn't come to his store at 5pm but 5.15pm. He remembered himself being on edge with a flood of thoughts occupying every available inches of his brain space, thinking whether she had gotten into an accident or had gone on a date. 

That was when he has decided that he should speak to her more and maybe ask her out on a date if it is possible. 

~~~

It is 5pm and Yifan sits of his stool in the store, with one leg settle on the beam across the stool legs and one on the ground - his body slumping forward. His heart keeps missing the beats today, more so than usual, as he waits for her to appear at the door. 

When the nervousness reaches a new intensity, he decides to have a break by walking into the back of the store to grab a cup of water. That is when the glass bell rings a familiar chime and a set of footsteps follow suite. 

"Hello? Anyone in the store?" he hears a soft voice speaks and he walks towards the source of voice with long, hurried strides. 

"Hi!" he hears himself speaks cheerfully, "I was at the back." 

Her face lights up with a smile, "Oh hi, I thought the store has started to close down." As usual, she is wearing her white shirt and her hair tied up into a top knot. 

"What would you like today?" She doesn't answer his question but walks around the store to look at the flowers. Her face sports a darker shade of fuschia today, he noticed. She walks past a bundle of daisies and her face reddens slightly more. Unlike other days, she picks up the flowers by herself and walks towards the counter. 

"Atchoo~!" she sneezes. "Bless you," he says and receives the flowers. 

"Thank you," she beams, "the weather..." her right hand comes up and does a random wave before she falls silent. 

"You seem to really like flowers," he speaks as he snips off the shrivelled leaves and stems, "you always buy flowers everyday." 

"I have my own reasons," she responds bluntly. He looks up and meets her eyes, which are looking at his hands. 

"May I know the reasons?" Yifan plucks up his courage and asks. 

She doesn't answer his question but bites her lower lips slightly continues to stare at his hands, which are now pulling out the strings from its roll to tie up the flowers. He feels a stabbing pain in his chest in addition to the fluttering of his heart, "It's alright," he tries to make his voice as natual as possible as he continues to tie up the flower, "you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." 

...

...

...

"Actually-" 

Both of them speak at the same time, startling and stopping each other. 

"Oh," she exclaims with a shy giggle and a smile, which she had never done so - further exciting him. 

"You go first," both of them speak at the same time again. He chuckles and she laughs. "Lady first," he rolls up the flowers in the brown paper and jerks his chin at her direction. 

She smiles and shuffles on her feet awkwardly, "Actually, I live upstairs..." 

"Oh?" 

"Yeah," she lets out another chuckle, "Ever since your store moved here, I have been sneezing and the doctor said I might be allergic to one of the flowers in the store." 

He frowns, "Oh, I'm so sorry." 

"It's all right. It's not that bad." 

"And then?" he questions her further, wanting to know the main reason. 

"I was determined to find out what I am allergic to so I keep buying one type of flower every day..." 

Yifan feels like a lightbulb has been lit within his head. "That explains it..." he murmured. 

She chuckles again, "Yeah... but I don't have to come anymore." 

"You found the flower you are allergic to?" 

She smiles and nods her head again, "It's in your hands," she points at a bunch of daisies he is holding. "Atchoo~!" she sneezes and laughs, "I should have guessed it earlier. Daisies! Now I can tell my doctor and he can prescribe me with medicine!" 

He laughs, slightly feeling hurt. All this time he thought that she was interested in him but her only motive was to find out the type of flower she is allergic too. His lips curves into a bitter smile, which he tries to hide with a cheery voice. 

"What were you going to say?" she asks curiously as she peered into his face. 

"Oh..." he hesitates, contemplating whether to drop the bomb on her. His brain tries to process all the information and weighs out all the pros and cons. 

"Actually," he starts speaking without looking into her eyes but her background, "I noticed you since the first few days you walked into the store and I really like you. So, I was wondering whether would you like to go out with me on a date sometimes..." 

He looks at her again. opens slightly like a fish and her face has turned into a completely red shade, resembling the bunches of roses in her background. "I..." she stuttered. 

"It's all right..." he finally speaks after he hasn't heard from her for quite a while - admitting his defeat. She is not interested in him at all and today is the end of the connection between him and her. 

He turns away from the workstation to put a flower bow on the bouquet he has been tying up. 

"Actually..." he hears her soft voice, "I would like to..."

With a quick twist of body, he turns forward and sees her. Her eyes cast downwards with her face turning into a deeper shade of scarlet. "I would like to..." she speaks again.

He laughs as the tension in his chest begins to lessen. "Is 7 o'clock tomorrow evening all right for you? It's weekend tomorrow afterall."

She smiles, "Tomorrow sounds lovely." 

Yifan puts down the flower bouquet down and walks past her towards the buckets where he keeps the roses. Then, he bends down to pick out a big, red rose in full bloom. "Here," he hands it over to her, "this is a token of promise then." 

She gingerly takes the flower from his hands and smiles - her eyelashes flutter close. Both of them stood awkwardly in front of each other without saying a word. Yifan feeling nervous, excited, and triumphant at the same time.

"I have one request though..." she speaks again.

Yifan's head to the side, "And what would that be?"

"It has always been my dream to get 999 flowers on my first date..." she smiles shyly.

He laughs at her careful yet shy statement, amused at how innocent and naive her statement comes across to him. "That has been taken care of by this person." 

"Another request though if you wouldn't mind..."

"That would be...?" 

She lets out a faint laugh, "Please don't make them daisies unless you want to kill me."

He joins her as she laughs with her bell-like voice. "Would 999 roses do?" 

"It's perfection," she smiles and holds up the rose she has been holding and sniffs it fondly.

Their eyes met again and crinkled into half moon crescents as they both smile shyly at each other. 

~~~~~