Title: Bloom

Prompt: The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of them all. 

“‘I’ve missed you.’ The words were no sooner out than she realized that she didn't mean them at all.’” Jeongyeon read aloud dramatically, causing Momo to roll her eyes. The Japanese exchange student swore it was the twentieth time she had heard the girl read the same line, in the same tone of voice. 

“You’re being a tool again.” Momo tsked, pushing the girl off of the display they needed to be arranging. They, as in both of them. Not just Momo while Jeongyeon thought it appropriate to recite her favorite line from her favorite book. 

“Salinger knew how to write.” Jeongyeon sighed, characteristically warming up for her ‘those were the good old days’ rants that always seemed to find their way into the most inappropriate conversations. 

“I’d love to talk about that some other time, but boss comes back in 20 minutes, and this isn’t even close to being done.” Momo urged. Jeongyeon sighed in defeat, tossing the copy of Franny and Zooey she had been carrying around somewhere where it didn’t belong. Momo groaned yet again. 

This was a reoccurring pattern. The two young girls would get left alone to fix something up in the bookstore they worked while their boss went to lunch, and Momo would end up doing most of it, while Jeongyeon pranced around, messing things up further. Of course this didn’t happen when he thought there would be customers — although, there rarely were customers anyway— because even he suspected that Jeongyeon could drive Momo completely crazy if there was too much stress. He was right. 

But still, there was something charming in Jeongyeon’s madness. It took a while to see, so many left before they got to experience it. The only reason Momo was still around was because the girl had recently immigrated from Japan, and she although her mastery of the language was great, she was always to nervous to practice around anyone that wasn’t like Jeongyeon. In other words, someone that wasn’t too weird to take notice. 

“You’re really no fun.” Jeongyeon huffed, quickly assembling books in their order, while Momo just shook her head. 

“If you had worked like this from the beginning, we could’ve been taking an early lunch right now.” 

“It’s like you know what to say to make me work faster.” Jeongyeon laughed, picking up her speed in the hopes of getting more time to gorge herself. It was Momo’s turn to buy, after all. A little gluttony wouldn’t hurt anyone. Momo laughed too, imitating the sound of a whip to signal her control. They both laughed stupidly at their own jokes, only stopping when someone cleared their throats. 

“Sorry to interrupt, you,” a handsome man said with a smirk, “but I was just wondering if one of you could ring me up?” 

Momo was as enthused as any girl would be at the sight of the above average male. Any customers under the age of 50 would have excited the girls on a regular basis, as they were more desirable than the usual, older customers, but when Momo snuck a look at Jeongyeon to confirm her excitement, she had an expression that she’d never seen. She almost looked scared, which was unfathomable to Momo. 

Jeongyeon, the girl who could start up a conversation with any stranger in a second, who could stand up to any slight injustice, even when coming from the boss they were forced to respect. Jeongyeon, the girl who never bat an eyelash at any insult, the girl who probably wouldn’t flinch at gunpoint, looked scared. 

“Right away, sir.” Momo answered the customer, walking to the register while sneaking peaks at Jeongyeon. The girl was completely changed, fixing the rest of the display carefully, as if she was afraid to make any noise. The stranger also kept looking back at her, and lingered even when Momo had given him his change and wished him a good day. He was about to take for the exit, when he stopped and turned around, seemingly trying to catch her gaze one last time. The piercing quality in his gaze seemed to work, because she cautiously looked up, freezing when they made eye contact. 

“You’re Jeongyeon, aren’t you?” He smiled, walking away from the door and towards her. “I knew I wasn’t imagining things. How are you doing, kid?” He asked, while she tried not to flinch.

“I’m doing okay.” She whispered, not like the voice she usually had. “It’s been a while.” 

“A while is an understatement.” He smiled, a smile that would be seen as radiant would it not be for the fear in Jeongyeon’s eyes. “You disappeared.” 

“I tried to, yeah.” She chuckled nervously, her hand finding its way to the back of her neck. “But Lee Junho is standing in front of me right now, so I must’ve not done a good enough job.” 

Momo tried not to eavesdrop obviously, but the curiosity was killing her. She knew little of Jeongyeon’s past, as little as Jeongyeon knew about hers, but the possibilities swirled around in her head. Who was this man, and why did he seem to have this affect on her?

“Are you almost done with your shift? I’d love to get coffee, catch up and stuff. I’ve missed you, kid.” He grinned, reaching up to ruffle her short hair. 

“I’ve missed you.” She repeated, and she almost wanted to laugh. Because like the line she read before, the words were no sooner out of when she realized that she didn’t mean them at all. “I’m due for a lunch break.” She admitted, and she didn’t quite know why she did. 

She looked at Momo, somewhat pleading, somewhat reassuring her that things were okay. Momo simply nodded dumbly, agreeing to run things by herself for a while. 

“Tell boss that I’m not coming back to work, I probably won’t feel well after this.” She whispered to her coworker as she walked towards the back to get her bag. 

It was awkward, to say the least, to enter her small, less than impressionable apartment with an old friend behind her. 

No, he wasn’t a friend. She never had any friends back then. He was just someone that popped into her life without her wishing, and now she was making herself miserable by acknowledging his presence. 

What a masochist you are. She thought to herself, fighting another bitter chuckle from escaping her lips. You bring in the thing you hate the most. 

“So, coffee?” She asked Junho, setting her bag down on her worn out countertop. He nodded absentmindedly, looking around the room at the poor attempts to make it seem more homely. There was only so much decorative cushions and fresh flowers could do. They could cover things up, but they couldn’t erase them. 

Just like Jeongyeon, he figured. It was obvious in