It’s 9 o’clock in the morning on a Saturday. Taemin believes it should be made illegal to be awake at this time, let alone make any sort of noise this early. He’s feeling a tad crabby; he was up late last night revising for the biology exam on Monday.

After 5 minutes, the thumping noises still haven’t stopped, and Taemin’s had enough. He rather reluctantly rolls out of bed and wiggles his toes a bit as he puts on his slippers. He paces around the room, and figures out it’s coming from downstairs. Maybe it’s the heating acting up again.

When he reaches the kitchen, he’s in for a shock. Why was Kibum there? Along with Minho and Jonghyun, the cute guy from his biology class? Most importantly, why were they standing in his garden, with a guitar and a foldable chair? How did they even get those over the fence?

They don’t seem to notice when Taemin walks into the garden. They’re too busy bickering, and Taemin has to clear his throat a few times before they acknowledge him.

“Kibum, why are you in my garden with a guitar and a foldable chair at nine o’clock in the morning?”

“Well, you see, Jonghyun here wanted me to help him ask you out. So, since you’re cheesy as hell, I told him to serenade you.”

“At nine o’clock in the morning?”

“Actually, it’s ten past nine. But yes.”

“It still doesn’t explain why you’re shouting at each other instead serenading me or whatever you’ve your up your sleeve.”

“I don’t think you’ve noticed yet, but your gate was locked; so we climbed over the fence. However… when we got the guitar over…”

Kibum gestures to the border of shrubberies a he has around his garden. The only problem is the flowers he had planted there are now crushed.

“MY CARNATIONS!”

Taemin sprints over to the flower bed. The stalks of the little plants have snapped in half, and some the delicate petals have been ripped off.

Something which sounds like a mixture between “oh my ing god” and “my poor children” burble out of his mouth as he bends down to assess the damage.

“Well, we’ll see you later Jjong-“

“Wait! Minho! Kibum! You’re just leaving me here?!”

“Look dude. Let me put it this way. I really don’t want to be here when Taemin starts spouting some bull nonsense about how his papaya bush needs a special fertiliser.”

“Papayas grow on trees you idiot.”

“Exactly.”

“But you promised me!”

“I promised you that I’d help you come up with a plan to seduce him.”

“But-“

“See you on the other side.”

“Minho? You’ll stay with me, right?”

“Sorry man. You brought this on yourself.”

Kibum and Minho quickly run off somewhere, leaving Jonghyun to deal with Taemin. He looks slightly comical; bent over his card nations, or whatever the hell those flowers are called.

He walks over and squats next to him. Despite his somewhat hysterical state, he still looks pretty adorable, with his mussed up morning-hair and his checked pyjama shorts.

“How are your plants doing?”

“Oh god, oh god, oh god, the potato seedlings are definitely gone too. Thank god my cacti are fine though.”

Jonghyun looks at the plants. The flowers just look a little crooked to him, and there are some white bits poking through the soil which he presumes are the potato seedlings.

“You have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”

He shakes his head. Taemin stands up and puts his hands on his hips.

“Well, if you’re going to go out with me, then you’re going to have to learn a thing or two. The bloom from this carnation won Chelsea Plant of the Year 2014-“

“Did you just say you’d go out with me?”

“Yes, and this cacti here is an endangered species; it’s called Echinocactus Grusonii, or the Golden Barrel Cactus. And here is what’s left of my potato seedlings-”

“What made you want to go out with me? I’m kind of the reason your plants are destroyed?”

“Because you’re cute and you tried. Don’t think I’ve forgiven you for killing them though.”

“You know it wasn’t me who dropped the guitar on your potato sprouts, right? It was Minho.”

Taemin takes in a deep breath. All resolve to remain calm and collected dissolves there. His body starts shaking, and he starts to sob.

“I’ve worked so hard on these Jonghyun. Heck, I’ve had the carnations since I was ten.”

“Is there really nothing you can do?”

“The potato seedlings were supposed to germinate next week.”

All Jonghyun can do is hold Taemin and promise to drive him to the garden centre, while the neighbours try and figure out why there’s a boy weeping on his lawn at twenty past nine in the morning.