Written by: "FlowerPoet"

Pairing: Woogyu

 

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(7,144 words)

Prompt 1: "Roses are red, violets are blue, love never crossed my mind until I met you."

 

When Sunggyu received the first card, he thought that he had accidentally traveled in time to Valentine’s Day. Because, who wrote cheesy flower poems at any other time of the year? And why had that person even left something stupid like that on his counter? Who had left it there? He couldn’t remember anyone leaving it behind after paying but at some point it was suddenly there today. At first he thought it was for someone else but someone had written his name on one side of the card. The writing looked pretty, so he guessed that it must’ve been a girl who wrote it. Sunggyu turned the card around in his hands.

 

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Love never crossed my mind

Until I met you

 

He snorted once again. Who even wrote poems for anyone these days? And ‘roses are red’ were probably the most uncreative poems ever. Not to mention that Sunggyu felt like that person had only chosen this type of poem because of his occupation. He worked as a florist in his own flower shop. Sunggyu had inherited it from his mother after she died in an accident. Her shop was called ”Julia” and was pretty famous in their town. Sunggyu couldn’t complain about his job. He always had plenty of customers thanks to his mother’s hard work in the past. She had taught him everything there was to know about flowers and she was the one who had gathered so many regular customers. Some of them Sunggyu had known since his early childhood. He used to stay downstairs at the shop with his mother even when he did his homework. Sometimes he had helped out too. Many customers had grown fond of him over the years and now they supported him all too gladly.

 

Sunggyu had a good memory for faces, so he knew most of the customers after their first visit. There were women and men, young and old, lovers and loners. Yet he wasn’t sure who could’ve left that card for him. Possibly one of the two young ladies that had bought flowers this morning but Sunggyu figured that, when they buy flower bouquets, they surely had a boyfriend or husband waiting for them. Plus, he had seen them quite often and they had never openly flirted with him or asked him out. Most costumers knew that he wasn’t particularly interested in women. Sunggyu had dated two girls in the past but neither had made him very happy. They had been nice but that was it.

 

He had dated some guys too but nothing had worked out. His longest relationship had lasted for 3 years with a guy called Hoya. It had casually started with some Netflix & Chill and ended with Hoya leaving him for some job in Busan. To be fair, he had invited Sunggyu to come with him but the older man had rejected the offer. He hadn’t wanted to leave his mother’s shop behind. Sunggyu had promised himself to take care of his mother’s legacy until the day he died. Hoya had left and now they sometimes exchanged texts on their phones but there was no more romance going on. His ex-boyfriend had found a new love; someone who loved dancing as much as he did.

 

“Sunggyu-ssi?”

He quickly put the card beneath the counter and looked up. Someone had entered the shop during his mental absence. “Ah, Chorong-ssi. Are you here to get a bouquet for your husband’s grave again?”

 

She smiled. “Yes, same as always. You know what he liked.”

 

Sunggyu nodded. He had been preparing bouquets for her dead husband’s grave every month and before his mother’s death, it had been her job. The young florist moved through the little shop with practiced and fluid movements. He knew very well which flowers to pick and every corner of the flower shop was imprinted in his mind. While he gathered all the flowers, Sunggyu tried to remember all the people that had visited the shop today. There had been two girls so far, a business man in his 30s, Mr. Lee from the bookshop across the street and now Chorong, who definitely didn’t leave the note for him.

“Is something wrong, dear?” The old lady asked behind him.

He glanced at her. “No, of course not. Everything’s fine.”

“You look a little distracted today.” Chorong seemed genuinely worried about him.

“It’s nothing. Someone just thought it was funny to leave me a poem.”

“A poem?”

He huffed. “A stupid one.”

“Don’t judge it so harshly. Maybe that person wrote it just for you.”

Sunggyu rolled his eyes shortly and grabbed some greens for the bouquet as the last step. He walked behind the counter to make the bouquet. “He or she didn’t put a lot of effort into it then. Why even leave me a card like that? How am I supposed to know who sent it?”

“An anonymous poem?” She laughed shortly. “Sounds quite romantic. That person certainly succeeded in making you curious already. Can I see it?”

“Be my guest.” The florist said and showed her the card, before returning to his task.

Chorong read it and then laughed softly. “Isn’t it cute? Sounds like someone fell in love with you and it’s their first love.”

“Oh please...who has their first love at this age? Because I doubt it’s from a little kid.”

“Stop thinking so negative, dear. You’re an attractive man. Why shouldn’t someone fall head over heels for you?”

 

Sunggyu rolled his eyes. “Because I’m...just me. Nothing special.”

 

He wrapped up the finished bouquet so that it would survive the way to the graveyard. It was cold outside and the wind was strong. “You’re special, Sunggyu. You make the prettiest flower bouquets in town. You inherited that from your mother, just like your youthful looks.”

 

“Stop flattering me, Chorong-ssi. It was probably just a joke anyways. I doubt anyone has a crush on me. In a few days this incident will be forgotten.” He took the card from her hands and threw it into the trash bin.

 

The old lady didn’t look very happy with that but she didn’t comment on it. She paid the usual price for her bouquet and Sunggyu handed it over to her. Chorong nodded. “We’ll see about that, Sunggyu. We’ll see.”

He totally didn’t pull the card out of the trash after she was gone.

 

 

 

 

 

The next day, Sunggyu found another card while he was sweeping the floor of the shop. The florist frowned and picked it up. While the first card had been simply white, this one was pale red. His name was on one side and Sunggyu glared at it for a moment, silently sending prayers that the other side didn’t have a poem on it. He checked his surroundings and turned the card around.

 

Roses are red

Violets are blue

I've never seen anyone

As beautiful as you

 

Sunggyu scoffed. “Who writes cheesy stuff like that, seriously...”

Once again, he had no idea who had left the card behind for him. Sunggyu didn’t think that any customers from the day before had shown up again today. What did that mean? It wasn’t a ghost, right? A shudder ran down his spine. Sunggyu put the card in his pocket and quickly cleaned up the rest of the shop. Once he was done, Sunggyu stepped back behind the counter. There were no customers at the moment, so the florist sat down on his stool to inspect the two cards once more. The writing looked identical. Whoever had written both poems, tended to add little hooks to the letters a and h. The writing really did look quite girly.

Sunggyu held the two cards above his head and looked at them. “Who are you? Why are you not showing yourself?”

Of course there was no reply. Instead, the bells at the door rang when a customer entered. Sunggyu quickly stood up and hid the cards under the counter again. “Hello. What can I do for you, sir?”




The cards never stopped coming. Every day, without fail, Sunggyu would find one. He already had over 10. One card had been hidden in between the red roses, another one had been left on the inside of the window and some had just appeared on his counter again without him noticing. It was quite frustrating because the florist couldn’t pinpoint who the culprit was. That person didn’t once leave their name on the cards. The only thing Sunggyu got were more and more cheesy poems. After work, he often sat down in his armchair upstairs and drank a hot chocolate, while reading over the cards again. Not because he liked them. No, of course not! They were cheesy! And...and stupid! He just liked laughing while looking at them!

 

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Sugar is sweet

And so are you

 

At first Sunggyu wondered if that meant he was fat.

 

Roses are red

Violets are blue

But woke up to find

A new color: it’s you

 

Maybe his heart did skip a beat when he received that one.

 

Roses are red

Violets are blue

The center of my world begins

And ends with you

 

That was the latest poem he had received. Sunggyu found it hard to continue believing that all of this was just a game; a joke. Who would put that much effort into a game? He was really curious about the author of those poems by now but Sunggyu still had no clue. The florist was on alert every day but so far the poet had always managed to go unnoticed. Maybe he really was a ghost. Or she. Sunggyu didn’t know the gender of his mysterious admirer but he somehow felt like it was a guy. He hoped it was a guy. He did feel flattered by the effort and the words, and Sunggyu might give that person a chance to date him. But first the poet had to come out of his hiding or Sunggyu had to catch him in the act!

 

Two days later, he finally managed to catch the culprit – or at least he thought that. Sunggyu had just turned away to put the money in the register when he heard the card slide onto the wooden counter. He grabbed the woman’s wrist just as she was about to push the card under a bunch of flyers, no doubt so he wouldn’t find it that quickly. Her eyes widened and opened to an unspoken ‘oh’. He knew that woman – Jisoo. She had been around every now and then to buy flowers but, as far as the florist knew, Jisoo had a boyfriend waiting for her at home.

Sunggyu’s eyes flashed. He held onto her wrist as his other hand grabbed the card. “I knew it. Is this card from you?”

Jisoo’s eyes went anywhere but to the spot where he stood. “Please tell me. I need to know.”

She swallowed and glanced over her shoulder. Sunggyu followed her gaze and saw someone looking back at them. A young man with dashing blonde hair. As their gazes met, the stranger’s eyes widened and then he ran away. The florist gasped. “You owe me an explanation! Wait here!”

Sunggyu ran around the counter and out of the shop. He looked down the street and saw the back of the man in the distance. He sprinted after him, determined to catch the poet today. If he turned out to be a creep, Sunggyu would tell him to never come again but if he turned out to be really crushing hard on him...well, then Sunggyu might give that cute guy a chance. And cute he had been.

And fast he was. Sunggyu wasn’t getting closer. “Y-Yah! Stop!!”

The man didn’t listen and eventually the florist gave up. His lungs were burning and he was getting too far away from his shop. Sunggyu rested his palms on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. He had figured that the person behind the poems must be shy if they didn’t approach him face-to-face, but this shy?! Do I look that scary? Sunggyu wiped his sweaty forehead and looked around again. The poet wasn’t coming back. He puffed his cheeks shortly and turned around again to walk the whole way back. Hopefully Jisoo was still there and ready to answer some questions for him.

The florist went back to his shop and was relieved to see that the young woman had kept watch. “I’m sorry, Sunggyu-ssi. He was so cute when he asked for my help. I couldn’t say no.”

“First off, who is that guy and second, what exactly did he ask of you?”

 

Jisoo nervously played with her fingers. “I don’t know his name. He stopped me outside the shop and asked me to leave this card for you, without you noticing of course.”

 

“And you didn’t bother to ask any question and just did it?” Sunggyu narrowed his eyes at her.

 

“Well, I did ask him why and he told me that he likes you. He was blushing really cutely too. It was obvious what he meant his words.” She giggled shortly and her cheeks became rosy. “You’re so lucky, Sunggyu-ssi. He’s a good-looking fellow. I want you two to date, so I agreed to help out. Isn’t the poem cute?”

 

Jisoo giggled. He turned the card around with a slight frown.

 

Roses are red
Violets are blue
How about a date tomorrow?
I’ll pick you up at two

 

He pursed his lips. “Why can’t he just ask me directly instead of leaving me these cards? He even ran away from me!”

 

“Well, you didn’t exactly break out into a smile when you saw the card...” Jisoo commented.

“Because all this hiding makes me frustrated!”

She laughed. “So what? He just offered you a date, big guy. You’re off work tomorrow, right? Meet up with him and you’ll get the answers to all your questions. That is if you haven’t scared him off with your chasing.”

 

Sunggyu glared at the card. Would his mysterious poet really show up tomorrow? Maybe he had scared him off? When was the last time a cute and handsome guy like that had tried to confess to him?

“Hey, can you give me my bouquet now? I really have to go.” Jisoo interrupted his thoughts.

He suppressed the urge to huff and put on his business smile instead. “Yes, of course. Just take it, okay? No need to pay me.”

She raised her eyebrows in question but then she grinned. “I should deliver poems more often. Thanks!”

 

Jisoo left and Sunggyu looked back at the card. Would the hide-and-seek finally end tomorrow? The florist felt so nervous suddenly when he thought about talking to the handsome guy from before. Did that guy really like him? Was he the poet behind all of those cards? Were his words true? There were so many questions and he felt slightly afraid of the answers. Sometimes the illusion of something was better than the reality.

 

He had only seen his poet for a short moment but the thought of meeting him still had Sunggyu’s heart fluttering. The florist pulled out the first card he had received. He smiled. “Love never crossed my mind until I met you...huh.”

 

 

 

 

He was having a staring contest with his clock. Sunggyu had needed about two hours to get ready for his (possible) date with the poet (a total stranger) and now it was already 2:01 pm but no sign of any poet. He had checked the card about twenty times in the last 50 seconds alone, thinking that he might’ve overlooked something. Maybe a hint that they’d meet up somewhere else or maybe the man had meant 2 am? Or Jisoo was right and he had scared his admirer off. Maybe the man just didn’t know there was another entrance next to the shop for private purposes. He could be waiting for Sunggyu to come out while the man was waiting in his apartment like an idiot, hoping his doorbell might ring soon.

The florist hit his forehead and grabbed his bag quickly. He hurried down the stairs and stopped shortly behind the door. Sunggyu took a deep breath and then released it calmly. “Don’t look like you’re excited or something. Play it cool. You’re not late. He wasn’t being specific!”

 

Sunggyu opened the door slowly and peeked outside. He saw someone in front of the shop but it wasn’t the same guy as the day before. He blinked in confusion. The other man checked his watch and Sunggyu figured he really was waiting for him. When the stranger suddenly looked his way, their gazes met. The florist flinched slightly. He knew he had to come out now or it would end up really embarrassing.

 

He took another deep breath and walked towards the older man. “Excuse me...are you- did you send me this card?”

The man shook his head. “No, but I’m supposed to give you this.”

He handed Sunggyu a card and a red rose that the florist hadn’t seen before. The man took off without another word and Sunggyu watched him leave, still confused and lost. He looked at the card.

 

Roses are red

So are your cheeks
Go down the street

And see where it leads

 

Sunggyu felt his cheeks grow hot from the poem. He looked around in hope of finding his favorite poet but no one was really paying attention to him. “Is this another one of his games?”

He puffed his cheeks shortly and glanced left and right. “Which direction, genius?”

The florist had no better idea, so he had to guess. When Sunggyu reached the traffic light, there was still no sign of his poet. He was starting to become irritated. Sunggyu really wasn’t one to walk around a lot. He hated walking around. Couldn’t the poet have been more specific with his directions? Maybe he was going the wrong way! He grew anxiously as he looked down the road and Sunggyu decided to just turn around and go the other into the other direction. He didn’t know why but suddenly the other way felt better.

 

Sunggyu needed about 15 minutes to walk all the way back to his shop and then he continued walking. When he reached another traffic light, he saw something red from across the street. Sunggyu’s heart fluttered and he quickly crossed the street when the light showed green. The young boy with the rose spotted him and narrowed his eyes at Sunggyu. “You’re late, ahjussi. He said you’d be here around 2:10 pm. It’s almost 2:40 pm...”

He reached out his hands. “Just give me the rose and the card. You got one, right? I can see the rose.”

The boy huffed and held out an empty hand instead. Sunggyu raised an eyebrow. The kid sighed. “That guy didn’t pay me enough to wait for so long. Give me 10.000 Won, ahjussi.”

Sunggyu’s lips twitched. “You know, I’m not that old...”

“I don’t care. Give me the money or I’m not handing them over. 15.000 Won because you’ve made me wait another minute.”

He really wanted to teach that boy some manners. Sunggyu gritted his teeth and pulled out a 10.000 ₩ bill from his wallet. “That’s all you’re getting from me. Now give me the items before I call your parents.”

The kid clicked his tongue but took the money from him. He gave Sunggyu the rose and the card. And then he kicked the older man’s shin. Sunggyu yelped in pain but the boy took off before he could say anything. “Damn brat!”

 

He was really feeling like he should just go home and forget about the poet! Sunggyu looked at the card.

 

Roses are red

And there’s one for every word unsaid

I was too shy to talk to you

But I like you, Sunggyu

 

I like you. Sunggyu smiled stupidly to himself. How many more roses was he going to get? How many more confessions? The words from the card seemed to give him strength again and he decided to play the game for a while longer. But where was he supposed to go now?

 

“No new directions?” The florist looked around without a clue but then decided to just continue down the road. He hadn’t received any new instructions after all.

 

Sunggyu didn’t make it far before a woman approached him. She held a familiar red rose in her hands. “You’re late.”

“I know, I know! Blame the guy who gave you this ridiculous task! He didn’t give me directions!”

 

She laughed. “Woohyun’s a little clumsy sometimes.”

 

“So his name is Woohyun? You know him?”

 

The young woman smiled. “Yeah. We go to the same college. He talked me into helping him out. He’s got a huge crush on you, you know. Every day he kept talking about you and how great you are. Honestly, it was getting a bit annoying...so I hope you two can just start dating today.”

 

So the guy crushing on him was a college student called Woohyun. Sunggyu was relieved to have finally gotten some information on his poet. No one had really known about him but now his classmate was suddenly in front of Sunggyu. “Why is he not meeting up with me? I thought he wanted a date but I’m starting to feel like I’m not getting anywhere.”

 

She scratched the back of her neck. “I told him not to do this but Woohyun’s really stubborn. He likes sappy stuff like this.”

 

“I noticed...”

 

“I told him you’re not the type for this kind of stuff.” She sighed. “You don’t look like it.”

 

Somehow he felt offended at that. “What do you mean I don’t look like it?!”

 

Her eyes widened slightly. “Well...uh...you look...”

 

“Yes...?”

 

“Like a grumpy old man.”

 

Sunggyu’s mouth fell open. “I-I don’t look like that!”

 

“Well, Woohyun said you were frowning every time you read of one the cards. No-wait, don’t tell me-“ She gasped. “You’re one of those tsunderes, aren’t you? When you’re in public, you frown and grimace at those cheesy cards but inwards you’re a blushing, happy maiden! You probably sit at home after work and read them again and again with a smile on your face! Oh my god!”

 

Sunggyu’s cheeks were getting warm. He snatched the rose and the card from her hands. “I don’t know what you’re talking about! I’m late, so excuse me please!”

 

He went past her but the woman’s laughter followed him stubbornly. Sunggyu was so busy fleeing from her that he almost forgot to read the card.

 

Roses are red

So are your lips

Come over to the café
I’ll give them a kiss

 

“Café? Café??” Sunggyu looked around in confusion. He couldn’t see one and the florist realized that he had probably run past it in his attempt to escape from Woohyun’s classmate. He had to go back. I hope she is gone.

 

 

 

 

 

She wasn’t gone. The woman was standing where he had left her, giggling to herself when she spotted him return. “I knew you’d come back.”

 

“I can’t find this café! I didn’t see one.” Sunggyu admitted grumpily.

 

“Well, a certain someone ran away before I could give explanations. Here’s the address for the café. It’s only a ten minute walk from here.” The woman gave him a piece of paper.

 

Sunggyu huffed. “All this effort for an address? This is strangely anti-climatic.”

 

She shrugged. “There were supposed to be more roses and cards but someone decided to be super late. The whole schedule was messed up, so we decided to skip a few.”

 

“I told you it wasn’t my fault!”

 

“I’m just stating facts. Stop nagging me. Geez...grumpy old man.”

 

Sunggyu crumpled up the paper in his hand. He made his way to the café. This better be one hell of a kiss!

 

 

 

 

 

The florist reached the café without any further incidents. By the time he walked through the door, Sunggyu’s hands were shaking and very sweaty. He clutched the roses to his chest and looked around in the café. Everything looked pretty damn normal. In fact, Sunggyu seemed to be the only thing out of place. Some of the customers stole glances at him and he heard a group of high school girls giggle. The tips of his ears felt warm and Sunggyu knew they were probably red by now. He had never been good at handling a lot of eyes on him. In school, he had always tried everything to avoid holding a presentation in front of the whole class. He hated being the center of attention, especially when he was out of his league. And Sunggyu was really only good at talking about flowers.

 

Back to the topic at hand, where was his flower poet?

 

“Excuse me-“ Sunggyu almost – ALMOST, because he didn’t, it was more of a twitch – jumped at the voice. He looked at the older woman questioningly. She smiled friendly. “You must be Sunggyu-ssi, right? You’re exactly as he described! Come with me.”

 

Did he mention how confused he was? Sunggyu followed after her like a clueless sheep. Is anything about this first date normal at all? She led him through a door that brought them directly into the kitchen. He raised his eyebrows again but she continued walking. “Woohyunnie is really nervous, you know! He thought he messed up and you weren’t going to come! My poor boy!”

 

“Do you know him?”

 

“Of course! He’s my son!”

 

“Y-Your son?!”

 

She stopped in front of a glass door and Sunggyu could see a beautiful garden behind it. There were some white tables and chairs but only one was occupied. Before he could recognize anything but red roses, the older woman blocked his view with her body. “Sunggyu-ssi, I’m going to warn you. If you hurt my little baby, I will make sure you regret it! I admit my son is not the brightest star out there but he’s got his heart at the right place. If you give him a chance, he’ll prove to you what kind of man he is. I know every mother praises her child but he really is an honest and friendly boy. He’ll be loyal if you choose him and you’ll be welcome here anytime. I’ll let you drink a coffee for free!”

 

The florist wasn’t quite sure what to reply to that. He hadn’t met the guy before but suddenly it felt like Sunggyu was going to ask for his hand when he walked through this door. Or would Woohyun ask for his? By the strange speed this was going, Sunggyu wouldn’t put it past him. The short conversation with Woohyun’s mother gave him the feeling that he had inherited the quirkiness from her. So far the date and its prelude had been quite...weird but a part of Sunggyu found it strangely adorable. Probably the part that had kept him going despite all the rather annoying incidents today.

 

Woohyun’s mother seemed to notice that he wasn’t going to reply. “Oh, I’m sorry. I always chatter so much. Woohyunnie told me not to embarrass him in front of others but here I went and did it again. Don’t mind what I said.”

 

“N-No, it’s okay. You must be worried about your son; that’s normal for a mother. I’m just...overwhelmed right now.”

 

She nodded and crossed her hands in front of her chest. “It’s the first time Woohyun is crushing on somebody, so I’m nervous and overwhelmed too. I just want him to be happy but I shouldn’t pressure you like I did before. If you reject him, I’m not going to rip off your head. Don’t worry. We all must face rejection in our lives one day.”

 

The café owner pointed at the door. “Go on. I’ll get back to the front.”

 

Sunggyu waited until she was gone before he stepped outside. He took a deep breath as the door fell shut behind him. It wasn't hard to find his flower poet. He was waiting for Sunggyu with a huge bouquet of red roses. It was big enough to cover Woohyun's head and upper body. He frowned and stepped closer.

 

"Are you going to hide behind it for the rest of the date?"

 

A soft laugh reached his ears. "No. These are for you."

 

"So I can hide behind them? How thoughtful of you." Sunggyu smiled in amusement as the other man fidgeted nervously.

 

Woohyun handed the bouquet over to him and the florist struggled to keep his view free. "I hope you like them."

 

Of course he did. Who wouldn't like to receive a bouquet of red roses from a handsome man? It made him feel like a maiden who was being wooed. It was a little heavy though... "Did you have to buy so many?"

 

Woohyun smiled at him; a sight that made the florist's heart flutter. The blonde man was very attractive indeed and his smile was simply amazing. "I told you in the poem from before that each rose represents words that I failed to tell you before. Those are my feelings for you."

 

The poet's cheeks turned rosy. Sunggyu felt his cheeks grow warm too. Suddenly the bouquet felt even heavier. "O-Oh...I see."

 

Woohyun cleared his throat awkwardly. "Should we sit down? If you want to stay..."

 

"I certainly don't want to walk anymore for a while." Sunggyu commented. He added a smile to show that he wasn't mad because his words had seemed to pull Woohyun's mood down. Somehow seeing the other man sad was just unbearable. It felt like kicking a puppy and then getting a full load of those big, dark orbs. Puppy eyes were scary.

 

Woohyun played with his fingers. "Sorry about that. I wanted to make this romantic but I failed...haha..."

 

Sunggyu looked at the bouquet and back to the poet. "It wasn't that bad. It was romantic. At least if I exclude the time I ran into the wrong direction and then got my shin kicked by a little brat. The poems were...cute."

 

"You're not just saying that to make me feel better, are you?" Woohyun asked anxiously.

 

Sunggyu sat down on a chair and put the roses on another. He smiled. "I'm still here, am I not?"

 

His words seemed to encourage the poet. Woohyun smiled. "You must be thirsty, right? And I hope you didn't eat yet."

 

He hadn't. Sunggyu had hoped that would be part of the date, so he had kept his stomach empty. Mostly. He shook his head. "Lunch sounds nice."

 

"Good! Wait a second, okay?" The younger man rushed back into the café and Sunggyu sure hoped he wasn't running away.

 

But the poet returned again quickly. He had a tray with two drinks in his hand and on his other arm he was expertly balancing two plates at the same time. "I hope you like fish."

 

Woohyun set the drinks down first and the florist helped him with distributing them. The content seemed the same to him, though he was unsure about the drink in general. Woohyun put one of the plates in front of him and Sunggyu hummed in appreciation. As expected of a professional kitchen. The food looked really good. Maybe he should go here more often.

 

Woohyun sat down opposite of him. "It’s a homemade lemonade from our café. My grandmother made the recipe for it. I can't tell you what's in it or I might have to..."

 

"Kill me?" Sunggyu finished the sentence jokingly.

 

Woohyun chuckled. "Marry you."

 

"O-Oh..." Well, that surely sounded better than death but it seemed a little early to think about marriage.

 

The poet kept smiling. "Dig in before it gets cold. I prepared these before you came. I hope you like the fish."

 

His eyes widened. "You cooked this?"

 

Woohyun nodded in affirmation. He shyly rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm a chef here. Well, at least part-time. I still got college classes to attend."

 

"Oh. So you're a chef and not a poet. Makes more sense."

 

The younger man laughed shortly. "I'd be a crappy poet."

 

"But still a cute one." The words slipped out of Sunggyu's mouth before he could stop himself.

 

Woohyun lowered his head and laughed shyly. The florist felt severely embarrassed by his own words so he decided to start eating. He was curious if the dish tasted as good as it looked and it was a perfect way to stop his mouth from sprouting nonsense. Sunggyu tried a piece of the fish and almost moaned out loud. It was absolutely delicious! If he ate high quality food like this for the rest of his life, he could die happily. A good cook is always a keeper, his mom used to tell him. She was probably right.

 

He felt Woohyun's expectant eyes on him. The brown puppy orbs seemed to burn holes into his soul. Sunggyu cleared his throat. “It tastes great. But I’m sure you hear that very often.”

 

The poet chef smiled. “It means more coming from you. I want you to like me. That includes the food I make.”

 

Sunggyu’s cheeks felt warm again. Woohyun seemed so genuine about his advances. The florist found it impossible not to fall for his ways and they had barely been talking face to face for a few minutes. Sunggyu felt flustered so he grabbed the glass to try some of the lemonade. His eyes widened at the strange taste. It was strange in a positive way, almost addictive in its sweetness.

 

“Wow! The lemonade is amazing!”

 

“Right?” Woohyun grinned proudly.

 

“I’m surprised I never heard of this café before...The food is so good and the lemonade is great too. It seems like a really good place.”

 

The younger man hummed shortly. His smile seemed a little sad. “Actually, we just recently re-opened the café here. It wasn’t doing well before. My parents took care of the old shop on their own but my dad got sick and my mother was overwhelmed with everything, so they had to close it again.”

 

“Oh...I hope your father is doing better now.” Sunggyu muttered.

 

Woohyun smiled. “Yeah, don’t worry. We had to start again from zero here but the café is back at full strength now, especially with me here. I couldn’t help out before because the old place was in another town. But now the family is together and we’ll get our name out there soon enough.”

 

“So you’re going to be a chef here after you’re done with college?”

 

“Yes! Your shop is a family business too, right? I’m sure you understand the feeling of wanting to take over your parents’ business one day.”

 

Sunggyu blinked “You know that?”

 

Woohyun smiled sheepishly. “I might have conducted some research after I- well-“

 

He lifted an eyebrow. “After you - what?”

 

The other man blushed and cleared his throat. “Isn’t it normal to want to know more about the person you’ve fallen in love with? And honestly, it made me like you even more.”

 

Sunggyu busied himself with shoving more food into his mouth. His heart felt like it was beating 150 miles per hour. “W-When did you fall for me? Why me?”

 

Woohyun laughed lightly. “It’s nothing spectacular. You might be disappointed... It was raining and I was having a bad day. I did pretty badly on one of my most important exams and was close to throwing my studies away and dropping out of college. Nothing was working out for me. And then I was looking for protection from the rain and went into your shop. You probably don’t remember that day. I think we spoke about 6 words and 5 of those were yours.”

 

He tried to remember if he saw the blonde man before but Sunggyu wasn’t sure. The florist usually had a good memory for customers but maybe their encounter had been too short to stay on his mind.

 

“It’s okay if you don’t remember!” Woohyun reassured him. “It was pretty embarrassing so it might be better if you don’t. So I went into your shop to search for protection from the rain and you were there, talking to some lady about flowers. I wasn’t paying attention at first but when I looked at you, I couldn’t stop staring. You were talking so passionately about the flowers, probably trying to convince her to buy certain ones. They were just flowers but you were acting like a proud mother around them. I don’t know...something about your passion mesmerized me and it gave me hope. I guess I saw myself in you, my past self I mean. The one that was passionate about cooking. You’re pretty much the reason I didn’t gave up everything that day.”

 

Sunggyu didn’t know what to say. It felt weird to know that he had encouraged someone else that way. Though the florist felt a bit bad for not even remembering someone whose life he had possibly influenced so much. “That’s...wow. I never thought someone would see me that way. I mean I...I just sell flowers.”

 

“It didn’t really matter what you are selling. It was the way you did it. I fell in love with your passion and I guess I was a goner when you smiled at me. That was when the embarrassing part started...” The younger man chuckled nervously.

 

Sunggyu grinned at Woohyun. He was trying to mask his fast beating heart. Woohyun’s words made it flutter like he was running a marathon or something. “Tell me. Come on.”

 

“Well...you were done with that customer eventually and turned to me next. You asked me ‘Can I help you, sir?’ and I, the idiot I was, just kept staring at you. I only managed to utter a short ‘Hi’ and then you smiled at me. And I was- just- wow. I think I stuttered some incoherent crap before I pointed randomly at a flower. It was a rose just like these and honestly, you looked a little weirded out by my strange behavior. But you sold it to me and I left the shop afterwards.”

 

Now that Woohyun was talking about it in such detail, Sunggyu felt like he could remember snippets of that day. He did remember selling some weirdo a rose but he hadn’t really seen his face back then. The wet hair had covered a lot of it. His eyes widened. “Wait, you had dark hair back then, right?”

 

The younger man groaned in embarrassment. “You remember!”

 

Sunggyu laughed. “I wondered which person meant so much to you that you went out in the rain just to buy a red rose.”

 

“I had no one like that when I entered your shop but I had you when I left it.” Woohyun replied smoothly while smiling.

 

His heart fluttered wildly. Sunggyu poked the last piece of his fish. “And then you decided to catch my attention with ‘roses are red’ poems?”

 

Woohyun nodded. “At first, I didn’t have the courage to do anything. I just walked past your shop a lot to steal glances inside. I wanted to be sure that it hadn’t been something fleeting. A short puppy love. But you never failed to make my heart beat quicker. I knew I had to make you notice me but, well, I wasn’t sure how to do it because I’ve never...wooed anyone. And then I stumbled upon one of those ‘roses are red’ poems. I thought it was fitting since I bought a red rose when we first met. But I think the poems were probably not the right decision, huh? You didn’t seem to like them...”

 

“Well...at first I thought they were a stupid joke, that someone was just playing with me. But I liked them after a while, especially the latest ones. I noticed you were serious about your words, even if the form of expression was a little funny. How did you give me all those cards, by the way? I kept wondering about it. I mean I caught the last person but how? Did you bribe all my customers into bringing me the cards?”

 

Woohyun used the napkin to clean his mouth and then gulped down a lot of the lemonade. A play for time, obviously. “Kind of. I thought you’d know it was me if I dropped by too often and I wasn’t ready yet. I offered them a free meal at the café if they helped me.”

 

“You know, you could’ve just come up to me and said hi again, asked me if I wanted to go out on a date with you.”

 

“And you would’ve said yes?” The flower poet smiled.

 

Sunggyu averted his gaze shortly. “Probably. I mean you’re-“

 

The florist coughed awkwardly and Woohyun chuckled. “Handsome? Charming? Cute?”

 

“Oh, shut up, you!” He reached out to smack Woohyun’s arm.

 

Sunggyu wasn’t prepared for the other man to catch his wrist, though. Woohyun’s fingers were warm and firm around his wrist. Woohyun’s thumb kept rubbing over Sunggyu’s pulse point as he stared intensely at the older man. The florist blushed under his gaze. The thought of Woohyun feeling his fast pulse only made him more nervous. “W-What are you doing?”

 

“Sunggyu, I- I really like you. Would you be my boyfriend?”

 

The florist held his breath for a moment. They had barely had one date and he didn’t know much about Woohyun yet, but his instincts screamed at Sunggyu to say yes. He knew the younger man was genuine and he could hardly deny the way Woohyun made him feel. Sunggyu wanted to trust him. Woohyun had put so much effort into this and the one thing that he could do in return was saying yes.

 

“Do you have something to write?” Sunggyu asked suddenly as he got an idea.

 

Woohyun blinked. He bent down to grab something from beneath the table and then put a little notepad and a pen on the table. Sunggyu took them and wrote something on his lap, not wanting Woohyun to see it. He noticed the younger man fidgeting in his chair and smiled shortly. Woohyun was obviously anxious because he hadn’t gotten a reply yet.

 

Sunggyu finished writing and pushed the notepad over the table. He fought the urge to hide his face in his palms out of embarrassment. Woohyun looked at what he had written.

 

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Yes, Woohyun

I would like to go out with you.

 

The younger man smiled widely and stood up. He went around the table and Sunggyu only managed to stand up before he was pulled into a kiss. Yes, all the trouble had definitely been worth it.

 

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Author's Note: and they dated happily ever after hahaha! :3 I hope you liked it!! I doubt it was what you expected when you put that poem as your prompt but who knows <3 MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

 

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Admin’s Note: The idea of Woohyun being a secret admirer is so cute! ;w; I really enjoyed this fic and some parts made me blush while I was reading it. 

- KyashiiKun