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PURPLE LILAC; First Emotion of Love

 

“There's no love like the first.”

                      ―Nicholas Sparks

 

“THE fifty plant guy is back.” Bo Ra mumbles as she kicks Hyo Jung in the back of the knee, from where she’s sat on the stool behind the front counter researching things about makeup school. Hyo Jung twists from the plants she’s dealing with to see that same speckled wearing man starring down at a different plant then last time. “Go ask him what he wants.” The brunette urges, leaving Hyo Jung to sigh and walk off toward him.

 

He’s once again leaning over a plant, starring at in curiosity. For the past few weeks, she’s been wondering what he’s even been doing with those fifty Venus flytrap’s. Honestly, who even needs that many? “Is there something you would like to buy today?” She asks him quietly. He jumps in surprise as he turns toward her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” She continues while shoving her hands into the pockets of her black apron.

 

He blinks at her, and smiles shyly when he sees who it is. The same girl from last time. His eyes graze over her quickly, admiring her beauty—despite being covered by a large grayish green sweater, and beige colored pants covered by her black apron. “Your hair is the color of cinnamon sticks.” He leans forward and sniffs the air next to her shoulder where her hair slightly sits. “And smells like coffee.” She takes a step away from, a tiny one, and grimaces.

 

“Thanks?” She replies.

 

He nods, “Y-yeah.” He turns away from her once more—his cheeks turning a  warm pink—to look at the plants next to him. They’re quite extraordinary plants from China. They’re like hanging lanterns, red and yellow at the base, with a long green stem. The description fits its name perfectly: Chinese Lanterns. “Um, what are these?” His finger dips down to hit the papery like substance holding itself around the fruit it bears.

 

“It’s called the Chinese Lantern.” She replies with a bright smile.

 

His eyes stick to her smile for a second, slightly admiring the way her lip curls in the corner. Blinking rapidly, he twists his body back to stare at it, “Um…uh…I’d like fifty of them.” Hyo Jung nods her head, her eyes wide and mouth agape, as she maneuvers herself around the little aisle ways in her green house shop, before she makes it to Bo Ra. Bo Ra, the brunette, stares back at her with a questioning look. As if trying to decipher why Hyo Jung looks so shocked.

 

“He wants fifty of the Chinese Lanterns.” She states.

 

Bo Ra’s eyes widen, “Again with the fifty?” It’s strange enough to once in a while get an order that reaches over the norm of four plants per person. But when somebody continuously orders fifty plants every week—something strange is obviously going on. Sure, Hyo Jung makes money which in cause Bo Ra gets her pay for doing whatever she does—searching the web mostly, and keeping the website up to date—but those fifty odd some plants could end up going to him making his own store. A store which could cause more competition.

 

As much as oligopolies are great, sometimes having too much competition can be bad. “Let’s get to work.” Hyo Jun says as she grabs Bo Ra by the hand and pulls her to the Chinese lanterns to start boxing them up. An hour later and the boxes are loaded into the back of the man’s silver Chevrolet truck, and the man is standing in front of the counter, wallet in hand, with Hyo Jung in front of him.

 

“That’ll be a total of two hundred and thirty one thousand won.” Hyo Jung says after calculating one flower is five thousand won. The man nods his head, and instead of handing her cash like last time, he hands her a credit card. She takes it into her hand and stares down at it. In silver block letters the name Jo Dong Rim is spelled out. “Will that be debit or credit?” She asks when looking back up at him, holding the card above the keyboard of her computer.

 

He blinks a few more times than that of a regular person. “Debit?”

 

She pauses and almost asks him if he’s sure about that, but opts to just continue, and after the transaction passes his card back to him. “Thank you, and have a good day.” She bows her head respectfully—he is a customer—and he does as well, before standing back up.

 

“You too.” He laughs shyly at her, waving his hand slightly, before scurrying down the paths of the green house to leave. Hyo Jung finds the whole situation odd. The man is odd, and a bit shy from what she’s noticed—he’s also not good at conversing. So, why does he want so many flowers?

 

Hyo Jung walks up to Bo Ra with a sigh, “His name is Jo Dong Rim.” Bo Ra’s head snaps up from behind the laptop, her eyes interested, and her ears perked up. “He says my hair is the color of cinnamon sticks, and that it smells like coffee.”

 

“He smelled your hair?” Bo Ra asks with a laugh.

 

Hyo Jung nods her head as she flops down onto her black leather chair. “He’s bought one hundred plants from us, in two weeks. Does that make since?” Hyo Jung still can’t figure out this “Dong Rim’s” angle. What could he possibly need one hundred plants for? Besides making his own plant business.  Why not just two or three each, why fifty each?

 

“He’s strange.”

 

 

JOO Young is Dong Rim’s best friend, and happens to be the more outgoing one of the two. The one who always ends up with all the girls at the party, the one that always gets them into trouble, and the one who keeps Dong Rim a bit more social than usual. “So, how did it go?” He asks as he slides in his seat next to Dong Rim—who has his gray beanie shoved over his face in embarrassment.

 

“Those are what I got.” He brings his finger up and flicks it toward a stack of hanging plants, partially hanging from a silver rail hung to the ceiling of his room. “They’re called Chinese Lanterns.” Joo Young rolls his eyes as he pats Dong Rim on the back before reaching over and pulling off the beanie.

 

“You know that’s not what I mean.” He states while punching him in the arm lightly. “Come on, what happened?” He continues while coming up next to him and taking a seat on the desk straight in front of him, giving him a pretty good angle of the awkward one.

 

Dong Rim groans and runs a hand down his face. The embarrassment is clearly enveloping him, especially being that his whole appearance is a tinge of pink. “She thinks I’m weird.” Joo Young’s eyebrows clash together as he watches Dong Rim’s shoulders slump and his face buries into his hands.

 

“What did you do?” He asks.

 

Dong Rim lets out a weird resonating sound from the back of his throat. A mangled moan of some sort. “I smelled her hair, and said it smells like coffee.”

 

“You smelled her hair?” Joo Young continues while cocking his head to the side.

 

Dong Rim nods and kicks his feet childishly, “I wanted to see if it smelled like cinnamon. Her hair color is like cinnamon.” Joo Young should’ve expected that something this awkward would happen. Anything is possible when it comes to Dong Rim. Like the time Dong Rim tripped on nothing and his face landed straight into Joo Young’s grandma’s chest.

 

“I thought I told you not to sniff people’s hair.” He states while trying to hold back his laugh. One time, in high school, when Dong Rim said their teachers hair was the color of dark chocolate—he needed to test whether or not it smelled like it. Needless to say, he was sent to the principal’s office and given detention for three weeks.

 

Dong Rim sighs, “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

 

Joo Young laughs as he slaps a hand onto his shoulder and smiles at his friend. “Look, next week why don’t you ask her, her name?” Dong Rim’s not the greatest at the whole ‘getting to know you’ part of socialization. He usually skips from that and goes straight to the ‘we’re best friends’ part. It’s why some people don’t usually understand him, and others just don’t like him—he’s weird.

 

“Do I have to?” He asks in a small voice.

 

Joo Young nods, “You like her, right?”

 

“I don’t even know her.” Dong Rim responds after a minute of debating about it. “I just think she’s nice.” I guess you could say that Dong Rim hasn’t met enough nice people in his life. Of course the usual human doesn’t meet enough nice people—but Dong Rim is a bit different. He doesn’t get out much.

 

“Just ask her name, it’s not that hard.” The other replies. Although Joo Young and Dong Rim have known each other for years, the younger still doesn’t quite understand why Dong Rim is always so closed off and shy around others. He just guesses it has a lot to do with his sister, and the reason behind the plants.

 

 

HYO Jung is in her back office for two minutes before Bo Ra comes racing in, squealing like a mad woman.  And yes, Hyo Jung freaks out a little, because it’s seriously such a high pitched squeal that it shakes her eardrums. “He’s back—fifty plant guy—he’s back.” Hyo Jung’s eyes widen as she stares at the brunette. He’s back, again? What does he want this time?

 

“Are you serious?” Hyo Jung whispers as if he could hear her.

 

Bo Ra nods, “Yeah, he’s over by the lily pads.” It didn’t take much for Bo Ra to convince Hyo Jung to go over there. The man had peaked her interest weeks ago. Now it’s three consecutive weeks of coming to her green house, and buying fifty a week—that’s just insane.

 

He’s leaning up against the silver railing that blocks off the small pond in the yard part of her green house. He’s starring intently at all the lily pad’s his body leaning directly into the railing, that he might actually fall over. She slowly walks up to the railing, standing next to him, and leaning against it as well. He doesn’t seem to notice him, and if he does, he ignores her.

 

A few minutes of silent are actually nice in her opinion. Usually Bo Ra has her music blasting, and or is talking too much so Hyo Jung never gets to have her quiet time. But, whenever he comes, she gets a bit of it. “They’re lily pads right?” He asks, though still not turning to look at her.

 

She nods, “Yeah, these are specifically from India.” White flowered lily pads, otherwise known as Nymphaea Candida can be found all over Europe and Asia, but only in freshwater habitats. They are beautiful. The green pads have separated from the large white flowers, their insides composing of yellow string like features, a stem growing from the bottom of it and rooting it to the bottom of the pond. The green pads themselves float around natural after separation, and are usually the home to the few frogs that sometimes come around.

 

He finally turns away from the pond to look at her. And it makes her laugh when he trips a few steps back when he sees that it’s her. His cheeks heat up as he tries to keep himself calm. “Cinnamon sticks, and coffee.” He stutters out after a second, and it makes Hyo Jung stop laughing. Because it’s still slightly creepy that he sniffed her hair. “Um…do you work here every day?”

 

She nods, “I’m the owner.”

 

“Oh, really?” He asks quietly as he turns back toward the plants. She goes to nod, but thinks otherwise and instead keeps quiet next to him. She does want to ask him questions but refuses to, in case she insults him, the more business the better. It’s not like selling plants really pays a lot. Unless the customer happens to buy a billion plants per one transaction. “So, you’re a florist?”

 

“I’m a botanist. I make hybrid plants—like the Chinese Lanterns you bought. Even these, I genetically manipulated some of the genes in the white lilies, so some were produced with a tinge of pink on the inside rather than yellow.” She points her finger over toward the lilies rooted toward the left side of the pond. There, in the corner, is a cluster of white lilies, the insides a pinkish orange.

 

He gapes at them, “You did that?”

 

“Yes.” She laughs while nodding her head. She believes that this is the first time that someone has ever really shown interest in her career. People always assume that the only thing she does is sell flowers. When, in actuality, she creates different hybrids, for Korea University—where she works as an intermediate researcher. She just sells flowers for extra cash, and to introduce different plants into everyday life of a natural human.

 

“M-may I know your name?” He stutters awkwardly.

 

“Hyo Jung.” She offers her hand straight towards him. After a second or two of blinking at it, he hesitantly takes it in his own and shakes it.

 

He snaps his eyes up toward her, “Dong Rim.” He shifts away from her once more to point toward the lily pads. “Can I get fifty those?” Hyo Jung’s sure that she probably never has to have him ask that again—she pretty much knows that all he’ll ever want is fifty of something.

 

“Uh, yeah.”

 

 

DONG Rim walks into his best friend’s apartment at around two in the afternoon. The fifty boxes of soaked lily pads, still sat in liquid soaked boxes in the back of his truck. The other plants being at his house. “Hyung, you’re here?” Joo Young calls as Dong Rim slips out of his shoes and walks into the living room.

 

“Yeah.” He mumbles as he takes a seat on the brown couch next to him. He places his feet up on the table, and shifts himself until he’s sat all the way on the other side of the couch—away from Joo Young. Being crowded on the couch is not really his thing.

 

Joo Young turns toward him, stretching his arm along the back of the couch. “What’s her name?” He asks after a second of watching over his facial expression. The boy was still staring into space as if he couldn’t believe that he actually did something productive in the social skills area.

 

“Hyo Jung.” He responds.

 

Joo Young nods, “And?” It’s almost as if the younger knows everything about him. As if he knows exactly where the conversation spawned too. Joo Young seems to always be like that—knowing everything about Dong Rim like the back of his head. Dong Rim watches for a second to see Joo Young gesture with his head to force him to continue watching.

 

“She owns the shop, and I guess messes with the flowers to produce new ones.” Dong Rim replies as he slips his hands into his pockets and rests his head on the back of the couch. “She’s really good at too.” Joo Young can’t help but laugh at his best friend—it’s almost as if his best friend is swooning over a girl. For the first time too. Dong Rim has never really talked about a girl before. Not in this sense at least.

 

He places a hand on his shoulder, “Next week, when you go back, ask her what her favorite flower is. Okay?” Dong Rim, after a second of thinking it through, nods his head and flicks the TV channel to one that is not of baseball.

 

 

HYO Jung expects to see Dong Rim every week. It’s not even strange anymore, he’s just something along the lines of a daily routine. Yet, he’s something that allows her to walk about from her daily routine as well. Dong Rim, has yet to show up this week though—and it’s Friday. He usually comes in the mid week, like Wednesday. Bo Ra almost always squeals at Hyo Jung, like she expects them to start dating. Bo Ra has this strange idea that he likes her and that’s why he keeps coming back—but that doesn’t explain why he keeps buying fifty plants every time he comes. It’s just a waste of money if he’s not doing anything with them—a waste of plants too.

 

“He’s here.” Bo Ra sings in Hyo Jung’s ear right after entering the back room. “And he’s standing at the desk, asking for you.” Bo Ra runs her fingers up and down Hyo Jung’s arm and taps her shoulders a multitude of times. “Go! I beg of you! Lover boy is waiting.”

 

Hyo Jung glances away from her computer screen, and toward her clock sitting at the corner of her desk. Six O’clock—he really is late. “Okay.” Bo Ra stands up and faces Bo Ra who’s grinning from ear to ear. “Your smile is creepy; stop it.” Hyo Jung flattens out a majority of the creases in her skirt, before walking out of the back room and up to the front desk.

 

There, dressed in an oversized dark navy hoodie and brown skinny jeans, is Hyo Jung’s so-called lover boy. The auburn haired boy who’s always asking for her and only her. He stands tall, leaning up against the counter, his head starring down at a pamphlet he had taken from the stack to the right of his arms. “Hello.” She greets as she walks up to him and smiles as she leans against the counter herself.

 

He glances up at her, letting his eyes circle her face, and smiles a minute after. “Hi.” He has a tendency to wave his hand, and he does—but it doesn’t seem to surprise her, as he thought it would.

 

“Is there something I can help you with?” She asks, like she always does, and he nods his head, like he always does. “Alright, is there a specific plant you want to buy or…” She trails off, and waits for him to answer the question. His eyes travel between starring at her, to glancing over his shoulder and towards the door to leave. Almost as if he’s regretting ever coming, and just wants to leave as quick as possible.

 

He dips his head toward his chest, “Um, what’s your favorite flower?”

 

“Pardon?” She responds right after.

 

“What’s your favorite flower?”

 

Hyo Jung blinks a few times as she stares at him. Why is this guy so strange? The one question runs through mind as she maneuvers around the desk and begs—with her hand—to have him follow her. “When I was really young, and had nothing better to do then bug my mom—to calm me down, she’d tell me a story.” She begins as she makes her away around the small part of her nursery. “She said, according to Greek mythology, there was once a beautiful nymph named Syringa. She was so beautiful that she captivated the attention of a god named Pan—the god of forests and fields. One day, he decided to talk to her, but she was so nervous she ran away. And because of that, Pan began to chase after her. She was scared of Pan’s affection for her that she turned herself into one of the most aromatic and beautiful flowers on this planet.”

 

Hyo Jung comes to a stop in front of many large bushes of the color purple. “Purple Lilacs, that’s what she turned into. Her name, Syringa, is the botanical name for lilac.” Dong Rim looks between Hyo Jung’s smile and the flowers before letting out a deep breath. “I guess, the story made me fall in love with the flower itself—they’re quite beautiful, don’t you think?”

 

He nods his head to confirm. Purple Lilac’s, they look so delicate, as if not even a human could protect it. Up close and personal with the flowers you can see that they’re so much more than what they appear to be. They’re less loved than that of the white lilacs—but bring more to the table in the sense of beauty. And that’s why Hyo Jung loves them the most. One reason being because of her mom, another being the undeniable beauty of the plant.

 

“Can I get fifty of these?” He asks after a second of glancing between her and the bushes of lilacs. She turns her attention toward him, and hardens her stare at him. He asked what her favorite flower was and now wants to buy fifty of them? Yes, there is something off about him—but she doesn’t think much of it.

 

Hyo Jung nods, “Sure. It’ll be a second.”

 

Like always, like every week, Bo Ra and Hyo Jung pack up boxes of the plant he wants, and then—with his help—loads all of the boxes into his truck. “I’ll be inside if you need me.” Bo Ra whispers as she tugs at the younger’s sleeve, before heading inside the shop with a sly smile. Thus, leaving both Hyo Jung and Dong Rim outside in front of the shop.

 

 “If you don’t mind me asking, what do you do with all these plants?” She questions as he pushes up the back tailgate and locks it in place.

 

“Nothing much. Plant them, I guess.” He replies as he walks over to her, and stops a few feet short of where she’s standing. “What you’re supposed to do with plants. Why?”

 

She squints her eyes at him, as if she barely believes him before shrugging her shoulders and crossing her arms. “You’re the only customer I have that buys more than one plant a year.” He laughs, well, he chuckles and dips his head down toward his chest to cover it up.

 

“I’ll see you next week, yeah?” She asks.

 

He nods, “Yeah.” And it’s the first time—in the whole of knowing each other—that Hyo Jung stays outside to wave him goodbye as he takes off in his truck. It shocks Dong Rim, practically to the core. He truly finds her a bit strange—everyone usually finds him strange or weird or something other than what he believes he is, and yet she doesn’t think that way. It surprises him.

 

 

JOO Young props his elbows up on the counter as he smirks at his best friend cooking himself an egg. “So,” He drawls out, trying to hide back both his smile and laugh. “How’d it go?” Dong Rim doesn’t even glance at Joo Young but the younger sense the happy-go-lucky vibe radiating off of the older. “Come on hyung!” He pouts, even going as far as using his cute voice.

 

Dong Rim, disgusted by hearing and then seeing his best friend acting like one of those “pretty boys” who hang out with older woman to have them pay for anything and everything. “Gross.” He mutters as he sticks out his tongue toward the younger, before going back toward dealing with his food. “She likes purple lilacs, because of a story her mom told her.”

 

“And?” Joo Young continues in his sing song voice.

 

Dong Rim shrugs as he flips over his egg in order to break it. He hates the taste of slimy yellow yolk—gross. “That’s it. She wonders why I buy plants all the time—that it’s unusual. I told her I plant them, like a normal person.” Joo Young snorts as he thinks of Dong Rim being ‘normal’. That will never be a thing…ever.

 

“Have you asked her out yet?” He replies.

 

The question makes him fumble with the black flipper in his hand as he almost lets it fall on the floor, but he catches it just in time. He twists toward Joo Young soon after, a shocked expression on his face.  “No!” He replies while shaking his head and running a hand down his hoodie. “Why would I do that? That’s—no.”

 

Joo Young laughs, “You’re such a killjoy.” Dong Rim doesn’t deny it, he sort of is a killjoy…a prude. He doesn’t do well when it comes to girls. He doesn’t do well with people; girls especially. “Next week, ask her out for tea or coffee. Whichever she prefers. Step out of your comfort zone. Besides, she must like you enough to not call the cops on your weird .”

 

“Just for coffee or tea?” Dong Rim confirms.

 

Joo Young, with a smile, nods his head. “Just for coffee or tea.

 

 

BO Ra begins to worry for her best friend’s life as she watches her and that weird guy get closer. They know nothing about the guy, but he seems to know a lot about Hyo Jung—thanks to Hyo Jung answering the questions that he always seems to ask. Isn’t that strange? Isn’t that weird? “I’m heading to the hospital, want to come?” Hyo Jung asks as she makes her way out of the back office, and slips on her light pink coat.

 

Bo Ra nods her head as she herself slips on her brown coat, and follows the younger to their car. When Hyo Jung’s grandmother got admitted to the hospital a few miles away from here, and ultimately passed away in said hospital—Hyo Jung has taken it into her arms to be a volunteer for the elderly lady who use to be her grandmother’s roommate. The elderly lady, Doo Shim, suffers from dementia and thinks Bo Ra is her daughter, Chae Hee, and Hyo Jung is her daughter’s best friend.

 

“So, I’ve been meaning to ask, what do you know about Dong Rim?” Bo Ra asks as she makes her way into the driver’s seat of Hyo Jung’s car. Hyo Jung doesn’t think much of it—just Bo Ra being curious like always.

 

The younger shrugs, “His name is Dong Rim, and he likes to buy plants.” As if that wasn’t already obvious to Bo Ra. The guy always comes in, buys some plants, and leaves—not before asking her best friend an absurd amount of questions.

 

“That’s it?” Hyo Jung nods her head and shifts herself in the car to lean up against the side of the door, enabling her to look toward Bo Ra better. Bo Ra sighs and glances over at her before turning to look back at the road. “Don’t you find it weird? I mean, he knows a lot about you—and you know nothing about him.” The younger’s eyebrows clash together in thought.

 

Hyo Jung is not oblivious to that of the little she knows about the man. It just doesn’t seem to bother her as much as it does Bo Ra. Although, the older will always be cautious around the guys who tend to hover around the younger. It’s just how she is. Whereas the younger just brushes it off—in her mind, not everyone in the world is bad. The thing is Bo Ra isn’t that much older, she’s just that much more careful. It’s been that way since they were young.

 

They’ve known each other since middle school—the days in which Hyo Jung had yet to grow into her body, and mature into her beautiful self. The years in which bullying is harsher than it should be. Bo Ra—a year older—always took care of the younger. It ultimately meant that she saw all the bad in people, and Hyo Jung didn’t. Every time Bo Ra would contemplate beating one of these so called ‘bullies’ to a pulp, she’d realize how dangerous the world is.

 

That’s why, despite pushing Hyo Jung toward Dong Rim, she’s careful of him too. Because he can turn out to be just like the rest of the jerks from their past. The ones who brushed them off. The ones who broke their hearts. The ones who never had the guts to stick around.

 

“Halmoni, were here!” Hyo Jung sings as both she and Bo Ra pass through the hallway into the room two-zero-eight. There, lying on a soft blue blanket is Doo Shim. Her somewhat grayish hair is nestled into a bun a top her head, for some reason she put on makeup—eye shadow, eye liner, lipstick…the works—and she’s cuddling up to the teddy bear the two of them had given her a few weeks ago.

 

“And we brought grapes.” Bo Ra adds as she shoves a bag toward her direction, and sets it on the bed next to her.

 

Doo Shim grins, her beautiful pearly white teeth grazing her bottom lip in an effortless smile. “Chae Hee!” The elderly woman giggles as she beckons Bo Ra to her side. Hyo Jung smiles fondly as she watches the interaction between Bo Ra and Doo Shim. It greatly reminds her of the many times with her grandmother. The good times, not the sad ones before her devastating end.

 

“Hi.” Hyo Jung swivels in her position, to face the back of the room at the sudden sound—one she knows didn’t come from either of the two elders. Sat in a small wooden chair, is very pale young girl.

 

Hyo Jung bows her head respectfully, “Hi.” The girl, from what Hyo Jung could barely tell, most likely has just been moved to Doo Shim’s room—and must be very ill. The only patients that ever come to this wing of the hospital are usually the patients who end up, sadly, dying in the next few months. The patients that you make comfortable, but that’s all you can do.

 

“You must be Chae Hee’s best friend.” The girl smiles and sits up slightly in her chair, with her head leaning up against the banister behind it. “Halmoni talks about the two of you frequently.” Hyo Jung smiles and watches carefully as the girls burst into a fit of coughs. After controlling her breathing, and whipping away whatever she coughed onto her hands, she looks up at Hyo Jung and smiles once more—as if what she just did, didn’t happen.

 

“My names Da Som.” Hyo Jung nods her head and takes a seat in the chair next to the girl’s. The younger girl smile brightens the minute that Hyo Jung does sit. Almost as if no one is ever sitting there.

 

Hyo Jung situates herself in the chair to where she’s facing Da Som, and away from the bickering grandmother and ‘daughter’. “My names Hyo Jung.” She responds while passing her one of the three bags of grapes. The younger takes it almost instantly, and shoves a handful of the round green fruits into . “Do they not feed you?” The older laughs.

 

Da Som nods her head, “It’s usually just crushed up meat—nothing substantial. Nothing home grown.” The younger stops eating for a second to face the older with a tilt of the head. “You must be wondering why someone like me is in the no-hope ward.”

 

Hyo Jung shakes her head, “It’s none of my business really.”

 

The brunette haired girl proceeds to shrug her shoulders and adjust herself in her seat better. “Not many people visit me, so if you don’t mind…” She trials off to watch as Hyo Jung slowly nods her head and beckons her to go on. It’s not Hyo Jung’s place to stop her. She’ll listen if she has too. “I have a heart tumor.” Da Som takes a deep breath—as if this is the first time in a long time since she’s really talked about it. “It’s because a majority of my cells aren’t polar. It caused the tumor to be malignant and nestled into my vascular tissue.”

 

“I’m sorry.” Hyo Jung responds almost instantly.

 

Da Som nods her head, “I am too. They moved me here because I only have nine and half months left to live—they say. But maybe, just maybe, I’ll make it.” Da Som glances over at the windowsill that sits beside her bed. There, in a red pot, is a newly planted purple lilac. “It’s pretty isn’t it?”

 

“Yes.” Hyo Jung replies as she smiles. “They’re my favorite plant.”

 

Da Som snaps her head toward her, “Seriously?” Hyo Jung nods her head which makes Da Som smile even more. “My brother bought this for me. His best friend says it’s my brothers crush's favorite plant. I think she has good taste.” Hyo Jung laughs and nods her head in agreement.

 

“What does your brother do?” The older continues.

 

Da Som shrugs her shoulders, “I think he’s in management. I’m not quite sure. He never really talks about himself. I’ll have to ask Joo Young Oppa.”

 

 

DONG Rim shifts from one foot to the other as he watches the numbers fly on the elevator screen. Joo Young on the other hand, leans up against the railing—partially asleep—with his head leaning into the corner. The two of them had woken up kind of late—and started their day, very late.

 

“This is your fault.” Dong Rim whispers.

 

Joo Young sighs and shifts his body around to—still leaning into the corner—face the older. “Hyung, you’re the one that downed the whole contents of the bottle without my say so. I mean, if you really didn’t want to ask her to coffee, you could’ve just said so.” Dong Rim fidgets uncomfortably in his position.

 

It’s true that he drank a whole bottle of rum, without being forced to—and he’s not one for drinking…ever. But his anxiety for asking something as simple as ‘do you want to have coffee with me?’ is way over the top of what he usually does. “Whatever.” He mumbles while crossing his arms and shifting the hat on his head downward.

 

“You’re such a loser sometimes.” Joo Young shakes his head and kicks the older in the shin. The two stop fighting with each other when the elevator finally stops on the fourth floor. Joo Young goes about his business, walking down the hallway, meanwhile Dong Rim stops dead after taking a step outside of it.

 

There, standing directly in front of him is Hyo Jung pushing his little sister in a wheel chair. He about flips his as he pulls himself and Joo Young behind a corner and crouches the two of them down behind a bush. “What the ?” The younger curses which forces the older punch him in the shoulder.

 

“Da Som is with Hyo Jung.”

 

Joo Young glances around the corner, “That’s Hyo Jung?” Dong Rim nods as he pulls the younger back around the corner. “She’s hot and way out of your league.” He whistles and shakes his head as if he made the worst decision in his life to force his best friend to pursue her. Because Hyo Jung looks like the type of girl who usually laughs at guys like Dong Rim—the kind of girl to brush him off as a ‘nerd’ the stereotypical ‘mean girl’.

 

“Why is she with Da Som?” Dong Rim ponders.

 

Joo Young shrugs, “Maybe she volunteers here or something. It’s not like she knows you have a sister. You never told her, right?” Dong Rim nods his head—yeah, he never told her. He never really told her anything.

 

“Still, why is she with Da Som of all people? Why my sister?” He groans in outstretched annoyance, that anyone in a five mile radius could for sure feel. “Let’s follow them.” He grabs a hold of Joo Young’s hand and pulls him with him, to maneuver around the corner and watch as the two females go trailing down the corridor.

 

Joo Young sighs, “People are staring at us.”

 

“Why?” Dong Rim asks as he pulls them closer to the wall—to stay out of sight, but it doesn’t really work.

 

The younger rolls his eyes, “Because you’re holding me like I’m your lover.” Dong Rim glances over at Joo Young to see him huddled up beside him, their hands interlocked, and his head practically on his own shoulder. It doesn’t necessarily bother Dong Rim; people can stare if they want to.

 

“Let’s go.” He continues to drag him with him, and watch as the two girls interact—laughing at God knows what…maybe him. Maybe they’re laughing at him. The embarrassment sets into his mind, and suddenly he’s twisting toward Joo Young and blushing like a mad man. His eyes flicker up toward Joo Young to feel the proximity to each other. “This is weird.”

 

Joo Young scoffs, “Says the one who’s stalking his sister and crush.” Dong Rim’s face becomes a deeper shade of pink as he takes a step away from him. Joo Young grabs the older by the shoulder as if he’s his coach trying to give him a pep talk before the big game. “Why not, instead of stalking, ask your sister about the conversation once she leaves?”

 

“I-I guess that sounds plausible.” He responds.

 

The younger nods and rolls his eyes—the obvious thought is to do that. How did this idiot come up with that idea? “Come on.” Dong Rim trails behind Joo Young, following him all the way back down the hallway to most likely the cafeteria.

 

 

HYO Jung likes the sound of Dong Rim’s laugh. It’s almost melodic, yet manly. And she finds herself smiling at him when he does begin to chuckle. It was over some stupid pun she had said—something along the lines of grapes and raisins—she had heard it from a customer not long ago.

 

His eyes begin to water because he finds it so damn corny, and stupid—to the point that he finds it funny. “That’s so stupid.” He mutters after a second, and she nods her head with a laugh in confirmation. It was the same thing she had said to that customer.

 

She takes a deep breath, to calm herself, as she swings her legs back and forth—letting them drag against the pavement below them. “Anyways, is there anything in particular that you want to buy today?” Dong Rim nods his head and stands up, beckoning the girl to follow after him. They bypass through most of the nursery, and even the water plants—until they get towards the back of the green house—the part with no roof what so ever—where her cherry blossom trees grow.

 

“Do you have any that are almost fully grown?” He asks while gesturing to the towering pink trees. Hyo Jung glances at him and nods as she walks over to a somewhat tall—yet not overly thick—Japanese cherry blossom and places her hand on the trunk of it.

 

“It has about less than a year to be fully grown.” He nods his head and walks up to it—placing his hand on the trunk like she did.

 

After a second or two of starring at it he turns toward Hyo Jung, “Can I get this one, and forty-nine red spider lilies.” The girl nods her head and goes to run back to Bo Ra—when he stops her by grabbing a hold of her shoulder before letting go once she turns toward him. “I was wondering, if—maybe—you’d want to, but you don’t have to, go get coffee with me…sometime.”

 

Hyo Jung’s mouth almost falls open in shock from the question. Mainly because she never expected him to actually go as far as ask her out. “I mean, you don’t have to go—you know what? It was stupid—” He begins while backing up but Hyo Jung, calmly, interrupts.

 

“Okay.”

 

“Okay?”

 

Hyo Jung nods her head as she finally glances up at him and smiles, “Yeah, okay.” Dong Rim mirrors her earlier expression, only causing her to laugh. “When?” She questions soon after as she forces him to follow after her and toward the information desk.

 

He shrugs his shoulders, “What about Sunday?”

 

“Sounds good, I don’t open shop that day.” She murmurs while nodding her head in agreement.

 

Dong Rim grins though slightly blushing at the aspect of her agreeing to his some sort of ‘date’. “There’s a café down the street, right?” Hyo Jung nods and gestures with her arms to say ‘around the corner’. “Let’s meet there, around nine?” Hyo Jung nods her head in agreement as she reaches up to Bo Ra.

 

“It’s a date.” She throws over her shoulder.

 

Dong Rim nods, “It’s a date.”

 

 

DA Som squeals in excitement as she claps her hands repeatedly at what the older is saying. “So this guy, who comes into your shop all the time, asked you out for coffee?” Hyo Jung nods her head and passes her a bowl full of chips before digging in herself. “Is he cute?”

 

“He’s cute, but in that nerdy kind of way.” She cups her hands around her eyes to represent glasses, which only creates Da Som to chuckle. “But, they’re really cute on him, and he’s nice—very nice. He’s shy too.”

 

Bo Ra, after hours of sitting next to Doo Shim, makes her way to the two girls and lies down on the bed next to Da Som—her arm surrounding the younger’s shoulders. “Yet, she knows nothing about this guy and he knows a lot about her. Stalker much?” The older adds on before sticking her tongue out at Hyo Jung.

 

“Okay, so, wait.” Da Som begins while sitting up straighter in her bed, to get a better look at both girls. “This mysterious, nerdy, yet cute man-child—asked you on a coffee date?” Hyo Jung nods her head as Da Som continues. “He always asks you questions, but you never ask him questions. So, he knows a lot about you, but you know nothing about him?”

 

Hyo Jung nods her head as does Bo Ra. Da Som shakes her head and lets out a slight laugh before it ending up in coughs. The two older females watch her as she tries to control her breathing, at the same time covering up the few drops of blood that came out of . “Sorry, it happens sometimes.”

 

After that one day where Hyo Jung and she had met, the three girls have spent at least every day together. Da Som became like just another friend to the two older ones. The older ones never act like Da Som is sick—because they know how much Hyo Jung’s grandmother hated when they did that. They instead act as if Da Som is the most normal of them all. “It’s fine.” Hyo Jung quickly answers.

 

“Moving on, what do you think she should do?” Bo Ra asks while nodding her head towards Hyo Jung.

 

Da Som smiles, “Why not just ask him the questions he asked you while drinking coffee? I’m sure he’ll answer. He seems nice enough.” Hyo Jung nods her head in agreement. Asking questions on the date will enable her to know just as much about him as he knows about her. That way, Bo Ra will stop worrying so much about her like she has been. Like this guy will turn into some serial killer or something; which Hyo Jung doubts.

 

Serial killers are not that cute.

 

 

HYO Jung waits for what seems like hours. She got to the café at around eight thirty. She took her pink coat off and hung it around the chair post, before ordering herself a steaming cup of black coffee with a tinge of milk in it—and waited. It’s eleven now, almost noon. She’s had five cups of coffee, and is starting to get more pissed than sad.

 

Despite not knowing anything about Dong Rim, she was looking forward to getting to know him. He seemed to be a nice guy, a guy that she could possibly get along with and or ultimately date. She just doesn’t understand now. He came in for weeks on end, buying more plants than anyone in the whole universe—and yet, he doesn’t show up to this? When he was the one to ask. Yeah, it’s pissing her off.

 

“Ma’am?” Hyo Jung snaps her head up to gaze at the kind waitress with short red hair, whom has been giving her pitying eyes for the last two and half hours. “A man came by and told me to give this to you.” The redheaded woman passes her a small note before bowing respectfully and leaving. Hyo Jung, with a sigh, picks it up and reads it silently.

 

Hyo Jung,

I’m sorry, I can’t do this.

—Dong Rim

 

She continues to keep quiet as she pulls out her phone and dials Bo Ra’s number quickly. The only person she can talk to is Bo Ra. “The date’s already over? How was lover boy?” The older laughs at the idiocy of it all; knowing that her best friend might be dating a nerd, is hilarious to her.

 

“Pick me up?” The younger mumbles.

 

The tone of Hyo Jung’s voice causes Bo Ra to drop everything she’s doing and grab her keys. The thing is, her best friend is almost always happy and the only time her voice sounds upset is when something seriously bad happened. “What did he do?” The older asks.

 

Hyo Jung runs a hand down her face in annoyance. “I’ve been waiting for hours, and then I get a note saying that and I quote ‘I can’t do this’. Just, let’s go see Da Som.” Bo Ra gets there about ten minutes later, a 2NE1 song playing in her car, and two buckets of ice cream in the backseat. “He really didn’t seem like that type of guy.” Hyo Jung states as she climbs into the passenger seat with Bo Ra in the driver’s seat.

 

“No guy seems like a flake, until you get to know them.” Bo Ra responds as she starts up the engine and drives onto the road and away from the curb. “Sadly, you didn’t get to know him, so you learned it the hard way.” The older reaches over and pats the younger on the shoulder.

 

The two get to the hospital a few minutes later, and reaches Da Som quickly. They inform the younger about everything and anything involving Hyo Jung and the stuff that happened with Dong Rim. “Are you serious, that guy didn’t show up, after asking you out?”

 

Hyo Jung sighs, “Whatever, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

 

“What happens when he comes back to your shop?” Da Som adds while digging a spoon into the ice cream, and shoving a big heap of it into . “I mean, you say he always asks for you—what will you do now?”

 

Hyo Jung shrugs her shoulders and leans against the back of her chair. The last thing she wants is to act like everything is normal between them, when it’s not. She doesn’t want to act like things are normal. She doesn’t like being fake, at all. “I’ll deal with him from now on.” Bo Ra jumps in as she smiles slightly at Hyo Jung.

 

“Thanks.” The younger smile.

 

The conversation results in a lot of laughter, a few bursts of anger from all three when it came to the conversation about the man who decided not to go on the date, a lot of ice cream, and Bo Ra once in a while having to go talk to Doo Shim about her day. Finally, at around eight at night, the two left—leaving behind one whole bucket of untouched ice cream for Da Som and Doo Shim.

 

“Guys are such s.” Hyo Jung mutters as she gets into the passenger seat.

 

Bo Ra sighs, “At some point, you’ll meet a guy who’s worth it. He’s just not the guy. Okay?” Hyo Jung nods her head. Yeah, at some point in her life, out of all the s in the world—they’re will be one guy for her, and she knows for a fact that fifty plant guy is not him.

 

 

JOO Young enters his apartment around nine o’clock at night. He worked over time, since his boss had to leave early for his daughter’s ballet recital. He’s practically exhausted, but not too exhausted to be excited for the information he’ll learn about the date between Dong Rim and the very hot Hyo Jung. It just didn’t make since to him, why did someone so good looking say yes to a date with someone not so good looking? Maybe she’s desperate.

 

“So, how did it go?” He asks as he unlocks his apartment to see Dong Rim sprawled out on his couch watching one of those stupid variety programs he doesn’t care for.

 

The older groans in annoyance as he sits up to face the very excited younger one. “I didn’t go.” Joo Young’s eyes bulge as he takes a seat on the coffee table adjacent from him. He goes to ask ‘why’ but Dong Rim continues. “I went to the café, and I saw her sitting by the window—and I couldn’t do it. I left the waitress a note, and told her to give it to her.”

 

“Are you serious?” Joo Young grunts.

 

Dong Rim nods her head, “Very.” The younger stands up and reaches over to smack the side of the elder’s head—which only causes the older bow his head in slight guilt. “I know, I was just—you know me.” The younger takes a deep breath and nods his head. Yeah, he knows Dong Rim. Dong Rim is the type of guy that won’t go after a girl for fear of rejection in the end.

 

“She probably won’t want to see you again.” Joo Young states.

 

Dong Rim nods, “I’ve realized.” The two go about the rest of the night, Joo Young telling Dong Rim how much he’s ed up—and Dong Rim ultimately agreeing with him, because yes, he did mess up.

 

 

“HE’S here.” Bo Ra whispers as she walks into the back room and takes a seat next to a busy Hyo Jung. The younger does not even flinch at the words, nor does she look at Bo Ra for confirmation of what she said. “And he’s asking for you.” This time Hyo Jung’s head pops up and she immediately shakes her head, but Bo Ra steps in. “I think it would a good thing to act as if it didn’t affect you.”

 

Hyo Jung shakes her head, “No.”

 

“Come on, all you have to do is keep the topic on plants rather than the date that never happened.” Hyo Jung continues to shake her head in defiance as Bo Ra tries hard to convince her to just do as she says. The argument ends with Hyo Jung grudgingly leave the back room to arrive directly in front of Dong Rim.

 

He immediately ducks his head, “Can we ta—”

 

“Is there something you would like to buy?” Hyo Jung cuts in with a sickeningly cute voice as she gestures with her arms around the room. Dong Rim snaps his eyes up toward her and blinks a few times in surprise. Like he expected her to actually want to talk to her, and not avoid him. “We just got a new shipment of fireweed from North America. They’ve yet to bloom, but are very good for ornamental uses and is incorporated in Russian, and or Ivan Chai tea.”

 

Dong Rim gulps and shakes his head, “I would really just like to—”

 

“We also have a sale on all of our irises, seeing as though they haven’t been selling well enough. I’ll have you know that they are very beautiful and are used in many oils and in a technique called aroma therapy.” She continues to blabber on, not letting him interrupt her, and he takes it. Watching her silently as she goes on and on about all the sales, the different shipments, the great uses for different plants and trees.

 

Finally, after what feels like hours, Hyo Jung finally shuts up because she has nothing else to talk about. “So, what would you like to buy?” She murmurs and waits patiently with her eyes casted down toward her cashier. For a good few seconds he doesn’t say anything, and instead stares at her as she patiently waits under his scrutinizing.

 

“I would just like to talk, Hyo Jung.” He says after a second.

 

She doesn’t say a thing until her head pops up and smile blooms on her face. “I’m sorry; I don’t think we have anything to talk about.” She tilts her head for a second and keeps her smile on her face. “If you’re not going to buy anything, you should leave.”

 

He lets out a deep breath as he shoves his hands into the pockets of his dark hoodie. “I’ll take fifty irises.” Hyo Jung nods her head, and with Bo Ra’s help loads three stacked boxes into the back of his van. “Have a good day.” The two bow their head at him, and retreat back inside leaving Dong Rim next to his car.

 

The next few weeks are like that. Hyo Jung not allowing them to have an actual conversation, just forcing him to either buy a plant or leave—he always buys a plant, it’s the least he can do. All he wants to do is talk to her, but she just won’t let him—and probably won’t ever.

 

His explanation is stupid anyways. I couldn’t go on the date with you because I was scared of rejection. Yet, he ends up rejecting her? How does that make since? The truth is, he didn’t think about Hyo Jung, and he only thought of his feelings. That’s what he did wrong. If he had explained his side of the story on that note—maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t be as mad. But he didn’t explain his side of the story; and only made her look like a complete fool.

 

On Monday, Hyo Jung leaves the shop earlier to go see Da Som. She hadn’t been there in a few days, and has been increasingly feeling bad about it. On the way she picks up a bag of chips and two cans of Root Beer to drink. Though the hospital says Da Som shouldn’t have food that isn’t checked out by the nurses or doctors, she brings food anyways. And usually the nurses never seem to really care about it anyway.

 

“Da Som, I’ve brought chips and soda.” Hyo Jung announces as she swings back the curtain. There sat on the bed next to a sleeping Da Som, is none other than Dong Rim. He glances at her, and almost falls off the side of the bed at her shocked face. “What the hell?” She murmurs as she glances between the two.

 

It didn’t take much to figure it out—to put two and two together. Dong Rim is Da Som’s so loved older brother. But if, Dong Rim is Da Som’s older brother; does that mean Da Som already knew everything about Hyo Jung? She leaves everything on the bed next to their legs, before she turns around and leaves. Not wanting to be involved in that anymore.

 

Unfortunately, Dong Rim follows after and eventually reaches her inside the elevator—where it closes leaving the two inside by themselves. “Da Som doesn’t know that we know each other. I never told her. So, don’t stop being friends with her because of that. She really likes having you around.” The two stay quiet after that, only standing still as the elevator takes it’s time to get to the first floor.

 

“It must be hard.” Hyo Jung mumbles.

 

Dong Rim nods, “I’m all she has. Our parents, they’re not really around, they work a lot.” He sighs as he leans against the back railing and runs a hand down her face. “She doesn’t have friends; she never got to go to school—ever. She did online schooling instead. Her immune system and her heart tumor could never go unwatched. All she wanted was to be normal, a normal kid. And I couldn’t give that to her.”

 

“She always says that she loves you, and she talks about you fondly.” She murmurs as if that would help—and it somewhat does. “Is she the reason why you didn’t come?” She asks after a second, wanting to get the horror of the talk over with already.

 

Dong Rim shakes his head, “I just, I with the dating thing and with girls. I didn’t want to embarrass myself, nor did I want for you to reject me. So, I decided not to go.” Hyo Jung laughs at the stupidity of him. Seriously? Her rejecting him? Hyo Jung isn’t that type of girl to reject someone straight to their face. Besides, she likes Dong Rim, and probably would still like him even after that date—all it was, was coffee, and a chance for her to get to know him. “Why are you laughing?” He asks with the tilt of his head.

 

“Because that wouldn’t have happened, it was just coffee.” She chuckles.

 

He sighs and nods his head. “I know and I’m sorry for upsetting you. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” He twists his body toward and stares at her directly in the eye—mustering up the courage he never seems to have. “If you trust me, and if you still want to, will you have coffee with me?”

 

“Depends, are you going to flake?” She asks.

 

He shakes his head, “No, I promise.”

 

In the end, the two decide to meet up at the café on Wednesday, and when she gets there—he’s already nestled away in a corner booth drinking a cup of dark black coffee. “You’re here.” She says slightly surprised when she takes a seat across from him.

 

He smiles at her and nods. “I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t worry.”

 

“Well, thank you—I guess.” The red headed waitress from the first time delivers her a latte after a few minutes of talking, before heading back to the kitchen. “So, what do you really do with those plants? You can’t possibly just plant them at your house. That’s way too many.”

 

Dong Rim laughs after taking a sip from his drink. “Now that you know what’s wrong with my sister, I guess I can tell you.” He sets down his drink and leans across the table—a blush forming on his cheeks from the proximity. “Remember when I said my sister never got to be normal?” Hyo Jung nods her head, allowing him to continue. “That includes never being allowed to go outside. So, I’m building a garden for her—that I hope will be finished soon enough for her.”

 

“That’s sweet.” She mumbles while swirling her spoon around in the drink. She glances up at him after a second of thinking it through. “So, is the garden at the hospital or…”

 

Dong Rim nods his head, “Yeah, there’s a quad and rest area; just north of it is where my best friend, Joo Young, myself, and a few gardeners are building it.” Hyo Jung nods her head as she continues to listen to him ramble on about it. His eyes lighting up when he talks about how much his younger sister will love it. Their conversation spawns too many different things.

 

From how they grew up, to their parents, their high school life, and past relationships and before they know they’ve spent the whole day together. Dong Rim feels a bit bad about it, that he forcefully offers her a ride home; which she would accept even if he just muttered it; because she hates walking home alone at night. Especially in Gangnam.

 

“I had a really good time.” She says as they reach the door to her apartment.

 

Dong Rim nods as he shoves his hands into the pockets of his dark pants. “Me too.” He wants to say a lot more, like how he wants to do it again, and how he really likes her—a lot more than what he had thought before. And how he really admires her for not being one of those stuck-up es like most girls are to him.

 

Instead, Hyo Jung initiates the next date with a laugh and a smile. “Maybe next time you can take me out to dinner?” Dong Rim shyly laughs as a bashful smile takes over his face.

 

“Yeah, maybe.” He murmurs.

 

The soft tone of his voice makes her laugh as she stands atop her toes to gently kiss his cheek. It catches him off guard as he stands there with his mouth agape and his hand reaching up to touch his cheek. “Bye.” He mutters tenderly as she closes the door to her apartment.

 

 

HYO Jung and Dong Rim go on a date at least once every week. Although Bo Ra argues saying that they go on multiple dates since when he comes to the shop it’s like they’re on a cute outing because he practically goes there just to see her—he bought all the plants he needs. Bo Ra finds them slightly annoying when they’re together. Hyo Jung is usually so bashful, and Dong Rim is so shy—they barely ever do anything but talk. This makes Bo Ra wonder if they’ve ever kissed each other. Da Som on the other hand, was so happy to find out that the guy who Hyo Jung has been talking about and the girl Dong Rim has been talking about—is each other. Though she did yell at Dong Rim for ditching Hyo Jung on their first date.

 

Joo Young likes them dating, it makes him feel empowered, like he was the reason Dong Rim and Hyo Jung ended up dating in the first place. Which, when you think about it, is kind of true—he did convince Dong Rim to go after her and not be such a wimp. It also gives him an excuse to flirt with Hyo Jung’s even hotter older best friend, who he’s met on more than one occasion. Although it also gives Bo Ra a reason to be pissed that the two are dating, since Joo Young is slightly more annoying that of the regular guy.

 

Dong Rim finally decided to show Hyo Jung the garden he’s been building, when he feels like he’s finished it. He walks into her shop, grabs her by the hand, and runs with her out—leaving Bo Ra shocked and unnerved. While in the car, she keeps bugging him about telling her where they’re going, but he only assembles the courage to place a kiss on the top of her hand. It makes her shut up instantly because it’s the first time he’s initiated skin ship.

 

She finally understands what’s going on when Dong Rim pulls up to the parking lot of the hospital. The two get out, and he immediately grabs her hand—shocking her once more—and intertwines their fingers together as he leads her to the garden. He swings their hands back and forth, keeping silent, as they walk to it—her huddling against him since it’s pretty cold out.

 

The two finally reach an entrance where a large green hedge is built, with the Chinese lanterns hanging from the wooden frame with a few light bulbs hanging down beside them. It almost makes Hyo Jung gasp at how beautiful the entrance is. He guides further in where, a few feet from the entrance is a small pond, with rocks aligning the sides, and sitting in side are all the lily pads with lotus flowers. To the right of it, are the Venus fly traps sat in dark wooden boxes, layered in rows so some rows are higher than the ones below it. The left side of the pound is where the lilies are, in the same wooden boxes in layers as well. A small path wraps around each side of the pond, leading to the same place.

 

He guides her down the path as she stares at all the gardens in shock. Directly behind the pond is a field of the purple lilacs, with a bench sitting in the middle of it facing the Japanese maple tree he had bought on a specific time line. The whole garden is wrapped around the hedge and nestled behind a bunch of other pine trees outside of the hedge. The two take a seat on the bench, his hand letting go of his hand and instead wrapping his arm around her shoulder to pull her closer to him.

 

“I can’t believe how beautiful this turned out.” She mumbles amazed.

 

Dong Rim smiles, “Do you think she’ll like it?”

 

“She’ll love it.” She answers while leaning her head on his shoulder as they stare out at both the lilacs and the tree. “I love lilacs.” She whispers as she runs her feet along the tops of it. “They’re so beautiful.”

 

He nods his head and places his head atop hers. “I looked up the meaning of a purple lilac, which I’m sure you already know.” She smiles and lets him continuing talking. “Have you ever been in love?”

 

“No. I’m not even sure what love is.” She answers while running her hand across her leg. “What about you? Have you been in love before?” He laughs. After all she knows about him—him having never been in a relationship—of course he’s never been in love. Though, it’s nice for her to still ask as if he’s been in one before—to pretend he’s slightly normal in that department.

 

“No.” He responds.

 

The two sit there for a while, just enjoying each other’s presence. Once in a while he’ll lift up his head the press a quick kiss to the top of her head which only makes her laugh and bat his chest for being so corny. He’ll only blush and laugh at her actions as he places his head back on hers. After a while, Dong Rim picks his head back up, only to have Hyo Jung slide down into his lap—sleeping and slightly shivering from the cold. It makes him chuckle as he pulls off dark jacket and places it atop her body.

 

He guesses it’s then, that he realizes what it’s like to be in love. It’s subtle really; it creeps up on you in the oddest way. As Hyo Jung lies in his lap, her cute face burying into the side of her chest, and her hand curling into his. All he wants to do is make sure he can always make her happy, and always keep her close to him. He loves her. Six months together, and he already loves her.

 

 

DA Som sees the garden three months before she passes in her sleep. Her eyes are brimmed with tears as she holds tightly onto her brother’s hand, with her other hand reaching out to different parts of the garden. Letting her finger enter the Venus fly trap, letting it graze the water, and touch the tips of both the lilies and the lilacs. She loved it so much that she sat on the bench crying into her brother’s shoulder for hours. She just couldn’t believe that he did that all for her—to allow her to have a somewhat normal life.

 

Hyo Jung had never seen Dong Rim so sad before. For months on end he never left his apartment, only eating when Joo Young brought him food. He’d call her drunk, and smothered in tears—yelling at her how it’s his fault that his sister died, that he didn’t try hard enough. When she tried to comfort him, he pushed her away—ultimately breaking up with her. Joo Young told her not to take it seriously; that Dong Rim wouldn’t actually want their relationship to end—it’s just that he’s depressed about his sister. She disagrees and says it’s for the best. That if he won’t have her at his low; then he doesn’t deserve her at his best.

 

Dong Rim realizes he’s ed when he sort of gets used to his new life. His life without his baby sister. His life where he’s broken up with a woman who has always cared for him. His life where he pushed his best friend away. His life where he got fired from his job. His lonely life. It doesn’t take long to convince Joo Young to move back in with him—since Joo Young was never mad at Dong Rim in the first place. He knew his hyung would get back to normal at some point. Or, at the very least, a sort-of-normal.

 

He gets his job back soon after Joo Young moves in. Telling his boss that he was just going through a hard time. He was put on a trial period, and forced to do trainee jobs—but he ends up getting back to his management position. Dealing with his sister is another thing. Once in a while he’ll visit the garden, and donates money to the hospital all the time—while at the same time denying his parents the right to talk to him. They weren’t there for his sisters last weeks, when she was begging to see them, so why should they be able to see him?

 

Hyo Jung. That’s another problem, having not talked to her for so long. He knows he misses her, because whenever something pops up that he associates with her—his chest tightens, and he swears his heart hurts. Joo Young says that he should just go back to her shop; but, he says it would be detrimental to their relationship instead.

 

One day, Joo Young forces him there, with Bo Ra’s help. And the interaction is nothing Hyo Jung wanted to see. Dong Rim standing in front of her information desk, with his head hung low and his hands shoved in one of his hoodie pockets. It’s just like that day he came to apologize about that date that never happened. “What do you want?” She asked.

 

“I-I, I would just like to talk.” He replied.

 

She shook her head and took a step back from the counter—crossing her arms in defiance. “What’s there to talk about?” After having been cheated to come to her nursery by his best friend, he wasn’t about to back down like all those months ago—practically two years ago. So, instead of talking to her, he maneuvers around the desk—taking her by surprise—pulling her into his arm, and planting his lips directly on hers.

 

His hands cupping her cheeks and his fingers the back of her neck. She responds after a second or two, because just as much as she tried to deny it: she missed him just as much as he missed her, maybe even more. And she lets him hug her soon after, wrapping his arms around her shoulders pulling her closer to him, and forcing her to lay her head on his chest.

 

“I messed up; I pushed you away when I shouldn’t have.” He whispers so closely to her that it makes her fingers curl. “Hyo Jung, I love you. I’m sorry, and I love you.” Their relationship wasn’t necessarily the same after that. Hyo Jung was always slightly worried that Dong Rim would suddenly break, and push her away again. While Dong Rim always promised that he wouldn’t.

 

Yet, they make it work, and every time purple lilacs bloom—the two remember how much they’ve gone through with each other. And to think, their relationship is all because of Da Som—because let’s be honest, she was the reason he bought plants in the first place. The two moved into an apartment, a few blocks from her shop, a year after their first break-up—deciding to make that day a better memory than what they had.

 

Once in awhile the two will fight, and then make up—but ultimately fight again, and then make up once more. Their relationship spawns on the edges of needing each other, and sort of can’t-standing each other. But, their love always seems to tie each other together—always. Because Dong Rim loves Hyo Jung, and Hyo Jung loves Dong Rim

 

Though Hyo Jung still thinks he bought an absurd amount of plants.

 

 

DICTIONARY; Explanation of Certain Words

1. Unnie—A term used by younger females/sisters to say to older females/sisters; which mean, in general, older sister.
2. Two Hundred and Thirty One Thousand Won—Equivalent to about two hundred us dollars.
3. Five thousand Won—Equivalent to about four dollars.
4. Halmoni—Means grandmother.
5. Polar—Enables cells to carry out specialized functions. Also refers to the spatial differences in the shape, structures, and functions of cells.
6. Malignant—a very cancerous tumor; opposite of benign tumor which is not cancerous.
7. Vascular Tissue—Type of blood vessel that transports blood through the circulatory system.
8. Oppa—Meaning older brother/male. Said only by younger sister/female.
9. Hyung—Meaning older brother/male. Said only by younger brother/male.