-Three years ago-

Hyungwon sat at the the shop’s counter. He counted the raindrops hitting the road. They fell melodiously, almost hitting a perfect tempo, their small roar filling up the shop completely. The blonde tapped his fingers to their beat. He enjoyed it, the rain. Flashes of lightning illuminated the shop’s interior, and the vines seemed to grow with every strike. Reaching and reaching, trying to grab onto him. Hyungwon sighed, and buried his head into his arms. He ignored the applications strewn about the counter. The resumes stayed scattered about the place, names and contact information blurred in the storm’s darkness.

Hyungwon liked working alone. He found no need for a helper. For a worker. But they nagged him. He was supposed to help people in the flower shop, to heal them. Apparently, even though Hyungwon was very most excellent in his job, he still needed to learn more about people in order to understand them. A roll of thunder was heard and Hyungwon sighed. The man needed to keep his superiors happy, that’s why he even landed this job in the first place.

The applications on the counter seemed to taunt him. The day was terrible. Last week he posted the job information, and he has been rounding up candidates best suited for the work. Today was the interview process, and never in his life had he found something so tedious and disappointing. Of the five interviewed, two came in late. Another one could barely keep their answers straight they were so flustered. A women he interviewed started to flirt with him. One woman came extremely early, but her umbrella broke and she showed up to the interview dripping wet. She had to sit in front of Hyungwon’s gas burner, and she dried off while someone else was being interviewed. When her turn came she really had nothing intelligent to say. Hyungwon felt tired after those thirty minutes.

A single candidate looked good, but when Hyungwon doubled checked their references he was met by an upset older man, that kept on screaming profanities about the boy. Hyungwon threw his resume into the trash, a single tear of frustration escaping his eye.

So here he sat, in the dark. Surrounded by merciless plants and darkness at six in the evening after many unsuccessful interviews. The rain continued to hammer onto the roof. Hyungwon couldn’t stand it anymore. He didn’t work today, and he sure didn’t feel any sense of accomplishment. He pushed himself out of his chair and stood up, deciding that now would be the best time to take a nap. Absolutely nothing was happening, and his mind needed a break after thinking all day long.

“I’ll just save that for later,” Hyungwon mumbled under his breath, he silently wondered if he should maybe put the papers away, but then shook his head. Save it for later. And so he walked around the shop, and the rain seemed to let down. It was as a soft drill now, and Hyungwon was more than ready to shut his eyes and lay his head down properly for a rest. And by lay down properly he meant to curl up in his chair and shut out the outside noise. Who cares if it wasn’t healthy,  he’d be living for a long time, might as well enjoy it.

Hyungwon opened the door to his office and dragged himself into his chair. His back pressed into the soft, plush material and he sighed. Before he could drift off his mind was once again plagued by the faces of those he interviewed. Groaning in distaste, Hyungwon shook his head weakly and whined, “Leave me alone…”

But at that moment the rain picked up it’s pace yet again. Hyungwon sat, half asleep in his desk chair as he tried to busy himself. Forcing himself to calm down through stupidly simple mind games and songs. Somewhere during that time he fell asleep, a frown etched onto his cheeks.

An hour passed and Hyungwon woke with a start. Someone entered the shop. He became alerted and quietly tiptoed to the door. He heard nothing outside, but he knew someone had entered, he was sure of it. The rain was hitting the roof at an alarming speed, and Hyungwon was on guard. He didn’t feel as if there was anything evil or bad in the shop, but he was completely defenseless. Hyungwon placed his hand on the door, and he felt as if the plants were telling him to continue moving. He paused and decided to open it anyways.

The shop was dark, lightning illuminating the corner every few times. The only artificial light was the soft glow of the counter’s lamp, and even then it was dim and did nothing but add more shadows to the spiny leaves of the plants on the corner. Hyungwon glided over the floor, quietly and quickly, he didn’t want anyone to know where he was and where he was going. Watching the floors, he moved about. Nothing was new and everything seemed to be in it’s place.

In the next moment he swiftly came around to face the front counter. He crouched down behind a rack of plants. Hiding, he tried to take a peek at what might be there. Hyungwon could see a pair of shoes, beaten up vans, and pants with legs that looked to be soaking wet. But the person’s face he couldn’t see. Only the backs of their shoes as said person sat. It looked as if they were facing one of the plants. Hyungwon sat there, the man didn’t seem malicious, and the plants didn’t react terribly with him, in fact they seemed to act oddly towards him. It was something Hyungwon had never seen before.

Slowly Hyungwon stood up from the floor, and moved from the cover of the plants before him. The person in front of him seemed oblivious to his presence. Once Hyungwon moved closer he saw that the person was a male, and he was drenched on top of that. Completely soaked with the rain. His clothing closely hugged his small frame. The person moved a bit to look at the flowers. Hyungwon saw his chance.

“Excuse m-”

The man whipped himself around to face the noise that was Hyungwon. Lighting flashed in the sky, and it further illuminated the face’s features.

In a terrible storm surrounded by red salvia, the man sat on the floor staring up at Hyungwon. An odd peace surrounded them as the winds raged outside. The plants silent voices roared with it. The man’s eyes widened, and slowly he removed his hood from his face. Hyungwon froze and then the man found it, his voice.

“Hello. I came here because I heard you were looking for some help.”

…

Hyungwon woke with a start. He dreamt of the day he first met Changkyun, again. He frowned and looked at the clock. He had been sleeping for three hours, and Changkyun hadn’t checked up on him even once. The boy must have been busy with work at the front desk. Changkyun had been very busy lately and Hyungwon sighed. He played with a pen on his desk, not even bothering to raise his head from his arms. He rolled the pen back and forth.

“Maybe I should sleep some more,” he thought. That thought was interrupted suddenly with the opening of the office door. While it was being opened, a knock was heard.

“Pardon the intrusion,” a young man called out, he was a bit short, still taller than average and he had chestnut red hair sweep over his eyes, “I heard that I’d find the prince here.”

Hyungwon sat up in his chair, his elbow raised in front of him so that his head could rest on his hands. He let out a small puff of agitation before he smiled brightly and warmly once he started, “That’s me. But I’d prefer if you called me by my name, it’s Hyungwon. Who are you?”

“I’m Kihyun.” The young man made his way over to the desk and he sat himself. All the while he stared at the plants around the room.

“So then Kihyun,” Hyungwon broke Kihyun from his trance, “What do you need help with?”

Kihyun was taken aback by the forwardness of Hyungwon, his cheeks reddened a bit, but he managed to keep his composure. He faced Hyungwon and looked into his eyes.

“It’s just that…”

…

Changkyun sighed. Work was always hardest whenever customers gave him vague descriptions on what to use for their flower arrangements. When people like Wonho gave him straightforward requests it was simple. Add their favorite flowers, have a simple meaning, and then make it pretty. Of course he would add many feelings into the bouquet, each arrangement was a bit like himself. But sometimes the orders would just be unreasonable.

Earlier that day a woman called in for a bouquet to give her lover. She told Changkyun that it needed to be Big, bold, and exciting! and that budget did not matter. There is an entire store full of flowers. He could do anything. Camillas, poppies, carnations-hundreds of flowers. She didn’t even specify what he liked.

Let alone he had many orders like that, especially today. It seemed as if nobody had any idea of what they wanted. Changkyun included. The person with the most resolution that he’d seen that day was the man that came in coming to see Hyungwon. And even then, he seemed to be irresolute himself, his heart at least. Changkyun knew that by the time he came out the man would be calm again, thanking Hyungwon as he ran out the shop with some plant or flower in his hand.

Changkyun stared at his arrangement plans, and then deemed them tedious. Yes, he should do them, but he’d been working all day and what’s wrong with a break? The brunette stood up and walked away from the table, choosing to instead visit the greenhouse to water the plants there.

The greenhouse was a small extension of the shop on the westside. Changkyun hardly ever went there, it was Hyungwon’s job to maintain its plants. Most the plants were either sickly, unseasonal, not regional, or succulents. Changkyun loved the succulents most. They were small but they each had such lovely colors and compliments. Changkyun stood in front of them, basking in their warmth. The succulents are always so comforting to him. They were all beautiful: Echeveria, Kalanchoe, Sempervivum, Sedum, Dudleya. Changkyun smiled at them, and held up the Graptopetalum. Hyungwon always said it reminded him of Changkyun each time he saw it.

“It’s cute like you.”

Changkyun blushed at the memory and hastily spat, “I still don’t see it.”

Hyungwon was a mystery to Changkyun. He always had the same set routine, and while he looked like a reliable guy, he always slept and lazed around. Changkyun didn’t even know how Hyungwon was able to keep this place running before he came that night. But for some reason Hyungwon was good with plants, he treated them like people, and he treated people well too. The reason why people and plants liked him was because he was honest, open, and brash. Still he was good person and it seemed as if he could understand people in an odd way. Changkyun included.

The brunette sat crouching on the floor as he kept on turning the Graptopetalum in his hands. Looking at it from every corner, a small sadness reflecting in his eyes. After several minutes he had gotten up and quietly tiptoed around the greenhouse towards the door that would lead him into the main body of the shop. Walking back into the little room behind the counter in order to make the bouquet, Changkyun thought hard.

“I need to make a bouquet for someone’s lover. Big, bold, and exciting, something for the person you love.” He spoke to himself, it helped to keep him on track sometimes.

Changkyun ruffled his hair, if only he had ever been in love. Let alone experience it.

“If I was in love,” Changkyun whispered, he closed his eyes and thought long and hard, “Daisies...Red roses...Carnations...red or pink, red and pink?”

Then Changkyun’s mind went into a buzz and he ran around the shop and the back room grabbing whatever flowers he thought would make a beautiful arrangement that conveyed feelings of love. A feeling he never admitted to having. Roses, camellias, daisies, baby’s breath, carnations. Reds, whites, yellows, a few pinks. A few glittery stems, tied together with lace. A clear vase, the bottom full of sparkling marbles and fake pearls to keep the flowers in their place.

After what seemed like an eternity, he had it, an arrangement that he was proud of. Changkyun walked around it, and even though he knew it had everything he wanted, he was still unsatisfied with the result.

“Something else,” he mumbled and sat down, “What else?”

Changkyun stared at the arrangement for quite a few minutes and muttered, “It’s missing something. But what else is included in love?”

He then thought of Hyungwon. The older man always found his way into Changkyun’s mind. Only it was different this time. Changkyun couldn’t help but think of flowers that reminded him of Hyungwon. And while Changkyun was shy to admit it, he found them incredibly sappy as the thoughts were endearing.

Hyungwon sleeping on top of his copy of Pride and Prejudice, bending the pages into different directions, making him apologize to Changkyun profusely. Hyungwon pouting at Changkyun’s choice of takeout when they spent an entire night waiting for an order to come in. The candlelight flickering in the older’s eyes when the power went out. Hyungwon and him singing to some ridiculous tune because they were alone and bored and Hyungwon suggested it.

Changkyun smiled profusely, then he remembered what he was missing. The flower that witnessed their first meeting. Red Salvia. He ran to the large shrubs and cut off a few bits of it and tied the short stems onto a stick, stuffing them all around the arrangement where it would be necessary.  He then took two steps away from his finished work, and the smile on his face was larger than life. The amazingly vague bouquet was finished. Changkyun wrapped it up, and stored it into the fridge, so that way when tomorrow would come the woman would be able to grab it in the morning before she visited her lover. Changkyun started to clean up, he himself feeling very satisfied. Once he finished cleaning he would be done, only having to water the plants before he could leave and go to school.

Just as he was about to finish, Changkyun saw the man from earlier leave Hyungwon’s office, Hyungwon trailing right behind him. They walked up to the glass door, and for some reason Changkyun felt like hiding from the older, so he did.

“Kihyun! Just wait a second, let me give you this!” called out Hyungwon.

“Are you sure I mean-” Choked the man that Changkyun realized was Kihyun.

“Yeah I’m sure. It’ll only be a minute.”

Changkyun listened as Hyungwon walked away. He heard Kihyun quietly pace back and forth in front of the shop, waiting for Hyungwon to get whatever flower was his. It was silent like this for the minute that Hyungwon was gone. Changkyun heard Hyungwon return, his footsteps unmistakable.

“Here you go. I hope you remember it’s meaning.”

Changkyun couldn’t make out what Kihyun said. It was probably a thank you and goodbye, because soon after he heard the door open, and the bell ring, and he knew that Kihyun was gone.

“That was close,” Changkyun whispered. He felt childish for hiding like this.

“What was?”

“Ah!” Changkyun screamed and got up from the ground. He patted his uniform, pretending to dust it, “Hyungwon!”

“Yeah, it’s me? What were you doing on the floor?” Hyungwon stared at the younger, confusion apparent on his face.

“I just almost stepped on a flower?”

“A flower?”

“Yes, I’d hate to hurt any part of nature.”

Hyungwon laughed at Changkyun's stoicism, “Okay then, did you drop it as soon as Kihyun came out? Because I swear I saw you behind the counter right as we walked out?”

“I, uh, maybe.”

“Gotcha.” The smile on Hyungwon’s face couldn’t possibly grow any wider than it was at the moment.

“Yup.” Changkyun averted his eyes, he rocked back and forth on heels and toes, trying to decide what to say next, “So what did you get him? Kihyun. That is.”

“Blue Salvia.”

“Oh why?”

“He just had some problems with self- esteem. It’s hard to believe in yourself when you don’t think that anyone thinks of you.”

“That’s cool. I used some salvia today too. It was red though.”

“I assumed that you used it too, it’s right behind you,” Hyungwon paused and giggled when he saw Changkyun turn around to look at the sapce behind him, “You know everytime you’re on the floor, you’re next to Red Salvia. It reminds me of when we first met. I dreamt of it earlier too. I guess today is Salvia day.”

Changkyun froze, “You dreamt of it?”

“Yup. You’ve been on my mind lately,” Hyungwon said, his voice died down a bit during the last sentence, and the words were inaudible to Changkyun.

“That’s weird.”

“By the way what did you do today? You didn’t wake me up from my nap!”

“Sorry I probably zoned off. I mean look at all the bouquets I’ve made today. Seven total.”

Hyungwon pouted and crossed his arms, “You should have woken me up and made me help you. You’re working too much. I never see you anymore.”

“It’s okay I don’t need or want to see you much anyways,” Changkyun retorted, aware of his own lie.

“Changkyun!”

“Honestly, I don’t know how you’ve been able to survive without me. I hope you’ll be okay once I leave,” Changkyun said, aware of the weight behind his words.

“But that’s in forever!” Hyungwon whined. Changkyun laughed.

“Okay whatever you say,” Changkyun gave in, but his smile didn’t raise up as far as he’d like it to on his face.

Hyungwon just huffed and sat down, staring at the flower fridge. Changkyun continued to sweep around the shop and tidy things before he’d leave for the night.

“Hey, Changkyun,” Hyungwon mumbled out his name.

“Yes boss?”

“Why’d you use the red salvia anyways, it’s normally a potted plant.”

“Hyungwon you give people herbs and pine cones, don’t question me.”

Hyungwon laughed again, “No but seriously what kind of bouquet would make you use it?”

“It was for,” Changkyun held onto the next few words as he wondered if they should be spoken. He decided that it wouldn’t hurt to say them, “It was for a woman’s lover. For a woman in love.”

“Love?” Hyungwon’s voice went stiff like he knew something that Changkyun didn't, “For what reason would you use red salvia?”

Changkyun quietly put away broom and he made sure that he didn’t face Hyungwon before he slowly managed to speak, “Just...just because.”

It reminded me of you.

You are love.

a/n: 

Blue Salvia means  I Think of You 

Red Salvia means Forever Mine/Always Yours

This chapter gave me a hard time to write! I didn't know what to do. If the quality is bad I feel bad about that, especially during the first part. Sorry for overshadowing Kihyun here. But he has no problems that I could make up he's too perfect omg I love him. Also Changkyun and Hyungwon love each other????? I didn't even know if they should! Why are they so quiet and melodramatic about it? What's going on?

Thank you for all the kind comments oh my gosh I didn't even feel real when reading them! And all the suscribers you are too nice to me ;; Thank you for reading this and leave a comment below if you can or want! I'll treasure it.

Also succulents are too cute graptopetalum is my favorite, it's adorable!