I know that his birthday has already passed but for plot purposes shhhhhhhhhhhhh

"So how was meeting his parents-"

"Intimidating."

"Wow that was quick."

Jaehyun lets out a sigh as he continues to follow Jinseob, "His parents might not seem like it, but they're really strict about the rules that they've set for people who work in the mansion."

Jinseob hums in response as he opens the door to a flower shop. It was when they reached their destination did Jaehyun realize something wrong, "Uh- what are we doing at a flower shop?" because he honestly didn't expect their hang out to end up at a place that grows and sells flowers.

"I'm getting some flowers for someone," Jinseob simply replies as he walks around aisles of various flowers, skimming through the diversity of colors. There was only one person who was close enough for Jinseob to buy flowers for that Jaehyun could think of, curiously asking, "You mean Jihyeong-ssi? Are you asking him out on a date or something?"

And Jinseob quickly replies with a small glare (or was that just his neutral face?), "Gawd no. Jeez, ever since Jihyeong joked about us dating for 200 days everyone at campus took it seriously! He just asked me to buy some flowers for him to give to his mom for her birthday." to which Jaehyun (and probably everyone) skeptically thinks "are you sure you guys aren't dating or something?"

"Well if you need to buy flowers or something for the mansion now's your chance since don't you have- like- 5 minutes left until work?" Jinseob asks, barely paying attention to Jaehyun, who immediately panics in realization that crap it's almost time to head to work.

"Wow you look like a mess."

Apparently everyone is surprised by the usual things that Jaehyun has to deal with. Jaehyun lets out a simple sigh in response to Inpyo's greet as the gates behind him closes, "Had to squeeze myself into a subway during work hour to get here on time."

"At least you're here on time," Inpyo said, "Oh, by the way, today is weeding day, so if you see anything in the pathway can you pull it out for me? It would help a lot since I'm the only one working in this many acres of land."

"Okay, good luck," Jaehyun waves before heading forward to the mansion before catching sight of something small but bright yellow in the corner by the steps heading up to the entrance. Obviously, Jaehyun picks out the plant but remembered something as he held the small plant in his hand, something pitiful rather than that happy yellow color. He spares a glance to behind him before heading into the mansion (and following usual procedures of watching out for strings).

It was oddly quiet to say the least, making the mansion somewhat eery but he proceeds before reaching the familiar door. He knocks before opening the door, greeted by the usual sight of Hocheol laying on his bed and reading a manhwa.

"Why is the mansion so quiet? Usually there's screaming and crashing... and screaming," Jaehyun quietly closes the door behind him, keeping the dandelion behind his back.

"Something about a meeting with mama and papa. Did you bring macarons?" Hocheol sits up and stretches his upper body.

"Mm... I have something better in a sense?" Jaehyun slowly walks over to Hocheol.

"How better?" Hocheol huffs.

"Um- close your eyes and lay out your palms...?" Jaehyun awkwardly laughs.

"... You really are a weirdo..." Hocheol mutters before doing so.

Jaehyun looks at the dandelion before placing it onto Hocheol's hands, "Okay, open your eyes now."

Now, he didn't mind admitting that he was rather excited. The younger does so again before looking down to the dandelion before his eyes widen and he immediately look back up to Jaehyun, "Is this...?!"

He smiles, "Yup, it's a dandelion."

Hocheol immediately jumps up and hugs Jaehyun while laughing out loud, "Oh my-! This is AMAZING!" The sudden skinship shocked Jaehyun because he honestly didn't think that Hocheol was the touch-y kind of person but he felt satisfied, seeing how happy the other boy was.

"I never, EVER thought that I would actually get to see an ACTUAL flower! Thank you sooo much! This is the best birthday gift I could EVER get!"

And although Jaehyun was an awkward log while getting hugged, he still managed to respond, "Wait, you're 19 now?"

"Who cares about that! Oh hyung, I can't believe you did this for me!" Hocheol lets go in order to admire the small flower in his hand.

"Yeah... no problem..." Jaehyun manages to smile again, "Er- no offense, but I kinda expected a more defensive response."

"Pfft, I'm sassy, not a tsundere," Hocheol rolled his eyes in a playful sense instead of his normal 'gawd how are you so dumb and why are you even here with me' sense. It was an odd combination that Jaehyun found weird but cute?

Gawd what am I thinking at this point... he sighs on the inside.

"Seriously though, this is so much better than manhwa or macarons... okay, leave out the last part 'cause macarons can't be beaten, but you're like the best butler ever," Hocheol smiles, walking over to his night stand and placing the dandelion in the drawer.

"That's kinda exaggerating it," Jaehyun couldn't help but feel embarrassed at such a compliment.

"I'm not kidding though, it's been so long since... since I've seen anything from the outside world and-and brought to me... the others... they would never break the rules that my parents made..." Hocheol smiles sadly before hesitating on saying, "Well, he... you know what, never mind, can we go get macarons?"

"'We'?"

"Yes, 'we'. What, do you want me to constantly act irritated with you?" Hocheol asked with a huff as he opens the door.

"No no, I'd really not like to go back to square one... also because these uniforms are dry clean only so I really don't want that to come out of my paycheck," at this point the feeling of satisfaction decreased into bewilderment so Jaehyun felt like an awkward log again.

"Then let's go!" the younger hurriedly heads out of his room, something that seemed more fitting than a constantly annoyed face. Jaehyun could only lag behind slightly, still trying to process but at the very least thinking that if something like a flower could make Hocheol this happy, then he should probably bring more gifts.

Huh, so this is what Hocheol's actually like...