02  THE SECOND CHAPTER  |  FOR YOU, ANYTHING

I hated mornings with a burning passion, and never understood how individuals could claim to be "morning people," what did that phrase even imply. I for one, was definitely not designed to function in the early hours of day.  To make matters worse, the forces of gravity seemed to be working against me. My feeble legs threatened to cave in at any moment, as I tirelessly waited for the bus. It was hard enough struggling to keep my eyes open, the last thing I needed was to collapse on the floor and cause a scene. As a last resort, I turned to my music to ease my mind and woes. There was something about listening to music that empowered me, it wasn't just therapeutic, but it set the tone for the moment correspondingly to my mood. And in that moment, it felt appropriate to listen to Crush's - You & I, as thoughts of Nayeon still lingered on my mind, as I anticipated seeing her again. 

"I'll be by your side wherever you go."

"Take both my hands, girl."

"Let's leave for anywhere right now."

As the lyrics ran through my mind, I clutched the bouquet closer as my imagination painted the images from my heart. I couldn't help but smile bashfully, at the thought of her seeing today's choice of flower. The act of gifting flowers to Nayeon, had become apart of my every day routine and it had all started from the moment I bought flowers for Mina's birthday. It was orignally a spontaenous decision that I made whilst I waited for Mina's flower arrangement to be wrapped. What started as a one off gift, became a daily opportunity for me to attempt to impress her. 

As I arrived at school, I did what I always did, and stood where I always stood to wait for Chaeyoung and Nayeon. However, Chaeyoung was getting dropped off, so it was just Nayeon today. My composure seemed mildly calm, but upon closer inspection, one would notice that my hands tremored, my heart raced and my thoughts rampant. It didn't help that when she came in sight, she was accompanied by her friend Jihyo, who always seemed to glare at me. Politely, I gave her a small wave acknowledging her presence, only to be shot down.

“For someone that’s always running around after Nayeon, you sure don’t know anything about her. She’s allergic to the flowers that you’ve been giving her.” Jihyo accused with a smug grin, as she looked spitefully at the bouquet in my hand. 

Her words reverberated through me, as I hurriedly tried to make sense of the situation. For the past week, I had been gifting Nayeon flowers because I thought she liked them. She had always accepted them, with the greatest smile accompanied with a warm hug. Not once did she mention any allergy, or resented them in the slightest. It was then, that it made sense, she had lied to me, but I couldn't for the life of me understand for what purpose. The only logical rationale that I came to, was that she did it to protect my feelings. She had suffered with her allergies all day, for a week, just so I wouldn’t feel upset. However, the charade was blown now, and all was left was my regret.  I wanted to apologise to her, but couldn’t seem to find the right words, instead I lamely stuttered “I didn’t know.” I never previously stuttered, but there was something about Nayeon that made me nervous. I was always afraid of saying the wrong thing, or expressing myself in an odd manner. I just wanted to impress her, or at the very least not come across as weird. She was however, never wavered by my stuttering self and always patiently listened. 

“It’s okay, don’t mind Jihyo, she’s just mean.” Nayeon chuckled dismissively as she quickly scowled at Jihyo, whilst mouthing something that I couldn’t quite understand. But whatever Nayeon had said, definitely had an impact, because Jihyo had grudgingly walked away. 

“Well now that I know, you won’t have to struggle with your allergies because of me anymore.” I softly mumbled, as I unconsciously tightened my grip around the weeping flowers ridden by guilt. 

“True, but I’m going to miss the part where you tell me the type of flower it is and its meaning, so it sort of too.” She said and as she pouted cutely. 

“I’ll just have to find another way to make your day.” I seemingly playfully proposed, but I wasn’t at all joking, it was one hundred percent sincere. I was determined to find a new way to catch her smiles.

“I’m looking forward to it, so are you going to tell me about my last bouquet?” She eagerly asked, as she reached out to claim what was hers. 

“Well, this flower is called Aster, which is derived from its Greek name being Astron meaning star, hence its shape. I chose this flower in particular, because its actually your birth flower. However, it’s also a symbol of love, and its given to people that are delicate and dainty apparently.” I enthusiastically described with care not to forget a single word I had memorised. 

“See, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a birth flower, you’re teaching me new things all the time Dahyun