"The usual?"

Lu Han nods.

As always, in his white shirt wrapped with a light brown apron, the florist smiled as he starts preparing, opening the fridge full of blossoming flowers inside.

It had been a few months since Lu Han became a regular. At first, he had simply visited this flower store out of his colleague's suggestion, but now, it was more than just buying 10 red roses every Friday evening after work.

Lu Han watched the florist pick up a few stalks of roses from a vase, cuts off the excess stems and wraps up the roses.
All of which, his attention fixed on the florist.

"Mind if I ask?"

Lu Han's eyes shot up. It was the first time the florist uttered something to him.

"Is your girlfriend extremely pretty?"

Lu Han took a while to sink the sudden question. "Because of my 10 roses?"

The florist nods with a smile. "Your girlfriend is lucky to have you. Having someone who constantly reminds how pretty she is. She must be very happy." He ties a huge red ribbon around the plastic wrap while Lu Han lifted his eyes.

"Oh! Those aren't for my girlfriend." Lu Han realised. "I don't have one."

The florist looked confused for a while before frantically apologising. "Sorry! I...shouldn't have assumed."

Watching his animated apologetic reaction to a misunderstanding was amusing for Lu Han that he chuckled.

"My mom." He explained. "It's for her. She has cancer which caused her hair to fall. She's bald now but I want to tell her that she's still beautiful. Still the prettiest lady I've ever met."
Lu Han felt happier as he thought about it, his mother was his joy.

The florist followed his smile, took the finished bouquet and passed it to Lu Han.

"I'd like to meet her one day. Men can't miss a chance to meet a gorgeous lady right?" He smiled. "Ah sorry."
The florist pulled his hands back upon realising he was holding Lu Han's hand as he passed the bouquet.

Those words, probably an innocent remark still made Lu Han felt warm and touched that evening. Secretly, he prayed the florist did not notice his completely flushed red face behind the bouquet before running out of the store.
Lu Han liked it.
He liked those soft fingers.
Especially more so when his heart started beating noisily in his ears, feeling the lingering warmth from where the florist touched.

***********************

[Following Friday]
It's not that Lu Han doesn't want to go, but remembering the encounter last week with the florist and his unstoppable skipping heart, he didn't know how to see him.
How does he normally enter the store?
Where does he look?
What expression does he give?
How normal was he?

"You will catch a cold if you stand here too long."

Lu Han jumped when a voice broke his train of worry.
He turned to see the florist, without his apron, stopped behind him.

"I'll get the roses now."

"S...sure..."
Lu Han watched the florist pace passed him with a smile and enters the shop, putting on his apron.

With apron or not, Lu Han's heart was still skipping as he walked in, the florist voice echoing.
But, once he stepped in, and a sip of the usual rose scent filled the place, he snapped out of it.

"Do you know each number of roses' meaning?"
The florist asked as he cuts the stems.

Lu Han recalled for a moment. "99 is forever love. And 101 means one and only." Lu Han replies. "I got to hear the 10 roses from my colleague though." That was probably all he knew. "Oh! And 1000 roses means the buyer is really rich!"

The florist broke into a chuckle.
"In a technical sense."

Lu Han felt his heart flushed pink from seeing the florist' delighted face. That expression...

"How many roses would you give to your girlfriend?" The florist asked, folding the transparent sheet around the stalks.

"Erm..."

"101. I think. I've never been in a relationship before so..." He looked up at Se Hun who was ready to hand over the bouquet. "...because you are the one and only I've fallen for."

Lu Han reached for the finished bouquet from the florist, his heart beating faster before he sees the florist froze in spot, looking at him.

...
Oh...
...

No...

Lu Han wanted to find a hole to dig and bury his face.
Say...something!! Ah, oh wait...
Lu Han looks down at his hands, it's gently cupped around the florist' hands which held the bouquet.

"Ahhh!! S...sorry!" He pulled his hands back quickly, the bouquet dropped on the counter table as he turned his head away.

His face felt hot and his mind twirling spirals to make him dizzier.
Staring at the ground, he searched frantically for a way to get his bouquet back without facing the florist.

For some reason, the counter divider opened. Lu Han covered his face, is he going to get beaten?

He must have find this 28 year old man disgusting and weird...
Lu Han can't bear but hold those thoughts that it hurts him to even think about it.
A man indirectly confessing to a man, it must have been unpleasant and uncomfortable.

The florist came closer until Lu Han sees his black white Skechers shoes right in front of him.

"I think for tonight, I'll give you an extra 1. Not with the bouquet, but especially for you."

A stalk of red rose held out in front of his eyes.
Lu Han didn't dare to look up at the person who gave it to him.

***********************

"Han. Is that a free gift? From the rose store?"

Lu Han broke off his eyes from the stalk his florist crush gave him earlier when he hears his mother's voice.
He sat beside his mother's bed while the bouquet laid on the little drawer beside it.
"Or maybe your lover gave it to you?"

Lu Han felt his cheeks burn again, shooking his head immediately.
"It's not from a lover! It's a...it's a free gift!"

His mother chuckled at his son's nervous answer.

"This aside, are you really prepared to do this?"

"The surgery next Friday?"

Lu Han nods.

His mother held one of his hand. "I have my beloved son around, of course I'm going to make it."

"What if...I'm scared mom. I want you to recover but I don't want to, lose you..."

His mother wiped the tears that are starting to well up in his eyes worriedly. "Han, you are 28 already, and you're still crying." She spread a gebtle motherly smile. "Do you believe in your beautiful mom?"

Lu Han looked at his mother, strong as ever even at times like that, she was still positive, giving her worried son reasons to hope, and believe.

That's why she is the most beautiful person he know.

***********************

"Se Hun, are you expecting someone? You've been planting your eyes on the door for a while now."
Se Hun turned to the flower store owner, collecting cash from the cashier.

"10 roses hasn't dropped by for a few weeks."

"That fine man who buys them for his mother?"

"Yes. You...knew too?"

"I asked about it before you came. I hope it's not because something happened to his mother. Afterall, he buys roses for her."
Se Hun turned towards the empty door, sighing perhaps at his another futile hope as he dropped his gaze to the fridge freshly filled with red roses beside the entrance.

[A few hours later]
"Break time Se Hun. I'll cover now."
"Alright."

Se Hun heads out of the store, looking around the area to scan for his lunch.
Mac Donald's then.
It's the closest food store to the flower shop, just a street across.
He checked the road for any signs of cars before crossing over safely, but his peripherals seethed out a familiar person.

"Ah!"

He turned to where his eyes meets 10 roses customer, whose face reflected a rather shocked expression.
10 roses probably made that shout.

It has been a while since he last saw him and Se Hun wanted to about his mother's condition but the customer immediately heads for the road.

Se Hun's eyes dilated.

"Watch out!"

An oncoming vehicle drove close to the customer.

[Beep beep beeeeeep~~~~]

Se Hun's turned his whole body and legs towards him, reached his hands out to grab the customer's thin arms and used all his force to pull the customer to the pavement away from danger.

The horn trailed away until the car vanished through a junction turn.

Se Hun takes a huge sigh of relief, looking down at his chest with the man who loves his mother, and he, whom the florist loves, wrapped by his arms.

"Are you okay?"

The customer didn't reply, instead, squeezing Se Hun's white shirt on his chest without lifting his head up.
"Erm, can you let go of my hand?"

Se Hun cast his sight at his hands, forgotten he had grabbed the customer's wrist.
"Sorry!" He lets go in a swift pace, backing his whole body back a step, letting lose all physical contact he had with him when he sees a pressed rose bookmark on the pavement by the road.

"I...th...thanks...!"
The customer refused to look at him.

He noticed the customer's hands were shaking and before he could react, 10 roses customer turned tails and dashed down the end of the street.

Winter wind tickled his neck, he shivered upon the cold air, pulling up his windbreaker's hoodie as the trail of his customer disappeared into the streets.
He hope his customer was feeling better, that was dangerous.
And, didn't he wanted to cross the road? How come, he's going down the sideroad now?

Se Hun cast a glance at the roadside where the incident happened awhile ago.
Better not have any cars coming his direction.

He heaves before noticing a plastic covered bookmark by the pavement.
It was transparent and a nicely pressed red rose was visibly beautiful through the sheets.

At the bottom corner, wrote in permanent marker was - Lu Han.
Is this...?

***********************

"Yo Deer...! WOAH HOLY SHYT FARK OF A COW! What the hell happened to you Lulu?!"

Lu Han raised his wet face from the sink, black swollen eyes darting at his colleague, Baek Hyun.
"The fark! What'd you do over the weekend?!"

Lu Han wished he could reply, but thinking about it makes him want to cry even more that he starts splashing water over his face again.
"Oi Oi! Your shirts' all wet already. Be considerate to the ladies! You stay here, I'll go grab your blazer."

"10 ROSES!"

Baek Hyun's whole body jumped, he turned around angrily. "OMG! MY SMALL HEART! Don't yell like that!"

"10 roses...means you are pretty, that's what you said right?"

Baek Hyun frowned.
"Yea. Erm...like I said, my mom loves flowers so I don't think it's wrong...."

"THEN WHAT ABOUT 1 ROSE?"
Lu Han felt Baek Hyun reflecting a curious look at him with concern, he felt it, but ignores it.
He just needs an answer.

"Erm...1 rose... some female best friends gives each other to symbolise that they are as close as a lover. Sometimes, as a simple graduation gift for their friends. Budget on gifts something like that." Baek Hyun cast a glance at his deer colleague. "But its real meaning is..."

***********************

Se Hun smiled at a tall male customer in business suit, patronising the store before deciding to ask the staff how many roses to get for a person he likes in his opinion.

"A bunch of rose doesn't necessarily make it more meaningful and romantic. A rose, or a hundred roses, each still means the same. Passion, desire, love, romance. All of its significance is defined in a single rose, and they all add up to mean, I love you. That is all I need to convey." Se Hun beamed, it was his favorite topic with his customers. "I think girls still prefers to have a bouquet of rose. The more roses, the stronger the meaning. Here's a chart of the number of roses given and its connotation."
Se Hun passed a piece of laminated paper with the numbers on one column, and meanings on another to the tall man.

The customer lifted his lips, giving a pleased smile.

"Thank you. I know how many roses I want now."

***********************

"Come on, it's just a bookmark." Baek Hyun patted depressed Lu Han's back. "Maybe you aren't fated with it. Can't believe you spent the whole night searching for that."

Lu Han changed his wet shirt into Baek Hyun's spare one in the washroom.
"The bookmark gave me strength to keep believing my mom's surgery would be a success."

"Not all things are meant to stay by your side forever."

Lu Han buttoned up his shirt, but irritated Baek Hyun turned around to stare at Mr Deer sighing again.

"Maybe, like you said. Since mom is recovering soon, I don't have a reason to go to the store anymore."

"Your mom's always beautiful, you don't have to keep buying roses to prove that fact." Baek Hyun heads out of the washroom, Lu Han trailing behind. "Are you going to give the bookmark to her?"

Lu Han felt his cheeks grew hot, now roses had become synonym not just with his pretty mom but also florist crush.
Since the day his mother recovered, she saw the rose bookmark who presumed it was from that free gift, and thus told a cheeky fact about what 1 roses mean.

It's partly because of what she said that made him all flushed, letting that synonym to dominate more over flower boy, which led him unable to bring himself to the store anymore. His 10 roses ritual stopped since then.

"No...It's not for her though."

Baek Hyun's eyes shot up in surprise. "Then, who else?" 

When someone gives you a rose, on its own, it means, he likes you.
Hahahahahahaha, no no, impossible. It was definitely because he had been a frequent customer, or he was being generous. Hahahahahha....ha...

Lu Han sighed.
That is why he had only seen gray stormy clouds over his head because that was the first and only thing he got from his crush, and he lost it!

Baek Hyun leaned in to see frozen Lu Han on his spot.
"You better not...jinjja...?! Lulu are you serious? In the office? You are crying? Oi Oi! Don't embarass me! Alright, alright! I will treat you to that new bubble tea shop!"

***********************

Lu Han sat at Mac Donald's, peering out the glass window across the street where he could watch his flower boy being more 'flowery' that day.
Looking at him still made him blush but it's been a while since he last saw him after the incident, right at the road between them now...yea...the road, incident...the road incident...

The day he ran away upon seeing florist crush out of nowhere without letting his heart ritually fully prepared.

If not for him...

"Mom, why is that man banging his head on the table? Is the table alright?"

"Shhh! Don't look at him."

Lu Han felt his head swelling up from the impact poor table was doing to him, he was doing to.
He puts his chin on it and peers out again.
His new jam was his heart beating like drums but...

"I owe him one. For saving me."
He blurted out before covering his face in lightning speed.

"Mom! That man's making music with his head, should we donate money to him?"

"Shush it Jung Kook!"

***********************

"You mean Se Hun?"

"Say,...say who?"

"Yea. Se Hun?"

"Erm, I mean the florist who's usually on duty every Friday evening."

The shop owner raised his eyebrows, checking through his mini notebook again where the staff schedules were. "Yea. It's Oh Se Hun. His off are on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Is there something you'd like to tell him?"

Lu Han sighed.

Why is a grown man so pathetic? The day he spied stalked drooled drummed watched him across the street, he could have mustered the courage to move. Yet, he had to prepare for a week and by the time, it's his Saturday off.

"Oh...10 roses?"

10 roses? Is this the staff's nickname for him?

"There was a period you'd buy 10 roses for your mother right?"

Lu Han nods, slowly remembering a conversation he had with the shop owner before florist crush joined.

"If you are looking for him urgently, he's either at home, or at XX park jogging, or...Ohh, I told him to collect his pay today."

The entrance door opened.

"Se Hun! You're here."

Lu Han's skin stood up upon hearing the name.
One moment he was full of energy, the next his energy was drained because flower boy isn't working, now when he placed his guard down, florist crush called say who, erm, Se Hun, comes back in.

Eh...florist crush now has a name?!

"Your pay cheque. 10 roses here seemed to have something urgent to talk to you about." The owner passed a thick envelope to Se Hun while he attends to a patronising customer.

Lu Han now finds himself in an even awkward situation.
What was he here for again? Oh right!

He looked up, suddenly blown away from hearing his heart broke into a nose bleed. His heart nose bleeded yes. Don't ask author nim why a heart nosebleeds, she failed science.
Casual black tee shirt in a black hoodie and 3/4 bermudas, it was the first time he saw his florist crush in casual home wear.

The blood from his heart probably brought darker red to his face that second.

"Gwenchanayo?"

Gwen my heart, stop asking with that kind of face...

***********************

"How is your mother?"

Lu Han wondered why it ended up being a stroll at the central park as winter clears for Spring.

"It was successful and she's feeling a lot better." He beamed. "Thanks for you concern."

Se Hun heaved a sigh of relief.

"Ah! I haven't properly thanked you for saving me the other time from the car."
His heart was drumming music again, like that little boy had said in Mac Donald's the other day.
"I hope I can treat you something as thanks."

Se Hun went silent for awhile.
"Sure. There's this new bubble tea store, I want to have a drink there."

Lu Han recalled Baek Hyun mentioned something about a new bubble tea store before.

"As long as you are satisfied." Lu Han was being all gurly flowery inside. He likes bubble tea too.

The next few steps was uncomfortably awkward and quiet until Se Hun bolts up his voice.

"Can I know your name?"

Lu Han looked up immediately.
Right, 28 year old man having a crush on flower boy whom he doesn't know his name and ends up getting to know it from someone else.

"L...Lu Han!" He was excited.
His crush, could finally know his name!
Ahhh!! Finally!
He was feeling all kinds of joy, doesn't matter if he was showing it obviously, he can't contain it anymore.
Seriously, a 28 year old man behaving like a 16 year old high school girl.

"Lu...Han?" He tries to pronounce the foreign name mixing his Korean accent.

Fake 16 year old high school girl nods, secretly his heart was running parade, flower boy called his name, called his name, called for the first time.
So this is how he sounds when he calls his name.

"I've been working at XX Company for 6 years since I graduated university. I'm an only child and my family came from China. My dad passed away when I was very young...and..."
Lu Han felt his whole body suddenly shifted by a gentle warm hand, he comes back from his excitement to find himself leaned against a tree, there was no one around except the leaves. And looking up inches away was Se Hun's face substituting the sun.
"S...sorry I got carried away." He did.
How did he even say something so sensitive about his family to him in one breath?

He wanted Se Hun to know more about him, so that he can know more about Se Hun. He could ask back a million things about him, but it seemed like florist crush was irritated and had to do this to make him quiet.

But Lu Han couldn't bear to see such a face looking down at him, it was too freaking close. All the more he doesn't want to see Se Hun's irritated face or something along that line. No...just please no.

"My name is Oh Se Hun." A clear voice resonated.

Lu Han felt his face blushed and wanted to look down as usual, but for the first time, he stayed. Not because he froze but because, Se Hun's finger lifted his chin up.

"4 years younger than Lu Han hyung. I have an older brother, brought up by both parents. And at 24 years old, I fell in love at first sight with a 28 year old man who buys 10 roses for his mother every Friday, 7pm. Until, hyung said I was his one and only with a cute face that I gave him a rose, which means..." Se Hun smiled.
"Love at first sight, or, I love you."

Lu Han's eyes lifted.
Did he just say something only his dreams will grant? 

"And he made it into a bookmark. Right? Lu Han hyung?"

Lu Han's eyes popped when his rose bookmark appeared in front of Se Hun's face.
He stares at it, processing 101 how did it got to flower boy...?

Se Hun leaned in, pushed the bookmark with his lips towards Lu Han's.

A warmth that passed through a plastic made bookmark to his lips.

An...indirect kiss?

Se Hun slowly retreats away with the bookmark.

Lu Han lowered his head, heart skipping crazily, head cold and frozen, what what...what just happened????

"Lu Han hyung, can I vow my love for you through this rose, to meet your gorgeous mother?"

...

Lu Han felt his tears of joy welling up as he sank the words flower boy florist crush Se Hun said, from the moment he pushed him to the tree till now.

Yes!! Of course! Yes!

 ****************

A rose now, is not just a red flower anymore.
It is now something of his mother, pretty, romantic, a bookmark, a kiss and a florist, called Oh Se Hun.

-The End-

A/N: Might do a side story on Baek Hyun (And Chan Yeollie) in the future :3 
Thanks for reading! ^^