A/N: SO I ACCIDENTALLY FORGOT TO COPY AND PAST THE FIRST PART OF THE UPDATE AND ONLY POSTED THE SECOND PART, WHICH IS WHY I REUPDATING THIS FIC WITH THE FULL CHAPTER, MY BAD GUYS HAHA IT'S PRETTY LATE WHERE I AM BUT I'M GLAD I CAUGHT IT

Day Two, Part One: Thawing

It’s nearly closing time, and Joohyun’s dog tired. She’d been bustling around the shop all by her lonesome, trying to manage the latest of orders that had come in. At first, the florist hadn’t minded, roads were still dangerous, and she lived within walking distance of All in Bloom. But as the day began to pick up its pace, she thought to herself that perhaps it hadn’t been such a good idea to let her employees rest at home for another day.

Joohyun had dealt with a particularly picky mother-in-law to be who had been accompanying her future daughter-in-law for most of the day while simultaneously taking care of other customers and answering phone calls. The older woman had insulted Joohyun and her store multiple times, without even noticing her blatant ignorance, while the florist helped them narrow the selection for their ceremony.

Before the pair had left, the daughter-in-law confessed how embarrassed she was that the older woman would speak in such a way towards the florist. Joohyun, however, was used to backhanded compliments and merely held her tongue as they happened. She bowed politely to the exasperated younger woman and wished her a happy marriage. It was probably just the mother-in-law’s nervousness about the marriage, she’d said with a smile. She’d dealt with worse customers before. It wasn’t like Joohyun was going to take revenge or anything out on the poor girl.

The floral business was a tough one. Nowadays, there aren’t many people who think to buy flowers from a place that specializes in them. Florist shops are somewhat of a rarity in a small town, but Joohyun decided to try her luck and pursue her passion. Even as a young child, Joohyun remembers how deep her love for flowers was. She can recall spending most of her days within her mother’s expansive garden for hours upon hours, entertaining herself by watching bees and butterflies flutter about and picking a flower or two to put in her hair.

Not everyone shared the same love for gardening as Joohyun. She knows that more often than not, flowers are bought from grocery store chains on the way to checkout. But that hasn’t deterred the young woman from pursuing her goals at all. The florist has been trying her luck at expanding her store to local grocery stores around downtown Seoul for the past few weeks, but hasn’t heard back from any of them yet.

Joohyun doesn’t let the matter offend or discourage her. She was confident in the fact that her time would come, and when it did, All in Bloom would grow to be more than just a small corner store overflowing with flowers. Besides, she’s confident that her business proposals were convincing enough to interest at least one or two of the locally owned grocers she contacted. She just needed to be more patient, that was all.

She had just begun to take inventory, waltzing around the various displays and shelves of flowers with a clipboard in hand, when the door opened again. The florist checked the display of her watch for the time.

7:45PM.

She nearly groaned, 8 o’clock couldn’t have come any slower, and she was dreading serving another customer like the woman before. She spun around, a tight smile taught over her worn features, but her grimace transformed into a grin when she saw Seulgi lingering once more in her doorway.

The other woman was carefully hanging what looked like another expensive coat on Joohyun’s empty coat stand, brushing the beginnings of snow off of the dark red material. It was still snowing lightly, but the temperature outside relented enough to allow the beginnings of a thaw. It had been sunny all day, allowing the fluffy white patches of snow to give way for Seoul again.

“Hey,” Joohyun said in a light voice, heart fluttering when Seulgi turned and beamed at her. Her knuckles were turning white from holding the clipboard so tightly against her, “Back again so soon?”

She felt a little self-conscious, standing before the other woman with her hair pulled up in a high ponytail and her comfortable attire. Joohyun willed herself to not pick at the flannel button down she was wearing over her black jeans, another nervous habit of hers. If she’d known she’d see Seulgi the next day, she would’ve worn something with a little more fire to it.

“Hello again, Joohyun-ssi,” the business woman greeted politely. Joohyun was growing fond of the reserved, gentle manner that seemed to hang about Seulgi.

“I’m here for another flower,” the business woman said softly, answering Joohyun’s implied question. Her dark eyes began wandering lazily over the assortment of potted plants and flowers covering the expanse of the floor.

 Joohyun took the other woman’s distractedness to her advantage, quickly sweeping her eyes up and down Seulgi’s figure. The woman, dressed in business casual as she had been before, seemed a little more muted than before. The impeccable posture she’d witnessed from Seulgi yesterday wasn’t as present as it had been before.

There were a few wrinkles in the business woman’s dress shirt, and there was a tiredness about her eyes not even the most obvious person could have missed. Perhaps she had a long day as well, Joohyun thought worriedly to herself, noting the bags hanging underneath Seulgi’s eyes. The woman takes a step towards the flowers Joohyun had just been counting with a look of interest.

“What’s this one here?” Seulgi asked, nodding towards the arrangement behind the florist. Joohyun, eager to divert Seulgi’s attention from the fact that she had just caught her checking her out, whirled around to study the plant.

“These are Lotus flowers!” The florist exclaimed, her voice higher pitched than usual. She felt Seulgi come closer, and Joohyun became awash in the scent of what must’ve been the business woman’s lavish perfume.

Seulgi reached out a hand to touch one of the blooms beside her, “They’re absolutely stunning.” Joohyun looked over and took in the awed expression playing across Seulgi’s face with a sense of pride swelling in her. It was always nice to receive compliments on her work, they never failed to bring her a sense of accomplishment, but hearing it from Seulgi gave her even more giddiness.

“How much for one of them?” Seulgi asked, her fingers wrapping gently around the stalk of a particularly beautiful blossom, indicating that this was the flower she wanted. Joohyun let their shoulders brush together delicately before kneeling down and carefully cutting the bloom free from its container.

Seulgi follows Joohyun towards the cash register as the florist carefully rings up the price. She doesn’t miss the way Seulgi looks pointedly at the Dahlia flower, propped up in the vase next to the cash machine and Seulgi carefully places the Lotus beside it.

“That’ll be two thousand won,” Joohyun murmurs, eyeing the new addition to Seulgi’s display. She doesn’t miss the way Seulgi visibly brightens after she finishes fixing the Lotus to showcase the flower’s beauty, and it brings a blush to her cheeks.

Another day, another flower from Seulgi, the florist muses. Joohyun pretends not to see the abundance of bills folded neatly in Seulgi’s compact wallet as the business woman fishes out the change, but it was hard not to get looped into the vibrant colors.

“Long day?” Seulgi asked as she tucked her wallet into the back pocket of her business slacks. She pressed the money into Joohyun’s slightly sweaty palm, and the contact sent a rush of heat through the florist. Joohyun hummed in response, “Thank god it’s closing time.”

Seulgi’s eyes immediately widened, and quickly looked at her watch. “Oh god,” Seulgi said, biting her lip nervously. Her mortified expression startles Joohyun into silence, sincerity overflowed from the business woman, for a second, she was too shocked to react. “I didn’t even realize I was holding you over,” Seulgi continued, her eyes pleading for forgiveness, “I’m sorry.”

Joohyun thinks Seulgi looks incredibly adorable when she’s crestfallen. The business woman’s lips form into a pout and for once she can see a splash of red painting itself across Seulgi’s features. “Don’t worry about it!” Joohyun exclaims, reaching a hand out to briefly touch the business woman’s arm.

“I’m more than happy to stay open a few minutes longer for you,” Joohyun says with a laugh, reassuring the other woman that she wasn’t offending her in any way. What’s another ten minutes if it’s spent with a beautiful girl flirting with you? “Can I buy you a coffee to make it up to you?” Seulgi asks hopefully, eyes glinting with remorse as Joohyun passes over her change.

Sliding the cash register shut, Joohyun feels her heart thrum within her ribcage in silent response. She smoothly passes Seulgi the receipt of the transaction and nods her head.

“Sure,” the florist replies evenly, failing to hide the bemused tone in her voice. Her eyes flit from the flowers in the vase sitting next to her hand to the beautiful woman who’d placed them there.

Seulgi seems a little stunned at the speed of Joohyun’s agreeance, barely moving a muscle as Joohyun grabs her keys and her coat from behind the counter. “There’s a cute coffee shop just a few places down that I go to often,” the florist says, weaving her way around the potted plants littering the floor.

She makes it all the way to the door before Seulgi turns around, a dazed look on her face. Joohyun’s teasingly holding the business woman’s red coat out for her to take. “Come on,” the young woman coaxes to Seulgi. Her eyes soften as Seulgi approaches, and she lets