Day Three, Part One: Spring

Joohyun’s on her lunch break, occupying her favorite stool and diving head first into Jane Austen when Seulgi drops by for the third time. Her day had gone as per usual, the flow of customers had returned to a steady pace of a handful of rushed husbands or boyfriends picking up a bouquet or two for their anniversaries or for a surprise for their significant others.

A few moments earlier, she’d let the rest of her staff go home early, seeing as there was only three more hours before closing and it didn’t seem like anyone else was going to brave the chill of Seoul’s weather. Her favorite pair of workers, Yeri and Sooyoung, had been manning the register and helping customers pick out flowers, with her today, and they seemed almost hesitant to leave.

They were an odd pair, and that was being generous. The two were both schoolmates at one of the private schools a few blocks away. Joohyun learned early on that they had been in search of part time jobs to fund their obsession with Red Velvet, a popular girl group Joohyun had never heard of, because their parents would no longer let them spend their money on such things.

Yeri and Sooyoung both claimed that Joohyun bore an ultra-similar resemblance to the leader of the group, Irene. About a week into hiring the pair, Sooyoung had brought her ginormous photo card collection of the girl group to work in order to emphasize Irene and Joohyun’s similarities to her boss.

The florist had peered down curiously at one of the prized photographs. She couldn’t deny that Irene looked more than a little bit like her, though finding out the identity of her supposed twin still wasn’t interested enough to convince her of listen to their music. “I’m prettier, though, right Sooyoung-ah?” Joohyun had employee before handing back the young girl’s precious card.

“You’re alright, I guess,” Sooyoung had said with a smirk, earning her a light smack on her shoulder. “Yah!” Joohyun said, her words giving away the smile she was trying to conceal, “You better take that back if you want to keep your job!” With ease, both of the grade students quickly became her unofficial favorite employees to work with. Though the florist never admitted this fact aloud, the three of them knew it to be true.

 “Are you sure you want to let us go early, unnie?” Yeri asked her, pouting her lips as she undid the apron around her waist. The blonde had been working on finishing potting a new plant they’d gotten shipped in that morning. It was nearing 5 o’clock, and Joohyun had brought up the idea after looking at her phone’s clock. Beside the shorter girl, Sooyoung was also protesting as she held a bag of fertilizer in her arms, “I’ve already finished my homework today, I promise!”

Joohyun giggled at their cuteness from her usual place behind the counter, but remained resolved to give the young high schoolers the rest of the day off. “I know that midterm week is coming up for you guys,” she said in a singsong voice, wagging a finger at the both of them. Both of the high schooler’s faces dropped in disappointment, and they exchanged a look between each other Joohyun couldn’t decipher.

“I want you both to go home earlier tonight and study really hard. I think it’s ironic I have to think of your futures more than you,” Joohyun giggles. Her tone becomes serious as she continues with her little speech, “You guys work nearly every day of the week, including weekends. You should enjoy more of your free time.” When the florist finds her workers barely biting back their laughter, she frowns. “Am I missing something here…?”

Sooyoung finally cracks a smile at her as she lowers the bag she’d been holding onto the ground next to Yeri, “Unnie, who’s your boyfriend?” Yeri’s eyes widen with shock and she immediately reaches out to smack the taller girl on the arm so hard that Sooyoung winces. “What the heck, Sooyoung?! Smooth,” the blonde hisses quietly. Joohyun flicks an eyebrow as she leans against the counter.

“Boyfriend?” Joohyun asks. The florist desperately wants to scoff at the statement, but she crosses her arms and manages to keep her poker face in order, “What are you both going on about?” Yeri frowns at Joohyun and shoots her a confused look, “Who’s been giving you flowers, if not a boyfriend?” Sooyoung throws an arm around Yeri’s shoulders with a look of defiance, “Well, I guess it could be girlfriend, Yeri-ah,” Sooyoung comments.

Yeri sighs, “Well, I suppose it could, Sooyoung-ah, but our unnie doesn’t exactly look the type.” Joohyun witnesses both of the teenagers study her from afar, thoughtful expressions plastered on their features. Her cheeks flush with embarrassment, I don’t look the type for what? Eventually, Yeri shrugs her shoulders and looks over at Sooyoung, “Actually, I take that back. She could be into that.”

Flustered at the recent turn of events, Joohyun groans and plunges her face into her hands, “Will you both just tell me what you mean?” After sharing a giggle with Yeri, Sooyoung points towards the vase by the cash register. “Explain that, unnie,” she says, “If you don’t have a boyfriend…then who’s the one who’s been giving you flowers?”

Joohyun’s mouth opens, then closes. Much to the teenager’s amusement, the florist repeats the action three times before she can finally force words to come out. When they do, she’s stuttering ever so slightly, and it’s difficult for her to even form a coherent sentence. “N-no,” Joohyun mutters, “Not a boyfriend. I don’t have a boyfriend.”

Yeri begins to protest, but Joohyun waves a finger in the air. “Shht!” Instantly, the two girls are silenced, and stare at her in awe, startled by the sudden charismatic change from the stumbling and flustered woman from beforehand. “One more word on the subject, and you’re fired!” The florist jabs a thumb at the front door, “Now go on home, you troublemakers.”

**

Day Three, Part Two: Spring

When Seulgi knocks on the locked front door, the florist looks up with a start. She’s mid bite, her silver chopsticks suspended in the air and salad dressing dribbling down her chin. She hadn’t been expecting Seulgi so soon, and it was quite obvious. In a whirlwind of napkins and reddening cheeks, Joohyun rushes towards the door.

Her hands, shimmering slightly with the sheen of Italian salad dressing, begin to uncharacteristically shake as she fiddles with the lock. She shoots Seulgi an apologetic look before holding the door open for the business woman and tries to wring out the nerves by clenching them into fists. “Hey, stranger,” Joohyun says, doing her best to inconspicuously breathe in the expensive perfume Seulgi’s wearing as the other woman steps into her humble shop.

“Hello again, Joohyun-ah,” Seulgi grins as Joohyun relocks the door behind her, “Should I come back later?” The business woman gestures to the salad bowl waiting for Joohyun on top of the flower-riddled counter, “It seems like you’re in the middle of something right now.”

 “Oh!” Joohyun says, rushing towards the remnants of her late lunch, “No, right now’s perfect, actually.” She rushes over to stuff her salad into one of the cupboards lining the bottom of the counter. After Seulgi had stepped into her shop, Joohyun’s appetite for food had somehow vanished into thin air. “It’s my lunch break, so no one else will interrupt us,” Joohyun continues, leaning her body over the counter until her elbows were propping her up.

Seulgi quirks an eyebrow up at that as she studies the florist with an odd look in her eye at Joohyun’s choice of words, “Are you planning on murdering me today?” The florist throws her head back, voice shimmering with laughter. “If anything, you look much more like a hitman than I do, Seulgi-yah,” Joohyun replies with ease.

As per usual, Seulgi was donning another one of her expensive looking outfits. Though the business woman’s overall appearance gave off a more lenient business casual vibe, Seulgi still looked absolutely striking with her pair of black Chelsea boots, a matching black turtleneck tucked into a pair of similarly colored jeans. To top off the outfit, she had a tan, suede overcoat, which she was currently hanging up by the door.

Joohyun couldn’t help but admire the business woman fondly, with her beautiful features and her beautiful clothes and her beautiful manners. Joohyun had placed the coat rack by the door herself ages ago, yet hardly anyone used it. Until Seulgi started coming in, that is. “Sounds about right,” Seulgi grins, gesturing to her all-black outfit before winking smoothly at the other woman, “I have to admit, I must look a little bit like an assassin right now.”

Joohyun giggles from her spot beh