The flower shop was bathing in bright sunlight, the scents of the flowers spreading in the street, bees flying around. Chaeyoung was in a great mood. Almost no one came into the shop today, but that allowed her to take care of the flowers and let her mind wander. She was glad she opened the little shop a few months ago. She loved her job, it brought her tranquility, colorful days and nice stories, as a lot of people liked to tell her why they were buying flowers, for some reason. And she enjoyed imagining stories about the ones that didn’t tell her. 

She stepped out of the shop, putting a hat on, a big smile on her face. She enjoyed the sun so much, she laughed when she thought of herself turning into a flower. She checked if the little bowl for the stray cat that stayed around the shop was full before putting gardening gloves on, and started to work on the flowers located in front of the shop. 

After a while, someone interrupted her. 

“Excuse me ?” 

Chaeyoung lifted her head in the direction the voice was coming from. A little boy, around 6 years old, was looking at her, smiling shyly. She got up, flashing the little boy the sweetest smile she could. 

“Hi, what can I do to help you ?” 

“I want to buy flowers for my mommy. It’s her birthday today !” 

“Oh, that’s nice. Do you know what kind of flowers your mom likes ?” 

“Not really...” the little boy looked down, clenching on the money he was holding. Chaeyoung crouched to look at his face. 

“Hey, it’s ok. What’s your name ?”

“I’m Jun !”

“Alright, Jun, what colors does your Mom like ? Red, blue ? Yellow maybe ?”

“Um, she likes colors that are not too bright, I think. So maybe, blue ?” 

“A blue bouquet it is, then ! Follow me.” 

The two of them entered the shop, and Jun looked in awe around him while Chaeyoung was doing her job. She smiled. She loved when people admired her shop like that : it was her very own creation, her treasure. It meant a lot when people complimented it. She quickly made the bouquet and Jun followed her to the counter. 

“That would be 16,148 won, please.” 

“Here ! I have 18,000 ! Mom said that you can keep the change.” 

“Oh, thank you.” Mom ? Could that mean... “Do your moms love each other a lot ?”

“Yes, they do ! I’m happy to have two mommies, you know. Even if other kids make fun of me sometimes, I don’t want to change them !” 

He bowed and left, holding the bouquet close to his chest. Chaeyoung was curious. She didn’t know that a same couple lived near her shop. It made her feel safe, somehow. To know that she was not the only one like that in the neighborhood. 

She was taking care of the money she just received from Jun when someone slammed their hand and some money on the counter, startling her. 

“How do I passive-aggressively say you in flowers ?” 

Chaeyoung looked up. The girl was tall, way taller than her, had smooth-looking long hair, and the prettiest resting face she had ever seen in her short life. Their eyes locked, and Chaeyoung couldn’t help but think about how the girl fitted the scenery around her. The colorful flowers behind he made her look really pretty. 

“Hey ? I’m sorry I scared you, but I have places to go to. Could you —“ 

“The bouquet, yes, sorry !” Chaeyoung quickly said, regaining some composure. “That’s easy to do if you have some knowledge about the language of flowers. Do you ?” She had made a bad first impression, and she was determined to show that she was skilled, and not a random girl that liked flowers. 

“I don’t, that’s why I’m here.” Right. That was a stupid question to ask. Chaeyoung smile faded. The taller girl noticed, and felt bad about it. She knew that she could give a really cold vibe ; she was trying her best to overcome it. “But you can teach me. What are the flowers called, then ?”

The florist’s smile came back, and the tall girl noticed her dimple. Cute. 

“Alright, I’ll teach you ! First of all, what’s your name ? I like to know my clients.” 

“Tzuyu.”

“Tzuyu ! That’s a nice name.” She turned around, quickly pinching herself. You didn’t need to say that, damnit ! “Anyway. For your request, we’ll need 5 types of flowers. Let me show them to you.” She made her way to the flowers she needed, Tzuyu following close behind.

“Those are geraniums. Hot corals ones, more precisely. They mean ‘stupidity’.” She showed Tzuyu little red flowers joined together in a circular shape. “Here we have some foxgloves, they symbolize insincerity.” purple bell-looking flowers in a tubular shape. “Hm, then... some meadowsweet, uselessness” white flowers clustered close together, attached to a branch. 

Tzuyu was fascinated. If she knew the flower language was so important, she would have done this a long time ago. 

“Now, yellow carnations : “You have disappointed me”, and to finish, orange lilies, meaning hatred.” Chaeyoung looked at Tzuyu with a satisfied smile. “This is a nice bouquet. The foxgloves are standing out a bit, since they’re purple, but I’ll be fine. Striking. I like it.” She was proud of herself. 

They went back to the counter. While Chaeyoung finished wrapping the bouquet, Tzuyu decided to look around, and stopped next to a board filled with photographs. A small smile made his way to her lips. The florist graduating, the florist with her parents, with her friends, pictures of clients, one of her first bouquet. It was really sweet, and Tzuyu realized she was not as mad as when she entered the flower shop. She made her way back to the counter, payed and quickly left after she realized that she spent too much time in the shop, apologizing to Chaeyoung. Said person was a little disappointed to watch the other girl leave : she didn’t get to know why Tzuyu needed a bouquet that meant such a thing.

—— 

The next day, it was raining, bringing some fresh air to the flower shop. Since the florist had nothing to do, she decided to sit by the entrance of the shop and watch the rain. When it stopped, she heard a familiar voice from across the street. She recognized Jun, and smiled when he waved at her. She waved back, and got up when she noticed the two other women that were following the young boy. They looked into her direction, and Chaeyoung started to panic when the family crossed the street. But her anxiety quickly disappeared when the couple thanked her for the bouquet. She made small talk with them, and Jun hugged her when she gave him a flower that blossomed earlier that day. 

“We hope to see you again soon, chaeyoung-ssi.” 

—— 

A few days passed since Tzuyu came into her shop, and she was still thinking about it. Would she ever meet the other girl again ? Probably not. She was only the owner of a small flower shop, after all. She ran a hand through her newly cut short hair. Cutting them was an impulse, but she liked it a lot. She felt more carefree, now. 

Today was Monday, meaning that she was free. She got a call from Sana, one of her few very close friends. 

“Hey, Chaeng ! How are you doing ? It’s been a while since the last time we went to a restaurant together. You’re free today, right ? Let’s do it ! Momo will be here too.” 

The florist smiled at her best friend’s enthusiasm. Sana and Momo were her favorite couple. She met them in high school, and joined the same art university as them later on. Momo was now a dance teacher, and Sana, a stylist. Both being Japanese, they always brought her sweets and treats back from Japan whenever they went there. 

The sun was back, and the heath that came with it too. She stopped by her shop to get her hat, and made her way to the restaurant the friends agreed to meet at. She was expecting a crushing hug, but what she didn’t expect, however, was Sana being more clumsier than ever and knocking her out with her elbow, giving her a black eye and absolutely no memories of what happened afterwards. 

She woke up at the hospital, a very apologetic Sana and a worried Momo next to her. She kept saying that she was fine until a nurse came in and told them that she could leave. The nurse also gave her a medical prescription, and asked her to call a doctor if her head was hurting or if her left eye started to be completely blind.

The next day, she was surprised to see someone standing in front of her shop, petting the stray cat. She smiled at the sight, and quickly reached the person crouching on the pavement. She abruptly stopped when she recognized the figure. 

“T-Tzuyu ?” 

Said person turned around, and shyly waved at her. 

“Hi. I need your help.”

——

Chaeyoung was lost. Confused. What was she supposed to do ? She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. One : Tzuyu appeared like a goddess in front of her shop. Two : the taller girl needed help. Three : said taller girl panicked when she saw Chaeyoung injury and asked her if she got into a fist fight or something, and laughed when the florist told her the full story. Four : If Chaeyoung was not gay before, she definitely was now, after hearing such a beautiful sound. Five : they got serious afterwards, and Tzuyu told her that she needed a job as soon as possible. Six : Tzuyu asked what her name was when she realized that she did not know ; she called her Chaeng right away. Seven : the florist died for the third time that day, and it wasn’t even 10am yet. Eight, and we’re back to the problem, how could she help Tzuyu ? 

She gained enough money to take care of herself and the rent, but not enough to pay someone else yet. 

“What do you need money for, again ?”

“There’s, um.. it’s, ugh.” She stopped, rubbed her hands against her temples. “you know the bouquet I asked you to make last week ?” The florist nodded. “I actually needed to end a toxic relationship and the person I gave it to knew what the flowers meant. But that person was also the one paying half of my living expenses, so now I’m kind of broke until I find a job.” 

“I’m proud of you for doing something like that, but I’m really sorry, Tzuyu. I would really like to help you, but I - I can’t.” Her voice was shaking, and she couldn’t look directly into the taller girl’s eyes. “Not financially, at least. But, I can try to find something else. A friend of mine is a stylist, you know, the one that elbowed me ? She might be looking for models at the moment. I’m sure that she would find you interesting.” 

She finally looked at Tzuyu’s face. The girl was glowing and Chaeyoung felt better. She gave the taller girl Sana’s number, and gave hers too, if she had other questions. 

The next few months flew by fast. Tzuyu got a job as a model at Sana’s agency, Chaeyoung’s shop started to get a lot more attention, the weather got hotter and hotter. The two young women got closer, texting almost everyday, learning about each other. 

Chaeyoung can pinpoint the exact moment she fell in love with the other woman. She was waiting for her at the park after they agreed to meet up. It was the end of the day, the florist was sleepy, thinking about all the work she had to do the next day. She closed her eyes, trying to rest a little. When she opened them, she saw Tzuyu a few meters away, standing near the edge of the fountain, touching the water with the tip of her fingers. The wind softly blew, and petals from the trees around her surrounded her vision. Tzuyu had moved and was now looking at her, giggling. Chaeyoung, at that exact moment, felt like she had been drugged, enveloped into flowers petals, only seeing Tzuyu eyes and hearing a very soft ‘are you okay ?’.

The next day, she kept asking herself if she had dreamt the whole thing. 

—— 

The two girls were now too busy to even text each other. Tzuyu looks got noticed by a famous agency, as well as Sana’s work, Chaeyoung started taking requests for weddings and any type of events. When everything slowed down for her, she took some time to breath. 

She missed Tzuyu a lot, she realized. 

One night, it was too much. She sent a single text to Tzuyu : ‘I love you’. 

She never got an answer for that text. 
Instead, the next day, she found a bouquet at her door step. 

A bouquet of ambrosia, jonquil and pink camellia.

-- 

(I recommend looking up the meaning of the flowers here !)