Sakura takes a step back and admires her flower arrangement as she smiles proudly, happy with her work. Ever since she was a child, she always dreamed of becoming a florist and had finally reached her goal, now owning her very own flower shop, La Vie En Rose.

Sakura continues her daily chores and begins pruning some flowers that are to be sold. As she is about to cut off an out-of-place leaf, she hears the bell at her door chime, causing her to jump.

To her surprise, she looks up and sees none other than a young and well, quite beautiful woman rush through her door. To be frank, she was in utter awe at her beauty and had to be conscious not to let hang wide open.

“Do you happen to sell flowers by any chance?” The woman says out of breath, leaning on the counter and promptly snapping Sakura out of her trance.

“Well, among other things...yes.” She replies teasingly, almost laughing at how cute the woman is for asking such a question.

After finally catching her breath, the woman explains, “Right. Sorry, it’s an emergency. I need the perfect flowers for my boss’ birthday.”

“Now that I can help you with. Do you know what sort of flowers you’re looking for?”

“Honestly not really, but I want them to lift her mood.”

“I’ve got an idea. How about a small pot of lilies that she can keep on her desk? They should do a good job.”

“Great! Let’s go with that then,” she says smiling, relieved that all turned out well.

Together, they pick out the perfect pot and Sakura begins preparing it. As the awkward silence looms over the two, she feels a pair of intent eyes watching her every move. Thankfully, the woman attempts to break the silence and asks, “So how long have you been working here for? You seem to really know your stuff.”

“Well, quite a few years now. I actually own this store,” Sakura adds with pride.

“Oh wow. Did you always want to be a florist?”

“Definitely, I was always fascinated with the many meanings that flowers carry. Plus, it gives me a great opportunity to meet beautiful people like you,” she confesses before being able to stop herself.

Once more, the awkwardness returns as Sakura ends up blushing and unable to make eye contact with the woman.

To Sakura’s surprise, the woman confidently answers, “Thank you, but you’re quite beautiful yourself,” earning a smile from Sakura and making her feel like a child all over again.

The woman eventually pays for the flowers and Sakura watches her, quite disappointed, as she makes her way out the store. Opening the door and about to leave, she looks back and waves at Sakura with the biggest smile on her face, making Sakura’s heart ever so slightly skip a beat.

After the woman leaves, Sakura turns around and tries to continue pruning the flowers, but she can’t seem to take her mind off the woman. Like an orchid, she seems delicate yet beautiful. Rare yet graceful. Elegant yet humble.

Little did she know that this was only the beginning of her adoration for the woman.

______________

It is two weeks after first meeting that the two encounter each other once again.

Sakura, despite the normal joys of her work, feels exceptionally dejected. Having lost all hope of meeting the woman again, she accepts her fate and precedes with her day-to-day maintenance duties. As she sweeps the floor, she hears the doorbell ring as it usually does. After weeks of frantically greeting the incoming customer, thinking that they were the woman from that day, Sakura no longer feels the same urgency or excitement.

Until she hears a familiar voice.

“Hi! I’m back,” she discerns.

Instantly, Sakura whips her head and sees that it is in fact her, the woman that made her heart race that day.

“Hi. I see you came back. How were the lilies?” She asks, trying to hide the fact that she is in fact shaking uncontrollably.

“The lilies were so beautiful, I can’t express how grateful I am for your help. So I decided, why not come back?”

“Great to hear, what can I help you with today?”

“Um...I want to cheer my friend up, she’s just gone through a break up,” the woman answers, clearly lying. Internally, Sakura wonders, why lie? But chuckles and dismisses the thought.

Nonetheless, she answers, “How about some gladiolus flowers? They represent strength, resilience and could hopefully help your friend feel better. Not to mention they’re stunning,” like you, she manages to refrain from adding.

“Sounds great. I’ll take a bouquet of those thanks.”

As Sakura prepares the flowers, she tries her best to take her time, hoping that she can stretch her time with the woman just a bit longer. Unfortunately, their meeting is once again short as the next thing she knows the woman has paid and is on her way out the door. Turning around to again wave back at Sakura, she flashes her signature smile.

Like a marigold, Sakura feels a sudden emptiness and annoyance at having to wait and wonder when she would encounter the woman next.  

If only she knew she would be seeing a lot more of that charming smile.

______________

A week later, a familiar face walks through the door of La Vie En Rose. At this point, Sakura has already started to fall for her.

Hard.

They go through their usual greetings and the woman claims that this time she is in need of flowers to congratulate her brother on his recent test scores. While Sakura doesn’t quite buy her excuse, she’d give her all the flowers in the world if it meant that she could spend even just a minute with the woman. A woman she doesn’t even know.

She wraps up some heathers, the woman pays and once again, she is unfortunately heading out the door.

As the woman opens the door on her way out, Sakura anticipates her signature smile. Except this time the woman stops in her steps and turns towards Sakura, piquing her curiosity.

“Also, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s your name? I’ve met you quite a few times now and I don’t even know your name,” she inquires with a curious smile.

“Sakura. Miyawaki Sakura,” she somehow confidently answers.

“Well, you’re certainly beautiful like a cherry blossom. Have a good day Miss Miyawaki,” she says, before leaving and Sakura is able to even respond.

After she leaves, Sakura becomes a flustered mess. Her cheeks turn bright red and her heart beat increases tenfold.

No one has ever called her ‘beautiful like a cherry blossom’ before and frankly she’d never expected anyone to, least of all a stranger. Nonetheless, she still feels disappointed at having not had the chance to ask the woman what her name was. Meaning that despite the day’s events, she still remains as the woman.

Reminiscing on the pair’s very few encounters makes Sakura almost jump with excitement and joy. Despite being an absolute stranger, the woman somehow manages to occupy Sakura’s thoughts 24/7. With every customer that walks through the door, she always somehow ends up praying it’d be her, but it isn’t. Sometimes instead of doing her work, she’d even stare attentively at the door, waiting for a certain somebody to walk through.

You see, Sakura was somehow, but surely, in love.

______________

Over the next few weeks, the woman’s visits to Sakura’s flower shop slowly begin to become more frequent.

Her visits seem to go from once every week, to once every few days to quite literally every single day. Each time she comes is sooner than the last.

With every visit, she is also equipped with the best excuses. Usually it’d be a birthday, sometimes it’d be an anniversary. Sakura begins to think, how many friends does she have?!

Sakura even slowly starts to get used to seeing her so often. In fact, seeing her walk through the door everyday almost became second nature to her. She went from losing hope after waiting for weeks, to being constantly on end hoping that she would come, to no longer being surprised and actually feeling quite comfortable in her presence.

At the start of their encounters, she had no name. One day, she became, ‘Miss Miyawaki.’ She barely even has a chance to get used to it because gradually, after the ever frequent visits, she becomes Sakura.

Just, Sakura.

Never in her life did she even think that her name could sound so nice. Never did she think that hearing someone simply call her ‘Sakura’ could make her feel so many different things.

Oddly enough, she never asks the woman what her name is. Or truthfully, she never has the courage to. The next thing she knows it is too late so she figures, I’ll just let it be then.

When she really starts to pay attention though, Sakura begins to realise what kind of person the woman really is and what she truly means to her. You see, everytime Sakura hears the bell chime, her heart skips a beat, as unnatural as it sounds. The woman would flash a smile in her direction and Sakura would forget what she was doing. Even the slowest or rainiest of days could be fixed with a mere 5 minutes with the woman.

At times when she isn’t able to meet the woman, it is purely and utterly...boring. The days run normally, but go by slowly. She’d miss the signature smile that she would always flash on her way out.

And so, Sakura didn’t know when or how it happened, but slowly and surely, she fell in love with her.

One minute she was a stranger, a random person that had rushed through the door, and the next thing she knew she couldn’t stop thinking about her.

So just like that, out of nowhere, Sakura was in love.

______________

Unexpectedly, things start to take a turn for the worst.

Unbeknownst to the turmoil that would soon face her, Sakura rearranges some flowers when the woman makes her daily visit.

A big smile appears on her face as the woman waves and greets her, “Hello Sakura! How’s your day been?”

Much better now that you’re here, she desperately wants to say but instead opts to answer, “Not too bad, how can I help you today? Another anniversary?”

“Ah not today unfortunately,” the woman answers, knowing that her excuses are never believed.

“Actually today I’ve got a much more important issue for you to tackle,” she briefly pauses and continues, “I need the perfect flowers to tell someone that I’m in love with them.” Instantly, Sakura can feel her smile begin to loosen and her heart begin to feel heavy.

She gulps before replying, “Sure. What exactly do you want to say through them?” She asks with her a shaky voice.

“I guess I want to say to her… I love you and I’ve loved you for a while now. All I do is love you and I can’t think of a life where I didn’t love you.”

Tears almost fall out of Sakura’s eyes as she pushes herself to remember, it’s not you.

Attempting to show that she isn’t heartbroken, she adds, “Well in my opinion, roses are the best flowers in terms of love. I think you could go for either simple red roses or multiple different coloured roses which have their own meanings,” forcing herself not to say, but of course a single red rose would be enough to sway my heart.

The woman pauses to think about the crucial decision and as if she can read Sakura’s mind, she decides, “I think I’ll go with a single red rose. I want to be simple and straightforward so that there are no miscommunications.”

“Great, I’ll get it ready for you then,” she answers trying her best to mask the hurt she feels inside.

While cutting the rose’s stem, she can’t help but think, if only I’d be receiving this.

As she wraps the rose in plastic cellophane, she attempts to make small talk and wonders, “So, you’re interested in someone?” unable to bring herself to look the woman in the eye.

The woman responds, “Yeah, she’s amazing. She’s absolutely beautiful and loves what she does. It’s hard not to fall for her. I can feel something special about her and I just want to let her know before I lose my chance.”

Seeing the woman smile to herself, Sakura thinks, God, why did you ask.

“Well, congratulations and I hope everything works out well for you,” she says through her best fake smile, handing the rose to the woman.

As she processes the payment, the awkward silence, much like that from their first encounter, once again returns. That is, until the woman courageously brings up the topic of her name.

“Aren’t you curious about what my name is?” She asks out of the blue, causing Sakura to halt all her actions.

“What do you mean?” She says, quite frankly, panicking.

“It’s just...you’ve never asked me and I’ve never told you,” she says smirking, almost laughing at the hilarity of the fact that weeks had gone by and Sakura still hadn’t asked for her name.

“Ahh. It was a bit too late and didn’t want to make things awkward,” Sakura answers, trying her best to save herself.

The woman smiles charmingly, “Well, I guess we’ll just have to keep this mystery going then,” she teases as she takes the receipt before leaving.

Sakura smiles, trying to mask the hurt of finding out that the woman likes someone else. She doesn’t even have the heart to look up and watch her leave, for the first time missing the woman’s smile.

As soon as she hears the bell ring, she instantly breaks down. 

At first she feels upset that someone already occupies the woman’s heart.

Then she feels jealous. Extremely jealous. Out of all people, why did someone else capture the woman’s heart? She thinks.

Then she simply feels angry. At herself. Angry that she had let herself fall so hard for a stranger she barely even knows. Angry that she had lost her chance before she even got it. Angry that despite everything, she didn’t even know the woman’s name.

Things couldn’t get any worse.

______________

It’s 5pm and Sakura can’t wait to leave.

After the tragic events of the day, there’s nothing she wants more than to return to the safe confines of her own home. She flips the sign on her door to ‘closed’ and begins to clean up the shop.

Reorganising the numerous receipts from the day, Sakura hears the doorbell ring. The sign clearly says ‘closed’, can’t you read?! she thinks agitated.

“Sorry we’re closed for the day. Please come back tomorrow and I can help you then,” she says weakly, not even putting the effort to look up at the person.

“I’m not here to buy something this time.”

That voice. She knows that voice.

Instinctively Sakura whips up her head and sees that it is in fact her. The woman she loved with all her heart. The woman who broke her heart into a million pieces. What could she be doing here? What happened? Sakura frantically worries.

“I have something to say. Something I’ve been wanting to say for a while now, but have only had the courage to do so now.”

Oh my god. Is it my flowers? Are they horrible? Are they ugly?! 

Before she even has the chance to say something, she is stopped as the woman takes something out and holds it in Sakura’s direction.

It is the rose. The red rose.

The red rose, which she thought was the bane of her existence.

Mouth wide open, she never even dreamed of what would happen next. The woman takes a deep breath, braces herself, and says,

“Miyawaki Sakura, my name is Kwon Eunbi and I have fallen in love with you,” she says, holding the familiar flower in front of her.

You, she’s in love with you, Sakura realises as her heart beats a million times a second. Funnily enough, she doesn’t even care as she looks at the woman - Kwon Eunbi - smiling from ear to ear in front of her.

She continues, “Will you do me the honour of accepting my love and giving me a chance to take care of you, to cherish you, to give you the world, and most importantly... to love you?” and hands Sakura the red rose.

It feels as if every single thing in the world has stopped moving. And all that matters is the woman in front of her. Speechless, Sakura’s jaw instinctively drops and her limbs begin to tremble.

With tears falling out of her eyes and her body shaking, Sakura holds her hand.

Gathering up all the courage she never realised she had and should’ve had long ago, she looks her in the eye and simply answers,

“Yes.”