Joohyun's eyes lingered on the flower shop, a beautiful cluster of blossoms and vines overtook the glass pane, yet colorful petals of somewhat hidden flowers managed to shine through the window. It gave Joohyun a naive sense of hope, seeing flowers seize back their home, to see vines with colorful blossoms growing between the cracks of the modern world seemed to lull her into a sense of serenity. Despite the fact that they had their home seized, trees were ripped and replaced with stone, they always managed to survive, and in that way Joohyun envied their tenacity.  

She stepped into the small store, inhaling deeply, smiling when the gentle scent of petals twirled around her nostrils. The air seemed to flush into her lungs and quickly drift back out, carrying the filth and weight she carried deep within her lungs. 

"Good morning." a voice greeted from somewhere behind the counter. 

"Good morning." she replied as she wandered throughout the store, her fingers delicately trailed across the petals, occasionally traveling lower and wrapping around the bright green stems.

She raised a pink carnation from the bundles of flowers, her eyes trailed across its multiple folds and creases, her fingers gently rubbed the ends of the petals, frowning only for a second when she noticed the pink dye on the pads of her fingers. She picked two, clutching them tightly in between her fists as she strolled closer to the softer camellias. They were rounder in shape, far less crinkled looking than the carnations they looked as if they had been pressed and pounded into perfection. 

She felt a gentle nudge, she looked down to see a small dog rubbing its white fur onto her pants. A strike of fear drove through her chest and landed in the centermost point of her heart, she yelped and dove onto the nearest table, despite her hand being tightly curled around the flowers she managed to catch a few pots filled with dirt and blossoms before they turned into shattered pieces of clay on the ground. 

"Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ!" she repeated through quick gasps as her chest flew rapidly.

A young woman walked into Joohyun's view, a green apron hung from her tall frame as she approached the two. In a quick and seamless swoop she managed to pull the dog from the ground and into her arms as she seemed to assess the damages. 

"You okay?" she asked as she pulled Joohyun off the dusty table. 

Joohyun took a shaky breath before speaking, "Yeah... Yeah I think I'm fine." 

"She usually doesn't scare people, sorry about that." the florist replied 

"Really?" Joohyun asked with a sigh. 

The florist laughed, "She's like the size of your face, what's there to be scared of?" 

"Teeth, claws, rabies." Joohyun replied as she dusted herself off. 

"All irrational." she said as she began to walk away.

"Wait, I didn't happen to catch your name."

The florist turned and gave her a smile, "Sooyoung." 

Her eyes trailed down to Joohyun's curled fist, she blinked for a few seconds before glancing back up to the older woman. "You must really hate flowers if you hold them like that."

She gently placed the dog down, who quickly ran to rest within the shadows of the large bouquets of roses. While Sooyoung's hand reached out to Joohyun's, her fingers were slender and warm, not bony in the slightest but rather smooth and plump in the most perfect way. Her slender fingers curled around her fist, slowly and surely peeling her cold fingers away from the nearly crushed stems.

"Damn." Sooyoung cursed under her breath as she examined the flowers.

"Sorry, I'm pretty sure I crushed them..."

"Don't worry about it." said Sooyoung as she dropped the flowers into the trash, the smaller brunette visibly cringed, she stretched outwards nearly toppling over in her attempts to catch the flowers.

"Woah, calm down," the younger woman reassured as she rested her hands on Joohyun's shoulders, "We have plenty of flowers, there's a thousand more of those, millions even."

She gulped slowly, internally scolding herself. "Sorry."

"What flowers were you wanting?" she asked, turning away from Joohyun and to the baskets that were hammered onto the walls, they were overfilling with flowers of various origins and colors. Pastel pinks and purples blended into a portrait of color in one corner, while red and pink roses seemed to blossom in their own glory near the window where sunlight scattered through.

"Pink carnations and camellias." she replied, losing herself within the blossoming flowers and their glowing petals.

An unnatural silence filled the shop, Sooyoung turned, her eyes narrow and her eyebrows scrunched. She wasn't frightening in the slightest, but a sense of betrayal seemed to ignite within her eyes.

"You're the thief." Sooyoung said with a quiet gasp, the younger woman slid across the table, her slender legs managed to knock down an array of dark crimson roses, sending a tidal wave of red petals flying towards Joohyun. She quickly pressed herself against the older woman, her eyes lit with fury as her hands slammed Joohyun's pale arms into the rack of snapdragons behind her, causing a sea of plastic crates to crash into each other.

"I- What?" she sputtered, fighting against Sooyoung's metal like grip on her wrists.

"Someone's been stealing my pink carnations and camellias, and only those flowers, and I always see a short Korean brunette leave with them." she hissed.

"We live in Seoul! Everyone here is a short brunette Korean!" Joohyun yelled.

"Don't play games with me lady. I know it was you," she replied with an unamused look, she stabbed her finger into Joohyun's sternum, "You wore that flannel the last time you came in here and stole my flowers."

"."

" indeed. Who are you stealing these flowers for anyways?" she asked, but she quickly jumped away from questioning and straight into demands. "Show her to me. I want to see who your risking the next couple months of your life for."

Bitter fear rose in similar to acid burning bile, her chest tightened and released all at once, sending shockwaves of burning pain throughout her chest. Her quick and sharp thrashes had died and a new yet weak shake was born, her hands convulsed despite Sooyoung's tight grip, her pale fingers twitched in the air as she desperately avoided Sooyoung's piercing stare. 

Joohyun's words began to stutter and shake, "You, I- You don't want to meet her."

"I do. Show me the way thief," the taller woman said with a smirk as she tightly grabbed a few of each desired flower and then clasped hands with her and nearly yanked her out the shop.

Joohyun weakly pointed towards the more uncharted areas of Seoul, and mumbled meekly. "Let's go."

Sooyoung smiled and patted her thigh to call for the white dog to follow them closely. 

"Damn, we're getting into the weird parts of Seoul. This girl better be pretty enough for this walk to be worth it." Sooyoung muttered as she was dragged into a small gated community.

"You're the one who wanted to see her."

She groaned audibly, "Could you at least tell me what she’s like?"

Joohyun smiled widely, "She has the beautiful voice, it's as if Aphrodite were whispering into your ear. I swear she's Aphrodite herself, there's no way she could be only human. People like her, they don't exist as humans. They're the people you read about in books, people that are too good to be true, too beautiful to exist. Too divine to even be considered human."

"So you're a poet and a thief?" Sooyoung joked, but her words quickly died and turned bitter in as her head began to swivel left to right, they had passed by large metal fences that seemed to guard against absolutely nothing, not a single bird chirped nor did the sound of kids laughing fill her ears as they did before, it seemed as if time had melted and slipped from the grips of the universe, not a single thing seemed right about anything. She froze, her eyes widening as she tried to free herself from the older woman's grasp. But Joohyun's grip was secure, her fingers digging into the muscles of Sooyoung's hand, and the older woman tugged her forwards.

"We're almost there, just a few more seconds." Joohyun said with determination as she veered forwards, nearly dragging the younger woman behind her.

They approached a secluded area of the fenced-in field, she watched as Joohyun nearly stumbled forwards, her eyes had become glossy and reflective while her voice lingered on the precipice of total destruction. 

"We're here..." she said as her determination seemed to crumble and shatter before her eyes, she felt it impale into the supple flesh of her thighs, sending a shooting pain all the way up to her heart. 

"Hey baby," Joohyun murmured softly, unclasping her hand from Sooyoung’s and slowly bending to the ground, "Sorry I was little late."

Sooyoung stepped backwards, her eyes widened as her grip on the flowers tightened. "I'm sorry, God... I didn't know..."

"Ah, don't be rude. Introduce yourself." Joohyun scolded as she patted the ground beside her, her eyes kind and gentle yet exhausted. 

Sooyoung took a shaky step towards the sitting woman, her breaths came out ragged and uneven as she sat next to Joohyun. Her eyes peered into the hunk of perfectly carved stone and she swore she felt her heart shatter in her chest, sharp edges cutting into her ribs as smaller pieces found themselves lodged within the corners of her chest. 

Her eyes stared at the block of stone in front of her. It was beautiful if she did say so herself, it was a smooth block of granite that been precisely sanded to curve at the top, to form a perfect half circle. Another slab of granite extended from the foot of the headstone and reached where Joohyun's hands had been resting. In a divine script it wrote:

Here lies Kang Seulgi.

And all the things that could’ve been.

Her eyes slowly grazed over Seulgi, and over again. Letting each letter slowly dissolve in , the taste of tragedy and lingering sorrow flooded her tastebuds but despite the taste she remained stubborn, she forced her tongue to caress each curve and edge of her name, allowing her tongue to become well acquainted with the woman before she softly murmured, "Hello Seulgi... I'm Sooyoung." 

The weight of the flowers had begun to tug on her arm, the settling scent of sweet petals had turned jaded and began to sting her nose. She moved the bundle of flowers onto the smooth stone with such care she felt each of her muscles twitch and stretch with each movement of her fingers.

"I heard you liked flowers. We brought some for you." she said weakly.

"She was more beautiful than any flower. But I guess these will do till I can meet her again." said Joohyun with a weak smile as she stared at the stone with a slight edge of longing.

"I'm sure she could out-bloom any flower" Sooyoung replied with a reassuring glance.

"It makes sense now..." Sooyoung mumbled quietly as they walked from the gate.

"What does?"

"The flowers you chose," she said, "Pink camellias, they represent longing for someone. Pink carnations mean 'I'll never forget you.'"

The smaller woman nodded slowly, "She said I should make everything have meaning. To live, is to find meaning within the smallest of things. She said that's how people live the happiest lives."

"Next time, bring forget me nots and hibiscus roses, tea and red roses and sweet peas," Sooyoung began, "Maybe zinnias, or blue violets, plenty of daffodils-"

Joohyun turned to the florist with tearful eyes yet with a weary smile. "Can you help me make a bouquet for her? If you want you can come with me... Seulgi always loved to meet people."

"I'd love to see Seulgi again." Sooyoung replied with a smile as the distant chirps of birds filled the empty space surrounding them.  

I lowkey love Joyrene and I might write a one-shot for them soon, but till then have this lmao. Also let me know what you think ;). 

Based off the prompt: 

Sometimes I steal flowers from your garden on my way to the cemetery, but today you've caught me and have demanded to come with me to make sure the "girl is pretty enough to warrant flower theft" and I'm trying to figure put how to break it to you that we're on our way to a graveyard.