Tzuyu squints her eyes, blinded by the light for a few seconds before she lets out a groan. "...wha...what happened?"

A pretty woman that's sitting right next to her, strangely close, immediately lets go of her hand. "You're awake!"

Tzuyu's head hurts. Her whole body kind of does, really. "Why do I feel like I've been hit by a truck..."

"A car," The stranger corrects and when Tzuyu stares at her, she averts her eyes and looks down at her lap. "My car actually..."

"Oh," Tzuyu suddenly remembers it all: the cool night air, the car, the blinding flashes of light. The brief look she threw back her shoulder before her bike collided with the car. She remembered lying on the cold pavement, the blurry face of the same stranger looking down at her. Then darkness.

She pulls herself up on the bed she now notices she's been lying on, takes a quick look around the room. "Just how long was I out?" She frowns.

"Two days..."

Tzuyu tries not to panic, but her hands shake as she looks around for her phone. She stops searching once she hears a tiny voice, almost too quiet but enough to be heard in the small silent room.

"I'm...I'm really sorry I got you injured." There are tears in the stranger's eyes, Tzuyu notes and before she can say anything, they start to drop one by one.

Tzuyu doesn't know what to reply with. But it's not a surprise because seriously. She didn't even know what to say to her roommate Sana who bawled her eyes out for accidentally eating her bread, just how the hell was she supposed to comfort the person who ran over her with a car?

The pretty stranger releases a shuddering breath and sniffs, "The...the doctor said you don't have any major injuries." She explains as she wipes away at her tears. "I'm really sorry. If there's anything I can do for you– anything at all," Her lips wobble again and her sobs come right back, the crease on her forehead deepening as she cries quietly. She looks down, her short black hair falling around her face.

"You can... stop crying," Tzuyu suggests, and she doesn't mean to sound so cold. Her eyes trail down to the cast on her arm. "I'm okay, I think."

The stranger sniffs again, wiping her cheeks with her fingers. Tzuyu can see that she still wants to cry. "I'm glad," she says softly, a small smile lifting up her lips for a split second before it disappears. She doesn't make eye contact.

There are bags under the pretty stranger's eyes, and Tzuyu is afraid to ask the question that suddenly pops into her mind.  She swallows the fear down and asks anyway, "Have you been here long?"

The question clearly startles the woman– her head snaps up, her eyes wide. She blinks continuously before shaking her head. It messes up her bangs, and Tzuyu pushes down the feel of needing to fix them. "N-No...I–" she stops and holds her breath, then sighs at Tzuyu's unwavering look. She looks down again. "I was just worried. I'm sorry if that creeps you out..."

Tzuyu smiles, "I'm Chou Tzuyu."

The woman finally meets her eyes, although shyly, and very softly she says– as if Tzuyu would break if she spoke louder, "Myoui Mina."

***

Tzuyu needs to rest for a week. The first few days her head feels like someone's constantly hammering her brain. Tzuyu doesn't want to think what would have happened if she wasn't wearing a headgear that day. She doesn't want to think about her bike's current shape either.

She feels sore all over.

Mina comes to visit her everyday. She brings her different flowers each time. Tzuyu finds it cute. Actually, after a few days, she starts to find everything Mina does cute.

She starts looking forward to Mina's visits. And Mina always comes at the same time as any other day, with flowers in her hands and stories to tell. After they find that out they go to the same college, conversations are a lot easier to start.

Mina learns that Tzuyu's a transfer student, which explains the cute accent and many other things. Like why hasn't anyone visited her besides Mina, or why didn't she call her parents– (Tzuyu tells her they would freak out and force her to go back. Mina's suddenly reminded of her own parents. When she reveals she's also a transfer student, Tzuyu's eyes shine incredibly bright.)

"Why isn't a nurse helping you?" Mina asks as she sits down with a bouquet of yellow roses, grimaces at the way Tzuyu struggles to eat using her left hand.

Her hands tremble to hold the spoon correctly but Tzuyu is determined not to spill a drop, "Because I can eat on my own– ah, hey!"

"I get that it's embarrassing to be fed by someone," Mina stirs the soup with the spoon she grabbed from Tzuyu's hands. "But you look even more ridiculous trying to eat on your own. And besides," her eyes settle on Tzuyu's right arm that's in a cast. Waves of guilt crashes against her insides and she swallows hard. "It should be okay for me to do this since..I'm the reason you're..."

Tzuyu holds Mina's wrist and smiles. "I thought we were past that."

Mina's eyes water when she once again sees the bruises along Tzuyu's left arm. It wasn't broken, but it looked somehow more painful. Mina knows there are more of those purple bruises under Tzuyu's hospital gown, on places she can't see.

"Mina," Tzuyu calls out, squeezing her wrist tighter to make the older girl look at her. "You do realize not everyone visits the stranger they get into a car accident with, right? At least not everyday."

"But I–"

"Or brings them flowers? Or books? Food they want?"

"Tzuyu..."

"Or shares their data because the hospital's wifi ." This draws a quiet chuckle from Mina and Tzuyu sits straighter. "Yeah you hit me with your car, it was painful and still kind of hurts but honestly?" Tzuyu grins. "I think meeting you is worth it."

Mina's smile freezes on her face as she looks into Tzuyu's eyes, sees the intense sincerity in them. And they're so close, with Mina sitting on the bed to feed her and Tzuyu still holding her wrist. There's suddenly tension between them, both of them searching the other's eyes without knowing what to look for. Mina holds her breath.

Tzuyu notices the air change, lets go of her wrist and leans back as she swallows hard. "I mean...I don't have many friends here– none actually. So it's really nice to meet someone kind like you who goes to the same college as me. So thank you for doing this. Visiting me and all...that."

She's blushing.

She looks so cute and Mina really wants to but she just smiles and prods Tzuyu's mouth with the spoon instead. "I'm still gonna feed you."

Tzuyu groans but eventually lets Mina feed her. It's awkward, and Tzuyu really wishes she could just grab the bowl and down it all in one go. But she can't, so she pretends like she's focused on the TV the whole time. It doesn't help much, especially not with the low volume. She can't help but still focus on how gentle Mina is as she feeds her.

Mina likes this. Tzuyu's still sort of frowning but it's adorable. With her puffy cheeks each time she accepts the food and her glaring at the TV– she looks like a grumpy toddler.

***

When Tzuyu gets discharged, its on a simple friday night. She's finally out of the hospital gown she came to hate in the past week. She leans against the door frame and takes one last look at her hospital room, every inch of it adorned by flowers. She smiles, and rethinks her decision to leave them behind. But the flowers look like they belong in that room, where Tzuyu opened her eyes and met her.

She grabs a single daffodil from the bunch. It's the bouquet Mina brought today, still lively and fresh. She looks around the room and notes that many of the flowers have wilted, like the purple hyacinths Mina brought on her first day.

"What are you doing?"

The voice makes Tzuyu jump a little before she turns around and smiles at the soft expression that greets her. "Nothing. Let's go."

Tzuyu moves to grab her bags from Mina's hands but the older girl doesn't let her. "Nuh-uh, I'm not letting you do that."

Tzuyu rolls her eyes as she follows Mina down the corridor. "My left arm is perfectly fine, you know."

Mina shakes her head, her bangs swaying one way to the other. "You still haven't completely healed and besides, you're holding a flower."

"I can carry more than one flower, Mina." Tzuyu attempts to grab the bags again but Mina moves them away. "You're driving me home, at least let me do this."

Mina frowns. "Who said I'm driving?"

"You did. Literally two minutes ago."

"I said I'll drop you home. I didn't say anything about driving." Then she mumbles, "Never doing that again."

Tzuyu stops walking. Mina notices a bit late but still turns back. "What?"

"You never drove after...?"

She averts her eyes and wets her lips. Her palms start to get a little sweaty and she finds it harder to hold the bags. "No."

A few steps forward. "Mina," Tzuyu smiles before lifting Mina's chin, the older's eyes already watery. "Accidents happen. It's okay."

"I know," Mina's voice gets even quieter as she starts to lose confidence in keeping it still. "I just can't– I can't get the image out of my head..." Her hands come up to hide her face and a few tears fall but Mina subtly brushes them away.

Tzuyu grabs her in a hug, the cast on her right arm preventing them from pulling each other close. She whispers into Mina's hair. "It's alright. Everything's okay now."

Mina sniffles, accidentally catching the scent of Tzuyu's sweet perfume as she buries her face in her shoulder.

***

It's four months later when somehow it becomes Tzuyu's turn to take care of Mina. Her fear of driving cars gets bigger as time goes by, and it isn't until she's afraid of even getting into a car she accepts to go to therapy. Tzuyu and the rest of her friends are very supportive–

"You two are crazy." Nayeon makes a face as she crosses her arms.

"What?" Tzuyu grabs her bag and puts it in the little basket in front of her bike. "She feels better this way." She hands a headgear to Mina and smiles before putting her own on.

Nayeon sighs. They're so dumb. Dumbly in love and they don't even realize it. "How is sitting in a car scary but riding a bike on the road isn't?"

Tzuyu shrugs as she gets on the bike. She feels Mina settle behind her, her arms wrapping around her securely. "Technically, I ride the bike. Mina just sits at the back."

"Therapy isn't close to here, you–" Nayeon sighs louder this time, getting even more frustrated. "You can't just go to another part of the city on a bike! Just take a cab. I'll pay for it, oh my god."

Mina tightens her hold on Tzuyu's waist, staying quiet as usual. She wants to say hugging Tzuyu makes her feel safer, but she doesn't want to be a hindrance. She doesn't want to get teased either. And it's true, Tzuyu gets too tired whenever they ride. And Tzuyu rides her everywhere. Home, campus, mall. Whenever and wherever she needs to be. Mina feels bad for it, but Tzuyu insists she loves the new bike Mina bought for her and wants to ride it all the time. 'It's good exercise!' she says. Mina doesn't believe her but Tzuyu's quite persuasive.

"It's fine. Thank you though," Mina's eyes widen when the bike starts to move and Tzuyu pedals away. "I like it when Mina's hugging me!" She shouts back at the older girl. Mina leans her head against her back and smiles shyly.

As they get further and further away, Nayeon scoffs in disbelief and shouts back, "You guys are so in love! It's really disgusting!"

Mina and Tzuyu are too far away to hear her though.

***

"Mina you're so hot, ugh. If you ran over me, I'd sincerely thank you."

Mina sighs but there's a hint of smile on her lips. "Tzuyu please find a new joke. That one is getting too old."

"What? It's not old!" Tzuyu's eyes widen.

Mina chuckles. She gently cups Tzuyu's cheeks and pecks her lips, "It's been six years, love. We're married."

"You do have a point there." Giggling, Tzuyu lifts her up. Mina's legs wrap around her waist. When Tzuyu nuzzles Mina's neck and draws sweet laughter from her wife, they lose their balance and fall down on the couch.

The red camellias Tzuyu brought home that evening lies gracefully on the couch next to them as they share a few kisses, unable to deepen them because of how much they're laughing.

The flower meanings:

Yellow roses: "get well", "cheer up", joy

Purple hyacinths: "please forgive me", sorrow, regret

Daffodils: new beginnings, forgiveness, memory

Red camellias: eternal love, passion, union between lovers, desire