Her hands were clammy as she reached for the pen. Aeri wrote the next thing she noticed in her dream. A beige coat. Black umbrella. There was something else. She tapped the pen against her chin. Ah of course, there was a cluster of red salvia pinned to the mantle of his coat. She wondered where he got the flower. Perhaps he would meet her before the commotion? Aeri had tried to see if she recognised the street but nothing was clear in the rain. 

    Aeri sighed as she scribbled the final details. “What if this dream isn't even true?” A strange sentiment overwhelmed her. It was as empty as a void, a wasteland filled with loss and dread. Each time Aeri had the dream, she woke up in tears. How could something as simple as a dream induce such emotions in her? Why did she wake with her heart hammering against her chest, and her lips crying Eunwoo’s name? Why were her eyes bleary with tears, and her body shivering in trepidation of what happened?

    It did not seem right. It did not seem right that the same dream replayed in her mind, and with each sequence, it returned more vivid and more alive. The last image haunted her; Eunwoo, with glassy eyes. Blood on his forehead. Aeri shivered, shaking her head. Her hands joined together. 

    “I promise I won’t let that happen to him,” she whispered. “I promise to protect him.” 

The pact she made solidified in words of prayer. Aeri rose with the dawn and started the day fresh. The world was lost in a blanket of fog. Behind the groveling sounds of cars and buses, the city breathed with the dull morning. People, with obstinate faces, crossed her flowership; their thoughts drifted in the day’s miasma. 

    Aeri tended to her flowers. Her fingers swept over their silky frames. Their colours bloomed, almost as bright as sunshine, in the darkness of her flower-shop. What gloomy days passed their city. She smiled as she regarded each flower, as if it carried a personality of its own. Aeri dedicated rigorous hours in studying their language. Each flower had a meaning, and the different colours it carried meant something unique.     

    She often grew giddy with joy at the prospect of sending messages through flowers and bouquets. She doubted people spent as much time as she did in understanding her secret messages. But for Aeri, it inspired her in a world painted in monotone and grey. The bells on the door rang as her first customer stepped inside. Aeri’s foster mother, Elmyra, stepped forward to greet her. 

    And so their day began. 

It was a quiet day. People resorted less to flower-shops at the end of autumn. Apart from funeral arrangements, Aeri had little interaction with couples. Once silence reached them, she and Elymra settled to have some jasmine tea. She inhaled their arid scent, smiling at the bittersweet taste. 

    “It’s great that Eunwoo finally got his case sorted,” said Elmyra, reading through the papers. 

“He was really stressed about it,” said Aeri. “I’m glad he can finally get some rest.” 

She thought about those endless nights. He would sit in his office and call her, and tell her how he longed to shut his eyes and sleep. It did not help either that Jaehyun had relapsed and was back in the hospital. 

    “It’s such a shame that kids these days drink and drive,” Elymra said, frowning with disappointment. She turned the pages. “It was right for Eunwoo to get him a long sentence. Someone died because that boy didn’t control his desires.” 

    Aeri traced the rim of her cup. “Mom, there is something I should tell you.” 

Elymra paused over the next page. She peered over the edge of the newspaper, eyebrows knitted and perplexity evident in her shining eyes. “Is it your dream again?” 

    “Yes, and it’s the same thing. Just, a little more detailed than before.” 

“Did you write everything down?” Elymra watched her with such determination that Aeri intended on explaining everything. She had always been adept with her special powers, and nobody seemed to believe she had a sixth sense, connected with the realm of the unknown. Elymra had alway encouraged her to never suppress her abilities, and her support kept Aeri in touch with her spiritual nature. 

    “I did, and this time, I made a promise to myself.” Aeri placed her cup on the table. Eunwoo’s death replayed in her mind, and she shivered. “I will not let him die, mom. I must do whatever I can to protect him.” 

    Elymra’s features softened. She gazed at Aeri like a parent who admitted defeat. “If that is what you wish, Aeri. But remember, I don’t want you putting yourself in trouble either. I think it’s time to tell Eunwoo about your dream.” 

    Aeri clasped her hands together. Elymra motivated her inner calling. It was perhaps destiny that the dreams came to her. With a spring in her step, she embraced her mother and they resumed their work amidst the world’s most beautiful colours. The flowers danced around her, greeted her. They called out to her. They spoke to her in a language both wordless and without sound. Yet she was the only one who beckoned to their bashful endeavours. As evening approached, Aeri received a text from Eunwoo. 

    He had a peculiar way of texting with one or two word answers. 

I’m coming.

That did not matter to Aeri. Eunwoo’s soul spoke more than his words. They spent so many years together, even in the days when she was still in the orphanage, so she knew him more than he knew himself. She could run a map of his soul like the lines on his palm. She understood the clockwords and tools of his heart more than he understood the workings of his mind. The recesses of his thoughts, the labyrinths of his generosity, the in