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Disclaimer: The title has nothing to do with this story. I just wanted to say it for a certain er out there.

Also, picture is taken from the prompt post of how the bouquet would look like. But I changed the Foxgloves with Narcissus (Daffodils).

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᠁

 

Working in a flower shop has its charms.

 

To Minnie, it feels very therapeutic to tend the blossoming plants she’s nurtured like children as she rearranges them on the storefront’s display. And the simple domesticity of meeting customers, both regular and new, every day is truly a welcomed experience.

 

She enjoys the occasional small talk being exchanged over a thoughtfully-wrapped bouquet of delicate flowers with each visit, and the stories that are swapped in-between conversations about the recent happenings in their lives – good or bad, joyful or miserable – before she hands them the beautiful, fragrant bundles that have been made with meticulous care.

 

All in all, the job provided a calm, relaxing atmosphere from the constant bustling of the outside world. That, and also good money. Minnie Nicha loves the tranquility that comes with her work, and she can’t be any more thankful for being trusted to handle the shop after her aunt retired from the business to move into the countryside with the rest of her family.

 

A humble venture that was passed down from her late grandmother, the flower shop Minnie works at has bloomed from an obscure, family-owned corner store into a respected local fixture. In an ordinary town lined with cobblestone paths, storey-high buildings, and every block dotted with trees, Minnie revels in the environment of her craft. Bright eyes envisaged the harmonious, whilst sedulous fingers kissed the dovelike and fragile; assorted the beautiful and exotic. A native in Western and Southern Eastern flower language, the Thai girl learned what her hands could do other than grip and fumble, dismantle and scrawl.

 

Every morning, Minnie would get up from bed to prepare for the day, button up her white uniform, put on a black apron, and slip her hands into a pair of cloth gloves before fulfilling orders and manning the counter.

 

On slow days, she would maintain and replace the bouquets by the display windows, sneak peeks at whatever new book she’s been reading, or arrange flower designs based on patron requests. On busy days, she would assist customers in sorting out the best flowers or bouquets for their situation and bond with them over idle but kind chatter. She’ll come out of the store smelling fragrant, hair and clothes specked with tiny flecks of pollen, and her apron streaked with smudges of dirt.

 

On busy days, Minnie feels like she has seen the humanity in daily life. Teaching her in a way that neither university nor school could’ve ever hoped to touch upon. She’s learned from the people who steeped in celebration and mourning, hope and regret. Whether it was opening the door to a new relationship or marking the end of one for closure, many of them sought to convey their feelings where words sometimes failed – in the form of gifts made of nature’s own.

 

A far cry from the frantic, fast-paced demands of the city life she was once a part of during her youth, Minnie found a steady, soothing rhythm in the cozy flower shop nestled in this calm town.

 

However, things couldn’t stay so simple this way for very long.

 

᠁

 

A slow day has crept up on the flower shop. Sunlight streams in from the windows, tinged variegated as it passes through the flowers by the storefront before getting soaked up by the modern yet homely interior. And for Minnie, well, today seemed like any other work shift on a normal slow-moving afternoon.

 

But never in her wildest imaginations did she expect a fuming girl, who looks as lovely and vibrant as the healthiest sunflowers flourishing in the wake of summer, to come barging right into her quiet shop just to slap a crisp 10,000 won bill on her marble-top counter and demand –

 

“How do you say ‘ you’ in flower? It’s super important.”

 

Poor Minnie was almost startled out of her skin from the brash entrance that she nearly pricked her finger on the thorns of a velvet-red rose from someone’s “Happy 7th Anniversary!” bouquet.

 

“Oh my God.” Minnie stumbles back a step, clutching at her chest as if to calm her racing heart instead of immediately responding. The customer who looks enraged enough to induce a seems to acknowledge this, though, and merely waits for the florist to right herself.

 

“I’m so sorry, um…” Minnie takes a deep breath in order to collect her scattered thoughts, but her mind already seems to be processing the odd question. “Did—Did you just say ‘ you’?”

 

“In flower, yes.” The other girl confirms while rapping her fingers loudly on the countertop. Not because she’s impatient (although this is partly the reason), but because her temper at a certain groupmate of hers is boiling over the damn pot right now and she’s saving that eventual blow-up for their meeting later.

 

“I wanna say ‘ you’ with a bouquet. At least, in the most passive-aggressive way possible. You can do that, yeah?”

 

“Y-Yes. Yes, of course.” Minnie replies hastily, far too worried she might piss off the raging bull even further and have all that anger misdirected towards her instead. “If you don’t mind me asking, may I know what it’s for?”

 

Blondie seems more than eager to vent about her current source of distress.

 

“Okay, so my groupmate—this lousy , oompa-loompa reject of an incel—hasn’t done in our midterms project that’s due within, like, a week. Then he had the absolute gall to spam my Discord PMs asking me how our annotated bibliography was going so far, ‘cause this motherer didn’t so much as open the Google docs link I’ve shared in our group chat days ago. The only commitment he’s ever made is pestering me every day with ‘Yuqi this, Yuqi that’ like the annoying that he is, and I have half the mind to just block his crusty face off of my convos list.”

 

This girl (Yuqi, apparently) seethes with unbridled frustration, speaking as if this person had said something to offend her ancestors when she goes off once more like a machine gun on high velocity.

 

“Like, deadass, he just goes offline or seenzones our messages without bothering to provide a single, helpful contribution for the stupid paper, other than copy-pasting a PDF link to some bull article that isn’t even related to our topic! I swear to God, he must’ve been dropped as a baby and lost his brain cells from it.”

 

Funnily enough, the perpetual scowl on her face didn’t seem threatening at all. As a matter of fact, Minnie found it to be quite adorable. Like something that can be compared to an angry poodle. An angry, foul-mouthed poodle with the fury of a thousand suns.

 

Yuqi, huh? Cute name for a cute girl.

 

Minnie hums in thought as she takes a better look at her peculiar customer. The blond-haired, plump-cheeked, round-faced, almond-eyed beauty who is as flawless and sculpted to perfection as an artisan porcelain doll – and Minnie begins to sweat in the presence of this girl. This absolute masterpiece of a human being, who looks so boyishly attractive in her washed-out denim jacket and white tee ensemble.

 

“I can pay you extra, if I have to. I could care less about my bank account taking a plunge, so long as Oompa-Loompa knows just how much I hate his ing guts right now.” Yuqi growls, and Minnie is drawn to the way that her tenor voice rumbles in . So deep, so raspy. “I got an to show up proper, so take all the damn time you need too.”

 

She snarls then. And, oh, what lovely white teeth she has.

 

“Alright, well, I’ll see what I can do. This is my first time I’ve gotten an order like this, so I’m a bit more than surprised.” Minnie humors with a small laugh, sweet like honeysuckle, as she steals another furtive glance at Yuqi.

 

While the florist has seen many attractive customers in her time of managing the shop, none of them were as jaw-droppingly gorgeous as Yuqi. This walking firecracker of a person who came bursting through her storefront door like a powerhouse, eyes blazing with the force of a solar flare and looking as if she was one teeny-tiny up away from physically assaulting someone. But, despite the murderous intent of her glower and her seemingly hot-headed disposition, something about Yuqi’s unmatched visuals and fiery aura has Minnie intrigued by her. Very much so.

 

When it comes to doing her job, however, the Thai does it in earnest. And thus, she wastes no more time rifling through her mental archives for a possible bouquet that would fit Yuqi’s, err… requirements.

 

Silence ensues between them until a soft sigh cuts it short.

 

“Hey, uh… Sorry if I’m being rude or whatever. And for, you know, acting like some huge with no filter on. I’m not very good at handling my temper sometimes.”

 

Yuqi suddenly apologizes in a much calmer tone, one hand tucked into the pocket of her jeans while the other runs through her dyed hair. The action draws Minnie’s attention to the cornrows braided on the left side of her head, which are partly concealed by the flaxen locks slipping between the gaps of Yuqi’s fingers before cascading down her shoulders in one fluid motion. Smooth and gentle as flowing water. Minnie would be lying if she said she wasn’t mesmerized by the movements, the aesthetic and almost picturesque beauty of those rogue strands falling over Yuqi’s face; like an art form of sorts.

 

If Minnie had to describe the personification of Amaryllis, it was standing right before her.

 

“Oh, don’t worry. You’re fine.” She waves off with a kind smile. “I’m sorry you have to deal with such a troublesome groupmate, though. Sounds like it really .”

 

“Totally. God, you have no idea.” Yuqi huffs in irritation, but the corner of her plump lips tick upward into a fraction of a smile that has Minnie’s heart skipping a beat.

 

Flustered, the florist distracts herself by kneeling behind the counter to pick through a shelf. It’s been a while since she last received an order that required her to consult her aunt’s trusty flower guidebook for reference, so the prospect of creating an entirely different bouquet unlike anything she’s ever made has Minnie feeling quite excited. She flips through the old, browned pages and mentally lists down the handful of choices that would suit the arrangement she has in mind.

 

“In the meantime, would you like to add a card to your order? A message perhaps?” Minnie offers politely.

 

“Hell yeah. I got a message for that er, and damn right am I going to be sincere about it.” Yuqi’s wrath is switched on again, but thankfully to a much lesser degree. Her growl runs along Minnie’s skin, however, probably even rumbling the shop.

 

“What message do you want me to put on it?” The Thai asks, her chuckle laced with amusement.

 

“Unless you square up and actually do the you’re supposed to do, you’re getting a big fat F in your peer evaluation. F because you’re ING USELESS. All capitals, please.” The blonde tells her. Then, as an afterthought, she promptly adds. “Sincerely, Song Yuqi. Aka, the one who’s carrying your freeloader like everyone else because no other group wants to take you in.”

 

Although she tries not to show it, Yuqi’s brutal frankness takes Minnie aback just a little.

 

Among all the nerve-wracked admirers, hopeless romantics, and poetic partners in her clientele, she’s never met anyone as painfully and unapologetically straightforward as this girl. Blunt, but with a sharp tongue. It’s a very refreshing change, to be honest.

 

“And what about the name of the recipient?”

 

“Oompa-Loompa,” Yuqi answers right away. “Short as my temper and small as his size. ‘Cause he acts cocky, but has nothing to show off.”

 

Mellifluous laughter floats out from Minnie’s pink rosewood lips. “Creative. I like that.”

 

“Thank you. Finally, someone who recognizes my genius.” Yuqi spreads her arms out dramatically, which draws out another sweet laugh from the florist as she closes the guidebook in her hands before tucking it away.

 

“I think I have what you’re looking for. Unfortunately, there’s no exact translation in flower for your, um, intentions. But I can still whip you up with something close!”

 

Minnie weaves around the counter and through the sea of exotic flora in her shop, fingers fanning out in waves and plucking out the right ones for the job as she goes to eye them critically, whilst Yuqi has pivoted around to watch her from where she’s leaning against the counter. The blond-haired beauty can hear Minnie mumbling out the names of each flower she picks up and couldn’t suppress the smile that grows on her face when the florist comes back with the perfect combination in her grasp.

 

“I figured we’d go Western for this one, so I think these will do the job nicely.”

 

Minnie then gestures at the colorful bundle she’s holding up.

 

“Now, here we’ve got Geranium for ‘stupidity’, Meadowsweet for ‘uselessness’, orange lilies for ‘hatred’, and some yellow carnations for ‘you have disappointed me’. I even threw in a few Narcissus flowers too. Named after the hunter in Greek mythology who was so vain, he fell in love with his own reflection in a river. They send that ‘you only care about yourself’ message, which really fits with how selfish he’s being by letting your group carry all his workload for him.”

 

For someone who looks like an angel, the wide grin that splits across Yuqi’s face is borderline devilish. “Yes. That’s beyond perfect.”

 

“Glad it fits the bill,” Minnie says as she brings the flowers back to her spot behind the counter. “Can’t say I know how to feel about my bouquet being used for something this savage, but it’s none of my business anyway.”

 

She’d always imagine who the recipient of the flowers were or what kind of emotions they would be feeling whenever she talks to the person sending the gift. And for however interesting Yuqi’s temper is, Minnie thinks that her anger is completely justified. She can only (somewhat) pity the guy who will be receiving this war declaration of a bouquet.

 

“I’ll just arrange these before cleaning and wrapping them up, then you can tell me how you like it. Okay?”

 

“Fine by me.” Yuqi shrugs. She seems a lot more placated than when she first entered the shop. Relaxed too.

 

They lapse back into a more peaceful silence as Minnie gets to work, fingers already nudging and brushing apart the flowers with care and precision. Like a parent fussing over a child’s hair. At some point, she starts casually humming a tune to one of her favorite Troye Sivan songs while deftly t the uneven stems with a pair of scissors from her apron’s pocket. One to two inches above the end of each stalk at a sharp and clean angle, just as her aunt had taught her.

 

“How’s this?” She holds out a tentative arrangement with both hands for Yuqi to appraise. Upon glancing up at her, though, Minnie belatedly realizes how Yuqi seems to be paying more attention to the florist than the bouquet she’s here for.

 

“Looks really good.”

 

Yuqi stares right at her as she says this, calm and straightforward. Heat splashes across Minnie’s face as her cheeks dust pink, and a strange feeling begins to roll itself around in her chest. Warm and fuzzy. It must’ve come across her expression because Yuqi’s facial muscles tighten in what appears to be panicked alarm, which forces Minnie to abruptly look down at her bouquet of loathing – to double-check it, of course.

 

“G-Great! I mean, sometimes it takes a couple of tries for me to get the right arrangement before the customer’s satisfied with it. So, I’m—I’m glad that you like it!” Minnie squeaks, or maybe babbled, before swallowing. “Would, uh, plastic be okay for the wrapping? Or would you like parchment paper instead?”

 

“Plastic’s fine. Suits his type of personality, actually.” Yuqi answers with a small grunt, so Minnie ducks out of sight to cut a square of plastic wrapping.

 

The Thai wishes she could clap her cheeks to get a grip. She wouldn’t lose her professionalism over an attractive customer maybe flirting with her. It was probably accidental anyway, she tries to convince herself.

 

Minnie zeroes in on doing her job right – attempting to block out the fact that the customer watching her is preposterously cute, and that she’s hopelessly gay – all in the name of work ethic. But as she goes to add the final touch-ups in wrapping the customized bouquet, the blonde stops her by requesting if Minnie can use a brown ribbon instead of the usual white or beige.

 

“Brown is the color of , and he’s a piece of . Just wanna get that message across too.” Yuqi wears an all-too proud grin at this, which evokes a soft giggle from the ever-amused florist.

 

“Got it.”

 

It doesn’t take long for the flowers to be wrapped up meticulously, nestled in a clean plastic wrap with a brown evebbon holding them together in a neat bow. Minnie carefully places it on top of the counter where Yuqi is waiting and rings up the bill for payment.

 

“To think, I’d actually go out of my way to spend more than 10k on a ‘ you’ bouquet for someone I hate.” Yuqi simpers with a hearty chuckle. “It’s beautiful, though, not gonna lie.”

 

Folding her arms across the countertop, Minnie leans over it with her head tipped to one side and a smirk playing on her lips. “Pretty good for my first attempt, huh?” She playfully quips. “A bouquet telling someone they’re a stupid, self-centered, unreliable sack of and you hate their guts? I think that’s as direct as flowers can get.”

 

“Yeah, totally. Thanks so much… Minnie. Minnie Nicha.” Yuqi reads off the silver name tag pinned to the florist’s black apron. “Nice name, by the way.”

 

Said girl blushes from the charming smile directed towards her, the kitty curls out and showing on the corners of Yuqi’s mouth, as Minnie’s heart does a little flip at the compliment. “Thank you. Y-Your name is… It’s really nice too. Song Yuqi, right?”

 

“Yup,” The other girl confirms with a small popping sound. “Hot-head extraordinaire. At least, when it comes to freeloading groupmates.”

 

They share a lighthearted laugh after that before Minnie proceeds to write Yuqi’s not-so pleasant message on a white card with a ballpoint pen. However, she’s quickly halted again by another request. “Actually, can I do that instead? I’m gonna write super hard that it dents, and the er can see just how mad I was when I wrote it.”

 

Minnie stifles another laugh. “Be my guest.”

 

She slides both the empty card and the pen over, mirth dancing behind her turquoise contacts when she catches the determined flare reigniting itself in Yuqi’s brown doll eyes. In all her years of existence, she’s never seen anyone who looks so… passionately aggressive when writing something, so it’s more than entertaining to watch how Yuqi pours all of her bottled-up anger into scribbling down each word in thick, jagged lettering.

 

Once Yuqi is finished digging the pen’s tip to the point of nearly ripping the paper, Minnie tapes the back of the card and sticks it just above the bow. Right where it can be seen in all its outraged glory. “There you go. All done.”

 

She assumes that Yuqi would take her leave then after grabbing her purchase, but the latter surprises her yet again by asking one more thing –

 

“How do you say ‘I want to take you out on a date’ in flower?”

 

Somehow, the question deflates Minnie’s mood a bit as her heart sinks in disappointment. She can’t help but wonder who the lucky person is to have captured Yuqi’s interest enough to make her want to buy a special bouquet for them. Granted, she just met this girl today and only knew the superficial parts of her during the short time they’ve interacted. But Yuqi… She’s like a breath of fresh air in the early days of spring, and perhaps Minnie wanted more of that. Of her.

 

In the roots of her heart, the seeds of a budding crush have planted themselves without her knowledge; and now they’re starting to bear fruit.

 

“If you’re going for traditional, I’d say roses are a safe bet.” She answers her anyway. “But if you want something different, you can try either red tulips or gardenias. White camellias should also do the trick, though I’m pretty biased towards the pink ones. It’s my favorite color, and they represent ‘longing’.”

 

Yuqi mulls over the options thoughtfully. “Yeah… I guess I’ll go for the pink ones too, but just a single flower. I don’t wanna come off as too overly ambitious and scare them away by accident.”

 

The florist nods, albeit a tad dejected for reasons that are too trivial. Nonetheless, she puts on an upbeat front for the sake of being professional on the job. “Can’t go wrong with being a little extra, but I get what you mean. Be right back.”

 

She turns for the display of pink camellias that are conveniently stacked like wedding cakes next to her and fishes out the prettiest flower of the bunch – the one with the brightest petals and the shiniest green leaves atop a strong, healthy stem – before handing it over to Yuqi with gentle hands. Whoever the blonde is giving this to deserves the nicest pick of them all, right?

 

“Thanks a ton, Minnie. You’re a real help.” Yuqi tells her after paying for it, ‘ you’ bouquet in one hand and a pretty pink camellia in the other.

 

“Anytime, Yuqi. Hope I get to see you again soon.” She means it.

 

A giddy sensation akin to the idiomatic butterflies fluttering in your stomach blooms within her chest from the endearing eye-smile Yuqi gives her, and Minnie returns it with one of her own (which is probably more lovestruck than anything out of basic courtesy) as she watches the girl leaving her shop before disappearing around the corner.

 

Time to get back to work, Nicha.

 

Minnie breathes out a wistful sigh, then goes to prepare some flower arrangements for a “Get well soon!” bouquet. All the while, she tries not to dwell so much on the color yellow or how it reminds her of a certain sunflower girl with the waves of hair to match.

 

᠁

 

It’s been several days since their fateful encounter, but Minnie can’t seem to get Yuqi out of her mind. Even when she attempts to immerse herself in work as a distraction by fulfilling bulk orders for a young couple’s wedding and going so far as to color-code the vast array of flora in her shop, her thoughts continue to drift back to the blond-haired bombshell whose radiant smile could put even the sun itself to shame.

 

Lord knows how silly it is for her to be crushing this hard on someone; more so a girl whom she barely knows outside of her temperamental mood swings – from being outright furious to straight-up witty – and a name that Minnie had inexplicably (and hopelessly) engraved in her heart.

 

You’ll get over it eventually, She tries to convince herself. It’s just a silly little crush anyway.

 

And besides, Yuqi seems to already be interested in someone else. Might as well move on with her life, instead of pursuing what she deems as a “useless endeavor”.

 

But fate, for as convenient and complicated as it is, has other plans for the florist.

 

It was near closing time when Minnie had just finished wrapping up an order for a despondent man hoping to make amends with his estranged wife (and nothing says ‘I’m sorry’ better than a purple Hyacinth bouquet), when the entrance bell rings to signal a new customer.

 

Minnie, having fulfilled her last client request for the day, turns to inform them that the shop is about to close – only to have the words lodged in upon seeing the familiar form of Song Yuqi approaching the counter, dressed in a simple black sweater and a pair of light-blue jeans with her lustrous blond waves tied into a neat ponytail.

 

“Y-Yuqi! Hi!”

 

Minnie blurts out like an idiot as she hastily straightens her back in the other girl’s unexpected but welcomed presence. “Um, surprise visit?” She asks with flushed cheeks, hoping that her excitement isn’t too obvious when Yuqi nods at that.

 

“Yeah. I just wanted to come by and tell you that the flowers worked out surprisingly well.” For whatever reason unknown to Minnie, Yuqi has one hand hidden behind her back. But the Thai doesn’t think too much of it. “I don’t know if Oompa-Loompa figured out the meaning behind them, but he read the card and now he’s finally helping us out on the paper this time. There hasn’t been any new complaints about him since, so I think we’re pretty good.”

 

“That’s great to hear!” Minnie says earnestly, smiling. “I’m glad things are going well for your group now.”

 

Yuqi hums while glancing down at her sneakers momentarily, which catches the florist’s attention as she frowns. “Is there… something else you want to tell me?” Minnie tentatively adds, sounding quite concerned when she notices the hesitation in the blonde’s shifting movements.

 

“Uh, yeah, actually.” Yuqi lifts her gaze to look back at Minnie, her brown eyes filled with this uncharacteristic nervousness that surprises the latter. “Remember how I asked you about the kind of flower to give to someone you wanna date?”

 

“Yes, why?” Minnie probes with a careful lilt in her voice, wondering if that has worked out for Yuqi too and trying not to sound nor appear crestfallen about it. “Were you able to give it to them?”

 

She gets her answer when Yuqi withdraws the hand hidden behind her back to present Minnie with a pink camellia flower. The very same one she had bought just three days ago, but with a slip of paper attached to the stem. Written across it in clean black print are the words –

 

I think you’re pretty cute. Would you like to go out with me sometime? — S.YQ

 

Minnie’s eyebrows shoot up as shock floods her features, but Yuqi presses on like a soldier in spite of the anxiousness gnawing at her insides from the lack of response.

 

“I was sorta hoping that, you know, if you don’t have any plans right now… Maybe you’d want to join me for dinner tonight? My treat, obviously.” She fumbles through her words while rubbing her nape shyly with her free hand. “I really enjoyed our conversation last time and had plenty of fun talking with you, so I’d love to get to know you a lot better—I-I mean, if that’s alright with you, of course.”

 

In the midst of her rambling, Minnie has slowly reached out to take the offered flower in Yuqi’s grasp and twirls it gingerly between her fingers with a soft, bashful smile on her face.

 

“I’d love that too.” She finally replies, then takes one of Yuqi’s smaller hands in her own and gives it a gentle squeeze before laughing at the stunned look she receives from the flustered blonde. All puppy-eyed with stars shining in her caramel pools, and Minnie can already picture an imaginary tail wagging right behind her.

 

Who allowed you to be this damn adorable?

 

“Just give me a moment to lock up, okay? I promise I won’t take too long.”

 

That warm, fuzzy feeling blossoms inside her chest again from the gleaming smile Yuqi gives her, warm and mellow like the late afternoon on an April’s day, and Minnie is damn certain that her cheeks are now the color of the pink camellia she has gifted her with.

 

For someone who’s named after the rain in Chinese, Yuqi reminds Minnie of the sun.

 

“Take all the time you need, flower girl. I’ll be right here.”