Meaning: A spell that helps you forget sadness and pain.

Prompt: [from tumblr] “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 out how to break it to you that we’re on our way to a graveyard.”

You and flowers.

Those are the words for pain.

Joohyun leaves dark crimson roses at Seungwan’s grave, because white chrysanthemums remind her, too much, that Seungwan is an object of mourning.

Light showers wash away the wilted petals but everlasting is she.

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Seulgi catches Joohyun by the twenty-third day. Her fingertips are scabbed from weeks of pulling thorns and Seulgi’s garden is barren from the actions of the sorrowed. She doesn’t let Joohyun go as she drags her into the house. Joohyun doesn’t let go of the flowers either.

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Joohyun lets Seulgi put elastic bands on her fingers but she holds at her questions. It isn’t that she has no intentions of answering—it’s that she can’t. Joohyun can’t remember anything other than Seungwan, can’t process anything other than their relationship. It’s a suffocating maze that she’s chosen to stay in, sitting silently at the very core of her memories.

“I’ll have you know that I’ve spent over two million won on getting those flower beds done.” Seulgi finishes wrapping the last of the bandages on Joohyun’s skin. “If you can’t compensate me, the least you can do is answer my questions.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What for?” There’s a heavy tension in Seulgi’s words but neither woman acknowledges her implied statement. “I have a feeling this isn’t about stealing my roses.”

“I should go.”

“Do I want to let you go? She’s waiting for you, isn’t she?”

Joohyun stalls. “I promise I won’t take your flowers anymore.”

“You must love her a lot to be in such a rush. With my flowers.” There’s an unintentional sting in her remark that leaves a bitter taste in Seulgi’s mouth. She swallows back flashes of wide smiles and long arms and jerks her chin at the roses still in Joohyun’s hands. “Is she pretty?”

Is she pretty too? Seulgi bites back another wave of the jealousy that comes with the faded promises whispered in her ear. She tells herself that she should be ha