Taeyeon enters the flower store with her iced coffee in hand. She smiles politely to the florist seated behind the counter, who immediately stands up and walks her way over to her. Taeyeon notes the odd look on her face that’s quickly masked with professionalism. It suddenly hits her that this particular employee might have heard about her dating rumours with VIXX’s Ravi and the confusing timeline of events. She smirks and shakes her head in amusement.

Oh such fun times watching the fans go wild over her own personal life.

“Hi, how can I help you today?” The florist says. She gulps when Taeyeon stops beside the display of colourful roses and ponders quietly to herself. The florist holds her breath when Taeyeon frowns, deep in thought as her eyes move back and forth between the different flowers.

Taeyeon releases a gasp of air and smiles when she spots the colour she’s been searching for.

Red.

Her lips curl at the memories that run through her mind.

Red, one of Jessica’s favourite colours (and secretly one of Taeyeon’s).

Red, symbolic of love, passion and a burning desire.

Red, the colour of Jessica’s favourite lipstick, the one she likes to apply when she’s feeling bold and confident. The one that she likes to imprint on Taeyeon’s skin until her body is covered in her marks.

Taeyeon clears to stop herself from thinking such provocative thoughts in such a public place.

“I was wondering if I could get a bouquet of twelve red roses?” Taeyeon asks softly, grinning when the florist blinks in surprise at her choice of flower. “I know it’s a simple choice but it means a lot to me,” she adds, her smile growing wider when the florist blushes and begins to pick the best twelve roses for her. She sips her iced coffee and waits for the florist to arrange the roses and wrap the flowers together.

“Would you like me to write down a message for this person?” The florist asks, her hands already reaching for a small card and pen.

Taeyeon shakes her head, trying her best not to burst into a fit of giggles at the sight of the florist’s glee. “Thank you, but there’s no need for that.”

The corners of her lips curve into a smirk when the florist blinks in surprise when she declines her offer. “Are you sure, Taeyeon-ssi?”

Taeyeon nods and stirs her drink with her straw. “I believe you must have heard the rumours about me being in a relationship,” she says as she hands over her credit card to complete the transaction. She smiles when the florist nods and ducks her head in embarrassment, red immediately colouring her cheeks. Taeyeon accepts the paper bag from the florist and slides her credit card back inside her wallet. She turns and pauses, her shoulders shaking when the florist meekly looks up and lowers her eyes again.

“I’m not dating him, if that’s what you want to know,” Taeyeon says, grinning when the florist opens and begins to stutter out an apology. She waves it away with her hand and reaches over to pick up a stack of business cards on the counter. She quickly glances over to the florist’s nametag and smiles. “Seeing as you’re curious, Jieun-ssi, I can confirm that I am in a relationship.”

Jieun blushes and clasps her hands together. “Congratulations Taeyeon-ssi! I hope you and your partner have a wonderful relationship.”

Taeyeon smirks.

“Thank you. It’s hard to be in a relationship with yourself,” she says, winking at Jieun before spinning around and stepping out of the flower shop.

Taeyeon knocks on the front door to Jessica’s apartment. She quietly hums to herself as she waits for the door to be opened and gasps in surprise when Krystal almost walks into her.

“Unnie!” Krystal says, holding onto the door frame before she crashes into Taeyeon. She glances down at the bags in Taeyeon’s hands and smirks, putting two and two together. “Hi Unnie.”

Taeyeon giggles and pinches her cheek. “Hi Soojung. Where are you going?”

Krystal laughs and playfully slaps her hand away. “I’m going to head over to a photoshoot for Vogue Korea’s magazine. I see that you’ve been busy,” she says, gesturing towards the bouquet of roses and shooting Taeyeon a knowing look.

Taeyeon nods and sighs dramatically. “Well, you know what happened yesterday.”

Krystal giggles and pats Taeyeon’s shoulder. “I know Unnie. You might want to be careful though because Jessica was chewing me out for no reason about why the lunch she made didn’t taste right, or when she told me that she was going to rip that Ravi guy’s head off for having romantic rumours with you, or when she kept complaining about why you haven’t done anything to pacify her –”

Krystal yelps when she feels a sharp pinch on her backside. She turns around and pouts when Jessica flashes her a deathly glare.

“Say more and I’ll cancel that subscription of yours.”

Krystal releases a theatrical gasp upon hearing her sister’s threat. She feigns a wounded expression as she places a hand on her chest. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Jessica rolls her eyes and retreats back inside her apartment.

Taeyeon smiles, understanding the mood Jessica is in, and shakes her head in amusement when Krystal pulls faces behind her back.

“Soojung,” Taeyeon says, giggling when Krystal places a hand on her wrist and squeezes her arm.

“Good luck,” Krystal says. She laughs and quickly wraps her arms around Taeyeon before walking away to the elevators.

Taeyeon shakes her head and steps inside the apartment, noticing that Jessica is nowhere in sight. She slips out of her boots and places them beside the shoe rack. She pads her way through the apartment until she spots Jessica slumped in an armchair, her hand propped up against the armrest and holding her head as she stares outside at the Seoul city lights. Taeyeon gently places her bags on the coffee table and crouches down beside Jessica.

“Hi,” Taeyeon says, beaming widely when Jessica releases a tiny whine and turns her back to her. Taeyeon stands up and bends down to rest her chin on Jessica’s shoulders, her lips curling into a soft smile when Jessica reaches down and slips her arms around her waist. She holds Jessica for a few minutes until Jessica turns around and stares at her.

“Hi,” Jessica says shyly, blushing Taeyeon’s smile reaches her eyes. She returns her attention to the paper bag on her coffee table and points towards the hint of rose petals poking out of the bag.

“What’s this?” she says.

Taeyeon smiles and reaches for the paper bag. Jessica peers inside before Taeyeon has a chance to take out the bouquet.

“You brought...coffee?” Jessica teases, her shoulders shaking with laughter when Taeyeon flashes her an adorably puzzled look.

“No, I was drinking that on the way here,” Taeyeon says, finally taking out the bouquet of roses and pressing the bunch of flowers into her hands. “This is for you.”

Jessica inspects the rose petals and hums in approval. “Roses Taeyeon? My oh my, are you trying to appease me?”

Taeyeon smiles and finds Jessica’s fingers under the bouquet. “Did you count how many roses there are?”

Jessica studies the bouquet carefully and smirks. “There’s eleven roses.”

“What?” Taeyeon says, falling onto her backside out of shock. “There’s supposed to be twelve roses! I made sure the florist counted twelve roses,” she continues. Taeyeon sits back up and takes a quick look at the bouquet, frowning when Jessica giggles and pokes her cheek.

“God, you’re so cute,” Jessica says, biting her lips when Taeyeon pouts at her teasing. She resists the temptation to capture Taeyeon’s lips with her own, which becomes increasingly difficult by the second when Taeyeon sighs and knits her eyebrows together in that adorably frustrated way of hers.

“Maybe I should take these roses away,” Taeyeon says, her hands reaching out to pry it from Jessica’s grasp.

“Don’t you dare, Kim Taeyeon!” Jessica says, protectively holding the bouquet close to her chest. “You got this for me so that means it’s mine. No take backs.”

Taeyeon finally smiles again and rests her chin on Jessica’s lap. She sighs in content when Jessica’s fingers brush her hair away from her face before tracing her facial features. She scrunches her nose at the ticklish feeling of Jessica’s index finger mapping out her eyebrows and holds Jessica’s hands still.

“Are you okay, Sooyeon?” Taeyeon asks quietly.

Jessica pauses, giving Taeyeon the time to observe the way she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth as she contemplates her question. She smiles softly when Jessica’s eyebrows furrow together in concentration, deciding whether she should reveal her thoughts and be vulnerable with Taeyeon or tell a white lie so that she doesn’t worry about her. Taeyeon presses her lips against each individual digit of Jessica’s hands, her lips lingering against the metal band on her ring finger that she had gifted her years ago.

A promise ring.

Jessica gazes at Taeyeon and smiles. “Taeyeon, you gifted me twelve red roses.”

Taeyeon nods, perplexed with where Jessica’s going with this. “I did.”

Jessica giggles and pulls Taeyeon up from the floor. Taeyeon gasps when she feels hands slide around her waist and tug her back down. Red colours her cheeks when she realises she’s straddling Jessica in her armchair. Jessica’s hands travel up to hold the sides of her waist.

“Do you know the meaning of twelve roses?” Jessica asks, knowing Taeyeon knows the answer to her question. She pecks Taeyeon’s lips and smiles against . “You’re asking me to be yours.”

Taeyeon pulls back and nods. “If my actions over the past few years haven’t been clear enough, then yes. I am asking you to be mine despite already being mine.”

Jessica giggles and nips Taeyeon’s bottom lip. “How do you know I’m already yours?”

Taeyeon holds up their entwined hands to show her their promise rings. “I’m not going to have you forget that we made a promise years ago that you are mine, just as all of me belongs to you.”

Jessica smiles so brightly that Taeyeon forgets she’s straddling her until she feels Jessica’s arms encircle her waist and tug her even closer.

“You like it when I’m jealous.”

“I never denied it,” Taeyeon replies.

Jessica grins archly and tilts her head to the side. “You also sound like you’re jealous too, Taengoo.”

Taeyeon laughs and nods. “Of course I am. Hello? Mr Tyler Kwon gets an acknowledgement in ‘Shine’ and I don’t?”

Jessica playfully rolls her eyes, not having the heart to stop Taeyeon when she’s having a sassy moment. She smirks when Taeyeon understands her silence as a prompt for her to continue her rant and release her pent-up emotions.

“If I remember correctly, you said that he’s been with you through so much of your journey and you couldn’t have written ‘Shine’ without him. You also said you can’t wait to see what the next adventure brings. Well, I hope he knows he will never be enough for you because you’re mine and mine only. I’m not sharing you with anyone else.”

Jessica tries her best to keep a straight face, only to chuckle when Taeyeon blows her hair away from her face and crosses her arms in front of her chest. An idea pops into Jessica’s mind, the temptation too great to resist. She slides her hands down to hold Taeyeon’s thighs, pursing her lips into a smirk when Taeyeon releases a breathy moan of pleasure.

Taeyeon is so embarrassed at the noise coming from that she clamps her hands over lips and flushes bright red. The bright smile on Jessica’s face only makes her want to hide under a rock and never reappear.

Jessica touches her face and pulls down her hands. “Silly,” she says, threading their fingers together.

Taeyeon frowns. “I’m being silly?”

Jessica nods amusedly. “You are.”

Taeyeon giggles, happy she’s reached her goal of making Jessica laugh. She tucks Jessica’s hair behind her ear and softly smiles when Jessica looks up at her with those starry eyes, the ones where she can see her own reflection in them.

She spots the bouquet of roses nestled to Jessica’s side and holds it in her hands. Jessica regards her with a curious look and gasps when Taeyeon plucks two roses out of the bouquet and places them on the side table.

“What are you doing?” Jessica asks when Taeyeon shows her the bouquet of flowers.

“Ten roses means that you’re perfect,” Taeyeon says, biting her lips when Jessica swats her hand but presses her lips against her cheek.

“Taeyeon,” Jessica says so perfectly in that voice of hers that Taeyeon has to temporarily look away from her to recollect herself. When she looks back into Jessica’s eyes, she finds herself falling deep and hard into those glistening brown eyes that stare back at her with the same adoration and affection she has for her.

Taeyeon proceeds to remove a rose from the bouquet, where it joins the other two roses on the side table.

“Nine roses signifies eternal love where I want to spend the rest of my life with you, drawing and colouring all our moments together.”

Jessica catches onto her antics and pulls out two more roses. They too join the growing pile of roses on the side table.

“Seven roses means that I’m deeply infatuated with you,” she says, pressing her lips at the corner of Taeyeon’s mouth. She feels Taeyeon grin and turn her head to kiss her gently. Jessica holds Taeyeon steady on her lap as they continue to exchange light kisses. She beams softly when Taeyeon takes away another rose from her bouquet.

“Six roses means that I want to be yours,” Jessica says cheekily before Taeyeon can speak. She pokes her tongue out when Taeyeon narrows her eyes at her as she places another rose stem on the side table.

“Five roses means that I love you very much.”

Taeyeon grins when she glances down at the bouquet in her hands, with only three red roses remaining. She tilts Jessica’s chin up with a finger and stares deep into her eyes, hoping to convey everything she’s feeling in this moment of time.

“I love you. No, I’m in love with you, Sooyeon.”

Taeyeon feels Jessica’s fingers enclose around a single rose stem as she removes it from her grasp, leaving only two red roses between them. She swallows when Jessica cups her face with a hand, her other hand finding hers in the dark. She feels herself being drawn into a kiss, one that is sweet and mellow and tastes of mandarins, cinnamon and Jessica.

When Taeyeon pulls away, Jessica stares at her like she’s her gravity pulling her back down to Earth.

“And I hope you know I’m in love with you too.”

A/N: So this was originally supposed to be a ficlet to complete 4 ficlet requests...but I was so carried away that I ended up writing a one-shot. And then somehow I made this too fluffy. Please enjoy this fluffy story while I go back to writing another angst one-shot. And oh look, it's 4am!

You can find me on Twitter for drabbles/ficlets when I'm not writing a story or you can ask me anything on Curiouscat.