It started with the daisies. They were ding-dong-ditched at her doorstep, two dozen of them wrapped in light pink paper that looked like lace, each petal crisp and clean and blindingly white around the bright yellow centers. The deliveryperson must have been a ninja in another life. Pastels, it seemed, were the order of the day, and she found a salmon-colored envelope tucked neatly into the pale green ribbon that tied the bouquet together. Inside, a small card read, “Pilsukie, happy White Day.” She traced the raised curlicues on the paper, smiling to herself.

Jieun stepped back inside, feet shuffling in her fuzzy slippers, and put the bouquet into the flowers-from-Wooyoung vase on her coffee table, arranging them just so. She leaned in to smell them and shrugged. Didn’t smell like anything. They were certainly beautiful, though, and her heart did a happy dance in her chest as she moved to the kitchen to set her tea kettle on the stove. She stretched lazily and yawned as she waited for the water to boil. Opening a cabinet, she reached up to grab her favorite yellow mug. There was a slip of paper in it. “On the top shelf.” Simultaneously pleased and irritated—she wasn’t tall enough to look up there unassisted—she dragged a chair over from the dining table. Standing on her tiptoes on the sturdy wooden chair, she peeked at the top shelf. There, behind a stack of blue ceramic plates and a stash of extra chopsticks, she found a medium-sized white box. Pulling it out, she saw another envelope taped to the top.

“I’d have left these outside with the flowers, but I know how you are about suspicious foods on your doorstep. (“What?” she protested. “You never know who might have tampered with it!”) Everything’s been arranged. You’ve got the day off today, and I hope I’m not being presumptuous when I assume you’ll spend it with me. Call me after you get ready.”

She sighed and grabbed the phone from the counter next to the living room. He answered after two rings.

“Chagiya, you’re ready already?” His voice came through the line.

“Yah, Jang Wooyoung! Isn’t this too high-handed? Why do I have the day off today?” The tea kettle started whistling in the background. She moved to turn off the stove.

“Just this once! It’s a special day today.” He had already his first line of defense; she could practically hear the puppy-dog eyes through the phone. “I won’t make a habit of it, I promise!”

Mustresistmustresistmustresist…

“Jieunie?” Tentatively.

Ugh. Fine. She blew out a breath. “Don’t think I’ll let you get away with this in the future.”

“I won’t.”

“…I can hear you smirking!” She huffed as his husky laugh filled her ear.

“I’ll see you in ten minutes?”

She looked down at her baggy sweater and leggings, and thought about the bed head she had seen as she brushed her teeth. Then she thought longingly about her tea. “Thirty.”

“Fifteen?” he countered.

Tea… “Make it twenty and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

“It’s the tea, isn’t it?”

“Always.”

He chuckled. “I’ll see you in twenty minutes.”

“Oppa!” she hurried to stop him before he hung up. Softly, she added, “Thank you for the daisies.”

“They’re your favorite, right?”

“Mmm…” she murmured.

“Do you like the chocolates?”

She turned back to the forgotten box on the countertop. Love was written in silver lettering across the lid, surrounded by a delicate pattern of sparkling leaves. Opening it, she found five rows of round white chocolates. Another five rows rested in the layer beneath. She chose one at random and bit into it, then peered at it curiously. “Oh, my gosh, Wooyoung. Even the filling is white!”

He laughed again. “I take it you like them, then?”                         

Her eyes were still wide. “I’m amazed. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now hurry. Twenty minutes, remember?”

“Araso, araso. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Polishing off the piece of chocolate, she glanced speculatively at the others lying in the box. Hmm…