Chapter 5

Warning :

May be horribly written.
Lengthy or very short paragraphs..
poorly described thoughts..
less on dialogue..
can turn out to be angsty / dark when it's not meant to be like that.

Enjoy if you can digest this.

Almost x White

"I am freezing, so are you."

What is the greatest feeling in the world? How do you know that it is the greatest and the best? No, you don't. You're just assuming that it's the 'best' at that moment; but when another time of the year comes, you're going to feel the same feeling again, replacing the old moments that you think were great.

Apparently, Donghae was not any different. After he changed shifts for that day, his co-worker handed him a yellow sticky note with a sleek black envelope and another white envelope attatched to it. But before having the chance to ask what it is, his co-worker fled the shop with a small rattle on the bell. Donghae just sighed to himself and sat down to an empty chair then he began to read.

Can you design a bouquet of flowers for me?
Anything of your choice.
It must be ready by tomorrow
The payment is in the white envelope, by the way.
Oh, please don't forget to stick the black one on the bouquet.

Thank you very much!

-LHJ :)

"A request-" Donghae lightly scoffed. "-for me?" then he quickly placed the note on the table. He was surprised himself that someone asked him to do such a task, especially for a starter like him. It was pretty overwhelming for Donghae that one of the biggest evidences was he gulped down a fresh cup of coffee right off the bat.

It must be ready by tomorrow and he doesn't have any idea how to start it.

Donghae ruffled his disheveled hair to somehow relieve the tension building in his chest, but sadly, it didn't work and what made it worse is that he opened the envelope, which was a pretty bad idea. "Holy ," muttered a pale Donghae under his breath, who was in the outer boundaries of excitement, nervousness and the urge of wanting to commit suicide.

80 flying dollars.

80.

"Oh God, tell me that I'm dreaming." Donghae tried to convince himself and draped a hand over his eyes that was earlier too focused on the bill on his quivering hands. "Oh my, that guy must be some rich business man too burn money just for flowers." But hey, Donghae couldn't argue about how much this person would spend on flowers, especially if she or he wants to give it for someone. The only thing that he wanted to argue was-

Of all the people, why him ... why Lee Donghae?

Blood and tears can be considered as an understatement for more than a hundred percent effort he poured in this bouquet, probably a million times more effort than what he put in his one of the most succesful months he had in his job.

And yes did Donghae felt good.

The weary smile he wore was brighter than the one that he uses for his ex, Jessica, who broke it off with him while he was still in Rome helping his older brother in the renovation of their wife's new home. Donghae felt guilty at that time, though breaking up was inevitable and to think that Donghae was 'actually' cheating behind his girl's back.

It was also a big slap for him.

But then again, Jessica deserved someone better than him. Though in some way, Donghae still felt foolish of himself.... somehow.

Donghae shook off the unnecessary thoughts building piles at the back of his head and smiled as the bouquet stood proudly on the counter. The hours of looking for the suiting flowers out of the bunch faded. Donghae felt relieved. Of course, he didn't forget the customer's note to stick the black envelope on the flowers. Donghae strapped a ribbon around its stems and slipped his phone out of his right pocket.

15 missed calls

"O-kay?" Donghae scanned through his log book and only one number appeared on his screen then he dialed it.

"Y-Yes?"

"Uh, hi. It's Donghae. I'm done with the special order."

"O-Oh... just leave it on the desk. Great job. When Minseok comes back, you can change shifts already. Thank you for your hard work."

"Thank you as well."

With that said and done. Donghae untied his apron and hung it over on one of the metal hooks then patiently waited for Minseok to appear freezing from the undying snow fall that has already started early in the morning. (and actually Minseok did come chattering, which unsurprisingly made Donghae chuckle to his lowly self)

"I'll be going now." informed an ecstatic Donghae, who was excited to change his clothes and go to his other work, where he'll only pick up several folders from the office.

"hm'kay." smiled Minseok.

Within a second, the bell already clattered and Donghae took off.

"Coat, check."

"Umbrella, check."

"ID, check."

Donghae sighed heavily to himself. After one whole backstraining day, he thought that he's finally free to rest and ready to drool over the stolen picture of Eunhyuk sent by a fan-girl Sungmin to his phone then daydream more about him but sadly, he's here dragging his feet towards the door.

"God dammit," muttered Donghae and slammed the door shut.

It was a frigid 23rd day of December evening and a gloomy one to be exact. Donghae was striding on the pedestrian path, the heels of his shoes just slapping on the concrete ground that people next to him would just give him an awkward look that the tired boy don't even fling a about. Though Donghae doesn't even bother to hide how high the percentage of his bad mood level was, his back was slightly hunched back, his usually soft brown glazed eyes were getting duller by the moment and thankfully a scarf hid the way he was biting his chapped lips in annoyance.

The only thing that brought color to his lifeless eyes were the glimmering bright lights glowing from the overly Christmas theme decorated stalls, glass panes of boutiques softly swathed by the Christmas lights' reflections and more Christmas songs booming from the large speakers placed all around the center square.

People rushed past through him, most carried paperbags, glossy wrappers with pictures of santa claus or christmas balls and more stips of ribbons dyed into different colors. Time seemed to slow down; with every step Donghae made, more quakes of mind shattering vibrations shook his entire body.

Fatigue? Maybe.

The automatic doors split immediately when Donghae's left foot landed on the building's carpets.

"Hey Donghae!" waved Hyoyeon, while covering the mic of the phone with her other hand.

Donghae's attention was easily caught, but not by Hyoyeon but by the bouquet of flowers sitting on the marble counter. He squinted his eyes for him to see it clearly then he just smiled. "Lucky guy." muttered Donghae.

"Oi. The package is on your desk." continued Hyoyeon and turned around after that, her dainty fingers twirling on the perfectly curled ends of her blonde hair.

Donghae felt a pit of nervousness pooling in his stomach, though there was nothing to worry about. "It's just the air conditioning Donghae. Chill." He told himself even though there was no use. He ended up rushing to the bathroom stalls as soon as the metal doors was pushed in between, vomiting out every ounce of lunch he had earlier but, it did not help him to stagger away the uneasiness from his stomach.

During this time in the office hours, the office was dimly litted the only difference today there was the little Christmas tree glowing not far away from his cubicle. Donghae almost crawled just to get there, his knees were close on giving up on him.

When Donghae spotted the package just beside a stack of unorganized folders, his mouth was left hanging open. His eyes tried to focus directly on it but he could not refrain his fingers from trembling.

These were the flowers he arranged.

Hastily, Donghae took his phone from the confinements of his right pocket and dialled Kris's number. Within several rings, Kris finally picked up.

"Hey Kris, what is this prank you're pulling off. So not fu-"

"Aah Kris!"

Donghae's eyebrow jerked upward as he momentarily choked his lungs off by hearing the high pitched moan being emitted from whoever was beside Kris.

"Donghae. Wrong timing. Tao and I are having ."

"Making love." corrected Tao.

"Making love. Fine. If you're accusing me of something, it's not me. I'm under house arrest of my lovely Tao." Donghae cringed at Tao's small giggle.

"-So bye bye."

"..."

With that Kris hung up, and Donghae was still dead panned from what he just heared a few seconds earlier. The built up on his cheeks slowly faded away then Donghae shook his head to regain back his consciousness to reality. "That was awkward." This time, Donghae dialled someone else .... someone who could just laugh him down.

"At this time of the night, God Donghae."

"Well, I won't be calling if you didn't send me these flowers that I actually arranged. God. That was 80 dollars!"

And it was Lee Eunhyuk's sister.

"Me? Lee Sungmin?" She scoffed over the phone. "Would waste 80 damned dollars on flowers? And most especially, I'll send it to you? Oh c'mon Lee Donghae, how dare you."

And Donghae's blood just boiled when the image of Sungmin rolling her eyes popped in his head.

"To sum it all up. I didn't send it. Okay? Okay. Hyuk-oppa will use the phone."

"B-But!"

"Byee~"

For the second time, Donghae's face was flushed with heat, spreading throughout his entire body like wildfire just by hearing that name.

Hyuk...

Eunhyuk...

Lee Eunhyuk...

A small and awkward chuckle passed by his lips then he covered a hand over his mouth then grasped the flowers, his masterpiece ... and stared at it. The feeling was not good ... it was like letting others pay for your sake. He wanted to throw it but the thought of this ing bouquet is 80 dollars just sent him to dead lock. Meaning, he has no choice but to appreciate his own work, which was kind of stupid.

First of all, who's the sender anyway?

Donghae realized that he's good enough to be called blind for noticing the envelope on the stems slower than his mom would finish showering in the bathroom.

Meet me at the tallest Christmas Tree in Seoul.
Bring the flowers.

-LHJ :)

Now, Donghae found himself staring aimlessly through the passerbys. Those nameless people, whose faces were familiar yet Donghae doesn't have any idea what their names were. Clutching tightly to the stems, Donghae braced himself from the chilled wind that made him chatter.

Snow fell...

It was a white December 23rd.

Just 2 days away from Christmas.

And a lonely one, to be specific.

Half an hour passed and the snow just kept coming, it would stop in several minutes then continue it. It was cold, though Donghae did not bother. He held the letter between his fingers, not even knowing that his own fingers were trembling already. He was just stuck in a daze, wondering why was he here?

Why did he even go to this place anyway...

It must be a prank...

It got to be...

Then when Donghae was thinking of going home, a familiar voice spoke...

"When are you going to talk to me?"

Donghae faced to his left... and he was not mistaken.

Donghae stood there, watching the white particles slowly fall down to the ground and some settle on the other's jet black hair, on the tip of his nose.

"M-Me?"

Author's note : Sorry for the late update. mehehehe. Here it is.

PS : I made the poster. Is it okay?

ConverseLover600-Paradies_dictator-experiment-mediocre-fanfictions!
(Warning : May have tons of grammatical errors. All stories are un-betaed)

Super Junior

EunHae : When in Rome . When in South Korea . Connect The Dots . Heavy Rain. Heavenly Pain. Am I still Sane?
TeukChul : Oh God Please
YeWook : I'm still human. I still have feelings I . I'm still human. I still have feelings II
KyuWook : Stars Do Bleed