Yong Hwa decided to visit the flower shop in Hongdae after his work at the beef restaurant. His brothers came to inspect the resto, and found it to be very spic and span. Though Yong Hwa was very manly, he was rather particular with the cleanliness and the arrangement of the furniture inside the resto, like he had hired an interior designer to bring out the elegance in a rather humble shop.

"Hyung, have you seen that floral shop at Hongdae?" he asked his brother.

"Ah, ne," the eldest, Jung Dong Wook, remarked. "I bought a lot of flowers for the noodle shop. You know, most of my customers there are Japanese, and they love it when I arranged the flowers according to the Japanese traditions."

"Ikebana and rikka," the second, Jung Jin Young, remarked. "Ah, I wish I have your flair for the art, Hyung. I could only buy that little bamboo for good luck."

Yong Hwa smiled.

"I only and recently know about that shop because of CL," Yong Hwa related with a smile.

Suddenly, his hyungs noted the naughty smile that he had.

"Woori maknaedongsaeng (our youngest sibling) has got some kind of a girl, has he?" Dong Wook teased Yong Hwa.

Yong Hwa blushed and smiled his lovely toothy grin. "Ne, Hyung, CL told me about this botanist who owns that shop."

"Ah, Park Shin Hye?" Jin Young asked. "Ne, I have met her at random times because she is busy with her experiments at the lab."

"What experiments does she usually do?" Yong Hwa asked.

"Hmmm... herbal medications?" Jin Young said with uncertainty. "I'm not sure, but that is what she told me. Aside from breeding flowers of different colors without resorting to dyeing, she also tried to mass produce herbal medications. And I've heard that she is also trying to grow tropical fruits here in South Korea."

"I've heard some tropical fruits are rather tasty," Dong Wook said. "I'd like to try some of that."

Yong Hwa gaped upon hearing the feat of the girl who caught his eye. She was rather girly and demure, but her achievements were more prodigious than anything which he and his other three friends had done.

"You like her?" Dong Wook asked.

"Johahae (I like her)," Yong Hwa admitted.

"You better go, and do not follow your hyungs," Jin Young said. "Aish, I am already thirty-five, but it seems I still had not found the right girl."

"You had three exes already," Yong Hwa told Jin Young, "And none of them was the right one?"

"Oh, but Dong Wook-hyung here is rather picky," Jin Young said, trying to wash his hands. "He never had a girlfriend eversince, and he's going forty..."

"Ya, hajima, huh?" Dong Wook said. "Ya, Yong Hwa, go for the girl. And stop dreaming about the memory in your planner."

Upon the mention of the memory, Yong Hwa suddenly got pensive.

"Wae?" the two asked.

"Ah...nothing," the youngest smiled sadly, shaking his head.

****

"Hyung, hyung, you better come here in the hospital," Min Hyuk called Yong Hwa over the phone.

"Wae geurae?" Yong Hwa asked while wiping some china.

"Shin Hye-ssi slipped in her lab, and I brought her here," Min Hyuk said.

"Mwo?" Yong Hwa asked. "Ah, arasseo, I'll be there..."

Yong Hwa instructed his employee to look over the shop while he ran some errands. He was glad that Min Hyuk was at the scene. 

"Flowers," he thought. "I need flowers."

He drove over to the flower shop near YG and bought some flowers. Like at the green house, he arranged the flowers in the basket by himself, with all the ts and branches, much to the admiration of the clerk.

"Hwangsangjeogida (Amazing)..." the clerk gaped. "Shin Hye-nim also said she received some flowers from a guy who wrapped the bouquet by himself."

As Yong Hwa looked at her with a smile while tying the ribbon on the  basket, the clerk blushed and stammered.

"Omo...Sonnim (Customer)... Sonnim must be the person that woori Shin Hye-nim talked about!" the clerk exclaimed. "

"Ne..." Yong Hwa blushed as he got his wallet.

He took out the credit card for the clerk to swipe. During the transaction, Yong Hwa learned from the clerk that Shin Hye indeed was admitted in the hospital.

"I am going there," Yong Hwa shared.

"Omo... Aish... I think I have to go there after work," the clerk said. "I still have to tend the store, and my reliever is absent... Eotteohkeyo?"

"Agasshi, do you want me to bring something for Shin Hye-ssi?" he asked her.

"Omo... Please do not bother..." the clerk said, bowing.

"Ani...gwaenchanhseumnida," he said.

"Ah....jeongmal gwaenchanhgesseoyo (is it really all right)?" the clerk asked again.

"Ne..." Yong Hwa said.

The clerk excused herself and went to the kitchen. After a few minutes, she went out with some wrapped lunch boxes.

"Please bring these to Shin Hye-nim, and please help yourself," she said.

"Jal meokgetseumnida (I will eat this heartily)," he said with a bow.

"Gomapseumnida," the clerk said again.

"Animnida," Yong Hwa replied.

Both bowed, and Yong Hwa took the flower basket and the lunch boxes as he went outside.

****

"Hyung!" Min Hyuk piped up with a smile.

Shin Hye gingerly tried to sit up when she saw Yong Hwa coming in. The visitor had an extremely worried look on his face as he placed the lunch box on the table. He approached her with the flowers, and Shin Hye looked at him in wonder.

"Gwaenchanhseumnikka?" he asked, a tinge of worry etched in his voice.

"Ne," she replied. 

She took the flowers from him, smelled the heavenly fragrance of the blossoms, and looked at him.

"Gomapseumnida," she said.

"Ah...ne...." he said.

"Hyung is getting romantic by the minute, Eonni," Min Hyuk said to Shin Hye with a grin. "I had never seen him this devoted to a girl before."

Yong Hwa felt embarrassed that he mouthed some curses at him, but Min Hyuk only grinned like crazy. Shin Hye smiled at them, then at Yong Hwa.

"Geokjeongmaseyo (please do not worry)," she said. "The doctors said I just need to rest my leg for some weeks, then I can get back to work normally."

"Still, I cannot help but worry," he said.

"Hyung, Eonni, I will arrange the lunch box so you can eat," Min Hyuk said.

Shin Hye saw the lunch box and turned to Yong Hwa. "You bought these flowers at my shop, geureohchyo?"

Yong Hwa felt he had been found out, but he nodded sheepishly.

"Eun Hee was worried that she could not skip work to bring some food here, and I am thankful that you offered for her," Shin Hye said. "Gomawoyo."

"Please speak informally to me from now on," Yong Hwa said.

"Na do, Eonni," Min Hyuk said. "Please speak informally to me too."

"Arasseo," Shin Hye said. "Gomawo, Yong Hwa, Min Hyuk-ah..."

"Ya, I reckon I am older than you," Yong Hwa said. "Call me Yong Hwa-oppa."

"Mmmmm... I won't," she said playfully, while he frowned playfully too.

Min Hyuk pushed the bedside tray for Shin Hye to use, and he placed the lunch box on the tray. Yong Hwa assisted the patient in sitting upright. He helped his friend prepare the food on the tray.

"All right, let us all eat well," Min Hyuk said.

And the three of them started to eat. After thirty minutes of meal time, Min Hyuk washed the lunch boxes and the chopsticks, and offered to bring the goods back to the floral shop. When he left the room, only Yong Hwa and Shin Hye were left behind.

He took her hand and began her skin with his finger.

"Do you know that the touch could distract you from the pain?" he asked her.

"Ne?"

"I am talking about the pain on your ankle," he said, covering up the excitement in his heart.

"Ah....geurae?"

"Ne."

The two of them remained silent as he continued caressing her hand. Shin Hye bit her lips and hid her blushes, keeping her own feelings at bay. Maybe he is just being friendly, she thought. No, she will not fall for someone so easily.

"It will be all right to arrange the flowers, right?" Yong Hwa finally asked, breaking the silence.

"Ne..."

As Yong Hwa started to gather the basket, Shin Hye asked him if he knows how to do an ikebana or a rikka. He said that only his hyung, the eldest, has the gift to arrange such flowers beautifully.

"I think I have no eye for that," he said.

"I think you will not mind if you spend some time with me," she said with a smile.

"Ani. Gwaenchanha," he said. "Besides, my helper at the shop is taking care of it right now."

Shin Hye asked for her bag, and when she had it at hand, she took out some materials she brought, like these were her first aid tools in botany. Yong Hwa sat at the chair next to her, and he began looking at her as she cut the flowers and the stems he had brought along in the basket. He did not listen to her explanation because he was admiring her beautiful eyes, her lashes, her button-nose, and her soft pinkish lips. Even her skin was something very adorable because it was smooth, fair, and without pores and blemishes.

Finally, Shin Hye finished her ikebana using the resources that Yong Hwa brought along.

"Daebak..." he said. "I can do this in the beef restaurant."

"Ne, you can," she said. "Just pick the right flowers and materials. Ikebana and rikka are just easy. You don't need a lot of flowers, by the way."

He placed the flower arrangement by the window, where the golden rays of sunshine enhanced the elegance of every petal, twig, and piece in the masterpiece.

"You see, it is very easy," she said to him.

Yong Hwa and Shin Hye looked at the flower arrangement while talking about different things.

"You know, your eyes are so lovely," he said to her. "Like they are telling me many things."

"Geurae?" she asked. "Like what?"

"Molla... but it seems I am rather attracted to eyes lately... I love your eyes."

Shin Hye blushed and thanked him for the compliment, and she threw one back.

"I love your smile," she said. "You look so charming."

Yong Hwa had always been told that his smile looks cool, hot, y, or manly, but never adorable or charming. And that kind of unique praise kicked his heartrate some notch higher.

Really, how charming can he get?

Very charming.

"Gomawo," he said.

The nurse came in with the dose of intravenous pain reliever, and the pair looked on silently at the medical worker doing her job. When the nurse left, Shin Hye declared that she would need to rest, and he assisted her in lying down on bed. While Shin Hye traveled to the realm of sleep, Yong Hwa could not help but marvel at her beauty. Even in her sleep, Shin Hye still looked so beautiful.

Yong Hwa felt his heart skipping a bit, and it made him confused.

He was starting to really like this girl, but a part of his heart was left at the memory of the person he had never met.

"Eotteokhaji?" he thought sadly as he Shin Hye's hair.

 

~~~~