“Are you gonna ask him out?”

Jackson was startled out of his trance by his co-worker and best friend, Namjoon. Immediately, he tried to hide the light pink that dusted his cheeks as he picked up the towel he had dropped. The flower shop had been empty that day and Jackson had decided to clean the windows with reasons obvious to Namjoon.

“W-w-what do you mean?” Jackson laughed nervously, though he cursed the stutter that appeared in his speech. “Ask who out? There isn’t anyone I like.”

Namjoon set down the roses he’d been arranging into a bouquet to turn his attention to his friend; raising an eyebrow as he did so. Was Jackson seriously saying that he didn’t like anyone? He was too easy to read. The blush, the stutter, the not-so-subtle glances towards the shop across the street from them, everything about Jackson practically screamed he had a crush on the boy at the tattoo shop.

“Are you sure about that? There’s absolutely, not even one single person you like?”

“Of course.” Jackson replied, trying to return to his previous task of washing the windows, this time focusing more on the grime that plagued the glass. Namjoon snickered at the sight of Jackson acting as if he were actually working. Scrunched up brows and an expression that seemed a bit too serious for him, Namjoon couldn’t help but think that it didn’t suit his calm friend at all. Rolling his eyes, he replied to Jackson’s statement in sarcasm,

“Right.” Namjoon brought the bouquet up again in his hand and inserted the last rose in before wrapping it in a lavender paper. The crinkle of the paper was loud, but his voice was still clear. “That’s why you stopped cleaning the windows to stare at the tattoo shop.”

At the mention of it, Jackson took a glance at the said place and, even from the distance, could see the focal point of his interest. There wasn’t much to observe as the male’s back faced him because he was giving one of the customers a tattoo, but nonetheless, the tattooist had still managed to catch his attention. Of course he managed to, what was Jackson thinking? He always did.

“There you go again!” Exasperated Namjoon. Sure, it might be love, but Jackson still had a job to do. He couldn’t just co-own the flower shop by standing around all day.

Jackson shook his head as if in denial to the fact that he wasn’t working.

“Whatever,” Namjoon was getting tired of the conversation as it dragged on, “fine. Pretend you don’t have a crush on him, pretend you don’t like him, pretend anything you want, just don’t let it disrupt you from your job. Got it Jackson?”

“Yeah, yeah. Sure.” Carrying the bouquet to put it on a shelf for display, Namjoon left Jackson to clean the windows again. The latter slumped his shoulders after no longer than a minute or so. He drowned in his own thoughts because yes, he had confessed to him. Multiple times actually, and told him how much he had loved him to an even greater extent than that. Yet, despite all he did, Jackson never had the gut to tell his crush his feelings face to face.

Or even say who he was.

Mark pushed opened the door with his left hand and entered his tattoo store, yawning from waking up early; his definition of early being halfway through noon. Walking past the counter, he took notice of Bambam who was reading whilst chewing his gum in a loud manner from behind the register, thus deciding to ask the younger male how well business had fared that day.

“Okay so far.” Bambam shrugged then resumed reading the book in his hand. Mark nodded in response and left him alone. Making his way around Jinyoung, the only other employee, Mark went into the staff room to get ready for work. As he entered, a tea drink that sat on the table with a pale pink sticky note posted on it caught his interest. Mark reached for it and opened the bottle to consume the drink. Its refreshing taste gave him a different feeling compared to all the times he had drank coffee to stay awake throughout the day.

Don’t drink so much coffee, okay? I heard it isn’t good for you…

He smiled slightly at the affectionate note. According to Jinyoung, whom of which opened the store a majority of the time, a drink with a note was always left on its front step. Presumably just a few minutes before he got there, when the store opened. Jinyoung later complained how it was annoying to bring the drink into the store being the lazy he was, but Mark always found a way to shut him up. Setting down the tea, he went to stick the note onto the mirror that hung in his locker where previous notes sent by the admirer had been compiled.

I’m no photographer, but I could picture us together.

Hey, don’t frown. You never know who could fall in love with that smile of yours.

I was wondering if you have an extra heart? Because it seems that has mine been stolen.

Get a better sleep and wake up earlier so I can see you earlier in the mornings! But you don’t have to wake up earlier if you don’t want to, just get a better sleep...

Reading over the notes again, Mark pondered on the last note. Maybe I’ll take him up on that offer. He exited the staff room with a snapback in hand to hide his messy bed hair and notified Jinyoung and Bambam—both lazing around the store as usual since no customers were in sight—that he’d open up the store the following day.

“What?!” Bambam yelled shocked before addressing the male next to himself. “Is this the same Mark that we know of?” Comically, he fell into Jinyoung’s arms; feeling a punch from the person he spoke about shortly thereafter.

“Ow, why did you do that?” The injured boy whined.

“Just 'cause.” Mark replied nonchalantly.

Jinyoung tried to find a motive behind Mark’s desire to open the store early the next day as the two other males bickered with one another when he came to a conclusion. Internally scolding himself for not thinking of it earlier, he spoke. “Ah! It’s the admirer, isn’t it? The one who sends you notes all the time?” Mark groaned at his employee, taking a mental note to decrease his pay while Bambam cooed.

“Aww, that’s so cute. You like him, don’t you?”

“First of all, it could be a her.”

“Doubt it.” Bambam conveyed quickly between Mark’s statement and the one Bambam knew that would be delivered right after. “Do you see the clothes you wear? Besides, you give off a gay vibe through and through, so girls are off the list unless they’re the type to scream ‘oppa’ to just about any good-looking guy passing by.”

Mark ignored the speech given by his employee. “Second, it’s not because of this ‘secret admirer.’”

“Then what?”

“I just want to be a true store owner for once. Gosh, is that so wrong?”

“For you it is.” Bambam grumbled under his breath as he got another punch from his boss.

“Why did I even volunteer to do this.” Mark clung onto his leather jacket a bit closer as the spring’s crisp wind hit him harder. Pacing down the sidewalk, he was regretting the decision of opening the store. He criticized himself for not checking the weather the previous day. It was spring and despite the fact that summer was ‘round the corner, winter apparently felt extra clingy this year. “I hate this.”

Turning the corner, Mark checked the time on his phone to make sure he wasn’t late. 9:55 A.M. Just five minutes before the store should be open. He snuggled into his maroon muffler more and kept his gaze towards the floor. If it weren’t for the young man he tripped on, he might’ve passed his own store without a second thought.

“Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” Mark apologized getting up and rubbing his back that became sore from the fall. “Are you…” He gave out his hand to help the poor person up, but his voice trailed off after seeing the other’s attire. A white collared shirt with wrinkles here and there—most likely from the rolling up of his sleeves—and light brown pants. That wasn’t what caught his interest, however. It was the fact that the male wore a green apron with the logo of the flower shop that was across the street from Mark’s store. Mark’s eyes trailed down his arm to his hand and noticed that the stranger held a bottle of tea with a pale pink sticky note; the same one he had gotten everyday from his admirer. Putting two and two together, Mark realized that the person on the ground in front of him—the one he tripped over—was in fact his secret admirer.

“Oh…” was all he had gotten to say before the boy had sprinted away from him, back to his own store, with the bottle of tea and the note in hand.

Jackson looked at the bottle and sobbed in despair, thinking about the events that took place earlier in the day. How could he have ran the moment he saw him? He couldn’t help he was a wimp when it came to the men he loved, even if Mark had been a polite at the time. Jackson bawled again drawing in a glare from Namjoon who was, at the time, helping a customer. Shortly after the said customer had left, Namjoon confronted Jackson on the matter.

“What is wrong with you?” Namjoon questioned slightly annoyed, though, at the same time, slightly concerned for the well-being of his friend.

Jackson shook his head dismissively, not wanting to talk about the topic. The other male had to reconsider if he should leave his friend to manage the store alone after seeing him in this state. Namjoon had planned a date with his boyfriend, Seokjin, but was deciding to bail when Jackson spoke aloud.

“Isn’t the date you’ve been yapping about for the past week supposed to be around now? It’s okay, you know. I can handle the store by myself, go to Seokjin and eat each other’s faces off or the other mushy crap you do. Closing time is in a few hours anyways.” Namjoon slowly nodded, taking off his apron and grabbing his bag from under the counter. Giving his desolate friend one last glance, he jogged out of the shop to Seokjin, already running late.

An hour or so had passed since Namjoon left and Jackson was bored. No one had entered the store for the longest time which meant nothing pushed the thoughts of the morning to the back of his mind. His eyes were fixated on the bottle of tea and the sticky note on it when he heard the jingle of the bells on the door ring. Quickly setting the bottle on the counter, Jackson sat up and spoke with a smile.

“How can I assist you—” He stopped midway through his sentence after realizing exactly who had entered the shop.

“No thanks. I know what I want.” Why was Mark here? Jackson internally facepalmed himself for his lack of intelligence. Of course. He saw me run in this direction. What idiot wouldn’t have guessed that I worked here after that? Not to mention I was wearing an apron with the same logo as the shop. “Here you go.”

“Uh, what?” Jackson snapped out of the conversation in his head and immediately became flustered from the stare Mark gave him as he did so.

“The flowers,” he clarified pushing a bouquet of red and white roses towards Jackson, “I’d like to purchase them.”

Right, Jackson numbly thought while entering the price into the register, why didn’t I think of that possibility? He could be dating someone else. He might not even be into guys for crying out loud! He took the cash Mark handed to him and gave back the change. Maybe I’ll stop pursuing him, I probably wouldn’t gotten far either way.

“Is this the one that you were going to give me today?” Mark held the tea in his hand, examining it. The cold drink now warmer from the long day without refrigeration.

“A-a-ah yeah, it was.” Jackson replied looking down, his voice more reserved than before. “But I guess you don’t need it.”

Mark raised an eyebrow at the latter part of the response. “Says who?” Looking down at the bottle, the writing on the note caught his eye and he read the sticky note that clung to the canteen then started walking out; the tea still in hand.

“Wait, where are you going?” Jackson questioned, confused for his unpremeditated departure out of nowhere. “Your roses are still here!”

“Hmm?” Mark stopped and turned around to face the florist. “What are you saying? Those are for you.”

“What do you mean?” If possible, he had managed to perplex him more than before.

“I mean,” Mark emphasized the word, “ I’m taking you up on your offer. You didn’t forget, did you?” He took off the sticky note that been stuck to the tea and raised it for Jackson to see. “A date at 8 P.M? You better pick me up.”

Jackson gapped for a minute before nodding excessively. “Y-y-yeah, I will.”

Mark smiled.

“I’ll see you then.”