The brilliant colours that bloomed around the shop made the large space look exotic and delightful. Sungmin grinned as he stared around the shop. The place was calm at the moment, the time being eight forty-five in the morning and the shop opened at nine.
He enjoyed the beautiful flowers that lined the shelves. He enjoyed the fact that Kyuhyun had picked them out even more. Sungmin breathed in the sweet scent of the air in the shop. He was about to straighten one of the displays when the phone rang.
“Yoboseyo?”
“SUNGMIN! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY FLOWER SHIPMENT?! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE IT TO ME YESTERDAY!”
“G-Dragon, you told me you would come and pick it up yourself,” Sungmin replied patiently. He wondered what sort of crazy response he would get. For the past week, Jiyong had been ordering flowers for KP Productions and continuously forgetting that he said he would pick them up.
“Did I say that?”
“Yes, you did.”
“Well could you deliver them for me? And come and visit? I’m lonely here. Seunghyunnie keeps disappearing on me.”
“That’s because you always tell him to come pick up the flowers you forget about,” Sungmin tried to muffle his laughter. “And you know he won’t refuse you anything.”
“I never knew he was so devoted to me!”
“I worry for your memory,” Sungmin told him. Jiyong laughed on the other side.
“Well anyways, I want to place another order. I forgot about the fifth floor of the building.”
“This is why I worry. But are you really going to pick them up this time?”
“No, this time I’ll get you to deliver. I’m tired of seeing Seunghyun leave all the time and I want you to visit!”
“I’ll do that. What do you want?”
“The sixth floor consists of snapdragons and lilies and the fourth floor is chrysanthemums and hibiscus. So the fifth floor will have to be camellias and…..what do you recommend?”
“Camellias always look good with calla lilies or hydrangeas. Why not one of those?”
“Good idea! Azaleas would look brilliant! I’ll put in an order for two dozen of each flower!”
“……Okaayy…..Two dozen camellias and azaleas. And you want those delivered when?”
“Right away! The fifth floor people, whatever they do, want flowers like the other nineteen floors. Theirs is the only one that doesn’t have anything. The only floor out of twenty, how terrible is that?”
“Utterly devastating, Jiyong, utterly devastating. You’ll get your flowers sometime around noon okay? I’ll see you then. And I’ll probably end up bringing someone with me.”
“Yes, yes, yes. And you must join us for dinner sometime. Seunghyunnie has been teaching me to cook. And you are to be our first taste testers!”
“Sure, I’ll talk to Kyu about it. See you G-Dragon!”
Bye, Sungmin!”
Sungmin smiled as he hung up the phone. Once Jiyong and Seunghyun had gotten married, Jiyong had been determined to become the perfect husband. Seunghyun had tried to tell him once or twice that he was already the perfect husband but had been shut down before he could begin. Therefore, he left Jiyong to his own devices.
Jiyong was still as crazy as ever and Seunghyun was still as nurturing. They made the perfect couple. He heard a knock at the shop door and walked through the jungle of plants. He smiled at Ryeowook who was standing on the other side.
“Hi, Ryeowookie,” Sungmin greeted his friend. “Why do you always come so early? It’s only eight fifty-seven. You’re supposed to come at nine!”
“What if my friend needs help doing something?” Ryeowook responded. Sungmin shrugged.
“What needs to be done at eight fifty-seven?”
“There’s budgeting, watering, stocking the shelves….” Ryeowook continued on in this vein for some time. Sungmin listened for a minute at all the things one could do at eight-fifty nine in the morning. He was about to open his mouth to cut the magnae off but was interrupted by the phone ringing again.
“Yoboseyo?”
“Sungmin-ah.”
“Kyuhyun-ah,” Sungmin replied, his voice becoming soft. Ryeowook smiled to himself. There would never be a time when Sungmin failed to become loving and gentle towards Kyuhyun.
“How’s my Sungminnie? G-Dragon just called me to say that you would be coming to deliver flowers for him. Stop by my office when you come over. But do it before or after three o’clock okay? I have meeting with Seunghyun and Jiyong then. We’re going to discuss the treasury.”
“By discuss you mean talk about random things that have nothing to do with the topic at hand right?”
“Hey, at least we’re actually doing something.”
“Yes, last time you had a popcorn fight. And I wonder how you got the job as treasurer for the company. Aish, am I the only one who actually does work?” Sungmin asked.
“To put it honestly, yes. But at least we get it done….somehow. Anyways, please stop by. Close the shop early and I’ll drive you home okay?”
“Okay, Kyuhyunnie. I’ll see you at four?”
“Earlier?”
“You have a meeting at three and I can’t leave before then.”
“Fine, don’t drop everything and rush to my side.”
“Kyuhyun….”
“Yes, Minnie?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too. I’ll just have to settle for four o’clock then. I miss you, Sungmin.”
“I miss you too. I’ll see you then okay? I love you, Kyuhyun.”
“I love you more.”
Sungmin smiled as he hung up the phone. His feelings towards Kyuhyun hadn’t changed. If anything, they had gotten stronger. He loved the younger male with his whole heart. Now he wouldn’t be able to wait until three forty-five when they closed.
Ryeowook, who had been standing there for the past three minutes, watching the slightly dazed smile on his hyung’s face, waved his hand in front of Sungmin’s eyes. He bit back his laughter when the elder man jumped.
“Now that Kyuhyun has managed to make you act like a complete idiot, can we get on with our work?” Ryeowook asked, barely managing to keep a straight face. Sungmin merely smiled dreamily at him.
“Sure,” Sungmin agreed. The faster he got his work done, the sooner he would close. Or at least until Ryeowook’s cellphone rang and he ended up talking to Yesung for a good forty-five minutes, leaving Sungmin to take care of all the customers and racking up a huge phone bill.
“I’m so glad Kyuhyun decided to open up an actual flower shop. It’s been so long since quality flowers…”
“That boy made the right choice. I hear there’s a chain of them across the country…?”
“He is a wonder, truly…just last week I brought my dying….”
“Does he really? I wonder if he could tell me about this…?”
“Sungmin must have a vast knowledge of botany…don’t you agree?”
For a good portion of the day, Sungmin was answering the calls of customers, taking in sick plants and listening to various compliments of Kyuhyun and himself. Truly, he did not believe he deserved any of these comments; it was all Kyuhyun’s expertise.
In the time between coming home from the hospital and their wedding, Kyuhyun had taught him about the different flowers, their properties and what looked best with them. Sungmin had then persuaded him to open up a flower shop so he could sell what he did best at.
But Kyuhyun was offered a job as the treasurer of KP Productions. So he asked if Sungmin would run the flower shop for him. Sungmin was more than happy to say yes. He loved flowers almost as much as Kyuhyun did.
Sungmin was still in his thoughts when Ryeowook ran out of the back room and screamed. Sungmin jumped into the air, startled by his dongsaeng’s wild entrance
“What is it, Ryeowookie?” Sungmin asked, slightly breathlessly. Ryeowook pointed to the back room and trembled.
“There’s a super large spider there! Go take it away, hyung! I’m afraid of them!” Ryeowook fidgeted nervously while Sungmin smiled patiently. He walked into the back room and picked up the spider, carefully putting it on the windowsill and opening the window so the spider could crawl out.
“There you go. Don’t come back or Ryeowook will squish you and you don’t want that right?” Sungmin whispered to the tiny arachnid.
“All gone, Ryeowook. You can go back now. We need to pack the flowers for Jiyong and Seunghyun. I need you to help me drop them off. Then you can go and see Yesung okay?”
“Sure, hyung. Yesung can survive without me for a few hours,” Ryeowook replied.
“I highly doubt that, Ryeowook. He’s been calling you the entire day,” Sungmin teased lightly. He love the cuteness of his friends. Yesung continuously called Ryeowook to make sure he was okay every single hour. He would have gone crazy if anyone did that to him.
But his and Kyuhyun’s connection was different. They were tied by red thread and Sungmin preferred it that way. He lost himself in his thoughts for the remainder of their packing.
“Okay, let’s take these out to the car and then we can come back in for the last….hyung?” Ryeowook waved a hand in front of Sungmin’s face. He shook his head, sighing. Thinking about Kyuhyun again.
So Ryeowook took the boxes out to the car and was about to drive off when a hand stopped him. He looked to the side to see Sungmin shaking his head.
“Nice try, Wookie but Yesung won’t let you drive, remember?” Sungmin chastised the younger male.
“I don’t understand why,” Ryeowook pouted as he moved for Sungmin to take the wheel.
“You take after Eeteuk-umma when you drive,” Sungmin explained. He earned himself a slap on the arm for that.
“I do not!” Ryeowook protested.
“Yeah you do. But sort of opposite. Where Eeteuk constantly stops and starts, you start and never stop! The last time, you nearly gave Yesung a heart attack when you sped through an intersection at the last possible second!”
“I was saving us time! We had a busy day!”
“You were three hours ahead of schedule!” Sungmin laughed.
“It never hurts to have a bit of extra time right?”
“A bit of extra time to do what? Take Yesung to the hospital after he gets a heart attack?
“You’re mean, hyung!” Ryeowook glared at Sungmin who merely smiled back. He had nothing to worry about, he had learned martial arts. Sungmin pulled into the parking lot of the KP Productions building and unloaded all the flowers.
They staggered into the building, each carrying three boxes of flowers. Sungmin just managed to make it inside the elevator with Ryeowook. They got out on the tenth floor and made their way to Jiyong’s office.
“What the hell is all of that?” A loud voice reverberated through the air.
“It’s your flower shipment,” Sungmin gasped, his arms tiring. He put the boxes on the floor and then helped Ryeowook to do the same.
“Why did you bring so many?” Jiyong asked, coming over to look at them. Seunghyun followed him.
“Because you ordered this many. I really do worry for his memory, Seunghyun. You can go now, Wookie, if you want,” Sungmin breathed a sigh of relief after putting down all the boxes. Ryeowook nodded and practically ran out of the office in order to see Yesung again.
“Okay, I’ll get the fifth floor people to get them and decorate the way they want. Are you going to see Kyuhyun now?” Jiyong asked. Sungmin nodded.
“Did you actually get any work done in your meeting?” Sungmin asked. Seunghyun rolled his eyes.
“Somehow, the work got done fast enough that we were able to have a poker tournament. I think Jiyong wants to kill Kyuhyun for winning. Oh, would you mind taking this to him? It’s Jiyong’s formal declaration for a duel between the two of them for another poker tournament,” Seunghyun smiled at his husband fondly. Jiyong was currently picking the flower petals off a flower.
“I hope he survives,” Sungmin smiled. Seunghyun nodded.
“Maybe this is our chance to finally be free!” Seunghyun cheered. Sungmin laughed.
“I heard that!” Jiyong huffed. Sungmin smiled. He excused himself and made his way to Kyuhyun’s office.
“Kyu?” Sungmin whispered, pushing the door open. He was immediately pulled into a warm hug.
“I missed you, Minnie.”
“I missed you too,” Sungmin whispered. He nuzzled into Kyuhyun, breathing in deeply. All day he had waited for this. His head was tilted back and his lips met Kyuhyun’s a soft gasp building in his throat. He still felt lightheaded whenever Kyuhyun touched him. He never figured out why but he didn’t care.
“I have some interesting news for you,” Kyuhyun murmured, pulling Sungmin into his lap as he worked at his computer. Sungmin leaned against him.
“What is it?”
“They discovered Jiwon’s body today. His cellmate killed him. We don’t know why, it just happened.”
“He finally got what was coming to him. And It brought me to you,” Sungmin smiled.
“Yes, I’m glad for that,” Kyuhyun replied. He kissed the side of Sungmin’s neck and then began to finish his work. The two of them left, talking companionably about how their days went. Kyuhyun felt ecstatic at finally seeing Sungmin again. Even though it had only been a few hours, he still felt worried about his lover, scared that he might vanish again.
The two of them drove home and walked into their apartment. Kyuhyun went to take a shower and Sungmin picked up the envelopes that held their mail. He began sifting through them. A bill here, a letter there, a few from Hankyung and Ryeowook and the last one was a mystery.
It was in a white envelope with a gold seal. There was no return address or even an address to begin with. He had never seen it before. Sungmin looked at it carefully before deciding to open it. His curiosity was immense but he had to ask Kyuhyun if he knew anything about this letter. As he stared at it, the most curious sensation came over him. Something he hadn’t felt in a while.
The feeling of being watched.
~₴~≈~₴~≈~
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