Chapter Text
“Breathlessly, I find myself playing with sunshine Chae.
Chasing, what I know can never be mine.
Drawn inexplicably towards the warmth of your smile.
I’ll find you again soon.
If not now, then in another lifetime.
I promise. “
Summer, 1971
The hot breeze that blew along the dirt road swept up fallen leaves making them swirl in the air, covering her car windows with a layer of dust. Park Chaeyoung sat there mesmerized by the way the leaves danced, making her hum a quiet little melody before starting the ignition and driving off towards her flower shop. These past couple of weeks were tough, the letter her mother sent her was more than enough to wipe away the smile off her face. Shaking her head to push away the negative thoughts, she only hoped time would make her family understand. This summer would be different , she knew it, felt it, wished for it.
Her little rundown flower shop was nestled in the middle of the town, blending in with the usual coffee shops and bookstores that littered her corner of the street. It was old, true, but she loved it. She fell in love with it the moment she set foot in this town, smiling at the memory when she saw the “for sale” sign plastered on it’s windows and at how good it felt as she stepped inside, just moments after she bought it off from the elderly couple who owned it before. Chaeyoung can still remember the first bouquet she sold to a nervous young man wanting to impress his lover, and the silent tears that broke through when a crying mother requested a funeral wreath for her baby boy who was taken from her far too soon. Chaeyoung treasured it all, kept everything that happened in her shop close to her heart. The ups and downs and everything that came in between. She knew there was a flower for everything - birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, even for emotions people struggled to communicate. There will always be a flower for every unspoken word people were too scared to voice out, and she wanted to help people tell their stories. One flower at a time.
Chaeyoung’s trail of thought was interrupted by the ringing of the little bell on her shop door, making her look up.
She immediately knew she wasn’t from here. It was a small town, and a face like hers would’ve stood out to Chaeyoung, she knew … because she was beautiful. Her doe-like eyes swept through the shop. Shy, darting eyes hiding behind bangs that framed her face.
“May I help you?” Chaeyoung couldn’t help but smile at how she jumped, as if caught doing something she shouldn’t
“Uhm… I was, uh… hoping you could help me pick out flowers for someone.” She sounded so small.
Chaeyoung gave her a big smile as she approached her from the counter. She noted how the other girl kept looking away, as if trying her best not to meet her eyes. She had her arms behind her back, her yellow dress making her brown hair glisten against the sunlight that spilled from her shop window.
“Can you tell me more about who it’s for?”
“Of course!” Her sudden change in demeanor made Chaeyoung chuckle. She found herself enjoying the subtle way her eyes lit up. “It’s for someone I’d like to see smile… I’ve noticed they’ve been sad for days now and I really want to cheer them up.”
“Hmm, a lover?” Chaeyoung winked
“Oh! No…it’s nothing like that” she tried to laugh off the blush that crept up on her cheeks. “I honestly don’t know them personally. I uh… walk by them everyday and they have the warmest smile I’ve seen in my life. Lately I haven’t seen them smile and I uh, just wanted to see it again y’know?” The shyness was back. “Well technically, they’ve been smiling, but it doesn’t reach their eyes so…”
Chaeyoung laughed, trying to break the awkwardness that hung in the air around them. “Don’t worry. I know just the thing.”
She offered the girl a seat by the counter as she paced around her shop, picking off flowers and bringing them over to the countertop.
“Would you like to get these in a bouquet or…”
“I’d like them in a vase, if it’s possible?” She answered softly.
Chaeyoung nodded, as she went to fish for a small blue vase and began arranging the flowers. She could feel the other girl studying her intently.
“What do those mean?” pointing to a cluster of pink roses. Her voice barely above a whisper, afraid anything louder would scare Chaeyoung off.
“Happiness. They could also be used to symbolize admiration for someone.” Chaeyoung whispered back.
“And these?”
“Oh, pink alstroemeria’s mean friendship.” Chaeyoung picked up peach asiatic lilies and arranged them to compliment the pink roses and lemon leaf “These, symbolizes innocence.”
“Do you go through all of this with careful thought?”
Chaeyoung stopped, a bit taken aback by the question.
“Sorry, I meant… I just find it lovely how people come in here and tell you what they want to express and you create this beautiful arrangement so full of meaning.” She smiled at her, making Chaeyoung blush.
“I uh...it’s just…” Chaeyoung hated it when she was flustered. Flustered meant stuttering, and stuttering meant embarrassment, and embarrassing herself made her as red as a tomato and not to mention awkward hand movements as she tried to hide most of her face behind them.
“You don’t have to answer that. Watching you work, just made me realize how much you like this.” She gestured to the shop, giving Chaeyoung a huge grin. “I love how you put into flowers what I wanted to tell this person…”
Her words had a certain effect on Chaeyoung, she was used to receiving compliments about her work, but this was different. She could feel her cheeks warming up, and her heart doing weird flips and flutters sending a curious feeling down the pit of her stomach.
“I’m Lisa by the way…”
“I’m Chaeyoung.” She tried to focus on fixing the carnations, arranging and rearranging them until she was satisfied. Trying her best to pay attention to the flowers and not at the pretty woman sitting just a few inches away from her.
They kept silent for a while, Lisa occasionally fidgeting in her seat and Chaeyoung frowning over the smallest of details on the arrangement. When Chaeyoung arranged flowers, it always felt like she was entering a whole new world, somewhere sacred she gets lost into. She’s thankful for it though, there were days where it was slow in the shop and getting lost into her work was just the right distraction she needed to kill time. And there were times like these where she wished time would slow down more.
“Chaeyoung?”
“Hmm?”
“I… it’s … forget about it. It’s nothing.” Lisa was frowning and biting the inside of her cheeks as she looked away, eyes focused on the ticking clock on the wall.
“I’m sorry, what?” chaeyoung looked up in time to catch Lisa glaring at the clock behind her. "Am I taking too long? God, I'm so sorry! I get lost in this sometimes I lose track of time…” Chaeyoung scrambled in her seat, picking away at random flowers to fill in the empty spots in the arrangement.
Lisa reached out suddenly, holding onto her hands to keep them still. She felt an invisible current run through the moment their hands touched, making her breath hitch.
Did she feel that too?
Chaeyoung looked at Lisa’s hands on her own and at Lisa’s face. Back and forth, back and forth until she felt too lightheaded.
“Hey… hey… it’s fine, I’m not in a hurry anyways. I just had a weird thought and wanted to know what you think about it and I guess going over it through my mind made me realize how dumb it was so I had to stop myself from embarrassing my awkward ass in front of a very beautiful woman.”
Chaeyoung swore she’d get whiplash from how fast she looked away from Lisa’s gaze.
Wait… did she hear that right? Beautiful?
Lisa’s chuckle broke through her thoughts.
“I’m sorry if that made you think i was in a hurry…I admit, you looked really determined and focused on that though.”
Chaeyoung nodded, still fully aware of how Lisa’s hands felt so soft and how they seemed to fit hers perfectly.
“But… if you really wanna know… I, uh…. Wanted to know your thoughts on something.” Lisa’s confident tone was replaced with a shaky voice she masked with a soft laugh. “It’s kind of stupid but it crossed my mind and you seemed to be the type of person to really think things through and I really, honestly just want to know what you had in mind.”
Chaeyoung nodded, prompting her to continue.
Lisa let go of her hands, placing them back on her lap as she twirled her thumbs. Chaeyoung felt weird at how annoyed she was at the sudden lack of physical contact.
“Have you ever met someone for the first time and thought about how for some reason you felt like you’ve met them before?” Lisa was frowning, her full attention on the blue vase.
Chaeyoung wasn’t sure how long it was before she found her voice again.
“No… no I haven’t…”
“Sorry, see? Just some useless rambling in my head.” Lisa let out a sigh, looking defeated
“I haven’t had the opportunity to have felt that yet, and I don’t think it’s anywhere near dumb for you to have thought about it either. If you ask me if I believe in that sort of stuff then yes. I think the word you’re looking for is soulmate…” Chaeyoung gave her a smile and went back to placing the finishing touches on the flowers before adding “And I’m jealous as hell of people who found their soulmates amidst the billions of people in this world.”
“You are huh?” Lisa was smiling now, tilting her head to the side. A playful look of amusement in her eyes.
“Damn right I am.”
“I didn’t peg you as someone who could curse.” She was raising an eyebrow in jest.
“Did people ever tell you it’s rude to assume and besides... first impressions aren’t always right” Chaeyoung laughed.
“No and… I think first impressions last regardless if they were wrong or right to begin with.”
“Okay, well I never pegged you to be the type to go philosophical on people.”
“Touche”
Lisa was beaming, Chaeyoung had to admit she looked even more beautiful when she did.
“Anyways, we’re all set here.” Chaeyoung gathered the scattered leaves, petals and nipped stems in one swoop onto the floor, taking a mental note to sweep them later on.
“Do you do deliveries?”
“Yes I do.”
Lisa took out a pen and paper from the little sling bag she had with her and scribbled something. Chaeyoung resisted the urge to crane her neck and check out her handwriting.
“Here, can you do it around after lunch?”
“Sure…” Chaeyoung glanced at the clock and saw she has about twenty minutes before lunchtime before doing the delivery. She took the folded paper, opening it to check on the address.
“Wait!, can you open it around that time too?” Lisa grabbed a hold of her right wrist, sending delicious shockwaves down Chaeyoung’s spine.
“Okay? I don’t understand why I’d have to wait until then”
“I know it’s a weird request, its just… uh … it’s important that you open it around that time -- by then Im no longer here and it wouldn’t be as awkward for me. Please?”
She found it weird but she nodded in agreement anyway. Lisa looked like a deer caught in the headlights and she was a customer first and customer requests were always a priority for her. She’d just have to find a way to distract herself until then.
“Fine, I promise…” giving Lisa one of her warmest smiles.
“Great! Here, and thank you again!” handing her far more than she should. It took Chaeyoung by surprise and before she could call out to Lisa, she was already out of the shop, jogging away.
Chaeyoung let out a suppressed chuckle bubbling inside the moment Lisa got flustered about her weird request. She glanced back at the clock.
Great… Just 16 minutes more….
Chaeyoung didn’t know what to feel. Happiness? Annoyance? …Excitement?
She half laughed half cried.
Holding onto the wrinkled paper in her hand as she fought another wave of giggles, burying her face in her palm trying to ward off the creeping warmth. If she could see herself now, she’d bet her flower shop she was red, redder than red if such a thing was possible.
Dear Chaeyoung,
The look of happiness on your face when you worked on this arrangement was priceless. I missed seeing you smile.
P.S.
Hope I’d get the courage to talk to you again soon.
Sincerely,
Lisa :)
Chaeyoung hiccuped, she lost count of the number of times she read and reread the note. Admiring the cute way she wrote her e’s and the sloppy way she looped her l’s. If she was being honest to herself she knew she’d been thinking about a lot these past few weeks, really hoping she’d take the easy way of forgetting things back home. She was grateful for what Lisa did, smiling at the thought of seeing the woman again.