literature

Flowers And Nothing More

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The road seemed to dip down, causing small gathering of puddles to become more frequent during the cold month of December. Rain was common during this time of year, as Christmas edged closer. Snow seemed to become not existent, for a reason that was unknown to the citizens of South Korea. The first snow hadn't come, hadn't showed off the beauty of falling perfectly onto the wet sidewalks, or gathering onto the front lawns of families. And because of the lack of snow, it didn't seem like winter to Lee Taemin.

Every Christmas he enjoyed the first snow from behind the glass windows of his family's quiet flower shop. It didn't matter how many times he had done this ritual, he was always amazed how the world seemed to stop for those few hours to watch the falling snow. The flower stand that stood outside the shop would gather snow softly. The flowers' stems would freeze, crystals forming around the flowers' beautiful structure. The colorful petals would shine under rain drops and snow, looking almost perfect. These were the winter flowers, which were sold cheaply even though they held perfect beauty, even though they surely wouldn't live longer than a few days. They were Taemin's favorite flowers to sell, and overall the most beautiful.

Though this winter it wasn't snowing, only rain fell from the grey cloudy sky. To Taemin it wasn't winter, it wasn't winter without that beautiful first snow. It was winter, his favorite season, it just wasn't without the falling of snow. But that didn't stop the world from moving, his life continued and of course he was stuck working in his family's flower shop. It was a family business that would surely be passed down to him; his future was already planned with this small shop. And well, he liked it. He enjoyed the scent of the various kinds of flowers; he felt happiness when seeing a new shipment of flowers come his way, even the feel of the flowers seemed to be calming to him. Lee Taemin was made for this business.

His sister wasn't though. His older sister grew up fighting the family business claiming that it was a waste of a job, and no one would even wish to step foot in their shop. And that with many things they young woman had said was a lie. Their small family business was the most reliable and busiest flower shop in their side of town. During holidays Taemin found him and his sister working double shifts even though they had other things to do. Their family business was far from a waste of time, too bad Taemin's sister didn't agree
with them.

It seemed as though every time Taemin and his older sister were called down by their parents to work a new shift, his sister always bailed. Sunkyu always did this, and he didn't stop her. And so when she did this again claiming she had a date with the new boy at her school, Taemin only nodded and watched his older sister run out of the shop only wearing a small dress and heels.

The young man sighed, and stood behind the small counter, counting inventory. It was these days that bored him, when no one seemed to walk through the shop's doors causing the small silver bell to ding. He missed it when customers would ask him questions on the flowers to give to their loved ones. Taemin would only chuckle and a few questions later his customer would be thanking him for the perfect flower arrangement. But it was these days that simply drove him insane, when no one would enter through the door, and when no one would ask for help. Lee Taemin sighed, and rested his head against the glass counter, breathing softly.

*

Winter wasn't his favorite season, it was actually the season he despised the most. Choi Minho preferred the bright and sunny summer that held so many different activities to keep even the most boring person excited. He loved the warm sunlight against his face, he enjoyed playing sports while the sun stayed high in the sky, he loved the long days and short nights, he loved everything about the summer. Too bad for him it was the exact opposite, it was winter.

The young man couldn't feel his cheeks, his fingers were numb, and his nose seemed to be as red as Rudolph's. He simply hated the coldness, the cold wind somehow making it through his coat and layered clothing, causing chills to run up his spine. He breathed in and out, his breath visible and slightly hitched as he coughed slightly and began walked down the small trail slowly.

With a day like this he would be huddled on his couch with his body wrapped in a warm quilt, while drinking a steaming glass of hot chocolate, too bad he wasn't at home. Minho was walking along a small trail through his favorite park, wasting time until his date showed. He arrived well of an hour early believing that he was on time, yet instead he was early and had a significant amount of time before his date showed.
Minho didn't even know why he was on this date that was set oh-so close to Christmas. He had no reason to attend this date; he had forgotten why he had even said yes to his girlfriend. Krystal was her name, a bright young girl with beautiful looks and a great personality. She was perfect for Minho, she was everything he loved in a girl, and yet he wasn't interested in her. At a certain time in their relationship she was his world, they went everywhere together, but now their relationship seemed tedious.

Krystal's heart still beat for him though, but his barely quickened at the sight of her. His palms used to grow clammy just by the thought of her, hearing her soothing voice seemed to calm even him, Krystal used to have such an impact on him, but suddenly all that had vanished. His love for her had disappeared; he simply didn't care for her love anymore. Choi Minho had fallen out of love.

Their relationship had lasted well over a year, stretching throughout his junior year and into his senior year. They were one of the most talked about couples in their school; gossip swirled around the school's halls and into conversations. Someone should have realized his love for Krystal was faulting, but no one did, heck he didn't even realize it till it was too late.  Minho knew only one thing, to end it without shedding tears, without a heart breaking, a clean break that wouldn't hurt him in the future, this was all he knew.

"Flowers…" His voice escaped from his chapped lips, which he licked quickly. They were Krystal's favored gift; she loved the smell and feel of a bouquet of flowers. He knew this of course, he had confessed with a bouquet of red roses in hand. It seemed wrong to end a relationship with a bouquet of roses even he knew that, he would end it with one rose. A rose to signify his vanishing love for his once perfect girlfriend.

*

Taemin was counting the money in the cashier when the door suddenly opened with the sound of the silver bell-which hung on top of the door by a flimsy string. He had this habit with counting the money, feeling the warmth of the flimsy bills in his hands wondering how much would be his pay and how much would be giving to his sister. He had counted roughly half of the pile of bills when the door opened; the blonde hastily stuffed the bills into the cashier and looked up to see his customer staring at him with wide eyes.

"How can I help you?" Taemin asked, as his blonde hair flew into his face. The blonde blew it out of his face sharply, and then looked up at his customer who now had his eyebrow cocked up. His customer was handsome, Taemin had to admit. The man had slender long legs making him roughly six feet tall, his body was slender but had soft muscular touches to it, and even his layers of clothing couldn't hide his well-trimmed body. The man's hair was long, brushing against his shoulders in waves of dark brown hair, which seemed to frame his impeccable face beautifully. His brown hazel eyes met Taemin's while his long eyelashes fluttered.

"How much do your flowers cost?" The man asked his voice surprisingly low. He stepped closer to the counter, his long fingers grazing the glass counter. The customer barely looked at Taemin, instead he looked at the ground, or at the beautiful flowers that seemed to be everywhere in the small shop.

"Only one?" Taemin asked his voice soft as his throat drew sore. He asked this for a reason of course, no one only bought one flower from his family's shop; they bought a full bouquet and ran off with a smile plastered on their faces. But then here this mysterious handsome customer who only asked for one, not two or three, only one. This to Taemin-the town's flower boy-seemed unreal, no one could only buy one and feel pleased, they must buy several.

His customer looked up, and nodded slightly. "Bouquet of flowers are only meant to be given to the one you love, never one you don't."   The man said, while his Adam's apple bobbed as he spoke. Taemin grew fascinated with this man, the man that refused to buy more than one flower. He had never been one to speak out, to ask more questions than needed. But this time was different, this time it felt right to be nosey just one time and ask him a personal question. After all, this man was a customer he needed to know about the man in order to help him.

"Why only one?" The blonde asked, pushing the elder into revealing his situation. The older boy only slightly grinned, finding the other boy's snooping rather adorable. But then of course, he wasn't in a position to be flirting, to be looking, and to be doing anything but ending and nothing else. And so, he told Taemin the truth, knowing no harm would be done if he told the truth.

"I've fallen out of love. I want to give her one last flower, to resemble my dying love for her." Taemin's customer said this in a hushed tone, so discreet that the boy barely heard it, but when he did he could feel his heart to quicken.

Taemin always seemed to fall for the poetic men. The ones with hardly anything to say, but when said, words would fly endlessly from their mouth creating worlds that were so deeply imagined. The romantic ones would draw him in, with their small gestures, and beautiful faces. Taemin was only a dreamer. He dreamed for true love, but even he knew it wouldn't show. And the man in front of him, wasn't his true love, he was a lover out of love-and only that.

"I see…" Taemin muttered this under his breath, thinking, almost immediately the young man
knew what flower to give the customer before him. After excusing himself from his customer, he vanished into the small inventory room in the back of the shop. The room held shipments and flowers that needed to preserve in cold climates. Within moments Taemin found the flower he would give to his mysterious customer.

He appeared in front of the customer with the flower wrapped in light tissue paper. Gradually Taemin pulled back the tissue paper, first the stem was visible. Petite thorns found their way around the stem, as water droplets gleamed as the light touched it. Taemin's slim fingers pulled the rest of the tissue paper off, disposing of it quickly. His customer gasped at the beauty of the flower in the flower boy's hands.

It was a simple rose, whose petals were cream colored with light touches of colors around the bulb. Water droplets framed the petals, as the petals were carved into small perfect shapes. Each petal was different that made their way into framing the bulb of the small flower. Taemin's customer was in awe of the beauty of the simple flower.

"It's stunning," Taemin's customer exclaimed, as he hand reached out to touch the soft petals of the flower. The flower boy's hands retreated from the flower, as his customer picked up the small flower.

"No, it's crying. It's the saddest flower of them all, crying to the others, making its color turn to a dull white. Even though it is beautiful, it is still crying. The white rose is forever crying." Taemin said this softly, so softly that his customer could barely hear him. "When you give her this flower, remember to give the story behind the white rose. Without it, she will thinking nothing of this beautiful flower, but with the story she'll know your feelings."  

The elder boy could only nod; he wasn't expecting something this deep to come from a boy that was younger than him. Taemin only smiled a sweet smile as the customer before him, struggled to answer him.

"I-I'll tell her," The customer stated to Taemin, who only nodded in return. Taemin watched as the man fetched for his wallet, pulling it out and counting the bills inside. "How much for the flower?" He asked, as his fingers began to pull money out of his wallet. Taemin giggled, "It's free," His customer grinned, as he found the boy's laugh to be filled with joy.

"Thank you, Ah-What's your name?" The customer asked, as he placed his wallet back into the pocket of his jacket.

"Taemin, I'm Lee Taemin."

"Nice to meet you Taemin, I'm Choi Minho."

The two shook hands, and as they did the both of them couldn't help but notice how their hands seemed to fit together easily. Their hands together seemed like a puzzle finally finding its other piece. Taemin smiled his joyful smile, and wrapped the white rose into a clean sheet of tissue paper, after he tied a small ribbon piece around it.

"There you go, Minho-ssi."

"Thanks, Taemin."

Minho took the flower, and with a slight bow to Taemin he walked out of the small flower shop. He opened the door to see a blanket of white snow cover the sidewalks and road. From where he stood the small town looked like wonderland. The lights glittered off the wet roads and the snow gathered as he stood there watching in awe. Minho looked back into the shop to see Taemin sitting at the counter, doing nothing but tapping his fingers along the glass counter. Minho smiled at the younger boy.

"Taemin-ah, come and see this." The younger boy looked at Minho quickly, and followed him out of the shop and into the doorway. The younger gasped at the beauty of town; a smile grew on his perfect face. "Minho Hyung, it's the first snow!" Taemin laughed, and pulled Minho out of the shop and onto the sidewalk, his smile never fading.

"It's so beautiful!" The younger cried as he skipped merrily. Minho couldn't help but stare down at the younger boy, enjoying how the boy seemed to feel so much excitement of the tiniest things. He smiled softly, thinking that maybe even though he had just fallen out of love, maybe there was another chance for love somewhere else. That night Minho got a flower and nothing more, but the day he returned to the peaceful flower shop he got much more.
SHINee/2min Fan Fiction.
Wrote This for a contest last Month...

Does it deserve a sequel?
Enjoy!
© 2012 - 2024 FreakyPuppet
Comments11
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kasilo's avatar
I FORGOT YOUR USERNAME? WHAT KIND OF WATCHER AM I? OTL!!!
I was like: I think I've read that name somewhere.. Hmm... *begins and soon after finishes* *sees your avatar* That's why it was so good! It was from her (you)!!
Damn. This was so freaking amazing! Your describing way to write is my goal!! It's so amazing! Like... There isn't a lot happening in the story, but still it's this long! It's so amazing. And even though it's so long and all, it's not boring at all!!

Yes it deserves a sequel, but it doesn't need it. I would definitely enjoy reading it, but it also just could end here.