House of Flowers

Chapter 20

It was after all, not an infatuation.

Five years have passed since, and he still remembers the days they had spent together, the stories they had invented together.

And there he was, standing in front of her pride: House of Flowers. Although the colour scheme rather dull and plain—not Eunrae's style at all—even so, he smiled as he went inside the flower shop.

Unexpectedly, the inside reflected what he saw earlier—gloomy. And it looked like a shop that's already ran out of business, only counting the days until the complete shut down. There was also someone who's packing behind the stack of boxes, wearing a cap so Jimin couldn't really see their face.

"Eunrae?" Jimin called and the girl immediately turned to him. Much to his dismay, she wasn't the girl that he's been looking for.

The girl stood up and dusted off her clothes. "I'm sorry, sir, but we're no longer in business; we're closing down." The girl politely smiled. "But since you mentioned Eunrae earlier, you must be one of her acquaintances. Can you tell me your name, please?" The girl who's looking like in her twenties asked politely with a smile.

Jimin was baffled. If this shop belongs to Eunrae, then she must be lurking somewhere around here. That girl loved flowers so much to have her eyes shifted from it. "My name is Park Jimin," he replied, earning a gasp and widened eyes from the girl.

She gulped and cleared her throat. "So you finally came, Park Jimin. Eunrae was... waiting for you," The girl mumbled, looking sad and all. Despite that, he still saw the bright side instead of the dark ones.

"Then can I see her now?"

"Sadly, you can't."

"Why?"

"Because Eunrae passed away a few months ago." And that was when the world stopped moving for Jimin, his breath halted as he tried to deny what he just heard a few moments ago.

"Excuse me?" He furrowed his eyebrows as tears were brimming on her eyes.

"Sorry I haven't introduced myself earlier, my name is Eunbyul and I'm her friend, also business partner. Eunrae passed away because of this unknown type of cancer, even doctors couldn't help her. But you know, that girl smiled a lot even during her last moments. She told me that one day, her first ever human friend would come and look for her, and that happens to be you, Park Jimin. She always talked about you," the girl explained as her breath hitched, trying to smile, resembling Eunrae a lot.

Jimin's legs crumpled onto the ground, a palm placed against his face in disbelief, tears were already falling from his eyes. "I—I can't believe that she's..." he stopped for a while and added, “Dead.”

Eunbyul crouched down and rubbed his back, whispering some encouraging words. The news really broke his heart, creating a deep hole in his being.

"She loves you so much, Park Jimin. More than a friend, more than anything. Before she found out about her illness, she still went to the lake just to rekindle the flame of your lantern, she tried her best to learn about the city so that she could visit you one day, but that never happened," Eunbyul continued, sadness lingering in her tone.

"I–I love eunrae so much too," he stuttered, hoping he could say the three words to Eunrae directly.

"Gladiolus. Do you want to know what it means?" Eunbyul smiled as Jimin lifted his head up and nodded.

"Remembrance. She wants you to remember her. So thank you so much for granting her wish, Jimin. She must be really happy." He was speechless, couldn't form a speech to say anything in return.

"It must be really hard on you, but hey, most beautiful flowers always get picked first, right?" Eunbyul chuckled bitterly with tears staining her cheeks. "She was a wonderful person." Jimin nodded in agreement, both head and heart were throbbing so hard due to the amount of tears that left his tears ducts, until nothing was left.

"I'm sure she's happy to have you as our last customer, although you're not the first. She's always thankful for what she gets and what she has.”

I'm sorry, Eunrae. I couldn't fulfill our promise.

"Eunbyul..." he muttered. "I'm buying this place so please continue doing the business. I can tell, she loves this place a lot. That girl really can eat flowers for living." Jimin chuckled sadly—but not really. When the image of her smile came across his mind, he also felt happy.

"Thank you, thank you so much for loving her, Jimin," Eunbyul spoke.

Afterwards, he kept moving forward, with a smile, just like what Eunrae always told him to. Together with traces of her, with remnants of memories, they moved toward the future together. Even different universes couldn't separate their trust for each other. Jimin couldn't really see Eunrae with his eyes, but he knew it.

Eunrae was always there to support him, just like what she once promised. And Eunrae never lied even once, especially to jimin, whom she loves the most.