The Flowers You Left For Me.

Monday

6:45 am

I wake up early. Again. I need to stretch my legs, so instead of taking the bus, I walk to school. I have the time to anyways. The morning air is cool against my face. It’s a refreshing start to my morning. Subconsciously, I smile and start to hum to myself.

Just as I’m about to turn the corner, someone touches my shoulders. I turn my head curiously.

“Annyeong, Areum.” Chanyeol greets me with a cheerful voice.

“Morning.” I turn back.

“I’ve never seen you walk to school before.” Chanyeol cracks his neck and walks next to me.

“I know, it’s the first time.” I avoid his eyes. He’s attempting small talk.

He purses his lips and stays quiet until we reach school grounds. Before entering, he pulls me back by the arm.

“Areum.” Chanyeol says.

“Hm?” I look from the school door, to him.

He opens his mouth to say something, but hesitates. Without a word, he lets go of my arm and walks ahead of me.

“Nothing, never mind.” He sighs, going in first.

I heave a sigh of relief. The tension in the air was suffocating due to our meeting in the park, our talk of the past. I watch his back disappear into the school and I slow down my pace.

I direct my attention to my hands. It looks like they’ve healed. I recall my work at the diner on the weekend. Baekhyun did give me the easier job. He thinks I’m weak and can’t handle little injuries like this.

“Aarriii~” His shrill voice sings through the air.

I roll my eyes and turn around to face him with a raised eyebrow. He laughs. Here we go again.

“Good morning.” He smiles, holding the door for me.

“G’morning.” I mutter.

I walk into school, hearing Baekhyun’s quick footsteps catch up to me. I ignore it. I’m not in the mood for entertaining him this morning.

“How was your sleep? I hope the weekend wasn’t too bad for you.” Baekhyun asks, peeking his head into my view.

“It was fine. You have dark circles under your eyes.” I say, coldly. It’s my only way to get him to stop bothering me.

He stops walking checks himself with his phone. Taking advantage of his stop, I rush forward to the classroom only to run right into Kai at the door.

“Good mor-”

“UGH, they’re everywhere!” I throw my hands in the air and push Kai out of my way.

Without saying an apology, I brush past Chanyeol and sit in my seat. Feeling the burning eyes of the students on me, I bury my face in a book and pretend not to notice.

“What’s her problem?” Kai grumbles to himself and makes his way back to his seat.

“Dongggsaengggg~!” Baekhyun enters the classroom and heads for Kai’s desk enthusiastically.

He makes a face and walks to Chanyeol before Baekhyun could get to him. “W-what did you say? Did you say something to me, Chanyeol hyung?”

Chanyeol shoots his head up, wide eyed and confused.

“Yah!” Baekhyun says as Kai escapes.

Baekhyun eventually walks to sit down next to me. He slouches and leans back on his chair. I ignore him a flip a page in my book.

I hadn’t noticed, but there’s something on my desk.

Another white rose. I widen my eyes. I pick it up and look at the stem. A fresh cut.

I bring it to my nose for a sniff. Isn’t this for Baekhyun? There must be a misunderstanding.

“Is that for me?” Baekhyun leans his elbow on my desk.

I shrug and passes to him. “You can have it.”

He stares at it for a moment then pouts.

“Ani, you keep it. A beautiful flower must have a beautiful owner, not a person with dark circles. Like me.” Baekhyun straightens up and redirects his attention to the front of the classroom.

I blink. An arrow of guilt pierces my heart as I pull my hand back. Did he just call me beautiful?

The bell rings and everyone return to their desks. Kai’s eyes linger on me and we make eye contact. Had he overheard our conversation?

The professor walks into the class, holding files at his side.

“Class President.” He says casually.

A boy, as I recall to be Suho, stands up.

“Attention!” Suho says with a firm voice. “Bow.”

“Annyeonghaseyo.” We all say and bow.

“Good morning, students. I hope your weekends went well.” Professor Lee smiles and begins to teach class.

By the end of the hour, he makes an announcement.

“Based on the notes you took for the past few days, I want you to either, create a presentation and present it in front of the class, or compose an essay and submit it to the schools writing contest. This is partnership work. You all know, I’m an easy going person, so pick your own partners.”

There’s silence and I see students making eye contact each other. I bite my lip, I haven’t made nearly as many friends as I had hoped. Beside me Baekhyun nudges my arm.

“Okay, class dismissed.” Professor Lee smiles and leaves the room.

After failed attempts to get my attention, Baekhyun decides to go to the washroom. I stare at my desk, my heart beating loudly from anxiety.

Who am I going to work with? There’s no one I feel comfort-

“You want to be partners with me?” A voice asks and I look up. Kai leans casually on my desk glancing at the rose. There is a thin smile on his lips as we lock eyes.

Right, there is Kai.

“Arraseo.” I nod and hide a small smile of relief.

Coincidentally, Kai and I have the day off from the diner.

-----
Kai’s POV

Her answer is music to my ears. I lift an eyebrow and smile broadly. “Really?”

“Eo.” She says, emotionless.

“Great, we’ll work over at my place today then.” I say letting my eyes wander so that she wouldn’t see the wide, idiotic smile on my lips.

From the corners of my eyes, I see Chanyeol stare longingly at Areum. I feel slightly guilty. He had opened up to me earlier about his past with her. They seemed very close, but something went wrong in their relationship.

Something he didn’t tell me.

We leave school with the others. As they head for the bus stop to go to work, I pull Areum to the parking lot where I parked my car. She stares at me blankly as I toss my bag into the trunk and open the door for her. She gives me a look, but boards without a word.

We head off towards my apartment. For a few minutes, there’s only silence in the car. All that can be heard is the quiet rumble of the engine.

“I don’t get it.” She says finally.

I look at her in the rear view mirror. “What do you mean?”

“You have a car. Why do you take the bus to work?” She asks.

“Oh.” I smile, feeling kind of happy that she noticed. “I don’t want to waste gas, I bring my car only on off days.”

She nods slowly, her eyes searching the car’s interior. I watch her from the corner of my eyes, taking in the small features on her face. Cute.

We reach my apartment and she follows after me without a word. As soon as we enter, she immediately takes her laptop out and starts working. I watch as she made herself comfortable on the couch, but can’t help but feel disappointed at her lack of interest in my living space.

I guess that’s just who Areum is. So different from other girls.

-----
Areum’s POV

We barely talk when we work. I made sure that there was a space between us so that we would stay on task. In reality, I just want to get out of there as soon as possible. If my parents could see me now, I would definitely get scolded. Me, in a boy’s house, with no adults. The scenario is absurd in their eyes.

But an assignment is an assignment.

I peer up at him between breaks, watching his careful eyes on the screen of his laptop. He taps the back of his pencil against his cheek and furrows his brows, deep in thought. I find myself lost in his expressions and end up staring at him.

“What?” He says with a look of concern.

I snap out of it and blink at him. “Hm? Nothing, sorry.”

He smirks and shakes his head to fix his hair, returning to his work. My eyes wander around the room, studying the tidy shelves lined with books and the clean kitchen in the corner. There’s no signs of anyone else living there.

“Do you-” I clear my throat. “Do you live by yourself?”

He looks up in surprise at my question. He scratches his head with the back of his pencil and nods. “It’s not that bad, it would’ve been the same living with my parents anyways.”

I see the brief glimmer of pain in his eyes, but didn’t question it any longer. He looks lonely.
Kai beams at me, catching my concerned look. “What, are you worried?”

I flush and look away with a scoff. “M-me? Why would I?”

He laughs and puts down his pencil to stretch. “Are you hungry? Let’s make something to eat.”

I blink. We haven’t even been working for that long and he’s hungry?

Kai doesn’t wait for my answer and makes his way to the kitchen. He opens his cupboard to reveal countless rows of cup noodles, lining the shelves. He pulls two out and starts to boil water.

“Is that all you eat?” I ask, horrified at the sight.

He looks at me curiously and nods, tilting his head to the side. When I don’t say anything, he smirks. “So you are worried about me.”

“When you eat like that, yeah!” I say feeling the colour in my cheeks. I get up from my spot and join him in the kitchen. I pull open his fridge to find it almost empty of greens and fruits.

“No.” I says crossing my arms at him. He can not live like this.

He looks at me funny.

“We’re going shopping.” I look at the time.

It’s almost 4, if we go now, there’d still be time to work.

As well as maybe cooking him a meal.

He laughs and shakes his head. “No, this is fine.”

I don’t take no for an answer and drag him out of his apartment. Worried or not, there’s no way I’m going to let him live on cup noodles for the rest of his high school life.

-----
Baekhyun’s POV

Father is being unfair. With this many boys working at the diner, why am I the one who has to go to the supermarket?

I walk down the aisle, looking for that sauce he asked for. I hate this place, it smells like fish and raw meats. With a groan, I crinkle my nose and move to the next aisle grumpily.

“Aish, Ari, I don’t need all of this stuff.”

I flick my head up at the sound of the voice. Kai?

Curiosity gets the better of me and I stray from my job to find the voice. If I heard correctly, he definitely said Areum’s name.

I’m right. Kai and Areum are standing in front of the fruit stands with a basket of groceries between them. I smile at their familiar faces and move to greet them.

“Kai, you need to eat healthier, cup noodles aren’t going to last you forever.” Areum says with a frown and stuffs the bag of fruit into his basket.

I watch him smile gently at her, an expression I’ve never seen on Kai’s face, and suddenly, my feet feel heavy. My heart speeds up as I glance at the two before me argue.

Kai pushes Areum on the head with his finger playfully and she topples back slightly.

I feel a sudden pain in my chest and I have to lean on the nearest shelf to stabilize myself.

Areum’s face is pink and she is laughing in delight.

I thought I was the only one who could make her laugh…

Notes

ObsessedFanFic's turn to update today x3
=w= Alexis forced me to write the second half of the chapter so... here ya go. I'm sorry, it's so urgh, but I hope you will excuse my poor choice of words and stupid plot. AHAHA love y'all.

As always, thanks for reading, and enjoy the story!

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no seriously.. comment, love seeing reactions on the chapters and any suggestions you may have <3 -O.F