Uriah

He concluded that it was most likely a heat exhaustion.

After carrying her into the shop -- a decision he contemplated for a whole minute because both leaving her outside or bringing her in was intolerable -- and placing her down on the couch, Uriah noticed the sheen of sweat on her flushed face and rapid, shallow breathings.

Maybe she wouldn't have lost consciousness if I had just paid more attention just now and not zone out so much. Guess this is the least I can do now.

Letting the thought go in his mind, another one came to replace it.

Who is she?

Having to live for eleven years in a small town like Minaburgh, Uriah knew almost everyone in town. So it was slightly bothering him for a stranger to be lying on the couch inside his flower shop.

Sighing, Uriah returned from the sink with a cloth damped in cold water as he made his way to the girl. He bent down, gently parted her bangs and placed it on her forehead. Hopefully, that would relieve her from the heat.

He stood back up, plopping down the beanbag chair just beside the couch, feeling exhaustion weighing himself down. Letting his arms sprawled out on both sides, he eyed the transparent file containing papers on the coffee table in front of him.

"It's positive."

Uriah closed his eyes, trying to get that piece of memory out of his mind. The pain was like a huge crash at first. It slowly subsided to just waves of sadness and refusal washing over him with time intervals in between.

When he was distracted, he wouldn't remember. But now that he relaxed a little -- turned vulnerable -- they came crashing, swallowing him whole. It hurts.

His eyes burned, and he tried to hold back all his emotions. He would have broken down if he was alone, but there was someone here. And he had to hold on until she was gone. But could he really hold on, when he could clearly feel his grip on life loosening, letting go as though he was close to losing himself?

Not yet.

Uriah let out a breath as he opened his eyes. He just needed to cut off all his thoughts and emotions for now. A distraction would work. His gaze fell upon the girl.

Why was she so interested in his flowers? Uriah has never seen anyone as persistent as her, definitely not for flowers, at least. She must have really loved flowers then. Just thinking about her piqued Uriah's curiosity, but there was nothing he could do or ask until she regained consciousness, so instead of waiting aimlessly, he stood up, swiped the file on the table and trudged down the stairs, making his way behind the counter.

Uriah tossed the file into the small box filled with letters, leaving a note somewhere in his mind to sort it out soon as he grabbed the dark blue apron hanging on the wall. Draping the apron over his chest and fastened it behind his neck, Uriah strode towards the display area.

Rich colours burst into his sight, ranging from bright, soft to dark. His eyes roamed around the place, before he settled with the daffodil, crouching in front of the vase and pulled one out, checking its stem and leaves.

Three brownish leaves drooped down amidst the other lush green ones, catching Uriah's attention. They looked so out of place, like they didn't belong there. The flower was still living but the leaves were dying. They needed to be removed or else the flower will wilt altogether.

He trimmed off the wilted leaves and gently placed the daffodil back to its vase. The wilted leaves were thrown into the trash can, but Uriah continued to stare at them, expression solemn as a sinking feeling settled in his stomach.

Everything that once breathed life would eventually fade away, losing its existence not only in this world, but in every memory, exactly like a passing summer breeze.

🌸🌸🌸

Jasmine

Jasmine woke up to a pair of steel blue eyes staring down at her.

It took her by surprise, because who would have expected someone else's face to be just inches away from your own, looking intently at you as soon as you opened your eyes?

Despite that, she didn't move, speak, or even blink. It wasn't because her head was still spinning, and of how parched her throat was or she was too shocked to do anything. Jasmine was completely captivated by those blue eyes still gazing at her own hazel ones, that she lost interest in every other things.

Those eyes weren't really special. They weren't the perfect colour, and it seemed to her that those blue orbs were covered by a layer of murkiness that she somehow knew wasn't supposed to be there. Was it to hide his brokenness or to protect what was inside? She wanted to know, and that feeling drowned out every other emotion.

Jasmine found herself unable to tear her eyes off his, because despite the imperfections, they held a different but unique kind of beauty to her.

Uriah

He was only replacing the cloth on her forehead, but it completely caught him off guard when she opened her eyes precisely at the moment he had bent down to pick the piece of cloth that had slipped off to the couch, right next to her neck.

Uriah froze in his tracks the second her eyes landed on him. Abandoning the thought to grab the cloth, and before she could notice what was happening, Uriah reflexively pulled away, only to have his hand grabbed by a smaller one. He stopped in his tracks and went still.

Her pure hazel eyes were focused on him, but instead of feeling uncomfortable like he should, a strange sense of familiarity washed over him. Uriah disliked eye contact because it always made him feel inspected, but this time it felt different. Her eyes weren't like others, judgmental or discriminating, but just pure and real.

As though they were in a game, time paused for them. It felt like they were both lost in their own thoughts as their eyes were still locked together. Whether it went on for a long or short time, Uriah didn't know, but he found himself not caring either. Somehow, the world seemed to have faded away for a moment there.

Soon though, Uriah broke off the staring contest, half because he snapped out of it first, and the other being the feeling of fear that tugged on his heartstrings forced him to. He wasn't able to stand that piercing , clear gaze any longer, for it felt like it was directly looking inside of him.

For a second there, Uriah thought he could be seen through, and that scared him, because right now he was in his most vulnerable state, and he didn't want his heart to be pry open. He had too much to keep within, and he wasn't ready for all that to be known.

"Um," he squeaked out, mind still a little disarrayed from what just happened. "Can you let go of my hand?"

Uriah saw her eyes widened a little as she let out a small gasp and tried to sit up. The grip on his hand was instantly gone, so he pulled his hand back and waited for her to collect herself. The spot on his wrist that she had grabbed before still felt warm.

She sat up straight, ran her hand through her light caramel hair, eyes glued to the ground. It took her few seconds to finish composing herself before she looked up at him sheepishly, speaking in a really meek voice, "S-Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it," he answered, pausing a bit before asking, "Are you feeling better?"

She nodded, eyes starting to scan the place where she was at in a cautious manner. Uriah caught sight of that and immediately explained, "You fainted from a heat exhaustion, right outside of my flower shop. I didn't know what to do but I couldn't exactly leave you just there, so I brought you inside. Hope you don't mind."

Her eyes immediately snapped back at him, a tint of pink dusting her cheeks as she shook her head, "N-No, it's okay. I'm sorry for the trouble."

She looked so flustered and nervous, as though she was going to explode in that state. He wanted to help her feel at ease, but he was an awkward person who didn't know what to say in situations like this.

Seeing her getting more and more flustered led him to feel the same so with the intention to ease the situation, he blurted out, "It seems you apologizes a lot."

Jasmine

The fact that she forgot to thank him made her flustered, so she tried to speak up, "T-Tha--" But her throat was too dry --most likely from being dehydrated-- for her to speak another word. Jasmine found a small smiled plastered on his face when she had sneaked a glance at him in between the coughs. She noted to herself that he was only joking about that and the relief soothed her anxiousness.

"Sorry, I didn't mean that. Just...give me a minute."

The guy then took off with big steps down the stairs, and Jasmine figured that she had some space to breathe while he's gone. She sat up properly and started to even out her ragged breathings while fanning herself. After awhile, her breathing had calmed down considerately and the heat that was previously shrouding her had cooled down.

It didn't feel right to keep bothering him, so Jasmine tried to leave. Before she could even stand up though, the owner of the flower shop returned, with a cup in his hands, and a grin on his face. It was a bright, slightly proud one.

"Here, drink this," he placed the cup on the coffee table in front of her, and sat down on a chair beside her own. "It will help soothe your throat."

She shook away her bewilderment and peered to check what the cup contained, finding white flower petals floating atop of the mellow yellow liquid.

Flower tea.

The tea's fragrance wafted in the air, and the dryness in her throat urged her to hurry and take a sip, which she did. The warm tea flowed down her throat, quenching her thirst. A cold drink would have been a little too stimulating for her, but the warm liquid was perfect. It soothed her like a gentle breeze.

Jasmine felt a lot better after sipping half of tea in the cup, the subtle sweetness spreading in her mouth energized her.

"What tea is this?" She asked.

"Jasmine," His voice sounded mature, with a mysterious feeling clinging to it. It sounded warm, but distant.

She flinched a little at his answer, subconsciously thought that he called her name but realized soon enough that he was just referring to the tea. Jasmine took another sip and smiled for the first time of the day.

"It's delicious."

Hesmiled back and nodded in acknowledgement.