When Han Seojun had gone to Move Consulting, he had a picture in his mind of how things would go. He would go in and Lim Jukyung, the woman he loved, the woman with the bright gummy smile and cheery demeanor, would agree to help him. She would come over to his shop, go over the business details and help him make a profit. Like a guardian angel or a fairy, Lim Jukyung would save him much like he saved her. A perfect closing to this chapter in Han Seojun's life.

He imagined them pouring over different ideas for attracting customers, coming up with various flower arrangements together and finally part ways with Seojun now running a successful shop and Jukyung having realized that Seojun was a more capable man than she had thought. Then, finally, Han Seojun would have been able to get over Lim Jukyung and move on with his life, having become a better, more successful man.

This image in Han Seojun's mind was tinged in pink and colored brightly, with laughter playing in the background. It ripped in half as reality hit him. A reality that included a darkly dressed, witchy Kang Sujin looking appalled at the state of his paperwork.

"This is where you keep your numbers? This ledger?" With her finger, she pulled up the thick cover of the ledger, curling her lip as if she was looking at a piece of trash from the garbage can.

Seojun gave her a scathing glare.

"No, no, no. You don't get to give me that look. This is ridiculous. Why don't you have a software set up for storing your sales and your costs? Everything is digital nowadays."

Seojun didn't want things to be digital. He preferred having things done the old fashioned way. And he didn't care what some snooty consultant had to say about that.

Kang Sujin's dismay got worse and worse as she went over his various paperwork. Going through his lease contract she exclaimed, "Ah-nee, this contract is exploitative. You're paying well above the market rate for this place! And your land lord can just throw you out at a moment's notice! Didn't you do any research when you signed the lease?".

Seojun wanted to tell her that this was how most lease contracts worked for small businesses like his. He already knew he had been exploited. Many people like him were. But either he could have started the business or stayed at home still looking for fair leasing contracts. Someone like Kang Sujin would never understand the struggles of people not powerful enough to fight the system.

When she went through the paperwork for his suppliers, she complained, "Ah-neee, this isn't a proper working contract. Yes, I know you're working with local people but you need to have something in place in case one of them decides to run off with your money! And how can they charge you so high? Didn't you look for more cheaper suppliers?"

Seojun wanted to explain that those poor suppliers were also struggling businesses like his own. He had wanted to help them out, just like he had needed help. Their terms may seem harsh but those people looked out for Seojun and always made sure to get him his supply no matter what.

And of course, when she went through his invoices, she groaned, "Ah-neeeeee, you pay so much for your exotic collection but how are you charging this low?! Don't you want to make profit?!"

Sujin didn't understand that Seojun wanted his flowers to be easily accessible to everyone, even those who couldn't necessarily pay a lot. Flowers were essential to Han Seojun and he wanted everyone to enjoy them as much as he did.

Han Seojun had wanted to explain all of this to Kang Sujin. He could feel the words form on the tip of his tongue. But they refused to come out. They would never come out.

The more Sujin went through the business, the more she cried in dismay. And the more she complained, the angrier Seojun got.

This wasn't how this was supposed to go. This wasn't the rose-colored image he had in his mind when he first crossed the road over to the Move Conglomerate building. This was bleak and dull and grey and irritating. So very irritating. Seojun could feel his blood boil every time Sujin pointed out things she disapproved of. He knew that there was truth in her criticisms. But her manner of speaking was so high and mighty that made Seojun get defensive.

"Ah-nee, how can you not have a business plan thought out? Even if its not written, you must have some idea in your mind, no?" Sujin was arguing with him now. He could see that she was getting more and more frustrated as days went by. She huffed as she looked over his license to conduct business.

It was late at night, and they were camped out in his tiny office at the back of his shop which Kang Sujin had taken over as her own space to work in.

"I normally don't do this," she had said as she made herself home in his office, behind his desk, sitting on his chair. "But given how much work that needs to be done, I will have to get really hands-on."

Seojun did hand it to her. For better or for worse, Kang Sujin was thorough. She went over each and every term of his lease, vowing to sue his lessee for binding him to unfair terms. She learned his supplier list by heart and had even reached out to a few to discuss their terms—much to Seojun's alarm. He didn't want to ruin the relationship he had with those people. They understood him and his silence.

Sujin also managed to compile all of his invoices and had set up a software for him to input his data into.

"Are these all the invoices for the past two years? These can't be it, right?" She was alluding to the sparsity of said invoices. For two years worth of sales, it wasn't much. Seojun rubbed the back of his head, crinkling his nose.

"Okay," Sujin nodded. "I can work with this." She said, but under her breath he heard her say, "I think."

They got to work, entering the invoice numbers from his sales into the free software Sujin had set up for him. The software was on something Sujin called "the cloud" which made it so that both of them could work on it together.

Kang Sujin stayed behind with him, filling in the sales sheets on her laptop. As annoying as she was, Seojun appreciated her staying back to work with him. They were nearing the end of their first month and Sujin had been there every day, working from morning to night, making sure they stayed on track.

The two eventually moved onto the floor when the chairs got too uncomfortable, sitting with their backs against the old sofa. They worked silently, with only the clacking of the keyboards breaking the silence. From the corner of his eye, Seojun saw Sujin punching her back as she continued typing with her other hand. Wordlessly, he grabbed a cushion and wedged it between Sujin's back and the sofa. He could feel her looking at him, but he didn't bother acknowledging her, instead pretending to focus on his work.

When he finally did look over to her, he found her fast asleep, having slumped back against the sofa. She must have dozed off in the middle of her work as her hand was still on her laptop. Seojun looked at the time. It was one in the morning. He hadn't realized it had gotten so late. He wanted to wake Sujin up but she had declared earlier that they had to input everything into the system tonight at all costs.

"I realize I am rushing you, Han Seojun," she had explained. "But there is way too much to do, and we have to get past the first stage as soon as possible."

Seojun shrugged off his leather jacket—the spikes on it's shoulders and sleeves glinting in the dim lighting of his office—and placed it over Kang Sujin. Carefully, he took away her laptop and put it aside. Then he continued working on his own, typing away well into the night.

By the time the work was done, it was five in the morning. Leaving Kang Sujin where she was, Seojun slowly dragged himself upstairs to his bed, not bothering to change out of his clothes. He would deal with washing up later. He didn't have to work tomorrow so he could sleep in as much as he liked. Except, only three hours later, he found his sleep being interrupted by a voice. The voice told him to wake up, that he had a lot of work to do and it had to be done today. There was a pause. Something light brushed against his eyelashes. Then the voice came again, accompanied by something shaking his shoulder.

Synapses in his mind started buzzing, sending signals to his body to move but his body refused to wake. He groaned and protested and finally forced his mind to start functioning again. Pushing himself off his bed, he fell on to the ground but barely felt the impact since he was still half dreaming of invoices and sales reports. Finally, after so much effort, he forced himself into his bathroom.

The leather bands around his wrists had left sleep lines on his pale, porcelain like skin. His neck too. The spikes on his choker had been digging into his jaw line and left punctures that were now stinging. This was why Seojun had always been careful before, not to sleep with his piercings and various jewelry on. His spikes tended to hurt, even scratch him on occasion.

He took off the straps and the choker and painfully took out the piercings that had been digging into the back of his ear all night long. His liner had been smudged, making him look like a skinny panda bear or like Batman without his mask on. He wiped it all off with a cotton pad and makeup remover. These items had been courtesy of Lim Jukyung who had lent him hers after seeing how often he wore eye liner.

His eyes were all puffy and red and so was his face. They remained puffy even after he got out of the shower. Since it was a Sunday and Seojun didn't need to open his shop, he decided not to put on any of the piercings or the leather bands he wore. It wasn't as if someone would see him anyways.

Wait... its Sunday... why am I awake so early?

When he got out his nose was hit with the distinct aroma of meat and rice floating through his room. Suddenly on high alert, Seojun tightened the towel around his waist and peered through his bedroom door.

His table was all set with two bowls of rice, kimchi and meat side dishes. A tall thin vase with white calla lilies stood in the middle of the table.

"Oh, you're awake." Kang Sujin emerged from the kitchen wearing his apron. "Hurry up and put something on. I've made breakfast... or rather I had it delivered. I'm not really much of a cook."

Seojun stalked back into his room and it took every ounce of his self-control to keep himself from slamming his door shut.

What was Kang Sujin doing here? How had she gotten in? Did she think she could just barge into his life like that? What gave her the right to enter his home?

But then Han Seojun remembered the previous night and how Kang Sujin had fallen asleep. He had completely forgotten about it. His anger dissipated a little but a strange, heavy feeling of discomfort still remained.

Kang Sujin, a stranger, was here in his home, setting up breakfast. He hadn't had anyone over in... well ever. Not once since he had moved in. His mother and sister did come over and stay once but Seojun felt that family didn't count. He had always lived with them. Having an outsider over felt disconcerting. Seojun didn't like this one bit.

He also suddenly realized that he was half naked. A blush spread across his cheeks. Kang Sujin hadn't reacted any differently than normal. In fact, she had acted as if she hadn't even noticed. That made Seojun feel better. He quickly put on his clothes and went out his room. He was suddenly overcome with fear that if he left Kang Sujin alone for too long in his living space, she would discover all of his secrets.

She was already on the table when he saw her, typing away at her laptop. It was a Sunday, shouldn't she stop working now?

She looked up at him and smiled. "Good morning Seojun-si. I saw that you completed entering in all of the invoice data. Thank you for that."

Seojun waved a dismissive hand.

"And also—" Kang Sujin forgot what she was going to say. Her eyes widened when she saw him, her expression pausing as she became unsure of how to process Seojun standing there, bare faced with no piercings, eye liner or spikes to protect him. Seojun shifted where he stood uncomfortably.

Kang Sujin remembered herself. "See! I told you, you would look handsome without all of that nonsense."

Seojun clicked his tongue, annoyed and suddenly feeling shy. He took his seat at the table, ignoring Kang Sujin's gaze. But just like that, she went back to her laptop, working on it as she ate. They didn't speak even once during the meal. Sujin was too focused on her work and Seojun too focused on ignoring Sujin.

How can a woman speak so brazenly? He was still reeling from her comment earlier.

Once they were done, Seojun moved to clear away the dishes.

"Let me," Sujin got half up, "I overstayed my welcome last night. It's the least I can do."

Seojun waved her away. You set up the table. I'll clear it away.

Understanding, Sujin sat back down and went back to her laptop. As Seojun picked up the plates, he thought he saw a picture in her screen that looked oddly like his shop. Only it felt like an animated version of it.

He quickly learned what it was once he had cleaned up the dishes.

"I've compiled a full report of what I think are the key areas we need to be focusing on to turn your business around. And from the looks of things, I think we need to start right away or else you'll be out of business in the next month or so. You're behind on your rent, aren't you?"

Seojun nodded solemnly.

"Well, my aim is to make sure that you can survive the next five months, enough for us to fully turn this place around." She told him. As exhausted and irritated as Seojun was, he decided to listen to her. She pushed the laptop in front of him, asking him to look at the report she had opened up.

Seojun gawked at the page count. It was three hundred pages long. When did she have time to write all of that? She'd been spending all of her hours complaining about his paperwork all this time.

"Its too long. You'll have to go through it later. But I want to start on step one today." She said with determination. Seojun tentatively nodded, unsure of where she was going with this.

"You may have noticed that I took pictures of your shop." He had definitely noticed. "I entered them into this app we have that makes 3D models of rooms. It's something interior designers use. It helps us work out what changes a space may need to get the best result."

She showed him what she had been working on. It was a 3D model of his shop only the arrangement of the place was different. It seemed brighter and more spacious than its present state. Seojun nodded, motioning for Sujin to continue.

"This software is never exactly accurate. We may need to make a few changes. But since you're closed today, I think its a perfect opportunity to rearrange your shop. No, don't give me that look. We have to work on Sunday because someone didn't store their paperwork properly and didn't bother saving their sales on their computer. We're already down a month and we have too much to get through."

Now Seojun figured out why he was awake so early on a Sunday. Kang Sujin had been the voice telling him to wake up. She had sneaked into his room and shaken him up.

She had been in his room. His room. A deep irritation set in. Kang Sujin was too invasive. And he didn't like this one bit.

Sujin seemed to notice his distress. "Think about it this way. The sooner we are done with this, the sooner you get rid of me."

That was a very tempting offer. Seojun would do anything to get rid of the woman in front of him. He nodded.

Its just some shuffling around. How much long can it take?

Five hours later, Seojun was regretting his words.

"Push this for me, would you?" Sujin called for him as she pulled a shelf away while Seojun pushed from the other side.

The shop looked like a tornado had passed through it. There was soil everywhere, even on Seojun and Sujin. The plants were all piled together in the middle of the space as the pair moved the shelves around this way and that. Seojun worried about the task at hand. Half the day had already passed. Would they get this all done in time?

Kang Sujin didn't seem to be in such a hurry. She took her time, surveying the area with every shelf they moved. She had made Seojun clear out the entire storefront so now more light poured in to the shop.

"You need to let your customers see what flowers you're offering. You need to entice them to come in." She had lectured in her haughty way. Seojun had just rolled his eyes. The customers already know what the shop had. It was literally in the name, Beautiful Flowers. Nonetheless, Seojun had complied. As he did to all of Kang Sujin's requests as she tested placements for the flowers against the lighting.

"It's a pity we don't have a budget to work with. Otherwise, I would have made you put in new lighting instead of doing all this."

Kang Sujin had always seemed annoying to Seojun. That part had been well established since the day she had stormed into his shop and demanded a Fuck You bouquet. But today she was really testing his patience. She would make him move and entire shelf around, only to have it moved again.

He was tired of her repeated excuses of "The lighting isn't right" and "The flowers can't be seen properly." Granted she wasn't just giving orders. She was moving things around together with him. But it was a Sunday and Han Seojun was sweating like a pig, feeling dirty and extremely exhausted.

"No, this isn't right either. Let's move it back and try something else." Sujin suddenly declared.

If Kang Sujin could really read Han Seojun's mind, she would hear him scream relentlessly in frustration. This was a rare moment that he wished Sujin really was a witch with telepathy so that he could make her feel the anger he was feeling towards her.

Obediently, Seojun pulled back the shelf while Sujin pushed from the other side. These were no ordinary shelves. They were made of metal and made to hold heavy buckets and pots of flowers. Moving them took a lot of effort.

"No, I think we need to move it the other way. That place has the best light. It will give the flowers a nice glow."

Seojun's anger reached its tipping point. He could feel the oncoming of a splitting headache. Seojun rubbed at his temples before complying with Kang Sujin's wish. If there was ever a moment that Seojun wanted to kill someone, it was now.

Kang Sujin stood back and surveyed the room.

"This shelf seems right. But its throwing the balance off of that one." She pointed to the shelf near the counter. "Help me move that one would you."

Enough. Please, enough. Seojun looked at her pleadingly. Surely she was tired too.

"Just a little more Seojun-si. We're almost done."

That's what you said two hours ago.

After this, Han Seojun was going to march into Move Consulting and demand another consultant. If this was how Kang Sujin worked, than Han Seojun didn't want any help. He fantasized about this as he began to push the shelf.

"No, Han Seojun! Pull!"

Sujin had been pulling from the other side and with the force of Seojun's push, she was sent hurling backwards. Luckily, the counter was right behind her to break her fall. Unluckily, the small ugly flower that rested on the counter was not bolted to it. Sujin knocked against it, sending it flying and crashing right into the wall behind the counter.

The silence that followed the crash was palpable. Sujin even heard her own gulp.

She didn't know just how important the flower was to Han Seojun. She didn't know that it was his precious second companion, that he saw himself in that flower, that it was basically his heart that she had just broken. But she knew how to read his face and right now he looked deadly.

"Han Seojun..." She looked at him helplessly.

"That. Is. IT! I HAVE HAD IT! I am done with this stupid consultation. I am done with you. I am done with the entire contract!"

"Han Seo—"

"Shut up. Shut up you immensely irritating woman! Do you have any idea what that flower meant to me? Do you have any idea what you have just done? No. Of course not. Because all you see is your contract and how quickly you want to get rid of me. Well, screw you! Because I don't want to work with you either. I never did!"

"Do you realize that your are spe—"

"And another thing. I don't use those stupid softwares because I tried it once and it lost all of my data and I got in big trouble when I was filing my taxes. So don't act all snobby like you're the only one who's ever thought of putting sales on a spreadsheet. And yeah, my leasing contract is shit. But you know what else is shit? The fact that everywhere land owners exploit renters through bullshit contracts and loopholes that people like you help them find. I had no choice when I bought the place. It would have been the same situation no matter where I went."

"Seojun please breathe."

"And another, another thing. My suppliers are some of the best people I know... They're good people... They don't overcharge me. I overpay. I want to help them stay afloat. And I won't let you renegotiate their contracts... I won't."

Kang Sujin was staring at him with a look he had never seen on his face. Seojun wondered whether he had gone too far. But even if he had, he didn't care. He suddenly felt lighter and less angrier. And oddly enough, Kang Sujin didn't look scared or shaken. She looked... wait, did she look happy? Why was she happy?

With a strange sparkle in her eye, Sujin spoke. And when she did, it took Seojun a full minute to register what she said. "I know this is completely off topic. But you have the sexiest voice I have ever heard."

Is this woman mad? Was Seojun's first thought. And then, Wait, what does she mean my voice. How did she...

"Han Seojun, won't you say something else?"

The world started spinning, his ears buzzed with a far away noise. He heard nothing else but muffled laughter and the ringing of the school bell. Suddenly, Han Seojun was transported back to high school. Back to his class that stared at him as he entered the room. Back to the whispers that followed him all across the hall.

Just look at his face. He looks so evil! I can't believe I went out with him.

Didn't you hear? Seyeon didn't kill himself. Han Seojun pushed him.

He even tried to blame it all on Changmin! What a creep.

How could someone do that to their best friend?

His best friend. His Best friend. His Best friend.

Slam! Seojun didn't know when he had run up to his room or how he had gotten there. All he knew was that he was in his room with his door locked behind him and Kang Sujin knocking on it.

"Seojun! Han Seojun! Are you okay? You looked like you weren't breathing. Gwenchana? Han Seojun!"

Seojun put his hands on his ears, blocking out Kang Sujin and every other sound he possibly could. But the whispers of that time long ago still played in his mind. No matter what Han Seojun did, those voices never stopped speaking. Those voices never became silent.