As a florist, Han Seojun often fancied himself a spy. Because his job afforded him interactions with people at various points in their lives—anniversaries, birthdays and other such celebrations—where he got to learn more about them than even their close friends would.

His silence played a big part in this. People would find themselves compelled to speak in order to keep the conversation going. It was better than stewing in his sullen silence. And in this attempt to speak, people would end up divulging intimate details.

"They're for my son. He's graduating today. We're all so happy. Although he's at that age where he wants to be on his own and I know, I know, I should let him be an adult now but a mother will always see her child as a child. Children never really grow up in our eyes. Its hard for me to let go."

"My girlfriend gets mad over nothing... Okay it wasn't nothing. But its not like I can help it if a pretty girl flirts with me. I have to flirt back, right? Its only polite. But no, she has to throw this big tantrum—ugh."

And Han Seojun discovered, that when people didn't speak, they ended up divulging even more intimate details. The body spoke in volumes. The light blush on the cheeks, the shying away from eye contact as the man put a bright pink premade bouquet on the counter let Seojun know it was for a girl he was going to ask out. The angry slamming of the flower pot, the grunting as the lady took out her wallet and the grumbling under her breath—"She thinks she's so much better than me. Ho ho ho, we'll see. I'm going to get an even better apartment next year!"—let him know that the house warming plant she bought was for a woman with a better house than hers.

Truly, Han Seojun was a spy. A spy who collected interesting tidbits about the customers that came into his shop.

Sadly, his spying was going through a dry spell as the number of customers dwindled one by one. Every day he had one less person coming in. To the point that some days, no one came in.

This was fine for his spying career, but it wasn't fine for his business. If Han Seojun didn't turn things around quickly, he could be facing bankruptcy.

He had one saving grace however. His favorite customer. This months rent had been made possible due to her tireless efforts to help him, despite his silent protests that he was fine. Her recommendations had brought in new business, and much to his delight, new stories.

The first was his favorite customer's father. He wanted flowers for his daughter from "the shop she kept talking about". Seojun could see where she got her chatty nature from. Her father was the same. He went on and on about his daughter and how proud he was of her.

The next to come in was a doorman from the Move Conglomerate building. He was a kind soul who asked for flowers for his wife who had passed away three years ago.

"Do you have any crimson roses. Not red but—yes those are the ones! My wife loved these."

Seojun gave the flowers to the doorman for free and the man promised him a meal in return.

Another customer turned out to be his favorite customer's coworker and best friend. Suah was her name. She bought flowers for her boyfriend. A man by the name of Taehoon who, by the sound of it, seemed too cheesy and emotional. Suah proved to be the chattiest customer by far. She also made inquiries about Seojun's appearance and asked him in a hushed tone whether he was working with some sort of mafia. Seojun gave her the flowers she ordered while slipping in a Geranium as well. A flower that represented stupidity—a retort to her comment about his appearance. He did give her a card with its meaning so she would know his sentiment. But Seojun saw her not even consider the card as she went on her merry way.

Oh well.

He also came across some forgettable characters, ones without anything interesting to offer. A girl who saw an Instagram post raving about his shop but wasn't much impressed when she saw the actual thing. The woman's brother who was there more to whine about this girl he was into, than to buy. And another co-worker of his favorite customer—a snarky lady who rushed in without any greetings and proclaimed,

"Lemme make something clear, I'm only here because this girl at my office won't shut up about you. She keeps harassing me about how you make flowers with special meanings. Make one for me that lets that girl know that she needs to stop peddling businesses that aren't our clients. And if you can't do that then that girl has to sto—Wait... you actually can? ... Well, I'll be damned."

Seojun couldn't help but smile at learning that his favorite customer had been hounding people at her work to come to his shop. It warmed his heart that she tried to help him so earnestly. But before his heart could be warmed further, he stopped himself.

It didn't feel right. He felt he didn't have permission to let his feelings go this far. So he stomped on them, repeatedly, like one stomped on a flame, till it fizzled out.

The bell to his shop tinkled harshly in the arrival of another customer. Seojun came out from the back area.

Distraction, yes! He thought. But then he saw who it was. Ugh, her.

It was the snarky co-worker from before. She burst in like a hurricane and slammed money on the counter.

"How do I passive-aggressively say Fuck You in flower?"

Seojun looked at her, not sure he had heard her correctly.

"Well... can I say Fuck You in flower?" She asked.

Seojun looked down at the money. He couldn't count it since her hand was still on it but it felt like a lot.

"Listen, I'm only here because this is the closest place to my office, I need this thing in five minutes, and you actually managed to make a decent arrangement last time. So can you do this? Or do I need to go elsewhere?"

Seojun studied her from head to toe. A branded pair of sunglasses pushed atop her head, long silky hair, dark colored suit and a matching coat—similar to what she had been wearing the last time—an expensive looking handbag and even more expensive looking shoes. She looked privileged and spoilt, through and through. And stood with the self-assuredness of some powerful business woman. She reminded him of those cunning business people he used to see in movies about the American Wallstreet; all power hungry and money minded.

His nose burned when it was hit with her scent. Some kind of androgynous, spicy cologne that belonged to some big luxury brand he couldn't remember. It went against the floral fragrances of the shop.

The only thing that seemed out of place on her, were her hands. They were all dry and blotchy, with some parts of the dry skin peeling off.

She looked pointedly at him—not amused with his lack of response—and tapped the money on the counter.

"This is a hundred dollars. Its all yours if you can do it. And make it pretty. I want the person I'm giving this to, to love it." She demanded with such authority that Seojun felt a tremor go through his spine.

A hundred dollars was a lot of money, and whether he liked it or not, he needed it. Quickly getting to work, he gathered geraniums which represented stupidity, meadowsweet for uselessness, foxglove for insincerity, yellow carnations for showing disappointment and finally orange lilies to show hatred.

He hadn't the foresight to print out a Fuck You bouquet card with the flowers' meaning so he wrote it down instead. The woman looked at the bouquet card with amusement, tapping a dry finger on it.

"Geraniums mean stupidity, huh? I'll have to remember that. Good job..." She looked at his name tag, "Han Seojun-si."

As she turned to leave, the entrance doorbell tinkled again. Seojun lit up as he saw his favorite customer approach. She too, smiled happily, waving to him.

"Seojun-si—" her hand stopped mid wave. "Oh, Kang Leader-nim! I'm surprised to see you here."

Leader? Was this snarky woman her boss? I thought she was just a random coworker. It was an unusual title. Leader. But he recalled being told something about the company not following typical hierarchies, instead having all team leaders, managers and even directors be called Leader.

"Hello, Lim Jukyung-si." The woman responded curtly. Her spine stiffened a little and Seojun noticed. "I'm surprised to find you here. I heard the CEO took you on a little business trip yesterday."

Jukyung tucked her hair behind her ears shyly, "Ah, yes. We came back yesterday."

"You know I was the one originally scheduled to go with him. It was funny how itineraries mysteriously change in the last minute." Seojun found this woman's manner of speaking very odd. Did she hate his favorite customer? How could anyone hate the bundle of sunshine that was Lim Jukyung?

Jukyung's usually cheerful demeanor wavered a little. "Oh, I was not aware of that, Leader-nim. It would have been nice to have you there. We had a lovely time and the new client actually agreed to our proposal."

The woman only nodded, pulling down her sunglasses. "I'm glad to hear that. Very well, I will see you in the office. And Lim Jukyung-si," the woman held up the bouquet, "You were right about this shop."

Jukyung smiled widely, "That's such a lively arrangement. Is it for CEO?"

Seojun's mouth shrunk when he thought of the meaning behind the bouquet. The woman on the other hand gave a wide, overly saccharine grin to Jukyung.

"Haven't you heard? My father's come to visit me today."