He didn't refrain from jumping at her call.

"Meet me outside my store in ten minutes, and be prepared for the best tour of Alchemilla you'll ever get."

The phone call ended and he rushed to close the store he'd just opened. After writing an apology letter and sticking on the window, he ran out and headed to his house to grab the car keys.

As he jogged down the path, he laughed a little to himself. He had to admit; he'd never moved this fast before and realising that amused him.

Taking a quick look at himself in the mirror, he fastened the top button of his checkered top, observing his appearance. But unsatisfied, he undid it again and ruffled his hair as he turned to the entrance.

Unlocking his car, he did a quick scan to make sure there was nothing out of place. Moving the jacket he'd placed in the front seat earlier, he sat down and got ready to drive to his store.

The excitement was going to take getting used to; one peek at the rearview mirror, and he saw the stupid grin that had seemed to grow on its own accord.

As he reached the small building, he was met with her beautiful figure standing outside the door, arms folded over her chest as she peered inside.

The pale yellow dress she had on was in stark contrast to her clothes during their last two encounters. She'd donned black pantsuits, white slacks and blazers then.

Not that she didn't look stunning before, but this was a different kind.

Breathing out a deep breath, he reeled the glass down, "Hey Chris!"

Her little jump caused the organ in his chest to do the same. And as she spun in her spot to face him, he could have sworn his heart did too.

"Oh," she bobbed down and looked through the window, "Hi!"

It was so easy to study the cinnamon skin of her cheeks. The way paintbrushes had smeared magenta ink over them, infusing the same stain through her lips.

God, he was falling hard.

"Get in," he finally found words, watching as she opened the door and sat in, "How are you?"

Her smile was polite, "I'm okay, I'm really sorry if I'm inconveniencing you, if I called at a weird time, if I woke you-"

"You didn't," he cut her off, not wanting her to overthink it. "Honestly a day off is probably in my best interest right now, I've been working non-stop it's nice to be away from it all for a little while."

"In that case, you're welcome."

He chuckled at her as he started the car.

He'd planned to take her to the florist first, then the town square before lunch, eat at the diner and then show her the drive-in theatre. In those ten minutes between their phone call and meeting her, he'd outlined the entire day.

"What?" her voice brought him back to the present, and he looked over at her.

"Huh?"

"Why are you laughing like that?"

I was?

"Oh- uhm," he turned back to the road, eyes widening as he saw a familiar sign approaching. "Oh, look! Our first stop."

"The florist?" she asked incredulously, "Why the florist?"

But before she could finish the question, he'd hopped out of his car and ambled to her door, opening it.

"Okay, so you have to trust me when I say, this guy makes the most beautiful flower arrangements you will ever see."

"Hoseok," she protested despite following him to the door, "I don't get how this is supposed to attract my hotel guests."

When they walked through the entrance, however, Chris had to pause to take in her surroundings.

The walls were lined with crawling greenery, creeping over the tables which were in place to hold baskets and baskets of flowers of different kinds. The colours didn't stop jumping at her, rainbows of blossoms filling it to the brim.

And behind it all were lines of almost barren desks, save for scissors, tape and string splattered across them.

"Isn't it beautiful," Hoseok whispered, making her blink back to reality.

"It's beautiful, but I don't understand how I'm meant to-"

"Hyung?" before she could finish her sentence, a head popped out from the door behind the counter. He stepped out to reveal a man of similar age, long raven hair flowing each side of his face and stopping at his ears. The smile he wore resulted in his top teeth resting on his bottom lip and although she'd never seen him before she could conclude he was genuinely happy to see Hoseok.

But she couldn't help wonder if every local was as attractive as these two were.

"Jungkook!" this time, the man next to Chris erupted, taking long strides to close the distance, "How have you been?"

"What? How have I been? Since I saw you last night?" the former boy laughed, looking over at Chris as he did. "Hello! I'm Jungkook," he stepped out from behind the bench, "I don't believe we've met before."

"I'm Chris," she held out her hand for him, "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you as well," he glanced at his hyung, crossing his arms over his apron, "I didn't realise you had friends I didn't know."

"Shut up," Hoseok scoffed in reply, "Chris just moved here, she works at the hotel next door."

Jungkook's mouth formed an O as he nodded, "Right."

"Yeah," Hoseok stepped in, "I'm her tour guide for the day."

He raised his eyebrows at that, looking to Hoseok, "Oh, you are?"

"And I thought I'd start here," the elder shook his head, not wanting Jungkook to revel in teasing him.

"Well, it's lovely to meet you, Chris, please take a look around and let me know how you find it," Jungkook faced his friend, "And I'll see you later."

"Yeah okay, we'll be off soon," Hoseok rolled his eyes as the younger boy walked back to behind the door he'd entered from earlier.

"He's lovely," Chris spoke when they were alone in the room again, and he raised an eyebrow in reply, "What?"

"I think it's time to leave," he grunted, and she seemed to notice his lips turn into a little pout.

"Where are we off to next?"

"The town square!" he exclaimed, "So there's a fundraiser on right now, and there's one almost every week," they exited the store and Hoseok checked on his car before they sauntered down the street. "And in my opinion, it might be one of the best parts of the town."

"Oh, really? What's the fundraiser for?"

"Well today, they're starting to raise money for the town ball in a couple weeks, but we often have school fundraisers for trips and sports fundraisers for competitions too."

Chris nodded, every now and then her head would whip around, scanning the buildings around her and the townspeople walking past. Hoseok found it captivating to watch her be so fascinated.

"You said you've been here two months," he spoke and watched her look back to him, "But you haven't been in town?"

"No," mumbling, she faced the front again, "I haven't- Oh!"

He turned to see what she was looking at, finding them in front of the town square. One of Hoseok's favourite parts of Alchemilla was its ability to come together and support its members through activities like this.

Kids running around, hiding behind lamp posts and trees as others chased behind them. Adults either rushing behind their children or standing around a bench, engaged in conversation with others. Teenagers with their arms dangling over others' necks, laughing or singing with the music in the background.

The smile sitting on Hoseok's lips only grew when Chris walked into view, her yellow dress billowing in the wind as she spun around to capture every moment. Her eyes widened as she saw something ahead of her, and he was sure he saw them sparkle. He didn't even think of moving his gaze to what she was looking at.

And Hoseok cursed his heart for taking over at that moment, finding it starting to paint its walls all the shades of gold that her skin was, and his mind all the tints of pink her cheeks were.

"Hoseok oppa?" he jumped at the sound of his name, turning to see a familiar figure walk up to him.

"Lyla!" he engulfed the woman in his arms, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to pick up Yeonjin, oppa got called in at work."

"Ahh," he nodded, watching Lyla motion to Chris with her eyes, "Oh! Chris!"

When Chris turned to face the newcomer, she smiled.

"Chris, this is Lyla, Lyla, this is Chris."

"Nice to meet you!" Lyla chirped, "I've never seen you around here before."

"Oh, I just moved here two months ago."

"That makes sense!" she peered down at her watch, "Okay I'm really sorry, but I'm going to have to dip out now, it was nice seeing you both! Hopefully, I can see you again sometime, Chris!"

They said their goodbyes, and once she had left, Hoseok looked over at Chris only to see her wiggling her eyebrows at him expectantly.

"What?"

"Nothing," she teased, beginning to walk in the direction of what she had been looking at earlier.

"What?" he whined again, trying to refrain from tugging at her dress. "What what what?"

This made her laugh, the sound blessing Hoseok's ears as he decided he was going to make it his goal to have her laughing for the rest of her life.

"You guys are cute together," she shrugged, "That's all."

"Wait," his eyes widened, "No! What? No no, she's like a sister to me," he made a face, "She's my best friend's little sister, ew, no, that's gross!"

"Oh," she nodded, still teasing, "Right, of course."

"I'm serious!" she couldn't deny the pout he wore caused something inside her to turn to mush, "She's disgusting."

Chris raised an eyebrow, as if to say we both know that's a lie.

Lyla's stunning brown hair flowing straight to her shoulders framed her face so perfectly and brought out her bright, verdant eyes. Chris couldn't stop herself from admiring how gorgeous she was earlier.

"Anyway," he coughed, "Anything catching your eye?"

"Actually, yes!" she grinned, pointing across at a large cardboard standee, "Let's go there!"

"Oh, no, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Oh, come on," she groaned, "Let's at least go and watch."

"Only watching?"

"Yeah!"

"Promise?"

Rolling her eyes, she took off without waiting for him.

"Chris!"

However, when Hoseok finally caught up to her, he wished he'd run the other way.

"Hoseok!" Everyone standing there turned to watch him jogging up to Chris. "Hoseok, would you like to be our next volunteer?"

"Oh, no, that's fine," he held his hands up, "It's okay!"

Chris giggled, gesturing for him to join the man at the front but he just shot her a betrayed expression.

"You said we were only watching!" he hissed at her, but he was interrupted.

The man in charge laughed, "I don't know why I even asked, I'm not taking no for an answer."

"Sir-" but before he could argue, he'd walked over and draped an arm over Hoseok, leading him to stand behind the cardboard.

"You know what to do, son," he said to Hoseok before turning to the crowd, "We all adore this man, but would anyone like to take a swing at him?"

Chris watched as everyone there exchanged glances, shaking their heads.

"What about you?" he turned to Chris, "You guys seemed to have come here together, would you like to?"

At this, Hoseok finally poked his head through the hole of the board, staring at Chris.

"I-I mean-"

"Again, I don't know why I'm asking, I'm not going to take no for an answer," he passed the bucket over to Chris and pointed at the line on the ground, "For every water balloon you successfully throw at his face, he will have to donate ten dollars."

Chris hesitated as she leaned down, picking up the first pink water balloon, looking at Hoseok shaking his head at her across from her.

But a smile naturally grew across her lips as she watched him close his eyes, scrunching them shut in fear.

And when she lifted her arm this time, she realised all those times she'd shot balls of rubbish into trash cans over the years was finally going to come into good use.

She aimed, and she hit him right on the nose.

Making him drop his jaw in shock, eyes shooting open to glare at her.

The gasp echoing through the crowd behind her didn't stop her from giggling at his appearance, the water seeping through his hair as it stuck to his forehead.

"That's one!" the MC exclaimed, anticipating the next throw and Chris tossed a grin at Hoseok before leaning down to grab another balloon, ready to send it flying at his face once again.

--

"I think that's enough-" a towel muffled his voice as he vigorously rubbed at it, "for today."

"Are you sure?" she looked to him sidelong, "You don't wanna go back there?"

"I thought we were here for you," he grunted, "For your hotel, not to embarrass me."

"The whole town is head over heels for you, me throwing water balloons at your face didn't seem to change their perception of you one bit."

"Anyway," he sighed, "all that humiliating myself got me hungry, you ready for lunch?"

"I'm always ready for lunch," they fell in step beside each other as they continued down the street, "What are you thinking?"

"Well, I thought I should show you to only the best diner in town, you'll thank me, I promise."

"We're not really doing well with promises so far, though are we?"

"Unlike you," he huffed, "I only make promises I can keep. And I promise you; you'll never find burgers this good anywhere else."

"Okay, okay, I trust you," they finally stopped in front of a reddish building, a neon sign reading 'Milla's finest' plastered at the top. Hoseok reached out for the door, opening it wide for Chris to step through before waiting for him to join her. The first thing they were met with was noise. The laughter and chatter coming from each table, while deafening, consumed her and helped her find home in it.

"Hyung?" a curious voice asked from behind them, and they both turned to see another man of the same age, shooting them a boyish grin. He was as much attractive as Hoseok and his other friend, chocolate hair effortlessly rolling down either side of his forehead. His pearly grin turned his eyes into crescent moons, cheekbones sitting high as he did so.

"Jimin!"

"Hello," he bowed a greeting to Chris, who returned it.

"Hi!"

"This is Chris," he motioned to her, "And this is Jimin," he ruffled the waiter's hair, "Table for two?"

"Stop messing with my hair," he whined, walking down the aisle for them to follow, "I don't know why I haven't banned you from this diner, hyung."

"You love me, that's why," Hoseok pinched the former's cheek.

"Also, it's nice to meet you," Jimin directed the attention back to Chris, "I'm sorry if this hyung is giving you too much trouble."

"Remind me why I came here," the elder muttered, and Chris laughed again.

"Nice to meet you too! Hoseok seems to have a lot of friends; we keep running into more."

"I take it you're not from around here," Jimin tilted his head, "I probably would have remembered you."

Hoseok cleared his throat, "Park Jimin if you don't-"

"Who else have you met?" Jimin cut him off, turning to Chris.

"Well, Jungkook at the florist and," she looked to the ceiling, wracking her head for the name of the other- "Lyla at the fundraiser!"

"Ah yes, well that's a good chunk of the better half of us," Jimin grinned, "Of course, I'm on that list, too."

"Yeah, Hoseok said I had to try out the food here, apparently it's the best of the best."

"Well, of course! No one serves greasy burgers like us. You've definitely come to the right place."

"Speaking of," Hoseok chipped in, "Can we order?"

Jimin pulled out a notepad, "Always making sure I'm working, this hyung."

"You are at work."

"Have you thought about what you would like? Since it's your first time here, I would recommend our house burger. It's our speciality."

She pursed her lips as she did a once-over of the menu, not really reading anything, "Sure!"

"And I'll-" but before Hoseok could give him his order, Jimin had walked off.

"Oh, wait-"

"It's okay," Hoseok chuckled, "He knows what I'll be eating."

Chris nodded then, folding the menu and placing it on the side of the table, "You guys seem close."

"He's one of my closest friends," Hoseok nodded, "Along with Jungkook and a few more."

"Like Lyla's brother?" when Chris asked this, Hoseok's features seemed to light right up.

"Yes! You remembered!"

"I just met her," she shook her head, "my memory's not that bad."

And with that, the two of them fell into a comfortable silence - Chris fidgeting with her fingernails and Hoseok folding the serviettes in front of him into triangles.

"Uhm, Hoseok?" she broke the quiet, watching him as he looked up to her.

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry."

He furrowed his eyebrows, "You're sorry? For what?"

"That first time we met," she sighed, "I was quite patronising, the comment I made about you having a doctor, it was so uncalled for."

"Oh," he nodded, looking down at the table, "That."

"I'm really sorry I said that, I truly didn't mean it."

"It's okay," this time when he looked up to her, his closed mouth smile pressed into his dimples, and she instantly felt her insides glow - much like his eyes did, "Don't worry about it!"

"It's not okay, and I'm really thankful you put me in my place then. I wouldn't have realised what I'd said if you didn't."

"I guess I'm glad I could help in that way then," his smile never wavered, "But you don't have to apologise, I had a feeling the words you spoke were more of a reflection of your own heart than our lifestyle."

"Really?"

Hoseok nodded, pursing his lips together.

"You're right," she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "I've been feeling so isolated after moving here, that I kinda had the worst impression of the town despite not knowing it at all."

She could have sworn she saw his eyes soften, mouth opening to say something but was interrupted when Jimin swooped over.

"Your food is ready!" he announced, placing each tray in front of them, "Would you two like anything else today?"

"No, that's fine," they said simultaneously, and Jimin nodded before leaving them again.

"It looks good," she commented before picking it up in her hands.

"It tastes even better," he watched her expectantly, waiting for her to take a bite.

And when she noticed he was, she paused.

"I can't eat with you staring at me like that-"

"Okay, okay," he huffed, looking down, "Eat."

She bit into the food, eyes widening as she did so and luckily Hoseok had caught the end of it. Because it only filled him with contentment.

"Anyway," he coughed before she found him staring, "I'm guessing you're still on the fence about Alchemilla?"

"It's beautiful," she admitted, "But this whole time I would just watch it from my bedroom window, experience it through the workers and the customers that walk through our doors. But, wow, today I really saw it for the first time, and man, have I been missing out."

"I'm sorry you've felt so alone here thus far," Hoseok spoke, "I can only imagine moving away from home on your own would do that to you."

She took his words with a sad smile, "Yeah, it was quite lonely moving away from everything I've known, a busy life in a busy city with thousands and thousands of people."

"To a quiet little town with only a few hundred of us," Hoseok laughed, "Wow, what a difference."

Chris nodded.

"This is all I've known," he stated, "Growing up where everyone knows everyone else, life moving at the slowest pace, nothing new ever happening."

The silence that filled their table then was different. For two people who lived utterly different lives, they were trying to understand each other. Their lifestyles, their mannerisms, their feelings.

A small vibration shook the table, and Chris looked down to see her phone light up.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, my boyfriend's calling, do you mind if I just answer it?"

"Huh?" he was trying his best to hide the emotion in his voice. Shock? Embarrassment? Disappointment? "Yes, of course!"

She quickly stood up and answered the phone, only ending up two steps away before she stopped.

Hoseok, on the other hand, was frozen in his seat.

Boyfriend?

Well, of course, she had a boyfriend.

A gorgeous, driven woman like that had no business being single.

But why did it feel like a stab in the chest?

"Hey baby," he heard her say from behind him, and he bit his lip. "Are you alright?"

Fisting his hands into a ball, he willed his heart to tear down the rooms it had made of her, the rooms filled with the colours of her skin.

"I've just missed you. I felt terrible after how we left off last-" the worry in her tone irked him.

He despised it. He hadn't known her too long, and he sure as hell knew nothing of this man she was talking to, but he loathed him for ever making her worry to an extent she sounded like this. Like she was on the verge of tears.

"No, that's true, I didn't like what you said-" he couldn't help but think about how he'd never allow himself to say something hurtful toward her. He knew it was rude to compare; it wasn't a competition. Especially when he didn't know this man even existed until now.

But he couldn't stop himself.

After seeing her glow the way she did that day, laughing as she threw water balloons at his face or when she watched his banter with Jungkook and Jimin, it was as if he'd made a silent vow never to let anything harm her.

He never wanted that smile to leave her face.

And listening to her voice break now, listening to her tone full of insecurity and self-doubt, he wanted to rip apart everything that made it that way.

"Okay, I'll talk to you later then honey," she sighed aloud, "Bye."

Exhausted, she took her place back in front of Hoseok again, "I'm so sorry about that."

"Oh, that's okay!" putting on a smile, he lifted his burger to eat from it again, "Are you alright?"

"Yes!" she chirped, staring down at her burger, "Long-distance has its ups and downs," looking back at him, she smiled, "Where were we?"

Remaining amazed at how she could just continue a normal conversation right after the one she'd just had, he tried to string words together. He tried to remember what they'd been talking about before she had casually dropped news of her boyfriend on him.

"Do you miss him?" he ended up asking, and he regretted it as soon as he did.

"My boyfriend?" she questioned and he nodded. "I do, I miss him a lot. We have our arguments, and our off-days, but at the end of it all, I miss everything about him."

Pursing his lips together, he tried not to let his smile falter at her reply. While he was grateful she seemed to love him, he couldn't help but probe the possibility of that love not being real.

"He sounds like a good guy then," Hoseok settled for saying, finally finishing his burger as she did too.

"He is," she paused, and despite Hoseok hearing her say she missed him, he could tell she hesitated as she followed up with; "He's amazing."

Hey guys! 

I hope you liked that chapter! How have you all been?

Please make sure you're looking after yourselves! Drinking water and eating your meals on time!

I LOVE YOU!