『JenSoo Short Stories』 - Chapter 46: Chapter 46

She had originally anticipated stilted conversation and gaps of silence. It was only natural, after their awkward beginning. However Jennie, as she soon found out the girl's name was, was as vibrant as the sunflowers she had almost killed earlier.
Despite being one year younger, Jennie was surprisingly expressive and easy to talk to. Her bubbly personality made all her hesitation and discomfort evaporate. It was refreshing to meet someone who wasn't caught up in formalities.
Within a few minutes, she also discovered that Jennie was the complete opposite of her. For one, Jisoo was more or less used to having differences of opinion. Yet, Jennie was actively trying all ways and means to find something that they had in common. It was rather adorable.
The tea had long since finished but they were too absorbed in their conversation to notice. At some point, Jennie had nearly knocked over their tea in the midst of making one of her gestures to illustrate her story, so it was probably for the better that Jisoo hadn't made her another cup.
"I can't believe you don't like the rain!"
"Why not?"
"Well, for one, you work in a flower shop. Rain is necessary for flowers to grow beautifully. Shouldn't you be thankful for the rain?"
"Actually, too much water also kills the flowers and some plants need delicate conditions to flourish." Jisoo pointed out. Some flowers grew better when watered with rain water, due to the natural nutrients present in the water, but she didn't feel the need to offer that piece of information. "Nowadays, the rain has become more acidic due to pollution, so it's not always good."
"It's also inconvenient since I have to work..." She added thoughtfully. Their business was always affected one way or the other when it rained.
To make matters worse, the rain somehow made the people around her more sombre and thoughtful. She often caught Lisa lost in thought or scribbling endlessly in her notebook whenever it rained. People who didn't believe that the weather affected moods were in denial.
"Even so, it's peaceful and calming." The girl continued. "It gets way too hot when the sun is out and it's hard to concentrate on anything."
Jisoo had to disagree at that. At least when it was sunny, her friends were more upbeat and cheerful. They could go out for meals and carry out their daily activities without feeling the need to carry umbrellas or worry about the rain ruining their plans. The plants needed sunshine to grow as well.
"What about dogs or cats? You have to like at least one of them. Animals are universally everyone's soft spot." Jennie trailed off for a second and paused. "Unless, you're a psychopath."
"I hate to disappoint you," Jisoo had to bite back a smile as she responded. "but I'm allergic to their fur."
The girl's dumbfounded expression was one she wanted to remember. "You've got to be kidding me."
She shook her head as Jennie tried to reconcile her thoughts with reality.
It took a second of silence, where Jisoo could hear her own thoughts, for her to realize that she could no longer hear the sound of the rain falling against the ground outside.
Looking over, she was surprised to see the yellow rays of sunlight streaming in from the glass windows in the foyer. Despite such heavy rainfall earlier, she hadn't even noticed that the rain had finally stopped.
It was an afterthought but Lisa was probably on her way back too.
Her movement caught Jennie's attention. The younger girl seemed to take it as some form of cue because her expression fell slightly before she recovered with a question.
"Unnie, if you were to receive flowers from someone, what would you like?"
The question caught her off guard, but Jisoo didn't let it deter her from answering.
"I wouldn't want flowers." She replied immediately. "I have more than enough flowers at the shop to take care of. I don't need more."
The younger girl tilted her head to the side and studied her for a moment.
"Ah, okay. Well, I'd like to get a bouquet of sunflowers if you have some for sale." Coming from someone who had proclaimed that she was not a flower person, the statement was decidedly odd.
"Sunflowers?" The florist instantly glanced up in suspicion, and the other girl raised her hands in innocence.
"I- uhm, I've decided to get them as a present, and also to thank you for your hospitality."
It wasn't necessary to make a purchase in Jisoo's opinion, but from a business perspective, it would be questionable for her to refuse a sale to a willing customer. Part of her felt a bit disappointed, because she hadn't thought of Jennie as a customer from the moment she caught the girl about to murder her favorite stalks of flowers.
After a couple of seconds, she decided that it was better to just accept the offer. She didn't want to seem rude.
She could feel the other girl's eyes on her as she wrapped the sunflowers Jennie chose in pink. It was a fitting match with her sweater, she thought. It was the longest time they had spent in silence since they met, but it wasn't a bad feeling. However, as though Jennie read her thoughts, she spoke.
"You know, it's a pity that you already decided that you don't like the rainy season..."
Jisoo smiled despite herself. Jennie really wasn't giving up with this topic.
"Why is it a pity?"
"Because you won't even give it a chance!"
"There's no reason for me to suddenly develop a liking towards the rain." She replied. "It's still inconvenient."
"So you're saying that given the right circumstances, you could possibly end up liking the rainy season?" The hope in her voice made Jisoo feel almost tempted to actually agree with her statement.
"Thank you for your purchase, miss." Jisoo replied instead, handing the flowers to the eager-looking girl.
She was about to say something else, when Jennie cleared and she found the flowers back in her hands.
"Actually, it's me who has to thank you for your company this afternoon, unnie."
"What?" Frowning, Jisoo was about to give the flowers back to her, but Jennie swiftly moved out of her reach.
"We don't have much in common, but you work in a flower shop, and you like the sun. It's probably really dumb of me but I'm going on a wild guess that you would appreciate these a lot more than I would." For the second time that afternoon, the dark haired girl looked embarrassed. She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "I usually hope for rain so that I can sleep in, but this weekend, I'll wish for the weather to stay sunny."
This girl was unexpectedly sweet, she thought to herself. Jennie was already backing away towards the door.
"Oh, and happy Valentines' day." As though she wanted to ensure that she would have the last word, Jennie called out as she darted out of the shop.
Jisoo looked at the flowers in her hand and shrugged. It didn't feel right to put them back on display since they were a gift.
It was as though someone had snapped their fingers and things returned to normal. Now that the rain had stopped, the store seemed even more quiet than before. Yet, the acute awareness of how lonely the place was, had been replaced by a sense of calm.
She had been staring at the sunflowers in the staff room for a while before Jisoo realized that she didn't know much about Jennie, apart from the girl's name. The girl was a year younger than her, so she was probably in her last year of university, but that was it.
Their conversation had shifted past the introductory questions rather quickly, so apart from their names, they didn't share much else about their personal lives. On the other hand, it had only been one afternoon, but she felt like she knew more about Jennie's personality and interests as compared to some of her other acquaintances.
She wasn't someone who went out of the way to know other people, but she had a feeling that this girl might be worth the effort.
The peace was broken not long after she had returned to the counter.
"Unnie-ah!" The voice drowned out the jingling bell of the door. "I brought fried chicken!"
"Lisa, you're back." She greeted, at the sight of her friend. The brunette looked like she was about to wave, but realized her hands were full. It wasn't an unusual sight, and the familiarity of the situation made her smile.
There was a rustling of plastic and she was met with the familiar smell of fried chicken from her favorite fast food chain. She had almost forgotten about that.
"Here! As promised." Lisa deposited the box in front of her. "You have to finish it all, okay?"
Jisoo had already opened the box in anticipation of food while Lisa was speaking. She was about to tuck in when something seemed off about the portion size. She narrowed her gaze in suspicion.
"Lisa-"
"Oh, and by the way, if there's some stuff missing, it's probably due to the recent increase in service tax ..." The younger girl added innocently, even though Jisoo caught her shamelessly trying to wipe off some of the batter from corner of her lips. She stared at the younger girl, unamused, for a few seconds.
She looked at the half empty box of chicken and decided that some chicken was better than nothing.
"How was the delivery?" Jisoo asked instead.
"Oh, right. You wouldn't believe the girl I had to deliver the flowers to. Are we allowed to blacklist customers? After I called you, I had to wait for the rain to stop before I could leave to get food, and she told me to wait outside. It was FREEZING! Who even does that?" As if she had flicked a switch, Lisa launched into her own recount of her afternoon that Jisoo figured would take the rest of the day at least. She hoped that the other girl wouldn't realize the sudden appearance of the sunflowers in the staff room.
"I hope you didn't have too difficult a time on your own. Although with such heavy rain, you'd have to be crazy or desperate to still be shopping." Without even waiting for a response or acknowledgement from her, Lisa continued. "Oh and then I must have looked horrible because the teacher finally took pity on me after a while, as though that made up for everything..."
Jisoo took a bite out of her already cold chicken as she listened to the younger girl's story.
She had food, friends, and she had an enjoyable afternoon. She supposed Valentines' hadn't turned out to be too bad this year.