Flower Fiancé Chapter 117

Not backing down, Choi Moohyuk laughed as if he couldn’t win and shook his head. Now Ji Yeonwoo spoke confidently without even blushing. It seemed he’d gotten a bit bolder. Choi Moohyuk gently pinched Ji Yeonwoo’s cheek, not hard enough to hurt. Lately, Ji Yeonwoo had been busy with work, and seeing him run around taking care of both the shop and Geon with a tired face made him feel both sorry for him and proud at the same time.

Ji Yeonwoo, smiling brightly as he received the touch, suddenly seemed to remember something and asked.

“Oh, right. What time did you come in last night?”

It occurred to him belatedly that he hadn’t seen Choi Moohyuk come in.

“Technically, it would be today. Was I very late?”

“Did you stay up waiting?”

“I didn’t wait on purpose. I was working too. I had a lot of shop sales and paperwork to go through. I put Geon to sleep, worked, and went to bed a little past midnight.”

“Then you must have fallen asleep right before I came in. I got home before 1 AM.”

Choi Moohyuk said softly, brushing aside the hair covering Ji Yeonwoo’s forehead. His gracefully moving amber eyes touched the hair gently tangling between his fingers, then met Ji Yeonwoo’s gaze again.

“…You were sleeping soundly.”

The corners of Ji Yeonwoo’s eyes drooped.

“Oh, I think I misspoke. I should have said I was waiting.”

Choi Moohyuk, who had been staring intently at his face, let out a soft chuckle at the belated regret.

“I’m not scolding you. You know that.”

Smiling gently, Choi Moohyuk pressed his lips to the drooping corner of his eye with an apologetic touch. Ji Yeonwoo squinted slightly at the eye that had been kissed, and smiled along.

“You must be tired, so why are you up so early? You still have time before work.”

“I need to hurry if I’m going to drop Mr. Ji Yeonwoo off and then go to work.”

“Did I have all the work, or what?”

“There’s a difference in stamina, that’s all.”

Saying this, he took Ji Yeonwoo’s wrist and pulled him up.

“You’ve lost weight too. What is this wrist? It looks like it would break if you put any strength into it.”

Ji Yeonwoo, with the corners of his eyes still downturned, stared at his wrist held in Choi Moohyuk’s hand. Come to think of it, he did seem to have lost some weight. He made sure to eat well, but perhaps because his activity level had increased, he couldn’t seem to put on weight.

But the person who had come home only after nearly 1 AM was worrying about him instead, making him feel more apologetic.

Knowing well that Choi Moohyuk had been busy with company work lately, he felt grateful yet sorry for him for going out of his way to take care of him.

Choi Moohyuk, who had reached the point where he could read everything just by looking at his face, smiled loosely and pressed his lips to the drooping corner of Ji Yeonwoo’s eye.

“Again, you’re making that thinking-too-much face.”

“Ah…”

“Did you forget? I said I’d take care of everything.”

“But…”

“That applies whether it’s before marriage or after. It’s naturally my job, and I do it because I enjoy it, so you don’t have to feel sorry.”

Choi Moohyuk looked at Ji Yeonwoo’s trembling lips, then pressed his finger against the soft lips.

“Yeonwoo, all you have to do is stay healthy, doing what you want, by Geon’s side and mine.”

Listening to his words in silence, Ji Yeonwoo’s eyes glistened and wavered, growing moist. Though the tip of his nose reddened, Ji Yeonwoo pressed his lips tightly together and nodded.

Choi Moohyuk gently pressed on the soft lips, then lowered his own to the spot he had touched. Holding it gently, he held his breath for a moment, then parted his lips for a light kiss.

Tilting his face, Choi Moohyuk exchanged kisses and pulled back with a short peck. Ji Yeonwoo, with his arms resting on Choi Moohyuk’s shoulders and his eyes languidly closed, slowly opened his eyes.

Propping himself up on one elbow and shifting his body aside, Choi Moohyuk brushed back the hair covering Ji Yeonwoo’s forehead. As he touched the soft-textured hair, Choi Moohyuk’s expression melted along with it.

After stroking his hair and gently rubbing his cheek with his thumb, Choi Moohyuk met his eyes. Just moments ago, Ji Yeonwoo’s eyes had been full of drowsiness, but now they quickly shimmered.

Just having someone in the world who cheered for and supported everything he did was a great comfort and deeply moving.

Choi Moohyuk took the hand still resting on his shoulder, laced their fingers together, and lowered his head over Ji Yeonwoo’s glossy lips.

Sucking on the plump lower lip, he then rolled his tongue while holding the lip between his. Along with a faint moan of “Mm,” strength flinched into their interlaced fingers.

With his remaining arm, Choi Moohyuk drew Ji Yeonwoo’s body closer, wrapping his long arm from his back to the nape of his head, and kissed him even deeper.

Before long, the bedroom was filled with the sweet scent of peaches. Perhaps because the heat cycle was not far off, Ji Yeonwoo’s pheromones spreading through the room were irresistibly alluring.

Increasingly ragged breaths spread between their pressed lips. Kissing fervently, Choi Moohyuk slipped his hand inside Ji Yeonwoo’s shirt and stroked his bare skin. Hup, flinching and curling up, Ji Yeonwoo hastily lowered his hand and grabbed Choi Moohyuk’s arm. Pulling his lips away and meeting his eyes, Ji Yeonwoo’s face was full of fluster.

“We have to go to work.”

With his heart, he wanted to stall, saying just five more minutes, ten more minutes, but it was already nearing 7 AM. Come to think of it, it had been a while since they’d lingered like this in bed.

“Just one minute.”

Looking at Ji Yeonwoo with a gaze full of regret, Choi Moohyuk buried his face in the nape of Ji Yeonwoo’s neck out of habit. Ji Yeonwoo glanced at the hair brushing against his face, then quietly leaned his cheek against it.

“Then just one minute, okay?”

Lifting the corners of his lips in a soft smile, Choi Moohyuk buried his face deeper into the nape of his neck and pressed his lips to the skin. Having internally agreed to one minute, yielding a hundred, a thousand times, Choi Moohyuk pressed his lips to his skin and drew in a small breath. The sweet peach scent seeped deep into his lungs with each inhale.

It was a more leisurely and peaceful morning than ever.

∞ ∞ ∞

At the hour when everyone was heading to work, <Flower Fiancé>, with its doors wide open, was bustling with newly arrived flowers.

“Polymnia, Nerine, Ecopalm, star tulips too, purple roses, and ranunculus…”

Checking the list and the flowers delivered by the flower farm Boss, Ji Yeonwoo confirmed that all ordered flowers had arrived and turned around.

“They all came correctly, Boss.”

Ji Yeonwoo signed the transaction statement and handed it back to the Boss.

“The quantities are small and the varieties are diverse, so it must have been troublesome. Thank you for taking care of it.”

The Boss, whose hair had turned white during the time the shop was closed, laughed kindly.

“People order because there are customers looking for them. I have to fulfill what my customers want.”

“I’d like to match the quantities as much as possible, but since the shelf life is short… It’s what a regular customer wants, so I couldn’t just say I didn’t have it.”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it—if you have anything to order, just contact me. I’ll take care of everything.”

The flower farm Boss was still one of Ji Yeonwoo’s steadfast supporters.

“Having customers in this economy is already something. These days, that’s a blessing in itself.”

“True. Actually, I was really worried when I reopened. Once I opened the shop, I saw that, probably due to the economic downturn, almost all the flower shops in the area had closed except for one or two.”

“That’s all because they held on and held on until they finally gave up. The thing is, flowers are an extremely personal hobby—people tend to seek them out more when they have some leisure of mind. In times like these, when the economy is bad and everyone’s living in a rush, people seek them out less. I hate to admit it, but that part can’t be helped.”

The Boss let out a shallow sigh and smiled bitterly. Thinking about it, he wondered if opening the shop in this environment was really the right thing to do. In the long run, it was a good opportunity, but the economy was so poor that he also worried whether he could run it properly.

“Still, it’s a relief that Fiancé has a solid base of regular customers. I saw a lot of familiar faces among the customers.”

Lost in thought, Ji Yeonwoo smiled.

“I’m so grateful for that. That they remember and still come to find me. Since it was a reopening after two years, I was worried, but seeing familiar regular customers was somewhat reassuring.”

“That’s all because you, Manager Yeonwoo, treated your customers well. And it seems the representative is also helping out a lot behind the scenes—must be reassuring.”