Flower Fiancé Chapter 3

Given his age, going on arranged dates was perhaps only natural. He couldn’t stay alone forever, after all. Even just from the photo, she didn’t seem like someone with a difficult personality. If she was someone who reflected Chairman Choi’s taste, she was surely the docile, obedient type. Even making a hundred concessions and granting that it was all fine and good, he still utterly disliked the fact that he had only learned of it on the very day.

He could roughly guess. They had informed him so abruptly that he couldn’t even devise a contingency plan, creating a situation where he had no choice but to show up. But even considering various circumstances, he thought informing him suddenly on the day of the arranged date was going too far.

It had only been two months since he’d returned to the front lines of management after rolling through the blood-soaked bottom for two years. He had thought it strange from the moment the man who had driven him into a corner, sink or swim, without a single call, suddenly summoned him, and now he finally understood the reason.

If Father was going to come at him this way, he had no choice but to go at it crookedly too. Choi Moohyuk’s eyes, as he drove with one hand while leaning his elbow on the window frame, narrowed sharply.

Choi Moohyuk’s gaze, which had been fixed straight ahead, flickered following a glinting light. The docked phone vibrated.

It was a call from his younger brother, Choi Minhyeok.

∞ ∞ ∞

Choi Moohyuk pressed the earbud plugged into one ear.

“Yeah.”

[Have you gotten off work, hyung-nim.]

His younger brother Choi Minhyeok was putting on a jovial act. One corner of Choi Moohyuk’s lips, which had maintained a consistently blank expression, tugged slightly upward.

“You need money again?”

[What’s with that. Is your little brother someone who asks for money every day?]

“Then why the act you never do.”

[You’re no fun, seriously. What are you doing after work? Busy?]

Driving leisurely, Choi Moohyuk saw the brake lights of the car ahead come on and the speed gradually decrease, and slowly stepped on the brake. Stopped at a red light, Choi Moohyuk’s car was hemmed in front and back by all kinds of vehicles. The roads of Seoul during rush hour were literally hell.

“What’s the matter.”

[Thought we could have dinner together, it’s been a while.]

“Why dinner all of a sudden.”

[Jincheol hyung went fishing and caught some amberjack, you know? Says he’s slicing it up raw and asks you to come, hyung-nim.]

“…Today’s no good.”

[Ah, why. Let’s go together.]

Choi Minhyeok shamelessly drawled his voice long, acting cute.

“Where’d you pick up that disgusting baby talk.”

[Ah, hyung.]

“I have something. No can do.”

[Something?]

Choi Minhyeok asked back, puzzled. Tapping one finger on the steering wheel, lost in thought, Choi Moohyuk reluctantly spoke.

“I have to go on an arranged date.”

[Wh-what? An arranged date? So suddenly?]

As expected, Choi Minhyeok cried out as if falling backwards in shock. As if it were the anticipated reaction, Choi Moohyuk’s expression didn’t change a bit.

[Why are you only mentioning it now?]

“I only found out today myself.”

[He told the person involved only today too? Wow, our Chairman is really something.]

“Anyway, that’s why I can’t go.”

[Hyung, so are you really going to do this arranged date?]

“….”

[…Will you be okay?]

The question ‘Will you be okay?’ carried two meanings. Whether he’d be okay if this arranged date went well and he actually might have to get married, and whether he’d be okay if he broke it off since the Chairman wouldn’t leave him alone.

“If he kicks me out, I’ll just go roll around at the bottom again, whatever.”

Choi Moohyuk’s interpretation was the latter.

[Huh. You’d do that again? Wow, hyung’s amazing too.]

“Don’t be sarcastic. I’ll drag you along too.”

[Ah, whyyy. No. Leave me out of it.]

At Minhyeok’s sly voice, one corner of his lips rose. Choi Moohyuk’s gaze drifted toward the display screen. The time was already approaching 5:20.

In the photo, she was a beauty anyone would like, but she didn’t appeal to Choi Moohyuk’s eyes at all. As it happened, female Omegas were not Choi Moohyuk’s type. All his romantic partners so far had been male Omegas. And the last had been two years ago, in the winter of the year he turned exactly thirty. So the outcome of today’s arranged date was already decided. The issue was how to refuse.

Whether it was because of his twisted mood, an ordinary refusal didn’t appeal to him. To ensure this wouldn’t happen again, he needed a slightly more bastard-like method. That way, no more arranged dates would come his way. That said, he couldn’t use violence against a woman…

His gaze, which had been lost in thought while rubbing his lips with one finger and leaning his elbow on the window frame, fixed on one spot. A flower shop along the roadside caught his eye. Glancing at the sign, Choi Moohyuk, as if drawn to it, pulled his car over in front.

[Hyung, don’t do that and just…]

“Minhyeok.”

He cut off whatever Choi Minhyeok was about to say. At the sudden call, Choi Minhyeok stopped talking and responded, ‘Huh?’

Parked by the roadside with his hazard lights on, he craned his neck forward to look at the sign. ‘flower fiancé’. The brown cursive script on a light pink background caught his eye.

[Hyung?]

“I’ll send you her photo, name, and the school she went to, so dig into her background.”

[The person you’re meeting today?]

“Is there anyone without a blemish among the second or third generation in politics and business? Whatever you dig up, I’ll use it as a card as needed.”

[Got it. I’ll look into it and contact you.]

Ending the call, Choi Moohyuk slowly got out of the car. Dressed in a black cashmere coat, he looked up at the pink sign emitting a bright light.

“Flower Fiancé (flower fiancé).”

White steam puffed out from between his lips as he murmured lowly. A flower-like Fiancé. Ruminating over the meaning, Choi Moohyuk twisted one corner of his lips into a smirk. He thought this coincidence of encountering a flower shop that matched his situation quite well was a little amusing.

It was the best method in its own way. There probably wasn’t a flower that signified farewell or anything like that, and if it was a fixed schedule anyway, openly rebelling in front of his father wasn’t a wise decision either. He would just deliver a bouquet, pretend to show sincerity, then find a flaw and discard her. He thought that method might be the best way to look like the biggest bastard. Because justifications could be made however one wanted. He didn’t much care for cowardly methods, but even so, a dislike was a dislike.

His long legs strode toward the glass door of Flower Fiancé. When he pulled the glass door open, a hot draft, contrasting with the sub-zero outside air, rushed out.

Jingle.

The classic bell sound, hanging at the end of the opening glass door and ringing in this age overflowing with electronic sounds, was clear and pure.

The owner, who had been chatting with a customer who had arrived earlier, turned around at the sound of the door opening.

“Welcome. There is a customer who came before you; would it be alright if I just finish up with them first and then assist you?”

The owner, who asked for understanding in a bright voice, looked as if he were the very image of the flowers blooming fully inside Flower Fiancé.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Please wait just a moment.”

Even at his curt reply, the owner smiled brightly. He looked to be in his early to mid-twenties, perhaps. He was a man with a clear image, his white skin leaving a strong impression. Smiling brightly at Choi Moohyuk, he then turned his gaze back to the earlier customer. Having watched the owner treat the customer with a smiling face, Choi Moohyuk slowly surveyed the inside of the shop. His gaze fixed on the tea table next to the entrance.

On the tea table stood a business card.

‘flower fiancé, Ji Yeonwoo.’

So it was written there.

∞ ∞ ∞

Flower Fiancé was a flower shop of a modest size.

Inside the mere five-pyeong Flower Fiancé, it was so packed with flowers and pots on both sides that only a single narrow passage remained, and with a massive figure nearly 191cm and 82kg standing blocking that passage, it looked utterly, tightly packed without a gap.

Just like the cutely decorated sign, the interior was also filled with flowers of every color. All red, yellow, white. To Choi Moohyuk, who wasn’t familiar with flowers, this place was simply a feast of primary colors that strained his eyes.

“This is the first shop I’ve found that stocks light pink ranunculus.”