Chapter Text
Thank the universe for Saturdays! Is what Mizi would have said if she could have enjoyed her hard earned day of rest (after an arduous, terrible, terrible! week of late night studying and way more coffee than she feels comfortable with). But no that’s not how the universe, or at least Ivan, worked because instead Mizi was forcefully waken up at a sad 7:00 AM by the harsh ringing of her alarm. On a Saturday.
Not a great start, she thought as she spat out her toothpaste.
…
Well, okay, she continued while choosing an outfit. Yes, Ivan did set the time for his birthday brunch at 10AM, so he was definitely to blame here. But… Mizi had also kind of not gotten him a gift yet and therefore had to scramble to find something right now the morning of the party.
…
She ended up settling on a cute, white dress with a matching white ribbon sewn on the collar near the shoulder. But right, so maybe (definitely, her conscience remarked) she was also partly to blame here and it wasn’t totally Ivan’s or the universe’s fault. Oopsies.
…
However! Good news was! She did know exactly what to get him!
Despite being a very busy university student, Mizi still liked to explore the city, and her surroundings, and their nooks and crannies whenever she could. She liked to think it was a bit of an adventurous spirit in her. And anyways! On these expeditions, she’d passed this adorable little flower shop quite a few times, but never had the chance to go inside of, that she knew for certain Ivan would love to receive a big, fat bouquet from.
So! Mizi determinedly rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, slipped on her shoes, and set off on her mission.
- - - - -
Maybe the universe was out to get her after all, she thought as she hurriedly stumbled through the streets (in heels! she lamented too). Her city’s lovely public transportation system somehow had decided today was the perfect day to cancel some of the morning trams, and instead cram not one, not two, but three trams worth of people in one sad, pitiful vehicle. She almost felt bad for the poor thing. Almost.
It had been a bumpy ride. Mizi almost shivered at the thought. She was pretty sure the stain on that person’s back had not been water, and people really needed to learn to cough into their elbow and not in other people’s faces because yuck. But when the small clump of metal finally, finally! awkwardly screeched to a halt at her destination, a massive wave of people stormed inside, blocking her exit to sweet freedom and before she knew it Mizi had missed her stop.
Thankfully she had managed to force her way out soon after, but it was almost a fifteen minute walk to the flower shop now and she still had to get to the actual brunch place after. So she was now jogging through the streets, praying for no more misfortunes to befall upon her and maybe still make it on time.
- - - - -
Mizi stopped to catch her breath, having finally arrived at her destination (or well, the first one). As she calmed down and tried to cool her face, she inwardly cheered at the fruits of her labour. Before her stood the flower shop, in all its colourful, wonderful glory. The shop itself was in an old, wooden building, with large glass windows to allow the sun to light up the inside in its natural rays. The building was lined with gracefully carved swirls, with a neat sign positioned in the middle stating the name of the establishment, “Dew Flowers.” (A cute name, Mizi thought). Baskets with flowers had been stalled outside in the sunny weather for all to see, with doors wide-open to give a small peek to the many more plants stored inside. What a colourful arrangement it all made.
Mizi happily stepped inside to start inspecting the flowers there. She had always liked flowers, having fond memories of making big flower crowns as a kid, and the simple yet smile-inducing beauty they possessed. She remembered the first bouquet she’d given to her mother, a tiny thing made of daisies plucked from the fields near their house, and how her face lit up at the gift. Mizi smiled fondly as her fingers caressed the head of a tulip when a shop clerk came in.
“Good morning, how can I help you?” Asked a smooth, clear tenor voice. Mizi looked up from the tulip to meet eyes with the person talking to her. A blonde man was standing before her, looking at her and waiting for her to reply.
Thankfully Mizi already knew what she wanted, and she smiled as she recited her order, “Good morning, could I get a bouquet of red and black roses, together with some baby’s breath, please?”
“Sure, let me get my colleague and she’ll put it together for you. Is it a present?” Wow, this guy’s voice was like honey smooth, Mizi mused, but smiled and replied,
“Yes, it is, my friend is having his birthday today. We’re celebrating with a birthday brunch.”
The blonde guy nodded and walked to the back to probably fetch his colleague. Mizi was almost giddy with satisfaction, knowing Ivan would love the stark contrast in colour of the bouquet to match his eyes. The red and black roses would have a cool look together, while the baby’s breath added some white specks to bring them all together in unison. She was less happy when thinking about the dent this would make in her bank account, but hey, her friend deserved it! He was such a goofball sometimes but she really cherished her friendship with the guy. Mizi smiled and picked up a rose to give it a sniff, when the dude’s colleague walked in.
And wow. She must be dead. Something was wrong with the flower she was holding and Mizi had died after inhaling its poisonous spores like an idiot because now she was in heaven and honestly not the worst way to go if these are the consequences of her idiocy.
An angel stood before her.
“Do you want that rose in the bouquet?” The angel asked.
It speaks, Mizi startled, lightly pricking herself on a thorn, not enough to draw blood but enough to draw pain. Ouch. Wait, dead people don’t feel pain. So probably not dead then.
Hmm.
Okay. Wait. The angel? Girl? Had asked her something. Mizi nodded dumbly.
That was probably the right answer because the girl? came over, scooped the flower out of Mizi’s frozen hands, before collecting the rest of the parts of the bouquet and moving to work behind the counter.
Mizi still stood there dumbly.
Goodness. The girl (Mizi was sure now) had short black hair, with neat bangs framing crystal purple eyes. She was wearing what Mizi assumed to be the store’s uniform since she vaguely recalled a dude in the same thing before. But the outfit seemed otherworldly on the woman before her. The black of the apron matched the onyx hair, making her amethyst eyes seem like stars blazing in a dark cosmic sky, while the simple blue oval sewn on the front resembled the tears Mizi wanted to shed before such beauty.
Mizi couldn’t help but stare, golden green eyes deep in awe, completely zoned out. Really, she forgot how long she’d been standing in front of the flower shop’s wooden counter— had it been seconds, minutes, hours?— but who could blame her when the very epitome of beauty and grace was standing before her very eyes. She thanked the universe for her eyesight, even though contacts were inconvenient and she hated wearing them and the painful hassle of putting them in. Yes, she’s seen some tough battles, she thought, but hey, it all led to this moment of being a lucky witness to the sheer elegance of the girl standing in front of her, and honestly every breakdown at 7AM in the morning has been made worth it a thousand times over.
“Does that sound alright?” The girl asked.
Mizi blinked. Right, the pretty girl had actually been talking to her, because that was part of the girl’s job which she was doing. “Um, sure!” She managed to reply, without combusting instantly on the spot. A small win, she cheered in her head.
“Okay, I’ll pack your order then.”
“Great!” She smiled in what was hopefully not an awkward manner. Maybe another win? She hoped? Her brain tucked this moment into the vault of memories it liked to open at 12AM to awaken Mizi in a fit of embarrassment.
The girl only nodded and started to wrap up the flowers in a nice, sleek black paper and matching red ribbons. Mizi relaxed, having somehow gotten through the crisis, and she really didn’t mean to stare but there wasn’t much else to look at, was there? Yes, there were flowers and she did love them but flowers could not compare to her. Mizi watched shyly as the girl continued packing.
She was clearly not new at her job, moving with graceful professional efficiency that could only come from experience and wow it was like seeing a swan dancing on a lake, which Mizi wasn’t actually sure was a thing but felt quite certain was an appropriate description. If not, then maybe like one of those dancers in the similarly named ballet piece. That would probably work. Even though Mizi had never seen the ballet either so she couldn’t know for sure. Oh goodness, was she staring weirdly again?
The girl paused a little. Crap, she must be creeped out. Mizi cursed inwardly at herself and her stupid eyes, but continued smiling in what was hopefully a polite way.
“Here you are,” the girl finally said as she handed her the flowers.
Mizi stretched out her arms, which felt unnecessarily long and spindly, and accepted the bouquet. Without tripping or anything. Maybe her arms weren’t so bad after all, she thought as she shuffled the massive package in her arms.
“That’s going to be 40 bucks, do you want to pay via cash or card?”
Oh goodness she had to speak now. Please don’t crack voice, she prayed because if it did she was never going to be able to speak again without thinking of this moment. So maybe less a prayer but more a threat.
“Card, please!”
“Sure,” came the cool reply.
The girl handed her the machine to swipe her card.
Ah. Mizi hurriedly yanked open her purse, laughed awkwardly and swiped it across the machine with what was hopefully the right amount of force.
It was. The machine beeped happily and the receipt came out.
“Here you go,” said the girl, handing Mizi her receipt.
“Thank you,” Mizi breathed out while carefully accepting it from the other end for fear of brushing their hands together (heart attack).
“Have a good day.”
“You too!”
Mizi smiled. She knew it was silly, but she hadn’t felt, well, like this in a long, long while. And she’d only just met the girl for like a couple minutes. She could be proud that this interaction had gone a lot better than she thought it would. Maybe she could die without regrets after all. Maybe the universe wasn’t so cursed, and maybe it was actually looking out for her because how else had she managed to not mess up yet.
The girl was still looking at her with those crystal eyes. Mizi felt a blush slowly creep up her neck, threatening to spill onto her face. Those were the prettiest eyes she’d ever seen… And her stare was pretty intense too. Maybe she could—
“Say, didn’t you have somewhere to be? The tram just left” The girl said, instead looking directly behind Mizi’s head.
Mizi blinked dumbly, smile frozen in place. Well she felt pretty stupid now. But, huh. Right. She did.
Snapping out of her stupor, she quickly glanced at the clock conveniently hanging above the counter, and froze.
Oh she was definitely going to be late. Super late. Ivan was going to murder her.
“Oh no,” she whispered.
“Yeah, you’re fucked,” replied the girl.
Mizi scrambled towards the exit, stuffing her card back in her purse (because she had still been holding it like an idiot) while trying not to squash the poor flowers in her other arm. She waved a hasty goodbye with her free hand and set off in a run to the brunch place. If she’d known she’d be running so much she wouldn’t have worn heels. She cursed public transportation and its unwillingness to just stick to consistent times.
Mizi thought she had seen the girl give a small wave back in the corner of her eye, but she could just as well have been deluding herself in a moment of weakness.
As she ran, Mizi cursed herself most of all for being such an awkward, romantic fool.