Seymour Krelborn was never one to be rude. Although he grew up on Skid Row, he was always courteous to the people around him, and constantly reminded himself to be polite with even the most uncivil of beings. He mentally scolded himself anytime he so much as thought something that was remotely offensive. Not once in his life had he ever snapped, sneered, or stared at another person.

But he was staring now.

Seymour had become quite claustrophobic, what with standing in Mr. Mushnik's shop all day, so he decided to step outside to get some fresh air. Upon exiting the store, however, the young man remembered that there was no such thing as fresh air on Skid Row. Seymour took a long look at the garbage-lined streets that surrounded the florist's shop and promptly felt the urge to vomit.

But the feeling passed when he suddenly heard a soft, beautiful sound amongst the usual noise of distant traffic and coughing street urchins. The sound was totally foreign to Seymour – it was light and silky and filled him with sweet happiness. He turned to see what sort of heavenly creature could have produced such a sound.

To his complete surprise, Seymour's eyes did, indeed, land on an angel. She was walking along the sidewalk, humming a tune as her black high heels clicked away at the concrete.

Seymour couldn't help but stare at her, even if it was incredibly rude. Although she was looking down at her feet, Seymour could tell that she was a beautiful woman. Her hair was the color of the morning sun, and stopped where her long, slender neck met her chin. She wore a black dress with long sleeves, and her right hand grasped a small suitcase.

As the girl came closer to the flower shop, Seymour felt his heart beating faster and faster. He started to sweat. Just as she approached him, the angel lifted her head to look at him. Their eyes met, and she gave him a bright smile and wiggled her fingers at him in a friendly greeting. Seymour managed an awkward smile and a shy wave. The woman walked on by and made her way to the crumbling apartment building across from the store. The back of her head looked familiar; perhaps she had passed Mushnik's window before.

He watched her until she entered the building and the door swung shut behind her. He was frozen. He stood there for a long time, staring at her door and hoping she would come back out. Even after enough time had passed that he was sure she wasn't going to return, he could not move.

"Krelborn!" Mr. Mushnik's voice boomed from the shop, yanking Seymour out of his trance and back to reality.

"Y-yes, Mr. Mushnik?" Seymour stuttered.

"Get back in here, kid! There's work to be done!"

"You and I both know that's a lie, sir," Seymour muttered under his breath before walking back inside. His employer kept him busy with making lovely arrangements that, unfortunately, would more than likely sit on the store shelf until they wilted. But Seymour wasn't bothered by the work today. His mind was on that gorgeous girl who had waved at him.

Being a daily worker in a flower shop, Seymour had met many women. He'd met so many, in fact, that he couldn't remember them all. He'd sold posies to sweet young ladies who were very kind to him at the counter. He'd helped pick out the perfect blooms for cranky women who were in a big hurry.

Girls who wore too much rouge.

Girls who donned funny hats.

Girls who were too busy to even speak to him.

But none of those girls had smiled at him like the angel had. The few smiles that he had received throughout his many years at Mushnik's were fake, and were conjured up out of good mannerisms. Hers was genuine. She saw him, and his glasses, and his messy hair... and she smiled at him.

Seymour was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice when he stopped working, put his chin in his hand, and began smelling a rose dreamily.

"Krelborn!"

"Oh! Um, yes sir?"

"Don't just stand there! Get back to work!"

"Yes, Mr. Mushnik." Seymour returned to his arrangement, but smiled to himself for the rest of the day. At night, as he lay in his bed under the shop, he dreamed that someday he would meet his angel, and together, they would break out of Skid Row. Then, they would fly to a place far, far away, where everything was green.