His name is Todd Allison, and her name is Petunia Elkwood.

He is a botanist, and she is not, but she had somehow one upped him in his profession.

He learned this when he noticed violets growing at the end of summer.

Flower shops were not uncommon in the middle of more urban parts of Australia, but rarely did they hold anything that was truly of interest to a botanist. Todd Allison had been returning to his apartment when he saw the flower shop, with washed blooms in the back of a store. They were not the main display, certainly, since he could hardly catch a glimpse of them through the display window; but they were eye-catching. To not go in was not an option.

"Excuse me?" Todd barged in, his eyes glued to the flowers.

The only other people in the store were an elderly couple, invested in daffodils nearer the front of the store. They hardly glanced at Todd as he entered, enthralled by the bright shade of yellow. But Todd was fixated on the dull purple flowers in the back. Squinting at them, he dashed over to the counter against the wall.

"Evening, Miss, uh-"

"My name is Hana." The dark haired Asian woman behind the desk had a mildly bothered expression on her face. "Is there something you're looking for?"

"Something I was looking at, really." Todd gestured to the blooms in the back of the room, dismissing her tone. "Those flowers back there – those are violets."

Hana raised her eyebrows in slight agitation. "Yes, I'm aware. I am selling them. The whole back corner is violets."

Todd closed his eyes and sighed loudly. "Yes, Hana, but those are Australian violets."

The woman narrowed her eyes and walked from behind the counter and over to the plants. In one swift motion, she jabbed her pointer finger at the plate beneath the flowers. "Sir, this plate clearly says Australian Violets, Viola hederacea. I know what I'm selling."

After following her to the back corner, Todd began tapping his foot angrily. "Hana, do you grow the plants here yourself?"

The saleswoman folded her arms in agitation. "My coworker Norah and I grow all of the plants here."

"Great, so might I ask-"

"Except" Hana interrupted him. "Except the lotus blooms."

"Right; then the question still stands of-"

"And" Hana glared at him then. "The Australian violets."

Todd sagged slightly. "Of course."

"I apologise if this does not please you." Hana then swished around, and sashayed back to her counter.

"Then who is your supplier? Where do you purchase them?" He turned to Hana quickly as he pursued the topic. "How long does it take them to get here, and what method of transportation do you use?"

Hana snapped back to him. "Mister-"

"Allison!" Todd yelled back. He regained his composure, "Todd Allison."

The elderly couple had ensured to stay as far from those two as they possibly could.

"Mister Allison." Hana concluded. "It is not my place to hand out information about my supplier, and I would rather not hand out information about my business."

"Miss-"

"Ikimoto!" She screeched. "My name is Hana Ikimoto!"

"Miss Ikimoto." Todd groaned. "If you would please just tell me about the supplier-"

"I've just told you." Hana shook her head. "I am not willing to hand out my supplier's information to a complete stranger."

"Then I'm assuming it's someone you know personally?"

"What?"

Todd grinned slowly. "Well you did get awfully defensive about them. I could see why giving private information would pose an issue."

Hana grew stiff at once. "Mr. Allison, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Todd's grin nearly fell from his face. "But Miss Ikimoto I-"

"Mister Allison."

The dark skinned woman who had just finished with the elderly couple bothered to enter the conversation then. "Hana, go easy on him, will you?"

Todd jumped at her voice, seeing as he hadn't noticed her earlier. Hana slammed her hands down onto the counter angrily, staring at the other lady.

"But Norah, I don't think-"

Norah shook her head as she began pruning the roses. "It won't hurt to ask her."

"Norah!" Hana hissed out as the bits of information slipped from her coworker's mouth.

"What?" Norah shrugged boredly. "If you won't do it I'll ask her myself. He's interested, give him a chance."

Hana was seething. Todd brightened. "Thank you, Norah."

"We'll give her the message." Norah nodded to him before turning back to her flowers.

Chewing a bit of her hair, Hana furrowed her brows. "But why are you so invested in the violets? They don't sell very well, and their colors are dull. There's not much interest to them."

"They're Australian violets." Todd shook his head at the clerk. "It's nearly mid-September, and those violets are newly bloomed."

"And?"

"The Australians bloom in the spring, and die back nearing autumn." He glanced back to the flowers. "While it's possible for them to live a bit longer, it is uncommon for them to be freshly blooming at this time."

Hana frowned. "And these are such important details to you for what reason?"

"Miss Ikimoto, I'm a botanist." Todd plunged his hands into his pockets as Hana lifted her chin out of curiosity. "Things like this are of interest to me. You said it yourself – these violets are dull and uninteresting. Why bother cultivating them to grow at such an improbable time?"

"I don't know." Hana retaliated. "Maybe the grower has a particular fondness for them."

"Yes well, I would love to have a real answer sometime soon." Todd nodded to Hana, moving to the door as the conversation drew to a close. "I will return tomorrow."

"Well aren't you smug!" Hana shouted, enraged at his tone.

Todd Allison waved to Hana, and bowed his way out the door. "Tomorrow, then."