Author's Note: Originally posted on AO3.
Red Rose - True love
He asks the accessory assistants for the final perfect touch to his last window mostly out of a combination of frustration and curiosity; frustration at his lack of ideas and curiosity to how they'll react to the request. The other two girls and Miss Mardle don't surprise him at all really, but she does. She steps forward and asks a question and he sees her eyes light up and the cogs whirr to life inside her head. But then Miss Mardle sends her back to work and the little spark he saw dies. He turns away, in search of something, but she surprises him again. She brings forward a red rose and all he can think of is how pretty she would look in a rose-coloured dress.
But she holds the rose out to him and explains why he should use this particular flower. Her arguments are well-reasoned and her sense of chic is impeccable. She stutters when she comes to the bit about love and it makes him a little sad, to see someone so full of joie de vivre mumble about love as if it is a privilege for the upper class, like champagne and caviar.
He tells her he'll think about it and she smiles brightly and he knows then that he'll use the rose, if only to keep that wonderful light in her eyes.
(Miss Mardle calls and the light is gone.)