HEALING
I'll buy a cheap house somewhere peaceful, work on my novel, and live with cats for the rest of my life.
o4. To Understand a Flower
The old man who stands behind Muumei-san has a pair of mauve colored eyes and an ashen grey short hair. The wrinkles on his face show hidden wisdom and countless untold experiences he has gained for all the year spent in his life. His glare at Natsu doesn't waver, only intensifies when the boy tilts his head and stares back at him in confusion. His hand, holding a small flower pot, shakes and the frown deepens. "You hear me, brat," he spats, eyes glowing with fury, "go back to the city. You have no place here."
"Dear," Muumei-san softly places her hands on her husband's shoulder, "you've been chasing away the youngsters who want to work here since we first put on that sign."
The elderly man's eyes narrowed, as if not hearing his wife's complaint, scrutinizing Natsu from the head to toe, before he walks away to the front door and tears down the hiring sign. He glowers at the sight of the bold writing in black and red color. In a beat, his hand crushed the paper, tosses it into the trash can, and then he walks out of the shop, murmuring, "I'm completely fine managing the shop on my own."
Muumei-san sighs, feeling guilty at the poor boy whose silence is awkward to her. She chases after her husband, whose expression is not much better than before he tends the flower on display, and is ready to give him a long lecture. "But, dear–"
"Aoki-san," Lucy says, interfere the older woman as she rushes to her side, "please don't forget what the doctor said about your back pain. It will worsen if you move around so much."
The man glances to Lucy, facial expression still hard. Lucy offers him a small smile. She knows how stubborn Aoki-san can be, especially when it comes to the flower shop, but she doesn't know it will be this hard to convince him to a small matter as to accept a worker. "You can leave the delivery work to Natsu-kun if you haven't trusted him yet with the flowers and the greenery."
Aoki-san stops his activity for a while, peering at Lucy for a moment before moves to Natsu, who is still inside with eyes wandering around the shop in mild curiosity. His eyebrows knitted at the sight, then he lets out a heavy sigh.
"Get that brat here," Aoki-san mutters, "I'm gonna ask him something."
Lucy nods and gives Muumei-san a small smile when she squeezes her forearm in reassurance. She walks in and tells Natsu, "Natsu-kun, listen. Aoki-san is going to ask you something. Whatever the question is, just answer it honestly, okay?"
Natsu gives her a grin and somehow it eases her. "Of course. Don't worry, Lucy!"
Muumei-san holds Lucy's hand when she is about to leave the shop. "Aoki wants to talk to him privately," she says, gaining a nod in understanding from Lucy. "Natsu-kun, good luck," says Muumei-san to Natsu, patting his shoulder as he passes by. "My husband can be a bit stubborn, but he means no harm, of course."
Natsu glances at the crouching figure with knitted eyebrow on the other side of the door through the window. "Yeah, I know," he replies, smiling widely. "He's just being careful. It's normal, I guess."
He then walks out the shop, closing the door behind him soundly before crouching down beside Aoki-san. Aoki-san keeps on tending the displayed flowers, undisturbed by his arrival. He arranges the formation of the flowers, checking their stems and leaves and inspecting the water. Natsu watches his activity silently, and the silence stretches long, even until Aoki-san finishes tending all the displayed flowers.
Natsu says nothing when Aoki-san passes him by without giving him much attention. He doesn't try to ask him about the question he wants to ask. Natsu just silently follows the man wherever he goes and watches silently at how he does all of the activity. They even barely exchange glances – both of their eyes focused to the flowers.
The silence breaks when Aoki-san finally turns his head to him, eyeing him hardly, judging him. The boy only blinks; mouth still shut tight, until the question is asked, "Brat, how much do you understand flowers?"
"Close to none, sir," Natsu replied briefly, clearly, without hesitation.
Aoki-san's pale violet eyes narrowed and his eyebrows knitted again. He scrutinizes him, judging his answer. "Explain."
"I don't have any experience with flowers or plants specifically, but I can learn."
"Did you learn anything, just by watching me?"
Natsu inclines his head. "Well, not really. I still need some explanations to fill in some things that I don't understand or I might start assume things and that's not good."
Aoki-san stares at him in silence before he stands to stretch his arms and sigh. "And then, how to understand a flower?" He asks. The boy goes silent for a while, before shaking his head. "You communicate with them. You listen to them, talk to them, and give attention to them. Flowers are a delicate being. I expect you to understand them by the end of this season."
Natsu rises to his feet, grinning widely. "You bet I would, Jii-chan!"
…HEALING…
Lucy smiles in relief when she sees the boy rise to his feet with a victorious grin stretch wide on his face. Her palm is sweating due to the fist her hand unconsciously made as the nervous feeling she feels when she first heard Aoki-san wants to talk with Natsu privately. Beside her, Muumei-san is laughing in relief and she pats Lucy's shoulder.
"That boy must be really a thing, to be able to make Aoki accept him like that," she murmurs.
Lucy turns toward her, sighing and smiling as the tension eases. "Natsu-kun is unique. I know he will do fine here. He's a smart boy, after all," Lucy says, and as if remembering something, she whispers to Muumei-san. "Muumei-san, I heard that last week someone came to the town and was looking for me. Could it be, by any chance… him?"
Muumei-san gasps and quickly pulls her to the back of the shop, where the flowers fresh from the market are stored. The female florist closes the door and pulls out a piece of folded paper from the pocket of her apron and gives it to Lucy. "They left me this and told us to give this to you. I think it's a phone number. If you–"
"No, please, Muumei-san, I don't want this," Lucy interjects her, shoving the paper back to Muumei-san without seeing what is written in there. "And please, please, don't ever tell them about my whereabouts, Muumei-san. I can't– Dear God, I don't want to have anything to do with him anymore!"
"Shush, my dear," Muumei-san hugs Lucy, and the young woman closes her eyes to avoid spilling the water that pushes from behind her eyelids. "It is okay, my dear, we know and we understand. We just… We are scared that they might harm you."
Lucy shakes her head, fighting the tears that might spill out. "No, no, if it's about safety, it's yours that I concerned about. But with Natsu-kun here, he might not want to come back here for a while to avoid… unnecessary contact."
Muumei-san holds her tighter, feeling the female's shoulder shaking as she talks. "I will burn the paper so it doesn't leave any trace, okay?"
"Yes, thank you, Muumei-san."
"Ah, perhaps that's why Aoki is being hard to Natsu-kun," Muumei-san chuckles. "He suspects him as one of them, and not only to Natsu-kun – to all the youngsters who ever tried to get hired by us."
"It's just how he is, doesn't it?" Lucy laughs, trying to give her a smile and failing.
"But, Lucy, does Natsu-kun knows?"
Lucy peeks through the small window to the shop and sees Natsu and Aoki-san talking. Aoki-san seems to be scolding him for holding a flower incorrectly while Natsu is grinning sheepishly and starts copying Aoki-san to correctly hold it.
Natsu is innocent.
He is as innocent as Muumei-san and Aoki-san.
"I fell in love with you."
He is just a passerby, someone who visits her life, and like a bird, he will eventually fly somewhere, away from her. She knows that someone like her should have no attachment to another. Natsu should not be attached to her and so does she should not be attached to him.
"No, he doesn't know," she replies, eyes still directed at the boy. She smiles, then. "And he doesn't need to know."
(-) First, I want to sincerely apologize for the lateness of the update. It's supposed to be updated around Christmas since I've finished my exam since the 23rd. The reason is because my family asked me to go along with them to visit our grandma and I got sick around the new year (currently is still not in the best shape but I can manage it ^^) so yeah, I just updated it now. I really am sorry, and I hope you can forgive me :)
(-) Thank you so much for all of your feedback, be it favorite, follow, or even you go as much as encouraging me in the reviews you left. It means so much for me and it keeps me going and help me checked up with my responsibility. Thank you!
(-) I'm going to get my health checked this Saturday. Hopefully nothing serious and I can recover fast to continue this story without postponing it. I hate it, believe me.
(-) Lastly, I hope you all find this chapter entertaining! I'll see you next time in the next chapter :)