28. Embrace

A warm embrace, a comforting embrace, a gentle embrace; they've shared many together.

He remembers their first, she was probably 18 at the time. He had given her a flowers for her birthday, at the time it seemed like a random selection but he had known what the meaning of the flower was. His mother was growing them in the garden, he'd asked if he could gift them to a friend and she giggled and agreed to let him do so. He dug them up and potted them himself to give to her.

The gardenia flower, symbolizes purity and sweetness, they indicate secret love and convey joy. They tell the receiver you are lovely. He knew this, he chose to feign ignorance when he gave them to her.

She stared at him with a doe-eyed look, her mouth slightly agape, she knew what these flowers meant. 'But does he?' That was the question on her mind. He had told her that he thought she would like them, his mother was growing them and he thought they had the right look to them. He wasn't lying at the time, he just hadn't realized how he felt by then.

Thinking back on it he should've kissed her first then, he wished he could have gotten approval from her father to court her. The soft embrace he'd received from her was more than enough.

He was happy that it happened, happier though, that it would be the first of many.