It had been a couple of days after the coffee shop incident, and even though neither Ciel nor Sebastian had made an attempt to apologize to Soma or Agni, they weren't going to hold it against them. After all, in some way or another, it had also been their fault for losing track for time, right? ("Kadar, you are so gullible.")

The thing was, on Thursdays he always was on the search for something beautiful. The really expensive chocolates on the Patisserie down the street, the handmade stuffed Tiger on the toy shop, silken clothes from a renowned fashion shop…, all for one person in particular: Mina. (aka: the woman Soma was obsessively in love with.)

This time, the object of his pursue was flowers. He had heard from little Ciel that in ancient times people communicated their feelings in flowers. Be it the desire of friendship/acquaintance, an opinion towards a certain topic and even a wedding proposition.

With the latter thought in mind, Soma entered a green building with an elegant sign that read "花言葉: Flower shop", looking everywhere for someone that could probably show him what he was looking for.

"Welcome to Hanakotoba, is there anything I can help you with?" Soma turned around to stare at a brunette man, with a gentle face and a character as passive as the country of origin of the shop's name.

"Yeah, uh," he raised his neck to read at the name tag, "Alan," he tried, and after a small nod he decided to continue his self-imposed mission. "You see, I came here on the recommendation of a friend, he told me this place was really good with flowers."

"Of course sir, what kind are you looking for?" Alan moved closer to Soma, his expression the same as when he had entered. Soma placed a finger on his chin, pondering on his decision for a moment.

"You see, there is a woman I love."

"Uh-huh."

"And she is a bit older than me."

"Uh-huh."

"Is there any flower that can symbolize that I'll wait 'till the time is right for our love to flourish?"

Alan blinked a couple of times, trying to remember which would be appropriate. Then nodded.

"If you would please follow me, Mr….?"

"Oh! Soma is good."

Soma entered the place and waited where they had told him to, the flower arrangement he had bought rested in his lap and his hands fidgeted a little with it. Admittedly he was getting a little ansty. Normally Mina was already in the reception, typing away her work while Soma did all the talking (though he didn't mind that, the few attention he got from the woman, he cherished a lot). But this time, he had been waiting for over an hour and still no sight of her. Did something happen to her and no one told him? For Shiva! Please let it not be that?

"Is something wrong, Prince Soma?" He glanced up and met with the worried gaze of Agni, his mouth tried to fumble an answer but failed, only showing his astonishment over the title he used.

"I already told you I am no prince! Little Ciel was only making that up…" he managed to say in the end, the older man chuckled and Soma felt troubled by it. Was it funny? He didn't get the joke…

"I apologize, it was not my intention to insult you. Old habits die hard, I guess..." Soma didn't really manage to catch the last phrase, as it was whispered.

"What was that?"

"Hmm?" He still had the gentle smile from the other time, and Soma couldn't quite pinpoint why it made him feel at ease. "Anyway, were you here looking for someone? You seemed pretty intent on waiting." Agni sat beside him at the bench, his body language seemed pretty familiar with him and he couldn't help but do the same.

"I was, indeed. Do you happen to be an acquaintance of Mina?" That was very likely, considering they worked in the same company. Would they also be friends?

Agni stiffed for a moment, there was some reluctance and cautiousness in his next actions that Soma didn't seem to notice. "Yes, Miss Mina is quite known here for being a hard worker. I assume you are the admirer that comes here to leave her tokens of your affections?" To Agni's ears, that phrase sounded pretty hollow, but he couldn't help himself, as lying did that to you. (Well, to be technical, he was only keeping some of the truth to himself, he had not lied yet.)

"I see. She has always worked hard." His eyes took on a dreamy look, and, as if sensing something should be done, Agni got up from the bench and offered a friendly hand to the younger male.

"You can leave those flowers on her desk, she will be stuck in the meeting for a couple more hours." Soma frowned.

"I can wait."

"Do you not have classes tomorrow? Or what about curfew?" If he knew the elder Indian better, he'd say he was making up excuses to not let him see Mina. But so far, Agni seemed like a reliable man, so he would not suspect of him.

"I can manage them." He shrugged. "Being absent once in a while isn't so bad." Agni tried to think of something better, he had to take out the young man before the bad feeling in his chest proved to be true.

"Then how about I treat you something? I bet you haven't eaten yet, and waiting for Miss Mina to exit her meeting will take too long." He straightened up. "You can leave the flowers in my office and deliver them to her later."

Soma stared at the bunch of flowers, then at Agni's hand, and decided that that offer was worth a shot.

"Okay, let's go."

When they arrived the restaurant, Soma couldn't help but gape. It had been such a long time since he had the delight to smell the many spices used in Indian dishes, and from how delicious it was, he was almost drooling.

"This place is fantastic!" He exclaimed as they sat, marvelled with how colourful and so-like-his-home everything was. Agni smiled to him as he, too, took his seat in front of the college student.

"I'm glad you like it so, and yes, this place is quite nice." Soma nodded and continued to stare at the restaurant.

"It's been so long since I've eaten Indian food, most of the time I have to order take-outs from McDonald's or something because I have so little time. And the few Indian restaurants I've been in here lack spices…"

"Well, I'm a frequent customer, and trust me when I say that this restaurant is quite good."

Not much time passed before a waiter came to fetch their orders, Agni wanted to eat rogan josh while Soma preferred Chole. Both meals accompanied with mango lassi.

"If I may, Prince Soma…"

"Why do you keep calling me 'Prince'?" This time around, he didn't seem quite upset over it, so Agni decided it was safe to tell him.

"Well, that's what your friend said you were, is it not?" He gave a small chuckle, "besides, you do resemble an actual prince. Since you still wear your native clothes, the way you talk, and your manners resemble royalty." Soma leaned on the table and kept staring outside.

"I see…" Agni thanked the person that brought their drinks and sipped a little on his lassi.

"May I ask what is it that brought Miss Mina to your attention?" He knew his workmate was quite the looker, and many other male workers fancied her for her dark skin, her raven, straight hair and her foreign accent. But he was quite curious as to what made the prince Soma seek after her affections.

Soma just chugged a little on his lassi before thinking of a suitable answer. "You see, when I was very little a person got inside the house and attempted for my life, and since they couldn't really stay with me all the time because of their works, they hired a nanny to take care of me.

"Said nanny was Mina." He stopped a little as their food arrived, staring quite intently at his chole and already grabbing a poori with his right hand. But before taking the first bite, he decided to continue his story. "She was entering college at the time, I believe, and had some knowledge in martial arts." He bit the poori and sighed in contentment, it had been so long! He was really grateful that Agni had brought him here, so that even if it was a northern dish, it was still as good as if he tried some curry from Bengali.

"And what does she think of you?" Agni was also eating his meal, small, careful bites for the lamb.

Soma thought his answer for a couple of minutes, then cheered and gulped before saying, "I'm sure she loves me as I do her. She has expressed her affections towards me on a couple of times and I'm sure she's only waiting until I'm of age." He ate another poori and, as a thought occurred to him, his expression darkened somewhat. "But that man, some Harold West, he keeps poor Mina trapped in that office from dawn to dusk." He sighed again, the disdain in his voice turning to sadness in a little. "I'm afraid most of the time that she'll make herself sick from overwork or something."

Agni didn't quite agree as he sipped his lassi.

Agni glanced around the small crowd of youngsters in the entrance of the hall. He was told to stay put by his boss until he came to pick him up, and half an hour had already passed. He might have a lot of patience, but it could wear thin if a person didn't play fair.

He frowned when he thought he recognized someone, but, it surely couldn't be, right? Just to be sure…

"Prince Soma?" the young adult snapped his head towards Agni, surprised as he was by such a coincidental meeting.

"Agni? What are you doing here?" He tilted his head, the one his hair was styled towards to, and wore an equal frown to his. "I didn't think you would be a fan of Placebo…"

"Neither did I…" he tried not to stare at the outfit Soma was wearing, because while Agni decided to wear his usual, trusty sherwani, Soma went with the whole boyband attire. He even had a piercing in his navel!

Soma got a little uncomfortable. "Well? Shall we enter? If we don't hurry, we won't be allowed in." He nodded towards the door, not wanting to miss any songs. Agni obliged.

They gave their tickets to the people in staff, and walked towards their places in the concert. Chatting a little as the opening act arrived. They could barely hear each other amidst the crowd and the rumples of music, but it was still good enough to keep the conversation going.

"No offense, but I thought you would be the kind to listen to traditional Hindi music…" the guest band had already left the stage and Brian Molko had taken over, much to the delight of the fans.

Agni laughed. "No offense taken, and to be honest, I'm not especially picky about music, so I like both traditional Hindi music, and English modern music."

Heat was starting to arise from so much yelling, and jumping, and generally moving around, bringing flush to Soma's cheeks and small beads of sweat to his forehead. Agni didn't move as much, but the heat from the people surrounding him was enough.

Soma raised his gaze a little more, wishing to stare better at the band on the stage. Instead, what he saw left him numb. The sweet feeling of nothing was quickly replaced by dread.

In a couple of rows in front of them was Mina. Making out with Harold West without a care in the world to Placebo's "Soulmates."

He didn't have to wonder much to know that's how a broken heart felt like.

I did some basic research for the dishes, and I know they're from the northern region of India whereas Bengali was an eastern region (please don't sue me for it, but I really liked how those dishes sounded like…)

Rogan josh is a "red lamb" curry, this because of the dried chili they use on it. According to internet, it was brought by the Mongols and Brahmins didn't like it (?). Chole or Chickpea curry, as its name suggests it, is a kind of curry, but a northern one. It is served with poori/bhatura (Indian bread). And lassi (if I remember correctly) is some kind of drink made out of yogurt. Best served cold. *Thumbs up*

Sorry for taking so long, but rest assured knowing that most of the story is planned. I hope the rest comes out rather smoothly.

Matane!