Lan Zhan closed his eyes as the tiny silver bell rang, announcing his entrance. The wonderful scent of lilies and lotus flowers, hyacinth and sweet pea, roses and freesia coupled with the stocks...reminded him of that morning...and the beautiful man.

"Customer!" Someone called out.

"I know, I know! Jeez...oh my god...it's you!" Wei Ying came and stood in front of Lan Zhan, mop still in hand.

Lan Zhan's eyes snapped open at the sound of that rich, chocolaty sound, mostly in disbelief. No way was this his man? Twice in one day?

The universe really did love him.

Very much so.

His ears were burning already as he drank in the sight of this amazing man...really, too gorgeous to be allowed outside...

Wei Ying was delighted to see him. Obviously, it was a sign, and there was no way he was letting him go without getting his number this time. His golden eyes were just so...mesmerising.

"Does he...actually want something?" Jiang Cheng scowled.

Wei Ying fell out of the pleasant dream, thinking that Lan Zhan looked so much better up close, but really, the man had no bad side. All of him was perfect. Especially those plump, pink lips...

"Er...can I help you?" Wei Ying stepped forward to ask.

The diamond in his nose twinkled dangerously, inviting Lan Zhan to also step closer. Yes of course you can help me, he thought, you can come and stay with me, and never leave...

"Flowers." Was all he ended up saying.

Wei Ying was nodding at him, expecting him to elaborate.

But Lan Zhan had finished speaking, allowing himself to look his fill at this perfect human being. Wei Ying really was beautiful.

"What kind?" Wei Ying was saying.

"Yes." Lan Zhan decided that was the correct response. His brain synapses had stopped functioning.

Wei Ying beamed at him.

Lan Zhan stopped breathing.

"Oookaay...why don't you tell me who it's for?" Wei Ying asked, raising a brow at Jiang Cheng who was cleaning their counters with a scowl on his face.

"Secretary."

The smile vanished at that, and Lan Zhan desperately wanted it back.

"She's upset..." he ventured by way of an explanation.

There was a little relief in those beautiful silver eyes, but the wariness was still present.

"Why?"

Lan Zhan shrugged, not really bothered as to why she might be.

"Um..didn't you ask her?"

Lan Zhan was by now, feeling extremely light-headed, the strong floral scents getting to him.

"Brother said to buy flowers first. Then ask." Lan Zhan closed his eyes, trying to take a clean breath.

"Well, that's easy...hang on, are you alright?" Wei Ying touched his arm.

Lan Zhan held on tightly, trying to concentrate on a single breath, one after another.

"No...too much...smell..." he managed to get out, before feeling as if he was moving.

A warm arm came around his waist to support him, while Wei Ying spoke softly, muttering calming things, telling him he was going to be just fine.

He felt the change, a coolness in the air around himself, and then he was being guided to sit down on what felt like a stool. The air itself was fresh, the scent of all those flowers just a memory here, kept out by the door. The dim lighting also helped.

"This is our storeroom." Wei Ying explained, his voice still at a soothing pitch. "Are you feeling better now?"

Lan Zhan had opened his eyes to stare into the magical silver irises, staring at him with concern.

"Yes. Am better." He whispered.

"What happened out there?" Wei Ying jerked a thumb towards the outside.

"I have a condition. Too much stimulae is overwhelming."
He was afraid he would see humour in those mercurial eyes, but there was only intense sadness.

"That really sucks." Wei Ying was saying.

He pushed a cup of water into his hands. Lan Zhan drank gratefully.

"So...how old is your secretary?" He asked, staring at his feet.

"Old." Lan Zhan thought about her. "Maybe fifty, maybe sixty."

"Er...that's a lot of difference..."

Did Wei Ying sound happy? It felt like it.

"Why don't you know her age?" He prodded.

"None of my business. HR would know." He shrugged helplessly.

"Okay...so do you know what kind flowers she likes? Just to make it easy?" Wei Ying grinned at the widening panic in Lan Zhan's eyes. "It's okay, relax, because you, my friend, have come to the right place."

Lan Zhan leaned forward, interested in what he was going to say.

"Flowers are like kisses from the universe." Wei Ying began.

Lan Zhan found himself staring at those red lips, wondering what they tasted like. He couldn't stop looking at them.

"Each one says something different. You can actually use flowers to say whatever you want. They can be subtle, or not so subtle messages...they even gave it a long ass name. Floriography...I believe it's called. The language of flowers."

"Really?" Lan Zhan couldn't believe it. An idea started to form in his mind.

"That's why I asked you if you knew why she was upset in the first place...but no matter. We can work with however little you have. You want to say you're sorry for whatever she's going through...but you also want to cheer her up, right? Wei Ying finished, eyes shining brightly.

Lan Zhan nodded, sitting on his hands in case he accidentally grabbed the lovely man and kissed him.

By accident, of course.

"Peach roses say that better than any other flower."

Lan Zhan nodded, too smitten to do much else. Wei Ying could have been an insurance salesman and Lan Zhan was pretty sure he would have bought everything he was selling.

"Shall I go throw some in a bouquet for you?" Wei Ying asked, smiling triumphantly.

"Mn."

"How many? Does twelve sound like a good number?"

"Mn."

Wei Ying threw him a broad smile of encouragement before leaving him there, alone with his thoughts.

*****

"Just what do you think you're doing? All alone with him in there?" Jiang Cheng whisper-shouted at him when he came out of their storeroom.

"Nothing, I promise!" Wei Ying pleaded innocently, but his smile overcame any sympathy Jiang Cheng might have had. "You saw what he looked like! He was going to pass out. Never happened to me before." He grabbed a pair of cutters and deftly readied twelve immaculate peach blooms.

"I bet it was all your bullshit about flowers, what made him want to pass out in the first place. I swear you tell everyone you meet." Jiang Cheng watched him expertly wrap the wired flowers in crisp white tissue paper.

Wei Ying cut a length of blue ribbon and tied a perfect bow midway down the stems.

"He better pay for those!" Jiang Cheng called out after him.

Wei Ying gave him the finger, ducking out of the way when Jiang Cheng launched a ball of string at him in retaliation.

Lan Zhan was standing up when he went back inside.

"Oh, good. You're definitely looking much better." Wei Ying handed him the bunch. "What do you think?" He stood rocking on his heels, watching his reaction.

"Mn. Nice." But Lan Zhan was looking at him.

Wei Ying blushed and tentatively stepped forward.

"Lan Zhan...can I have...your number?"

Lan Zhan held out his phone.

Wei Ying was so surprised he almost dropped it. Fumbling, he managed to type in his number. Lan Zhan called it immediately. The melody that sounded out was the sad song he had been humming to himself that morning. He blushed a brighter red and switched it off, trying to smile.

"I know it's a sappy song but I love it." He said, looking at his shoes.

"Call me." Lan Zhan told him firmly, feeling bad that he was put on the spot. He just had to show him this next thing.

"You want me to call you? Like, right now?" Wei Ying looked puzzled, but pulled out his phone anyway.

When the exact same melody played, he could not stop the brightest smile from blooming on his face.

Now, it was Lan Zhan whose ears were burning.

"It is called 'Longing'." He said, trying to cover up.

"I'm going to save that, just for you." Wei Ying quickly made the changes. "I mean...uh..." he blushed again.

Lan Zhan thought he was adorable.

"Me, too." He added, shyly.

"You can pay for these out front." Wei Ying told him, remembering what Jiang Cheng had said.

"Have not finished." Lan Zhan said, surprising them both.

"Oh? What else did you want to buy?" He led the taller one outside of the storeroom.

Lan Zhan went to the assorted flowers arranged in buckets, while Wei Ying went to ring him up behind the counter.

Lan Zhan returned with a single red rose.

Everyone knew what that flower meant. You didn't have to be an expert in botany to know that red roses stood for love or deep affection. That's why it was so popular on Valentine's Day.

Wei Ying took a long look at it wistfully but when he went to wrap it, Lan Zhan stopped him with a hand on his.

Electricity zapped both of them and Lan Zhan snatched his hand away, ears almost red.

Wei Ying had a hand on his chest where his heart lay.

"No need." Lan Zhan finally clarified, staring at him with an intensity again.

"No need?" Wei Ying couldn't look away.

"The recipient is here. I wish to gift this to you." He replied.

Wei Ying wanted to squeal at the feelings inside himself, wanted to fist pump the air, it was so romantic. He came on the other side of the short counter and stood in front of Lan Zhan. Reaching up, he kissed his warm cheek.

"Thank you. No one has ever bought me flowers before."

"Wei Ying should always have flowers, if he wishes for them." Lan Zhan snapped the rose stem so it was shorter and tucked it into the red ribbon tying up that gorgeous hair. And he made a silent promise to himself, still feeling the place where the softest lips had just touched him.

Walking back to his office clutching the peach roses, Lan Zhan was in a daze. He could scarcely believe what had just happened to him, the most reserved of people, who never went out of his way to talk to strangers, had a date.

He had found out that Lotus Pier closed at five in the evening, and had arranged to meet Wei Ying then so they could go home together. So it was a kind of date. He got into the elevator with one hand holding the flowers and the other resting on his cheek, the exact spot where Wei Ying had kissed him.

Such soft lips...

Lan Zhan wanted to taste them so badly...but even he knew it was too soon. They would have to get to know one another first, and then see what happened. He wanted to know everything there was about Wei Ying, from his favourite colour to his music preferences. There was a happy coincidence there for sure, because their ringtones had matched up.

He shivered in anticipation, wanting the day to be over with so he could spend however much time he could with his Wei Ying. Either he would whisk them away to another carriage, or ask his brother to distract Wei Ying's irritating brother.

His secretary was still snivelling Lan Zhan paused, panicking. What should he do now? He looked at the flowers in his hand and remembered. His brother had said he should give her them and ask why she was crying.

He didn't want to.

But, in the grand scheme of things, if he hadn't gone to buy the flowers in the first place, he wouldn't have met Wei Ying again, and that sort of meant he owed her for that at least...

He could do this.

He walked up to her desk and put the flowers in front of her. On the gradually increasing pile of wet tissues. Feeling slightly disgusted and wondering if he had any hand sanitizer in his desk drawer.

"What is wrong?" He tried not to sound so stilted.

"Oh, it is nothing." She said, hastily throwing her tissues away and wiping her face.

"Okay, then." Lan Zhan returned to his office and closed the floor behind him, feeling extremely relieved.

He had just sat down when his phone rang. It was his brother.

"Did you get her the flowers?" He asked straight away.

"Mn."

"And did you ask her why she was crying?"

"Mn."

"And what did she say?"

Lan Zhan could hear his brother getting more frustrated with him.

"She said it was nothing." He replied truthfully.

"That's...Wangji, she didn't mean it! You have to go back out there and talk to her."

Lan Zhan could see him pinching the bridge of his nose.

"But I did what brother said." His stubborn streak was coming out.

"No, you didn't."

"I didn't?" Lan Zhan was confused. He was sure he had.

"Listen to me. There's something wrong, right? Otherwise, why would she be crying?"

"Mn." He admitted, reluctantly.

"So as her boss, you have to care. You must find out. Now go out there and talk to her. I want a report when you're done." XiChen hung up on him.

In his head, Lan Zhan was replaying those same words in a snarky higher pitch.

He totally didn't want to do this. And his brother wasn't going to let it go...

His phone buzzed and he was surprised, so he looked.

It was Wei Ying.

Wei Ying had texted him.

He opened it excitedly.

What are you doing now? Did you reach your office safely?

It pinged again, and he saw Wei Ying had sent him a selfie. With a tiny heart made from his finger and thumb.

Lan Zhan felt giddy.

First he saved the picture, making it a wallpaper so it would be the first thing he saw when he opened his phone. Then he replied.

I must go to ask secretary why she is crying.

What's her name?

I don't know.

There was a pause before the next ping.

Sorry, customers. How long has she been working for you?

Lan Zhan could imagine him saying all this to him, in that beautiful chocolaty voice.

A few years.

And you've never asked her name?

Alright, when he put it like that, it did sound bad.

No need.

Even he thought his answer was a bit defensive. But it was what he genuinely thought.

Okay, don't panic. Here's what we're going to do. When you go outside, check on her desk. She will probably have a nameplate somewhere. Don't make it obvious, but use her name when you talk to her. If she's still crying, maybe hand over a few tissues.

Lan Zhan felt immensely grateful to him, mostly because he had used we, instead of you. It made him feel part of a team.

Not so alone any more.

Okay. We're doing it now.

Wei Ying sent a fist bump. Fighting!

He stood up and walked to the door, grabbing a box of tissues as an afterthought.

Wei Ying was right; on her desk was her name plate: Glenda Tanning. And she had a wedding ring on her finger.

"Mrs Tanning, why are you crying? It is not nothing." Lan Zhan tried to make his voice sound kinder.

Now that he knew her name, he felt a bit better about his task.

"I'm so sorry." She said. "I've tried to work, I know those emails need to be sent...but every time I try to, I can't help but think about my husband." More tears leaked from her eyes.

"What happened?" Lan Zhan hoped it was the right thing to say to her.

"He fell down this morning and broke his leg. I couldn't even go into hospital with him, because I had to work."

Lan Zhan felt terrible for her now.

"You may go." He told her quickly.

"I shouldn't. It will leave you in the lurch." She insisted.

But if all she was going to do was sit there and cry, Lan Zhan thought she would definitely be better off elsewhere.

"I can manage. Please go." That sounded bad. So he quickly added, "to him."

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" She stood up and put her coat on.

Lan Zhan was relieved to see her go. His phone was ringing in his office and he hurried to answer it.

"Did you do it?" XiChen asked.

"Yes. Her husband fell down. She's gone."

"Oh, Didi! I'm so proud of you." XiChen sounded much happier.

"Give me your secretary. You owe me for getting rid of mine." Lan Zhan told him, looking at the pile of work that needed to be completed before his date with Wei Ying that evening.