At about the time when the rain clouds darken from the falling sun, Kip and Bul occupied the avenues of Ginza in search of the flower shop. Kip was memorizing the notecard he clipped from Eliu’s bouquet before they left in order to prepare himself for the encounter. Every time he looked away, his fears lingered in the back of his head and made him forget the store address written again. It was the little jobs he did that threw his anxiety out of proportion. At least, little to Eliu. 

Bul likely noticed the tinge of nerves that slipped through his monotone expression, because he poked his head under Kip’s arm and brought the piece of paper closer to him. “I’ll watch this. You’re gonna trip if you keep staring at it so hard!”

Although it actually gave a bit of relief, Kip huffed ever so faintly and pointed his head up again. “I don’t know what El’s expecting us to do.”

“We just act like we’re there for Sumati,” he said nonchalantly. Eliu’s date was known by the name Sumati.

“I’m not very good at lying… Can’t we ask them if they spell checked the name?” Kip asked whilst he grabbed for the paper out of habit.

He yanked it away, lips pouting. “Then it’ll be ugly if the name’s right and they helped somebody cheat!”

“I don’t think it’s cheating if they aren’t official,” Kip said, mimicking the adorable face.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to worry! I’ll lead!” He continued to stay firm with his risky plan. Without Kip’s knowledge, they were already standing out front of the shop. “We’re her brothers, remember? Bip and Kul,” he said with a wink.

Midwalk into the cornershop, Kip was already facepalming in reaction to the plan washed away from the breeze of the opening double doors. The scent of floral crowded their senses without even a breath, before the mass selection of flowers were brought to their eyes. There were largely reds, pinks, and greens, though also sprinkled in were pale yellows and deep purples that were squished into view. On the sides, they were piled on blue shelves with chipped paint. The centerpiece of the room held buckets of bouquets, but the furniture was hidden with more flowers on the ground. The ceiling was unseen with more foliage dangling above their heads—it was nearly impossible to gauge how big or small the room was. There stood two boys behind a counter in the very back (In reality, only a few feet away, but first Bip and Kul had to get through the obstacles). 

“Welcome!” the larger boy shouted. His nametag read Scoddler. 

“How can we help you today?” the other one, Seplo, asked. They looked about the age to be high schoolers. It was normal for family owned businesses in the area.

“Hi!” Bul shouted back with the same hyper buoyancy. “We’re here for Sumati. She thinks the flowers she got were delivered to the wrong house.”

 The moment Bul spoke her name, Scoddler took out a binder and began flipping through the tabs listed A-Z. Seplo continued, “Okay, one sec.” 

Bul hummed with his nods, and rocked left-to-right on his feet as they waited. It wasn’t long until the florists found the name registered in their binder, but that was about as far as they had gotten.

“You said Sumati?” he repeated.

“Look, there’s multiple entries.” Seplo pointed in the list. “Did you put these in by mistake?! You’re so incompetent!”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t make that part of my job,” argued Scoddler, who crossed his arms as he read over Seplo’s shoulder. 

Bul spectated with a dumb little smile and his head a bit tilted in curiosity. Sometimes, Kip wished to be that naive. It wasn’t always noticeable if Bul was pretending, but never matter, it would be better to pretend. He knew that this, paired with the bickering of two boys, was going to feel like a half hour waste of time.  

It took around five minutes—with a real feel of fifteen—for the two employees to make a discovery. Kip found himself able to daydream with the sight of the bouquets on display on the back wall.

Scoddler leaned in. “I didn’t put them in wrong! Look, there’s two addresses, stupid.”

“Which one did she want?!”

Scoddler snatched the book from his hands and tapped his finger against the paper. “That was the change. See? The changed address comes after it. You probably sent them to the first address!” 

During the daydream Kip used to waste time, Scoddler’s conclusive tone caused him to wake up and rewind the one-sided conversation. “Wait, can you read the first address for us?”

Seplo shared the address without second thought. It belonged to a residence outside of Ginza. It couldn’t have been theirs.

“Thank you so much. Have a good day,” Kip expressed, took Bul’s hand, and exited the shop with haste, though Bul was dragging his feet.

“Wait, they’re gonna think we’re suspicious for leaving!”

Kip paused to face Bul, but didn’t let him run off either. “They were young, I don’t think they care,” he told him with certainty laid out in his voice. “She was likely seeing someone before Eliu and changed the address.”

That was the most logical conclusion Kip could make after dealing with that torment, anyway. It seemed to be the case too when they called Eliu on their walk back. He had asked for the address. Kip hesitated, but he knew Eliu wasn’t crazy enough to pay a visit like that.

“Huh…” A static replica of a car’s engine replaced the silence of the call. He said a little bit later, “That’s her address.”

He should have known that it was a simple name misspelling. Eliu was a name someone would hear once in a lifetime, and that was pushing it in a place like Japan, where nobody could pronounce his name. Auriel was an understandable way to spell his name. 

Just a few days later, he visited Sumati’s street to pick her up on a third date. His knock was answered by a man with a sweatband covering half of his forehead. It caught Eliu by surprise, but he quickly realized this man was her brother. They shared the same blonde hair and rich tans that regularly greeted the sun, with the exception that his features were much sharper than his sister’s. 

“Hey, what’s up?” Eliu bowed his head. “I’m here for Sumati.”

He nodded. “I will come get her,” he said. His voice was coated in a heavy Russian accent. The man retracted inside and shut the door on Eliu.

He rushed past a group of people in the living room to enter Sumati’s bedroom, but before that he was stopped by one of the people.

“Who was it, Auriel?”

“Ellie Putra.”