I scowled when his tattooed forearm twitched with restrained effort. His large fingers tried and failed, to fold the crinkly paper over a bouquet of very colourful flowers. The lady standing on the other side of the counter giggled and he met her eyes and winked. 

 

I grabbed the edge of my leather jacket again barely suppressing the urge to roll my eyes. Of course he would be here. Just when I thought I had gone through all possibilities of a worst case scenario his eyes met mine through the window and he winked. 

 

I frowned, shuddering under the attention of his undiscerning eye. Only Sam "I-am-to-hot-to-ever-do-anything-wrong" Jae-Lee would have a customer giggling because he was messing up her order. I pinched the bridge of my nose and composed myself. I couldn't let him know how bad I was suffering, even if it was the last thing I ever did. 

The bell on the door gave a merry little jingle as I stepped into sunny smiles. The lady buying flowers turned to give me a polite smile and I gave her a curt nod as I took my place behind her. 

It was inevitable that Sam and I would have to talk at some point but since his return I had purposefully worked hard to avoid him and of course like everything in my life that had also failed. Because here he was, the man himself, illuminated by a shard of sunlight streaming in through the shop window as if God himself was turning the stage light on him. His fingers slipped and his biceps flexed as he tried yet again to tap down the crinkly paper. 

I smirked, revelling in his mistakes for a brief second. The notorious, Jean clad, motorcycle enthusiast, Sam-Jae Lee working in a flower shop and failing. Well small victories were what life was all about. And for what felt like a second I rode that high as I stepped up to the counter. 

The lady he was serving before me looked at the tip jar and placed a fiver dollar bill in it before leaving. Sam smiled at it before turning back to me. His smile grew and he crossed his arms over the green and yellow apron he was wearing, "Well, well well. What have we here? If it isn't his royal highness himself gracing little ol' me with his appearance."

"Sam."

"Oh come on, your Majesty. You can do better than that. The prince of perfection himself can't come up with a better response? You having a slow day?" His voice, like fine liquor, was smooth on his lips as he leaned onto his left elbow and smirked. 

"I don't have time for this," I frowned, rolling my eyes. 

"Of course sorry, Welcome to Sunny Smiles, what can I do for you? Your Majesty?" He smirked.

I shook my head, pressed my lips together and repeated the words, ‘Whatever you do, don't strangle him. Do not strangle him.‘ in my mind, as if they would transform the idiot In Front of me into a more tolerable human being. 

"What, you forgot your butler at home or something?" Sam quirked causing my fist to clench around the card in my pocket. 

I scowled at his satisfied smirk. 

"Ha ha you must be the top student at clown college," I said staring him dead in the eyes, "Is that why you are here selling flowers? They let you out early because you passed all their classes."

Sam's smile widened and his eyes filled with mirth and a hint of mischief. This, of course, was the opposite effect I had hoped for. He leaned onto his elbows and moved even closer to me. With a certain air of forbidden desire dancing in his bright eyes he whispered, "There he is!" He smiled, "The righteous King himself. I was starting to think they cut off your tongue or something." 

I glared at Sam, realising I had taken the bait he had laid. 

He continued, "I have Keys to the backroom, Your Majesty. I could teach you everything I learnt while I was away..." 

"Sam!" My voice was steady as it echoed in the silent shop but that didn't stop him from speaking.

"Now, I can't possibly show you everything in one night but I am sure I can show you more than that boyfriend of yours."

And there it was. 

The B word.

Like a glass shattering against ceramic tiles my reality came crashing down around me as I gripped the crumpled up business paper in my pocket. That was all I would have done too, except that stupid smirk on Sam's face kept mocking me and before I knew it my left fist was clenched over the top of his apron. 

Sam smiled seemingly pleased by this reaction which only fueled my rage, "I want you to listen to me and I want you to listen carefully, Sam." I spat, pulling him even closer, "I don't have a Boyfriend. I will never have a boyfriend and that picture was a dare from my best friend."

Sam laughed, raising an eyebrow he lifted his hands in surrender and smiled, "Touchy touchy. And here I thought you were finally fun. Your highness."

"I am done explaining myself. I have been dealing with a lot of ‘looks’ and unwarranted questions today and frankly I don't have the energy to deal with it anymore. So you and your remarks can just shove it. Ok?"

Sam's smile fell and finally the buzzing within my body settled. And for the first time since I woke up. I felt like I was back to normal. My fingers unfurled around the fabric in their grasp and Sam stepped back fixing himself as if he hadn't just been in my grasp. 

"I'd like to see how you angry fuck," Sam mumbled to himself. 

Before I could react a small jingle drew our attention and Mrs Davis walked in with a box of...dirt. Sam moved around the desk rushing forward to help her carry the soil into the shop.

The old lady smiled at me as she walked towards me, "Oh good you are here. I was worried I would miss you." She said pinching my cheeks before wrapping me in a hug.