By Zephyria “What happened? You suddenly got sick?”
As soon as he saw his face, the boss asked, and Koi replied, embarrassed, “Yes.”
He had been sick for two more days, not just the weekend. Fortunately, he had called Sarah early to cancel their appointment, but he couldn’t contact or even receive calls from work or anywhere else. As a result, when he finally got out of bed, the phone had rung so much that it was completely discharged.
The first person he called was, of course, Ariel. At first, she was very surprised and asked how he was, but once she knew he was safe, she got angry. Of course, that didn’t last long either.
〈Give me a spare key next time we meet. If something happens, I’ll open the door and go right in.〉
After urging him one last time, Ariel hung up. Ariel was the only one who had come to Koi’s house while he was out of contact. Even then, Ariel thought he wasn’t home because he didn’t answer, and she had even reported him missing to the police. She suspected that Ashley might have done something, but fortunately, it ended as a misunderstanding. If Koi had contacted her just one day later, she might have stormed into Ashley’s office again.
Koi, unaware of these circumstances, apologized to her repeatedly and promised to repay her kindness soon, then called the company.
The company seemed to think that Koi had run away. The boss, who was quite surprised when he called, wore a very angry expression when Koi came to work the next day. Whatever the reason, it was true that he had been absent without permission, so Koi apologized to him repeatedly.
“I’m sorry, I’ll work harder in the future.”
“Of course. You’ll have to pay for not showing up without contacting us.”
The boss gave him one more warning and then instructed him to work. As he hurried away to gather his tools, another employee, Tony, who had been watching, cautiously approached and spoke to him.
“What happened? I called you several times, but you didn’t answer once. Were you that sick?”
“Oh, yeah.”
Koi replied with a wry smile.
“I don’t usually catch colds, but this time it was incredibly difficult. I kept having a fever and my body was so heavy that I couldn’t open my eyes.”
But compared to that, it didn’t hurt. His head was dizzy and he kept feeling sleepy, so he couldn’t get up, but even though his whole body was burning with a fever, there was no pain at all.
Is it some new strain of the flu that’s going around these days?
As Koi wondered inwardly, Tony lowered his voice even further and asked.
“You weren’t pretending to be sick and went somewhere to have fun, were you?”
“No.”
As he smiled involuntarily at the suspicious gaze, Tony tilted his head and said, “Really?” then sniffed.
“I’ve been getting a good smell from you since earlier, so I thought maybe you went somewhere and bought some perfume.”
“Smell?”
“Yeah.”
As Koi asked in surprise, Tony said.
“It smells like flowers or grass, anyway, it’s a very good smell. It makes me feel at ease, I guess.”
Koi, who had been nervous for a moment, inwardly breathed a sigh of relief at his smiling expression. Since he couldn’t smell, he would have been extremely embarrassed if he had heard that he smelled bad.
“Oh, a flower bloomed in the pot at home.”
He remembered that the buds, which had been tightly closed until he watered them before he got sick, were now in full bloom. He had bought the seeds at a discount when he stopped by the store, so he didn’t know what they were called, but since he said it smelled like flowers, he thought of the yellow plant shining in the pot.
“It’s probably the smell of that flower. Three of them bloomed at once.”
“Really?”
Tony turned away with a puzzled look and muttered.
“Does the scent of flowers last that long…?”
Fortunately, the situation ended without any problems. Koi soon forgot about it, and as he worked busily, it was already dinner time.
* * *
“Haaa.”
As soon as he got home, he let out a deep sigh. The cold must have been gone, but his body was still languid and heavy. He was just glad that the fever had gone down. As he moved his heavy steps towards the shower room, something caught his eye.
It was the flower he had seen in the morning. Seeing the bright yellow flower still in full bloom, he felt his heart warm. He immediately moved closer and stared at the flower for a while, then carefully stroked the petals. The bright light of the soft petals seemed to be transmitted through his fingers.
What kind of scent is it?
As he recalled Tony’s words, he felt a sense of regret. If I could smell, I would know what this flower smells like.
Then would I feel at ease too?
After looking at the flower for a while, Koi lowered his hand and entered the narrow bathroom. He washed himself roughly and went straight to bed to sleep.
Ashley hadn’t contacted him once since that day.
* * *
It was about a week later that the scent of the flower, which he thought was nothing special, became a problem. When Tony first mentioned the scent, he dismissed it without much interest, but as a day passed and then two, the scent emanating from Koi’s body gradually became stronger.
It was Tony who was first drawn to Koi by the scent. He suddenly hugged him around the waist, and Koi was so surprised that he pushed Tony away. As a result, Tony sprained his ankle and had no choice but to be absent from work, and a day later, another employee tried to grab Koi forcefully and fell, breaking his nose.
After a few days, the small office, which had only four or five people in total, was quickly emptied. After the last employee who had been holding out tried to stay close to Koi and ended up having a big fight with the boss and quitting, all that was left was Koi and the boss.
It wasn’t intentional, but Koi couldn’t deny that he was the cause of all this. Because of that, he was so overwhelmed with guilt and regret that he couldn’t lift his head, but the boss was so generous that he told him it was okay and even comforted him. Moreover, on the day the last employee left, when Koi didn’t know what to do, he told him not to worry and gave him money, asking him to continue coming to work steadily in the future.The boss’s kindness was appreciated, but it was his fault, so he couldn’t just let it slide. Besides, whenever he took the subway, people would constantly try to talk to him or touch him, so he often ended up walking several stops. Walking on the street was a little better because the space was more open, but he couldn’t live like this forever.
How strong is this flower’s scent that it’s causing this?
Koi stared at the still-fresh yellow flower with a serious face before finally making a decision.
It’s a shame, but I have to throw it away.
It’s the first flower he’s bloomed since coming to the East, so it breaks his heart, but he has no choice. This flower is causing too much trouble.
…But it’s too precious to just throw away.
Koi carefully put the flowerpot in a plastic bag. Fortunately, the next day was the weekend, and he had plans.
I should show it to Al tomorrow.
* * *
“Oh, it’s pretty. Did you bloom it recently?”
“Yeah, a little over ten days ago.”
Unable to hide his pride, he answered, and Ariel picked up the small flowerpot and deeply inhaled its fragrance. Koi was momentarily flustered, but she raised her head nonchalantly and said,
“Did you bring it out to show off?”
“Huh? Uh…”
Koi blinked in bewilderment at her nonchalant reaction before opening his mouth. Actually, he briefly explained what had happened, and Ariel, who had been listening with a serious face, tilted her head.
“It just smells like a normal flower to me?”
“R-Really?”
Koi could only stare at her, dumbfounded. What’s going on?
It wasn’t like Ariel couldn’t smell like Koi, so he didn’t understand the situation. Confused, Koi blinked before belatedly looking around. They were sitting on an outdoor cafe terrace, and even though the tables weren’t very far apart, the people around them weren’t paying any attention to Koi at all.
…Was I mistaken?
Confused, Koi belatedly asked Ariel,
“Hey, do I smell like anything?”
“Smell?”
Ariel immediately grabbed Koi’s arm and leaned forward across the table, taking a deep breath. After sniffing and checking the scent, Ariel let go of his arm and raised her head.
“I don’t smell anything?”
“Really?”
Koi was flustered once again. What on earth is going on?
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