"Hey, excuse me?" a voice saves him from answering the question.

"Would you like to make your own ikebana?! You can decorate it and take it home too, if you'd like! It will take only 100 yen." it was a guy probably same age as the girl they met earlier. They must be classmates and working on this project together.

"Oh, wow!" Natsuki exclaims, eyes sparkling like a child who just got a candy and turns to Taehyung, "What do you say Yukio?"

"Um, I don't know how to do it, but it sounds fun."

"Right? We'll do it." she says the last sentence to the guy.

"Thank you so much!" he then takes off towards the table where so many things were put beforehand and comes back with some things in his hand.

"This has all the necessary things to make the ikebana and for the flowers, you can choose it from there." he points towards a shelf which had many different flower options lined up.

"Okay, thank you!"

"How smart! Would our café look boring in front this?!" Natsuki walks to the wooden shelf, slowly trailing her finger from up to down as she takes in every flower decoration.

"No way! Why would you think that?" Taehyung joins her, standing next to her, elbows touching but he doesn't mind, nor does he realises how the skin contacts have become normal for him, especially with Natsuki.

"I'm just wondering..."

"Okay, think about it! When people will get tired after walking all around the school and visiting every classroom, our classroom café will be the place for them to relax and enjoy. Isn't that amazing?" the smile on Taehyung's lips lightens up his entire face and captures Natsuki's heart in a cage where she can only smile back and feel her heartbeats rising.

When his eyes go soft; the softest she has ever seen when he tries to smile in the most comforting way just so he could make the other person feel better, how his lips form a unique yet cute box-like curve and he smiles widely without holding back. It just mesmerises her senses to the core, making her heart go weak and aching for him.

Have you ever experienced a real, literal, ache in your chest because of someone? It's like someone is trying to snatch your heart away from you, scary but strangely satisfying.

"Aren't you just amazing, Yukio?" without realising, she's again speaking whatever comes to her mind.

When it comes to these moments when time seems to be stopped in front of her and the only thing she can think of is Taehyung and his admirable advances, she tends to speak her mind more freely.

"What?" a jolly chuckle leaves his mouth.

"You don't even realise it but you're always making everyone happy and comforting them in a very simple way that even the person in front of you doesn't realise when they start to feel better!"

The brightness in the room highlights his hair and cheekbones as he smiles widely, accepting the compliment that Natsuki offered. It is just perfect!

"And you're good at complimenting," he was talking about the way Natsuki never left the other person's eyes while speaking when she was genuinely praising them and she made sure her genuineness was well apparent to the person.

She would always stay happy, not that she didn't have her own sad moments but she'd always try to stay cheerful which made Taehyung admire her for that.

She giggles and shakes her head, looking away, finally focusing on choosing the flowers.

"What do you think about this?" Taehyung points at a pastel purple coloured flower set. All the flowers were of the same colour but it made them look aesthetically pleasing to look at.

"It looks calming!" she gives him a nod of approval and he takes it from the shelf, walking across the room to reach the table where they will be making it, followed by a excited Natsuki behind him.

•~•~•

"It seems like you guys have spent so much on this project. It turned out well!" once they're settled down on the table, she says to the guy from before who has now joined them to the table in case they need any help.

"Thank you so much!" he gives her a pretty and sweet smile and fixes his specs, to which Natsuki responds with the same type of smile.

"Uh, Suki, where should this go?" Taehyung says and Natsuki's focus shifts from the other guy to him.

"Oh, that should be like this," she scoots closer to him, pointing at the right direction. Taehyung applies what she told him but ends up messing it up.

Natsuki kisses her teeth, "like this," and guides his hand by holding it like one would do to teach a kid how to write.

Taehyung does as taught, eyes furrowed in concentration. He slowly fixes the flower stems on the spiky object which is meant to hold everything together.

When he's done, he suddenly looks at Natsuki, all happy and smiley like a kid. Natsuki who was still holding his hand gets taken aback but smiles soon.

"How cute!" the guy says, interrupting them with a small giggle. "I'll be at the entrance, if you need any help." with a clearance of throat, he bows and leaves from there. Boy knows when to leave someone alone!

However embarrassed they both were, ignoring it felt like the best idea, and not to make it awkward, Taehyung suggests something.

"Let's take a picture!" his cheerful voice makes Natsuki smile wide.

She nods and without uttering a word takes the ikebana in hand before sliding next to Taehyung.

"Huh?"

"You need to be in the picture too!" Natsuki complains.

"It's alright, I like taking your pictures-"

"Eh?" the blush creeps up on her cheeks without a warning and her heart hammers in her chest for a second before a confused expression settles on her face.

"I'm the photographer, ain't I?" he corrects himself, but the damage is done already and he knows that by the very visible blush on her face.

"But I want a selfie or-" she mumbles, "wait, we can ask him," she points at the guy from before.

"Hey! Can you please click a picture for us?" she yells out, and he looks up, quickly smiling and nods.

"Perfect!" she claps happily.

He comes by, Taehyung hands him the camera as he takes it carefully before taking his place in front of them.

Behind them is the window and a blue sky filled with brightness is peeking from the yellow curtains as the wind caresses the smooth, soft fabric in a very delicate manner. A smiling Natsuki paired up with charming Taehyung will make a perfect picture together!

"Get closer!!" he gestures with his hand, eyes looking into the viewfinder.

"Alright," Taehyung mutters calmly, scooting closer as he angles his body towards Natsuki.

Natsuki is holding the ikebana pot in her hands, smiling as she looks at the camera and Taehyung nervously ponders where to put his hands. It becomes awkward and he looks stiff.

"Hey, Yukio-san, you're a bit too stiff." the nameless guy says looking at the camera screen.

Natsuki gives him a curious look. Why is he suddenly stiff?! Is something making him uncomfortable?

"Look at Natsuki-san, and smile prettily like her." he had picked up their name while they conversed before. Taehyung eyes him, his shoulders tensed as he thinks about something.

"Here, hold this with me." Natsuki grabs his hand and places it on the pot, so now they're holding the ikebana between them.

Taehyung stops thinking about everything and takes a deep breath, closing his eyes for a second and when he opens them again, he has a cute smile on his face, body a little tilted towards Natsuki to make the picture seem normal but that makes his hand and shoulder to touch Natsuki's. He feels her tense for a moment. It was just for a brief second but he still felt it.

"Now that's good," the guy says and presses his finger couple of times on the shutter as the photos get clicked.

"Let me see," Natsuki quickly hands the ikebana to Taehyung and rushes to see the pictures.

Taehyung dumbfoundedly stands there, not knowing what to do, so he stands still, looking at both of them.

Natsuki leans inwards to take a better look at the pictures as the guy chuckles, they both points at something on the screen and then their laughter follows closely.

Taehyung is looking at them attentively, with his eyes unwavering and pupils fixed on their smiling faces, he feels something shifting inside of him, something uneasy and indescribable.

It was too much to take when that guy decided to tap on Natsuki's shoulder when she was about to turn away and whispered something in her ears which made her eyes wide but she soon responded with a shy smile.

Now, Taehyung feels left out and clears his throat to let them know his presence is still present in the room. Some other people enters the classroom as well so the guy's attention is diverted. He soon leaves them in order to wrap their ikebana in a secure packaging after handing the camera back to Taehyung.

"Should we head out?" Taehyung asks, hanging the camera back around his neck.

"Sure, let's collect our ikebana from him," she points at the guy who is standing at the entrance, beside the girl who is greeting and welcoming the students.

"Here is your ikebana!" when they approach him, he holds out his hand with a simple paperbag.

"Thank you!" they pay for it as informed before.

"Natsuki-san," the guys stops her from stepping out before she could leave and steps closer to her.

"Are you guys really not dating?!" he asks, eyes glimmering with a little mischief as he glances up at Taehyung who looks kind of pissed, "because he looks super jealous to me right now!"

It's strange that the guy is teasing her about this when she's not even that acquaint with him but he doesn't seem like a threat to her so she plays along.

"What?! No, that's not it!" another giggle surpasses the roads of her throat only to make Taehyung more and more annoyed.

He is a calm, nature loving person. Getting pissed off because of a person he barely knows doesn't fit right in his dictionary. While his mind is trying to stop himself from getting frustrated, his heart is constantly telling him to do something.

But if he does something, he will mess up big time! He's on an edge right now!

"I'll see you tomorrow at the classroom café." the guy finally waves her goodbye and Natsuki joins Taehyung in the hallway.

"So, I think it's the right time to start actually advertising our café?" he speaks, voice a bit too colder than he expected. It honestly surprises him too but he already said it now.

"Yes!" Natsuki thankfully doesn't realise the change of tone in Taehyung's voice.

"It was good, right?" Natsuki suddenly looks at him, eyes still excited.

The hallway is filled with students here and there as they go on about their own business.

Don't know how she manages to stay cheerful all the time, even after everyone keeps teasing her! "The idea of making Ikebana, I mean, it also gave us a new friend." she skips a few steps, hands tied behind her back as she walks beside Taehyung who has been surprisingly quiet recently.

"So, you like guys with spectacles and those who are always smiling?" he raises a brow, looking at her as his words make her stop. He stops too.

He's going to regret speaking too much!

The noise behind them in the background, the chattering of students and some distant music coming from somewhere seems to fade away all of a sudden when Taehyung refuses to look away from Natsuki as if his eyes were demanding an immediate answer.

"Uh, what?" she tries to smile, but all she can manage is that awkward one though; the one which makes your eyes twitch.

"Nothing, just a random curious question since you seem to be fond of him so quickly!" he starts walking again, looking ahead with no emotions in his voice.

Now this sounds dangerous! Natsuki has never seen him behave like this and while it's making her nervous, she can't help but think about what that guy said to her in the classroom!!

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Vote and comment!!

Also...I was thinking about changing these chapters to past tense- 💀 I realised how strange it sounds in present tense. I'm so dumb- ... so should I edit it to past tense?
Anyways, I hope the chapter is upto your expectations since I'm TOO late this time.