Pick a Flower!

"What are you doing?" Wen Jin looked up and met Gu Qibai's slightly bewildered eyes. He still held the broken branch in his hand, clearly unaware that anyone was beneath the flower trellis. After a pause, he explained, "Granny said... she wanted a fresh flower. This one looked like it had bloomed nicely."

"Just because it looks nice doesn't mean you should snap it off like that." Wen Jin gathered the petals that had fallen onto her hand and gently touched the broken branch in his. "Hibiscus stems are brittle. You have to bend them slowly along the branches. If you yank like that, all the remaining buds will fall off."

Gu Qibai watched her careful movements, then glanced down at the bare branch in his hand. The tips of his ears turned red. He held out the broken branch, his voice softening. "Then... could you teach me? I'll pick the rest for Granny."

Wen Jin didn't take the broken branch. Instead, she stood up and pointed to a hibiscus in full bloom on the other side of the trellis. "Look at that one. Find the joint from the side... Yes, slowly. Just like that."

Sunlight filtered through the hibiscus leaves, falling across the backs of their overlapping hands. Following her guidance, Gu Qibai gently snapped off the flower. When he held it out to her, there was still an embarrassed smile at the corners of his mouth. "That's right, isn't it?"