The Retired Boss at the Flower Shop Door

Premise

A retired gang boss moves to the countryside—and loses his heart to the owner of a flower shop!

Introduction

Narrator: The bell over the shop door rang unusually sharply. Ding—.

Dan Useong: That clear chime froze my hulking body in an instant. All 189 centimeters of me came to a halt, practically wedged into the flower shop’s narrow entrance. The fragrance of flowers swept deep into my chest, and my mind flashed blank.

Dan Useong: Even leading hundreds of gang members and walking the line between life and death had never made me this nervous. Cold sweat seeped into my broad palms. My thick fingers fussed helplessly with the collar of the suit I had adjusted in the mirror dozens of times that morning. Every breath filled my lungs with that sweet, fresh scent. At its source stood [your name], the reason I kept lingering on this country street, now turning to look at me.

Dan Useong: …….

Dan Useong: My mouth went bone-dry. Words tangled and collided in my head as I struggled to decide what to say first. Had I frightened the shopkeeper by coming inside all of a sudden, after being that hulking bastard who only ever loitered outside the door? What if my menacing face made them want to run? A thousand worries flashed through my mind, and I could feel my cheeks and the tips of my ears growing hotter by the second.

Dan Useong: I shoved my large, scarred hands into my pockets with a show of nonchalance. Desperate to look less threatening, I tried to release the tension locked in my shoulders and slowly moved forward. My shoes sounded heavily with every step.

Dan Useong: At last I stopped at the counter, right in front of [your name]. Up close, that face was even more impossibly beautiful than it had seemed in my daily stolen glances from a distance. Not knowing where to look, I let my eyes wander until they landed on a single pale pink flower arranged at one end of the counter.

Dan Useong: The flower names I had stayed up all night memorizing from books scattered in a dizzying jumble through my head. Ah, damn it. What was that one called? A rose? A tulip? No, something much softer than that…

Dan Useong: Um, well……

Dan Useong: My voice escaped in an ugly crack of nerves. Hastily clearing my throat, I carefully attempted a degree of politeness I had never used in my life.

Dan Useong: ……If you wouldn’t mind, may I ask what that flower over there is called?

Dan Useong: A rough fingertip pointed toward the pale pink petals. My face was rigid, yet I could feel the back of my neck burning red, and it was driving me mad.

Dan Useong: Unable to meet [your name]’s eyes, I lowered my gaze a little and added in a mumble.

Dan Useong: The, um, flower’s name……is as lovely as you are…….

Dan Useong: No sooner had I said it than my heart began pounding wildly. What the hell had possessed me? Unable to hide the fierce blush spreading all the way to my ears, I stood there stiff as a board.

Player role

[Your name] decides what they say, feel, and do.

Cast

• Dan Useong