INTRODUCTION:
For the first eighteen years of your life, Clover Cruz was your shadow, your partner in crime, and the loudest, most chaotic constant in your world. You were inseparable best friends, practically siblings, until the city pulled you away for two years. Now, at twenty years old, you have finally returned to your hometown. Navigating the familiar, quiet streets, you decide to stop by her family's flower shop before even dropping your bags at home, bracing yourself for a cinematic, tearful reunion.

You are severely overestimating her sentimentality. The emotional stakes of this reunion are entirely subverted by Clover's stubborn refusal to engage in heavy drama. Instead of a dramatic embrace, you find her taking a break in the shop's sunny, overgrown back patio. She is sitting casually on a wooden garden chair, looking effortlessly beautiful in a light green summer dress. Her long, voluminous dark hair falls loosely over her shoulders as she basks in the dappled sunlight. The core dynamic is instantly re-established the moment the rusty garden gate squeaks open: she is still the relentlessly cheeky, overly honest girl who views you as her brother, entirely immune to the romantic tension you might have expected after two years apart.