Since the winter started, Mrs. Mary's garden will not supply flowers to her regular flower shops. That was why Anne's flower shop had to close for two months. New flowers will come again when spring came and Anne knew that very well. For now, she and her two employees were tidying up the shop to sell all the remaining stock of flowers.

Closing her jacket, Linda said, "Are we going to lose a lot if we sell all of these flowers at a cheaper price, Anne?"

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"No, Linda, this stock of flowers is just leftover from the shop's profits. In fact, even if these flowers weren't sold, the shop still makes a profit, but since these flowers are still worth selling, I intend to sell them. I'm sure during winter like this there would still be someone who is looking for flowers for their lover." Anne quickly answered Linda's question by covering her mouth with her gloved hand. The heater in the store was not working properly. Thus, the temperature in their shop isn't sufficiently heated.

Linda, who was standing close to Paul nodded her head. She wasn't too cold because Paul's big body was able to warm her. While Anne had to endure the cold alone by wearing only a thick jacket, earplugs, scarf, and gloves, she couldn't possibly join Paul and Linda who were hugging each other romantically.

A man appeared after ten minutes of opening the shop. Just like what Anne had guessed, there would still be people who would come to buy flowers at the start of the season.

"I'm so glad that you still have your shop open, Miss. Otherwise, I don't know where else to look for flowers," said a man who had just bought the last twenty roses that Anne's shop had.

Linda and Anne smiled at the buyer together, while Paul was busy arranging the roses carefully and handing them to the customer.

"Hope your partner loves this flower," said Paul kindly.

"Of course she will like it, it's almost impossible to find a flower shop that is still open during winter. This is the luckiest day for me, okay then I'll excuse myself and thank you very much for this flower." The male buyer spoke at length in response to Paul.

Paul's smile grew on his face, "You're welcome, please be careful on the road." Paul answered slowly while watching the buyer leaving the shop.

"Looks like we are lucky today, only a few flowers left. If everything is sold out, we will make a big profit, Anne," said Linda quickly, counting the money that Paul had just given.

"Hopefully all these flowers are going to be sold soon," Anne responded quickly to Linda's excitement, she then walked into the warehouse where Paul used to sleep when he started working at Anne's shop.

Anne, who wanted to tidy up the warehouse before they closed the shop for the winter, was already in the warehouse now. Shortly after, Anne entered the warehouse and Paul was seen following along. He took flower vases out of their boxes to be cleaned and stored in new places to damage the paint on each of the expensive vases. Meanwhile, Linda was kept at the cashier in case there were other customers visiting the shop. As Anne had previously guessed, it turned out that many people were still looking for flowers at the beginning of winter like this and within two hours the last stock of flowers had been sold.

Linda, who was overjoyed to see that there were no flowers left, went straight into the warehouse to report to Anne. Anne and Paul, who were still working in the back, smiled when they heard Linda's report saying that all the last flowers were sold out. Linda already put the 'close' sign on the entrance as well.

"Today's sales are around £500 Anne, it's beyond my expectation," Linda said cheerfully as she showed Anne and Paul the money in her hand.

Anne cleared her throat. "Keep it, the money is the salary for both of you this month," she said quietly.

"Our salary? How come, Anne? Didn't you just pay us two weeks ago?"

"That's right, Miss. You just paid us two weeks ago, right?"

Anne took off the gloves she just used to clean the flower vase. "Yes, but the shop will be closing in two months so let's just say it's the salary for next month. Don't waste it on meaningless things because I only give you the basic salary, without any incentives."

"Don't refuse or I'll be angry. Even when both of you will not work when I close the shop, I won't let my employees not receive any salary, right? Never mind, don't reject it or I'll be annoyed with both of you and it will be your last salary," she added, stopping Linda and Paul to speak further.

"We understand, but it's too much. Moreover, we won't work for the next month. Shouldn't it be at least half of this, Miss?" Paul asked softly.

"What Paul said is true, Anne, you will lose a lot by paying us this much when the store doesn't even open," said Linda quietly in response to Paul's words.

Anne let out a long breath with a smile on her beautiful face and she continued, "Didn't I tell you earlier? The shop already made a good profit and the remaining flowers are just another profit. Even when I gave the profit from today's sale to both of you, the shop still won't lose at all since we have a good profit this month, Linda. Shouldn't you be grateful that I'm still paying you? Why are you protesting now? What a weird couple."

Anne's words moved Linda to tears, she quickly ran into Anne's body and hugged her tightly from behind because Anne had just turned around and wanted to get out of the warehouse.

"You're so kind Anne, I love you!!"

"No… Linda, I don't want to be loved by you. I'm straight, I still like men." Anne quickly responded to Linda's words and immediately freed herself from Linda's arms.

"You know that's not what I meant, Anne!!!" Linda shouted angrily.

"Hahahaha, I know. Well, hurry up and tidy up the rest. I have to input the data into the books for a while. After that we can go home, that means both of you can go back to your apartment. I can't stand to see your intimacy anymore." Anne snorted in annoyance remembering the incident this morning where she saw Linda and Paul kissing passionately many times. "You guys are really a vulgar couple. At least be considerate of my presence here, instead of showing off too much affection like this morning," added Anne again.

"Why should we be shy? After all, we only kissed, not made love, Anne. If we make love, then you can..."

"Stop it!! You guys are crazy. I'll go to the front shop now. You have to hurry up, Linda. I will close the shop after this, don't mess around here, okay?" Said Anne, quickly cutting off Linda's words. She got uncomfortable when Linda started mentioning sex.

Linda just chuckled at Anne's threat, she knew Anne wasn't really mad at her. After Anne came out of the warehouse, Linda and Paul continued their work seriously.

At the cash register, Anne tried to calm down her breathing since her chest was beating very fast, she felt that something was wrong with her. Anne reflexively touched the trace of Jack's kiss which was still slightly visible on her neck.

"What happened to you, Anne? You can't possibly like Jack, right? Are you ready to be hurt because of love again?" Anne spoke to herself as she closed her eyes.

To be continued