Fragrance of Nostalgia

The two army men entered the store, serenely quiet and let the fragrance of all the flowers cover their senses. After a moment of inspection, the pair approached a display near the back of the store and examined the arrangement. Some of the arrangements consisted of roses, daisies and violets. A few had yellow and white carnations and other kinds of flowers that Wright did not recognize.

The store showed no signs of a florist until the two of them noticed a man, who appeared to be in charge, was busy arranging bouquets. The man had curly hair and wore glasses, seemingly out of place amongst the colorful flowers. His sienna brown apron was stained with patches of darker browns, likely because of coming in contact with the moist soil.

Quin had stiffened at the sight of the man, who seemed peaceful at what he was doing and didn't notice the two arrive at his store. His eyes narrowed a little bit in seething regret and Wright instinctively moved closer to the taller figure.

"You know the guy?" He asked in low tone, hoping to keep Quin from doing anything rash.

Quin shook his head lightly as an answer and started walking towards the man. As soon as the man noticed their presence, he quickly bowed down towards the officers.

"Good evening gentlemen. I am delighted that you've decided to stop by my store." The man greeted them politely, his accent noticeable.

Quin ignored the greeting and addressed him directly. "Bastien." His voice holding unbidden sorrow.

Bastien's hazel eyes dulled to an emotionless gaze. "Come back to me when you finally stop running."

Wright watched the exchange with confusion. He didn't get why it mattered now of all times and where would they ever go after this? However, despite his confusion, his instincts kicked in. The florist may have been acting oddly, it was clear that something happened and that they... weren't on good terms.

"Bastien, please. You know it was not something I could avoid." Quin whispered desperately, looking at the other.

For a moment, Bastien's calm expression faltered. His eyes flashed and hands clenched into fists. Suddenly he spun around, almost knocking over a vase full of white tulips.

"What was not easy for you?!" He bellowed, the anger evident in his voice.

Wright took a step back to be further away from their angry argument. He could hear Quin inhale deeply.

"My duty." Quin said simply as though there was nothing more to say about it.

Bastien glared at Quin, as if he could see right through the man's disguise.

Then he laughed bitterly. "And was your duty more important than your lover and your best friend, huh?"

As if suddenly realizing that Bastien could see right through him, Quin looked away sharply. The tension between them grew ten fold and was almost unbearable to watch. It looked like they were having a silent battle but they refused to budge until one of them gave up first. In the end, it didn't look like either side would yield. Wright wasn't sure who won, it seemed like a stalemate. Both of them had lowered their voices but they remained silent for the sake of keeping their voices down.

Eventually the tension dissipated enough for Bastien to regain his composure once more.

"What do you want?" Bastien asked coldly.

Quin raised an eyebrow at the question. "Your assistance, of course." He answered coolly as if it was obvious that he needed help solving an intricate mystery.

That got a bitter chuckle from Bastien before he stepped aside, gesturing towards the back of the shop. "Follow me."

The curly haired man led them to the backroom which had a door that led to a shed full of gardening tools. He opened the back door of the shed which led into another smaller office, with a desk and chair in the center with shelves containing all sorts of books. At the rear of the office there was a ladder leading up to a loft, above which hung a few large baskets of plants.

They reached the attic without further incident after Bastien gestured towards the wooden ladder to them. The Colonel could only shake his head at the absurdity of the entire situation. Even if he'd tried to make sense of this, he doubted that it would ever come true, especially since he didn't really know any of the people involved and he doubted that any explanation would satisfy his curiosity.

The attic was surprisingly cozy. One could even mistaken it as someone's room. There was a large double bed shoved in the far corner, surrounded by several boxes. Curtains covered most of the windows and the room smelled faintly of herbs and spices. Beside it, a small table held a variety of tea cups, all in different shapes and sizes with different types of leaves designed on them. Next to the table stood a bookcase filled with various books that ranged from poetry to romance, mostly fiction.

Quin walked over to sit down on one of the chairs in front of the desk. "Did you by chance receive a sheet of paper from the manager of The Mister and Mistress store?"

Bastien, who previously stood calmly, jolted his head in alert.

"Yes, I did."

His voice sounded so casual that the other two didn't take notice of how his hand trembled as he pulled out a folded piece of paper from the inside pocket of his apron. Bastien handed it over to Quin, who unfolded it slowly and glanced at the handwriting.

And maybe it was the sweetened scent of flowers that melt his cold heart to tears, but Quin knew that very well, it was the longingness for his lover. The cold soldier's hands trembled as he held the sheet.

"You still love him," Bastien whispered softly. His voice breaking a little after noticing the general's expression.

"I don't need to be reminded," Quin snapped.

"You have no right to snap at me, Quin. You were the one who left us. You were the one who left him." The florist enunciated every word slowly and painfully.

"You know it well enough that I left to make money. To make his living more comfortable. I didn't want him to live in a shabby run down hut with a straw sheet as our bed!" Quin ranted, his own voice shaking slightly. He stared hard at Bastien's face. "Do not pretend that you are better than me."

Bastien closed his eyes and sighed. "No, I'm not. I never pretended that I was, Quin."

"I thought that we were friends, Bastien."

"We were, until you left Adi to tears." Bastien growled. His voice dripping with venom. "As if I would believe any word spewing out of your mouth."

This seemed to shock Quin to the core and he fell silent. The silence stretched on for an eternity. Wright started to pick up the pieces of what just happened. He saw Quin's shoulders shake ever so slightly and he couldn't imagine how much pain that had caused his partner. He realized that the situation was more serious than he initially assumed.

"Adi is my best friend, Quin. You broke his heart, you left him alone, you did not come back home when he needed you the most." Bastien spat out bitterly.

The taller man flinched, his grip tightening on the sheet of paper. For a while they stayed still like this, glaring at each other. Then Bastien broke off his intense stare, taking his eyes off of Quin and instead focusing on the floor.

"It was hard for Adi, you know?" There was a long pause again and then Bastien spoke quietly. "I know. You left him behind. All because you had too much to prove to yourself," he paused as he searched for his words. "All because you didn't care anymore."

Quin raged as he grasped on Bastien's shirt. "You bloody fool, I loved him and I still do. You can't possibly understand-"

"Then enlighten me, what is stopping you from leaving your duties right now to go back to Adi?! You were not a coward! The Quin I knew was brave and was not afraid to be honest." Bastien snapped, pulling himself free from the taller man's grasp.

Both men took several steps back as their breaths became ragged.

They were both obviously struggling to control their emotions at this point. Bastien stared back at the taller man with a look of disgust.

"If you cared about your lover, you would've done something."

"I tried!" Quin yelled angrily, trying not to cry. "I tried to find him! I still am!"

He was close to losing it completely. He couldn't bear to continue living like this. To live a life without Adi, without his warm kisses and gentle smiles. Without loving him. Without seeing him again.

"And are you trying to blame me for everything that has happened? Why, Bastien? I admit if I had returned sooner, perhaps things wouldn't have turned out this way! Do you think I wanted to leave him?" Quin exclaimed in agony, throwing his arms wide open as though asking Bastien for forgiveness. "What has happened to our friendship?"

"It will never happen again. Your work has taken precedence over your lover and that will never change, even if you beg to the gods above." Bastien snapped furiously, stalking closer to the other man. "You abandoned him. Don't expect me to believe otherwise."

"I never meant to leave him," The General shook his head, his expression turning neutral again. "You remember how me and Adi used to be. Sitting peacefully under a tree in each other's embrace." He continued.

Bastien hesitated for a while before he scoffed.

"Yes, I remember."

Quin rolled his eyes at the snarky comment before continuing with the story. "We had been hiding behind a screen for days. We didn't want anyone to know. We planned a surprise engagement party." He smiled wistfully at the memory. "That's how much I loved Adi and I still love him so much to look for him through the trail of pages he left from his diary."

He paused briefly to let out a bitter laugh. "But it seems like I was not good enough to bring him happiness after all." He finished sorrowfully.

Bastien stared at the man in stunned silence. There was a long pause between them. The quietness felt deafening in its intensity. Neither of them spoke.

"General?" Wright called out. "It is almost midnight, we should retire for the day and head to our next destination tomorrow." He said softly, breaking the heavy tension surrounding the two men and snapping them out of their stupor.

Quin blinked twice before shaking his head and clearing his throat. "Right, yes. Let us return to our quarters." He nodded curtly and turned around to leave.

Bastien watched them walk away with a small smile that was left unseen by the cold hearted general. He forgave Quin a long time back; there was nothing else for them to say. They just needed to move past what had transpired earlier today; the same problem that had plagued Quin from the very beginning.

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