A Love Longed for the Tiger Lily (GL) - Chapter 6

The next morning, I stood in front of Taniguchi-san’s bedroom door.
I’d done something terrible to someone who had only shown me kindness.

I knew I had to apologize.

And yet, somehow… it felt like the hardest thing in the world.

What should I even say…?

“I’m sorry for what I did.”
“I’ll be more careful from now on.”
“Please forgive me.”

No matter how I phrased it, every sentence sounded flat and impersonal.

I’d been standing here for at least twenty minutes, replaying the same phrases in my head, over and over again.

It had been so long since I last had to sincerely apologize to someone, I had no idea how to go about it.

“…Haa.”

I just wanted this awkward living situation to end.
But the truth was, I had nowhere else to go.

My mom wasn’t coming back.
Taniguchi-san’s mother was kind, but I always felt like I had to be on my best behavior around her. Being around people like that every day… it was exhausting.

In the end, I realized there was no place in the world where I truly belonged.

Today was Taniguchi-san’s day off, so she was probably still asleep.
I figured I should leave and try again later—but just as I turned to go, I heard the door creak open and froze.

“What’s wrong? Hungry?”

She yawned sleepily as she spoke.
Her bangs were pushed back from her face, and even though she’d just woken up, there was something… casually attractive about her.
As she stepped closer, my heart started to pound, and I felt a little dizzy.

“…Um…”

All the words I’d practiced flew right out of my head.

“Hmm?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Twenty minutes of overthinking, reduced to a single sentence.

Just saying those few words felt like it cost me three days’ worth of energy.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves.

When I looked up, Taniguchi-san was smiling at me gently.

“So you were standing here worrying about that?”

Her kind smile twisted into something more mischievous, as she leaned in a little closer.
What was she thinking…?

“I wasn’t really worried about it.”

“Ohh? So it’s like… ‘I don’t actually feel bad, but I’ll say sorry just in case’? That kinda thing?”

No, it wasn’t like that at all.

I came here seriously.
I spent all that time struggling to find the right words.
Even being here—standing and talking to her—was nothing short of a miracle for someone like me, who couldn’t even hold a normal conversation with a woman.

“No, I—”

Before I could finish, she cut me off with a knowing smirk.

“If you’re really sorry, then… keep me company for some stupid small talk today.”

Her grin widened—gone was the usual warm smile.
She looked like a mischievous little boy plotting something.
So that’s why she’d been grinning at me earlier… Honestly, I felt a little let down.

“So? What’ll it be?”

She knew I was feeling guilty and used it to make demands.
I was sorry, but I didn’t want to just give in to her so easily.
I needed a way out.

“…Just for today.”

“That’s kind of sneaky, isn’t it?”

Not at all.

I mean, it’s not like I mistreated her for days.
It was just one day.
So repaying that with a full day of awkward small talk seemed like more than enough.

“Yeah, but if you say ‘just today,’ you’re just going to hide in your room again, right?”

She was sharp.

That was my plan.
Keep the conversation short, then disappear into my room.
She must’ve seen it all over my face, because she let out a little laugh before continuing.

“Alright, fine. Just talk to me today, but help me run some errands, okay?”

“Errands?”

“Yeah. I need to prep meals for the week and stock up on groceries for bento lunches.
And honestly, I’d like to replace most of the furniture in the apartment.
Doing it alone brings back too many memories, and it’s kind of depressing.
So I’d feel better if you were with me.”

She said it with a smile—
But behind that smile, I could see something… painful.

Even so, I didn’t want to be used as some tool to help her forget her ex.

“Please don’t use me to get over your ex.”

I knew I was being childish.
And I knew that saying something like that would only end up hurting Taniguchi-san.
But still—
I didn’t want to talk to her just so she could distract herself from her ex.
That wasn’t fair to me.

As I gave my honest opinion, her smile began to falter.

“Sorry, sorry. I just made up excuses because I wanted to go shopping with you.
If I suddenly said I wanted to hang out with you, I figured you’d think I was creepy…”

…She wasn’t wrong.
I probably would’ve said she was being creepy.

Even though we hadn’t spent much time together, she already seemed to understand me so well.
There was something about that—something mature and effortless—that made her feel so… grown-up.

“…Alright.”

I gave in.
I agreed to go shopping with her.

“Yes! Alright then, give me a sec to get ready.”

She said she’d get ready… but instead of heading to her room, she walked out onto the balcony.

Curious, I leaned over slightly to peek at what she was doing—
and what should’ve been a plain, colorless space had turned into a garden bursting with vibrant hues.

Drawn in as if pulled by a thread, I stepped toward the balcony.

“Aren’t they beautiful?”

She was watering the flowers with a small watering can.

The sun shone down on her chestnut-brown hair, turning it even lighter.
It swayed in the breeze as she moved gracefully from pot to pot.
She looked stunning.

Now that I thought about it, Aunt Taniguchi always said she loved gardening.
When I was little, she used to rope me into helping her under the blazing summer sun.
Maybe Wakana picked it up from her.

Even though it was just a balcony, the air was filled with the soft fragrance of flowers.

“You like flowers, huh?”

“They don’t suit me, right?
People always say I’m more the type for cigarettes and booze.”

She let out a small laugh as she gently sprinkled water over the blooms.
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I stood there in silence.
But honestly, I thought the flowers suited her far more than alcohol or cigarettes.

There was a certain elegance to her—
a quiet, graceful charm.

“I started liking flowers because I think the connection between how they look and their meanings is really beautiful.
Like this one here,” she said, pointing to a flower anyone would recognize.

“Morning glories bloom in the peak of summer.
They grow by twining their vines and pushing upward, even in the heat.
That’s why their flower language is things like bond or strong connection.
And hydrangeas bloom for a long time, so they symbolize patience.”

Even though I didn’t respond at all, she kept talking—smiling the whole time.
The way she spoke, so full of quiet enthusiasm, made her seem kind of… admirable.

Despite my silence, she kept flitting from one flower to the next, explaining their meanings.

Among all the blossoms, one flower in particular stood out.
It caught my eye, and I couldn’t look away.
Its vivid, slightly poisonous-looking petals had a strange kind of allure.

Noticing that I was no longer listening, she adjusted and began speaking to match my gaze.

“That one caught your eye?”

Startled, I quickly shook my head.

But of course, she just kept talking anyway.

“It’s called a Tigridia.
I started growing it because I was drawn in by how it looked.
It’s actually kind of a pain to care for.
The flower language for it is, um…”

“Shouldn’t you be getting ready?”

“Ah—right! I totally forgot! Okay, time to go get changed!”

Flustered, she dashed off from the balcony into the kitchen.

The Tigridia looked like it was saying “Good morning” to me but I shut the sliding door to the balcony and pretended not to hear it.