Falling For My Best Friend

Draven had always been a driven individual, ever since he was a young boy.

Raised in opulence with parents who were formidable entrepreneurs, they had instilled in him the same principles of success that they lived by. They taught him that the most important thing in life wasn't success itself. It was doing what he loved the most. In every moment, he should enjoy doing his job and not curse it out with regret. After all, it was something that would stay with him for the rest of his life.

Driven to fulfill their aspirations for him, Draven followed his heart and became an esteemed chef.

Even though his parents had always been his idols, there was always a special place in Draven's heart reserved for his beloved grandmother, Maya.

"Draven, dear, did you have your lunch yet? It will get cold," Maya reminded Draven, who just smiled in return.

Her tenderness and warm-heartedness captivated him, along with her lifelong dream of owning a flower shop. Even as his mother expanded her event planning business, Maya stuck with her cozy flower business, remaining satisfied with just supplying the required flowers for the events. He admired Maya for sticking with her dream till the end and not getting swayed by something bigger.

"I will have it a bit late, Grandma," he replied to her. "Let me finish going through the new orders once."

As soon as he had assumed control of the family holdings, he also assumed the responsibility of helping Maya continue living her dream. It was a sad truth that she was getting older day by day. It wasn't as easy to do what she loved now.

"Okay, let me get some rest then. My frozen shoulder is bothering me." Maya winced a bit as she tried to move her left arm. "Why isn't Mysa here yet? She was supposed to make me do those hand exercises. It helps me a lot."

"I'll call her if she doesn't come soon. Don't worry," Draven assured her, so she nodded and went to her room.

As Draven was going through the new orders at the shop, he heard a loud buzzing coming from his phone, signaling an incoming call.

A delighted smile spread across his face when he saw who was calling.

Draven settled into a nearby couch and answered the call.

"Hey, Flora! How is everything?" he tried to sound as normal as he could, not wanting to give away how giddy he actually was.

Flora's voice was warm over the phone as she responded, "Everything is good, Draven. Just a bit busy with work."

Draven couldn't help but notice the excitement in Flora's voice as she started to speak about her flourishing career.

"That's great to hear. So, how's the shoot going?" he asked, trying to keep the conversation light and casual. Even after all these years, he still couldn't talk to Flora properly out of hesitation.

"It's going really well, actually," Flora said, excitement radiating from her voice. "They have this amazing set and the lighting is just perfect. I'm really excited about this shoot. My partner is also amazing. He and I clicked the first time we talked, can you believe that?"

Draven couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. Not because of her bonding with her partner, but because he wished he could be there with her, to see her in action, and to support her. But he knew that his own work was important, too. So he pushed those negative feelings aside and replied sincerely, "That sounds awesome, Flora. I'm really happy for you."

Flora chuckled on the other end of the line as she spoke, "Thanks, Draven. You're always so sweet."

With that, Draven continued staring at his phone screen as Flora spoke to him. He could hear her talk for hours, but when it was his time to share, he just kept it short. He was afraid of blabbering something that would ruin his perfect image.

He had always been in love with Flora, ever since they were kids. But he never had the courage to tell her how he felt, afraid that she would turn him down for the sake of focusing on her career. Besides, he didn't want to be the reason behind derailing her laser focus from her career, either.

Flora suddenly paused her story mid-sentence. "Draven, I have to go. I have a shoot to attend. Can we continue this later?"

Draven felt a wave of sadness roll over him as he reluctantly said his goodbyes and hung up the phone. No matter how much he wanted to be with Flora, he knew that her career always took precedence. Plus, the fact they didn't live in the same city was of no help, either.

Dejected and defeated, Draven decided to wander around his Grandma's flower shop like a ghost for solace. He already started missing Flora's voice.

As he was arranging flowers, a young woman walked in—beautiful with sparkling blonde hair and mysterious gray eyes.

"Hey, Draven," she said, accompanied by a mischievous smirk. "What are you doing here at this hour? Has your surly boss driven you away from work?"

He couldn't help but smile at the sight of her. Mysa Fabiona had been his dearest friend since they were kids, and their bond had only gotten stronger as time passed. She always poked fun at him, but he knew, deep down in her heart, that she genuinely treasured him as a friend. Her manner of expressing her affection was to tease him.

He jokingly narrowed his eyes on her. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Nope. If you had that much free time on your hands, you'd probably come to bug me all the time," she said as though the idea annoyed her.

Draven's smile widened. "Well, then, until I'm not out of my job, I'll just have to come to annoy you during your reading time."

"Don't even think about it," she warned him, her eyes narrowing. "I'll hit you with the heaviest book I can find."He laughed. "Not kidding," she added with a flat look, but he continued laughing.

He chuckled. "Sure you will."

"Now, will you tell me what brings you here at this time?" she inquired with a hand resting on her hip.

"Fortunately for you, I didn't get kicked out of my job. I alternated my afternoon shift for the morning one just for today so that I could help out Grandma," Pointing to Maya, he continued speaking, "We're a bit shorthanded today, so I thought I'd give a helping hand. However, I'm only here for a couple more hours." His main shift started at six in the evening, after all. Mysa knew that well, so he didn't need to explain.

Then he said with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "By the way, what about you? Why are you here?"

Despite knowing why she was here, he pretended to not know. Mysa told Maya to not tell Draven that Mysa was teaching her some hand exercises to help her. Otherwise, he would end up teasing Mysa about how she knew about this and if she was having the same problem or not.

"Just thought I would drop by Maya's place after class and have some snacks together," she said with a casual shrug.

"So how have classes been lately? Enjoying them?"

Mysa was pursuing her Master's in computer science and had never lost the top spot in any of her classes.

"Yes, they are okay," she responded curtly.

Draven watched Mysa walk around the shop, admiring the flowers.

The shop was simple, painted pale yellow with black trim and dormer windows on the roof. Iron racks held bouquets of fresh flowers for sale, and satin ribbons and lace wrapped their stems. The air smelled like lilacs and roses.

After a bit of time, Mysa looked at Draven. "Any new developments in the romance department?" she asked with a sly expression on her face. She began to help him sort through the flowers.

Draven's cheeks flushed a rosy pink, almost matching the color of the flowers in the corner of the shop.

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, not meeting her gaze. His cheeks burned as he admitted, "I don't know. I'm not very experienced in this... dating stuff. But I think it was going okay. Was just catching up with Flora until a few minutes ago."

Mysa grinned. "That's great news. How have things been with your cooking blog lately?"

A bright flame ignited in Draven's gaze as he talked about his work. "It's doing amazing! I just reached five million followers on my social media, and their reactions have been mind-blowing," he declared, beaming. For a while now he had been releasing cooking videos, and they were proving to be a great success.

Mysa was ecstatic for her friend, her face lit up like a sunflower in bloom. "That's wonderful news, Draven! You should be so proud of yourself!"

"Speaking of being proud, I know you started that new internship a while ago. How is it going?" Draven inquired. "Do you like the job?"

Mysa's smile faded away while she talked about the grind of doing the same thing day in and day out. "I don't know if I can take it much longer," she said sadly.

Draven moved closer to her and gave her a comforting squeeze on the shoulder. "You don't have to stay there any longer if it's not making you happy," he said compassionately.

Mysa looked up at him in amazement; the thought of leaving had never crossed her mind before. Her head shook tremulously, and she said fearfully, "I'm not sure I can leave the internship... this is all I have."

He gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze and grinned reassuringly. "You'll be fine," he whispered soothingly. "If you believe it can be done, anything is possible." His words surrounded and enveloped her like a warm hug, calming the panicked state of her heart.

Mysa's mouth curled up into a grateful smile. "Thank you so much, Draven," she said to him.

Suddenly, something Flora had mentioned earlier that day came to Draven's mind and he suddenly lit up. "Oh! I almost forgot to say!" His voice was filled with excitement as he addressed Mysa. "Flora is coming here in three days for some filming. She asked us to drop by the set and watch her work. Do you want to come along with me?"

Mysa's face lit up with enthusiasm. "Of course, that sounds so amazing! I can't wait."

Draven grinned, delighted to have something to look forward to with his two favorite people.

All of a sudden, Mysa's eyes fell on the plate filled with food on the coffee table. "Is that your lunch?"

He followed her gaze and bit his tongue. "Oh, yes. Grandma told me to eat, but I forgot."

"I cannot believe you, Draven. You are a chef yourself, but you are so careless when it comes to eating. Do you only like to see others enjoy the food?" She walked toward the table and took the plate. "Here, take it, you idiot."

"Hey, you are the idiot. I'm not!" he protested immediately as he took the plate. He took a spoonful of noodles and was about to eat, but Mysa slapped his hand lightly.

"This is why you are an idiot. It's cold now. You hate cold food!" she rebuked. "Go and heat it."

"Okay, okay." He took the plate and marched to the kitchen until something struck in his mind. "Hey, Mysa?"

"Now what?" she arched an eyebrow.

"Grandma was looking for you. So, you should go and meet her."

Mysa nodded and walked to Maya's room. She knocked politely. Sensing it was Mysa, Maya told her to come in.

"How are you?" Mysa went and hugged Maya.

"I am angry at you," Maya glared at her.

"Why?" she pouted. "I am sorry for being late. There was this annoying work and I—"

Immediately, Maya burst into laughter, unable to pull it off for much longer. "Come and help me do those exercises now. It's doing wonders for my health. It's literally like those exercises you made me do which healed my legs and I was able to get rid of that troublesome wheelchair."

"Sometimes, along with medicines, a proper amount of exercise done with love—is the best combination to heal someone," Mysa said with a smile and started doing her work.

"Mysa, hurry up! We will be late," Draven said as Mysa fixed his hair.

"Shush, you idiot. You should look your best so that Flora gets smitten at first glance." She looked at him from head to toe after she was done. "Perfect! She has to love you now."

Draven took a look at himself in front of the mirror. "You really made me look like the kind of man Flora likes." Flora's preference was classy men, and right now, Draven fitted the bill perfectly with his formal shirt and pants, thanks to Mysa's wise help.

Mysa grinned. "Worth the effort of decking you up, won't you say now?" He nodded excitedly, and she handed him his watch from the table. "Give it one last classy touch."

"This is probably the only thing I genuinely love wearing which aligns with Flora's taste," he muttered under his breath and followed Mysa, as they both walked out of his room.

When they reached downstairs, they saw Maya at the reception.

"Grandma, I am going to meet Flora. She invited us to her set. Remember?" Draven informed her.

Maya smiled and nodded. "Though don't you hate wearing formals?"

"But Flora loves it," Mysa chimed in.

"I don't think one should lose their comfort to impress someone else. Once or twice is okay, but what if it's for eternity?" Maya asked the two of them.

Draven and Mysa exchanged a glance.

"Maya, it's just temporary, to smitten Flora," Mysa defended. "We are becoming late. See you!"

The two rushed out to Draven's car. As Draven was about to open the driver's seat, he looked at his best friend, who had a frown on her face, unaware of him looking at her.

"Hey, Mysa," he called her.

She shifted her gaze to him. "Yeah?"

"I'm not in the mood today, so can you drive, please?" The moment he saw a wide grin appearing on her face, he threw the car keys to her which she smoothly caught and rushed to the driver's seat.

Draven sat on the passenger seat and saw how the frown disappeared in a jiffy from her face. He knew she loved driving. After all, he was the one who taught her that, but she never asked to drive his car. She didn't buy a car yet because she wanted to buy it with her own money.

That was Draven's friendship with Mysa—he promised to be there for her and always give her all the happiness the moment her parents died. The promise made by the four-year-old Draven to himself in front of his parents was something he cherished forever.

***

Mysa and Draven arrived at the set of Flora's new shoot, eagerly anticipating meeting their friend and watching her work where she shines the most.

As they approached, they saw Flora in the midst of a photo shoot, wearing a stunning red dress with a long train. Her hair was styled in loose waves that cascaded down her shoulders.

Draven couldn't take his eyes off her. He wanted her to be smitten with him with his looks, but here he was, getting smitten himself. But he couldn't help it.

The graceful way she moved, the way her beautiful hair caught the light... his heart was beating so fast he thought it might burst out of his chest. When she noticed him standing there, she broke into a radiant smile.

"Draven! Mysa! I'm so glad you could make it," Flora exclaimed as she emerged from the shoot.

Draven tried to play it cool, but his cheeks burned as he stammered out a greeting. Mysa, meanwhile, was grinning from ear to ear as she greeted Flora, "Hey, Flora! You look so gorgeous."

"Yeah, you look amazing," Draven finally managed to say, gesturing to Flora's stunning dress. He just couldn't look away from her beauty.

Flora smiled and twirled, letting the train of her dress sway around her. "Thanks, you guys! It's a new design from one of my favorite designers at Dad's company. I'm glad you like it!"

Mysa gave Draven a playful nudge as she noticed the way he was making heart eyes at Flora. "I fixed up Draven's hair before we came here," she teased. "He wanted to look his best for you."

"Stop it, Mysa." Draven's eyes narrowed to slits, his lips thinned, and his brow furrowed.

A coy smile spread across Mysa's lips as Flora laughed in response before giving Draven a compliment, "Well, it worked. You look great, Draven!"

"See? I told you!" Mysa called out cheerfully as she winked at Draven, teasingly adding, "Maybe I should be the one getting the compliments today!"

"Yes, yes, you did a fantastic job, Mysa," Flora added. "But I have to say, Draven has his own charms with the way he always looks."

Draven's heart skipped a beat as he heard the words, and Mysa could barely contain her laughter as she watched her friend blush. This was what she wanted—a little progress in Draven and Flora's relationship.

"Flora!" the photographer called out.

"Okay, let me return to my work. You two please wait for me," with that, Flora rushed.

As they watched Flora return to her photo shoot, Mysa and Draven couldn't help but burst into laughter together, feeling silly about their reactions.

"Shush, idiot, it's Flora's shoot. We shouldn't laugh! The crew might think of us as a nuisance and kick us out," Draven whispered to Mysa, who shook her head with another laugh.

"I'm sure Flora wouldn't let that happen. Besides, who has time to care for us laughing in a corner? It's just... look at how the photo session works," Mysa replied, nodding her head toward the chaotic scene.

Draven grinned, feeling grateful for Mysa's lightheartedness. "Yeah, you're right. It's crazy how much effort goes into these shoots."

"I pity the models. They work so hard," Mysa managed to let out, still giggling.

Draven rolled his eyes and shook his head, but he couldn't help but join in on the laughter. It was a moment of lightness and joy in the midst of a busy day, and he was grateful for it.

Flora happened to notice their laughter and felt a certain kind of jealousy watching the two become so close. It was like the two of them were swirling in their own little personal bubble, which she wasn't allowed to enter. On top of that, Draven never failed to keep her at arm's length.

She always tried her best to keep her negative emotions hidden, though. Not wanting anyone to know how much she disliked seeing them bond ever since they were kids.

Flora surely had a talent for acting.

Soon, Flora decided to join the two of them in their laughter.

"What's so funny?" the photographer asked, a hint of curiosity in his voice.

Mysa was the first to answer, trying to catch her breath. "Nothing, nothing at all. We're just happy to be here," she replied, still grinning.

Flora nodded in agreement, "Yeah, we're just having a great time." She faked a laugh, just to stay with Draven.

Draven finally managed to regain his composure and decided to be the polite one. "I agree, it's so cool to see how a photoshoot works."

Flora smiled at him, "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. Speaking of which, I'm about to change outfits. Do you guys mind waiting once again?"

Mysa and Draven both nodded in agreement to remain and observe Flora working. As she departed, Draven turned his head towards Mysa and sighed in relief.

He was lucky to have such an incredible friend by his side who had the ability to make any situation seem bearable; if he were to visit Flora unaccompanied, he was certain he would have made a bad impression out of sheer nervousness. He probably would have felt so awkward. Even though he was great at charming other people, he always got tongue-tied in front of Flora. He just didn't know what to talk about with her.

However, having Mysa there gave him the courage to be at ease and present himself nicely when meeting Flora. He didn't get chances like this often, after all.

After a few minutes, Flora returned in a different outfit; a sequined bodysuit that shimmered in the light. She struck a few poses for the camera, and Mysa and Draven watched in awe as she effortlessly posed and moved, a true professional in her field. The way she perfectly carried herself around the studio was proof of her talent and hard work.

"She looks stunning, Draven!" Mysa muttered. "You have a nice taste."

"I know," he whispered back.

As the shoot came to a close, Flora approached Mysa and Draven with a grateful smile. "Thank you both so much for coming to watch me work. It means a lot to have such supportive friends."

Mysa nudged Draven, urging him to speak something.

Draven cleared his throat and spoke up, his voice filled with admiration, "Of course, Flora. You're amazing at what you do."

"Of course! I am Flora Valentino for a reason." Flora's smile widened, and she leaned in to give Draven a hug.

Draven felt a jolt of electricity course through him as they embraced, and he couldn't help but cherish this moment. It was probably the first time Flora was hugging him after they turned adults.

"Come to my vanity. Let's chat now and have a cup of coffee," she offered to them as they smiled.

***

As the day ended, Mysa gave Draven a knowing look while driving back home, "So, did you enjoy yourself today?"

Draven blushed and nodded. "Yeah, I did. Flora is just... so amazing. I can't help but feel drawn to her."

Mysa grinned mischievously, "I could tell. You were practically drooling over her."

Draven rolled his eyes but couldn't stop smiling. "Shut up, Mysa. You know I can't help how I feel."

"I know, I know. But you better make a move soon, or someone else might sweep her off her feet."

"But—"

She interrupted him. "You don't wanna lose someone precious to you, right? So cherish her as much as you can. Even she can see your feelings. It's so evident. So just do it."

Draven's heart sank at the thought, but he knew Mysa was right. He couldn't let his feelings go unspoken any longer.

As they reached home, he watched Mysa walking to her house located in front of his, as he was staying in Maya's house just to be with Maya all the time.

Draven made a silent promise to himself to tell Flora how he felt. As soon as possible.