“Here you go, sir. Have a nice day!”

The stranger smiled at the petite girl, took the package out of her hands, and turned to leave the small shop. The door made a little tinkling sound, like bells, as he exited.

Maria, the girl standing behind the counter, sighed and placed her chin in her palm. It was another slow day at the meager bakery that her two parents owned. She thought that being the youngest child in her family meant that her older siblings would take the big responsibility and work the morning and afternoon shifts.

That was not the case at all.

Her parents argued that her older siblings needed to focus on college and their studies, and that Maria should be helping the family obediently, not whining and protesting like a child, when she was already sixteen years of age.

“Stupid,” Maria muttered softly, pulling her book out from behind the register and flipping it open to the page she left off on.

“Hey, let’s check this place out!” a male voice said outside the bakery.

“What, this? It’s so tiny.” a new voice said in disdain.

“It looks cute,” the first voice protested.

“We get two hours off rehearsal from the concert to hang around; I’m not spending it here.” the second voice stated.

“Such a diva,” a third voice added.

“What was that?” the second voice demanded to the third.

“Nothing, get outta my face!”

“Stop it, you two,” a deeper, more authoritative voice joined in the conversation. “I’ll go with him, and you two can do whatever you want.”

“Whatever?”

“You’re such a sick person, Kim Jonghyun, I swear.”

“I didn’t mean it like that, you ert!”

“Let’s check this place out now!” the first voice reappeared, sounding excited.

“Okay, okay,” the manly voice agreed.

The sound of bells jingling reached Maria’s ears and she glanced up immediately, shoving her book to the side. A tall man with dark brown hair was in front, smiling easily. Behind him was a shorter boy with lighter brown hair, grinning like a child.

“Hi, there,” Maria greeted, stuttering a bit.

Who were these people? And why did they seem so familiar? Maria wondered in her head for a bit, frowning.

The taller figure nudged his friend to the front of the counter. He stepped aside and sat himself in a chair, letting his companion pick out a sweet.

“Can I help you with something?” Maria asked slowly, a bit dazed.

“Oh, no--it’s fine.” he said in accented English and beamed, eyes still on the treats displayed through the glass.

“Okay then,” Maria uttered out, tearing her gaze away from the handsome boy.

Who was he? So, so familiar...she knew him from somewhere, but where?

The boy started to hum a little tune--it sounded quite pretty, Maria noted. It was one of SHINee’s songs, Hello. She only recognized the song because it was her favorite song. But what struck her as odd was that the boy’s voice seemed to almost fit the song, like it was his.

“Taemin-ah, pick something already,” the man sitting down called out, sighing.

Maria didn’t understand a single word he said, but she could pick up one of the words--Taemin.

She almost slapped her forehead in front of the two boy--Lee Taemin and Choi Minho. Taemin and Minho from SHINee were standing in her parents’ bakery, and Taemin was about to buy something and Minho was accompanying her.

Taemin and Minho were in the same room as her, she realized, startled.

Minho was currently staring at the wall, seeming bored. Taemin was muttered something to himself, which Maria found absolutely adorable. She couldn’t believe her immense luck at the moment. There were two famous Korean celebrities standing only a few feet from here! Should she attempt to introduce herself, though she barely knew Korean? Should she try and ask for an autograph or a picture, to keep the memory? She had such an awful memory, and she surely didn’t want to forget a moment like this.

“Excuse me?”

Maria almost jumped, hearing Taemin’s soft English voice. “Y-Yes?”

“This?” Taemin pointed to a strawberry fruit tart.

Maria managed to nod back at him. She retrieved the sweet for him and carefully placed it in a paper bag. Pushing some buttons on the register, she told him the price.

“Minho-hyung, can you pay for me?” Taemin asked, smiling cherubically.

“Heck no,” Minho laughed.

“Fine,” Taemin sighed, placing a bill on the counter.

Maria took the money and handed Taemin the paper bag, shaking only slightly.

“Thank you very much,” she said in careful Korean.

Taemin smiled appreciatively and took the bag. “Hyung, do you want anything?”

“I’m good, Taemin,” Minho replied, rising from his seat.

“Thank you,” Taemin nodded his head at Maria, giving her one last sweet smile.

-----

“I thought you didn’t like strawberry,” Minho gave Taemin a strange look.

“I just wanted to try something new.” Taemin shrugged.

“Okay,” Minho chuckled, now grinning.

“What?” Taemin questioned.

“Nothing, nothing; eat your tart.”

“Fine.”

-----

“Maria, close up now!” her mother shouted from upstairs.

“I’ve got it,” Maria muttered grumpily, heading to the door to lock it.

Suddenly, a boy appeared behind the door. Maria’s eyes widened and she let out a little yelp.

“Wait!” he cried.

Maria gulped and blinked helplessly. Was she seriously dreaming or did Lee Taemin just appear in front of her eyes? “W-What?”

“Um,” Taemin paused, furrowing his eyebrows for a second, “The strawberry was good.”

Maria giggled, understanding what he meant immediately and thanked him in Korean; she cursed herself for knowing a limited amount of that language.

“Do you speak Korean?”

Maria looked stunned and awkwardly shook her head, not having a clue what he was saying. Taemin smiled anyway and said something else that Maria didn’t catch.

“What’s taking so long, Maria?!”

The girl in question snapped her head to the staircase in the back and she sighed.

“I have to go,” she said to Taemin, pointing to herself and then to the back of the bakery.

Taemin took a while to process the information and then he nodded once. He waved, smiling adorably again. “Bye.”

“Bye,” Maria said to him, unable to hide her blush.

And then he disappeared into the night.

-----

Maria took in the very familiar surroundings. Two years passed and she found herself behind the counter once again. She was eighteen years old now, and studying diligently at a nice-enough university. It was summer though, so found her way back to the place she stood two years ago.

“More like forced,” she muttered softly, annoyed that her parents had put her right to work when she walked through the door.

“Hello, Miss?”

Maria peered at the door out of the corner of her eye and saw a tall figure. Her eyes traveled up the person and widened.

That adorable smile on him never changed as he approached the counter.

So, story. Taemin was interested in Maria, so he came back those two years. I left the ending open-ended. It's up to the reader what happened, really, I suppose. This was supposed to be a birthday present to Appa. It's late, I'm so sorry. ;~;

I need to work on writing SHINee, hm...