The next morning, Luhan was no less busy than he’d been before. The same woman as the previous day came again to complain to Hangeng about the shop’s new employee, and by ten o’clock, Luhan was already on the verge of tears.

                Hangeng noticed, and pulled Luhan aside during a lull in customers.

                “Luhan, are you alright?” he asked gingerly, and Luhan shook his head.

                “I’m not,” he snapped. “This is crazy. I’m here to refine my gift, not to cater to some idiot woman who doesn’t know what manners are.”

                Hangeng looked taken aback as Fei stepped into the room.

                “Luhan, there’s a customer out there who needs to be helped,” she said, but Hangeng put his hand up.

                “Fei, Luhan just needs a break,” Hangeng said. Fei scowled.

                “And we need money. He’ll get used to the workload.”

                “And I suppose you dealt with all these freakish customers on your first day,” Luhan retorted back at her. She faced him.

                “You’re here, staying in our building, using our rooms and furniture. I think you can do a little work.”

                “Fei, he’s only been here for a day!” Hangeng said. “Be nice to him!”

                “Just because he looks angelic doesn’t mean he has me fooled,” she said, sounding almost as if warning Hangeng. She stalked off to the kitchen. Hangeng heaved a jaded sigh.

                “I’m sorry, she’s not usually like that,” he said, and Luhan scoffed.

                “I’m always like this,” Luhan said emotionlessly. “Sorry if you were fooled.”

                “I…Fei doesn’t know about the gift yet. Should I tell her?”

                “She doesn’t need to know,” Luhan said. “Nobody should know.”

                “I—” Hangeng began, but was cut off by someone ringing the bell in the front.

                “Is anyone there?” the voice called, and Hangeng looked to Luhan with a pleading expression. Luhan sighed loudly and obnoxiously before turning around and going to the front of the store.

                He regretted it right away when he saw the boy from the previous day standing there smiling that horrible smile.

                “Hi!” Minseok cried, waving at Luhan in what he assumed was supposed to be a cute way.

                “God, not you again,” Luhan muttered, but evidently Minseok didn’t hear him. 

                “So will you tell me your name today?” Minseok asked, and Luhan stared at him in annoyance.

                “Just order and leave, wouldn’t you?” Luhan spat, and Minseok’s face fell slightly.

                “Come on, I just want to be friends,” Minseok said quietly, and Luhan looked at him in mocking amusement. 

                “I don’t need to be friends with you,” he laughed cruelly, but Minseok didn’t reply. He watched Luhan for a few seconds until Luhan averted his eyes. Really, those chubby cheeks were disconcerting if you looked at them for too long. “What?” he asked finally, after Minseok had been staring at him for almost a minute.

                “You’re interesting,” Minseok said. Luhan made a face of confusion and tried to pull it off as a scoff, but it didn’t work that well. Minseok ignored Luhan’s ego and smiled again. “Well, maybe you’ll tell me your name when I come back tomorrow. For now, I’ll take a meat bun, please.”

                Luhan didn’t respond, just looking at him in befuddlement.

                “A meat bun, please,” Minseok said again, and Luhan blinked a few times before mumbling “pork or beef?” and Minseok laughed.

                “Pork,” he replied, smiling that weird smile again. His huge cheeks basically covered up his eyes, Luhan noticed, and it was honestly kind of weird.

                “Here,” Luhan said in frustration. He didn’t like the way Minseok just smiled at him all the time. It was unnerving and unnecessary. “Pay up.”

                Minseok laughed as he handed Luhan the proper amount of money.

                “See you tomorrow,” he called, waving behind him as he left the shop. Luhan huffed, glaring at Minseok’s back as it disappeared out the door with a jingle of the shop bell.

                He turned around and plopped down in his chair angrily. Why was Minseok so insistent on getting his name? Or bothering him consistently?

                Suddenly, Fei appeared carrying three huge trays of buns, stacked on top of each other.

                “There are about five hundred buns to be wrapped. Work on them when customers aren’t here, wrapping them in groups of three,” she instructed. Luhan glared at her.

                “Who needs five hundred buns?” Luhan demanded, and she glared back. She stood with her hands on her hips, staring him down.

                “Luhan, I know you’re an angry kid, but you’re here to do work, so do it,” she said. “For your information, there’s a banquet tonight, and we should be honored that they came to our shop to get the dumplings. Now start wrapping; they need to be done by six.” With that, she turned and left the room without even giving Luhan a chance to throw back a retort.

                He looked at the stack of buns and had an idea. He knew that there must be an easier way to wrap the buns, and so he tried tentatively.

                The bun that his mind was focused on wiggled slightly, but it didn’t lift in the air as he hoped it would. He sighed, still staring at the bun, and then closed his eyes, exhaling deeply and centering himself. It was like Zitao had taught him: “balance yourself, and everything else will come naturally.” Luhan was reminded of Zitao a little bitterly, since he was the best at controlling his gift.

                He looked down at the watch he’d gotten from Zitao for his eighteenth birthday and smiled as he wiped all jealousy and everything else from his mind. He focused on the bun through closed eyes.

                “Lift,” he said quietly, “lift.” And suddenly he sensed that a burden had been lifted. His eyes shot open and just as he’d hoped, the bun was floating in the air. He couldn’t help but smile as he tried to lift two more.

                The second rose slightly lower than the first had, and the third didn’t rise at all, but Luhan counted this as an achievement as he let the two floating buns drop. He’d never been able to focus his gift to such a small item before. Maybe Xue had been right.

                “Luhan!” Fei shouted, and he turned to her. He hadn’t noticed her walk into the room. She stood there with her hands on her hips. “What are you doing, just standing there? Didn’t I tell you to wrap the buns?”

                “Maybe if you’d give me a little time to actually start, I would,” he hissed back at her. She closed her eyes, rubbing her temples.

                “I’m seriously starting to wonder what Geng sees in you,” she sighed, leaving the room. Luhan cursed at her under his breath.

                He turned back to the buns, muttering to himself as he wrapped them aggressively. Five hundred buns could take ages. He eyed the pile of buns and attempted to lift them, but none of them even moved.

                “Gee, thanks, Fei. You got me so riled up that I can’t do anything now,” he scowled, turning back to the buns.

                The door jingled and he looked up.

                “Not you,” Luhan whined, seeing Minseok’s smiling face. “I thought I’d get at least a day’s break from seeing you again.”

                “Will you tell me your name?” he asked.

                “No,” Luhan replied. Minseok kept smiling and it irked Luhan. What did it take to get this kid to frown?

                “Anyway, I brought a few friends with me,” Minseok said. “This is Sehun, Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Joonmyeon, and Kyungsoo. And if you forgot, I’m—”

                “Minseok the super annoying kid who has nothing better to do than bother me while I’m trying to work,” Luhan said, “I remember perfectly.”

                “I’m glad!” Minseok beamed, and Luhan scowled again. Minseok’s friends laughed.

                “He has a funny accent,” the friend called Sehun said, and Minseok finally frowned.

                “It’s a nice accent,” Minseok said defensively. He turned to Luhan. “Are you from Diria?”

                “No, I was born and raised right here in this dumpling shop,” Luhan said sarcastically.

                “He seems kind of…mean,” Chanyeol whispered to Kyungsoo, but Luhan could hear him.

                “I’d be nicer if this kid just got the message and left me alone,” Luhan hissed, glaring at Minseok, who just kept smiling. Baekhyun laughed heartily and turned to Luhan.

                “Keep hoping, then,” he said, and Joonmyeon had started to laugh too.

                “Once Minseok has a goal, he doesn’t give up easily,” Joonmyeon explained, and Baekhyun nodded. Luhan looked at them tiredly.

                “Why do I have to be the goal?” he groaned, and Minseok’s friends all cracked up. Luhan frowned and whipped around to face Minseok.

                “If you and your friends aren’t going to order anything, you need to leave,” he said. “I’m trying to wrap buns for a party this evening and if I don’t start now I’ll never finish.”

                “We can help you!” Minseok cried excitedly. “Right, guys? We can help him wrap all the buns for the party!” Minseok’s friends cheered and high-fived each other.

                “No,” Luhan scolded them, “no. None of you are qualified. Either buy something or leave.”

                “Do I hear you wrapping buns?” Fei called from the other room.

                “I have customers,” Luhan called back angrily. He turned to Minseok and his friends and glared at them. “Customers buy things. People who hang in a shop without buying anything are called loiterers and they’re prohibited in this establishment.”

                “Fine, fine,” Joonmyeon said finally, “I’ll buy six pot-stickers.” Luhan scowled at him, turning to the stock of pot-stickers and placing six of them in a bag. He rang it up on the cash register, handing the bag to Joonmyeon and pointing out the price. Joonmyeon paid him and turned around, guiding Kyungsoo out of the store, followed by the rest of Minseok’s friends. Luhan thought he heard “I don’t see why Minseok is so excited to be friends with him” escape Baekhyun’s lips, but he wasn’t sure.

                Minseok was left standing at the counter, looking at Luhan with round eyes. It was weird, but Minseok was almost cute like this.

                Almost.

                “What else do you want?” Luhan snapped in irritation, and Minseok tilted his head, still eyeing Luhan. “And don’t tell me I’m interesting again. That still counts as loitering.”

                Minseok laughed, his smile returning and Luhan’s annoyance levels rising.

                “Okay, then,” he said. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

                “Don’t say that and then turn up again later today,” Luhan warned, and Minseok laughed again.

                “I won’t,” he promised. “Bye!” He ran out the door, calling for his friends to wait for him, and Luhan chuckled bitterly as he turned back to the buns. Minseok was really, really annoying.

                He looked back at the pile of buns again, and decided he’d try once more, just to see if he could do it. He closed his eyes, imagined the bun rising, and took a deep breath. He felt that familiar feeling of weightlessness, but he didn’t open his eyes. He tried the next bun, and this time, the weightless feeling just increased. He tried a third, and sure enough, it rose into the air slightly as well. Obviously, simply practicing made the task easier.

                But he still had a long way to go. He had to figure out how to lift them, wrap them, and tie them, all while wrapping buns manually as well. He tried to take a piece of the wrapping paper using just his mind, and it floated awkwardly towards the buns. He allowed them to drop onto the paper, but they fell a little too far and would have rolled off the table had Luhan not caught them.

                He didn’t get discouraged. Even being able to lift three buns was an accomplishment for him. Suddenly, not only could he focus his gift, he could use it at will, something he’d never been able to do before.

                “You leave to find your place,” Kai had explained, and Luhan was starting to see what he’d meant. Sure, he didn’t feel at home in the shop yet, and Minseok was more annoying than Mingming ever had been, but the fact that controlling his gift had suddenly become a million times easier was reassuring that Luhan would find his place soon enough.

                He turned back to wrapping the buns and found himself whistling as he wrapped them. It did occur to him that he was supposed to be in a bad mood, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop whistling, because in all honesty, he wasn’t in a bad mood.

                “Yah,” Fei walked in, already scolding Luhan, “are you—oh. Wow, you’ve done a lot since I’ve been in the back.”

                Luhan looked to see how many he’d wrapped, and sure enough, it looked like he was nearly a third of the way done.

                “Yeah,” Luhan said. “I told you I could do it.”

                “I should have believed you,” she mused. “Well, good job, Luhan. Keep it up.”

                “Wait, are you being nice to me?” he asked, awestruck, and Fei laughed, shaking her head.

                “Luhan, I’m not a mean person, no matter how mean I seem,” she said. “I’m just strict.”

                “Same thing,” Luhan muttered, and Fei laughed again.

                “Now keep working or else I will be mean,” she said jokingly, turning around and leaving him to his work.

                He looked down, and he couldn’t help but smile. How come one minute he was annoyed beyond comprehension and the next he was whistling while working?

                He finished wrapping the buns by three, even with the customers coming in. Even the rude ones couldn’t dampen his bright mood that day, although he knew it was probably just a phase that would pass eventually.

                “You’re done early?” Hangeng asked, peeking into the room to see Luhan waving away a customer, all the buns completely wrapped.

                “Yeah, it went faster than I expected. And I think I learned a lot while I was wrapping them,” Luhan replied.

                “Great!” Hangeng beamed. “Fei, come here! Luhan’s done.” Luhan sulked again, hoping that Fei would still be nice to him, but expecting the worst. She walked in, flour dusting her cheeks, and she looked to be in a bad mood.

                “He’s done already?” she asked, looking surprised. “I’m impressed.”

                “Yeah, see, give me time and I’ll use it properly,” Luhan sneered, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

                “Okay, okay,” Hangeng said, “let’s be nice. Luhan, can you deliver these to Angora Manor? It’s up the road, towards the palace. You can’t miss it.”

                “Alright,” Luhan sighed.

               “Here,” Hangeng said, handing Luhan a large bag, “put them in here and it’s literally a ten minute walk up the street. You should have no trouble. And I’ll pay you extra for this too, so don’t worry.” He smiled at Luhan, who returned the gesture a little less enthusiastically.

                “You’ve done a good job today,” Fei admitted, and Luhan looked at her, making sure he hadn’t misunderstood. “Really, you have.”

                “Thanks,” he replied, smiling genuinely as he walked out the door.  

A/N: Lulu is an emotional rollercoaster, it seems. 

College certainly does get in the way of things. Sorry this update took so long! I hope it won't take this long in the future. 

@jodimae: Kekeke. 

@sorrowlicher: Maybe...I don't know yet. 

@Teeheehaha-ara: Ah, but Lulu is an angry kid kekeke. 

@BabyYoo: Yup :)

@Minnietvxq17: He's stubborn like that lol.

@kitten83: Seriously. Luhan should be grateful, right?

@JulietteShawol1: Thanks! I'm glad you're liking it so far. 

@chigire: Luhan's just mean hahaha.

@angelsmiles: Because grumpy Luhan is not normal and that's why it's funny ;)

@PrincessLuLu: Yayyy!

@fangirl4life: I use random fantasy name generators and then alter them to fit my purposes. And some I just make up. 

@LoLLiMinniE: Hehehe I guess you'll have to find out, huh?

@smileyJ04: I can't wait to write the Xiuhan moments! Or is it Lumin? AHHH I GUESS WE'LL SEE?

@senseirikku: Aw thank you so much!

♥ Exie