Luhan trudged home carefully that evening after having delivered the buns to what he discovered was the prince’s chief of staff’s manor. (Evidently, Galata really was famous.) He hadn’t forgotten the sight of Jina standing there on the street—her colorful appearance was still branded on the inside of his eyelids.

                He opened the door to the shop, wagon still in tow.

               “I’m ba—” he began before he saw Minseok standing there, chatting with Fei. They both turned to look at him, and Minseok’s grin only grew.

                What was creepier, though, was that Fei was also grinning.

                “Hi, Luhan!” Minseok smiled, and Luhan frowned dramatically, realizing that Minseok now knew his name. “Luhan,” Minseok said again, as if trying Luhan’s name out for size.

                “Why is he here?” he snapped at Fei, ignoring Minseok blatantly.

                “He came to pick up some buns.”

                “He came twice already today. How many buns can he possibly need. He told me that he wouldn’t come again today.”

                “Luhan, is it so bad to have someone who wants to be your friend?” Fei asked, frowning at Luhan.

                “Why does everyone care about him and not about me? What about what I want?” Luhan cried. “Don’t you think it’s just a little unfair to force people on me?”

                “Luhan, please, just make one friend today,” Fei said, folding her arms stubbornly. He narrowed his eyes at her spitefully.

                “I already filled my new friend quota for the year,” Luhan folded his arms in turn, pointing his nose at the ceiling.

                “You’re insufferable!” Fei cried. “I can’t believe Geng hired you. You’re so cold-hearted!” Luhan was momentarily startled, remembering what Jieun had said to him.

                “I’m not,” he said quietly, and Minseok opened his mouth, but Fei didn’t notice and kept talking.

                “Minseok is here to buy special buns, but they’re not ready yet. You better make him feel at home while I go finish them, or I’ll finish you.” She stalked off, leaving Luhan to laugh at her cheesy threat. He couldn’t laugh, though, because he was left with such a sour taste in his mouth from their exchange.

                He rounded on Minseok, instead.

                “You ordered special buns on purpose, didn’t you, just so you could come here and annoy me?” he demanded. “How many buns can you possibly need in one day?”

                “Well, they’re for my grandmother this time,” Minseok explained calmly. “I’d forgotten it was her birthday.”

                “You could have gotten her anything and yet you choose to get her buns? They’re meat wrapped in dough. You could have gotten her something better and something that would annoy me less.”

                “Am I really that annoying?” Minseok asked, and it unnerved Luhan a little to hear his dark tone and see his for once unsmiling face.

                “Y-yeah,” Luhan coughed weakly, the words feeling like cotton balls in his mouth. He regretted saying it the moment the words left his lips, which made Luhan angrier than ever, because he shouldn’t have had to regret saying things like that. He had every right to say whatever he wanted.

                “Really?” Minseok asked, and Luhan just turned around.

                “Would you stop asking annoying questions? Seriously…” Luhan mumbled, walking back to stand behind the counter. He arranged and rearranged the pens next to the cash register, then paced back and forth while Minseok watched him.

                “Will you tell me your name?” Minseok asked finally, and Luhan looked up.

                “You know it already,” Luhan said, looking back down no matter how much he wanted to see how Minseok would react.

                “Yeah, but I want to hear it from you. I want to hear how you say it.”

                “Fine,” Luhan sighed, “since you already know. It’s Luhan.” He said it quietly and tentatively, as if he was a child using a bad word for the first time.

                “Luhan, do you remember my name?” Minseok asked. Luhan frowned.

               “You just want to hear me say your name, don’t you?” he wondered in slight annoyance, and Minseok smiled again.

                “Yeah,” he said unashamedly. “Do you remember it?”

                “Minseok,” Luhan mumbled, and Minseok’s grin only grew.

                “Yes?”

                “I wasn’t calling you, you idiot!” Luhan snapped. “Ugh, you’re so annoying.”

                “Do you really have a friend0making quota?” Minseok asked. “Can’t you make room for one more?”

                “What is it about me that makes you want to be my friend so badly?” Luhan demanded, and he could have sworn that a tint of pink graced Minseok’s bun face.

                “Well, that is…” Minseok stuttered. “I mean, you seem lonely.”

                “If I told you I’m not lonely, would you leave me alone?” Luhan asked.

                “I wouldn’t believe you,” Minseok replied, and Luhan scoffed at him.

                “Don’t you think it’s not your place to believe whether or not I’m lonely? I can decide who I want to hang out with.”

                “So you don’t want to hang out with me,” Minseok said with a sigh.

                “I didn’t say that,” tumbled out of Luhan’s mouth. His eyes widened for a moment as he realized the depth of what he’d just said, and turned around quickly so that Minseok couldn’t see his face.

                “Sorry, I’m out of line,” Minseok mumbled. “I’ll stay out of your way.”

                Luhan turned around quickly.

                “You—”

                “Minseok, your buns are ready!” Fei announced, walking into the room with a package of buns in her hands. “Tell your grandmother to enjoy them and that Galata Dumpling Shop wishes her a happy birthday.”

                “Thank you,” Minseok smiled at her, but it didn’t look like the smiles he usually gave. He paid Fei and said goodbye to them both very quietly, then left, leaving Fei and Luhan standing in confusion.

                “Did you say something to him?” Fei asked accusingly. “He looked really unhappy.”

                “I don’t know,” Luhan said irritably. “I don’t pay attention to what he looks like all the time, you know.”

                “You’re cruel,” she sighed. “I can’t believe I fell for your angel-face, thinking you were a nice person, yet here you are, throwing around a nice boy’s feelings like they’re nothing.”

                “Yeah? What about my feelings? It’s okay for him to stalk me but it’s not okay for me to ignore him? I’m the one being victimized here, not the other way around.”

                “You’re really bold to be talking to me like this only the day after you’ve met me,” she said, and Luhan laughed bitterly.

               “You’re really bold to think it’s okay for you to lecture me after only having known me for a day,” he retorted. She narrowed her eyes at him.

               “Too much,” she said. “You’re too much.” She stalked out of the room into the back of the shop, and Luhan was left feeling oddly empty.

                Minseok didn’t come back the next day, or the day after that. It was almost two weeks since Luhan had last seen him, and to be perfectly honest, Minseok’s absence didn’t make him as happy as he thought it would.

                Fei had also stopped talking to him if she could avoid it, and Luhan was suddenly only talking to Hangeng. He was busy most of the time, though, and Luhan couldn’t understand why he felt so alone.

                It was on his first day off that he finally decided to do something about his boredom.

                He sat alone in his bedroom, looking at the vase which still held the sprig of lavender. He wondered who had put it there. Was it Fei, or was it Hangeng? Fei didn’t seem like the type to get sentimental or cute about flowers, but there was something subtle about lavender that seemed like something Fei would appreciate.

                In any case, Luhan pondered the state of the lavender sprig. It was inside the vase. If he could manage to use his gift to lift the lavender and not the vase, he would count that as a success. He’d never moved anything so small before, just using his mind, and especially not something inside something else.

                Watching the lavender, he visualized it lifting out of the vase. He closed his eyes and felt his energy swell, still visualizing the lavender in his mind. He felt that familiar lifting of a weight, and he opened his eyes.

                Both the lavender and the vase were floating.

                It was a start, though, Luhan thought as he set the vase back down.

                When they told him he’d find his place and learn how to control his gift, he’d expected it to come easily, as if it was just something he’d suddenly be able to use according to his own will.

                That certainly wasn’t the case, though. He sighed, letting the vase make the rest of the way down with the help of gravity. The lavender fell out of the vase when it tumbled over, but Luhan didn’t bother setting either of them upright again. He decided to call Xue, since he needed some answers.

                He tiptoed downstairs to the shop, where the phone was kept, trying to stay quiet because it was early in the morning and Fei and Hangeng were still asleep.

                He was surprised to find that he still remembered the number, although he figured that ten years of having the same telephone number was evidently enough to have it ingrained in your mind forever.

                “Hello?” came Xue’s lilting voice, and Luhan smiled in spite of himself.

                “It’s me,” he said. “Luhan.”

                “Luhan?” she cried. “I haven’t heard from you since you left! How are you? Where are you? Are you well? Is everything okay? Where are you staying? What are you eating? Are you eating enough? Have you found a job? Did you—”

                “I’m fine,” Luhan said, although he wasn’t sure he believed that fully. “It was horrible the first day, but it’s better now.”

                “What are you doing?”

                “I work at a dumpling shop. I live there too.”

                “You live at a shop?” she asked, and Luhan explained his living conditions to her. Once she seemed satisfied, he figured it was time to get the answers he wanted.

                “Xue, when you said that I’d find my place…what does that mean?”

                “Have you noticed that your gift is easy to use?” she asked, and the tone in her voice suggested that she expected Luhan to answer with a yes.

                “No,” he replied. “It’s not easy. Easier, maybe, but far from easy.”

              “Really?” she asked, sounding surprised. She made a humming sound, as if deep in thought. “Luhan, are you happy? And answer honestly; I know how you are.”

                He sighed, thinking for a moment.

                “I’m as happy as I’ve always been,” he replied solemnly, and it was mostly the truth.

                “So, not that happy,” she surmised. Luhan murmured in confirmation, and Xue sighed.

                “What’s getting to you, then? What’s keeping you from being happy?”

                “I don’t know,” Luhan replied. “I really don’t.”

                “Do you have friends?” she asked quietly, and Luhan almost laughed. He thought better of it, and replied even more quietly. He heard a noise from the back of the shop, and he paused to listen, but there were no more sounds. He focused on the conversation once again, sighing deeply.

                “I don’t really have any friends,” he responded. “You know how I am. I’m sharp.”

                “You’re like a rose with thorns,” Xue said. “You’re beautiful and lovely, but people have to get past the sharpness.”

                “Nobody wants to get past the sharpness,” Luhan complained.

                “Is it that nobody wants to, or is it that you’re not letting them?” she wondered, and Luhan didn’t reply. Maybe she was right. “You have to let go, Luhan. Relax. Let people in. Try being nice. It’s easy to do, I promise you. It’s an addicting feeling, to make someone happy.”

                “I feel weird talking about this,” Luhan said. “It’s awkward.” Xue laughed.

                “If you say so. Luhan, remember what I said. Try being nice, okay?”

                “Are you leaving?”

                “I have to feed the toddlers. I’d love it if you called more often, though. Mingming really misses you.”

                “Tell her that she’s better off without me,” he replied, and Xue laughed again.

                “To be honest, I think she is too. She’s growing into a real young lady now that you’re not around.”

                “Oh, so it’s better that I’m not there?” Luhan demanded.

                “Isn’t that what you just said?” Xue chuckled. “Anyway, Luhan. Take care of yourself, and open your heart a little. It won’t hurt, I promise. Bye.”

                “Bye,” he said, hanging up the phone. He turned around, and Fei was standing right behind him. “What are you—how much did you hear?”

                “From the ‘happy as I’ve always been’ part,” she said quietly. “I’m really sorry, Luhan. If I’d known…”

                He considered snapping at her, yelling, maybe throwing a tantrum and storming out of the shop, but he remembered what Xue had just told him.

                Try being nice.

                “It’s okay,” he said awkwardly. “I was being a little annoying too. I’m sorry.”

                “Do you want to be friends?” she asked. “I know I’m probably not the best person to hang out with, but even I get tired of Geng all the time. It would be good for both of us, right?”

                “Okay,” Luhan said, giving her a small smile. She grinned back, and Luhan suddenly felt that same strange feeling of a burden being lifted off of his shoulders.

                He straightened up quickly, startling Fei in the process, and dashed back upstairs.

                “I have to check something,” he explained as he took the stairs two at a time. He ran back into the room and closed his eyes, his heart beating furiously. He visualized just the lavender rising out of the vase, and the lifting feeling felt lighter than ever. He opened his eyes, and sure enough, it was exactly as he’d hoped. He jumped up, ing his arm in the air in victory. He ran to the window and opened it, feeling like he had to announce his success to the world.

                But instead, he saw something he wished he hadn’t.

                Minseok was on the street, holding the hands of a boy Luhan had never seen before. They looked like they were talking about something serious, since Minseok’s head was slightly bowed. The boy he was with was taller than him, definitely older by a year or two, as far as Luhan could tell. He frowned, still watching them like a television program he couldn’t bear to watch but couldn’t tear his eyes from either.

                The boy suddenly kissed Minseok, and Luhan finally turned away, fuming.

                So, Minseok was like him. Into guys. Did that mean he’d been hitting on Luhan the entire time? And who was that boy?

                Why was Luhan suddenly so infuriated?

A/N: Wow, quick updates! I went on a writing rampage and did almost this whole chapter in about an hour and a half. And I expect to keep writing this afternoon. The NaNoWriMo mood is good for me, huh? Hehehe.