After a surprisingly pleasant walk, the three boys finally reached the entrance of the grocery store. Along the way, Sojin had decided to fill the two boys in on exactly what had been happening the past few days, still a bit shocked that they hadn’t even noticed. While he was expecting them to both freak out, both idols remained strangely calm, simply shrugging and vowing to help if any trouble came their way. Sojin was happy that they weren’t scared, but he feared they didn’t realize the severity of the situation. Still, he hoped that these two simply wouldn’t get dragged in so they wouldn’t have to worry about it anyway.

    Upon entering the store, Key immediately set out to find the cereal he had been complaining about while Sojin followed Minho. The rapper was actually far less intimidating than the boy had thought, even if they had only spent this short time together. While the other members seemed to be more “friendly,” he got a more adult-ish vibe from Minho — as if he were Sojin's older brother or something. As they walked down the isles picking up necessities, Minho would constantly ask if the boy wanted anything to which he’d refuse each time.

    “Minho hyung, I should be buying stuff for you, not the other way around!” Sojin exclaimed, after the rapper asked him for the fifth time. “Is there anything you want?” 

    The rapper paused to think for a moment. “Hmm…yes! Cupcakes. You can get me cupcakes,” he said, grinning to himself. Sojin was a little surprised that he had actually taken him up on the offer. He had become used to being constantly refused by Onew, but he was happy to oblige. 

    “Cupcakes? I didn’t see you as the cake type, but sure! I’ll go get the cupcakes and meet back up with you in a bit,” Sojin exclaimed happily, walking away towards the bakery section. A moment later, he spotted a rack full of individual cupcakes. Looking at the price his eyes widened. Six dollars each?! Were these gourmet cupcakes or something? Ignoring the hefty price, the boy grabbed a large container and placed six cupcakes within. He definitely owed more than thirty-six dollars to the Shinee boys, so this was the least he could do. As he closed the container lid and smiled to himself, he felt a presence lingering next to him. Still paranoid from his earlier experiences, the boy jolted his head upwards, scanning the area for threats. Sojin almost dropped the cupcakes in surprise. A few feet away stood the Yakuza fangirl, innocently searching through the bread section. Had she not noticed him? Should he confront her? Should he run?

    A million thoughts flashed through the boy’s mind, but none fast enough as the girl slowly looked over in his direction. Her eyes widened a bit as well, seemingly surprised by his presence.

    Crap…the boy thought to himself. The girl immediately left the bread section, heading straight for him. Sojin placed the cupcakes down on a nearby shelf, backing up a bit as she came even closer. Once she was within arms length, the girl stopped, glaring from behind her bangs.

    “So this is where you ran when you escaped? A grocery store?” she asked, suddenly chuckling a bit to herself. Sojin realized this was his one chance to talk his way out of the whole situation.

    Ignoring her prior taunt, he started, “Please! You have to stop this! This is so crazy! How could you be trying to actually kill me just for holding my place in line?!”

    The girl scoffed. “It’s too late for that, kid. If I let you go, then no one would fear me. Besides, it’s pretty fun to mess with you.”

    “This isn’t ‘messing with’ someone, you know! You’re actually hurting people! What do you want from me? I’ll give it to you! Just stop this!” Sojin exclaimed, frantically.

    The girl laughed again. “Are you stupid? Can you not hear? I just told you, I’m not letting you off for this. The only thing you can give me is your life.”

    Sojin realized that the girl was completely insane. There would be no getting through to her with simple words.

    “Whatever. You can do whatever you want to me, just don’t hurt any of the Shinee members. It’s not their fault. They would’ve been happy to meet you,” Sojin stated, at least trying to buy the Shinee members’ safety. The girl glared, getting angrier from the mention of the group.

    “Forgive them?! They had me escorted out by the police and you think I’m going to forgive them? Quite the opposite. In fact, I was going to take them out right in front of you as a little present,” she responded, a wicked smile crossing her pale face. At the mention of the threat, Sojin could feel his face heating up in anger. He had a deal with himself to never hit girls, but boy was this girl pushing it.

    “Don’t….mess with them. You’ll be sorry, I swear,” Sojin replied, now glaring back at the girl. The girl laughed loudly, but her face instantly switched to a visage of anger. She grabbed Sojin’s collar shoving him back into the bread shelves, causing them to shake and spill their contents upon the floor.

    “Are you threatening me?” she asked, bringing her face closer, before pulling him forwards and smashing him back again. “You stupid kid, what the hell are you thinking?”

    Sojin felt something snap inside of him. He had promised never to hit a girl….but this wasn’t a girl. This was a monster. There were only two times Sojin had ever gotten genuinely mad in his life. The boy could bottle up a ridiculous amount, but if ever pushed beyond his limit, he was actually quite frightening. His normally friendly disposition turned to one of anger as he grabbed the girl’s wrist and ripped it off of his collar.

    “I’ve tried to be nice to you. I’ve apologized. I’ve begged. I’ve done everything I possibly could and all you’ve said is that you’re still going to kill me in the end. Well, if that’s the case, then I’ve got nothing to lose,” Sojin whispered, his voice filled with anger. The girl opened to let out her usual laugh, but this time Sojin placed his palm directly over her face, causing her to freeze in shock.

    “I’ve had enough of your sh*t!” the boy exclaimed, gripping her face and ing his arm forward. The girl flew backwards, stumbling into the rack of cupcakes before falling onto them, smashing them beneath her weight. While he walked over to her, the girl flipped herself over and faced him, an expression of shock on her face.

    “Now, this is your last chance. Do you want to call it off or not? We can all be friends and forget all of this,” he offered, folding his arms.

    “I like your thinking…” she whispered back as she pulled herself to her feet, brushing icing off her shirt. Sojin glared at the girl, but could feel his rage slowly fading.

    “You’re not as much of a pansy as I thought,” she continued. “Look, I’ll confess, I’ve been watching you and I know you like Onew. I like Onew too.”

    Sojin’s eyes widened in surprise at the girl’s sudden onslaught of words.

    “Now, I’ve got an offer you…it’s kinda a game. If you can make Onew fall for you within a week — and I mean like, boyfriend, not good friends, then I’ll let all of you go free,” she stated, raising her eyebrows. “If you can’t, then you leave Shinee forever so I don’t have to watch you pathetically pine after him anymore. It’s a pretty nice deal, don’t you think? Either way, you get to stay alive.”

    Sojin felt a pang of disdain upon the mention of him pining for Onew, but knew he had to take the offer. At least this would keep all of Shinee safe, no matter what. Looking into the girl’s eyes, the boy nodded.

    “Fine, deal!” he exclaimed, his eyes narrowing. The girl let out a little giggle.

    “You know he doesn’t like you in that way, though, right? You’re just living in your own little fantasy world. Oh well, killing your dreams is almost as good as killing you!” the girl exclaimed, a sweet smile crossing her lips. She picked up a partially smashed cupcake from the ground.

    “And don’t ever try anything like that again,” she stated, before smashing the cupcake into the boy’s face and walking off. Sojin stood in silence for a moment, not even removing the cupcake from his face. He had to confess to Onew within the week…and if Onew didn’t like him back, not only would he never be able to see the leader again, he’d never be able to see any of them.

    “Ya! Sojin! What the heck are you doing?! You know you have to buy the cupcakes before you go crazy on them, right?” came Key’s voice. Sojin winced, removing the cupcake from his face. Why did the diva only have to appear at times like this?

     “But really, what did you do?” asked the Shinee member, looking at the smashed cupcakes in confusion. Sojin explained what happened, leaving out the details about Onew.

    “Wow, it’s a good thing you pushed her. I would’ve given her a piece of my mind,” the diva said, starting to get fired up. “Where is she now? I’ll go teach her a lesson.”

    Sojin waved his arms frantically, trying to calm Key down. “No, no! It’s okay, it’s over now!” the boy exclaimed. “Just…go buy your cereal! I’ll meet you guys by the door!”

    The diva glared at him, but actually obeyed, going to the line to buy his cereal. Sojin counted the cupcake remains on the floor. Five. That was another thirty dollars right there. The boy groaned as he grabbed the cupcakes he had packaged and headed to the bakery checkout.

    “I’ll have these…and those five smashed ones over there…” he stated, pointing sadly to the destroyed cupcakes.

    “Oh no! What happened over there? Did you fall or something?” asked the cashier with a concerned look on her face.

    “Er…you could say that,” Sojin replied, wiping some icing off his face. The cashier frowned, then smiled.

    “Don’t worry about it! It’s near the end of the day, so we probably were just gonna get rid of those anyway,” she said cheerfully. Sojin let out a gasp of surprise.

    “Really?! Thank you so much!” he exclaimed, bowing twice. “I’ve been having the worst luck…I’m glad that there are still nice people out there!”

    The cashier tilted her head, handing his money back to him. “Hmm, don’t worry! I’m sure things are going to get better for you!”

    Sojin smiled and thanked her once more before departing to find the two Shinee members. Approaching Minho, he handed the rapper the box of cupcakes.

    “I got them…it was a struggle, but I got them,” he stated, letting out a sigh of relief. Minho laughed and thanked the boy, but then became more serious.

    “That girl didn’t hurt you or anything, right? Key told me what happened,” he stated. Sojin shook his head.

    “No, actually I think things will be better from now on,” he responded. Well, as long as I confess to Onew…he added in his head. Even the thought of confessing filled the boy with fear — especially after hearing the girl express her doubts. 

    “Let’s head home. I wanna try one of these cupcakes,” Minho ordered, stepping out of the store and onto the street. Key nodded, stating that he wanted one too and following the rapper out. Sojin remained behind for a moment, taking a deep breath.

    “Alright, seven days. I can do this within seven days!” he exclaimed to himself, before running after the other two boys.