Changmin stared helplessly. Even though between the best friends he was the one with more experience with women, it was never easy dealing with a crying lady…human or not. He would never like the sight of it. He felt especially bad now that Victoria was crying because of him, even though he wasn’t really sure why.

“Hey, No…don’t cry! I’m not going to hurt you” he tried to calm the human girl down, but Victoria backed slightly away from him scared. He sighed, knowing well that his usual methods in calming a girl down wouldn’t work on this one, otherwise he would’ve kissed her senseless the moment her first sob came out. He had no choice but to wait until she had calmed down at least a bit. “I’m not going away you know” he told her, “So when you’re ready to talk, just tell me…okay?”

He didn’t expect her to respond, but she did…in a small, cute voice that made Changmin inwardly chuckle. “W-What…what are you?” she asked meekly, a thread of actual curiosity in her voice.

Changmin crossed his arms. “I’d rather answer if you asked who I am, but I guess you already know. I’m Changmin” he said instead, purposely ignoring her original question. “You don’t have to look so afraid, I’m just a little bigger than half your arm, you can beat me up if you really wanted to” while he really shouldn’t have said that, he probably gained a little more of her trust with it. Victoria inched closer, looking a bit more curious.

“Really?” she asked, actually comparing the little thing’s length with her arm. “Oh, you’re right” he was a little worried she would beat him too, but she didn’t as he took the opportunity to try and inch a little more closer to the human girl.

“Are you still afraid of me, then?”

The girl stared, nodded silently but added quickly, seeing the crestfallen look on Changmin’s face “But…I believe you won’t hurt me…you won’t…right?” she had no idea why she believed the little thing…guy but she did. She always did have a weird penchant for weird things anyway. She knew one day it was going to catch up on her, and now with Changmin’s arrival…she couldn’t help but think it did.

“I won’t” She smiled at his words, wondering what makes them different from any of the past men in her life who told her the same ones but ended up hurting her anyways. Her eyes stung at the memory of them. Changmin must’ve noticed as he looked at her seriously. “I won’t hurt you…I’m here to help you”

Victoria blinked at that “What do you mean help me? How will you do that?”

“Well, I heard you crying and well…I don’t like it when a pretty girl cry” he cleared his throat. His face chose a damn well time to blush at that moment and he almost cursed “So I thought I’d help you…” okay, that sounded pathetic for Changmin, but he couldn’t help it. He wasn’t even thinking straight when he decided he wasn’t going to let her cry like that again.

He thought she was going to laugh at him, but Victoria smiled “That’s really sweet of you…are you really going to help me forget my pain?”

‘And so much more, If you’ll let me’ “Of course” he nodded. The more logical side of him knew he was digging himself a grave he could never come out from, but he stared at Victoria’s smile more and he knew at the moment he didn’t care.

“Strawberry Lands…I’ve never heard of it” Victoria said thoughtfully, after listening to Changmin’s tale of how they accidentally stumbled on their place. “It sounds like an amazing place though”

“It is” Changmin agreed. “Maybe if we can go I’ll show you around, we can bounce all over the mushroom fields. Or hang around the cherry groves.”

She giggled