“Don’t worry yaar, I mean friend. I’m safe and am already outside my apartment building. You enjoy an evening out with your parents.” Asma said to MiNa who was on the other side of the conversation as she entered the building and started to climb up the stairs. The latter was apparently forced by her parents to spend an evening out with them to dine, so she couldn’t follow Asma to her apartment. Well what can I say now? The latter was too overprotective of the former recently.

“Take care and enjoy chingu! And smile more!” she chimed to her bestfriend as she reached her floor and then ended off her conversation with MiNa.

Just when she was opening her door with her keys, the pink teddy bear and a note beside it caught the attention of the former.

“The note.” She panicked. It was the same color as the previous ones; pink. That was enough for her to recognize the owner of the note and the teddy. An explanation wasn’t necessary.

Without second thoughts, she hurriedly entered her apartment while abandoning the ‘presents’ out. Little did she know that she was still being watched.

Hmm. So she doesn’t like teddy bears, I see. he thought. “Seems like she’ll like something else.” he said to himself and entered his apartment with a sly smile.

The morning rays fell on the girl’s face, making her squint her eyes due to the bright light. “Shoot! I missed my alarm today!” she panicked and started to get done with her morning chores immediately; skipping her breakfast for the first time in two months.

She exited her apartment in lightning speed after locking the door behind that she didn’t even realize she had stepped on something while being in a rush.

There she left the building on her pink bicycle and here the mysterious one stood outside her doorstep yet again. He bent down and carefully picked the now destroyed rose; with a few petals detached from its stalk.

“She stepped on you, but that was because she didn’t notice you due to hurry. I forgive you.” he spoke to the rose. “But you know what? You are the luckiest rose in the whole world. She stepped on you which means she touched you with her feet; leaving you for me to feel her touch on you. Hence, I’m going to cherish you more from now on.” he smiled. He then went near her door and started touching the doorknob. To be more specific, he was feeling the doorknob, with eyes closed while a dreamy smile lingered on his lips.

“She was here, touching it. I can still feel her warmth on it.” he thought as he felt the doorknob. He bent a little and inhaled the scent on the doorknob. “Umm, strawberry body lotion.” he whispered.

Stepping back, he noticed the abandoned teddy bear once more and picked it up slowly. “Bad teddy bear.” he said. “You’ll be punished for disappointing me. You couldn’t satisfy my girl.” He lightly slapped the poor inanimate object and brought it into his apartment along with the note and the rose that he carefully carried. Placing the rose and the note on the shelf, he took the teddy in the kitchen and placed it on the counter. He rummaged through his kitchen utensils and soon found what he was looking for; a knife.

He supported the teddy’s head with his right hand after making it sit on the counter and started plucking the poor toy’s eyes out with the knife held in his left hand. A lefty.

“This is for not catching her attention at first.” he said as he plucked out the left eye.

“This is for not impressing her after seeing you.” he plucked out the right one.

“This is for disappointing me.” he stabbed the toy’s tummy this time, making the knife get stuck to the internal cotton and silk fibre.

“This is for her not accepting you.” he said as he shredded the poor plushie with no mercy.

After destroying the poor teddy and leaving it with no way to get repaired back, he was interrupted from his ‘little’ punishment by a call on his expensive cellphone.

“Boss, you have a very important meeting today.” A lady was heard from the other side as the cellphone was on loudspeaker.

“I’m busy Hyemi-ssi.” He replied back while cleaning off the ‘crime weapon’ with his fingers.

“But…it’s worth 500 million dollars boss.” Tension was obvious in her tone.

“A few dollars can be earned back another time. I’m busy right now.” He replied back while placing the knife back in its original place and picked the shattered toy.

“Got it.” A sigh was heard. “I shall disconnect the call now sir.” she added.

“Wait.” He immediately said.

“Yes boss?” the reply was rather quick and a slight hope could be sensed in the lady’s voice.

“What do girls like other than teddy bears?” he asked straight forward.

“Girls? Hmm… a pet? I’d go for a pet. Like… a cat or a puppy?” confused answer was given back by the lady.

A puppy! he thought. “Hyemi-ssi, you’ve got a very important job to do. If it succeeds, your promotion is a matter of just a day.”

The latter’s quick response and enthusiasm showed that it wasn’t a joke.

“Anything sir!” the lady responded with enthusiasm.

You are going to love the new congratulatory gift Asma. And you’re going to accept it. he thought.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“I’m really missing the SHINee boys today.” Asma pouted as she placed her cup of hot cappuccino on the coffee table in the café near her apartment.

“It’s rather calming and peaceful and I’m really enjoying it. so don’t ruin it for me please.” MiNa frowned and sipped on her cup of mocha afterwards.

“Trust me, they are a good distraction from stress with all the silliness they come up with. Oww, oww.” Well, the naïve one burnt her lip with her hot coffee unconsciously. “And respect them, okay. I’m a Shawol.” she frowned. MiNa scowled teasingly in response.

Well, the story behind the dorks goes like this. After all the zoo fun they had, they were informed about their pending Japan activities and the boys had to take the earliest flight the next morning. Whereas the SuJu boys were busy with their Repackage album and jacket cover photo shoots.

But let me tell you, the dinos were sulking over their schedules.

The puppydino was literally bawling his eyes out with all the melodrama he created the night before the flight while the fishydino was irritating his poor *ahem my hubby ahem* bestfriend, sulking off and throwing questions about when they would get done with the activities and whatnot.

“But you getting late for University was pretty surprising, you know.” MiNa said sipping on her remaining coffee.

I couldn’t sleep last night, alright.” Asma scowled.

“Yeah right, the simply loves you too much.” She smirked.

“Shut up, will you? It’s like a living nightmare.”

“But I think it’s not that bad, not till now at least.” MiNa smirked yet again.

The latter kept on teasing the naïve one to calm her down and lighten up her mood. After finishing their coffees, the two decided to leave. MiNa had accompanied Asma all the way from SNU to her apartment just to make sure that the latter was safe. Yes, her overprotective mode was striking again.

“You really make me feel like a kid. The feeling you give me recently is no different from an overprotective mother.” Asma snickered while parking her bicycle outside the building in the parking lot. MiNa’s scooty soon followed the same.

“Can’t help it when I’ve got a naïve friend to take care of.” The latter teased.

“I know how to defend myself alright.” Asma laughed as she climbed the stairs along with MiNa.

“What if the attacker overpowers you? You’d definitely need the stronger me then.” MiNa proudly stated. She looked cute by the way, though Asma couldn’t see her as she was leading.

“You and your thoughts.” Asma snickered as she reached the apartment floor and froze on the spot.

“They come in handy~” cooed MiNa as she reached the floor behind the former and was puzzled at the frozen one. After following the gaze of the other one, realization dawned into her.

She brought Asma back from her frozen state and slowly pulled her along to her doorstep.

There, a basket was waiting; with a little puppy in it. But that wasn’t the only thing that had caused the girl to freeze. It was the destroyed teddy bear next to the basket that had caught her off guard.

Asma started to pick the teddy with extremely trembling hands after reading the note she had discovered next to it, dropping the note. MiNa picked the note from its fallen spot and went through it.

“” was only what MiNa managed to say after registering in the contents of the new note.

She hurriedly picked the basket from the doormat and dragged Asma inside the latter’s apartment immediately; shutting and locking the door behind her.

The latter was still in a shock to realize anything. The sane one started shaking the latter violently by her shoulders.

“He’s crazy Asma! He’s a freaking crazy psycho! You’re not safe here anymore!”

Asma just let MiNa shake her violently, still intently staring at the destroyed teddy in her hands.

“You have to change your place! Are you listening to me? You’re not safe here anymore! Say something damn it!” MiNa shouted at her to bring her back to her senses. And it happened. Asma finally broke down. She crashed on the floor and started sobbing uncontrollably.

“I can’t.” she sobbed painfully. “I c..can’t ch..change the p..place. I c..can’t afford another ap..apartment.” she continued and managed to say while sobbing.

“Bull! I’m there!” MiNa spat angrily.

“I hate borrowing money!” Asma finally screamed, screamed at her friend for the first time.

MiNa was feeling the agony her friend was going through. Yes, her feelings got hurt. Thoughts; negative ones, started clouding her mind. Was she an incapable friend to Asma? Did Asma not trust her enough to accept her help? Were the two months of the bond they shared fake? If not, why was it so hard to persuade the latter from accepting her help?

Albeit she didn’t know the reason behind the latter’s persistence, being hasty could cause useless and unwanted misunderstandings. And the smart and considerate one knew about it. Hence, she decided to try once more. This time, the method was rather a calm and a composed one.

“Why don’t you trust me?” she slowly asked as she sat down on the floor; getting to Asma’s level and cupped Asma’s face tenderly, sending her warm concern through the simple gesture.

Asma’s face was in a very pitiful state, puffy red eyes, red nose, cheeks stained with tears still streaming down her face, hair a mess. In short, she was a total sobbing mess; hiccupping the whole time.

“Tell me. Please.” MiNa tenderly asked. Asma told her everything about her background. The crisis they were facing and how she couldn’t afford borrowing a huge amount of money that she wasn’t sure she could pay back. MiNa also realized that Asma hated accepting free favors out of pity and she was too stubborn in this matter due to past experiences.

“You trust me?” MiNa softly asked; anxiously waiting for the latter’s response. Asma nodded with eyes still red and puffy yet innocent.

“Am I important to you?” MiNa softly asked, almost in a whisper. The response from the latter was the same again.

“I won’t be lending you money.” She paused, ”but you’ll have to live with me from now on.” She finished; scanning the other’s eyes after saying what she had decided on.

She noticed Asma’s shocked expression as Asma’s eyes widened and how she bit on her lower lip in thought. Asma’s mind wanted to refuse her but her heart was telling her otherwise.

“But..”

“Trust me, I’m doing this for the selfish me. I’m selfish because I want to save a dear friend for my own. I want to protect you for myself and not out of pity.” MiNa tightened her soft grip on Asma’s right hand to ensure the latter of her words.

After a long pause, Asma nodded; her heart winning over her mind. There was no way she couldn’t trust MiNa’s words after all.

“Sh… now stop crying. I’m staying here for the night.” she guided Asma to her room and let the latter lie on her still messed up bed from the morning, covering her with the blanket shortly after removing off the latter’s scarf and placing it on the chair.

Sleep soon crawled into the sobbing girl’s eyes and she fell deep into it; forgetting all about her surroundings. The shock and crying had exhausted her.

MiNa exited Asma’s bedroom after switching off the lights and carefully closing the door behind her, heading to the basket in which the little West Highland white terrier was peacefully sleeping. She then picked the pink note again from the basket and reread it; her blood boiling with rage.

“I punished the bad teddy for being ignored by you. It was meant for congratulating you last night but you didn’t like it I guess.

A new congratulatory present will sure make you happy. But if you still don’t accept it, I’m afraid…. it’ll have the same fate as the teddy here.

Enjoy the love of a loyal pet and the loyal me. Congratulations! ^^

From yours and only yours,

To mine…..and ONLY mine.”

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GOSH! A very creepy chapter indeed. I was getting goosebumps when writing about the '' as MiNa calls him. I'm done with the next chapter too but I won't be posting it right away. I'll keep another chapter prepared before I post the coming one. 

So, HOW did U guys find this chapter? I really got all creeped out and all but I want to know what you guys think about. comment and comment and silent readers, i know u're out there. I have 71 subbers for this story so this SURELY means I have silent readers too. so please, I really would love to c u guys come out and comment every once in a while. :)

Special mentions to Ryukai and Shnerdy coz really girls, ur comments REALLY are what have resulted in this BIG change in my writing style for this fic. 

Yeah..I nearly forgot to mention this, I won't be starting my new fic unless and untill I have at least 7 to 8 chapters in hand and MOST PROBABALY, I won't be starting it until I get done with this fic. And I'm trying to update my existing stories as much as I can since I won't be able to update for a year probably since my 4th year activities will start starting the 2nd of Sept.

Till the next update, this is Ashmy

Signing off with a smile.

FEEDBACKS! I really look forward to those. *hugs*

Anneyong!^^