chapter one.

Sulli tells me it's romantic that my birthday is on Valentine's Day, but then she thinks it's romantic when Daehyun remembers  to say excuse me after he burps. Taeyeon tells me it's unfortunate, but only because she thinks it lowers the gift receiving opportunities. I don't really care one way or another. February 14th has always been just another day to me.

"All I'm saying is that we need a plan," Taeyeon says. I nod without looking up.

"Yes, but why are you saying this to me ?"I ask.

"Because you have a plan for everything," Taeyeon says, pointing to my date book, lying open on the counter. In between customers, I was trying to work out my semester. But right now I'm trying to finish stocking the front case before I have to leave. It's not as easy as it looks, building pyramids out of round chocolates. One misplaced candy and you have an avalanche.

"Fine," I say, giving in to Taeyeon. "Tell me the plan."

"Well, I don't have the whole thing worked out yet," she says. "That's where you and your compulsive organization skills come in." I roll my eyes. She nudges me, making me knock over a pile of coconut truffles. "Sorry," she says, making big eyes at me. I sigh and start building again. "The first step is getting you to admit that we need a plan."

I have to stifle the urge to roll my eyes again. Ever since Changmin hung the big pink hearts in the window and started playing Sinatra all the time, Taeyeon's been obsessed with finding a boyfriend. Thankfully I don't have to participate that much in her lunacy. She's like a windup toy; all I have to do is nod and um-hum in the appropriate places to keep her going. I look over at Sulli for help, but she's tapping away on her phone. Texting Daehyun, no doubt. I keep stacking the truffles. I think the coconut ones are completely nasty, but they're one of our biggest sellers.

"I still don't see what the big deal is," I say. I sneak a look at Taeyeon out of the corner of my eye. She's staring at me, slightly open, like I just told her I didn't see what the big deal is with oxygen. "I mean, it's not like it's the end of the world if you don't have a boyfriend for Valentine's Day." Taeyeon actually turns away from me as if I offended her.

"Did you hear that?" she asks Sulli.

Sulli looks up from her phone slowly."Hear what?"

Taeyeon shakes her head. "Good thing you two have me," she says.

"We are very lucky," I say dutifully. Either Taeyeon doesn't hear the sarcasm in my voice or she chooses to ignore it. I can't tell. "Any word from Daehyun?" I ask, lookng over at Sulli. She shakes her head. "Maybe he doesn't have phone service up at the mountains." I feel my heart start racing like it always does when I lie.

"Maybe," Sulli says, but I don't think she believes it any more than I do. Daehyun's on a family ski trip. He's only been gone four days, but to look at Sulli, you'd think it was four hundred. In the year Sulli and Daehyun have beem together, I don't think they have gone more than eight hours without talking to each other and that's just because they have to sleep. But in the last month or so, he's been acting squirrelly. And the weirder he acts, the clingier Sulli gets. And the more freaked out Sulli gets, the more Daehyun seems to retreat. I've noticed he keeps looking behind him when they're together, like he's searching for an exit. I've seen the signs before. So his silence is a bit ominous.

Changmin pushes through the door to the kitchen, balancing a long metal tray covered in foil in his hands. "Coming through," he says, stepping up beside me. He places the tray on the counter in front of me. Even though he does it gently, it sends the coconut truffles I just stacked spinning off in a dozen different directions. Changmin looks at me sheepishly, but I just sigh. He nods at the tray in front of us. "Let the guessing begin," he says. "Soo Rin, you first."

I pretend to think for a moment. "Chocolate," I say, teasing him.

Changmin sighs. "At least try," he says.

"Milk chocolate."

He shakes his head and points at Taeyeon. "Your turn."

"Strawberries and Cream," she says, trying to peek under the foil. Changmin pushes her hand away and shakes his head.

"Cupid's Crunch," Sulli says, picking up her phone and checking it for the five thousandth time.

"No, but points for creativity." Changmin says. "Give up?' He smiles, pinching the corner of the foil with his fingers, ready to whip it off and reveal the new flavour of truffle. This is his favourite moment. He changes the featured flavour out every month. Sometimes it's good, like Mocha Caramel Madness. Sometimes it's boring, like Mango. Sometimes weird, like Chipotle Banana. Once just plain gross, like last summer when Changmin decided to try making avocado candies. Even dubbing them Green Goddess hadn't gotten many to sample them.

"We give up," I say. Changmin whips off the foil, revealing dozens of brown balls with purple squiggles all over them. No one says anything, making Sulli get up and walk over to look at the pan too. "What is it?" I ask, trying to smell anything unusual.

"Kalamata Caramel," Changmin says. "Awesome right?" He looks from Taeyeon to me to Sulli, a big smile on his face.

"Awesome," I say, hoping I sound more enthusiastic than I feel.

"Wait, you mean Kalamata olives ?" Taeyeon asks.

"Yep," Changmin says, clearly excited. "Of course, I just used the olive juice, not the actual olives."

Taeyeon nods, her face unreadable. "Good call," she says. Sulli nods in agreement."Okay, I'll try one." Taeyeon picks up a truffle and pops it in . She closes her eyes for a moment, chewing. Then her eyes pop open. "These are good," she says, reaching for another. "Really good." Changmin just smiles and nods towards me and Sulli. Sulli takes one, but I reach under the counter for a rag and the box of chalk.

"I'll make the sign," I say, trying to get away before Changmin asks me to try one and I have to give him my honest opinion. I am about truth. Not so much because I'm overly moral, but because I am the world's worst liar. I stutter. I start sweating. My pupils dilate. I get this twitchy thing in my left eye. Besides, I'm really not the best at judging Changmin's creations. As weird as it sounds, I just don't like chocolate very much. I'm pretty sure the addition of olives isn't going to change that.

Taeyeon and Sulli follow me outside to the sidewalk. They sit at one of the tables Changmin has out front, right in front of the lettering on the window. CHANGMIN THE CANDY MAN. Although it's not yet lunchtime, people are already starting to filter into the store for their sweet fix. That's one thing about Changmin's. Even the most hard-core health fanatics can find something they want to buy, even if it's just the homemade granola Changmin makes.

The blackboard out front still features March's flavour, Pineapple Orange Banana, or Pine-or-ban as Changmin calls it. Surprisely, it was a big seller. Several people even started stopping by for a quarter pound first thing in the morning. I'm pretty sure that even though it has milk and fruit in it, it still isn't breakfast.

When I first started working here about a year and a half ago, I thought it was Changmin's crazy ideas that were keeping this store from getting the attention it should have, but now I know it's not his candy making. Changmin's a culinary genius. Somehow he puts weird things together and they taste amazing. Changmin's big problem is organization. That's where I come in.

For March, I drew the three fruits playing instruments; the pineapple on drums, the orange with a saxophone, and the banana on vocals, of course. Sort of a tropical jazz trio. I use the rag to clean the blackboard. Then I start drawing olives waltzing with what I hope look like caramels.

"We need a plan," Taeyeon says for the seven thousandth time this morning..

"You've said." I use a piece of choppery chalk to colour in the caramels.

"We need three reasonably good-looking, moderately interesting, not utterly hopeless guys."

"Two," Sulli says. Taeyeon stares at her and I say a silent prayer that for once Taeyeon will be slightly sympathetic.

"Okay, two. Two decent guys in all of Korea. That shouldn't be too hard."
I look past Taeyeon and smile. "I think fate just smiled on you." She looks around then quickly snaps her head back to glare at me. "Hey, Baekhyun," I say to the guy walking up behind her. Taeyeon stares holes into my face before reaching into her purse and pulling out her sunglasses.

Baekhyun barely nods in my direction. "Hi, Taeyeon," he says. I wince as his voice cracks in the middle. Taeyeon hardly acknowledges him. He stands there for a couple of moments, hopeful. I can't help but feel sorry for the guy. He is head over heels in love with Taeyeon, but at least she seems to tolerate him. Just another long line of examples of why love is so stupid. Finally Baekhyun walks past and slips into Changmin's.

"Okay," I say when the door shuts behind him. "One down." I'm pretty sure Taeyeon is glaring at me, but it's hard to tell with the dark glasses.

"Yeah, um, Bacon doesn't count," she says.

"But he likes you," I say.

"Soo Rin, please be serious." I look over at Sulli and see she's smiling, so I keep going.

"But, just think, Taeyeon, he'd probably name a character after you in Warcraft," I say.

"Maybe he'd play you a song on his clarinet," Sulli says. Taeyeon sighs.

"Okay," I say, adding curlicues around the edges of the blackboard. "I'll be serious."

"I'm just tired of being single," Taeyeon says. "And Soo Rin, aren't you ready? I mean, you haven't really dated anyone since what's-his-name last fall."

"Zelo," I say, colouring the olives deep purple. "His name was Zelo. But he doesn't count. That was under duress." Sulli rolls her eyes. Zelo is Daehyun's wingman—something he actually calls himeself, which should have been a clue. I went out with him once because Sulli begged me to. It was awesome. When it's humid, my purple hoodie still smells vaguely of vomit. "Wait," I say, smiling. "You're forgetting Chanyeol."

"You only went out with Chanyeol like three times," Taeyeon says.

"True. And they were also under duress."

"Stop using that word," Taeyeon says. "It's not like anyone forced you to go out with him."

"Seriously?" I can't keep my indignation to myself. "Taeyeon, when you begged me to go with you to accidentally bump into Do Kyungsoo at Zuzu's, you neglected to mention that you had actually already told Kyungsoo you'd swing by and that you'd bring a friend. What do you call that?"

Taeyeon rolls her eyes at me. "Well, that was one time, but you also went out with him to the SPCA Day at the Park."

I take a deep breath and count to ten. Backwards. Slowly. "Only because you kept telling me that for every ten dollars the animal shelter raised, the life of a puppy would be saved!"

"And you watched a movie together," she says.

I don't bother responding. I've already told her about watching half a movie with Chanyeol because I couldn't stand to sit throught the whole thing.

"What exactly do you have against dating anyway?" Taeyeon asks.

I shrug. "I just don't see the point. It's not like it's required."

"Soo Rin, please." Taeyeon says, dismissing Zelo, Chanyeol, my arguments, and the last of my sanity with the flip of her fingers. "I'm just saying. It's time."

"Time," I say, looking at my watch. "I have to go. I'm supposed to be at my mom's shop in ten minutes." I stare at my drawing of waltzing caramels and olives. It's missing something. I decided to give top hats to the olives and high heels to the caramels and wuickly sketch them in.

"Go," Sulli says. "We'll finish up." I give her a grateful smile and untie my apron. I pull the door to the shop open and holler to Changmin, who has disappeared into the back.

"Changmin," I say, bailing up my apron and lobbing it toward the bin under the counter. "I have to go."

He peeks his head out. "Thanks for the help, Soo Rin. See you in a few days?"

"I have to check with my mom. I'll call you." He nods and smiles, his eyes crinkling under his wire-rimmed glasses. I think I've gotten away, but Changmin hurries over to me, and s a paper bag into my hands. "Don't forget your candy," he says. "I want you honest opinion."

"Thanks," I say, taking the bag. I kick myself for not getting out there faster. I step back outside. "Bye!" I yell, tearing past Sulli and Taeyeon as they finish colouring my drawing.

"Don't be late tomorrow!" Sulli shouts.

"I won't!" I yell over my shoulder, laughing. Sulli likes to tease me about the punctuality. I am always early for everything.

I'm sort of proud of myself for actually being able to run the whole way over to my mom's shop. Maybe the fact that I'm not totally O's by the time I get there means that the first day of swim practice won't be horrible. I pause and check out my appearance in one of the big windows on the front of the store. I can half see myself, with my cutoffs and rainbow checked Vans and my T-shirt from last year's regional meet. But I can also see half through the window into my mom's flower shop, so that on top of my usual stick-straight brown hair, I have a vase of purple tulips coming out of my head. It's weird for sure, but a definite improvement from the usual Soo Rin. The door opens and mom pokes her head out.

"There you are! You're right on time—" The rest of what she says disappeares into the shop with her. I walk over, catch the door before it closes, and follow her in. With a bang, my little brother Minseok, tears out of the workroom with my little sister Hyoyeon, close behind. She chases him around the shop with a leftover sprig of mistletoe held out in front of her. She's making kissing noises  as she runs. Each time she starts to close in on Minseok, he screams and bolts away again. They careen past, bouncing off me and into a low table full of African violets, knocking several pots onto their sides. As soon as they see me, they're on me, or rather on the bag I'm carrying.

"Candy!" They both shriek.

"No screaming please," my mother says. She relieves them of the bag with promises that they can each have one after dinner if they are good. Fat chance. "Soo Rin's here to take you home!" She says it in her bouncy, happy voice. It's the same voice she uses for everything she thinks might get an argument: cleaning the litter box, getting shots at the doctor, eating Brussels sprouts. It only takes a few minutes to get Minseok and Hyoyeon rounded up and out the door. My mother is taking an order out the door as we leave, but she offers a grateful smile and mouths thank you.

I follow Minseok and Hyoyeon down the sidewalk towards SummerCove Avenue. We've been speending a lot of time together over the last couple of weeks. With Valentine's Day roses, Easter lilies, and then the march of the June weddings, this is the start of a busy time of year for florists. Mostly I don't mind helping out, but occasionally I miss the days when I was an only child. The peace and quiet and first dibs on the bathroom were nice.

We are home exactly four minutes (I know this because that's the amount of time necessary to microwave two bowls of Easy Mac) when the kitchen sink explodes. No—really. Suddenly there is water everywhere. I try to turn off the miniature geyser that is erupting from the faucet, but twisting the knobs doesn't help. I start digging cleaning supplies out from under the sink and find the water valves below. Living in an old building has made me pretty handy. I manage to shut off the water, but not before I am thoroughly drenched and there is a good inch of water on the kitchen floor.

"Whoa," Minseok says from the doorway. He begins jumping up and down in the puddle, sending streams of water everywhere.

"Stop!" I yell, running for the hall closet. I pull out a stack of beach towels and head back to the kitchen. My wet socks leave a trail across the living room floor. I notice that Hyoyeon has left her spot in front of the television and joined Minseok in the kitchen. Sighing in defeat, I watch them splash for a while, grateful that it's just water spraying the cabinets and not ketchup like last time.

Once they've worn themselves out, I hand them each a towel and make them help me clean up the mess. Of course, this is a mixed bag because soon Minseok is snapping his wet towel and she's screaming at him to stop. I finally get them settled in front of cartoons  with a bowl each of pasta covered in a sauce so orange that I'm pretty sure it glows in the dark.

Just half an hour until bedtime. I keep repeating this to myself.

I take our recycling bin out to the curb for pickup. I take a deep breathe of the night air, savoring the quietness. Mr Oh, from next door, is just setting his recycling out, too. Their dog, Donnie, runs circles around his legs. I wave hello and start to ask him when Sehun is coming back, but I guess he doesn't hear me because he quickly heads back inside, Donnie following close at his heels.

I walk back back into the house and peek at Minseok and Hyoyeon, who are thankfully still parked in front of cartoons. I return to the kitchen and pull out the jar of peanut butter and a spoon. Gross, I know, but whatever. I'm just about to take my first bite when the phone rings. (Taeyeon wonders how I stay so thin. Big secret: No time to eat)

"Hello?" All I can hear is sniffling. Then my name, soft and watery.

"Sulli?" More sniffling.

"He still hasn't called." Another sniff. "Why hasn't he called?" I look up at the ceiling. Here is where things get tricky. Do I tell he's probably just busy or out of range? Or do I tell her what I'm pretty sure she already suspects. I mean, I like Daehyun in general, but he's never really been the great guy Sulli thinks he is.

There's really no choice. Even over the phone, I'm a terrible liar. "Sulli, I think—"

"Soo Rin, I gotta go. Daehyun's on the other line. See you tomorrow." She's gone before I can even say good-bye. I want to tell her to stop being so available, to stop making herself nuts over him, but then I don't even pretend to know what love feels like. I sigh and put my phone back on the counter. Hopefully Daehyun has an awesome excuse, like he fell off the ski lift and is in full body cast. Or maybe he'll just tell Sulli the truth. I won't hold my breath for either.

"Minseok! Hyoyeon! Let's get cleaned up for bed."  I brace myself for the tears and the begging, but instead they're totally quiet. With them, quiet meant trouble. I walk into the living room and see Minseok holding Miss Kitty, our fifteen-year-old kitty cat, on his lap while Hyoyeon uses a purple Sharpie to draw curlicues all over her white fur. Mac and cheese, love struck friends, a tattooed cat, and an exploding sink. Just another day in the life of Kim Soo Rin.

author's note. 

To start off April Fools Day, a new story! I'm determined to finish this as soon as possible. No joke here though. On the countary, this better not be a joke too.

What

on

earth—

Enuff said.