He walked through the aisles of the late night convenience store and ran a shaky hand through his bright red hair. He was the only customer in the store, accompanied by the cashier and the humming of the large freezers. He stared at the snacks and furrowed his brow. ‘Why is this so difficult this time?” he asked himself as he roamed every bag and packet in sight. He knew he had to pick soon before his roommates found out about his disappearance, but he couldn’t just pick up anything, he needed to make sure whatever snack he decided to purchase would grant him another hug. Truthfully, he wanted to make sure that whatever snack he picked up would earn him a kiss. The corners of his lips rose as he reminisced on Sunny’s smiling face. The excitement she felt made him feel like a hero, as if he’d saved a whole nation. “Do you need any help there son?” asked the hairy cashier as he leaned over the counter and stared at the boy, a look of curiosity behind his glass eye.

“U-um, no sir. I’ll only be a few more minutes,” he said as he placed a smile on his face. He knew the cashier had kept his eye on him since the moment he walked in, and the fact that he spent a little more than an hour searching for the perfect snack made him feel like a criminal. ‘Come on Xiumin, this shouldn’t be so difficult’ he thought to himself as he ran his hand through his hair once again. Just as he decided to try another store, his eyes settled on the golden wrapping of a small box, a chocolate colored brown ribbon wrapped securely around it. He didn’t hesitate to quickly bend down and grab the box before walking happily towards the relieved cashier. He watched as the man swiped the box over a red light that emanated a sudden loud beep.

“$2.95,” said the cashier as he pushed the box towards the confused boy. Quickly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out all the money he had. He was unaware of the concept of human money, but he immediately decided that a box wrapped that delicately had to be very expensive. He looked at the man as his mouth hung open in awe. Bills of all values covered the table, it all had to be at least $50.00, but being the greedy man the cashier was, he smiled towards the oblivious boy and quickly tucked the money into his pocket. “Thank you, please come again,” he said as he smiled widely, revealing a set of perfectly golden teeth.

“Goodbye,” said Xiumin as he held the box close to his heart. He ran to his car and closed the door before closing his eyes and letting out a loud sigh of satisfaction. ”I really hope she loves this,” he said as he set the box down on the passenger seat and started his car.

The drive back towards the house was long, quiet, and lonely. Somewhere between his departure from the store to the intersection he sat at presently, rain began to fall. He listened to the sound of the drops as they hit the roof of the car and he basked in the scent of fresh rain as the happiness in his heart soon morphed into overwhelming tiredness. ‘Just a few more minutes. Stay awake. For Sunny’ he told himself as he stepped on the gas pedal once again.

-----

“Oh, hey Sunny! We forgot to ask you yesterday, but where did you go during lunch?” asked Jessica as she walked beside the tiny woman. Sunny felt her heart quicken as she suddenly remembered her friend’s resentment towards Kris. Quickly, she brought her hands together and began to tap her fingers rapidly.

“I-um, I-“

“Hi Sunny!” said a familiar voice as she turned to see XiuMin’s smiling face.

“Hi!” said Sunny as she quickly walked towards the boy. She felt her heart settle as she quickly said goodbye to her friends. Wrapping her arm around Xiumin’s, she let out a sigh of relief as they entered their homeroom class. Despite Sunny’s strange behavior, Xiumin couldn’t help but feel a happy sweetness wrap around his body at the feeling of Sunny’s warm arm around his. However, as soon as they stepped foot into the incredibly loud classroom, Sunny managed to snake her arm out of XiuMin’s grasp.

He watched sadly as she sat at her desk, a happy smile brightening up her face. “Aren’t you gonna sit down?” asked Sunny as she rested her hands on her thighs, a look of confusion on her face as she stared at the frozen wolf. Glancing up towards her beautiful face, he nodded shyly then took his seat beside Sunny.

“Did you manage to finish the reading Mrs. Dertie gave us?” asked Xiumin as he slowly placed his books onto the desk. When he didn’t receive a response, he looked up to see Sunny’s beautiful smile, except she wasn’t facing him; she was staring at the door. He focused on her eyes and saw a softness that he’d never seen before. His heart sped up as he turned his attention towards the door where a tall man with an ever present cold atmosphere walked into the room. He watched as the man lifted the ends of his lips slightly, not a smile but definitely not a frown, as his eyes met Sunny’s. ‘What’s going on here?’ he thought as he angrily bit his lip. His eyes turned a dark red as he glared at the strange man as he walked towards the back of the classroom before taking his seat.

“Were you saying something?” asked Sunny as she tapped on Xiumin’s tense shoulder. He turned around quickly, his eyes rapidly changing from the menacing dark red to a soft brown as he studied Sunny’s seemingly flawless face.

“N-no, I wasn’t,” he said before placing a weary smile on his face. “I didn’t say a thing.”

------

“That’s strange,” said Sunny as she walked into the cafeteria, TaeYeon on her arm.

“What’s strange?” asked the unusually beautiful elf as she walked towards a table occupied by her favorite ice sorceress.

“The atmosphere smells absolutely delightful,” she said as she closed her eyes and sniffed the wonderful air.

“It must be the food, I heard they added something new to the menu,” said TaeYeon as she rested her bag on an empty chair.

“It’s probably something disgusting like chicken earwax,” said Sunny as she frowned, a mortified expression on her face as she imagined such a revolting dish.

Letting out a soft chuckle at Sunny’s facial expression, Jessica placed her cup of wallerbee snake sweat down and informed Sunny of her strange discovery, “It’s actually nothing I’ve ever seen before. It was pretty vile.”

It didn’t take Sunny too long to realize that vile to Jessica was marvelous to Sunny and so she quickly smiled and ran towards the kitchen, the smell growing as she made her way closer and closer to the mysterious new addition. “What’s new?” she asked as she tried to avoid the jar of frog eyes that sat comfortably on the ledge beside her.

“Human food. Dean JungWoo ordered it. I have no idea why though, it’s revolting and I-“

“I’ll take that,” she said happily as she grabbed a tray and held it out in front of her excited body. Never in her life had she ever been so happy to eat a plate of samgyeopsal. Before she could comment on how delicious the food looked, she felt a tap on her shoulder as she turned around to see Xiumin’s smiling face once again. Giggling at his cuteness she greeted and immediately shared her happiness.

“Xiumin! Look! They added human food onto the menu! I’ve never been so happy to see proper food, nothing could be better than this,” she said as she smiled towards the man. With every word, his smile faded into a disappointed grimace as he secretly tucked the box of chocolate into his bag.

“Is-is that so?” he asked, all forms of happiness drained from his voice as his thoughts swam back to how difficult it was to retrieve that stupid box of chocolate. ‘I’m such an idiot’ he thought as he quickly dismissed himself.

Quickly walking out of the loud cafeteria, he walked towards his empty dorm and threw the box of chocolate into the garbage, unmoved by the sight of the now broken and damaged box. “I’m such an idiot,” he said to himself as he sat on his bed. How could he let his heart go so easily? How could he fall for someone so quickly? “Like she would have liked me anyway, Kris probably already has her heart,” he said as he ran his hand through his hair. Placing his hand on his heart, he lay down and allowed his heart to ache at the realization that Sunny saw him as nothing but a measly friend.  

---

Poor XiuMin :(

Tell me, who do you want Sunny to end up with? ^_^

Who do you think told the dean to order human food? hmmmmmm :P

Please comment and tell me what you think so far!