Chapter Seven: Eat, Pray, Love

“Destiny, I feel, is also a relationship - a play between divine grace and willful self-effort.” 

                Seunghyun was draped across the desk and cashier in a rather feline manner, casually eating an apple with Gayun sat in her usual chair. This seemed to be his favorite place to be while she read but that didn’t stop him from complaining or her from growing increasingly annoyed with him preventing her from having a place to set down her mug.

               The bell tinkled as someone walked inside the shop. Gayun called out a greeting before looking up over the demon. The girl had been in the shop before more than a couple times and had been Seunghyun’s takeout almost consistently. So, she expected him to get up and start flirting with her but he took another large bite out of the apple instead.

                “Hi, Seungri-ssi,” the girl greeted while adjusting her hipster glasses; Seungri was apparently the name most of his meals called him so Gayun was rather happy about not using the nickname. Seunghyun gave her his usual carefree smile but continued eating the bright red fruit. “Can you recommend something for me?”

                And there was the code for leaving the store to go have . He shrugged before motioning to one of the shelves nearby, “I liked reading those.”

                “Oh?” she asked, looking a little bit confused.

                “Yup,” he nodded, causing Gayun to sigh. This girl had been a really good customer who actually took books home with her and came back with more. Gayun was beginning to like her.

“Can I help you find something?” Gayun interjected, sitting up slightly to see over the demon. She shook her head and gave the store owner a small smile before picking one of the books from the shelf Seunghyun had motioned to before. She grabbed a random book and paid for it, forcing Seunghyun to shift slightly so Gayun could access the cash register, before quickly leaving the store.

“What was that about?” Gayun asked, “I thought you liked her.”

“I’m not in the mood for sweets; don’t want to get a cavity and all that,” he snickered. Gayun resisted the urge to push him off of the desk but it was extremely tempting. Though, she supposed that pissing off a demon would probably not be a good way to pass the afternoon away.

“What do you mean sweets?”

“Her energy is sweet, like strawberry ice cream,” he explained, “Everyone has a different flavor and I mean would you really want to eat the same thing so often?” She supposed not. She couldn’t even eat ramen anymore due to how often she had to eat it when she first opened the store. She also couldn’t stand the taste of scrambled eggs but that was because of her college’s cafeteria.

“So what do you see when you look at people then?” she inquired, setting down the book she had been reading in her surprisingly cat-less lap. He took another bit of his apple, getting to the core now, while he thought over the question.

“Generally, I see either other monsters like me or different types of food. I’m not always right about what flavor people are. There was this one librarian I thought would be all vanilla but she ended up being a dominatrix. Imagine my surprise.” He chuckled to himself before tossing the apple core into the trash can. It landed in there with a satisfying thud, causing him to smile, before shifting his position on the desk so that he could look down at her.

“I’m guessing I was rice or something like that when you first saw me then?”

“Hm?” He cocked his eyebrow at her when she guessed that. His lips shifted into an even larger grin before replying, “No. I thought you’d have a little spice to you. I was right, you know. Your personality is not as bland as your appearance lets on. Though, obviously, that doesn’t transfer to the bedroom.”

She didn’t know why but she suddenly found herself blushing. What he told her wasn’t exactly a compliment but it wasn’t an insult either. “What am I now that I’m not food?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” he sighed before running a hand through his hair, “You’re not food, don’t worry about that. You’re still a human but… I don’t know. Why do you need to know?”

“I don’t need to know, I was just curious,” she answered quickly. He snorted with laughter but didn’t about the quick response. Instead, he hoped down off of the desk and went to go find a book to read. They had just gotten a bunch of new books after all.

While he browsed the new books, Gayun sat there wondering why she was acting so strange. He grabbed a small novel and moved to sit back on the desk but Gayun got up and offered him the coveted comfy chair.

“What’s this for?” he asked even as he sat down.

“I want to go to the store,” she replied in an attempt to be nonchalant. She didn’t quite pull it off but he settled in to the chair with two of her cats and opened the book. Gayun went upstairs to grab her bag and avoided looking at him when she left the store. She just needed to clear her head and there was no way that she could even attempt to do that inside of the shop.

Somehow, she found her way to a furniture store a couple of blocks away and began looking at other chairs that could possibly fit in the store. There were a lot of tiny chairs that could potentially fit but she wasn’t sure that Seunghyun would actually like them. She wanted another comfy chair so he would quit sitting on the desk but none would fit inside her cramped shop unless she moved things around.

She stopped in front of some more shelving units that seemed like they’d fit more books than the ones she had now before Gayun finally realized what she was doing. She took a step back and groaned at her own actions.

“What’s wrong with me?” she whined, “I’m acting like he’s a permanent fixture or something.” It was obvious that he wasn’t going to stay forever. It was written all over the situation. Besides, he was a demon and she had never read a story where a demon was a main character and the ending turned out just fine.

Still, she could justify buying him a chair if only to quit looking at his back. Except there was no way that she was going to redo her shop on the budget she had to work with just to get him a chair. She shook her head before escaping the store.

“What the hell is this, some sort of TV drama?” she hissed after walking out the doors and being immediately hit with the torrential downpour that had started while she had been browsing through the store. She whispered curses under her breath as she began to walk back to the bookstore. She was acting so stupid and now she was going to pay for it with the inevitable cold that would follow getting this wet.

Gayun was so upset with herself that she almost didn’t notice the tiny mewls that were coming from a small alleyway. She stopped and pushed her damp bangs out of her face before turning to the alley with a new mission in mind. There had to be something good that came out of this trip.