— Tots in the Park —

It is February when Changmin begs his mom to bake him a chocolate cake for his 5th birthday.

"Please?" he whines, his mismatched eyes looking up at her pleadingly.

"Changmin-ah," she sighs. "I know how much you love chocolate cake, so why not buy a bigger and better and tastier cake from the grocery store? Mommy is kind of busy these days," she explains.

He pouts. He's dead set on making his own cake this time. After all, he reasons, after all his years of being alive (a whopping four-going-on-five), all he's eaten for his birthdays has been store-bought cake. It's about time he figure out what's exactly inside of it that makes it so yummy.

"I. Want. To. Make. Chocolate. Cake."

It's a staring contest that his mom can't stand to win. She breaks out into laughter, the kind that makes Changmin all warm and giddy inside, and he smiles, knowing that he's gotten his way. "Thank you, mommy!" He hugs her tightly, arms wrapping around her lower waist.

"Alright, let's go buy the ingredients then," she grins, patting him on the head.

And that's how Changmin ends up racing a shopping cart against no one in particular down an empty aisle in the grocery store. He treats the cart as a scooter (but really, it's a racecar), almost tripping as he glides past shelves of cereal and crackers. "This is so fun!" he laughs to himself, ignoring his mom's concerned protests.

He figures he's going at precisely a million miles an hour (his goal one day is to ride his bike that fast). The next NASCAR champion, wind in his face, some groovy song booming over the supermarket speakers –

Oomph.

Oops.

A clash of metal, head spinning from the impact, does the race simply end like this? First-place Shim Changmin is out of the running! He's stopped dead in his tracks, his own cart colliding head-on with another.

It takes him a couple seconds to realize that he's not really on a racetrack with hundreds of fans cheering him on. He gulps. He looks up to see a girl seated in the shopping cart, staring at him with large eyes.

"Changmin!" His mother calls out, running over. "I'm so sorry," she apologizes to the woman pushing the cart. “Changmin, apologize right now.”

“Sorry,” he mumbles.

His mom only shakes her head.  "Mrs. Im, right?" His mom's eyes flash in recognition. "I believe we met once at a friend's party."

The other lady smiles, slight wrinkles around her eyes. "Ah, yes. Nice to see you here, Mrs. Shim."

While the mothers socialize, Changmin curiously peers at the girl sitting in the cart. Her hands are clutching tightly to an unopened bag of lollipops. "I'm Changmin." He reaches out his right hand, remembering the way his dad greets others.

The girl looks at him inquisitively, cocking her head to the side. She doesn't seem to understand. He smiles. "What's your name?"

"Yoona," she says.

"Cool," he replies. He raises an eyebrow when he sees her squirming in her seat. "What are you–“

She jumps out of the cart onto the floor. “It was a bit squishy,” she explains.

He’s amazed at how graceful she is. It kind of reminds him of the people at the circus who can get out of any container no matter what.

“You were racing cars, weren’t you,” she’s teasing him now, eyes shining.

He’s caught a bit off guard. “How did you know?”

“I used to do that until one time I actually fell and got a boo-boo on my knee. That’s why I have to actually sit in the cart now.”

She does talk quite a bit, he notices. “Ah,” he murmurs, his respect for her increasing even more. “That’s so…heroic.” He has a thing for hero movies.

She beams. “What are you buying today?”

“Ingredients for chocolate cake!” he answers happily. “It’s my birthday tomorrow.”

“Happy early birthday then,” she gives him another smile. He thinks it’s a nice smile.

“Thanks.”

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