[CONTENTID1]Double Chocolate Sunbaes[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]A Selection of Chocolate-Boys by gaksitalGaksital[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

Suzy eyed all the food on the table and wasted no time to gobble them rapaciously. Her father dropped his chopsticks and stared at his daughter's dinner appetite with admiration.  He was proud of her lack of table manners.

Suzy, on the other, simply wanted to degust her dinner quickly, so that she could eat her favorite course: dessert.

Mrs. Kang shook her head in shame. She didn't appease with Suzy's dinner appetite. The last thing she wanted was Suzy gaining weight at the tender age of twenty.  She had husbands to hunt!

"How were your lectures?" Mr. Kang asked curiously.

Suzy flinched. There was no way out of this. She needed to be honest. "Difficult. I think I'll have to start studying from now."

"Of course, of course," her father added, nodding at her, "It is university after all."

Suzy wondered if the rest of her lectures would be this difficult. She could barely concentrate in the biology lectures but the chemistry and maths lectures made her feel as if they were taught in an alien language.

"Now hold on a sec," Mrs. Kang piped in, "If you're always cooped up in the library, then how will the boys notice you?"

Suzy choked on the water that she was drinking.  Her face held a crimson flush as she coughed, banging her fist against her sternum.  Her mother hurriedly patted the area between her shoulder blades to ease the tension.

"Eomma!" Suzy moaned, once her airways were cleared up.

"Honey!" Mr. Kang condemned his wife's suggestion. "My babygirl is still too young for that!  Suzy, do you remember what I've taught you? If a strange boy chases you, then run! And throw whatever book you have in your hand to stop him."

"Don't be so silly, husband," Suzy's mother hissed.

"I could say the same thing about you, wife."

However, their habitual bickering didn't burst the bubble of Suzy's reverie.  The thing was, she tried her father's supposed judicious tactics on Sungyeol but it failed...because she mistook the poor sunbae for a creep.

"Anyways, I've just found out that Luhan is twenty-four. I think he's perfect for you, Suzy! Older guys suit you well," her mother resumed the conversation.

"Luhan? Who's this Luhan?" Mr. Kang's eyes were skeptical slits.

Their daughter contemplated whether older boys were, indeed, better for her. She wasn't one to fall for looks. She checked personality. However, maybe she sought a diamond in the rough. The thought of Luhan as her future boyfriend made her blush.

"Why, Luhan, that boy from next door!" Mrs. Kang cried, waving her arms about her dramatically, "He is such a darling!"

"I want to meet him. You can't just suggest some punk out of the blue for my babygirl!"

Her parents only bolstered her embarrassment.  The doorbell rang and Suzy thanked the heavens that she could slip away from the table.

Her father offered to get the door, but Suzy preferred if he rested. He was working all day in the restaurant, after all.

She tied her hair up into a bun as she headed for the door.

The impatient visitor rang it again.

"Coming!" She called, her hand latching on the handle, before swinging the door open.

She was greeted with the sardonic grinning face of her feline neighbour, Kim Heechul. He raised a brow, his smile growing wider across his face. Suzy noticed how flawless his skin was, scarless and poreless. It could even surpass the beauty of a woman's skin.

She wondered if his partner enjoyed being greeted with such a soft face, but then she remembered that the only company this man had were cats. However,  she couldn't help but admire how pretty he looked in the evening limelight.

He pushed a tray of cookies in her hands-- they were cat-shaped.

"I made these for you today. I know I said I'd return your plate this weekend but I couldn't help myself. I love having nice neighbours.  They're orange flavoured cat cookies, incase you think I poisoned them," He said, with a hint of excitement.  

There was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes and all Suzy could do was gape at him like some sort of an idiot.

She recalled how her mother had told her that older guys would suit her better. Would Heechul fit the bill? How many guys could cook? She forced the thoughts out of her head.

"What?" He questioned, "Cat got your tongue? Again?"

"N-no!" Suzy retorted, hoping her face wasn't too pink.

It must have been bright scarlet because Heechul smiled as if he knew her most darkest secret.

He suddenly leaned closer to her until his face was mere inches from her own. Suzy's eyes grew wider and she gulped audibly.

He was so close, she could feel his warm breath tickling her cheeks, and his almond-shaped eyes bore into hers, like two pits of fire.

"I hope you like the cookies," he whispered, before he pulled back and strolled away casually, as if he wasn't responsible for her frightened, rabbit heartbeat.

"Umh..."

When Suzy broke out of Heechul's spell, she hurriedly texted the incidence to Nana.

She received an immediate response:

'Omo! You're cat-neighbor might be a e!'

Nana's perception of Heechul frightened Suzy. She vowed to stay away from him.

-

Suzy loped back into the kitchen, with the cookies in her hand. They had a citrusy aroma wafting from them, but their cat-like shapes put her off. Not only that, Heechul could have easily drugged them.

The man was no Disney princess. He was the witch in disguise, like the wench who gave Snow White a poisoned apple.

"What's that, honey? " Mrs. Kang glanced at the cookies, "Did Luhan make those?"

"No, Kim Heechul did."

"Who?" Mr. Kang scratched his head.

"The new neighbour at block two," Suzy said.

She pursed her lips as her father took one biscuit into his hand and prepared to devour it. In a quick flash, she slapped the biscuit from his hand. It crumbled onto the floor. Her father seemed upset.

"Honey, what was that for?" Her mother exclaimed.

"Umh-- I--" Suzy's brain tried to come up with a suitable explanation. "There was a hair in it!"

"Ooooh. You should have just told me, sweetheart."

Suzy stared at her shoes. "Sorry Appa."

"We need to arrange a dinner with the neighbors.  We could invite Luhan and Heechul's families," Mrs. Kang said, clapping her hands together excitedly.

Suzy's right eye cringed. The last thing she wanted was Heechul's 'family' roaming around her house. The thought sent shudders throughout her body. She opened to protest.

"That sounds great!" Mr. Kang agreed, interjecting her, "I'll come home early that day. I just need to find a trusty employee. With that new restaurant that opened beside us, competition is tough and honest job-seekers are rare."

He sighed with fatigue and ensconced back into his chair. He never looked so tired before. It was the first time that Suzy noticed the crow's feet at the ends of his eyes.

She kissed his cheek and he smiled at her.

"I know my appa is great. Don't worry," She reassured him.

Mrs. Kang watched the love between father and daughter with a smile in her eyes.

While her parents continued to discuss issues regarding their business, Suzy carefully, and stealthily, gathered the biscuits back into her hands.

She stepped onto the balcony, momentarily admiring the full moon that beamed at her. The cold, night air whipped at her skin and she breathed out moisture. She could see Seoul's night lights flickering close by and in the distance, like multi-coloured galaxies  in a wave of darkness.

Inhaling sharply, Suzy chucked the biscuits over the rails. A howl erupted from beneath her. She gasped and peered over the balcony, fear taking over her. What if she hurt someone with those cookies?

However, what she saw would possibly give her nightmares. A large, black dog glowered at her from below. Thick strips of saliva escaped from its snout, but it was the eyes that frightened her.

Its yellow eyes glowed in the dark, imbued with eccentric anger and hopeless insanity. She wondered where the dog came from. She had never seen him in the neighbourhood before.

The beast barked at her demonically.

Suzy quickly retreated from the balcony, finding sanctuary back in her home.

-

The following morning at campus, Suzy and her friends noticed a tall man standing outside the main entrance.  He was dressed in gre