Hyukjae was wary. He kept his eyes glued to the ceiling. It had been a few days since he returned to Korea after his trip to London, and Christmas was long over, but he still kept a look out for any stray Christmas decorations, especially mistletoe. He largely blamed a certain brunette chef for his insecurity. Those darned little sprigs of leaves caused his lips to be stolen by that same chef with insanely long wavy chocolate locks that Hyukjae always wanted to push away from his face because Hyukjae pretty much preferred drowning in the depths of his eyes instead. It was infuriating how Lee Donghae kept on popping up in Hyukjae’s mind and Hyukjae had no control over that. What was more infuriating was that Lee Donghae was not even here.

Hyukjae had fifteen minutes left of his lunch break to wander around the shopping mall. He walked past a cupcake display and then stopped in his tracks before walking backwards to where the cupcake stand was. There was a gorgeous array of cupcakes with frostings from different colours of the rainbow. Hyukjaw triumphantly noted that there were no cupcakes with sugar mistletoe pieces on them. Good grief! Hyukjae slapped his cheek lightly with his hand. Stop thinking about the mistletoe!

Hyukjae turned back to look seriously at the cupcakes, especially eyeing one that pink frosting and a fresh strawberry on top.

“That’s our signature strawberry shortcake cupcake.” The saleslady helpfully told Hyukjae. “Would you like me to wrap it up for you?”

Go for it, cupcake. Hyukjae heard Donghae’s voice cajoling in his head. Hyukjae shook his head hard from side to side to get rid of the voice. Gosh, he wasn’t really becoming crazy because of a man! A man who had disappeared off the face of the earth, to be more accurate. Fine, Hyukjae was really disappointed that Donghae hadn’t contacted him ever since Hyukjae arrived back in Korea. Gosh! It was just a few days and Hyukjae was already suffering from Donghae withdrawal symptoms.

“Oh, okay.” The saleslady seemed a little shocked at Hyukjae’s adamant refusal. “I thought you were interested in the cupcake, sir.” The saleslady took a step back and decided to let Hyukjae continue browsing.

No wait! Hyukjae wanted the cupcake. Maybe the sugar would stop him from wallowing in his misery for a while. The strawberry treat would serve as the perfect distraction.

“I’ll take it.”

No, no, no. Donghae was speaking to the saleslady in his subconscious again. How was he ever going to stop the voice in his head.

“And a chocolate mocha swirl cupcake, if you don’t mind.”

Hyukjae wondered if he should check himself into a mental hospital, or at least get an appointment with a psychologist. This was too much. As if the taking of sleeping pills every night for the past few nights wasn’t an indication that there was something wrong with him already. It’s just a crush, Hyukjae told himself weakly. You will get over it eventually.

Hyukjae watched as the saleslady gave a subtle flip of her hair and an obvious wink to him, before she went to get a box for the cupcakes. Wait, the wink seemed to be for someone behind him, rather than at him. Biting his bottom lip, his turned around, expecting to see thin air. Instead, he came face to face with those soulful eyes and chocolate brown locks.

“Donghae.” Hyukjae said, his lips suddenly dry.

Oh no, did the Donghae withdrawal symptoms become so bad that he was actually hallucinating a Donghae in front of him? This was impossible right. Hyukjae was definitely hallucinating.

“You know, I was disappointed when you didn’t call me. So I had to go all the way down to Jungsoo-hyung’s office and beg him to let me see you. And then you had to be out for lunch, and I had to hunt for you in this crazy large shopping mall. Were you trying that hard to evade me, cupcake?”

Hyukjae’s mouth remained in an ‘o’ shape, because he didn’t know why was hallucination Donghae suddenly so expressive with his words.

“That look doesn’t look good on you. It’s my signature fishy look.” Donghae then reached over Hyukjae and picked up the box of cupcakes. He passed the saleslady a five dollar bill and then focused his attention back on Hyukjae.

Hallucination Donghae was so powerful he could communicate with different individuals as well and hold physical things. Wait, that did mean that Donghae was real, right?

“Excuse me!” Hyukjae called the saleslady’s attention. “Can you see this man here?” Hyukjae’s eyes were wide and pleading. Please,  please, let me not be crazy. Wait, if Donghae was really here then people would really think that he was crazy.

“Uh, yes?” The saleslady gave Hyukjae a strange look.

“What do you mean if you can see me? Are you trying to avoid me by passing me off as invisible? Do you dislike me courting you that much?” Donghae asked Hyukjae loudly, tugging on Hyukjae’s wrist as well.

Hyukjae felt himself being pulled closer to Donghae, and his heart fluttered. He had missed Donghae. Pabo! He missed Donghae because he liked Donghae and he didn’t even know it until now.

“I missed you!” Hyukjae threw himself into Donghae’s chest, almost pushing the brunette off balance.

Hyukjae buried himself in Donghae’s masculine scent long enough to realise that he had initiated PDA in a shopping mall, and he quickly tried to push himself away.

“Not so fast, cupcake.” Donghae smirked, holding Hyukjae to his chest. “If you missed me why didn’t you call me? I left that note with my number in the chocolate cake too.”

Chocolate cake? Yes, Hyukjae remembered that Donghae gave him a small box of chocolate cake. But he hadn’t eaten it. Shindong found the cake in the office pantry and ate it whole without even asking whom the cake belonged to. Hyukjae had ignored Shindong ever since.

“Someone in the office ate it whole.” Hyukjae pouted. “I didn’t even get to eat it.”

Donghae chuckled. Hyukjae could feel the uneven rumbling in Donghae’s chest. “So you’re not against me courting you?”

Hyukjae blushed. “You… you can’t ask me like that.”

Donghae gave Hyukjae a smirk, then he kissed Hyukjae lightly.

“You can’t kiss me either! There is no mistletoe!” Hyukjae squealed.

“Of course I can kiss you, cupcake.” Donghae looked at Hyukjae with a straight face. “You’re my boyfriend now. I don’t need mistletoe to kiss you.”

“Oh no you didn’t!” Hyukjae pushed Donghae away. “You better do it romantically!” Hyukjae poked Donghae’s chest with each syllable, before he his heels.

“But wait, cupcake!” Donghae chased after a speedwalking Hyukjae.

(And the rest is for another story! Erm, Eunhae Tales (Spring Edition)?) Merry Christmas everyone, completing this series of drabbles is my Christmas gift (it is a bit late, but better late than never right?) 

Also, I've written a blog for Christmas this year (I think this is going to be a trend), but you guys can read it here: http://www.asianfanfics.com/blog/view/1181441

Thank you all who have subscribed, upvoted, commented and gave ideas for the Winter Edition! :>