Cold Warmth

     Kyungsoo and Baekhyun stopped infront of a strange machine and stared right into it.

     It was a glass box and the wall facing him was a mirror, the other walls all glass. The box wass filled with stuffed animals and boxes containing technologies, and at the top was a big claw that was dangling off. On the outer of the box was a red joystick and a pink button that flashed in different colors. Kyungsoo watched in absurdity as two kids inserted paper money into the machine and the claw began to move. The couple moved the joystick and the claw followed in the same direction and when the kid pressed the button, the claw descended and grabbed a stuffed doll from the pile. 

     Kyungsoo watched in concentration as the claw ascended with the doll in its mouth and dropped it down a chute. The kid pulled a pink teddy bear from a small chute door at the bottom of the machine and gave it to his girlfriend who was filled with joy. 

The couple walked away and Kyungsoo and Baekhyun stared intensely at the machine, fascinated.

He had never seen such a machine in his life before, and he couldn't take his eyes off the kitten plush in the machine. 

"What are you doing?" Jieun caught up to the two and saw them staring at the claw machine. 

"What is this?" Baekhyun asked in pure amazement. "I think this is the greatest invention I've ever seen."

"This is a claw machine," Jieun laughed and took out a dollar bill. "Want to try?"

"This is for kids," Kyungsoo waved off.

     "Suit yourself," Baekhyun pushed Kyungsoo aside and grabbed the joystick, moving the claw around in fascination. Baekhyun laughed in amazement as he pressed the button and the claw descended, grabbing onto the kitten that Kyungsoo eyed. 

"I CAUGHT IT!" Baekhyun jumped in amazement as the claw travelled across with the doll in its claw, dropping it halfway. 

"What?" Baekhyun's face turned dark as he stared at the kitten in dismay. 

"This takes practice," Jieun said as she put in another bill. "Watch."

     Jieun held the joystick and aimed the claw at the kitten plush, pushing the button. The claw went down and grabbed the kitten, slipping out of its claw as it ascended. Jieun lamented as she watched the claw go back to its original destination. 

Jieun stared at Baekhyun who looked as if he had lost a war and couldn't take his eyes off the plush in the machine.

"This machine is faulty," Jieun said awkwardly as she walked away from the machine in embarrassment. 

Baekhyun followed after, asking more questions about the machine. 

Kyungsoo went through his pocket and pulled out a dollar bill, putting in the machine.

Kyungsoo didn't need practice, he thought.

---

     Suzy wandered the streets, confused.

     She had held onto an audition poster that she picked up on her last visit to the human world and although she was able to find directions right away on her broomstick, it was a different case walking in this world. Looking down at the ground made it easy for locating, but walking on ground level was a whole different perspective. She had never walked in such exposure in the human world before, and although it scared her it was the most exciting thing she had ever felt in a while. 

"Where is this place..?" Suzy scratched her head and looked around.

There were skyrise buildings on either side of the streets and there were countless numbers of hospitals, shops, restaurants, agencies, and the sort.

"Excuse me-" Suzy stopped a person who glared at her and walked away.

Suzy bit her lips and looked around at the people who were so busy that they didn't look like they had a single time to spare.

"Excuse me do you know-" Suzy grabbed a person by the arm and they hit her off, stepping on her poster. 

"What the hell?" The person shouted at her as he wiped his coat off and continued walking. 

She felt her heart sink.

Everybody was so cold; this wasn't the human world she imagined.

"Are you lost, young one?" A voice came from behind and to Suzy's surprise, an old man approached her with a smile.

"Y-yes," she stuttered.

"Where are you headed, beautiful one?" The man asked with a creepy smile as he stuck closer to her.

"Um," Suzy flinched a little but remained calm, showing him the address on the poster. 

"This place," the man smiled. "Allow me. I will lead you." 

     Suzy stared at the man and his creepy face, wondering whether she should follow him or not. But compared to the other cold people on the streets, he was the only one who was willing to help her find the place.
     He couldn't be a bad guy

Suzy thought and nodded, her body frozen as he rubbed his hands against her arm.

"Where are you from, beautiful lady?" he asked with a smile that made her feel unpleasant. 

"I'm from uh," she hesitated. "overseas."

"Overseas," he said, impressed. "Where?" 

     "Europe," she said and slid away her hand as he naturally tried to grab it. Suzy looked around her surroundings as the man led her into a dark alleyway full of brothels and dog feces on the ground. The sky got darker and the neon signs on the brothels lit the street as the man grabbed her wrist so tight it was burning her skin.

"It hurts," Suzy said as she tried to release his grip. "Please let go."

     "We are almost there," the man said impatiently as he dragged her through the numerous brothels with women staring at her from the doorsteps. Suzy stared at their faces caked with makeup and their lingerie that barely covered their cleaveges. Suzy coughed at the smoke that came from the cigarette that rested in their mouths and her eyes followed the cigarettes that flew onto the ground as an old man entered the brothel.

The man stopped infront of an old building with its neon lights completely gone out.

"Here we are," the man panted from the walking and tried to drag her in.

"Uh," Suzy squinted and read the sign on the building. "It says motel house. The agency I'm looking for is Namu Actors Agency-"

"No no this is the agency," the man said with a forced smile, getting impatient. "They forgot to change the signs."

     "Thank you but I think I have the wrong place-" Suzy said as she tried to escape from the man's strong grip. He spat on the floor and with his face red from arguing with her, he dragged her into the door with full force. Suzy screamed in pain and fear as she resisted with all her might, trying to escape from this place. This man was a sicko and her instincts were telling her to run.

"LET ME GO!" Suzy bit his arm and the man screamed, dropping her on the ground.

     Suzy slipped against the slippery wet ground but tried to run, failing as the man yanked her by her hair and slapped her on the face. Suzy thudded onto the ground but bounced right back up, making a run.

The man chased right after and yanked her hair, holding her back.

Suzy closed her eyes and prepared herself for the pain but to her surprise, she felt nothing.

     She opened her eyes and saw a tall figure kicking the man onto the ground and held him down with his knees, calling the cops. Suzy gulped and stared at the figure as it turned around and stared at her.

"Are you alright?" The figure asked and Suzy stepped forward to get a better look.

It was Jisoo. 

"H...ow are you here?" Suzy asked, shocked. 

    Jisoo released his grip as the police car arrived in the distance and they cuffed the old man and took him into the car. 

     "What were you thinking?" Jisoo asked as he stared at her. "I saw you in the streets talking to that man and suddenly I see you follow him into this alleyway and to my surprise, I was right. Are you stupid? Even a person without common sense wouldn't follow someone like that here-" 

Jisoo stopped as he noticed Suzy staring at the floor, trying to hold in her tears. 

"Are you crying?"

"Sorry," she raised her head and forced a smile. "I have a tendency to trust people too much. This place is so unfamiliar to me and I guess I just wasn't in my right mind."

     Jisoo sighed and stared at the paper scrunched up in her hand. He snatched it from her fist and unscrunched it, reading the agency details on the paper. He stared at the poster then at her, internally surprised. 

"Is this where you wanted to go?" 

Suzy nodded awkwardly.

     Jisoo sighed and took off his jacket, wrapping it around her shoulders and grabbed her wrist. Her wrist was bleeding because the man had dug his fingernails into her skin and her arm scraped against the asphalt floor when the man dropped her from her bite. Suzy watched Jisoo nervously as he knelt down and looked for any scratches on her legs and sighed.

"Let's go to the pharmacy," he said. "This is going to get infected."

     Jisoo walked ahead and looked back, staring at Suzy who was limping from the scratches on her leg. Jisoo sighed and walked over, kneeling down in front of her. Suzy stared at him as he waited for her to get on his back.

"Get on," Jisoo said impatiently.

"What?"

"Get on," Jisoo said and pulled her arm, pulling her onto his back. Jisoo lifted her on his back and walked towards the pharmacy.

     "It's every man for themselves here," Jisoo said as he walked slowly. "I don't know how it is back in your fairy world, but people aren't nice here. Especially those kinds of creepy old men are unmarried guys who are trying to get in your pants or sell you off to those brothels. You said you have a tendency to trust people easily right? Don't trust people too easily because people aren't nice."

"But you're nice," Suzy said.

"I'm not nice," Jisoo said awkwardly.

"But you saved me," she said lightly. "Only nice people do that."

Jisoo only laughed under his breath, shaking his head.

"Thank you for saving me," Suzy said. 

"You're welcome," Jisoo said as he placed Suzy down on the table infront of the pharmacy and bought an ointment and bandaid.

 "Why were you looking for that acting agency?"

"Do you want to know a secret?"

"Uh," Jisoo raised an eyebrow. "What?"

     "It's actually not my first time here. I've been here countless times, but I've always kept hidden from human sight. Watching this world from the sky, everyone seemed so nice and friendly, and it just seemed like the best place to be. The first time I came across a television, I saw these people acting on the screen and I immediately felt like I wanted to do that."

"They don't have actors in your world?"

     "We have theatre acts, but it's a majoritively male-dominated field. Girls couldn't possibly audition for roles. But here, girls are able to become the main character. I wanted to live in a world where I can become the main character in a field I love." 

"Is that why you've been trying to go here?" Jisoo grabbed the poster and straightened out the wrinkles.

"Yeah," she nodded brightly. "I want to learn how to act. I want become the main character too." 

      Jisoo chuckled at her positivity and knelt down infront of her, putting the ointment on her leg. Looking at Suzy reminded him of his younger self; he was once like that when he first discovered his love for acting. He knew how hard it was to succeed in this field, but he didn't want to pop her bubble like that. Jisoo had his bubble popped viciously by his parents; he didn't want to do it to someone else.

"It looked like your friends want to go back home though," Jisoo said as he looked at Suzy.

     "They want to go home because they're the main characters back home," she shrugged. "They have a lot waiting for them back home. I don't want to go back to a place where nothing's waiting for me."

Jisoo nodded silently as he placed the bandaid on her scratches and got up.

"Let's go home," Jisoo said with a light grin. "Your home here." 

Suzy nodded with a smile and followed after Jisoo, feeling much better the conversation. 

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Jisoo asked, glancing at her.

"Nothing, why?"

"There's a place I want to take you tomorrow." Jisoo said as the two exchanged glances, one surprised and one amused.

     "What happened to you?" Kyungsoo blurted as Suzy walked through the door with bandaids all over her body. 

"I just fell," Suzy waved him off and walked into Jieun's room.

Jisoo entered right after and Kyungsoo glared at him, Jisoo glaring right back. 

"Were you out with her?" Kyungsoo shot with a menacing look. 

"And it's your business because?"

"Because-"

"It's getting late," Jieun disrupted the fight and pushed Jisoo into the rooftop room. "You guys should wash up."

     Jisoo glared at Kyungsoo and entered the bathroom, slamming the door shut.

     Jieun watched as Kyungsoo sighed and threw himself onto the couch, fed up. She shook her head and walked into her room, watching as Suzy took her jacket off and examined the scratches on her body. 

"What happened Suzy?" Jieun asked concerned as she sat down beside her.

     "I was asking for directions and some crazy guy lured me in and fell over," Suzy shrugged, letting the bitterness show on her face. It was strange; infront of Jieun Suzy felt that she could be honest with her emotions.

"You shouldn't trust anyone in the streets like that!" Jieun blurted.

"You and Jisoo say the same thing," Suzy chuckled bitterly. 

"Jisoo?"

"He saved me from the crazy man."

"Good."

"Jieun," Suzy turned her posture to face her. "You're the first person I met here. To me, you're so nice and friendly. But is everyone here not like you? I always believed that people in this world are all so nice and friendly.  But people weren't exactly how I imagined them to be. They were so cold and hostile to me that I couldn't believe that this is the same place that I thought of. Also Jisoo and you keep telling me that I shouldn't trust anyone here and I'm feeling like the world I've known my whole life is crumbling away."

     "Everyone is hit by reality here one way or another," Jieun said quietly. "Everyone's so busy abiding by the rules that reality has set us that a lot of us forget to give love and kindness to everyone. But they're there. You've just got to... wake it up in everyone." 

"Do you really think so?" 

"That's what I want to believe," Jieun said softly, thinking about her Dad who was always absent. 

Knock Knock

     Jieun stood up to the sound of a knock on her door and opened the door, only to find no one there.

She looked around and found a small bag on the floor and picked it up, looking inside.

"This is-" Jieun said in surprise as she looked around the door.

     Inside the bag was the kitten plush that Jieun wanted from the claw machine earlier on in the day. She took the plush out and there was a letter under the bag with words written in a messy cursive.

"What is it?" Suzy asked as Jieun brought the plush in.

"It's a plush," Jieun laughed as she looked at it. 

"Cute," Suzy cuddled it and the fur. "Who gave it to you?"

"I'm not sure," Jieun shrugged and stared at the door. 

     Behind the stairs, Kyungsoo watched as Jieun picked up the plush that he had grabbed from the claw-machine earlier in the day.

Hi, thanks for reading my story

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