Sooyoung immediately noticed Chuu as she stood at the corner, happily waving at Sooyoung once she saw her as she walked up to Chuu.

Somehow she had been staring at Chuu for a whole minute now, causing the smaller girl to confusedly stare at her and asking what’s up, and Sooyoung only just remembers that Chuu in fact does not always wear her cute puffy outfit for the candy store and didn’t think she could possibly get any cuter but now she was here in the freezing cold wearing her oversized knitted beige sweater and she’s been staring at her for ages and should probably say hi now-

“Earth to Sooyoung?!”

“-yes, hi.” She felt her face redden up and hoped Chuu didn’t catch her staring, although she most definitely did from the amused smile dancing on her lips. “You look..” cute “cold. Are you okay like that?”

“Yeah, it’s freezing! But I’m okay thankyou.” Chuu grinned as she started to walk down the street, telling Sooyoung to come with her.

“Wait, so let me set this straight. You don’t like sweets?”

“Nope.”

“What about gummies?”

“Not really.”

“..Lollipops? Sours? Chocolate??”

“….”

Chuu gasped, stopping in her tracks as she looked at her like she just killed someone.

“Ha Sooyoung! As someone that works at a candy store I’m obliged to say you’re coming with me right now and we’ll find something you like!”

“It’s ok, serio-“

“No!”

 “i- ok”

Chuu practically dragged her to the candy store, swiftly unlocking the door with a key that looked like a golden lollipop. This time none of the sound effects went off, nor did the animatronics come to life. The shop was dark other than the daylight that came in through the windows. It was a weird sight as Sooyoung had only seen the store when it was bubbling with life, but it was pretty cool to see it like this too, almost like she wasn’t supposed to see it this way.

“Pretty different from usual, isn’t it?” Chuu softly said, as if she just read her mind. It was evident in her tone that she treasured the store. As if it had become a part of her, which made sense considering she spent most of her time here.

“I think it looks nice. Although I prefer when the store is full of people, and all kinds of things are spinning and bouncing around and you don’t know where to look.” Chuu chuckled.

“You’re right, me too.” Suddenly she spun around on her heels, facing Sooyoung. “Well then, let’s get some candy!”

Chuu strode towards the back of the store, pressing on a big button hidden behind a loose green colored brick in the wall. Suddenly a rumbling sound could be heard, a lid on the floor popping open after which a series of stairs folded out from what seemed to be some kind of underground box, zigzagging all the way to the second floor as the little gate that blocked the path to the stairs clicked open.

Sooyoung stood still staring at the spectacle that had just happened in front of her in awe, before Chuu excitedly dragged her upstairs, revealing a big wooden door with a funny door handle shaped like a cat’s face. As soon as she pushed the door open the sweet smell of pie surrounded them, seemingly coming from the kitchen in the far back.

The door fell back into its lock as Sooyoung looked around, not knowing where to look as there were hundreds of objects on the walls, hanging from the ceiling and stacked on desks.

The green vintage wallpaper had hundreds of photos in all kinds of different frames hanging on it, with pictures from the candy store, Mister Fizz, two white cats, multiple other people who she assumed were family and friends, and then a whole series of pictures from Chuu. Sooyoung chuckled as she let her eyes go over the pictures, starting with baby Chuu and eventually ending with the Chuu she knew today.

Other than the pictures there were also multiple candy-wrappers framed on the wall, with little quotes under them on a golden emblem. Planes and hot air balloons were hanging from the ceiling, and a railroad on the floor led from one room to another, the whistling of the train softly sounding somewhere in the back.

Chuu had disappeared into the kitchen, so Sooyoung eventually decided on following her after gawking at the interior for the past few minutes.

The kitchen was just as overwhelming as the rest of the house, this time the walls and all the furniture were painted in pink, with red accents here and there. What seemed like a nanny-robot rolled around and was busy making all kinds of treats such as pies and brownies that would later be sold in the store.

The trail of pictures continued in the kitchen, with even more pictures from Chuu and the two cats, who kept getting fatter in every picture. Chuu was kneeling down in front of one of the cabinets, taking out a huge box filled with candy.

“Grandpa prepared a lot of candy for us, once I told him you didn’t like candy and that we were going to look for candy that you like he insisted on making you taste the best sweets he has made! He even put in some of the newest ones and some that aren’t tested yet, so he said to make sure that we tell him what they tasted like,” Chuu chirped, “and if they had any negative side effects!”

Sooyoung froze at that, making Chuu laugh.

“Don’t worry, I’ve been testing candy for years and something bad has never happened before. Except for that one time my skin suddenly turned purple for days.” She handed Sooyoung the box before taking out yet another one, leading the way as she walked through the hallway to one of the doors in the back, painted in red with big letters on it that spelled “CHUU”. Sooyoung guessed this was Chuu’s room.

It was exactly like how she imagined what her room would be like, cute and cozy. With red polka dot wallpaper and stuffed animals, fairy lights and two big white things moving in the corner.. wait.

“Hey, Chuu..”

“Yeah?” She replied, putting the two boxes down on a table with a list and pen on it.

“Are those-“ Sooyoung pointed at the fluffy moving things, making Chuu let out a big gasp as she turned around and sprinted towards it, holding both of the creatures in her arms.

“They’re our cats! This one’s Soda and this one is Pop.” Right, the two cats from the pictures.

“Aren’t they a bit.. You know..”

“Fat?” Chuu looked at the two cats that were purring in her arms, as if she only just realized they were a bit.. overweight. “..I think it’s because of my grandpa. He has the tendency to mix candy between their food, he says ‘everyone needs a little bit of sugar in their lives to be happy!’ And then one day they got like this. Speaking about candy, how about we start the candy tasting and find out what candy you like!”

And so they did.

Saying that they tested around hundreds of sweets was an understatement, Sooyoung was pretty sure they were already at candy number 300 and they were nowhere near finished. However, she was enjoying every minute of it, even when her hands changed color for a split second due to the “chameleon candy”, or when they spend half an hour looking for a special invisible candy that Chuu accidentally dropped, only to find out it wasn’t even included in the box in the first place. Chuu thought this was unacceptable as it was one of her favorite sweets, so Sooyoung promised her to buy some of the candy next time she came around so she could taste it, to which Chuu happily agreed.

Even though Sooyoung hadn’t found a sweet yet that she really loved, she noticed that everything tasted much better than usual and even liked some of the candy that Chuu had given her. Everytime she’d say that she liked it Chuu would give her the brightest smile and write it on the list, which she titled the “Big Journey To Finding the Perfect Sweet”.

It was around 5pm when they suddenly heard the door unlock, followed by the sound of Mister Fizz’s voice.

“Jiwoo? I’m home!” Chuu jumped up and ran to her grandfather to give him a big hug. Sooyoung popped her head around the corner, unsure what to do when she suddenly felt herself getting pulled into the hug too.

“Sooyoung! It’s been so long since I’ve last seen you, how are you? And how’s your dad doing?” He excitedly said.

“You know her dad?” Chuu confusedly asked, seemingly lost as to how the both of them knew eachother.

“We went to the same school back in the day, after that we weren’t in touch a lot until he popped up at the store, with little Sooyoung! I still remember when he walked in together with you, oh! And Jiwoo! You were so shy back then, we thought you guys would become best friends quickly but you always ran off whenever they came by-“ Chuu let out a big whine, stopping her grandfather before she embarrassed her even more.

“I wasn’t shy! I just.. didn’t know how to.. approach her..?” She stammered out, receiving a suspicious look from Mister Fizz as he saw right through her lie.

Luckily he gave the girl a break and directed his attention back at Sooyoung, changing the subject.

“Will you be staying for dinner? Jiwoo told me you’d be here today so we prepared something special, I’d love for you to have dinner with us.”

Sooyoung questioningly looked at Chuu, who heavily nodded at her.

“Yes?” She softly said, Chuu nodded even more and gave her a big thumbs-up. “Yes!”

And that’s how they all ended up in the dining room, sitting around a big round table with Chuu sitting next to her, Mister Fizz across her, and the two cats on high chairs. They were surrounded by all kinds of different lit candles, creating a cozy atmosphere as they passed each other the syrup bottle and soda can. Waffles definitely weren’t your average dinner, but Sooyoung didn’t mind as these were some of the absolute best waffles she ever had. Chuu noticed that she had taken a liking to them and occasionally poked her, making a victory face (somehow) as she discovered one of the sweet things Sooyoung did like, even if it wasn’t exactly candy.

With the TV on in the background they all talked about the sweets they tried earlier, listened to Mister Fizz’s as he told about some of the sweets and how he came up with them,  overall enjoying the food and each other’s company.

And once Sooyoung decided to go home it was already 9 pm, the stars outside adorning the dark night sky.

And even though Sooyoung was a little bit worried she’d miss the bus, it all didn’t matter when Chuu bid her goodnight with a soft kiss on her cheek and a “thank you for coming today, I had fun”, ending with them exchanging numbers and a promise that they’d do something like this again soon.