“What is this?”

JoonMyun glanced at the object in question atop his junior’s desk and back to his computer, replying, “Looks like a bouquet.”

“What is it doing here?” MiKyung flatly asked, to which JoonMyun merely shrugged.  Frowning at the older editor, MiKyung sat down at her desk and stared at the foreign item currently occupying a third of her workspace.  The bouquet (if it could really be described as such) comprised of chocolate chip cookies on plastic straws, giving the image of oversized lollipops. The confections were placed neatly in a pale pink bucket and ranged from two to five inches in diameter, arranged in a sphere as if they were flowers.  A yellow ribbon encircled the bucket with “Happy Birthday!” scrawled on it, along with a sequence of comical faces one would use when sending a text message.  There was no doubt in MiKyung’s mind that the gift was from ChanYeol.  Why else would there be a cookie bouquet on her desk at eight in the morning?  She was almost more amazed at the fact that there were no fancily-dressed South American animals roaming the halls rather than how the author knew when her birthday was.  Almost.

But MiKyung didn’t have time to think about those things.  She needed to get started on getting the latest draft of the next chapter in ChanYeol’s novel ready for approval from the firm’s head editor.  Fortunately, that wouldn’t be too arduous a task because (though she hated to admit it) ChanYeol was a spectacular writer.  Beyond his questionable hobbies, the man had a gift when it came to creating worlds of his own with his words.  With every release, ChanYeol’s work always came out as a top-seller, and while part of that could be accredited to his ever-faithful fanbase, very few could deny that he earned the achievement with his talent.  Because he had a problem with sticking to one genre, ChanYeol preferred to write about whatever he felt like writing; more than often he would pick genres he hadn’t already tried out.  At the moment, he was working on a thriller that centered on a psychologist and her patient.  Through a series of events, the psychologist discovers that one of her weekly patients is a serial killer, and she is his next target.  Just reading the rough drafts, MiKyung often found herself clenching her jaw in anticipation and turning page after page.  ChanYeol was a genius.  If only it weren’t for his crazy antics, MiKyung would be an avid fan of his as well.

Those unusual hobbies, however, were the very reason why MiKyung was the man’s editor.  He first came to the publishing firm four years ago fresh from high school—only eighteen years old and with no previous professional experience.  His first work came in through a contest the company was holding (which he won), and the editorial office was quite impressed.  The story wasn’t perfect, but it was unique and extremely well-written for an amateur.  Within a week, ChanYeol signed a contract with the firm, and the company quickly sought out an editor for the gifted man.  Unfortunately, that quickly proved to be a more than difficult task for the office.  The first editor ran off at the sight of ChanYeol’s apartment, the second resigned when the author asked if he would care to join him in investigating the digestive tract of a dead bird he found on the sidewalk, and the third was resilient but finally lost it when ChanYeol decided to take a week-long retreat to Peru without telling anyone—“for research” was his explanation.  He went through all three editors within two years, and the office was in an uproar about the problematic author.  Many suggested terminating their contract, but the head of the firm knew he couldn’t let ChanYeol go to another company—he was just too valuable.

The solution came when rumors spread of an intern at the office who managed to get every task done and even took the place of a senior editor when he was out sick for a week.  The intern’s austere personality and quick thinking were also noted, making the already-established editors forget that the intern was only nineteen at the time.  Acknowledging the risk, the office head hired the intern as a full-time employee and immediately assigned her to ChanYeol.  That was two years ago, and since then, MiKyung and ChanYeol had been an almost untouchable duo.  They brought much recognition to the company and never failed to produce a best-seller.

Yet, despite their renowned fame, senior editors enjoyed teasing the youngest addition to the team.  It sort of became a game to see who could make MiKyung smile or how far one could go until the girl exploded.  So far, the only people to achieve the first were JoonMyun and his assigned author—Byun BaekHyun, who was so charming that even MiKyung couldn’t help but smile around him (even if only once).  No one had ever seen MiKyung lose her cool though, so the games continued.  But MiKyung dealt with it maturely; she always had a snarky comeback while remaining somewhat polite to her seniors.  However, it just made everyone want to tease the girl even more.

By 5:30 p.m. MiKyung managed to get the latest draft of the chapter typed up, and the head editor gave it the green light for publication.  He even allowed MiKyung to take the rest of the day off, since she had been working overtime the past three days.  Without much objection, the young editor complied and headed out of the office.  She gave half of the cookie bouquet to fellow employees and decided to take the rest home.  Once MiKyung stepped outside the building, the bucket of cookie lollipops in hand, a gust of wind rushed past her, causing her long hair to wisp around.  The temperatures that week had dropped to an average of 10°C with snow threatening to fall from the sky anytime now.  After adjusting the thick scarf around her neck, MiKyung began walking down the sidewalk, but paused only for moment when someone called her name.  Thinking she heard wrong, the editor continued walking, but again her name was called.  Tentatively, the female turned around and looked for any sign of a familiar face but found none.

“Yoo MiKyung-sshi!”

Looking in the direction of the voice, MiKyung’s eyes slightly widened, and she almost stopped breathing.  For a split second, she thought ChanYeol was there, calling her name and running towards her, but as the figure approached her, she let out a shaky sigh of relief.  The person calling her name was not, in fact, Park ChanYeol, though the resemblance in their faces was uncanny.  This person was a good ten centimeters shorter, donned a high school uniform, and had neater (much neater) hair.  His voice was rather high as well—at least, in comparison to ChanYeol’s, whose voice was always too loud and significantly lower.  In addition, the stranger’s eyes were rounder at the ends as opposed to ChanYeol’s almond-shaped eyes, and his ears didn’t curve slightly outward at the top like the author’s did.  Besides, ChanYeol had never addressed MiKyung formally since the first day they met.

The teenage boy stopped in front of MiKyung and smiled unabashedly.  She noticed that they were standing eye-to-eye and didn’t know whether to be proud or ashamed.  Nodding his head politely, the boy introduced himself, “Hello, I’m No MinWoo.  ChanYeol Hyung is my cousin.”  MiKyung just stared back at him, realizing why they looked so similar, and waited to hear what business a high school student had with her.  He held up his cell phone, and on the screen, MiKyung saw a picture of herself.  Before she could ask anything, the boy continued, “Hyung sent me a picture of what you looked like with his cell phone and asked me to give this to you.  He also said not to tell you when he took the picture.”

Just as MiKyung was about to imagine the things that would happen as a result of ChanYeol having a cell phone in his possession, MinWoo held out a white envelope, and MiKyung saw her name written on the front.  She recognized ChanYeol’s messy, undeniable handwriting, reluctantly accepted the object, and asked, “What’s in it?”

“I don’t know,” the boy replied, shrugging his shoulders.  “He just asked me to give it to you.  He said if he delivered it himself, you’d probably hit him.”  The female stared at the younger boy dully, wondering how it was possible for him to have been smiling this whole time.  She also pondered on the question of why this boy was willing to do such a menial task for his older cousin, and as if he knew this, MinWoo said, “Hyung really likes you, MiKyung-sshi.”

“Really now?” she asked sarcastically.  Because she definitely didn’t notice how ChanYeol enjoyed her company and wanted to spend more time with her.  The guy had no other contact with the outside world—at least, with humans—so it made sense that the author liked being around her.  He liked to consider MiKyung and himself as friends.  MiKyung wasn’t dumb.

MinWoo chuckled and answered, “Hyung really likes you.  He says you’re special to him.”

MiKyung didn’t understand how emphasizing the world “really” would change the meaning of his sentence.  It still meant that ChanYeol valued their (as he called it) friendship.  What was the difference?  “Well, that’s great and all, but I have to go now.  You should, too,” the female suggested, and before MinWoo could stop her, she walked away with the envelope in hand.

----------

It was around ten at night when MiKyung ventured into the kitchen to get a glass of water and saw the forgotten envelope lying on the counter.  Setting the empty glass down, she picked up the object and flipped it over, looking for any hints as to what the contents were.  After a minute and no such discoveries, she carefully opened the envelope and found a sheet of notebook paper folded inside.  Taking it out, she immediately grimaced when she found that it was rife with ChanYeol’s chicken scratch.  MiKyung moved into the living room and sat on the couch, figuring it would take a while to decipher the author’s handwriting.

“MiKyung-ah,

Happy Birthday!  I don’t write letters very often, so this is going to be a bit awkward.  Please bear with me.

You’re twenty-one already…  Even though you’re more mature and responsible than I am, you’re still a year younger than me.  And so I’ve been using that as part of an excuse to bother you for these two years we’ve been partners.  The other part…is a secret!  Maybe I can tell you one day.  Hehe~  Anyway, today is a special day, so I want you to see how special you are.  Without you, I wouldn’t be under the same company I started with, and I probably wouldn’t be able to publish anything.  No other editor can tolerate my behavior, so I’m very grateful to you, MiKyung-ah.  I’m amazed that you’ve stuck with me for two whole years, so please don’t think about leaving anytime soon.

I’m sorry I make you angry.  I know my mannerisms annoy you, and I’m very sorry.  It’s just…I don’t know how else to make you stay.  No one else is willing to spend time with me.  My family is in Jeonju, and I have no friends here in Incheon.  It’s cheesy, but you’re my only friend, MiKyung-ah.  Even though I’m an author, I don’t know how else to describe you.  You are very special to me.

Sincerely,
Park ChanYeol

PS Please don’t get mad at me, but I went through your purse the last time you came to my apartment.  I put my number in your cell phone, so now you can text me whenever you want!    

PPS I found a pack of cigarettes, too…  Do you smoke, MiKyung-ah?  I didn’t know…  Don’t smoke anymore, okay?  It’s not good for you.  Please live a long time, so we can celebrate more birthdays to come~”

Having read the whole letter, MiKyung put a hand to her face.  She remained completely silent, trying to control her breathing.  The letter was held between her thin fingers, and there was not a sound in the apartment.  Not even fully understanding her own reactions, MiKyung began to cry.

This chapter took forever to write.  It's over 2000 words. @__@  I kept finding holes in the plot and had to go back and fill them to avoid any confusion.  Hopefully, I filled all those holes.  If there's something you're confused about, please put it in the comments~!  Oh, and 10°C is about 50°F.  ^^

Something else was supposed to happen in this chapter, but I ended up taking a detour, so now there's going to have to be an extra chapter than I originally planned...  I won't tell you what it is or when it's going to happen though~  I thought about making the cookie bouquet a waffle bouquet, but I remembered seeing a similar thing in a TV show, so I had to change it...  Umm...so ChanYeol is a caring guy!   ( ; ㅂ;)  I had to stop a few times while writing to go "Awww!"

Oh, yeah.  MinWoo is in here.  He really wasn't supposed to be.  But I think that's the result of me listening to "Boyfriend" by BoyFriend while writing.  Someone on tumblr said the two looked alike, and after a while, I was kind of like, "Hey, they do! Sort of."  What am I even talking about anymore.  Another reason why this story took a detour is probably the result of listening to "Drunken Confession" by Feel, haha.  It's a very sweet song~

Replies to comments:

@YiFeiLIM91: I totally understand~  But I'm very happy to see that you commented for chapter three!   ^^  Yes, MiKyung is very oblivious!  Your comment made me squeal and hop up and down in my chair so much!  I felt like ChanYeol when he laughs, LOL.  And haha, yes, ChanYeol is very iressistable and special~ !  >w<  I hope you enjoyed this chapter!  ♪

@kyuhyun-eonnie: You can smell romance?  Lend me your powers!  XD  And ChanYeol's habits?  All will be explained in the future~  ;P  Thank you so much for commenting and subscribing!

@keep-the-faith: You're allergic to peanuts?  Wow!  I mean...not that that's great, but it's not every day you meet someone with a peanut allergy.  Allergies fascinate me.  I'm weird, I'm sorry.  And MiKyung better be brave!  She's ChanYeol's editor after all!  Haha~  Thank you for commenting and subscribing~  ^^

@ToxicFairydust: May I take this moment to say, your username is very interesting.  Haha, sorry...  I'm so glad you're enjoying this story!  ^^  I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well~

@AsianPopAddict: Flames and llamas!  Speaking of llamas, Lay looks like a llama.  A very cute llama, but a llama nonetheless.  What I am I even saying.  And I'm glad you like ChanYeol's character here~  It's kind of exhausting just thinking about what hobbies he has, hahaha!  Thank you for your comment!  ♥

Whew~!  That was a lot of comments!  Not that I'm complaining though~  ;P  And now, time for tasty, delicious cookies for:

parkyeon-ah
ToxicFairydust

Thank you to all my subscribers!  As I've said countless times, I'm very grateful to all of you~  (Wow, I sound like ChanYeol)  I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you all look forward to future updates!  ^^