It was a certain day where Soojung was feeling more down than ever. It was bright and sunny, with the birds chirping to their hearts' delight, just how Soojung hated it. The weather didn't help at all in lifting her mood for all she wanted to hear right then was the light pitter patter sound of rain tapping her window and the deafening sound of thunder. She wanted to see the silver light ripping the dark sky open mercilessly. Unfortunately, the sky didn't seem to oblige to her will at all.

The frown on Soojung's face was evident as she recalls the things that had gone wrong since the moment she woke up today. First of all, she woke up to a stove that refused to heat anything so she was forced to take her morning bath in cold, freezing water. Then, she found the clothes she had hung to dry last night had fallen to the wet ground. The clothes were stained with grime and it surely meant, she had to wash them all over again. Oh, how Soojung hates doing the same thing twice.

However, the worst part of her day so far wasn’t the broken stove neither was it the mud-stained clothes. It's not even the bright weather that hurts her eyes. It was when she decided to go into town and do some shopping for her necessities have been dwindling. And as she gets ready for her day out in town, she thought she might as well visit the blacksmith's son who seems to have a keen eye on her.

She put on her best dress, combed her hair and let it flow freely and dab a little bit of cherry on her lips. She picked up her basket, stuffed some money into her pockets, and walked into town, thinking that maybe everything would be better from here on out. For a second there, she thought she was right. The shopping went smoothly and the shopkeepers had been nothing but nice to her. Perhaps it was because of the lack of customers or the fact that it wasn't a busy day. She even had time to buy the ingredients needed to bake some tasty delights for him to taste when she invites him to her cottage. She smiled at the thought and quickened her pace to his home.

It was a few minutes later when she found herself in front of the blacksmith's door, taking a deep breath as she prepared herself to herself knock. She knocked three times but no one answered so she opened the door anyway, remembering the time he had said to her to treat his home as hers. She found that the cottage was empty and no one was in sight. She was just about to leave when she heard voices coming from the kitchen.

She walked to the kitchen and what she saw became the reason for her downfall that mid-morning. She saw the baker's daughter (who was known for her sultry clothes and her provocative ways with the young men in town) with her arms slinging around Jongin's neck and her face centimeters away from his. Her slightly puckered lips confirmed Soojung's suspicions on what was going on. She swore she could hear her heart being shattered to pieces as she stood frozen in front of both them. Jongin, who had his arms against the center, quickly pushed the baker's daughter away and turned to Soojung with a flustered look,

"Soojung, I can explain," he said.

Yet it was too late. Soojung was already running as far away as she could from the house, from him. She ran back to her cottage, tears already streaming down her cheeks like anew waterfall, all the while cursing herself for letting herself be an object of a man's pleasure, of letting her guard down to a man who is wanted by almost all the ladies in the village.

Soon, she found herself in her backyard, moping around and feeling sorry for herself. As she wallowed in self-pity, she took little notice in her surroundings. So when a bunny snuggles itself at her leg, she received quite a surprise. Soojung was never really fond of animals but this little creature caught her attention like a firefly drew to a fire. She followed the bunny into the woods (which is conveniently situated right behind her cottage) without really knowing why.

She wasn't so far into the woods when the bunny paused before disappearing into a bush. Soojung tried catching up but she lost any traces of the white and furry animal. Feeling exasperated and out of breath, she flopped on the forest floor and continued her moping. It didn't last very long as she felt a light tap on her shoulders. She was surprised and slightly scared for she didn't know there was someone else in the woods beside herself. She stood up and turned around to face the stranger who interrupted her quiet moment of self-pity.

To her astonishment, she saw it was the bunny who had led her to the forest in the first place.  She was more astonished as it changed its form into a boy (a very attractive boy) and stood facing her. He gave a charming smile before inviting Soojung for a seat on one of the gargantuan roots of the tall trees, poking out beneath the ground.

"What's wrong?" he asked kindly.

Soojung hesitated whether or not to tell the stranger of the events that had happened to her, but only for a second. She poured all of it to him, how everything had gone terribly wrong when she first woke up today. And all the while, the stranger listened intently, not interrupting or commenting once. She found that his presence eased her and she felt more comfortable with him than any other villager in the town. Despite not knowing exactly what is he after she saw his transformation with her own eyes. When she finished telling him everything, she exhaled and never felt more at peace. Then she turned and looked at him in the eyes.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Sehun." She had to stifle her laughter when she realized he has a lisp - a very cute one though.

"I'm Soojung." She extends her hand with a cheerful smile and he gladly accepted it. There was a short moment of silence before Soojung chose to speak again.

"What are you?" She couldn't help but asking it. She was curious.

"A shape shifter," he answered calmly, as though her question didn't bother him at all. "Are you afraid of me?"

She thought about it for a moment and realized she was not. "No... I like you."

"I like you too," he smiled. She smiled too.

"What else can you change into?"

"A lot of things. Here, watch."

He got up and stood in front of her. He transformed into a variety of animals and Soojung clapped at the spectacle before her.  She wasn't disturbed by this at all. Instead she thought it was fascinating. He was fascinating.

"But being a bunny is my favorite form yet," he said, taking his seat beside Soojung.

"More than a human?"

"Yes, sometimes more than being a human."

"Even when you have to eat your stools again every night?" He laughed and the sound was music to her ears. "I guess it has its drawbacks."

"Do you have a home?"

"The forest is my home."

"Would you mind staying with me then?" Her offer shocked him. He was speechless.

"It's fine if you don't want to. It's just... I missed having a friend near me," she added woefully.

"I'd love to be your friend but my place is in the forest."

"Oh."

"But I'll come visit you every day until you are sick of me, alright?

Soojung cheered up immediately. "Alright."

They talked for a while longer about their daily lives, their interest and their origins. It wasn't until noon that Soojung remembered about the pile of dirty clothes that needs washing. He told him this and he smiled saying that he understood.

"I have to go but I hope that I'll see you again tomorrow."

"Of course."

And so, Soojung went home to her little cottage, grunting and groaning about the chore she had to do all the way. Sehun smiled as he watched her leaving his home. He had found a new friend. A human friend.

~**~**~**~**~

The frown on Soojung's face returned as she entered her home. The cause of it was surely Jongin who was sitting on her couch, holding one of the baskets she brought to town earlier. Upon seeing her, Jongin immediately stood and faced her.

"What are you doing here?" she snarled.

“I… I came here to give you this. You dropped it at my home.”

“Oh,” Soojung softens a bit. “Then put it in the kitchen and go back to that woman. I’m sure she’s expecting you on her bed right now.” She huffs and started making her way out of the main room, not wanting to see his heart-breaking face anymore. But Jongin took her wrist before she could, and to her dismay, his strong arms were no match for her.

“Please Soojung, let me explain.” Seeing that she was unable to release herself from his strong grip, she realized she had to give in.

“Fine then,” she said, seething with anger at her disadvantage. “Explain.”

And so he did.

He told her that the baker’s daughter was the one who came onto him. He told her how he was taken by surprise when she suddenly appeared in his kitchen and how he tried to resist her. As much as she doesn’t want to relent, Soojung realized that he was right. When she came into his kitchen, she saw that his hands weren’t wrapped around the girl’s waist and how he pursed his lips when hers were puckered.

“Do you believe me, Soojung?” he asked when he was done explaining.

“I do. But,” she said. “I won’t forgive you that easily.”

Sensing that she had already soften and no longer furious at him (though he knew she was still mad), he dared himself to take the next move. Jongin inched closer to Soojung. He took her into his embrace, gazed into her eyes until he was sure her attention was on nothing else but him and caressed her lips with his.

“Does that help?”

“No,” Soojung said, trying to act like she wasn’t affected by the kiss. “But you can start by baking me a cake.”                           

“A cake?”

“Yes, all the ingredients are in the basket. I want it to be full of cream and mangoes decorated on top.”

Jongin sighed. “As you wish, Milady.”

They spent the rest of the afternoon together in Soojung’s kitchen and soon the matter of the early morning was forgotten. In the end, the cake Jongin baked was slightly burnt and the decorations were a mess. Despite it looking very unappetizing, Soojung gave it a try and said it was delicious anyway. The cake was soon finished by the both of them and they shared a sweet kiss before Jongin went home.

~**~**~**~**~

That night, after finishing all her chores, Soojung sat on her bed, recalling how the day that started out so badly had ended so perfectly.

Her mind drifted off to a certain blacksmith’s son. She could still feel the tingly sensation on her lips from his kiss. Jongin had took her first and second kiss and she liked it. No. She loved it. It took every ounce of restrain in her being to not let the kiss develop into something more. She had her pride and she wouldn’t give up just because Jongin tempted her with his touch. She wasn’t sure how she felt towards Jongin specifically but she was certain that it was more than a friend. A whole lot more.

And then there was the shape shifter-with-the-lisp Sehun. Never in her life had she seen a shape shifter. All she had ever heard was stories about them and she thought it was just a fairytale. Same goes to the goblins, trolls, witches and fairies. She had never stumbled upon any of them so she thought they didn’t exist. But Sehun proved her wrong. She didn’t know what led her to invite him to her home. Perhaps it was the thought of having him as a pet, a friend she could count on through the ups and the downs.

She missed having a friend. Her one and only friend moved to another kingdom and she didn’t trust any of the youngsters in the village. They are either too snobby or too boring which led her to live in a cottage that was quite far from town. But Sehun’s presence was refreshing and she could easily be herself with him.

As the clock in town strikes 12, she found that she couldn’t stay awake any longer. With a big yawn, she pulled her duvet until it covered her body from the night’s icy wind and prepared to enter dreamland.

Sehun or Jongin?

She decided that it was too early to tell. She likes them both equally and wouldn’t want to choose between any of them so soon. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Perhaps time would tell.

~**~**~**~**~**~

Author's Notes:

Finally updated :D Hope you liked the story. This is supposed to be a one-shot but I don't know if I should continue this. Even if I do, the updates will come the fastest at mid-December because I have a big exam and I'm seriously risking my grades by writing this XD  Anyway .. I don't know what to name this story. My first idea was 'Of Bunnies and Cakes' which is obviously weird and I see this one-shot can turn into a chaptered fic so I decided with the name 'My Village Idiots' even though it has nothing to do with the story. So, if you have a better idea, feel free to tell me :) Also, if you think something's weird with the story, please tell me! Like if the grammar's all wrong or you don't understand anything at all about the story and if anything is so weird you just couldn't take it, please tell me and I'll gladly explain it to you! Now, I'll finish this note with a question.

Should I continue this or not?

P/s: And thanks for the 20 subscriber!