You walk into your local pet store, hoping to find something that might give you company in your small, one bedroom apartment.

As you enter, you retract your umbrella, wrap it up and stuff it inside your purse. Pulling down the hood of your oversized grey sweatshirt, you glance around. Something has caught your eye—you gasp; but it’s not a beautiful puppy or an adorable kitten. It’s him. Donghae.

You blush, hurrying to fix your hair in case he spots you. You had always dreamed of meeting him; however, not in such a private setting. Whenever you had pictured your encounter with him, you had always thought that you would be screaming his name along with a billion other fans, competing for his eyes to land on your own. Or holding out a worn notebook wet with your joyous tears of being in his presence. But now that it was just you and a few elderly ladies, you didn’t have to compete at all. All you had to do was walk up to the man stocking the shelves and say hi. However, it wasn’t that simple.

Now that you have the opportunity to fulfill your wishes, you completely freeze. Your mind reels with pretend conversations, searching for the perfect one. After all, you don’t want to come off as some creepy fan.

“Are you looking for something?” says a man’s voice. You jump. Your thoughts prevented you from seeing that you were no longer staring at Donghae; rather, you were staring at the spot he was moments before he came to stand next to you.

Tearing your gaze away from where he previously was, you look to your left and find him standing with that famous smile plastered onto his face. His hair is a beautiful caramel brown, falling in wisps down his forehead.

“Yes,” you say, forcing your voice to sound normal. But this was hard, as every part of you wanted to squeal in excitement.

Then there was silence. For a few moments, you sift through the words of what your are going to say in your head, none of which escape your chapped lips. Instead, you stand still and stare at him with what is sure to be a dumbfounded expression.

“Er…” Donghae says, confusion creeping it’s way onto his face. “Does this have anything to do with my fame?”

“Well…” the truth was, it had everything to do with that. It wasn’t every day that you walk into a store to find your ultimate bias stocking shelves. Though…that wasn’t entirely why you were so nervous around him. Though you loved the man you saw in the media, nothing was better than seeing him for real. On television, you couldn’t see the way his eyes sparkled so brightly, or the way he shifted from foot to foot when thrown into an awkward situation such as this one. You were looking into the eyes of Lee Donghae, the man away from all the flashing lights of the paparazzi’s cameras.

“No,” you announce suddenly, catching him off guard. 

He smiles a genuine smile that leaves your heart bursting with foreign emotions.

“So what are you looking for today?” he asks for the second time.

“I don’t know, really,” you say truthfully, biting your lip.“Something to keep me company.”

“I have just the thing,” he says, walking off towards the back of the store.

You follow him, noticing how he walks as if he’s on clouds—each step graceful and careful.

“I should mention, I live in an apartment, so I can’t have anything that may be too big.”

He turns to you, nods his head and says, “That won’t be a problem,” and continues to walk in the same direction.

He finally comes to a stop in front of a beautiful fish. It’s scales are dark blue, specks of purple peeking out here and there. With each turn it makes, it’s fins flutter in the water, giving it a majestic look.

“It’s beautiful…” you murmur. It was perfect. Although you loved cats and dogs, it would have been a hassle to clean up after them all the time. “I’ll take it.”

He beams, then proceeds to inform you all about this breed of fish, which you find out is called ‘Betta’. He then gives you the proper care instructions, making sure to go over them twice.

“Do you think you have it all down?” he asks.

“Yeah, pretty sure…” you say. 

He leads you to the checkout, then hands you your new fish.

“Take care,” he says. 

You begin to leave. As you start to open the door, you feel empty somehow. As though you had just missed out on an opportunity you had waited your life for. One that may never come again.

Carefully placing the fish bowl on a counter, you make your way back to Donghae. You lightly tap him on the shoulder, and he spins around and looks at you, startled.

“I’m sorry,” you say. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s fine,” he smiles. “So what’s up?” 

“This is going to sound really stupid but ever since I knew who you were I knew right then that I just had to see you and now here I am talking to you face to face and I just wanted to say how much this moment right here means to me and oh God I’m talking really fast aren’t I but I just had to get that out because you’re an inspiration to me and a million other people out there and you are the most beautiful person I know and—” you pause to take a breath, “when I look at you I don’t think about how you are so well known I just see the real you and I see how good of a man you truly are and that makes me happy because seeing you today just proved how everything I’ve ever thought about you is true and I’m going to name my fish after you.” You take a long breath, and silently curse yourself for mentioning that last part. 

Then…he laughs. He laughs as if he hasn’t for years. He holds his stomach, doubles over and takes large gulps of air. Somehow, this offends you. You just spilled your heart out to him, and now he’s laughing? You feel hurt. You feel as if he doesn’t care about everything you just said. More importantly, you wonder now if he finds you incredibly stupid.

“What are you laughing for?” you say, blood rushing to your face. 

He stands up, wiping away a tear that had escaped during his amusement.

“I’m sorry,” he says. And he looks it. His eyes go all solemn and his eyebrows knit closely together. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I wasn’t laughing at your words, just how fast you were saying them. It was really overwhelming. And that last bit about you naming your fish after me—well, it was just so random. I’m sorry,” he says again. “But you don’t know how happy your words made me, honestly. I’m honored you find me as an inspiration to people and that you have always wanted to meet me. If you were famous as well, I know I’d think the same about you.” This makes your cheeks go even redder. “And to be completely honest…” he says as he raises his hand and brushes a strand of hair from your eyes, “you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. I was trying not to stare at you for the entire time you were in here.”

Your mouth parts in shock. 

“Donghae…” you mutter. You smile from ear to ear at his words.

“It’s true,” he says. 

Suddenly, he hugs you tight, burying his face in your shoulder. You let yourself close your eyes, savoring the moment. Your insides are on fire and you feel as if nothing could ever compare to this moment. 

He pulls away, then walks to the back of the store. He quickly writes something down on a piece of paper, then folds it and hurries back to you.

He clasps your hands, and curiously you feel something strange in your palm, but you brush it off and decide to focus your attention on the man in front of you instead.

“If you ever need anything,” he says, letting go of one of your hands and brushing you cheek with his finger, “call me.” And with that, he walks away, leaving you to stand there with your heart still beating at a million miles per hour.

As you exit the shop and pick up your new pet, you find your right hand still clenched tightly by your side. You let your fingers unfurl, then look down to read what Donghae has given you. As the rain pours down on yourself, you forget to open your umbrella as the numbers on the little piece of paper fill you with joy.

Written by: Admin A.