Dream Seller - Part 1
 

A dollar a dream.

Lu Han was beyond determined to write the words with precise accentuation, the right curves in the letters, and the right amount of pressure of the chalk on the board. It was a childish kind of persistence to write it perfectly, stubbornly believing anything but that was unacceptable. His lips turned into a thin, grim line when he eyed the result, heaving a sigh for it merely passed in its presentation. It would have to do. He had other things to attend to. He gave the black board one last glance before stepping into the shop again, contemplating what to do first. He had yet to clean the dusty shelves before the shop opened, which would not have been such a hassle if only the shop did not literally consisted of endless wooden shelves.

Dream seller.

Lu Han remained emotionless for the word. It really did not affect him anymore, at least, not like it used to. It was a cold business, comparable to the ice that would melt under a spring’s sun. It was a cold business requiring a warm passion, to be more precise. It was a cold business requiring a warm passion and a heart of stone, to be exact. Now Lu Han was not one to depress himself with the idea of having a heart of stone – negativity and him had never liked each other – but after getting thousands of those comments remarking his seemingly inanimate-like heart, one would be a hero not to be influenced by those words. But all was good and well, for Lu Han knew the world would never be pleased whatever he did or say, so let it be. Let them be.

Because Lu Han knew that in the end, they would all come to him.

“Where did I leave the damn broom…”

Lu Han muttered under his breath, the sudden remembrance of the dirty floor near the counter triggering him to quickly clean up instead of wasting his time standing in front of the door. After all, he did not wake up this early in the morning just to observe the outside world, but to do business. His eyes quickly darted around, landing surprisingly quick on the object he was searching for. He hastily reached out for it, not wasting any time to begin with the cleaning, when a high-pitched ring filled the place, indicating someone’s arrival in the shop. Lu Han furrowed his eyebrows at it, intently cursing the person who did not know that the sign outside said closed, and that that really meant that it was not appropriate to mindlessly step into this place, which was really his territory under the disguise of a poor little shop somewhere in the less crowded places of Seoul.

“I don’t know if you know it or not, but we’re-” Lu Han uncaringly looked up, his expression instantly turning into an overwhelmed, shocked one as his gaze landed on the stranger, “…closed.”

“Oh,” The tall, dark haired boy said embarrassedly, “I’m sorry. I saw you inside, so I thought you were already open.”

Normally, Lu Han would not care to throw a sarcastic remark at anyone who did not possess the intelligence to think twice before doing something, but he was far too mesmerized by this boy to even come up with such unpleasant comments. The boy had this mixture of stoic ignorance and eternal youth, this expression that screamed to be obeyed to but at the same time also glowed with naive willingness to submissiveness. First impressions were never accurate, but Lu Han wanted to trust himself with his one. This boy had to be like this.

“Uh…” Lu Han’s eyes darted around the shop, his hands clenching onto the stick of the broom, “We’re open in an hour… You can come back then.”

The young boy gave him an understanding nod, “T-Thank you for telling me.”

“Until then,” Lu Han said with an almost invisible smile.

“Uh, yes,” The boy smiled, “until then. I’m sorry for interrupting you.”

Lu Han watched as the boy left, pieces of images popping into his mind like lighted fireflies. A clear image of the paradoxical stranger smiling as he held onto Lu Han’s hand. A vague scene of the stranger begging him to give him everything he does not have. A dark picture of the stranger crushing his heart and leaving him on his own. But amidst this all was this kind of surreal feeling, something never to be caught, that warmed his heart of stone.

Cold business.

Lu Han’s eyes widened slightly as he was remembered of it. It made him quickly continue with whatever he was doing, because it was a cold business and he should have never let his mind wander. Never should he have let anything invade his mind, pollute it with everything that harmed his warm passion and heart of stone. A cold business. Always a cold business.


A dollar for a dream. It was a cold business, selling dreams. It was comparable to selling toys, clothes, food, but much more colorless. Lu Han was used to it already, but that did not mean he was from the beginning. It was the finite time of a life time that brought him the acceptance of being a dream seller, that made him able to look pass the faces of customers that never came twice, and that made him able to cope with touching all the bottles on the shelves, eager to be sold for a dollar. Always a dollar.

The rules were made for children to be able to understand, and for adults to elaborate. No dollar? No dream. Not old enough? You might as well work hard to find your own dream. If you had a dollar and you were of legitimate age, then you were most welcome at A dollar a dream, your dream already ready for you to buy. One signature on a dull, yellow-tinted paper and you were able to walk out of the shop with your bought dream. It was a cold business, being a dream seller.

A dream here was a kind of thin liquid, colored by parts of the rainbow, unable to grasp but so beautiful not to try. A dream here was a product sold to everyone who could prove he or she had lived years with fruitless attempts towards finding and holding onto a dream. A dream here was traded for a dollar, a mere, cold dollar, because that was how much a dream was worth here. In a dream seller’s eyes, they were only worth a dollar.

A cold, cold business it was to be a dream seller, but always with a warm passion.

☼

“I’d like to buy that one.”

Lu Han looked up to meet a pair of excited eyes, too excited for a pair of brown eyes that were filled with extinguished ambition and faded hopes. His eyes scanned the man’s appearance from top to toe, professionally doing so without the other noticing it. It was enough to tell him what this customer would want to buy, but nevertheless, he followed the direction his finger pointed to, and indeed, it confirmed his assumption. A brilliant career. His eyes flickered back to the tall hat the man was wearing. Always the black hat men.

“Of course,” Lu Han said with a polite smile, eyes catching the dollar in the man’s hand, “anything else?”

The man shook his head, “One’s more than enough.”

Lu Han was calm as he grabbed the contract the customer had to sign. It really took no effort to slide the paper on the counter to the man, a pen already in his other hand. He had a heart of stone, after all.

“Is this your first time?”

Of course it was, the question was painfully needless, but it was a necessity. It was part of the whole procedure he had to walk through again and again. So he asked, and he waited for the same reply.

“Yes, it is.” The man said, a glint of nervousness slipping out of his mouth, “Do I have to sign here?”

“Yes, please read the rules and if you agree to it, then you can sign below.” Lu Han explained, pointing to the empty spot on the page.


 A dollar a dream

Every customer buying a dream at ‘A dollar a dream’ should (1) be of legitimate age and (2) agree on buying a dream for a dollar. It is not possible to return a dream after buying and ‘A dollar a dream’ is not held responsible for any consequences of the bought dream. ‘A dollar a dream’ is merely and only in charge of selling the dream. By signing this contract, the customer is informed of the rules and accepts the conditions and responsibility of the shop.

Name:
Date:
Signature:


“Excuse me,” The man asked tentatively, “but what kind of consequences is this shop not responsible for?”

A flash crossed Lu Han’s conscious.

“He’s dying! He’s dying! Someone, rescue him! He’s dying!”

“She used to be a bright young woman, but now… Now the only thing she does is dreaming about being somewhere else. She’s stuck in her dream.”

Lu Han smiled politely as he spoke, “Just in case the dream doesn’t turn out to be what you wanted, you’re always welcome to buy a new one, but we’re not responsible for how it turns out.” His empty eyes wandered around the shop, “Sometimes it doesn’t work out.”

The customer did not ask anything more after this, quickly signed the paper, his hands trembling eagerly to reach out for the dream he bought for a dollar. A cold, lone dollar. Lu Han picked up the dream, locked in a bottle, smiling ever so distantly as he put it in a paper bag.

“Here you go,” He said as he handed the bag to the customer, “I hope you’ll enjoy it.”

“Thank you,” The black hat man said as he took the bag, and Lu Han was sure he could see the shiver when the man’s warm hand accidentally touched his own cold hand, “Have a nice day.”

“Have a nice day too,” The dark blonde dream seller replied as his eyes followed the customer’s figure leaving.

The moment the black hat man stepped out of the shop – Lu Han did not want to remember his face too vividly so he had been focusing mostly on the hat – he quickly looked at the dollar in his hand. Its coldness was by far not like that of his own two hands, but comparable. It soothed his heart. He glanced around beneath the counter, smiling gleefully when he found an empty bottle, still unused. He dropped the coin in the bottle, the clanging sound of the coin hitting the glass bottle sounding utterly beautiful in his ears. He did not waste any time to close the bottle with a brown cork, his eyes glued to the bottle as he watched the coin transform.

It was a kind of metamorphose in Lu Han’s eyes. It was a cold business, but with a warm passion. Always a warm passion when he saw the dollar melt, slightly evaporate, the color of the coin long exchanged for a bright blue one. It was such a brilliant sight, such a wonderful happening. A dollar for a dream. People just did not know how expensive that was. Lu Han’s eyes beamed when he saw the end product, a neon kind of blue liquid, and he reached out for a marker to right down its content.

A brilliant career.



A heart of stone. Always a heart of stone. Never think too much about it. A dream seller merely sold dreams. He was not in the rightful position to think about what could happen after that. The past already told him that was not going to do him any good even when he tried to.

“You’re a cold, heartless person, Lu Han.”

No, he wanted to argue that. How could he be a cold person, when he had a warm passion? It was the business that was cold, not him. It was being a dream seller that made one heartless, not the dream seller himself.

☼

Paradoxical boy came back, as expected. Lu Han just wished he had not. This was not a place one should come to when one still had the persistence to look for one’s own dreams. Then again, Lu Han did not know anything about this stranger’s story. He might as well deserve to buy a dream more than any other customer he ever had.

“You’re open, right?” The boy asked carefully, a small smile dancing on his lips.

Lu Han eyed the open-sign in front of the shop’s window, “It seems we’re open, yes.”

The stranger either did not hear the sarcasm or decided to ignore it completely, because the smile on his lips widened and it irritated Lu Han, terribly. This boy did not belong here, and Lu Han wanted him gone.

“What can I do for you?” The ever polite dream seller asked, glancing at the other as he pretended to clean the counter.

“I…” The tall, dark haired boy smiled brightly, “I wanted to look around the shop, that’s all.”

Lu Han blinked his eyes, his hands stopped moving as he eyed the boy as if he was delirious, out of his mind. What did this boy think this shop was? Did it look similar to a store selling toys, clothes? There was nothing to look around for in this shop, no beauty to be appreciated. There was only one thing to buy, and that was a dream.

“So, you sell dreams here?” The boy innocently asked.

Lu Han tried to hold back a scoff, “Our shop name doesn’t hold any figurative meaning. We sell dreams, yes. A dollar for a dream.”

The stranger seemed to have finally noticed the unfriendly attitude of the dream seller, for embarrassment started to surface in his eyes, “I’m asking stupid questions.”

The dark blonde young man shrugged his shoulders, “Stupid might not be the right word, but certainly irrelevant.”

“I… I was just curious,” The tall boy confessed, earning the slightest bit of sympathy from the other.

“You know enough now, so don’t ask any more questions,” Lu Han said, trying his best not to sound too harsh, “there’s nothing to ask about anyways.”

Sehun chewed on his lower lip nervously, “I’m disturbing you.”

Lu Han took a deep breath before mustering the nicest smile he still possessed, the customer turning into a little boy in front of his eyes, “No, not at all, you just happened to ask the wrong questions at the wrong moment.”

Which in other words meant that Lu Han did not have time to waste and if this boy was smart enough, he would understand this and take his leave. He still had shelves to clean, a lot of dollars to put in bottles, and endless bottles to place on the dust-free shelves. In short, he was busy, and busy dream sellers tend to get sarcastic. No, everyone in general would get sarcastic urges whenever they were under pressure, Lu Han was quite sure of.

“Can I ask you something?” Sehun asked hesitantly.

The other eyed him sternly before continuing with cleaning, “Aren’t you asking me something right now?” Lu Han glanced up and let out a sigh when he saw the boy’s confused and nervous expression, “Just… What is it?”

“I… I was just curious… Why a dollar?”

The question struck Lu Han painfully hard, straight through his empty mind and cold heart, almost harming his warm passion. His warm passion was all he had left, so he did everything he could to protect it.

Lu Han furrowed his eyebrows in irritation, “It’s just a price to pay for a dream. Like I said, we’re not funny people, or religious. Do I look funny to you? No need to search for hidden meanings behind things. We just sell dreams.”

Dreams in glass bottles reached the ceiling, yet unable to escape, waiting patiently for someone to buy them for a dollar. Dreams about being a better person, or to find happiness, or even to be the country’s heartthrob – it was a cold dollar for a liquid dream. Dreams were nothing but products here, and customers nothing more but objects whom dream sellers poured the product onto. It was products and objects, projectiles and receivers, always cold and inhumane. It was always a cold business, dollars over the counter together with wishful signatures on meaningless papers.

“Why did you decide on selling dreams?” The curious boy asked.

“Because,” Lu Han hissed as he forcefully cleaned a dirty spot on the counter, “I needed a job and this was the only occupation available at that moment. There’s no place for ambition in here, just so you know. I can’t like… Get promoted or something. It’s just dream selling. Good old-fashioned selling until the day I retire or die.”

There was only one kind of dream seller, and that was a dream seller with a warm passion and a heart of stone. It was never anything else. Dream sellers lived their every day with the same kind of attitude, the same kind of behavior towards their job. There was no other work for a dream seller, other than selling dreams. The job was cold, but their passion always warm.

“Can I buy a dream?”

Lu Han stopped his movements, eyes fixed on the spot he had been cleaning for quite a while already. He could have just said whatever he used to say. He could have just said of course with his usual polite smile, ask him to read the contract and then let him buy a dream for a dollar. However, instead of saying that, he asked a question. A cold question laced with warm passion.

“How old are you?”

The boy smiled, “Nineteen.”

Lu Han gulped down his saliva, eyes lingering around before he answered, “Then no, you can’t buy a dream.”

It was pathetic, but Lu Han had wished he was not old enough, so he would not have to say such absurd things. He had no right to take away the customer’s right to buy a dream. He had no right to question anyone’s reason for buying a dream in this small, claustrophobic shop somewhere at the outskirts of Seoul. He had no such justified right, but he wanted to pretend he had. Lu Han looked into the other’s eyes.

He wanted to pretend he had.

☼

Childish boy seemed to be harder to handle than Lu Han initially thought, when he walked to the shop and saw the other boy sitting in front of the door. It had snowed lightly the night before, the wet whiteness still lingering around and causing a cold, distant feeling to mingle with air. It made Lu Han feel sad for no reason, and it made him unhappy for the simple reason that it was so colorless on earth. But this boy was something else, really something else, with his warm dark red coat and pure white colored scarf. He wore colors as if they belonged to him. He wore white as if he was born to have wings and he wore red as if he was born with the gentle warmth that lingered in his eyes when he looked up to meet eyes with Lu Han.

The stranger’s eyes glistered, “Hello.”

Lu Han took a deep breath, “What are you doing here? I told you already that I can’t sell you a dream.”

This caused the other to frown in confusion, “I don’t understand why you wouldn’t sell me a dream. I’m old enough, not? I can buy a dream if I want. I’ve a dollar with me too.” He added quickly, showing Lu Han the dollar he held onto, his bright white gloves making the dollar shine so much more.

“I’m the dream seller here, and if I say I won’t sell you a dream, then I won’t.” Lu Han said sternly, “Please move so I can unlock the door. I still have work to do.”

“That’s unfair,” The other replied, “you’re supposed to sell dreams to everyone, as long as they’re old enough and have a dollar. You’re not supposed to be like this.”

Lu Han’s eyes fluttered closed instantly, his breath hitching once as he realized this stranger had just pointed out his unjustified behavior, accusing him for a white excuse he made for his own good. He was supposed to be a professional dream seller, the kind with a heart of stone and a warm passion, but this person just had to cause chaos in Lu Han’s blank mind, thick unorganized of pitch black ink blemishing the whiteness of his empty consciousness.

“You don’t want to buy a dream,” Lu Han spoke with a sigh, “so please leave now.”

“And how do you know I don’t want to buy a dream?”

Lu Han grinned sadly, “Because I’ve worked long enough as a dream seller to know what kind of people step into my shop with empty hands, but leave with a dream bought for a dollar. I know, and therefore,” The dark blonde boy continued sternly, “it’s better you don’t come here anymore.”

“He’s dying! He’s dying! Someone, rescue him! He’s dying!”

“You’re a cold, heartless person, Lu Han.”

Because Lu Han knew what exactly happened to so many of his customers, so he refused to give this boy the same fate as them. A dollar for a dream was nothing but a lie, and dream sellers nothing but a fraud, but nobody needed to know. They earned money doing such cold business, and the money felt beautifully warm in his hands. A dollar, a dollar, not that he ever earned anything but a dollar, and the dollar would turn into thin liquid before his eyes, leaving him with nothing but the coldness of lost warmth.

“Don’t come back here again,” Lu Han said with finality, “really, don’t.”

But this boy did nothing but smile, smile as if his life was made to smile like that, laced with shyness and naiveté. This boy knew nothing, pretended to know but was completely ignorant to the dangers.

“So, does that mean you won’t sell me a dream?”

Lu Han did not know whether to laugh or cry because of this boy’s question, because here this boy was, staring at him as if he was nothing to be frightened of, expecting a nice answer to come out. Lu Han could make this boy cry if he wanted to, but he had no such malice intention. At least, not yet. This boy really was getting on his nerves.

“Once again, no, I won’t sell you a dream.”

There was this unexplainable urge inside of Lu Han, pushing the words stop smiling, just stop the damn smiling to the tip of his tongue and it felt so needed to voice them out. He did not want to see that smile, or anything of this boy’s physical features, really. He was not used to looking at a person intently anymore, to take in all the outer characteristics of a person. That did not mean he did not observe anymore; he just ought other things important nowadays. So seeing this boy smiling at him, as if he was a good person – which he truly was not –, made him want to throw with things just to let out his anger.

The young man’s smile brightened, “Dreams aren’t supposed to be sold.”

A flash. It came in flashes. The sentence triggered something inside of Lu Han he did not know existed anymore. 

A clear image of the paradoxical young man smiling as he held onto Lu Han’s hand.

A vague scene of the familiar stranger begging him to give him everything he did not have.

A dark picture of the boy in red crushing his heart and leaving him on his own.

And on that moment, Lu Han forgot about the cold business, the warm passion, even the stone of heart. All he could remember where flashes that felt so unreal, passing his eyesight like a broken film. What this was supposed to mean, Lu Han was not sure whether he wanted to know or not.

The stranger hopped up onto his feet, hands buried comfortably in the pockets of his coat, “What’s a dream?”

Almost, Lu Han’s heart almost broke. It almost forgot it was supposed to be a heart of stone. This was too much for a dream seller, not to mention that Lu Han had long memorized his new definition for a dream. A dream was something bought for a cold dollar. It was a heaven or a hell, it was something or nothing, but most important, it was no longer something unreachable. It was already something that could be held onto with both hands. Such fragile things like dreams could too be captured by humanity, locked in bottles, and sold for a mere dollar.

“I sell dreams,” Lu Han said emotionlessly, roughly pushing the boy away from the door, “and dream sellers all have one thing in common.”

“You’re a cold, heartless person, Lu Han.”

It was not like Lu Han had purposely wanted to push the boy on the ground mercilessly, not helping him even when he lied there on the cold ground, the whiteness of his gloves dirtied by nature. He never intended on being so cruel. Neither to others, or himself. Nevertheless, certain things had to be done and said rough, just so it was made clear. Lu Han had no time for ambiguity.

“The first thing we do as a dream seller…” Lu Han took a deep breath, “Is selling our own dream.”

He had not expected the other to say anything, because there really was nothing to be said. Nothing to comment about yet another person who had given up his dream, buying none in return. A person without a dream, a dream seller – it never sounded beautiful in Lu Han’s ears. So without waiting for a reply, which he knew would never come, he unlocked the door and rushed inside, not once glancing back at the stranger who took apparent pleasure in triggering unhappiness in Lu Han.

☼

Lu Han sold his dream with an empty heart, not yet of stone. He had bit his lip harshly, refraining himself from reaching over for his own dream. He had asked himself whether this was what he had wanted, but there was no place for such questions that would only put more weight on his heart, so he had let it happen in front of his eyes as if it was nothing. As if it was not something to be bothered about. It had flashed in front of his eyes, but he had not been able to elaborate any of it.

That was all he could remember, all he could still register in his conscious mind. Whatever his dream was, he did not know anymore. Whatever he used to fight so hard for, he could hardly muster any memories about it anymore. It was erased, and Lu Han knew it was for the better. After all, no need to remember something that you would never ever get your hands on anymore.

But Lu Han had never been able to completely erase all his memories regarding his used-to-be dream. Some moments still lingered in his mind, though he did not want to acknowledge them. They woke him up at night, caused him exhaustion at day. It tugged at his heart of stone playfully, like a little child exploring the limits of it. And maybe this inability to lose all of it was because he had never wanted to sell his dream in the first place. Maybe it was because the truth was that Lu Han never wanted to sell his dream to that person. He remembered clearly the pain he felt when he did, excruciating pain that could never be compared.

His dream did not even have the chance to be put on a shelf. It had been pushed into the person’s hands without second thoughts, but with a sole tear that had escaped his right eye. Always the right eye that gave away his true emotions. Lu Han had accepted the title of dream seller without hesitation, watching the person leave with cold eyes, reflecting the cold business he had been thrown into. Cold, so cold, because he had yet to learn to feel the warm passion back then, and his heart was not yet of stone.

“Dreams aren’t supposed to be sold.”

A melancholic grin formed on his lips. If not to be sold, what were they for then? What are dreams for, other than to be put into bottles and to be sold for a dollar? They would merely be intangible things people would not be able to appreciate.

“Lu Han, you’re pathetic…” He muttered, mocking himself for his stupidity, “So pathetic…”

He was pathetic, with the irony lying in the fact that because he did not know where this shameful feeling came from, it gradually grew into more and more, suffocating him. He should be cleaning, because that was what he was good at. No, he was particularly good in dream selling, the finest dream seller there was. He was the pride of the dream sellers, the only person who had been able to completely fit himself in this cold business.

Dream sellers always tended to distance themselves from the things they sold, because it slipped out of their hands way too often for them to build any sentimental feelings for whatever they sold. Lu Han learned to see dreams as objects, and those who bought these were strangers he would never ever see again. He had no responsibility, no consequences to bear. All he had to was smile politely and sell with a heart of stone.

A sigh left Lu Han’s mouth as he glanced outside, relieved to know that the boy was not there anymore. Lu Han did not like his presence, and it was because he seemed to like the young man’s presence a little too much. He hated how this stranger makes him feel uneasy, so uncomfortable in his own little world. Therefore, he disliked the other.

Lu Han’s eyes darted to the door when he heard the ring of the bell, a sound he hated and loved with a passion. He deliberately eyed the person’s hair, not wanting to see the face, but when it looked so familiarly, so heart wrenching familiar, Lu Han had to force himself to look at the face, and of course, he had expected him already. He came occasionally, at the worst times, but then again, there had never been an appropriate time for this person to crash into his life again.

“What are you doing here?” Lu Han hissed unhappily, “I don’t recall doing anything excessively heroic or hauntingly wrong for you to pay me a visit.”

“Now, now,” The other responded with a tight grin, “let’s be nice to each other, Lu Han. We still have a long way to go, together.”

Lu Han already did not shiver upon hearing the word together coming out of the other’s mouth. It had been said too many times by that person to cause Lu Han any impact anymore.

“I’m only going to ask one more time,” Lu Han said before throwing the other a cold glare, “what do you want?”

“I just happened to pass by and wanted to pay a visit to my most excellent dream seller.” The tall man smirked, the black hat – always the damn black hat – shielding his eyes, “I wouldn’t want my finest worker to feel that his boss doesn’t care about him.”

“Well, as you can see,” Lu Han pointed to himself, “I’m still not dead. There you go, you got your answer. If you don’t mind, I still have things to do.”

“Oh, Lu Han, but you always have things to do!” The other emphasized, making Lu Han grit his teeth, “Always cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Do you have an obsessive-compulsive disorder or anything?”

“He’s dying! He’s dying! Someone, rescue him! He’s dying!”

A vague scene of a man lying on the counter, bleeding profusely. An unclear image of a dark figure holding onto him painfully and with stern authority when he had yelled. A hazy memory of blood dripping down the floor, the metallic scent filling the shop sickeningly, reached his conscious. Lu Han glanced at the counter.

It never left Lu Han’s mind. Never.

“Leave me alone, Jonghyun.”

“He’s dying, damn it, he’s dying!”

“Then let him die.”

“What?” Jonghyun feigned surprise, a smile forming on his lips that dripped with poisonous honey, “Don’t you always love my company, though? I mean, I still remember how you had held onto me that night when that good-for-nothing died in this-”

“Shut up!” Lu Han yelled, “Shut the up! Don’t say it! Don’t you dare to say it!”

“Lu Han,” Jonghyun approached him with a dark grin, “we killed someone. You and I, we took someone’s precious life. Your hands are stained with that person’s blood.” Jonghyun straightened himself, “There’s no way out.”

From the moment he had seen the light diminish in the dead man’s eyes, he knew he could not escape anymore. Once a dream seller, always a dream seller. Dream sellers sold their own dreams, and even if they would buy another dream, they would not be able to get back the dream they desired. A dream sold is a dream to never be found again. 

“After all,” A cold grin lingered on Jonghyun’s lips as he spoke, “it’s not like you don’t kill people every day in this shop anyways. You, my loveliest dream seller, are the pride of all the dream sellers,” Jonghyun snickered evilly, “doesn’t that make you feel special?”

“Just… Just leave me alone…” Lu Han muttered, trying his hardest not to explode.

“I just wanted to tell you something,” Jonghyun leaned over the counter, lips dangerously close to Lu Han’s ear, “I saw the person who bought your dream today.” An amused grin appeared on Jonghyun’s lips when he saw Lu Han’s eyes fluttering in shock, his breath hitching, “He seemed really, really happy. Doesn’t that make you happy? Your dream is save with him.”

Yet another crack appeared on his stone of heart as he watched the other leave, tears dripping down as he did.

And then he resumed cleaning, because that was all he ever did nowadays.