It was a warm day, the sun was smiling brightly, the birds were singing cheerfully and Sungyeol was pissed. Like, seriously pissed. And it was only his teacher’s fault. So what if he had no idea what he was talking about for the whole hour? It was his fault for being so boring that he succeeded in making him fall asleep. And he had no right to keep him for detention after school when he was already punished to write a paper on the subject of that day’s lesson. Sungyeol felt wronged.
 
He was on his way home, kicking a pebble with his foot, when he stopped in front of a store and looked through the window. The sign read “Carpentry”, but on display were all kinds of wooden toys, figurines and small boxes which - Sungyeol guessed – were for jewelry.
 
As he stepped inside, a bell rang above his head, announcing his arrival, and a middle-aged man greeted him from behind the counter.
 
“Hello! May I help you?”
 
The man was tall and his face had soft features. He smiled as Sungyeol stepped closer.
 
“I noticed your woodcraft,” the boy said, pointing towards the window.
 
“Oh, those aren’t mine! My son did those. It’s his hobby, and he is trying to raise some money, so we’re putting them up for sale,” the man explained.”Are you interested in buying some?”
 
Sungyeol wondered if his son inherited his father’s good looks.
 
“I would like to take a look at one of your jewelry boxes.” He was planning on buying one for his mother as an apology for his bad behavior during the last few days. Maybe it will serve as a compression of her budding anger.
 
“Those aren’t music boxes, actually,” said the man, walking towards the display window. He grabbed a round box, which was dyed red and had a few butterflies painted on it. Once he opened it, soft echoes of a piano made their way across the room, as a petite ballerina spun gracefully inside.
 
“I guess this would work, too. Could you wrap it for me?”
 
 
 
As Sungyeol stepped through the front door, his eyes glanced at the clock above the hall stand. 8:30 p.m.= the death of Lee Sungyeol. And, as expected, a loud voice echoed all the way from the kitchen, before his mother appeared in front of him.
 
“Lee!Sung!Yeol! Would you care to explain the reason you are three hours late? You missed dinner! Young boy, I did not raise a rebel in for a son and I expect you obey the rules of this house which imply you being home in time for dinner! Where have you been? I was worried sick!”
 
“Hi, mom,” Sungyeol smiled, trying to act cute and hoping that it would cool down her temeper. “I’m sorry for being late, and to prove it I  bought you a gift!”
Theeere it was! That sparkle in her eyes whenever the word gift came up.
 
“A gift? For me? What is it?” she asked, still trying to look upset.
 
“Open it!” Sungyeol said, handing her the wrapped box.
 
His mother’s expression didn’t look so happy when she unwrapped it (she was probably expecting some jewelry), but once she lifted the lid and the music started, she smiled and hugged her son.
 
“It’s wonderful! Thank you, honey!”
 
“Worked like magic,” Sungyeol thought, letting out a breath he was holding since he stepped foot inside.
 
“But where did you get this? It looks so well made!” his mother asked, now admiring the small box in her hands.
 
“It doesn’t matter where I got it from, but you should know it cost me a fortune!” he bragged, hoping maybe for a free weekend, with no chores. But he went too far.
 
“Really? But it says here it was only 5 dollars,” she replied, showing him the receipt. Sungyeol gulped. “Don’t forget to clean your room tomorrow and take out the trash, too. Good night,” his mother said, heading towards the bedroom.
 
“Well, I tried my luck!” Sungyeol reckoned, making his way to his room. Before he could step inside, his parents’ bedroom door opened and his mother stuck out her head.
 
“By the way, your aunt is out of town this weekend and she asked you to help her with her shop. She said you have to be there at noon, so you better get up early and do your chores. Sleep tight!” she said as she blew him a kiss and closed the door.
 
Sungyeol fell on his knees, raised his arms up high and while looking desperately at the ceiling in searcj for a divine force, he silently screamed:
 
“WHYYYYYYYY?”
 
 
 
The next day Sungyeol felt like a zombie. A soulless, empty shell, completely drained from energy. Well, at least his room was clean now. With the price of his soul. His young, full of potential, happy, innocent soul.
 
He took his time in the shower, after which he grabbed his bag, greeted his parents and made sure to glare at his mother (who, once again, blew him a kiss – the woman enjoyed mocking him!), and went out. Slamming the door behind him to make a point.
 
As soon as he got to the shop, Sungyeol realized that his aunt was long gone, judging by the note she left him on the counter. The woman had some courage to leave the store unattended in the middle of the day. She must’ve been so eager to leave. Sungyeol was 99% this was a long-planned getaway. She was probably soaking in some hotel’s spa, while he was forced to fill her shoes. After searching for any damages, he finally read the note.
 
“Our Yeollie, thank you for helping me ^^ Don’t worry, I’ll be back in three days, so make sure you take good care of my business.
 
                                                                                                                   Love,
                                                                                                                        Auntie
 
P.S. The floorboard in the beverage section has rotten because of a few drinks I spilled a few days ago. Could you call someone to fix it? You know you are my favorite nephew, right? ^^”
 
Sungyeol rolled his eyes.“I’m your only nephew, woman.”
 
After checking the situation, he began searching for a phone book to call someone to repair the mess, but even after a whole hour of continuous searching, he couldn’t find it. Then, a light bulb lit above his head and he remembered something. Pulling out the cell phone from his pocket, he dialed his mother’s number.
 
“Sungyeol, you’ve been away for only an hour now. Did you already cause some trouble over there?”
 
“Hello to you too, mother,” he replied sarcastically. “Did you throw away the receipt from last night? You know, the one from the music box.”
 
“Oh, my gift. No, I don’t think so. It must be somewhere around the kitchen. Why?”
 
“I need you to search for that store’s number. The floorboard is suffering because of aunt’s clumsiness.”
 
“Okay, I’ll text it to you later.”
 
“Thanks. See you tonight,” he said before closing.
 
Five minutes later, his cell phone buzzed, signaling a new message. “That was fast.”
 
He dialed the new number and waited, listening to the ringtone, when someone finally picked up.
 
“Hello, this is Kim’s Carpentry. How can we help you?
 
The voice didn’t sound familiar. The man Sungyeol had met the day before spoke slower and had a friendlier tone. “It must be his son.”
 
“Hi. A floorboard in my shop is rotten and I was wondering if you could help me.”
 
After a few silent seconds, the voice answered.
 
“Give me the address and I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
 
As promised, twenty minutes later the owner of the voice from earlier that day was standing before Sungyeol. A tall, dark-haired boy, with brown eyes and “the face of a God”. After waking up from his trance, he showed him the problematic section and the boy began working immediately.
 
“What’s your name?” Sungyeol blurted out, still staring.
 
“Excuse me?” the boy asked, taken aback by the sudden question.
 
“Your name. I’d like to know who makes such beautiful music boxes.”
 
He raised his head and his eyes stared right into Sungyeol’s.
 
“Did you buy one?”
 
It took Sungyeol a while to process the answer, because those eyes were so captivating it pissed him off.
 
“Y-yes. The one with the butterflies and ballerina. It was for my mom.”
 
The boy smiled, and Sungyeol hiccupped.
 
“You have good taste. It’s one of my best pieces.” Then he turned around, focusing on his job. “It’s Myungsoo, by the way.”
 
Sungyeol grinned all the way to his ear.
 
“Nice to meet you, Myungsoo. I’m Sungyeol.”
 
 
 
The next day Sungyeol was melting inside the shop again. It was a lot hotter than the day before, and he couldn’t stand too much heat. He had already eaten all the ice cream he could eat, and the ice from the freezers was almost completely scooped out. He felt like calling his aunt and yelling at her for not repairing the aircon before storming out. But it wouldn’t solve a thing. He would get worked up and it would get even hotter and – "Oh, the horror!”
 
Instead of that, his brilliant mind thought of something else. It was a long shot, but worth trying. He would blame it on the heat later. So he took out his phone and made the call.
 
“Hello, this is Kim’s-”
 
“Hiii!~” Sungyeol realized he should try to learn some more about self-control. “I mean, hi. It’s Sungyeol. From yesterday, remember ?” He prayed he didn’t sound too stupid.
 
“Hi, Sungyeol. What can I do for you?” Myungsoo replied, a bit amused.
 
“Ummm... I was wondering, since you’re so good at fixing things: can you handle an aircon?”
 
“Why don’t you call an electrician? I’m sure he’d do a better job than me.”
 
“Well, I thought you did a great job yesterday, so I figured you could give a lesson to this dip that refuses to let me live through this weekend.” And once again, Sungyeol got carried away. “Plus, it would be more fun with you.”
 
“Fine, but you’re still paying me,” Myungsoo said with a soft laughter and hung up.
 
“Lee Sungyeol, you little genius!”
 
 
 
Twenty minutes later, as expected, Myungsoo appeared again as the knight in shining...um...tank top and shorts? (too hot for an armor) As he was trying  dissapointed,” he said.to fix up the device, the high temperature was taking its toll on him too, and Sungyeol who was bringing him a glass of cold water was welcomed by the sight of a sweaty, panting Myungsoo handling a screwdriver and looking like “the Roman God of... aircon fixing...” (that didn’t come out well). He tried to keep his mouth shut to prevent himself from drooling, but his eyes were growing as big as saucers. His fantasy has finally come true. Well, almost. Just a small detail.
 
Handing him the glass, Sungyeol suggested, trying to sound as innocent as possible:
 
“Aren’t you bot? Why don’t you take your tank top off? You might feel better.” He almost his lips there.
 
“Should I?” Myungsoo teased, smirking.
 
Sungyeol just nodded, looking the other way, feigning ignorance. As if.
 
“I don’t think that would be necessary, though. I’m done here,” he announced, amused by Sungyeol’s expression. “Oh, come on, don’t be that disappointed,” he said, smiling.
 
Sungyeol’s cheeks flushed and he couldn’t believe how obvious he was. That was definitely not a smart move.
 
“Wait here. I’ll go get you your money,” he told him, visibly sulking.
 
“I’ll just take this as payment,” Myungsoo said, taking out a cone of ice cream from the freezer. “Take care, Sungyeol,” he added, tapping him on the shoulder before going out and leaving a bewildered Sungyeol behind, looking far in the distance, as if he had been hypnotized. By his own stupidity.
 
The third and final day had come (this is beginning to sound like some sort of a legend). And Sungyeol was about to possibly make the worst decision of his life: trying for the third time. His ego was hurt from the other day, and moreover he wasn’t satisfied with his performance. He knew he could do better. But he needed an excuse. A good one, this time. Therefore, he made it. So, setting Kim Myungsoo as his ultimate goal, he gathered what was left of his courage, grabbed his phone, cleared his voice and pressed the button.
 
“Let me guess: something broke and you need me there to fix it,” Myungsoo answered unexpectedly.
 
Sungyeol’s eyes grew big.
 
“Wow! How did you know? Are you a magician or something?”
 
“Are you serious?” Myungsoo was amazed by Sungyeol’s reasoning.
 
“So... are you coming or what?” He was waiting for an answer, and he only had silence for a few seconds. Then Myungsoo spoke suddenly, changing his playful tone.
 
“Hey, Sungyeol. Do you want to go out for a movie later today? Maybe a dinner after that.”
 
In that moment, Sungyeol’s mind went blank and he didn’t realize his words completely. He thought he might be overreacting and taking things for what they weren’t. He had some history on that.
 
“W-what do you mean?”
 
“Oh, come on! Wasn’t I straightforward enough for you, Captain Obvious?” Myungsoo laughed at the other’s cute stutterer.
 
“S-so... a date?” Sungyeol double-checked.
 
“Yup, that’s it, genius.”
 
Sungyeol carefully covered the speaker with his hands as he removed the phone from his ear, and let out a silent scream while bouncing up and down throughout the shop. He was going out with the Roman God of fixing stuff (yeaaah, that wasn’t good either). When he finally calmed down, he rememberd Myungsoo was still on the phone and, clearing his throat, he put it back to his ear.
 
“So~?” Myungsoo asked with a laugh, hearing the other breath into the speaker.
 
“I’s like that.” Sungyeol’s happiness was almost palpable. He felt somewhat victorious and proud, but extremely excited at the same time. He was a complicated kid. “Umm, Myungsoo...”
 
“Yeah?”
 
“You still have to come fix the door.”