Fanfiction: Sweet Like Candy Floss
Great, another day ahead.
It felt like I had never slept at all, and got dragged out of bed the minute I had shut my eyes. Waking up at 6.30am was just torture. Having woken up by your leader, was way beyond torture.
“Get up, maknae. Why do I always have trouble dragging you out of bed?!”
Victoria was a problem. Having been crowned the leader of the new SM girl-group, F(x), she loved to take things her way. And it didn’t matter to her whether the other members liked it or not. Flicking my ears to wake me up was certainly one of the things about her that I hated the most. Then again, we all respected her for she was our unnie and at certain times, it does pay to have a bossy leader.
Scrambling out of bed before she decided pouring ice water down my back was the best solution to get me up, I bumped straight into Amber while heading for the bathroom.
“Oww, watch it, Krystal.” Amber rubbed her forehead, clearly annoyed. But it wasn’t long before the frown on Skater Boy turned into the usual mischievous grin. “Queen flicking your ears again?
“Morning...Oppa.” Shuffling past Amber, I decided that her tomboy image didn’t really deserve the title ‘Unnie’. After all, all that Skater Boy ever wore were clothes that never revealed more than ¼ of her body. Getting her to put on a skirt was as good as killing the entire fan girl population.
As I closed the bathroom door and stared into the mirror, I couldn’t help but sigh at the dishevelled image staring back at me. Messy tangled hair, dark eye rings, another pimple breakout... It was a wonder how the coordinator Unnies ever make me turn up on stage. Clearly, being fifteen and a celebrity at the same time didn’t really go well together. Puberty just keeps getting into the way.
“MAKNAE, WOULD YOU HURRY UP ALREADY?!” Sulli yelled as she banged impatiently on the bathroom door.
“I JUST GOT IN HERE, DAMMIT.” That was one bad thing about sharing an entire apartment with 4 other girls. The bathroom issue was a constant headache for all us, especially when it gets occupied by Victoria. God knows what she does inside.
Ignoring Sulli’s screams, I grabbed for my toothbrush and prepared myself for yet another hectic day.
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“Hey Krystal!”
The sudden greeting jolted me out of my train of thoughts. Looking up, I found Taemin beaming happily at me, as though Key Umma had bought him a huge tub of ice-cream or something.
“Morning, Taemin Oppa!” I regretted the greeting as soon as it left my mouth.
Smiling awkwardly at the name I had just addressed him, he walked away to join the rest of SHINee, at the other end of the room. It was as though the boy never had to grow up. Hard to believe, but Taemin was after all, year old than I am. I sighed at the thought of addressing him as ‘Oppa’ and continued to focus on the rest of SHINee.
Being a teenager opened a whole new perception of the world, and getting interested in boys, getting a boyfriend, was just about to come sooner or later. Looking at the 5 eligible boys and listing out my expectations in mind, I shifted my view to start with Jonghyun.
I didn’t want to be rude, but Jonghyun’s height was just an issue for me. Putting on heels would already make me half a head taller than him and he was just lucky that our debut performance didn’t require me to be in heels. Despite his nice and funny nature, I was bent on setting my expectations for a boyfriend to someone who is at least, 175cm and above.
Then there’s Minho, the second youngest of the group. Well, he IS tall, and well-built, and definitely an amazing rapper. Not to mention that he’s totally into sports, earning him that nice set of abs which we all caught a glance of when he was on Dream Team. But I wasn’t a sucker for that usual delicious ‘Eat Me’ model face, so I would have to put aside my considerations for him.
Moving on to Key, the ‘Diva’ of the group. He has multiple talents, that’s for sure. Besides being the Umma of SHINee, in which Onew as the leader, totally fails at doing, Key is very much a fashionista. But hey, a boyfriend is supposed to help his girl control her spending, so if Key’s gonna be the shopaholic boyfriend here, our financial issues are never gonna work out.
As for Onew, the leader of SHINee, it was hard not to fall for his cute, charming, boyish looks, but it’s also just as hard to keep up with his clumsy antics. Plus, with the 5 year age gap between us, I would probably have a hard time trying to get along with him, not to mention always having to yell at him to LOOK OUT.
Taemin...well, that boy was just perfect. His dance moves are sleek and his voice is a loud, sweet, calming mixture of Jonghyun’s, Key’s and Onew’s. His kiddy boyish face makes you just want to hug him so bad, but then again, that may break his food-deprived body into bits. That would probably be the only imperfect point about him.
Engrossed in my thoughts, I didn’t hear Amber plopping into the seat opposite me.
“Hey Maknae, whatcha looking at?” Following the direction of my gaze, Amber broke out into a loud giggle.
“Checking out the SHINee boys? Wow, Maknae, your hormones are finally unleashing themselves.”
Throwing her an evil stare, I replied, “It’s not my fault that I’m still going through puberty.”
“Sure, so...which one of them have you got your eyes on?”
As an answer to her question, my eyes returned to gaze on Taemin, who was currently being fed by Key Umma a large scoop of Chocolate ice-cream.
Following my eyes again, Amber exclaimed, “F(x)’s Maknae has a crush on SHINee’s Maknae...yep, that would look good as the headlines on Allkpop!”
As soon as I turned back and showed her my evil stare again, I got taken aback by her appearance. I was too obsessed with Taemin that I didn’t realise what Amber was dressed in. Black baggy pants, a red and loud t-shirt that said ‘BOOMZ’ on it, a black vest, complete with a dark blue baseball cap, she looked every bit, a replica of Taemin.
And a very good-looking replica indeed.
My heart skipped a beat. Whoa there.
Just then, Manager Kim came over and told us that our performance was in 5 minutes time. As we stood up and proceeded to the side of the stage, that small uneasy feeling towards Amber was overwhelmed by anxiety as I caught a peek of the audience out there.
“Alright Krystal,” I mumbled to myself. “It’s a big night at Music Bank, so give it your best shot!” As we performed our new single, CHU~♡ and began to amaze the audience, I got caught up in the elaborate singing and dancing, that the awkward moment back then slowly disappeared.
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“Finally home, oh gosh, my legs are aching!” Sulli complained as soon as the door to our apartment swung open.
Sinking herself into the sofa, Luna commented, “At least you didn’t have pigtails, my hair feels like it’s gonna get pulled off by these tight rubber bands.”
“Stop complaining the both of you. I was the one who had to do the cartwheel and the back-bend. My back is aching like crazy now...Krystal, get a drink for me, will you?” Said Victoria, as she hammered vigorously at her back.
Silently, I dragged myself to the kitchen and proceeded to pull open the fridge, taking out a coke for Victoria. Just as I was about to leave, Amber strolled in and we almost bumped into each other, again.
“Oh, hey Maknae, you best be bringing the coke to the Queen fast, I’m afraid that she may break her back from all that hammering, pfft.”
At that instance, the awkward moment came flooding back in again. I felt myself flushing a bright red from head to toe and desperately trying to avoid eye contact with Amber.
“Hey, Maknae, what’s wrong? You’re getting all...red. Are you blushing..?”
“Huh? W-what? N-no, obviously not!” Letting out a spew of stutters, I quickly ran out of the kitchen and passed Victoria her drink.
“Thanks Krystal, oh wait, what’s wrong with your face, it’s all red...”
“N-nothing!’ I exclaimed and rushed back to our room. Hiding underneath my blanket, I could feel heat radiating from myself, and my heart was throbbing faster than ever. That uneasy feeling was back. And I didn’t even know why or what it was.
“Omg, what the hell is wrong with me?”
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Morning came and I couldn’t have dreaded it more. Getting up without Victoria’s flicking was a wonder but I wasn’t surprised for I hadn’t slept well the entire night. Not with Amber in the bed just next to mine and the fact that I would blush at the sight of her sleeping so calmly.
Once, I had even caught a glimpse of her pale smooth back as her shirt slowly slid up when she turned. Feeling myself go red again, I immediately flipped to the other side and swore to face the wall for the entire night.
“What was I thinking? Amber’s a friend. A good friend. Why should I be embarrassed just because I spotted her waist...”
But the thought that Amber had curves too even though she was constantly wearing the tomboy image, made my heart jump straight into my throat. Yep, I was right about Amber wearing a skirt and killing the entire fan girl population. Come on, I couldn’t even resist having dirty thoughts when she only bared her waist.
“Morning Krystal!” Amber greeted cheerfully.
Her sudden greeting had startled me and I dropped my cup of juice instinctively.
“Oh crap.” Reaching for a rag, I bent down to clean up the mess, only to find myself less than 6 inches away from Amber’s face.
“Whoa, hey..Maknae..What’s wrong? You’ve been really jumpy lately, did you catch a cold?” Amber reached out and place her palm on my forehead.
That was it.
Sensitive to her touch, I darted away from her hand and ran out of the kitchen, heading for the main door.
“HEY! Where’re you going?!”
“To, uh..find..Key.”
“What for?”
“To, t-talk.”
“Talk? To Key? About what?”
Licking my lips in anxiety, I mumbled a quick reply and shot out of the door. Amber’s puzzled face told me that she didn’t catch what I answered. But I was relieved that she didn’t.
“About uh...us.”
Running towards SHINee’s apartment that was only a few blocks down the street, my heart was racing and my face felt so hot, it was probably on fire.
Somehow, something inside of me changed when I looked at Amber. The usual girl to girl feeling I had with her was gone. My heart seemed to throb faster than usual when she was around and electricity seem to zap me each time I felt her touch.
Oh gosh, this isn’t happening.
Breaking out into cold sweat, I ran even faster and tried to block out that image of Amber in my mind. Oh god oh god, this is so not happening. Amber’s my best friend!
I can’t possibly think of her that way.
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Ringing the doorbell to SHINee’s apartment, I took in a deep breath to calm myself down. But before I could even exhale, Taemin had already swung the door wide open.
“Oh hey there, Krystal, what’s up?”
“I need to talk to Key. Is he in?”
“Yeah...sure.”
Nudging past Taemin, I walked straight into the living room, ignoring his awkward glances. Whatever, I didn’t have the time and mood to go gaga about boys now. Taemin would just have to wait.
Spotting Key slouched in front of the TV, I said, “Key Oppa..I need to talk to you”
“Oh. Okay, what’s it about?”
“Me. And uh...Amber.”
Key getting a sudden alert at hearing Amber’s name, grabbed my hand and dragged me to the study room.
“You said this is about Amber?”
“Yeah, it’s just...I don’t know, I think...I’m starting to like her.”
“Huh. Well, isn’t that good? Get closer to your band mates.”
“No, its...I think I like-like her.”
“Like-like? Wait...you’re interested in her...?”
“Yes, and I don’t know why or how, but I know I shouldn’t be and I want this to stop.”
Key was silent for a moment. Staring at him, I couldn’t help but worry as I couldn’t read his face at all.
“Oppa..?”
“Go home. I’ll figure something out.”
“Oh, um, okay. Thanks. Bye.” Concluding the conversation, I headed for the door, glancing at Taemin and giving him a slight nod of the head. Strolling back to our apartment, Key’s words echoed in my mind.
“Go home. I’ll figure something out.” Did he sound...surprised? It was as though he was disappointed at me telling him that I had feelings for Amber.
Well, he said he’d would think of a solution right? So he will. Assuring myself that Key was the best person to take charge of this, I headed for the lift, dismissing all thoughts about Amber.
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The next morning...
“Krystal. We need to talk.” Amber said in a serious tone.
“Umm. Okay, about?”
“I can’t believe you’re this selfish. You expect me to change, so that you’ll stop getting attracted to me? And to think I’ve been showing you so much concern over your condition. You want me to dress up in a more girly way, so that you can stop having dirty thoughts when you look at me?! This is me, like it or not, that’s your choice. I don’t see why I have to change my appearance just to suit the likings of your raging hormones. And to think Key had to tell me this. Is this how you treat your friend?!”
“WHAT? I-I never said ANY of that, I swear! Key told you this?! That bastar-“
“I don’t know why you’re doing this, Krystal. Whatever you’re doing, stop it. Now.”
Before I could even make myself reply to Amber, I was already out of the apartment, storming to SHINee’s with tears welling up in my eyes.
“Why, Key? I trusted you..”
“I didn’t do anything. I didn’t tell Amber anything.”
“Why did you fabricate stories about me?! If you weren’t willing to help, just freaking say so!”
Aware of my fiery presence and Key’s expressionless face, the other SHINee members slowly edged into their room, not wanting to be involved in the hoo-ha.
I had never wanted to hit someone so hard in the face. But I held back my fist in respect for my Sunbae and the fact that he’s a guy, I’m a girl, and he has 4 other backups in the room. Although it was rather unlikely that they would join in the fight.
Staring at my tear-stained face, Key met my gaze and looked away instantly, a tinge of guilt in his expression.
“You lied to Amber. You made a huge FAKE fuss out of everything.” Tears started to course down my cheeks again at the thought that Key had betrayed me.
“Why the hell did you do that? I never wanted to hurt anyone from the start, especially not Amber. I requested for your help to solve my condition, not make it worse!”
“Look, I’m sorry. I just...lied to Amber because I was afraid...”
“Afraid of what?!”
“Afraid that if I told Amber the truth about you having feelings for her, she would accept you that way too. I-I didn’t want you two to be together. Not when Amber is a girl and so are you, I...I wanted Amber, for myself...” Ashamed by his reasoning, Key looked away.
I stayed silent for a while, digesting all that Key had just said.
A new stream of tears fell down my face.
“You would ruin my friendship with Amber...just to make sure you can have her?”
“I didn’t mean to, Krystal, I’m sorry.”
“You fucking jerk.” With that, I stormed out of the apartment and straight to the balcony at the top of the building. As much as I didn’t want to be near Key at all, I didn’t want to see Amber either. Heading home was just a bad choice now. I was too ashamed and angry at myself, for being interested in Amber, for trusting the wrong person. For being so stupid as to not realise that Key had a crush on Amber from the start, and confiding in him would only make matters worse.
I felt like the 3rd party in their relationship, only that I wasn’t a guy going after Amber. Amber is a girl, and she would only date a boy. I’m a girl and it was my own problem from the beginning. That was it.
“Krystal, you’re such a fucking douche.” I cursed myself.
“I don’t think so.”
The sudden voice that appeared out of nowhere gave me a shock. Turning around, I met Taemin’s puppy eyes and his boyish grin. Immediately, I felt guilty for overlooking his existence yesterday.
“Look, Krystal, I heard everything-“
“Good. Then you can leave me alone here crying and run to your other friends, telling them about the foolish mistake I’ve made and laugh together with them.”
“You really think I would do that?”
Meeting Taemin’s gaze again, I felt like running into his arms and bawling my eyes out. I had never want someone to comfort me and my head ached for a shoulder to cry on.
As if he had read my mind, Taemin moved towards and enveloped me in a bear hug.
“Go on, cry it out. Cry it all out and you’ll feel better.”
Not being able to control myself, I let go of all the tears and emotions I had locked in my heart for so long. Resting my head on his shoulder, I cried and cried until I had probably drained my eyes dry.
It never felt so good to be in someone’s arms, not to mention in Taemin’s.
Oh god, I can feel his heartbeat.
As my erratic breathing calmed down, I pulled myself away from Taemin’s arms. Smiling at me as I dried my face and tidied my hair, he asked, “Better now?”
“Yeah, alot better. Thanks...for the hug and everything.”
“You’re welcome.”
“So is Key really upset too?”
“Kind of, he went to find Amber to explain the truth.”
“Oh, I didn’t think he would do that.”
“You know, you really can’t blame him, he really does have feelings for Amber, so it was normal for him to get jealous.”
“Yeah, I guess I was wrong to flare up at him just now. I just didn’t want to hurt Amber.”
“Come on, nobody blames you! You’re our little Maknae in SM, we can’t possibly bully you. You’re prection to all of us. Well except for the fact that you took my place and I’m gonna get back at you for that.” Taemin let out a tiny laugh and grinned.
“Really? Are you serious? Prection? To all of you?”
“Yeah, I swear. Cross my heart.” Making a cross sign over his heart, Taemin smiled and reached out to hold my hands.
Pulling me closer to him, I let out an unexpected gasp.
Then, he leaned in closer and pressed his soft lips to mine. His arms wrapped around my waist and hugged me so tightly against him, I was pretty sure he could feel my heartbeat hammering wildly against my ribcage.
The kiss was enough to make my heart flutter and my knees go weak, I was thankful that he was hugging me or I would have collapsed to the floor in a heap without a sturdy support.
As his hand inched its way up my back, I found myself flushing red, as usual.
“Oppa..”
“Yeah?”
“You’re suffocating me.”
“Oh.” It was Taemin’s turn to blush bright red. “Sorry...”
“That’s okay.” I replied before pulling his head towards mine and kissing him back.
Pulling back, I commented, “Wow, that was magical.”
“Yeah, hmm, Strawberry...” At that, Taemin smiled his cute boyish grin again.
“Krystal, do you think you could use Cherry lip-gloss next time? I like Cherry. ”
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“So...you’re telling me you lied to me because you didn’t want me and Krystal to get together and it wasn’t intentional but you really really really like me and you couldn’t just stand by and do nothing and watch me and Krystal become a pair so you fabricated stories about Krystal to make me pissed so that the chances of you and me will get higher..?” Amber finished her statement, breathless.
“Well, yeah, pretty much that.” Key shrugged at the fact that he didn’t have anything to add on.
“Uh, okay...” Amber raised an eyebrow in curiosity and mild embarrassment.
“One more thing.”
“Hmm?”
“Umm, I was thinking, maybe...you...me, we uh, can..umm...go out and uh...”
“Watch a movie?”
“Yeah! Watch a movie. That’s right.” Heaving a sigh of relief, Key forced an awkward smile.
“Okay, I’ll get the tickets, you get the Popcorn, alright?”
“Yeah, P-popcorn, sure...w-wait, so uh, Sunday 7pm?”
“Sunday, 7pm.” Amber flashed her cheerful grin and Key almost felt his heart stop.
“Okay then, I’ll come..pick ya. Bye!”
Stepping out of f(x)’s apartment, Key mumbled to himself, “WOW. That was easy.”
“What was easy?” Krystal asked as she stepped out of the lift.
“I got a date with Amber!!!~” Key twirled around on his feet in joy.
What actually went through Key’s mind was him, stuck in a land of imaginary rainbows, unicorns prancing around in ballerina tutus, trees in the shape of lollipops, with the clouds as pink candyfloss. As he twirled around on his feet gracefully, he imagined skipping on grass hills that were actually made of white chocolate and almost everything around him was, well pretty much, Pink. It was his perfect dreamland, a wish come true.
“Oh, that’s awesome.” Krystal commented as she watched Key and his dance exhibition.
As if something had knocked sense into his head, Key stopped and faced Krystal.
“Look, Krystal, I’m sorry about the rumours and stories I fabricated about you. It was stupid and childish, and I only did all of that in a moment of jealousy. Please forgive me.”
“Apology accepted, you jerk. And guess what, Taemin just asked me out too!” Exclaiming, Krystal started jumping around and flailing her arms like some crazy fan girl.
“OMONA, ARE YOU SERIOUS?!” Excited at Krystal’s remark, Key started to get hyper just as well.
“He even suggested going to the theme park tomorrow and reassured me that he would take care of everything.”
“Now, now,” placing one hand on Krystal’s shoulder and another hand on his own heart, Key continued, “isn’t that just sweet?”
Too engrossed in her fan girl fantasy, Krystal could not even speak a proper word except for “Yiiiiiiiiip.”
“Alright, I best be going if I want to get the movie tickets. Bye Krystal!~ Have a fun date with taeminnie~” Key happily skipped away as he waved goodbye to Krystal.
Finally snapping out of her momentarily spasm, Krystal opened the door to f(x)’s apartment and proceeded to tell her mates about her dreamy date.
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“Hyung. I’m going to the theme park with Krystal. And I don’t know what to wear. Can you help me?” Taemin asked.
“Theme park? Oh well just dig out that light blue t-shirt that says ‘I am small. Hear me roar.’”
“And jeans?”
“No, no, boxers.”
“Okay.”
Widening his eyes at Taemin’s oh-so-gullible nature, Key sighed and turned back to face the computer. He had decided to watch 2012 with Amber, as she liked action and loud effects. Key wasn’t much of a fan for action, but he figured Amber’s shoulder would be a great place to hide behind when he got scared.
“Taeminnie! Where in the world do you think you’re going, in your boxers?!” Minho yelled as he placed his hands on his hips.
“The theme park.”
“Come here and get your jeans!”
“Okay, Hyung.”
“Thank God for Minho.” Key mumbled to himself.
As soon as Taemin scurried out of the house with the bouquet of pink roses he had gotten ready for Krystal, Minho turned towards Key and said. “You know sarcasm doesn’t really work on Taeminnie right?”
“Yeah, I just didn’t think he would be that gullible.”
“Don’t you dare try that again, Hyung. He’s a kid, give him a break.”
“Yeah yeah whatever.” Donning a jacket over his freshly ironed shirt, Key grabbed the new red and black cap that he had bought specially for Amber, and stepped out of the house.
Shaking his head at Key’s actions, Minho tied on an apron and headed for the kitchen to take over Key’s job as the SHINee Umma. It was nearly lunch time, and Minho would rather cook then to trust Jonghyun and Onew in the kitchen. He reassured himself that he could cook fairly well, just like Key. Or at least he think he did.
Meanwhile, the dates were going just as planned.
Amber did appreciate the cap as she tried it on as soon as she received it. Key, as usual, dodged behind Amber’s shoulder when the actions got to him, and Amber was only happy enough to wrap her arm around him.
Krystal was busy stuffing candy floss into Taemin’s open mouth as they sat in the Ferris wheel. As much as Krystal enjoyed feeding him, Taemin was just as happy as he opened his mouth and made an ‘AHH’ sound, beckoning for another mouthful each time he was done with the sweet candy floss.
By the end of the day, all 4 of them felt so delighted and sweet that all they could speak out were ‘Omona.’ Or it could just be the aftermath of eating excessive popcorn and candy floss.
“Key Hyung...”
“W-what?” Startled by what Amber had addressed him as, Key gave a stuttered reply.
“Thanks for everything. The movie, the cap, the date, everything was awesome.”
“Oh, aww, you’re welcome.”
At that, Amber leaned in and pressed her lips to Key’s. Needless to say, the ever so Diva Key widened his eyes at the kiss and stood motionless for a second before slowly digesting what had just happened. When reality knocked back into his mind, he wrapped his arms around Amber, popped his leg, lifting his feet above the ground.
It was obvious that Key had just taken another step into his dream land like before, except that Amber was probably there with him right now. Skipping on grass hills too.
“Whatever,” Key thought. “Its still a dream come true for me.”
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“So, are things between Key and you alright now?” Taemin questioned as he flashed his puppy eyes at me once again.
“Yeah. We’re cool.” I replied, looking down at our interlocked hands, as his tightened around mine a little.
“Oh, well that’s good to hear.” Stopping at f(x)’s apartment door, Taemin turned to face me. “I had a wonderful day with you, Krystal. Thanks for everything.”
“I thought I’m supposed to be the one to thank you for everything.”
“Well, oh okay, thanks for feeding me candy floss then.”
Smiling, he took my other hand with his and leaned forward. Preparing myself for the kiss, I closed my eyes and leaned forward a little too.
Just then, Victoria swung open the door. “OH HEY MAKNAE YOU’RE BAC- oh. Sorry.”
“Way to ruin the moment, Victoria.” I cursed in my mind and glared at her as she gave an apologetic look and closed the door to give us some privacy.
Not offended by the sudden intrusion, Taemin turned my face back to his, and closed my mouth with his.
In an instant, my heart felt like it had grew wings and was ready to take off. The urge of simply melting in his arms and expecting him to carry me was almost too much to bear, but I resisted it for I didn’t want to break his fragile body. I would insert a thousand applicable words here to describe him, but all I can come up with now is ‘Precious.’
“Hmm, no cherry.” Taemin commented, giving an adorable pout that would have killed all the noonas on earth. My knees went weak. Alright, make that killing all the dongsaengs too.
“Oh, well I haven’t exactly bought cherry lip-gloss yet...”
Beaming, he pulled me in for a hug and whispered in my ear.
“That’s alright. I tasted candy floss anyway. I like candy floss. Do you think they sell that flavour?”
Listening to his remark, I couldn’t help but blush bright red and giggle while resting my head on his shoulder. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that they don’t.
Oh well, how adorable can that boy get.
The End <3
Thanks for reading!
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