Hai Lin was in her own little world.
Tucked between shelves of pens, notebooks, and gaming novels, she sat cross-legged on the floor of the stationery shop, completely absorbed in a story about a battle mage who refused to level up. Her eyes sparkled. Her heart raced. Why don't real boys act like this?
Just then, a loud thud broke through her imagination.
A small boy had tripped near the entrance and fallen on his knees. Wailing like the world was ending, he caught everyone's attention—except Hai Lin's, who was still flipping a page with the intensity of a scholar discovering fire.
"Are you okay, little man?" came a calm voice.
Sun Shian.
He crouched beside the boy, inspecting his scraped knee.
The boy sniffled.
"I'm going to use magic, alright? It'll take the pain away."
The boy looked doubtful.
Sun Shian turned around, grabbed a bright pink sticker from the nearby shelf, and slapped it dramatically on his own forehead.
"Tada! See? Magic activated."
The boy stared.
Then giggled.
Sun Shian ruffled his hair. "Told you."
The boy nodded solemnly, like this was the most logical explanation in the universe, and scampered out the shop.
Sun Shian stood up, humming to himself as he walked toward the pen section.
Hai Lin looked up at that exact moment.
And burst into laughter.
"W-What?" he blinked at her.
"You—your forehead," she pointed, giggling uncontrollably.
Sun Shian reached up, touched the sticker, and groaned. "Oh. Right. Forgot I was still enchanted."
He peeled it off with a sheepish grin and waved before walking away.
Hai Lin's heart was pounding like a mini drum solo. He's... she thought, sweet.
She stepped out of the shop minutes later only to be greeted by rain—and there he was again. Sun Shian, standing under the little awning in front of the store, casually watching the rain like he had nothing better to do.
Hai Lin stopped, stared at him without realizing, until—
"Is there something else on my face?" he turned, eyebrow raised.
"Ack—no! I mean—I was just—" her eyes darted around for a lifeline, "I was going to ask for your umbrella! But since you only have one, I'm not that kind of person. I wouldn't!"
He chuckled. "Then what kind of person are you?"
She wanted to say the socially awkward kind, but words failed.
Sun Shian pulled something out of his bag. "Here. Take this one. I've got a raincoat."
"R-Really?" Hai Lin blinked.
"Yup." He handed it over and walked off, casual as ever.
Hai Lin opened the umbrella.
There, at the corner, drawn in blue ink, was a smiley face.
She stood in the rain, blushing under a plastic sun.