Chapter 1 - Trap Activated

The normal reaction his walking into the room was complete astonishment. I never understood why for a while. He was just like any other guy, and no other guy ever got so much attention.

So when he walked into the sweets shop like he had a few times before, I didn't even give him a double-take. A simple glance would do.

I could hardly say the same for the two other customers in the shop; a guy and a girl. The girl was just staring open-mouthed. Even the guy had tripped on the way to his table. Probably because of the sudden lack of oxygen, because everyone happened to suck in at the same time.

"Yuki," he said, brushing the hair out of his bangs and smiling down at me.

Every set of eyes in the room fixed on me, including my boss's.

"Hey, Sojiro," I said with a smile and leaned forward on my elbows in the counter. "What'll it be today?"

"Actually, can you come outside?" he asked, jerking his thumb in the direction of the door. "I want to talk to you."

I thought for a moment. Did I want to go outside with him? No. Did I want to talk to him? Not really. It wasn't really up on my top priorities list. Besides, who knows what kind of moves he would make on me if I went?

"I'm busy," I said.

Sojiro looked around the store. The couple had left. There was just my boss innocently wiping off a table. But I totally knew that she was eavesdropping. Privacy was a no-no with her.

"You're busy," he said with a laugh. He didn't buy it one bit. He leaned on the counter. "Okay, how's this?" he asked with a louder voice, so loud that my boss just stopped wiping altogether. "I will buy all of your merchandise if you come out and talk to me."

I began to decline, but my boss whipped around like she was on fire and sprinted towards Sojiro. "You're not serious?" she asked him.

He pulled out his wallet and handed her the money. She looked like she was on the verge of passing out, but to my dismay, she quickly waved me toward the door. "Go with the nice boy, Yuki," she said in a polite voice that I never thought would pass through her lips.

Sojiro smirked at me. I rolled my eyes, but at the expense of my boss, I followed him out the door.

Sojiro strolled out in front of me and chose a table for us to sit at outside. He chuckled as I sat down. "Was that too pushy of me?" he asked. It was more a purr, I noticed. Not something many guys could pull off.

"Yeah, it was pretty pushy," I agreed with a laugh.

He smiled at me warmly. "You seem to be doing well."

I was shocked as I felt a sudden embarrassment overcome me. I could feel my face heating up at a rate so quickly that I couldn't even stop it. Since when did he pay so much attention to someone like me?

Quickly wiping it away, I returned the smile with one of my own, although my fingers were clenched tightly under the table. I had to make him believe that I was completely calm. "Yes, I'm pretty good," I assured him, putting on a cool composure. "Now what did you want to talk about?"

"I just wanted to see if you were alright," he said with a curious tilt of his head. "I mean, it's not every day that I see a girl crying in the middle of the street without something being wrong."

My eyes widened and I looked down at my feet as if it were a reflex. My mouth was open but nothing came out, probably because my throat was completely dry from shock.

That day went in and out of my mind like a horror movie. I remembered my best friend, Tsukushi, telling me that if she and the guy she liked were going to go out, my family might be financially endangered because of his status-hungry mother. She had assured me that she would never go with him, but I had seen the look in her eyes and had not believed a single word she said. I had assured Tsukushi that I would be okay, but only a few mere minutes after she had left, I had broken down in the middle of the street. To think, I didn't even have enough dignity to get myself inside the house. And to think of all those people that had seen me while they walked by. Including the boy sitting in front of me.

"Well, uh," I stuttered. I shook my head and gave myself a second to regain my composure. I wouldn't let him weaken me this way.

I sat up straighter and stared him point-blank in the eyes. "I'm sorry that you had to see that in the street," I explained. "But it's better now," and with a shrug, I tore away from his glare and looked down the street, though the words continued the flow through like water. "I figured out on that day that I have to stop pitying myself, or else I'll never get anywhere. And I don't believe a word Tsukushi says about not loving Tsukasa. It's obvious that they were meant to be together." I smiled to myself. "So I swore to myself that no matter what Tsukasa's mother would do, there was no way she could tear my family apart. My willpower is nothing at all compared to Tsukushi's, but I can come support my family if I try."

Sojiro smiled at me. "You're a very strong person," he commended.

I blushed, and then gazed into his dark eyes. The truth was pounding through my head like a hammer slamming against a wall. I wanted to say it; I had to say it. I gulped and then shrugged with a light laugh. "Actually, Sojiro, the person that made me strong… was you." The tone I had set was an attempt to keep the conversation lighthearted, but there was immediately a tension in the air.

His head jolted up and for a second, I thought I could see a hint of coldness in his eyes. It quickly disappeared, and that sly smile came back. He said nothing, which was a sign for me to continue talking.

"I can't go through life crying whenever times get rough," I explained. "That not only hurts me but everyone around me."

"You're a great person, Yuki," Sojiro said with a nod. He paused for a moment, then added, "so you find yourself a good boyfriend, okay?"

The blush deepened. Did he mean…

Suddenly I saw a shadow on the table, and I looked up to see a girl looking at Sojiro expectantly. "Are you ready to go, Sojiro?" the girl asked, looking strangely at me.

"Yeah," Sojiro said, scooting his chair out and standing up.

It didn't take long for my mind to interpret what had happened. For a second, I had thought that maybe he was going to ask me out, ask me to be his girlfriend. But then my gaze fell on the girl whose waist Sojiro had wrapped his arm around. I couldn't help but look blankly at the girl, hoping she was some distant cousin or something.

"Well, it was nice talking to you, Yuki," Sojiro said with a smirk. The serious Sojiro was gone. The never-a-trouble-in-the-world boy was back. With a vengeance on her heart. "I'll see you later."

I could not even force myself to utter a good-bye. I watched as they walked away, and then scolded myself for being so foolish. Why would someone like Sojiro want her? It was like two completely different worlds colliding into each other. She couldn't even imagine it.

Well… yes, she could. But she didn't like to, for she knew it would never happen. She was a far cry from the type of girl who Sojiro usually dated. Even that was an understatement.

I slumped against the outside of the store, but then decided to toughen up. Didn't I just get finished talking to Sojiro about my new lack of self-pity? What better time to use it then now?

But even with the new thoughts, I could not help but drag my feet dejectedly into the shop.

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A/N: This looks familiar, doesn't it? Yeah, I recently read Volume 25 (I think) of Boys Over Flowers. It'll be original from this point on, but I had to cut this section out of the book to make it more on realistic terms. So everything that happened at the sweets shop was Yoko Kamio's. I just rewrote it (:

As always, comments appreciated.