Saffron was impressed with the variety of items for sale inside East Wind Sundries. The place appeared to have anything a person could want, as long as that person wanted something from China. Her mother would love this place; where else could she buy any number of authentic goods at dirt cheap prices for her so-called "third-world chic" interior design business? Saff rolled her eyes, shaking her head dismissively at the thought of it.

"You need help?" an elderly Chinese woman asked her. "Everything on sale."

Saff offered the woman a pleasant smile.

"Thank you. I'm just browsing." She scanned the absolutely jam-packed walls, shelves and flooring of the place. An array of brightly colored packages adorned everything in sight. But finally, Saffron's gaze landed on a particular item and she moved in for a closer look.

"Excuse me," she said to the diminutive lady, "but how much are these lanterns?"

The little woman grinned with pride.

"Only ten dollars!" she told Saff. "Best seller we have! They look so … so… what is the word?"

Flimsy, Saffron started to say, but quickly substituted "Ummm… Delicate?"

"Yes!" the woman exclaimed. "But they last a long time." Nudging Saff with her elbow, the lady said, in a confidential tone, "Special for couples, you know? Good for romantic night."

Saffron sighed, folding her arms across her chest.

"You don't say," she replied, mildly scoffing.

"She did say," a man's voice intoned from behind Saff, causing her to spin around to face him.

"I heard!" Saff snapped, glaring at a grinning Jack.

"Oh, you again!" the old woman said with a smile, clapping her hands together when she saw him. "Did lantern work for you? The other night, like you tell me?" She winked at Jack, who winked back. Saffron glowered at both of them.

"Yes and no," Jack told the shopkeeper. Glancing up at one of the many lanterns for sale, he continued, "Yes, because apparently it's a magnet for… certain items of a personal nature." Smirking down at Saff, he eyeballed her bosom, causing her to fold her arms that much more securely. "No, because the night obviously didn't end with the, um, earth-shattering bang you promised the lantern would bring." At this, Saff looked up at Jack, horrified at what she'd heard.

"You liar! You said you'd never seen that lantern in your apartment before!" Saffron hissed at Jack.

"I hadn't... before I bought it. I heard about them in a bar in Hong Kong. They're supposed to get reluctant partners in the mood," he said nonchalantly, which sent Saff's blood towards the boiling point. She looked over to the old woman, who shrugged her thin shoulders in response.

"Sometimes the lantern works magic, sometimes not," she said with a sigh. "It depends on man and woman." Now she shot a skeptical sidewise glance at Saffron, who turned away indignantly.

"In other words, no guarantees," Jack said. "So if we - I mean, I - bought another lantern from you…"

"Might work magic, might not," the old woman replied. She tapped Saff on the shoulder, causing Saffron to turn around and stare angrily at the lady. "Takes two, you know," the woman told her, wagging her finger at Saff.

Trying desperately not to be completely rude, Saff again turned her back to the woman and Jack. Closing her eyes, she mentally prayed to be anywhere else where lanterns and sex weren't the going topics.

"We'll take two," Jack told the old woman, pulling out his wallet. "You can never have enough magic, right? Especially with all the blackouts we've been dealing with lately."

Saffron shot him a dirty look over her shoulder at that remark, but Jack just smiled and, taking two of the paper lanterns carefully in his hands, nodded towards the door.

"Okay, Gorgeous," he said in that voice Saff alternately despised and found disgustingly charming, "let's go decorate your dorm room."