Heaven Help A Fool Who Falls In Love

25.

Sehun strolls through the marketplace where Christmas greens are piled like cordwood along the walks and twines up awning posts and around storefront windows. There are small booths festooned with more of the Christmas wreaths and leaves that make them look like arbors. The whole place smells of fresh greenery.

"Can we go now? My arms are getting tired." Baekhyun sighs from behind Sehun. Beautifully's beautifully coifed locks are now windblown. He is unable to fix it because he is laden with Christmas wreaths and whatnots in baskets.

"At least you're not *wearing* them." Jongdae says dryly. Three ropes of greenery hangs from around his neck just as he wrestles with a whole pile of hollies, mistletoes and rolls of ribbon. "I am not enjoying this one bit. Where is Chanyeol anyway? Isn't he suppose to be helping too?"

"He's the one hunting down a tree." Sehun reminds Jongdae. Even the financier is loaded down with other Christmas ornaments and greenery. "Chanyeol is the only one who even knows what kind of tree would be more appropriate."

"And just who told you that?" Baekhyun says suspiciously.

"Chanyeol hyung did."

"And you believe him?" Jongdae says. "It's probably just an excuse to get out of helping us carry these."

"No I didn't believe him. But someone has to go look for a tree. And I don't see anyone else volunteering."

"Can we just put this into the limo?" Baekhyun interjects, changing the topic. "I need to get going on that meeting soon."

Sehun knows that as soon as he lets them go, he would not see them again until the next day. "I think we have everything we need so you can go if you're that keen to continue."

Faster than two shakes of a donkey's tail, the two are off before Sehun can change his mind. He shakes his head a little in amusement before he starts walking along the stalls. He walks along, breathing the pungent clean scent of pine trees and trying to picture Sana's face.

It isn't difficult because Sana is standing just a few feet away.

She is bent over a little girl who is looking at Sana with serious, wide, innocent eyes. The girl is holding a tin whistle in one hand and a brass bell on the other.

Sehun moves closer to listen.

"Yes, Somi, it's true." Sana says animatedly, "Didn't you know that?"

The little girl shakes her head.

"I have a little rhyme to help you remember. Do you want to hear it?"

Somi nods.

Sana squats down then until her brown eyes are level with the little girl's black ones, "Every time a whistle sounds, an angel falls to the ground." Sana pauses, an exaggerated frown on her face as she shakes her head dramatically.

The little girl giggles.

"And every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings." Sana smiles and nods vigorously.

Somi looks at the whistle and then at the bell before the girl puts the whistle down and runs off to tell her mother that she wants the bell instead. Personally, Sehun thinks he would have done the same thing after seeing how happy it made Sana.

Sana straightens up, then bends down again to pick up a basket of greenery. Smiling at the retreating form of the little girl with her mother, she turns...and freezes the moment she sees Sehun.

Sehun doesn't move. "I thought you were still asleep."

"I thought you were still in your office."

Nothing else is said. The scene from the night before is still too fresh in their memories, too sensitive...it makes this moment awkward and tense.

The moment is broken when Sana peers down at what Sehun is holding, perusing the contents of his baskets. "Shopping?"

Sehun glances down, then shrugs. "Yes."

Sana holds up her own basket with a little smile. "Looks like we had the same idea."

With what? Sehun remembers he hasn't given Sana any money at all. He feels stupid. Another first for Sehun.

He wants to ask Sana how she paid for all her purchases but after the lecture Sana gave him the night before he doesn't know how to say it. He eyes Sana's basket for a moment, then says it anyway, "I'm not certain how to say this, especially after last night, but I have neglected to give you any money."

Sana flushes and looks everywhere but at him for long minutes. Sehun just stands there and waits for the answer. Finally, Sana sighs and tells Sehun. "I pawned the earring." Sh says, turning her head to the side to show Sehun an ear devoid of the of the only accessory that Sana had shown interest in at Tiffany's.

"Your angel wing?"

Sana nods.

"Where's the pawnshop?"

Sana points. "Down the street a few blocks down."

"Come on." Sehun heads down the street, Sana by his side.

"You should have pawned the bracelet."
"I couldn't do that."
"Why the hell not?"
"Because they don't mean as much as the earring does."

Sehun stops and looks at Sana. "That makes sense."

Sana gives him a small smile.

"It shouldn't make sense. Don't ask me why but for some illogical reason it does." He turns and grabs Sana's wrist, pulling Sana down the street.

Half an hour later they stand beneath the sleek electrical sign that hung above Serizawa's Pawnshop and Sehun is placing the diamond earring back onto Sana's ear. Sana touches the earring when Sehun finishes, a lambent look in brown eyes.

"Thank you."

Uncomfortable, Sehun adjusts his glasses and looks away. "I sent Chanyeol to buy a tree."

Sana's smile is bright enough to melt the snow.

Two hours later, the limousine leaves the market, the back seat filled with baskets of Christmas decorations, greenery and mistletoes. Sana is nestled in the middle holding a cornhusk doll in the shape of an angel.

"Isn't it just wonderful?" She says, admiring the doll.

Sehun looks at Sana. Only at Sana. "Yes. Wonderful."

Sana looks up then and sees something out the window that catches her eye. In a flash, she plasters her face on the window near her. Sehun turns just as they passed a German bakery, its windows filled with a fairyland of gingerbread castles.

Sehun opens the intercom. "Stop here, Mr. Kwon."

When the limo stops, Sehun gracefully gets out. He is about to help Sana out but the enthusiastic girl is faster than he is. Sana is out of the car and heading straight for the window display like a bee to honey.

The window display is lit by decorative lights, its glass frosted with pseudo-snow. Intricate castles and houses that had snow icing on the roofs are strewn on a snowy landscape. Gingerbread soldiers in full uniform ride horses with trappings and manes of sugary white. There are gingerbread ladies and children, too, laced with marzipan; animals and dolls...

Three gingerbread men later, Sehun and Sana leave the bakery and Sana hands Mr. Kim a cookie shaped like a Christmas wreath. Sana seems to think of of someone else before herself. She doesn't want wealth or things. She wants so little. Sehun wonders if Sana has ever wanted anything just for herself.

Then Sana sees the puppies. Small ,light brown canine heads with floppy ears, wagging tongues and bright red bows tied around their necks poking out of a street vendor's basket. Sehun doesn't even get the chance to blink as Sana rushes towards the puppies, making small sounds of delight, like Chanyeol rushing to Ferrari.

"Sehun, look!"

He looks. But not at the puppies who are licking Sana's chin and cheeks. Nor the kittens and the rabbits as Sana moves from one basket to another. He looks at the joy on Sana's face and wishes, irrationally, that he could give Sana that kind of happiness for every single day of his life.

Sana who prefers puppies to sports cars, kittens to jewelry, rabbits to...

He looks down at Sana and scowls. "No rabbits, Sana. Puppies...yes and kittens too. But no rabbits."