off limits ✧ zb1 applyfic

✧ thirteen

Checking her grocery list for what felt like the hundredth time, Yanmei slipped into her boots, ready to leave this incredibly stuffy mansion. Even a trip to the nearest convenience store felt like a relaxing respite away from her family. She opened the door and walked out, but a hand stopped her from closing it.

Confused, she turned around, only to see her brother walking out behind her. "You're going out too?" she asked, taken aback.

"Yeah, I'm meeting with Haewon at the library."

Yanmei couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped her mouth. "Oh, how surprising. It's like you only ever go outside to see her, these days."

Hao shrugged, seemingly uninterested in engaging with her banter. "What can I say? She's important to me."

And without adding a word, he walked right past her, down the paved stairs. Yanmei shook her head in disbelief. He'd gotten out of the denial phase really quickly, apparently. Well, it had been very obvious his feelings for her hadn't gone anywhere. Haewon was his first love. Surely it would be hard to forget someone like that. Not that Yanmei would know, she'd never truly loved someone, and only had the most surface level crushes on generically cute guys. Even in matters of the heart, Hao came first.

Heaving a long sigh, Yanmei started making her way to the grocery store. It was hardly comparable to a date with a childhood sweetheart, but oh well. She couldn't exactly aim to beat Hao in every single thing, could she?

When she arrived at the store, she grabbed a basket and started reading down her list. Yanmei wasn't necessarily an amazing cook, but sometimes she craved a specific meal. And she could hardly ask their personal chef to make it for her. He had an entire month-long menu meticulously planned, courtesy of her ever so slightly controlling father.

Yanmei sighed as she noticed the canned mushrooms on the highest shelf. On her tip toes, she reached her hand out, but the tip of her fingers barely grazed the cans. She was quite tall herself, so high shelves were never usually a problem, but this one was the highest she'd encountered yet. She groaned as she attempted to grab the cans again. How did small and sweet grandmas ever manage to get any of those?

Frustration building up, Yanmei blindly swatted at the cans, and swiftly regretted it. At least she'd managed to reach them, but with a bit too much strength, and the first row went flying off the shelf, crashing down onto the tiled floor with a metallic bang. If she'd been standing just a few centimers to the left, she would've been knocked out cold by canned mushrooms. Panic coursing through her veins, she bent down to pick one up, hoping no store employee would come and scold her.

"Are you okay? Do you need help?" she heard a voice say from further down the aisle.

"It's fine, I'm just-" when she raised her head, she was met with a particularly familiar face. One she'd been thinking about a little too much. "Oh, Hanbin."

"Didn't expect to see you there," he said with a chuckle. "Especially not destroying the store."

Yanmei could feel the heat rise to her ears, and it frustrated her to no end. "I'm not destroying anything, these shelves are just stupidly high."

Feeling embarrassed under his stare, she picked up a can and shoved it in her basket. She only had use for one, but there had to be half a dozen lying on the floor. And she was hardly going to attempt to put those back, lest she make the whole shelf collapse at this point.

Still, Hanbin bent down to pick one up and attempted to reach all the way to the top shelf. When his hand fell just short of it, he turned back to her with an awkward smile.

"Huh. Those are actually really high."

"I told you. And I'm not buying all of these."

A contemplative look on his face, Hanbin glanced at the can, then back at the shelf. "Well...We could always hide them behind products on the lower shelves. I really hate doing that, but..."