The Practical Pixie (Dani’s POV)
“Oliver, slow down!” My words seemed to be swallowed up by the cold wind. I brushed past hundreds of shoppers in Seoul’s busy shopping mecca of Myeong-dong. Christmas as a concept was fairly new to Korea, but with each passing year the country seemed to take on more of the Western stance on holiday shopping. People rushed around with their arms loaded down with brightly colored bags from popular stores. The night was alive with festive blinking lights and my Vampire beau was lightyears ahead of me. Taking a deep breath, I chased after him, hoping he would realize I wasn’t behind him.
When I caught up he stood slack jawed in front of a brightly lit lingerie boutique. The mannequins modeled skimpy outfits of red velvet, white fur and gold sequins. Oliver wasn’t alone. Half a dozen guys stood with the same glow of holiday delight children get in front of a candy store. I tugged on his hand, hoping to move him away and back on path towards our other stops. Instead I was dragged into the store while he giggled with an almost evil glee. His only words were, “We need to go in here.”
Once inside I found a large velvet chair I settled into while he loaded his arms full of what I can only describe as glittering velvet dental floss. Every so often he would look in my direction with a large grin and wag his eyebrows at me. The shop workers would giggle amongst themselves at each encounter. As his pile grew so did the shade of red I was turning. Finally I caught his attention. “Oliver, what are you doing?”
“Christmas shopping,” he replied too matter-of-factly.
“For whom?”
“You, of course,” he responded, looking at a corset to my left. As he reached for it I rolled me eyes and he noticed. “Don’t you think it’s pretty?”
“Yes, it is pretty, but it’s not practical. None of this stuff is practical.” I crossed my arms over my chest to emphasize my point.
“Why does pretty have to be practical?”
“It doesn’t, but why buy something if I’m never going to use it?” I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to get through to him on this. Each sparkle seemed to draw his attention away from the conversation.
“You can wear them at home with me,” he offered, hoping it would sell me on the idea.
“Buy one. I don’t need a closet full of things I can only wear for fifteen minutes when you’re around. For the record, these are not for me, they are for you.”
His brows knit together. “Five, I will narrow it down to five.”
“Three,” I argued back. Finally he sighed, rolled his eyes, and turned back to the pile, trying to decide on three. I laughed as he had each of the items wrapped and addressed from me to him before sliding them into a shopping bag. “How are they gifts to you, if you paid for them?”
He took my hand and led me out of the store. “Well, we share everything, so I’ll just say we are sharing my credit card.”
“The credit card you pay for each month?” I asked skeptically. With a giggle I teased, “Wanna share it on my Amazon Kindle account?”
He didn’t laugh. Instead he shrugged. “Sure, I’ll give you the info when we get home.”
I stopped dead in the street, tugging him to a stop. “Do you know how dangerous that is? You don’t know what you’re saying. I’m a book junkie.”
He tugged me against his chest then lowered his lips to mine. The kiss tickled as he fought back his laughter. When he lifted his head his eyes twinkled. “I live for danger.”
“You must if you dragged me into that lingerie store,” I muttered under my breath.
