A/N: I'm so sorry that it's taking me so long to upload, I just want to make sure I'm doing my very best. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter! Please don't be shy about letting me know what you think in the comments, it helps me immensely in regards to my growth as a writer! I'm not feeling the most confident about this chapter, but hopefully, it's not complete garbage. Enjoy!

"What do you think you're doing?" I ask my obnoxious and unwelcomed guest.

I am just trying to go to the mailbox. It isn't even as if I'm running to the grocery store or the post office. Just the mailbox.

Granted mine is about twenty-three miles away, right on the edge of town, but even so. I am presently half way through my front door, body frozen right in the middle of the tween space created by my decrepit door frame. I'm probably being incredibly stupid right now but the idea makes me so uncomfortable that I am quick to re-enter the house.

With everything that has happened recently and thanks in no small part to my newly acquired 'roommate', I have found myself questioning everything that I no longer thought I believed in. Growing up Granny often warned me about tween spaces, a place in which all things fae are more easily experienced by humankind.

 Normally, tween spaces reside within places that exist between two states of being. And there are much more of them than you'd think. Doorways, for example, exist both inside and outside. Windows too. And this creates the perfect tween space.

The problem with tween spaces lies in the fact that not all Fae are kind, and with a tween space, you never know which Fae you might have an accidental interaction with. I feel immensely silly for acting on Granny's superstitions. The sharp pounding of a migraine begins to make itself known from within my skull.

Jimin wants to go with me, despite my many and numerous explanations as to why he is to remain here. It's been two days since we had that long talk, and I've somehow managed to cobble together my sanity and adapt to this new reality. He'd explained things, I laid down the law, I was making progress. 

"I'm going with you." He says.

Progress lost. Nine times I have had to stop in front of the door because he refuses to stay, and due to his size, I can't exactly make him stay. It is infuriating, to say the least.

Once more I turn to face him, this time with barely suppressed anger inscribed upon my face.

"You stay here," I deadpan. 

"Fine," he pouts as he hovers just above my vision.

Suddenly he is perched atop my hair and the way that he sits on me as easily as if I were a piece of furniture annoys me to no end. I can feel the fragile strands of my sanity slipping from my grasp, pouring themselves with alarming speed through my fingers much like sand. 

"I'm sure you wouldn't mind me picking up a hobby or two then, right? It would be cruel to make me stay here all day and be bored," he asks from above.

I feel the need to wash my ears out, I can't believe this guy. Since when did entertaining your own stalker become polite manners?

"Sure. Whatever. Fine." I tell him tersely.

If that's what makes him happy. If it'll get me out of the front door.

It does. But the drive to the mailbox is a long one, one that I usually avoid by retrieving my mail before heading home. Unfortunately, I've been holed up inside of my house since the incident in the woods and I'm sure that the mail has piled up.

Some of it is important paperwork too. I won't be surprised if there is another warning from the bank in regards to Rosie's Blooms. To keep it afloat has taken everything I have and there isn't much left to give. But the bank still technically owns the building since Granny never managed to pay off the loans used to purchase it.

This is literally the worst timing for a return to the supernatural.

By the time that I pull back up to the house, I've become lost in my own inner turmoil, thoughts and worries swirling around inside of my brain like tendrils of poison. A poison that causes the flames of anger within me to explode to new heights when I return to find my house has been turned into a literal farm.

As I step through the front door I am immediately assaulted by many intermingling odours ranging from awful to 'please kill me'.  My foot descends upon the floor, meeting the lovingly polished hardwood with a rather sickening crunch. I pinch the bridge of my nose with my thumb and forefinger as my other hand comes to rest upon my hip.

What I have stepped on is one of the many eggs that seem to be scattered about haphazardly throughout my kitchen floor. There are chickens everywhere.

"Deep breaths Evie, deep breaths."

I am disrupted from gathering my mental stability by the rather startling call of a moo from my living room. I rush to the living room, panic and dread eating away at my insides.

"Surely that isn't a real cow. Please tell me that it isn't a real cow." I'm silently begging every deity that I've ever heard of.

Sure enough, right in the middle of my tiny living room is a cow. A milk cow at that. Situated on a stool beside the cow is an uncomfortably large fairy prince attempting to figure out how to milk a cow while wearing only a pair of jeans. Uncomfortable for me at any rate.

I am quick to shove my hormones to the side in favour of anger, however.

Imagine for a second, if you will, a tea kettle peacefully brewing on the stove. The kettle begins to whistle, and yet no one removes it from the flames. Instead, it continues boiling and boiling until finally, the lid pops off because the kettle is no longer capable of holding even another smidgen of pressure within itself.

This is exactly what happens to me.

"What are you doing? What is all of this? Why? Just why?" I scream. 

Unfortunately, screaming was probably not the best idea. The cow becomes spooked which in turn causes Jimin, who refuses to let go, to spray milk everywhere as the cow tries to escape. He finally releases the cow when he is thrown to the floor and can no longer hang on.

With a poof, she disappears, along with the gaggle of chickens that have apparently been staring at us from the kitchen.

Because that's not creepy.

Brushing himself off as he stands, Jimin is quick to give me a smug smirk. The twinkle in his eyes begins to grow as he watches me blush, but I refuse to be drawn into this kind of behaviour again.

"Why?" I ask calmly this time.

A little too calmly. I have managed to force all of my anger back into its kettle, but there is now a permanent hole in its lid. It is taking everything I have to keep it down.

"You said I could pick up whatever hobby I wanted. I decided I wanted to try farming," he says smugly.

Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I can hear the sounds of my brain cells dying as I attempt to apply logic to the situation. 

"Ouch! Watch it! Why do you have so many pointy things in your purse?"

The now thumb sized Jimin is currently hitching a ride in my purse as I head into the shipping company. It's been five days since I talked to Jerry, and it's more than time to deal with this. 

"Hush, the whole point is for you to remain hidden." I hiss at him.

After the farm incident, I decided that I simply can't trust the little troublemaker. No, it's better to keep him near so that I can more easily keep an eye on him. Which, in all likelihood, is exactly what he wanted.

The knowledge of this irks me, but I can't risk leaving him alone. Who knows what kind of mischief he'd get into next.

"You know that I could just walk in with you, I don't have to stay in my original size!" 

I jostle my purse a little, a clear message to cut the crap.

"Ahhhhh!" he screams.

I'm sure that my multitude of pens and other random knick-knacks are probably making him uncomfortable, but he's a fairy, right? He has magic. I'm sure that he can defend himself from an onslaught of pens.

"Fine, but you and I are going to have a serious discussion later Evie."

I roll my eyes at his tone. As if he somehow believes that he is the one in charge.

The path to the shipping companies front door seems to have lengthened since the last time I was here, not that it was very long ago.

And yet somehow it feels as if it's been years.

A feeling of deja vu washes over me as I step into the lobby. I swear to all that is holy that the stupid receptionist is always filing her nails. Just like always she makes me wait, taking her sweet time with one nail in particular, before finally looking up to me.

Not a word is uttered from her lips as she presses the button that will allow me to walk into the back to speak with Jerry. The only thing that changes this time around is the small smirk on her face as I walk away.

Due to the sheer amount of times I've been here for the exact same thing, I easily find my way to his office. I cannot help but cringe visibly every time I come to this place. The walls are plastered with tacky hunting trophies and just the sight of all those poor animals who've had their deaths turned into some sort of demented exhibit makes me sick. Jerry himself is probably the only thing I find more repulsive.

"I thought you'd finally wised up and skipped town," he says as he swirls to face me in his gaudy office chair. The thing is a giant leather monstrosity. "It's too bad you didn't."

"Wouldn't you just love that. Unfortunately for you I simply had other things that needed my attention."

I no longer care whether or not he hears the venom in my voice. I have tried to be patient with this man-child, but I will not play his games anymore.

"Now, here's what's going to happen," I tell him as I slam my hands down upon his desk with enough force to shake the cup holding his pens. "You are going to deliver to me what I pay you for, just like you would anyone else, or I'm going to sue the daylights out of you."

He scoffs. "Not a damned thing'll come out of that and you know it. You really think you can get past my lawyer?"

"Oh, I can, especially when the court hears about your habit of groping your employees. They won't be able to ignore the sheer number of complaints." I pause, standing with a victorious smirk of my own for once as I look down at him.

It had taken me quite a while to talk all of the women Jerry has harrassed into agreeing upon filing a suit.

"Ruth, Jessica, Hailey, Michelle, any of those names ring a bell?" I ask innocently. "Cuz if not I've got at least twenty more. And all of them willing to testify."

The cockiness in his eyes evaporates and instead, they begin to simmer in anger. "Or maybe I should just bend you over this desk and fuck you senseless. Maybe you'd be less of a bitch then." 

This is when the inconceivable happens. Jerry, who is obviously enraged, wraps his hand around my upper arm, crushing it with his rough grip. He manages to slam my upper body down and upon the desk, and for a moment I am terrified.

I can't reach my pepper spray from here, and I can't escape from him when his body weight is pinning me down.

But his hands never reach the places he seems to so desperately wish to touch.

Suddenly, his phone is ringing off of the hook, and I thank my lucky stars that Jerry is not one to ignore a phone call. It is his secretary, as it turns out, reminding him of another meeting he was supposed to have already been at. 

"I'm not done with you, you're going to regret threatening me like that," he snarls at me as he hangs up the phone. 

Neither of us notices the cord to the phone extending, wrapping its way around his leg much like a snake.

"It's not a threat, Jerry. It's a promise." I glare at the slimebag as he scowls at me in return. "I'll be filling out the paperwork now, and I expect to see my shipment on time."

I turn on my heel and walk out of his office, making a bee-line for the front where I know the receptionist will be waiting with a pen and a form. I simply can't believe what almost took place in there, and I can't be away from him fast enough.

In my hurry I don't notice the way that Jerry attempts to stand, only to trip over the cord wrapped firmly around his calves. Nor do I notice the tinkling giggle that echoes quietly from my purse, having all but forgotten about the fairy kept inside.

The form is a simple one, and it doesn't take me very long to fill it out. Even if I was the type of woman to stick around making pleasantries, which I'm not, the receptionist is the only person with whom I could converse.

She dislikes me almost more than Jerry, at least that's the vibe that I get from her. Not that it matters since she honestly annoys me to the ends of the earth. She is literally the blonde and brainless bombshell personified.

As I walk back to my vehicle the silence of winter surrounds me, save for the occasional noise from the woodlands all around. Without even thinking about it I settle back into my truck and make my way to Rosie's Blooms. 

The air is crisp and clear, a reminder that winter has arrived. But since it is only the beginning of winter there is still no sign of snow.

Fearn Falls is surrounded by evergreens, but there are many dead trees littering the sides of the road that heads downtown. Everything is veiled by this sheer grey tone that leaves the world just that little bit duller. A quick scan as I get out of the truck tells me that it might even rain later. It would be best to bring home the umbrella that I keep in the closet at the shop. 

The moment I step through the door to Rosie's Blooms I am ready to go home. I'm not sure why I even bother to open the doors at this point, but it's somehow prudent for me to be here regardless. At least, I imagine that Granny would believe so.

I remove my jacket and scarf and pull my hair into a messy bun. Throughout all of this, my purse remains quiet upon the counter. I am suddenly reminded of Jimin as my eyes wander over the roses, leading me to wonder whether or not he's okay in there. Since he followed me home he has been a non-stop chatterbox. Why is he so quiet now?

I approach my purse warily, Granny always told me that fairies are capricious things. It could be nothing more than a trick.

I open my purse up carefully, gently, and am relieved to find that Jimin is only slumbering. He looks so peaceful that I can't find it in my heart to disturb him, but my heart also shatters just a bit as I see for myself how uncomfortable today must have been for him.

"Jimin," I say quietly as I lean in more closely. I am afraid to shake his tiny form. "I have a small cot in the back for taking naps if you'd like to go lay down." 

He doesn't respond. The guilt within me bubbles and churns until it is nearly suffocating, so I do the only thing I can think of.

I pick him up, gently and cautiously, and take him to the aforementioned cot. I am not a hundred percent certain what the suffocation hazards are for fairies so I don't cover him with the blanket, thin as it might be. I take only the lightest of steps back to the front of the shop in an effort to keep from waking him.  

A quick inventory tells me that over half of the produce I have left is soon to expire. I do what I can to arrange the few that are still fresh even though the poor flowers look all the lonelier for it.

I then bury myself into the task of wrapping the produce that is left into pre-made bouquets. The things are super popular in many other stores, but these won't see the admiration they deserve because my name is attached to them. Thoughts like these run rampant as I become a literal whirlwind of unnecessary activity, wrapping the flowers like some sort of automaton only to unwrap them once I remember that no one will ever come to my shop. 

In the end, I decide to place them in a vase, maybe brightening the interior will be more encouraging. At the very least it might brighten my mood. I scour the shop, looking for an empty vase only to find myself severely lacking in vases.

"What an odd problem for a flower shop," I grumble.

When I do finally find one it is, of course, situated on the tallest shelf that I have. I don't remember ever putting it that high up, no one is ever around that can reach the top shelf.

I roll my sleeves up in determination. No matter what it takes I will get that vase.

I pull up the sturdiest chair I have, a solid oak piece that Granny once told me was actually made by my father. According to her, dad had been a whiz at creating things from wood. This particular creation has been around and sturdy since before I was born.

And wouldn't you know it?

It happens to be just my luck that today is the day the chair finally gives out.

I am standing upon the chair on my tiptoes, fingers nearly brushing the object of my desires, when the chair groans and one of the legs snaps right off.

For the briefest of moments, I see my life flash before my eyes. One second I am reliving some of the most embarrassing and questionable moments of my childhood as the chair teeters, two legs coming off of the floor entirely, and the next I am bracing for my impending demise. I close my eyes in acceptance of my fate.

But my collision with the floor never comes to be. Instead of hardwood floor, I am met with solid, muscular and bare flesh. I crack one eyelid open to find a full-sized and shirtless Jimin looking down at me with concern. What is it with this man and jeans?

"Yah, didn't anyone ever tell you to be careful? What would you have done if I hadn't caught you?"

"Um, die?" I reply dazedly. 

I can feel the muscles in his arms and his chest is hard against my side as he continues to hold onto me as if I were a princess. I feel like I'm dying anyways as the moment stretches on ensnaring the two of us in an impenetrable silence. Have his eyes been this mesmerizing from the beginning?

I am so wrapped up in this instant, this experience with Jimin, that I do not notice several women standing outside the shop eyes wide at the scene that they are witnessing. What I do notice, however, is that there is a small cut on my saviour's bicep that is bleeding profusely. I am struck dumb by the knowledge that Fae bleed just the same as humans.

"You're bleeding!" I all but yell.

Despite my rather astute, if not obvious, observation the man makes no effort to put me down. I wriggle in his grasp, attempting to release myself from his hold but he refuses to budge.

"You know, you deserve some kind of punishment for worrying me so," he growls.

His voice is suddenly so much lower than I remember it being, the tinkling quality that usually accompanies his voice is completely gone. Instead, it is replaced with something carnal, something that sends shivers down my spine.

I can barely think at all, my mind entirely occupied by the sensations that his voice inspires in me. Despite my assertions that he would not be receiving another kiss only earlier this week, I make no move to resist as his face inches closer to my own. If anything I nearly stop breathing in anticipation of the feeling of his lips upon mine. 

His descent seems to take aeons, but once his lips touch mine it feels as if we have always been two parts of one greater whole.

The kiss itself is soft and tentative, but I swear that I can still see the stars and the galaxies behind my eyes swirling and combining into one being. And just when I reach the point of no return, that crossroad at which all thought shuts down and one begins to react on instinct alone, he pulls away and sets me down upon the floor gently. 

"I told you I'd get another kiss," he says with a wink.

I am flabbergasted. What even is this?

"Are you working some kind of fairy magic to make me more receptive to your advances?" I ask him.

I try so very hard to sound accusing but my voice is breathless and wanton, ruining the entire effect.

"I don't need any kind of magic to make you crave me," he purrs. 

I nod my head awkwardly, turning around to busy myself. With what, I have no idea. My brain has become literal mush at this point.

Bandaids!

That's right, Jimin was bleeding, wasn't he?

"Go and get a band-aid and some antiseptic from the back," I tell him.

I am absolutely disgusted with the way my brain decides to ignore the kiss. This is not acceptable.

"The first aid kit is on the wall behind the cot."

I hang my head, kicking myself for my awkwardness as he retreats into the back.

He's not even in the back of the shop for a minute when four women around my age that I happen to know fairly well, unfortunately, barge into my shop and clamour around the checkout counter that I am currently leaning against for support. My legs are still a wobbly mess after that kiss.

"Who is he?" Asks one.

"We've never seen him before!" Says another.

"So you're whoring yourself out now? That's a new low," retorts the third.

"He was probably just being nice girls, someone that attractive would definitely know that plain old Evie is beneath him."

Ahh. I was already regretting the moment that this particular woman would open her mouth the second I saw her face.

The fourth woman, Alice, was once what I almost considered a friend in my naivety. To make a long story short let's just say that she is one of the worst people I've ever met. She likes to think that she runs this town, just because her Daddy is wealthy. She is the very epitome of the spoiled, entitled rich girl with a vindictive streak to boot.

"Why don't you just give us his number and we'll take him off your hands," Alice demands. 

I hate it when she does that. I am sorely tempted to tell her where she can shove it, and refuse simply out of spite. She doesn't have to know he doesn't even have a cell phone. He probably doesn't even know what a cell phone is come to think of it.

My temper is about to get the better of me, lips and tongue poised to spit the fire that is coming from so very deep within my soul when I am interrupted by Jimin's return.

"I'm sorry ladies, is there some kind of problem here?" He asks kindly.

There is a smile on his face but I am quick to notice that it isn't like the smiles he wears for me. There is a certain rigidity to the one he's now sporting.

"Oh, we were just asking about you!"

Alice is suddenly all smiles and sweetness. I can feel the cavities popping up just by looking at her.

"I'd love to have you take me out for a date sometime, when would you be available?"

It makes me sick, the way she's leaning over the counter and doing her best to 'accidentally' show off her disturbing lack of cleavage, the way she bats her eyelashes far too many times, and especially the way she is pretending as if she wasn't just being a colossal witch.

Even so, I am almost tempted to tell her "take him, he's all yours," for the hilarity factor alone but then, there is that pesky curse to worry about and I'm not willing to die just so that Alice of all people can attempt to get frisky.

"That won't be necessary," Jimin says sweetly.

A little too sweetly. I turn my head to face him, waiting for his next choice of words. I can already tell by the look on his face that it's going to be a doozy.

"I belong to Evie, and Evie only. I'm just not interested in anyone else." 

My heart stops beating within my chest for a fraction of a moment even though my first reaction is indignation. How dare he make us seem to be lovers? As if the town didn't have enough to talk about already.

Then again, it is almost worth it to see Alice get shut down.

From the look on her face, it isn't hard to tell that Alice can't believe her ears. A large part of my own mind can't really comprehend it either. After all, Alice always gets what Alice wants.

This is the first time I have ever heard of her being rejected, and I got to watch it unfold first hand. I won't lie and say that I don't take great pleasure in her rejection. Yes, I know it's petty. 

"Look," I tell her as she stands before us with eyes wide and mouth agape, appearing not entirely unlike a fish, "unless you're going to buy something I suggest you go ahead and leave now. Who knows, maybe you might find whats left of your pride out there somewhere."

Smiling smugly, I gesture to the door.

Did I have to add in that last bit? No. But honestly, it felt so good. I've been taking shit from this woman all my life, having the tables turned has probably made my entire year.

Once the shop is again empty I turn to Jimin with a look upon my face that says 'I mean business'.

"Once we get home you and I are going to have a little chat about all of this," I intone.

But this time there is no fire, no irritation behind my words.