Flash Fiction #5 Their Hands Met

If It Is Meant To Be.

Dani-luv-bts

Taehyung was looking over the bookshelves randomly because he didn't have any particular book in mind. After about 10 minutes, something finally caught his eye. A book that was on the top shelf.

Taehyung stood on his tiptoes and reached for the book, and coincidently, so did someone else. As it happened so many times in cliché movies and books, their hands met, reaching for the same book. Both hands froze and the owners looked at each other.

"Oh-"

"Oh-"

Taehyung instinctively took a step back and he could see the other man doing the same. Both had their eyes open. And in Taehyung's case, his mouth too. Because that was not the first time they had seen each other, although the last time was about 10 years ago.

Flashback

"Tae, what are we doing here, hiding behind a damn book shelf?"

"Shh.. don't shout. We are here to see the love of my life, he'll be here any minute now."

"No no, I got that part." Jimin rolled his eyes at his best friend. "What I meant was, why the hell are we hiding, when you could go and talk with him like a normal human being!?"

"Are you crazy?! He would think I'm a weirdo."

"Compared to hiding behind a bookshelf and spying on him?"

"Shut up!" Taehyung pouted but his eyes lit up in the next second. "Oh- he's here."

And there he was. An angel looking boy, probably a high-schooler. Taehyung saw him by chance one day and it was love at first sight for him. He had literally camped out at the library, for days, just to see the boy again.

Soon, Taehyung noticed that the boy comes to the library, every Sunday, around the same time. Hence the stakeout.

After a few weeks of one side pining, Taehyung gathered the necessary courage for the next step. And being the hopeless romantic he is, Taehyung wanted to recreate the movie scene about hands touching while reaching for the same book.

He got that part done perfectly but was too scared to make conversation so after both parties politely apologised, they parted ways. They met a few more times, both too shy to exchange anything other than awkward smiles.

One day, Taehyung's family got a call from overseas. Taehyung's grandfather had fallen ill and they needed Taehyung's father to come back and take over the family business. The flight was to be on Monday, three days from the call.

Taehyung waited at the library the whole Sunday, but his angel didn't show up on that day. Taehyung left the country with a broken heart, and did return only a few months ago.

He had never forgotten the boy, nor had he ever been able to move on from him. He had many relationships after that, but the angel looking boy always remained in his heart.

End of flashback...

Taehyung could not believe he met the boy after all this time. It was surprising that they recognised each other because the past 10 years had changed them both a lot.

Instead of the innocent and angelic looking boy, there stood a man who could only be described as 'fucking hot'. He had an eyebrow piercing, dangling earring and Taehyung could swear he can see full sleeve tattoos through the man's white shirt.

"Oh-" The man said again. "It's you."

"H-hi." Taehyung mentally facepalmed at his own stuttering. "H-how are you-"

"Papa!"

Taehyung turned around at that sound to see a girl and a boy, obviously siblings, ran up to the other man and hugged his legs.

'Papa?' Taehyung could not help but feel disappointed. Of course 10 years is way too long, he should be glad the man even recognised him. Taehyung felt so stupid.

"Oh, you have company. It was good to see you again. Excuse me." Taehyung quickly turned around and quickly walked out of the bookstore.

He could hear the man trying to say something but Taehyung didn't wait to hear what it was.

Once out of the store, Taehyung just walked along the road. His mind was filled with so many thoughts, so many what ifs and alternate endings. Then suddenly, an object hit his head.

"What the-" Taehyung saw a shoe on the ground, and turned around to see who had hit him with that.

The man stood on one foot, breathing hard as if he had run a marathon. His left shoe was missing.

Taehyung wordlessly picked it up, walked towards the man and gave it to him.

"I called you." The man said in a breathless voice, as he wore his shoe properly. "Didn't you hear?"

"No." Taehyung was too shocked to say anything else.

"Oh." The man awkwardly scratched his nape. "The kids. They are my brother's, not mine. They just call me Papa because I babysit them a lot."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I'm... uhh.. very much still single."

They stood for a few seconds in awkward silence.

"Uhh.. I'm Taehyung."

"Jungkook." A shy smile came on to the man's face. "Do you wanna go for a coffee or something?"

Taehyung wanted to scream yes, but couldn't because of a tiny problem. "What about the kids?"

The man, Jungkook, smacked his own forehead. "Shit! I left them with the bookstore owner lady."

Taehyung gave a little laugh and fished his phone out of the pocket and gave it to Jungkook. "Tomorrow, then?"

The red blush on Jungkook's face was much more prominent now, as he took the phone and entered his number. "Yeah, I would love that."

"Okay, see you tomorrow."

"See you."

As Taehyung later learned, Jungkook had noticed Taehyung 10 years ago but was too shy to make the first move. He had a prior family arrangement on the Sunday he missed coming to the library and was totally heartbroken when Taehyung didn't show up after that.

He had not been able to move on from his crush too. Guess they were just meant to be.