library of misfits (hsy & kdj/od)

chapter one

The library seats were almost occupied when Han Sooyoung came.

It was almost time for the library to close; they were to reopen later at dusk. A five-hour rest for the librarian, personnels, and books. Yet this night, in particular, seemed to be worth the sleep to stay up late reading or reviewing materials for these people. After scanning the area, she found a spot on a corner close to a window and sat there. She picked a random YA fantasy-action book earlier, a couple of minutes after the 'weird' kid left.

Speaking of him, she spotted him seated on the very corner, his back against the surface of a wall. The boy has this emotionless face while reading that voluminous book lying on his lap. But of course, Han Sooyoung noticed his subtly sparkling eyes while moving along the sentences at quite above average speed.

'It must be his favorite, huh,' Han Sooyoung thought.

She scanned him from head to toe, assessing his position. Her forehead knitted in confusion. "But why are you reading there when there are seats available, though?" Han Sooyoung blurted out. She asked that almost to herself since her voice sounded really low when a small voice followed. Libraries are really quiet.

"It's because it's comfortable." It was the kid.

"Right," she affirmed, realizing it was too late to prevent that obvious question to take back. Besides, he did not lie. It was true for reading to be comfortable, be it what you read or your position when reading.

To hide her hurt ego for asking a dumb question, she threw another one, "But on the floor, really?"

Yet the kid continued reading.

She abjured what she voiced out. She just threw a comment, not a sarcastic question. It wasn't necessary to be given an answer, sure.

She subtly shifted on her seat and paid attention to the book her hand was holding open. Time and time she stopped reading for a moment to jot down her annotations on her notepad. The novel she picked randomly was pretty dark she got a lot to write about. Only then did the little boy got fed up with the constant pauses that he called for her.

"What are your thoughts about it?"

'Now you're talking.' A smirk formed on her face. She was leaning against her arm on the table making her smirk invisible to the boy. Han Sooyoung subtly raised her gaze to meet a curious look on the boy's juvenile face.

By the time she noticed, the library grew quieter; the room was almost empty of people. Maybe that's why this eccentric kid right here grew complacent to care about what she's doing.

"It's a hero versus the society kind of thing. Despite being a young adult novel, its mood was leaning more on the dark side. Violence was described in detail it was never hard to imagine them inside my head. The pacing was unexpectedly fast, reading it the first time didn't bore me. But the upbringing of the MC was kinda lacking, same with the story's worldbuilding which made my annotations mostly criticisms," she said straightaway, her eyes following a paragraph in the book. It was safe to assume that the kid was still pondering her statement when silence lingered after her. Han Sooyoung continued reading.

After a full minute of silence, she craned her head to a level with the boy's line of sight when he spoke again. "You," he said, "didn't sound like a reader to me." His eyes full of curiosity seemed to scour her being for answers as he stared at her.

She was actually taken aback by that thought of his, but she was quick to adapt to the situation it took only a couple of seconds before her query formed into words. "What do I sound like to you then?"

He raised his gaze to the ceiling. "I thought you'd say 'the book was decent' or 'the plot was amazing' or something along those lines but you didn't. The way you describe it sounded like a writer criticizing a manuscript their 12-year-old self had written." He lowered his head again and look straight into her eyes. "Are you?"

Han Sooyoung's lips remained tightly shut.

Was she?

"Excuse me, miss. The library is about to close," a woman said.

Her consciousness pulled back from her reverie. It was yet the deepest pondering she had ever made she lost track of time. Han Sooyoung closed the book she was reading as well as her digital notepad.

When the clerk left, she finally noticed that boy's missing presence. Apparently, he left without her knowing. How long was she succumbed in her thoughts? She didn't even notice him walking away.

It might come off as rude when she intentionally ignored his sentiments about her earlier, she really didn't know what to reply. She wasn't sure what to reply. She minimally shrugged her shoulders off earlier and returned to reading and there was no follow-up from him. There was awkwardness after but it was gone before she knew it, with coziness replacing it. Perhaps the kid didn't mind after all.

Even the man in office clothes never minds her and that kid's conversation earlier no matter how he was only a table away from her.

Han Sooyoung stopped by the counter at the lobby to borrow the book she didn't get to finish this night. She was halfway through it and wanted to be done with it the soonest. When she was out of the building, she automatically looked up and a cloudless night sky greeted her. Stars brightly shone from above, they helped lit up the streets as she started walking. It was eighteen minutes past twelve when she got to her condo. She spent half an hour to finish the book she borrowed, and another half hour to type the last sentence of her review. A pop resounded her bedroom after she closed her laptop, her head felt light as she seek for the comfort of her bed.

She hadn't envision a single scene that night.

**

Han Sooyoung skipped a whole day and returned to the library the next night. Coincidentally, the library wasn't crowded at all. She turned her phone on and looked for the date today—which she usually ignored every time.

It was a Sunday, apparently.

She turned an alley and reached the Fiction section. Her fingers traced one of the shelves and pulled out a thick hardbound. Yet her eyes didn't settle on the cover. Han Sooyoung peered beyond the space the missing book carved from the piled books and caught a familiar frame of a boy sitting on the floor, his back leaning against the hard shelves.

He was in his scruffy snow-white long sleeves button-down collar—the same clothes he wore when she first noticed him.

Come to think of it, she never saw this little kid prior the night she helped him. Han Sooyoung could already be called a regular here at the library basing upon the number of times she'd been here since six months ago. She also got accustomed to the librarian, some clerks, and a number of regulars like her. But the boy was entirely a new face to her. It's a shame for her to even think about this, but the boy's also quite perceptive.

"Hey, you," she called. The boy momentarily met her eyes. She continued, "What's your name?"

His forehead knitted at the sudden interrogation. He seemed to be contemplating what to answer. He most probably might lie. She sounded like a gangster the way she asked after all.

Except for her stare. Her calculating, deep brown eyes. It was judging, but it wasn't fictitious.

Han Sooyoung anticipated him to give a pleasing-sounding name, but what she heard wasn't even close.

"Dokja," the 'weird' kid introduced shyly, "Kim Dokja.”