The Sound of Rain ^Minsung^

A chance meeting

Jisung regretted not bringing an umbrella. Then again, he had owned one almost his entire life and he never really used one. Not only was it a little inconvenient to try and carry one around all the time, he was also very forgetful when it came to anything, let alone the weather forecast.

He turned his back to the glass doors of the library, pushing one side open as he tried shielding the books in his arms from the rain soaking the world outside. The glasses perched on his nose were now spotted with drops, but he couldn't exactly do anything about it with his arms full.

"Oh Jisung deary," Beth, the sweet old librarian, exclaimed, rushing over to him. "Will I ever see you coming in without looking like a disaster?" she teased, taking some of the books from his arms.

Jisung smiled, his lips forming a cute heart on his face. "If I come here as anything but a disaster, you will know the world is ending."

She chuckled as they both moved behind the front counter to place the books on a mostly empty book rack. "At least you're on time every day, right?"

"Well, most days," Jisung corrected, shaking some of the water from his brown hair. He took his glasses off and wiped them dry with his light blue hoodie.

Beth was already sitting on her well-worn leather stool, looking through the books they just set down. "It looks like you did a good job repairing these. Thank you for doing that, deary. My old hands don't seem to want to cooperate like they used to."

"Any time," Jisung said, gently hugging her shoulders. "I like fixing books."

"Then you'll like organizing them today, right?" Beth asked a bit cheekily, raising a gray eyebrow up at him.

"Yes ma'am. Your wish is my command."

"Then go have some of the coffee I brewed in my office. You need to get yourself warmed up and energized for today."

Jisung's chest grew warm. Beth was like a grandmother to him, and at the moment, she was all he had. "Okay, I will. Which section would you like me to start on?"

Beth set a stack of papers off to the side to make room for whatever she was doing. "If you could start on the History section, that would be great. Professor Harrison has apparently been working his students to the bone, and they couldn't be bothered to keep my library tidy."

Jisung nodded in understanding. "I'll get started on that."

"After you warm up."

"Yes, after I warm up." He chuckled, making his way through the boxes of new arrivals they had yet to go through to reach the little office tucked behind a wall just past the front desk.

Jisung was born in Korea, but his mother took him to America when he was only three years old in an attempt to escape his apparently crazy father. Four years later, his mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and she was hired at this college library in Westfair so the toll on her body was lessened. That's how they met Beth.

Jisung started working at the library once he graduated high school, which was just over two years ago. His mother passed away only a year ago, and Jisung could only feel comfort when he was working among the shelves he grew up surrounded by.

Once he was done savoring the coffee while reading a book he was nearly finished with, Jisung wandered through the dark, towering book shelves filling this old library, naturally avoiding the creaky floorboards under the faded crimson carpet. He sighed upon seeing piles of books scattered in between the shelves of the History section. He hated when people didn't respect Beth's library.

An hour passed with Jisung organizing the shelves that were so severely put out of order, but he didn't mind it. It was only around eight in the morning, so the library was quiet. He listened to the rain tapping on the roof high above his head, finding comfort in the sound.