HEARTBEATS - [제이]

1 | romeo

"What book did you choose today, darling?"

The employee asked when she sat down next to the girl on the comfortable pillows and blanket on the floor.

The brown haired girl stopped her eyes from flying over the pages for a second before holding up the book and showing its title to the elderly woman.

"Romeo and Juliet"
She smiled warmly.

Her smile could literally make the sun rise and all lights turn on.

The woman netx to her smiled. She wore an apron as she was busy baking severall biscuits before.

"How many times have you read it now?"

The girl let the book sink into her lap when she tilted her head and thought about it. She was sure of it herself as this love story seemed to become her actualy roman empire.

"I don't know? Probably about hundred times"
The girl laughed when she spoke, just as the woman next to her did as well.

The girl had read already so many boojs in her entire life but yet she still held onto this specific book.

The place the two currently sat at, was a bookstore combined with a small café. It was the girl's absolute favorite place to spend her time at.

She was in school, but still had enough time to come.

The two females continued smiling and laughing until the bell at the entrance rang, simbolizing a new customer coming inside the book café.

"Oh, have to get back to work, but I'll bring your favorite cookie soon. Continue your book, honey"
The elderly woman slowly got up when the girl helped her and smiled.

"Thank you, halmeoni"

Even though this woman wasn't her actual grandmother, she insisted to care about the girl like she was her actualy granddaughter as she spent so much time there.

And so, halmeoni walked up back to the counter where she patiently waited for the customer to appear. And so he did.

"One strawberry crumble cookie please"

It was a boy who seemed pretty young. Maybe even around the girl's age. He had very dark, nearly black hair which suited him in the shape of an undercut.

In addition, he wore a long light brown coat which seemed to protect him well from the outside coldness which seemed to have taken the whole village.

Halmeoni nodded and turned around to the kitchen. The boy waited patiently and looked around while he was waiting.

The café was nearly empty, only a few stools being occupied by some customers who were either reading or just enjoying their desserts.

The boy raised his brows when he noticed the other half of the shop, a cozy little book department. Not much but a couple of books were sorted oderly into the shelves, sorted by their color which made everything look so pretty.

His corner's lips cursed into a smile when he noticed the girl's presence, his eyes examining her while she was engrosed in her book. He tried to look at the book's title and smiled even more when he saw it.

"To take away or to eat here?"
He turned around again when he heard the kind woman behind the counter asking.

He wished he could eat there as the shop seemed so comfortable and cozy but unfortunately he was pretty busy so he couldn't.

"I'll take it with me, thank you"
The boy smiled kindly as he responded, halmeoni nodding in response.

He buried his hands into the pockets of his coat when he continued looking around while halmeoni stuffed the crumble cookie into a small paper bag carefully, wrapping a napkin around it.

"Here it is"
The boy gladly accepted the cookie and took it before reaching out his hand to hand over the money but the only thing he received was a short waving.

"That's on me today. It's so cold outside, I don't want anyone to have to pay to be warmed up a bit"

The old lady added once she pushed his hand back slightly.

"Oh no, just take the money, you must have put in so much effort to bake all this stuff. Let me pay for it, please"

The boy responded then but Halmeoni insisted him to take this as the house's gift.

"See it as a house's gift, please. I promise that seeing you enjoying the cookie without having to pay for it would make me so much happier than you having to use your money for it"
Halmeoni smiled.

This time, the dark haired boy nodded and smiled widely.

"Thank you so so much. I promise that I'll come back here"
The boy said then.

Halmeoni nodded and smiled.

"That would make us all very happy. Feel free to come here as often as you want"
The woman bowed down slightly and watched the boy doing that as well before leaving the shop and taking out the cookie once he stepped out.

Halmeoni watched him walking along the street when a warm smile hit her.

She exhaled happily before walking back towards the back corner of the book department and sat down next to the girl again.

"Since when do desserts go on you now?"

The brown haired girl smirked when she looked up from her book and looked at her halmeoni.

Thee woman shrugged in response. She continued smiling when she looked at the girl peacefully.

"I just had a feeling he'd come back. We'll see, maybe you two could get to know each other one day. He was in your age by the way. He was very handsome"

The girl started giggling when she heard the woman speaking.

Halmeoni had to smirk once she saw the young girl laughing. The only ever thing that could make her smile like that, was seeing this lonely girl laughing like the sun.

"I never give up on my feelings, honey. Trust me, he'll come back"

★ "The day that I met you I started dreaming" ★
KINGSTON - Faye Webster