Meant To Be

Chapter VI ¦Uncover¦

THURSDAY

It was hard to tell time in the library, unless you glanced at the giant wall clock behind the librarian's desk or you have your own clock. Nam Joon was in between the shelves of Geology and Physics. His back against the former as he searched through the latter.

"Oh! There you are, Kim Nam Joon."

He was expecting to see Miss Yunsoo, the librarian, so he didn't had time to cover up his shocked at the one at the end of the shelves. "Park Rae Ki.." Her name brushed past his lips before he could pursed them.

Her eyebrows leaped up. "Huh, didn't know you knew me."

Nam Joon stammered for an answer. "I—I-I—I saw your name sometimes when you swipe your library card." He badly wanted to hit himself with an encyclopedia for being obviously nervous.

"It's true what they say then, that you're smart enough to memorize quickly." She said and jerked her head to the left, "Miss Yunsoo is calling for you."

'But not smart enough to memorize and know how I get anxious around you.' He thought and briskly followed behind her. He measured her height with his eyes, thinking she was around 167 cm. He just noticed that her wavy hair was uneven, some were just touching her shoulders while some were at length with her shoulder blades.

Nam Joon briefly admired how the brown highlights on her hair luminates at the touch of the fluorescent lights. He knew the highlights were natural but wanted to ask her about it so he could have a decent conversation with her. Or he just plainly wanted to hear her voice again.

"So.. um, are those highlights natural?" Nam Joon asked, trying not to sound obvious that he was totally checking her out. But he wouldn't call it that, it sounded a bit too strong. Yet, in a frank way, he totally was checking her out. It's a perfectly normal thing, right? But there's something strange about, something very different from other girls he checked out.

"Yeah, they are." She nodded after stroking her hair, she looked over her shoulder to locked gaze with him for a second. "I didn't know your hair was curly."

"Eomma likes to style my hair sometimes." He left the part where she said it was to catch some girls. But he only needed one.

She stifled a laugh, he thought for a split second that she was a bully. "It's nice to hear another mother who attends her child even if he/she is in high school." He was stung at the bitterness and a tinge of sadness in her voice. She covered it up with a chuckle.

"Did I—?"

"I thought you wouldn't find him." Miss Yunsoo sighed in relief.

"How about that? I did." They exchanged chuckles, making Nam Joon wonder if Rae Ki was faking it.

"Well, since you two are the only ones left here, do you mind helping me bring these books back to their shelves?" Miss Yunsoo explained that she just finished looking through all the shelves for the books that aren't in their proper shelves. There were three carts filled with books in front of her desk.

She grabbed the first cart. "I'll get this one, those two are from the Comics Section. Organize wisely!"

Nam Joon gaped at her treading form when she winked at him, did she purposely meant this to happen?

"Yo!" He turned to Rae Ki who has her hands on one of the carts. He clutched the one beside him and pushed it towards to hell. Well, if the books were alive, won't they feel like they're living in hell? Not that the library isn't cold, but because they always go back to where they should be. No matter who takes them, turns their pages, sits them on a table, they always go back.