Delitrium | Jungkook

「Chapter Two」

"And here we are, finally," Exclaimed my dad giving a tired yawn.
I had been engrossed in the book I was reading that I hardly realized the ship come to a halt.

As my dad and I made our way outside with our luggage, the voice in my head said,

"I bet you'll find interesting things to see and do here."

Like what?

"Just remember that this is your chance, to change yourself, to change everything for the better."

Before I could ask another question to the invariably calm voice, I saw my dad running towards someone.
Smiling brightly my dad turned towards me and said, "Yeseul, meet my old friend's son." Turning towards a really attractive boy. "Boy, you've sure become taller than I saw you last time." Giving one of his signature hearty laughs.

By 'the last time' he meant was about eight years ago.

The boy turned towards me, giving a cute smile and said, " Hello, I'm Jaebum, and welcome to Jeju." Extending his hand out.

First of all, I've never been too social with anyone, and second, especially with boys. So i was a little taken aback by his friendly forwardness.

But none the less, I shook his hand rather timidly. "I'm Yeseul, um, nice to meet you." I said, rather mumbled as he didn't really seem to get me. But he smiled at me anyway and helped with us with our luggage.

My dad's mom, my granma that is, had been living in Jeju for as long as she could remember. I remembered her coming to Seoul on almost every other holiday to meet us. But that was before mom's death.
After that, this was the first time I was meeting her.

This was my first time in Jeju, I looked around to see fishermen at harbour, scurrying around with big ice boxes containing freshly caught fish. Granma's house was in walking distance, so we decided to take a nice walk, while Jaebum showed my dad the shops all around, some, which had changed drastically and some, according to my dad, brought back the memories of his childhood.

The air was crisp and fresh, with the occasional fishy smell which was a given, anyway.

"Feels good, right? Atleast the air here isn't polluted like Seoul's."

You bet. But what was that you said earlier? About interesting stuff and change? You sure do confuse me sometimes.

"You'll find out soon enough, but just to let you know, you can't give up.
No matter how hard it might be don't give up. That's all you need to know right now."

Before I knew it, there we were, in front of a pretty large bookshop on the ground floor of a three-storey building. The building wasn't exactly new, but it was well kept judging from the dirtless walls and windows.

"Delitrium." I read the large sign board.

"We're here." Said my dad in an excited tone, almost like the small boy he was before.

The bookstore was owned by my granma, and the floors above it was where she resided. She must have been inside, but as soon as she saw us, she quicky came out and greeted us.
"Jo Il, how have you been?" Asked granma giving dad a hug.

She then turned towards me and I was already prepared for the enormously big bear hug that followed. "Yeseul-ah, oh, my child, how I've missed you! Look at you, you've become so big!" She said with tears of happiness in her eyes.

She has this look of happiness in her face, a look I'd never seen before atleast.

"I would have come down to get you two myself but, I'm not as strong as before you see. So I sent dear Jaebum." Then she turned towards him and told him to inform his dad to come here soon.

"Then I will take my leave now. It was a pleasure meeting you Jo Il ajjushi."
Then he turned towards me and said,"See you around Yeseul, don't hesitate if you need any help." Giving a little bit too much of a charming smile.

I shyly nodded which just earned me a wink from him, stimulating me to blush a little.

Dad laughed and told granma how he was just like his dad as we made our way inside.

The door to the bookshop opened with a tinkle and I just held my breath at how extremely cute and warm the bookstore looked. There were loads of shelves each labelled with a particular genre that the books contained in it were.

There was a small coffee machine along with a few coffee tables.
"Granma, you never told me this was a bookstore cum cafe!" I spoke excited for the first time in a while.

"Well that was a little surprise for you." She smiled warmly.
"Anyway why don't we go up and get yourselves settled down, first."

●

After having a lavishly laid dinner of god knows how many types of seafood, I went up to my new room to get ready for bed. The walls had been recently painted to a soft sea blue colour, my favourite.
"Granma knows me best." I chuckled.

I made my way to the small balcony attached to my room. As I opened the door a light breeze blew over to my side ruffling my already messy hair.

Don't give up. No matter how hard it might be don't give up.

The words of that voice rang in my ears.
The voice first started speaking to me after mom's death. I couldn't really say if it was a male or a female, it just was.
It consoled me when I needed love the most, it was always there, maybe it was the reason I was what I was now.

With the words still ringing in my ears, I went inside, got into bed and pretty soon I fell asleep.

Waiting for what lay ahead of me.