"Halen Coben. No. Orhan Pamuk. No. Jeffrey Archer. No. Stephen King. No way. Gillian Flynn. Hmmm.... Hey! Does Gillian Flynn write romance?" Shownu asked, after going through the first rack of Minhyuk's book-shelf.
"Nope. She writes about psychotic wives who stage their own deaths and frame their husbands." Minhyuk answered, without looking away from his laptop.
"Wow! Thanks for ruining the book for me."
"You're welcome!"
Shownu directed his attention back to Minhyuk's shelf. After carefully going through the titles and names of the authors of all the books on his shelf, he called out to Minhyuk again, "Why aren't there any romance novels on your shelf?"
"I don't like them." Minhyuk finally looked at Shownu.
"But you read all kinds of books!"
"Almost."
"He likes Romance."
"Ah! So you want a book for Kihyun? Look, I can help you out with books of other genre. Thriller, horror, humour, sci-fi – you name it. But, I am sorry, I can't help you find a good romance novel to gift your boyfriend. I am just not well-equipped for that."
"But you're my best friend! I can't turn to anyone else for this. Tomorrow is his birthday and I just need a perfect romance novel to complete the gift basket I am preparing for him. I thought you could recommend me some, you know, our kind of romance novels."
"A Gift basket? Who are you? Wonho?" He laughed.
"Not funny." Shownu down sat on Minhyuk's bed, dejected.
Minhyuk stopped laughing. He felt sorry for him. He knew how much finding a romance novel meant to him at that moment. He typed something on his laptop and called out to Shownu, "Hey! I found a list of best-selling LGBT romance novels. Come, check it out."
Shownu's expression softened and he jumped from Minhyuk's bed to the chair next to the beanbag Minhyuk was sitting on, to look at his laptop. Shownu scanned through the list. His eyes brightened at the sight of a name.
"This book seems right!" he exclaimed, "I think I've heard of it's author before. Kihyun probably likes this author. Check if he has released any books recently."
Minhyuk googled the name of the author. "Oh! You're in luck! His latest book released just 2 days ago. I don't think he has bought it yet. So, go, rush to the market now!"
Minhyuk saw the brightest smile he had ever seen, appear on Shownu's face. He couldn't help but smile himself. Shownu leaned forward and hugged Minhyuk tightly.
"Perfect!" Shownu screamed. "Do you want me to get you a romance novel too? To add to your humongous collection?"
"No. I am good."
"Why? I thought you were the romantic kind."
"I probably am, but I don't like reading romance novels. I just can't buy their structure."
"Structure?"
"Yes. The same old story. Two people meet, they fall in love, fight so-called adversities and then they live happily ever after. Or one of them dies, but their love lasts eternally; something like that. It's just their story; their love. A love story isn't always that simple."
Minhyuk shifted his attention back to his laptop.
"Wow! When did you start talking like that?" Shownu exclaimed.
"And you thought you knew me?"
Shownu gazed at his best friend. As Minhyuk did not look at him, he moved towards Minhyuk, knelt beside his chair and held his hand. "Listen, if it's about the boy you have a crush on, trust me, he can never find a better man than you. You are a gem. He'll see how awesome you are pretty soon. Look at me! I never believed in love. But now I am dating an amazing man and all we did was realize how perfect we are for each other. Even though you believe otherwise, love stories aren't that complicated."
Minhyuk looked at his best friend and smiled. "Ya. Okay. Enough mushy dialogues for a day. Now go get that book for your boyfriend and complete your silly gift basket!"
Shownu playfully hit Minhyuk's head and rushed out. Minhyuk turned his attention back to his laptop.
"He gone nw?" Jooheon pinged him on Facebook.
"Yup." He replied.
"Found him a gud romance novel 4 his bf?"
"Yup."
"Mst hv been hard 4 u."
"I am used to it by now.", Minhyuk typed back, "Hey! Did you watch Hyungwon's new show?"
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