Try-Hard, Sin Harder

11. Narrow Spaces and Sound Silence

2:34 pm.

Keira: Namjoon-ssi, it's me Keira. Jin-oppa gave me your number, so I hope you don't mind. Is this you? 

Namjoon: Yep, it's me. To what do I owe the pleasure? 

Keira: Oh, um. I wanted to ask you for a favor. 

Namjoon: What's up? 

Keira: I finished my book a little while ago, and have been looking for a new one. The problem is, I can't make a decision because I don't know where to look. Do you have any recommendations? 

Namjoon: I'll be at your place in twenty minutes, meet me across the street from your building. 

Keira: Huh? Where are you taking me? 

Namjoon: Don't get any weird thoughts, I'm going to bring you to the library.

Keira: Oh, I see. You'll be here in twenty minutes? 

Namjoon: I'm already out the door. 

 "There's a library around here?" I asked, taking a sip from the paper coffee cup.

 He nodded. "It's up around our place, just down the road from our apartment, in fact." 

 "Aish, that's so far away! You should have told me sooner; I would have met you halfway so you wouldn't have to walk all the way here, and then back again," I exclaimed. 

 He nudged his shaded glasses up the bridge of his nose, giving me a cocky smile. "Who better to escort you there than myself? You should be honored that I'm going out of my way for you." 

 "I feel more like an ass," I told him. 

 "Well," he said. "don't. It was my choice to not tell you that, as much as it was my choice to walk all the way here, and take you out for coffee." Namjoon stopped talking to take a sip from his Americano. "However, I would like to know why you chose to ask me." 

 I stole another sip from my hot chocolate before answering; it was June, but abnormally chilly that day. I'd noticed it when I woke up shivering that morning, and couldn't stop while I was at work. Namjoon seemed fine, however; he wore a pair of white T-shirt and shorts, with large framed black glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. Perhaps it was only me. "You seemed like the intellectual type, so I figured you'd be my best bet." I paused, looking up at him. "And, I caught you reading something off of your phone at the café a few weeks ago." 

 "Caught me red-handed," he chuckled. "Yes, I do enjoy literature. And yes, I am very intelligent." 

 "Narcissistic, too," I mumbled into my cup.  

 He raised his arms in mock annoyance. "Do you want me to take you to the library or not?" 

 "Yes," I replied. "but that doesn't change the fact that you're still a narcissist." 

 He laughed, genuinely this time. "Touché." 

 The library was much larger than I had anticipated; the sheer size of it catching my breath as we stepped through the automatic doors. With three floors and a basement used as a computer lab for students, I found myself gaping around the librarian's desk. It was by far the largest library I'd ever been to, though I'd been to very few in my lifetime. Libraries were not very prevalent in the countryside, a disadvantage I'd hated most of my life. What could I say? Reading was another escape for me. Unlike music or running, stories transported me through various worlds. Each had complex settings, character developments, and use of beautiful language that displayed the scenes so vividly, it were as if I were watching a movie. Twists and jerks in the plot lines from cliffhangers and betrayals turned the calm waters of literature into a sea raging with an overhead storm. Hours upon countless hours would pass before the clouds finally cleared, to which I always found myself craving more. There would never be enough stories in the world for people like me. In an instant, I knew this library would become another one of my sanctuaries.