IQ148 // namjoon ✔️

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February; 2014

NamJoon decides that today is the day he'll talk to her.

At least that's what he said at the beginning of the month.

He had been pushing it back for weeks, but today he is determined.

He knows if he doesn't do it before the end of February, he'll never muster the courage to ever do it again.

Besides, the worst thing she can ultimately say is that she doesn't want to talk to him.

Or that she doesn't like his company.

Or that she's noticed him watching her and thinks he's a pervert.

Or that she'll file a restraining order…

Maybe NamJoon is getting in way over his head.

He should have made a different New Year's Resolution…

He clenches his hands into fists nervously and feels sweat building in his palms. He anxiously wipes it off on the fabric of his skinny jeans and tucks it back into his coat pocket.

Decidedly, it's not a good first impression for her to see his hands shaking.

He knows the layout of the bookstore like the back of his hand, but standing in the courtyard today feels like reality has been warped.

His vision becomes even fizzier the closer he walks towards the entrance to the back room where he knows she'll be. He stops in front of the open doorway and freezes.

Houston, we have a problem…

He's hesitating in the face of the unknown; unknown to what may happen. He’s about to step out of his comfort zone.

Then again… It must have been terrifying for astronauts when they left everything they knew to venture into the unknown; not knowing what may occur.

They saw the moon everyday; they know it's always been there, but actually flying closer to it and being able to walk on it are different from seeing it from afar…

We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard…

He takes a step into the unknown.

He's adapting from the transition from his world to her world's atmosphere; the differing temperature, the differing air circulation, the differing capacity, and the different lighting.

That's one small step for [a] man,

NamJoon takes a step closer, adapting to the gravity pulling him to her,

One giant leap for mankind.

But once he sees her huddled up in the corner, the bookshelves towering over her to shield her from the outside world, everything suddenly becomes clear.

She appears simple; not someone that anyone else would take a second glance at when passing by her.

But NamJoon sees more in her; he sees wonders beyond power of speech. He sees unspoken curiosity and a longing for understanding.

He can see a bit of himself in her eyes…

Somewhere within the wonder, the curiosity, and the longing…

He can see a reflection of himself in her eyes.

From afar, they seem like polar opposites, so different from each other. But up close, NamJoon realizes they're more alike than he thought when he observed from afar, when they were still in their two separate worlds.