Tranquility

Mind If I Sit?

Mingyu POV

I woke up to the sound of my incredibly annoying alarm clock screaming at me. Not the best way to wake up, but I do what it takes.

I stumbled over to my closet to get dressed for the day. I went with a pair of light blue jeans with rips, along with a white shirt, belt, and shoes. After I had finished brushing my teeth and combing my hair, I headed out. I have to open at the library today since Hakyeon has some sort of business to take care of.

Upon arriving, I walked up to the door and dug in my pockets until I successfully found the keys. I unlocked, then pushed open the large oak doors and proceeded to go about my typical work day.

Working at a library has many perks. For example, hardly anyone shows up, and even those that do are regulars who don't need help finding a book. All I have to do is put returned books on the shelves, check out customers, or help the occasional lost high school kid find a book they need for a class.

There are negatives though...like not having anything to do but read, and dealing with the occasional delinquents making too much noise. Either way, it's still a great job, and it's easy enough.

Currently, though, there was nothing to do, but it's not like I expected any different at eight in the morning.

Bored, I allowed my mind to travel to another world. One in which I was walking through a beautiful park mid-autumn, hand-in-hand with the stunning boy from the coffee shop. It was everything I could've ever wanted. Until loudmouth decided to clock in and interrupt.

"Hey! Hey! MINGYU!"

"Huh? What? Oh, hey Hakyeon," I fumbled with my words after being pulled back to reality moments ago.

"Dude. You were in quite a daze. I thought I had lost you," Hakyeon laughed.

"Sorry, must have blanked out for a moment. What, with nothing to do it was bound to happen," I replied.

"Touché. Well, you go ahead and get going. I'll take it from here. And thanks again for covering for me so early in the morning!" he shouted as I was headed out the door.

"Of course! No problem!" I yelled back.

With a full day ahead of me, I decided to take some time for myself.

My first destination was a little shop hidden between two huge business buildings. It looked interesting enough. There also may have been something in the window of the shop that had caught my attention as I was passing by.

"Hi! My name's Jeonghan. Anything I can help you with?" asked a petite young boy from behind the counter.

"Um, yes actually. I was wondering how much that little dog keychain in the window costs?"

"Oh! Yes, let me take a look at that for you!" he replied cheerfully.

"Thank you, that would be wonderful," I replied with the same tone.

Jeonghan carefully removed the small key chain from the window and rang it up on the register to see a price.

"5.99. Would you like to buy it?" he asked kindly.

"Yes please," I replied. I couldn't pass this up. Something inside me wouldn't let me.

As I was leaving I thanked Jeonghan again for his help, and in return, he wished me a blessed rest of my day.

Just when I had been walking for what seemed like forever, I stumbled upon the coffee shop I liked to visit. With the unknown boy in mind, I headed inside, praying for the chance to run into him again. Well, not like the first time, but yeah.

After looking around the shop and not seeing him, I almost gave up hope. That was until I finally spotted him sitting in the far back corner of the room. He had a book in hand and a coffee cup not far away. I also didn't miss the fact that he had dyed his chestnut hair light pink and had a pair of circular glasses resting upon his nose. Cute.

My heart rate quickened tremendously when he glanced my way and offered a small smile. It was then that I finally realized, this was my chance. I had to get to know him.

I ordered, waited, and after finally receiving my coffee I braved the unknown and headed towards the back corner. He was still there, reading and occasionally taking a sip of his coffee.

The closer I got, the more nervous I became. As much as I wanted to turn around, to run in the other direction, I couldn't bring myself to do so.

Before I knew it, I stood in front of the same boy I had poured coffee on only weeks ago. Although, he didn't have a scowl on his face. He didn't look like he was about to yell at me for what a mess I made that day. It was quite the opposite. He had a grin on his face instead.

"Mind if I sit?"

He simply gestured towards the empty chair across from him. I sat down slowly, thinking over all of the things I wanted to say. All of the words I needed to let out. Then finally, I spoke.

"Hi. I'm, um...my name is Kim Mingyu. I'm the one who ran into you and poured coffee down your shirt. I just wanted to apologize again, I'm so sorry about that. Unfortunately, I was born very clumsy and those things tend to happen to me often," I blurted out faster than I thought understandable.

He looked at me before slowly pulling out a notepad and a pen and writing something down. I didn't dare ask what. I didn't dare move. Instead, I held my breath and waited for a response.

I never got one, at least not verbally, but he did slide the notepad in my direction a few minutes later.

"Hi Mingyu. My name is Lee Jihoon. Don't worry about the coffee. Both it and the clothes were replaceable. I do appreciate your apology though." This was written in flawless handwriting on the notepad in front of me.

I looked back up at Jihoon to see another smile on his face. I decided at that moment, that I never wanted that smile to leave his face.

"I'm so glad," I replied, "I've been wanting to apologize all this time, but never got the chance to do so. I see you were reading. Do you like to read?"

"Words are a powerful thing," was soon written on the same notepad under his previous response.

I think it was just me, but his smile was slightly smaller this time. I thought carefully for a moment before speaking again.

"I work at the library a couple blocks over. If you ever want to stop by for a new story."

"That sounds lovely. Thank you," he wrote.

Part of me wanted to ask Jihoon why he chose to write rather than speak, but the other part didn't mind as long as I was able to be with him.

It had been hours and we were still talking in the coffee shop. They were about half an hour from closing and I was growing upset. I didn't want to part from Jihoon. He had mentioned earlier that dogs were his favorite animal. This gave me an idea. I pulled out the small dog keychain I had bought hours earlier and held it out to him.

"I want you to have this," I started, "Because you said dogs are your favorite animals and because I want you to have something to remember me by."

Jihoon slowly reached out to take the keychain from my hand. He stopped. The key chain lay forgotten in between our hands for a moment.

He mouthed, "Thank you Mingyu."

I have never smiled so big in my life. He then took the keychain, along with his hand, away from mine and stood to leave. I wished him a safe trip home and he waived in return. Then he was gone again. Just like that, but I didn't feel so lonely this time. I did have a blessed day.