J O U R N E Y | hong jisoo [hiatus]

01 ; him first

"thank you for coming! do visit us next time!"

jisoo bid goodbye to a couple of customers before they disappeared into the mall. he breathed out in satisfaction. as the day went by pretty quickly, jisoo had only 2 hours left before he could leave for home.

just then, another customer entered the bookstore, a small smile on her face. jisoo got up from his seat behind the counter ,"hi, may i help you?".

"i'm trying to find books on aeronautical engineering. are there any here?", she asked politely, voice small and petite.

jisoo smiled ,"yes. right at that section", he gestured to the near end of the store, where all the engineering related books were displayed.

the bookstore he was working at had almost every book anybody could buy. there were books on history, chemistry, baking, the presidents of america, mickey the mouse, you name it.

jisoo loved working there mostly because the atmosphere of the store was always so serene.

"hey, wasn't she here yesterday?", yoon jeonghan, jisoo's close friend and colleague suddenly appeared beside him. jisoo frowned in confusion ,"she was?". jeonghan nodded.

"she came for some aero- stuff books too", he continued, making jisoo even more puzzled. he came for his shift the day before, but he didn't exactly recognise her since the store was visited by quite a number of people everyday.

"maybe she's just looking for more of those books", jisoo shrugged. jeonghan pursed his lips into a thin line ,"are you sure? seungcheol said she came here... two days ago as well".

"maybe she just loves this bookstore alot", jisoo chuckled, glancing at her as she looked through the shelves of books.

throughout his 3 years of working there, he met alot of people who fell in love with the aura and the ambience of the store.

one regular customer; lee chan, a college student, visited the bookstore mostly to study and read books which were in relation to his subjects. jisoo was good friends with him. whenever he was there, they'd always be immersed in a conversation about either of their lives.

xu minghao and wen junhui were two other regular customers. the two close chinese friends came to the store to read books on improving their korean language. well, it was mostly minghao since junhui was already quite fluent in the language. sometimes, he'd strike a conversation with them. other times, they'd ask him for help with the language.

"oops. gotta go", jeonghan smiled cheekily as he quickly went to tend to some other customers who had just arrived.

jisoo chuckled. he continued looking at her, a smile suddenly finding its way to his lips. he soon found himself walking towards her, ready to talk about anything under the sun. it wouldn't hurt to make a new friend, that was for sure.

he noticed that she was holding the book 'a walk to remember', a famous romance novel where its story plot would bring someone to tears easily because of the bittersweet ending. jisoo simply loved the book and he thought it would be a great conversation starter.

"that's a really good book if you're planning on reading it", jisoo peeked over her shoulder, causing her to stumble forward in surprise.

"gosh! you startled me!", she chuckled sheepishly, earning a grin from jisoo.

"i was just looking at it and it seems like a good book! unfortunately, i don't think i brought enough money to buy it since i've got these two other books in hand", she brought the aeronautical engineering books up, slightly waving them in the air.

"you can get it tomorrow if you want! i'll specially reserve it for you", jisoo nodded.

"that'd be really nice", she smiled warmly as she stuffed the book back in it's original place.

"so, you're interested in aerospace?", jisoo then asked, curious.

"yeah! i really admire the determination and passion pilots have for flying and honestly, i want to somehow feel that too", she smiled proudly ,"i've been interested in planes for quite a long time, and for now, i want to be able to get to know the most about aerospace".

jisoo couldn't stop smiling at the person standing before him as she continued talking about her ambition. it was truly heartwarming how someone could be so passionate about something.

"let's get you these books then", jisoo gestured towards the counter, the smile still plastered on his face. she nodded sheepishly.

"i hope that the books benefit you alot!", jisoo said cheerfully as he handed her the paper bag which contained the two books. she took the bag eagerly, excited to read up more about aerospace.

"i'm jisoo, by the way", he informed her with a small grin just before she left. "i'm minkyung", she smiled back.

"i guess i'll see you tomorrow?".

"sure", and with that, minkyung bid goodbye to jisoo, and left the bookstore with the sheepish smile stuck to her face.

"i guess you can add her to your list of regular customers now", jeonghan laughed, noticing jisoo who was looking on as minkyung walked out of the store. the latter chuckled.

"you make me sound like some creepy dude".

a/n : hEyYY please give this books lots and lots of loveeee