A Warrior's Heart

Chapter 43; So many books..

A loud sigh left the brunette's lips as he flipped through the book laying in his lap. He sat cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by stacks of books, some open, some closed, some standing up. His clothes were partly covered by a thin layer of dust previously on the surface of the books, but that was not what he sighing about.

"Hyung~"  Taehyun whined, looking over at the older man, seated on the small spiral staircase leading up to some sort of balcony inside the building. Books were littered around his feet as well, a couple sitting next to him on the staircase. The man hummed, quickly finishing with reading the sentence before looking up. Taehyun wiggled his legs a bit, his knees bouncing.  "It's taking too long."

Namjoon nodded and opened his mouth to speak.  "Well, I never said we'd succeed in mere minutes."  He said, softly smiling.  "But if we just continue like this I'm sure we'll find something before the morning."

"By next morning?! That's taking too long, I'm getting bored and there's so many books and we're only with us two."  He pouted, looking back down at the book in his lap. It was about how you could summon some kind of ghost, but he wasn't interested in that now. In any other situation, he'd probably jump up and chant that they had to try it, but right now he was only focussed on getting some information on how to get to the other world.

"I just.."  He sighed.  "I just wanna go back. I want to see Beomgyu again. He's so nice and everything he says sounds so angelic and he's so delicate, Hyung."  He said, looking back up at the man and seeing him listen to him intently, not wanting to miss a thing.  "I miss him, a lot. I have this ache in my heart and I feel like the only thing that can take that away is him, and now the basket is broken and I can't see him and-" He ranted, getting more and more frustrated by the second. "I just don't think there's anything in these books that will help us."

Namjoon looked down at the book in his hand, placing it face-down on the staircase before he stood up. He walked to the door and stepped outside, shutting the door behind him to keep the warmth inside. Taehyun scoffed, thinking that he had given up hope as well. He sighed and looked away, seeing the bookcase with a what seemed like thousand more books they'd have to go through. Why did Namjoon even think that there would be something here? This was just a mere shed that he had found when he was a child, not some sort of place with magical books. Sure, some books contained stuff that had to do with magic, but it could just be a storage shed for some sort of collector.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't hear the door opening again. Namjoon stepped back inside, approaching the brunette and sitting down next to him. He crossed his legs as well, mimicking the younger's pose, and nudged his shoulder. Taehyun whipped his head back, seeing Namjoon sitting there. He blinked, and then Namjoon offered him a sweet smile.

"Here," He said, holding his hand towards him. Taehyun looked down and saw he was holding a cup of tea. Smoke came rising from it, twirling around in the air until vanishing. He frowned as he took it from the older, wrapping his hands around it and feeling the cup warm the palms of his hands. "Where did you-"

"I aways make some tea to keep in my car when I'm leaving the store or my house." The man cut him off. "And not in vain, either. Its nice to just stop driving for a bit and sitting on the hood of my car with a cup. Just drink it, it's raspberry tea with mint, selfmade."

Taehyun nodded and thanked the other as he brought the cup to his lips to take a sip. They sat in silence for a little as they enjoyed the warm beverage. Now that he wasn't putting his frustration out there, Taehyun could feel himself calming down a little, the taste and scent of the drink helping him to do so. When Namjoon was almost finished, only a small puddle of tea left in his cup, he cleared his throat and inhaled.

"When you were back in the other world, fighting those soldiers you call them," He started, glancing up at the younger. "Did you lose hope of winning the fight? When they were attacking you with three at once, I mean."

Taehyun swallowed the rest of the tea in the cup and looked over, shaking his head. "No, I knew I could take them and I was fighting for a good cause," He answered. "Warriors never give up."

Namjoon chuckled at his words, looking down for a second before looking back up at the younger. "Then why you wanna give up now? Aren't you fighting- or in this case reading for a good cause?"

The brunette looked at him, blinking his eyes. He was right. He never gave up hope back there, but why did he now? He didn't want to give up now either. He wanted to push through and find some answers for their problem. He said he'd do anything to see the boy again, and he was going to follow through.

"Having hope all the time is difficult, I'll give you that." Namjoon continued. "But isn't the cause, or the finish line, or the end result or whatever you wanna call it- isn't that worth the while? I'll admit, I'm not always that hopeful either. But if it's gonna be worth it, I'll push through."

"You're right, Hyung." Taehyun said, sitting up straighter and turning to the man slightly. "I'll push through too. I want to push through too. I'll continue reading these books and I'll even read them twice if I have to!" The boy said, his eyes gaining that fiery sparkle again, telling Namjoon that his small lecture had worked. He nodded and lifted his arm to pat the boy on the shoulder. "Good. Now let's continue, mh?"