Stray Kids One Shots

A Page Apart- Kim Seungmin

The smell of old books at the library was something I lived for. The quiet murmurs of students along with the sharp turning of pages brought me to life, and the day a fresh set of books arrived was like my birthday. Our city's most famous library was quite modern, with computer rooms, air conditioning, the latest books, and even a snack vending machine. Most importantly, the free wifi made it a hot spot for students to hang out.

It wouldn't surprise people to find me at the library during my free time. I visited every single day. The librarian and I were basically bff's, and I volunteered often too.

This particular day, the librarian had called me and told me they'd stocked up on new books. I had instantly changed out of my sweats into whatever clothes I could grab and rushed out the door, eager to see what new gems have been brought in.

I greeted the librarian as usual, and she gestured to the shelf which held the new books. Skipping along to the shelf, I hummed to myself as I scanned the new set of books. I found quite a few ones that I wanted to read, and made a mental note to pick them up later.

As I reached the end of the shelf, a familiar turquoise cover caught my eye. Quickly reading the title on the spine, I recognized it to be one of my favorite romance novels, 'A page apart'.

Long back, I used to avoid romance novels, but this particular book had caught my eye. I had taken it home, read it overnight, and fell in love. It was a charming story about a boy who sticks post-it notes with love poems in random books in the library, and the main character stumbles upon one. She looks for all the books which had his special notes and reads them one by one. With each note, she falls even more in love with him and becomes determined to find out the true identity of the romantic poet. Turns out, he was closer than she thought.

Reminiscing the emotions I felt while reading this book, I reach out to it with a smile on my face. But at the exact same time, another hand reached out, our fingers brushing as we grabbed the spine of the book.

"Oh sorry!" The other hand retracted. I turn to see a boy about my age, bowing his head slightly in apology.

He was taller than me, with slightly curled brown hair neatly combed. His eyes were soft and warm, making him look like a puppy. Dressed in a cream sweater and light jeans, he looked like an angel, a boy filled with innocence and purity.

"You can have it, you reached out first." He said politely.

I blushed slightly as I remember how our fingers brushed against each other, just like a cliche romance novel.

"No, it's fine." I smiled. "I've already read it, just wanted to take a look."

I reach for the book and gently pulled it out of the shelf and held it out to him.

"This is one of my favorite books, the first one that got me interested in this genre," I commented. "I hope you enjoy it and like it just as much as I did."

The boy listened to me with his mouth slightly agape in concentration, but smiled and took the book from me.

"Thank you, I'm sure I'll have a good time reading it." He bowed indicating, he was leaving.

I bowed as well and watched as he went to sit with one of his friends. The blonde boy noticed the book in his friend's hands, and grinned, teasing him. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I could guess he was being teased because of the romance novel.

Tearing my eyes off him, I turned back to the bookshelf and picked out a couple of books. After checking the descriptions in all of them, I go get them checked out, and leave the library, tugging at my skirt as the late winter breeze made me shiver. It should be warm enough to abandon the winter clothes by now, but the cold winds persisted, making spring drift farther and farther away.