IQ148 // namjoon ✔️

__JANUARY__

January; 2014

As the new year rolls in, NamJoon finds himself not going there for the bookstore, but rather to just get a glance of this girl he can't stop thinking about.

Instead of sitting in the courtyard and looking up at the sky, he glances at the doorless entrance to the forbidden section; the section of the bookstore where he knows she'll be.

He never dares to go back there anymore; it's a whole different world containing the one riddle he can't solve.

Her.

There's something about her that… pulls NamJoon in, but at the same time, pushes him away. Which leaves him with a confliction of whether to enter her little world she's built or to stay in his own world he's built out here in the courtyard.

Stepping into the back area feels more like intruding, even if this bookstore is open to the public.

He feels as though he may walk in on secrets she doesn't want others to know.

He concludes that it's in her nature. She's naturally intriguing, but he wonders why she would sit in the corner.

He found out that she's there everyday; weekdays to weekends.

Apparently, she was there when NamJoon first discovered the bookstore and every time he visited after that. She hid in the corner this whole time.

But the unsolvable riddle that's plaguing his brain: Why the corner?

There's an empty seat at the table in the courtyard that NamJoon sits at.

Not that she would ever want to sit with him…

But it's a public space; she can sit wherever she wants! It's not up to NamJoon whether she chooses to sit in the courtyard, or between the bookshelves, or even behind the register counter.

But maybe it's not about the physical aspect, but the mental.

NamJoon's been theorizing this whole time that the courtyard is more preferable since it's more open and free and provides natural light.

The back room is crowded and cramped; there's not enough air circulation. Not enough light either; it seems like she does a lot of work back there and doing it in a poorly lit interior could ruin her eyesight.

But that's only putting the physical aspects in perspective.

Maybe it's not about the placing, but the immersion of the mind; immersing themselves into their own world to think.

In the courtyard, NamJoon's mind can immerse in the sunlight and the open sky, so he can pretend he's anywhere he wants and think without feeling time moving around him. He believes that if everyone were to look up, no one would be able to distinguish where they are; they could be anywhere in the world because the sky can be seen from anywhere.

That's how he created his own world.

He knows for a fact what they have in common: the bookstore is a safe haven to them.

The girl probably thinks differently.

NamJoon is just theorizing here…

But he thinks that if he believes everyone should look up, the girl believes everyone should close their eyes; immerse in the darkness.

If everyone were to close their eyes, all they'd see is black nothingness. But anyone can build a world inside that darkness. By closing their eyes, people can be anywhere they want if they imagine it. By being situated in between walls, people won't be affected by time moving around them.

It's the perfect place to think; but not for NamJoon.

Two different methods that come to the same results: they both found a place where they can think freely in their own way.

His conclusion:

They immerse into their own worlds differently; that's why NamJoon prefers the courtyard and she prefers the corner.

Their minds function differently; that's why NamJoon doesn't understand how her mind works.

He'd like to understand though.

But he doesn't think she would want to share her world of answers with others.