Touch || Lee Jeno

nine.

Ru stood in front of her gate, basking under the warm sunlight. The neighborhood was quiet and peaceful, with only the occasional chirping of birds. 

She checked her phone for the time. He should be here soon. 

Her eyes wandered between the houses around her, and she observed how cozy each of the houses were. She looked at the pretty little flowers on her neighbor's yard, the tiny pond on another's. 

Her eyes landed on the swing just a few houses down. She stared at its bright, red color. She didn't even realize, but she started walking towards the house. She stood just behind their fence, watching the idle, red swing. 

It looked so much like a child's swing, but she realized that she had never actually seen a child play on it before. Now that she thought about it, she had never actually seen anyone out and about on the yard before. She started to wonder about the residents of the house. Well, just because it looks like a child swing, doesn't mean that it has to be for kids—

"Hey," a low and soft voice called out from behind her. 

She let out a little yelp, turning around. She sighed in relief when she saw that it was just Jeno, who was now chuckling at her. She shook her head as she watched his eyes crinkle in laughter. His bright smile and slightly scrunched nose brought a little smile to her face as well. It was hard to look away; a part of her wanted to watch him this way forever, but she caught herself and looked away, embarrassed. 

"What were you looking at?" He asked, a smile still evident on his face. 

She stuttered, not really knowing what to say. "Um, nothing really, just, uh— admiring the house, I guess."

She didn't give him a chance to respond and started walking slowly ahead of him. Together, they strolled down the street in the warm breeze. She hadn't really given it much thought before, but it finally dawned on her: they were going to the library, just the two of them. 

She felt oddly giddy; her feet felt light and her hands swung on her sides like balloons. The last time she spent time with just him, she was so much more fidgety. It was probably all the nerves from the soulmate thing. Now, she felt so much lighter— perhaps a little too light. 

She thought back to the arts and crafts store, about the buttons she bought. She stole him a glance, wondering if he had kept the poppy button. She wanted to ask him about it, but before she could, he filled in the silence first. 

"So, tell me again—" Jeno cleared his throat, walking beside her with his hands in his big, red jacket— "why are we going to the library? You know, we have this thing— it's called the internet."

She gave him a look, rolling her eyes playfully. 

"Seriously, though," he continued, "shouldn't everything be on the internet?"

She held onto the strap of her bag, looking on both sides of the street before they crossed a short crosswalk. "Well, we could and I did, but most of the sites only provide generic information; none of them actually gave a straight, detailed answer."

"However, the websites did reference a whole list of books for more extensive research—" she fished a small piece of paper from her pocket, waving it at him— "some of which I listed down here."

"You did?" He asked, raising his eyebrow. 

He took the paper from her, observing the list of books Ru had written down. He chuckled, surprised at how diligent she was about this. There were six books on the list, with titles such as 'Soulmate Phenomenon' and 'The Science of Soulmates'.