library at fourth street • chanbaek au

03; an abundance of katherines

December 14, 2014 | 13:45
The Library at Fourth Street

"What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable?"
― John Green, An Abundance of Katherines

Chanyeol entered the library, hands in his jacket pockets and humming a tune, immediately grabbing Baekhyun's book recommendation from yesterday. His cheeks turning pink every time he thought of yesterday's event. He sat on his usual seat and positioned himself to where he is comfortable.

Baekhyun saw the tall boy and smiled at him, unintentionally giving him butterfiles in his stomach, unaware that Chanyeol has fallen for him in a short amount of time.

Chanyeol let out a grin as he saw his smile and now a thumbs up on the book he's holding, it was the recommendation from yesterday.

And for the first time, Baekhyun adjusted his sweater and left the seat at the near back of the library. Box of tissues in hand and a cup of coffee, he sat directly to Chanyeol.

"Hi! I hope you don't mind." He said politely, plopping himself on the seat in front of the boy.

"No, not at all!" Chanyeol replied, hiding his now-flustered face in the book, trying his hardest not to get caught.

Baekhyun continued to read the book, Chanyeol yet again taking a note of what is the boy now in front of him reading; Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan.

14:22

Believe me, Chanyeol tried his hardest to focus on the book he's reading.

But how can he not silently stare at the boy in front of him? He's been secretly admiring him from afar for a week or so, admiring how stunning someone can be, sitting alone at the back of the library. Now he's in front of him with all his exquisite glory, Chanyeol realizing he's much better in front.

Shaking his head, he tried focusing on the book he's reading and continued on.

16:43

Baekhyun finished the book with a smile on his face, as usual. He loved the book, especially that it has his gender involved, he loved how open someone can be without being judged. Something he aimed to achieve.

He looked at Chanyeol, deeply engrossed in the book he recommended from yesterday. He saw him reading Looking for Alaska the other day, thinking it would be nice to read another John Green book.

The boy in front of him is now looking at him, Baekhyun realizing he was staring.

"Ah! Sorry I was staring." He said. "I was processing the book in my mind."

Baekhyun thought to himself if he should also recommend the book he read, but his shyness got the best of him after embarrasing himself in front of the cute boy.

Yep, Byun Baekhyun thought the boy in front of him was cute.

His thoughts were interrupted by Chanyeol's response.

"It's okay! I thought something was wrong."

"Oh," He let out a laugh. "It's nothing. I should get going, by the way! Goodbye, Chanyeol!" He stood up, grabbing his stuff and left.

16:57

Chanyeol finished the book and brought it back to the shelf. He loved the book, mainly because Baekhyun recommended it, and next is the amazing work. He decided that he didn't want to go home yet, so he sat back to his seat and grabbed a pen and a pad of paper.

He started to scribble random drawings, his mind is a mess right now; an image of Baekhyun in front of him never leaving his mind, his laugh like a broken record playing repeatedly in Chanyeol's mind.

That's where he decided to write him a letter.

Baekhyun,

To be honest, I thought books weren't for me. I couldn't imagine myself reading something for hours straight, even being in a library. But that changed as I saw you reading the Harry Potter series a week and a couple of days ago. Yes, I saw it as a movie so I thought there would be no use to read it, but your expressions intrigued me. You looked adorable and moved through the words. That fascinated me, because how can someone be so deep into a book?

If it wasn't for my friend and you, I wouldn't understand why you feel that way.

I tried reading it, and guess what, I loved it. I understood why reading is a therapy, an escape, a second universe. I would like to thank you. Because of you, I found myself reading, and it was the best thing I've ever done in my life so far.

I silently hoped you'd notice me, a few tables away from yours. I even planned to approach you, but I chickened out too many times. That was until you spoke to me yesterday, I was so happy, no words can describe how much I felt extreme euphoria that day. Guess that's what you call crushing?

I actually wanted to ask you out. This letter is getting a lot more awkward as it gets longer. It's not like I'm actually going to give it to you, right? But anyway, I really wanted to ask you out for the longest time, imagine having coffee and talking about the books we've read. It must be nice.

But for now, I will be that person now in front of you, reading the book you're deeply engrossed to the day before. The person silently admiring you even since he saw you. The person who gets all flustered even by the mere thought of you. Also, thank you for the silent book recommendations (except An Abundance of Katherines), I loved them.

Maybe one day I'll have the courage to ask you out. We'll see.

- Chanyeol

"This isn't right at all!" Chanyeol said to himself, getting a little frustrated. I'm sure he's going to get creeped out! He thought to himself.

He crumpled the paper and went to the trash bin.

"Throwing away a love letter, Yeol? That's pretty sad." Suho said, sitting comfortably on the chair at his desk near the bin while fixing his glasses.

"It's nothing, hyung. Just random scribbles." Chanyeol replied. "You work here too?" He asked. So that's why Yixing likes to go here for "no" particular reason.

"You didn't notice? Minseok was right, you were too busy looking at the boy, weren't you?" Suho laughed.

Chanyeol let out an embarrassed laugh, his hand rubbing his neck. "Yeah." He silently replied.

To avoid himself getting more embarrassed, he threw the paper away, excused himself and left the library. Waiting for the next day to come to see Baekhyun again.

Almost everyone notices except Baekhyun, that may or may not be a good thing. He thought to himself as he walked home.

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I'm kind of a quarter asleep while in the middle of writing this + I hope the sudden POV change was okay. But hey, it reached 1000+ words! :-)