Running Into Him Again

Sunday morning, I found myself at the desk in my room, hunched over my books. Usually, for me, Sundays meant going out to the nearby park with Kyungsoo, where we would hang out before lunch. How weird was it that we somehow never seemed to run out of topics to talk about? And even when we weren't talking to each other, there was always a comfortable silence hanging around us. We would then go to our own homes for having lunch, and would meet up in the evening as well, probably for a movie or dinner, or sometimes both. But since I had already established a couple days ago that I was destined to be alone -- courtesy his relationship -- our Sunday ritual was officially cancelled.

He did keep in contact with me every day through texts, but we didn't hang out together now. I guess that's what happens to most friendships when one of them starts dating someone. If I had known beforehand that something like this would happen, I would have forced him to make a pact with me that we would not stop spending time with each other.

This was seriously so infuriating! Studying on a Sunday, of all days, when I was meant to be doing something fun. I didn't even have any important examinations coming within the next couple of months. But, well, since I was always whining about not getting enough time to catch up with my studies due to the part time job, I don't think I had the right to complain now. In fact, I could faintly remember having been given a paper on the Law of Property that was due in the next few days. Which I had to be seriously crazy to not submit, for no teacher in the school was as strict as Professor Ahn.

By the time it was five in the evening, I was pretty sure I had completely fried my poor brain by studying so much; I had taken a short break in the afternoon to have lunch, after which, I was back to completing the paper. To distract myself from my notes for a while, I decided to make a trip to the bookstore. I needed a couple law booklets for reference, and I also wanted to check if there were any new arrivals in the Mystery and Thriller genres. Yes, I was a er for those books.

The bookstore was only four blocks away, and a brisk walk in the evening weather was enough to refresh me. Reaching the shop, I pushed open the doors, walking inside. A smile made its way on my face as the familiar smell of books hit my nose, and I stopped to one side to take a deep breath. No one seemed to be bothered by my awkward behaviour, though, which was something I appreciated about fellow book lovers. Almost every single person in the book lovers community understands each other perfectly well.

While the library was bigger and had a better collection than the bookstore, I managed to find the booklets I wanted pretty quickly. I balanced them in my hand along with my dark grey wallet, while my phone rested in my other hand as I made my way towards the cash counter, where the new arrivals were displayed. Disappointment must have been evident on my face as I saw that there was nothing of my interest, and with a pout, I turned around, only to be greeted by a pleasant voice that was owned by a very familiar face.

"Didn't find anything good?"

I wish I could have responded gracefully, but sadly, graceful was not my piece of cake. In fact, my reaction wasn't even close to normal. I have to admit that my mouth emitted one of the most unattractive shrieks anyone must have ever heard, and I jumped almost a foot high before taking a few steps back. I was just glad I hadn't dropped anything from my hands. I gulped, glancing around as people began staring at us -- not really, they were staring only at me -- and I mouthed apologies to them, bowing slightly.

Turning back to look at the young man in front of me, I groaned inwardly as I saw him trying to suppress his laughter, resisting the sudden urge to whine out loud. Why was he always laughing at me? I mean, okay, most people did, but I barely knew anything about this guy, this visit being our second one. I swear I hadn't been this embarrassed in my life. Well, maybe I had, when I had tried to give a love letter to a senior when I was in fourth grade, but let's not get to that now.

"So, do you remember me?" He asked after he finally stopped laughing, tilting his head to one side, which was reminiscent of an adorable puppy. Wait, did I just think of him as adorable? I struggled to keep the blush off my face as I nodded slightly at him, a faint smile on my face.

"The Chinese boy from the library!" Great, my brain-to-mouth filter -- or lack thereof -- was at it again.

I watched as the guy looked at me with a frown as he stepped to one side so as to not block the path for the other customers (which I thought was really sweet and polite). His facial expression was beginning to confuse me, though. Had I said something bad and ended up upsetting him?

"Huh? What happened to 'Magazine Cover Guy'?" He asked, his face breaking into a wide grin the next second, and with a sinking feeling, I realised he was making fun of me. "I thought you liked that name, that was why I wrote it in the first place," he continued, followed by a chuckle.

Oh dear, bright red face incoming, I thought as I stared at him, blinking before averting my gaze to a nearby shelf, finding a sudden interest in the Self Help section. "O-oh, w-well, uh..." I stuttered, remembering the slip of paper he had given me with his 'name' and contact number. It was extremely ridiculous, though. Did he seriously think I would actually save his number as Magazine Cover Guy? Okay, so who am I kidding? Of course I saved his number, as well as that hilarious nickname. And like an idiot, I had done it before my shift at the convenience store started, and how convenient (pun unintended) had it been for my giggly female coworker to take a 'peek' into my phone while I was doing it. Thankfully, she had not asked me for any details, choosing to laugh at my stupidity instead.

I had to refrain from contacting him, however, even though I had his number now. After all, what was I supposed to say if I called or messaged him? 'Remember me? I'm the girl from the library who was gawking at you'? Yeah, talk about awkward. On second thought, let's not.

"Hey, it's fine, I'm obviously kidding!" He said in a reassuring tone as he smiled at me kindly, immediately managing to put me at ease. The dimpled male suddenly leaned forward, startling me for a second until I realised he was just gazing at what I had been holding. With a sympathetic arch of the eyebrow, he looked back at me. "For your schoolwork?" He asked, to which I nodded with a shrug.

"I could have borrowed this from the library, but it's a little far from home. Besides, I'm lazy," I explained, earning another laugh from him. I couldn't believe I had just admitted to a stranger -- okay, I didn't know his name, so he still was a stranger to me -- that I was lazy. But then again, almost all the girls I knew were lazy, so I guess I shouldn't have been that ashamed of it.

"That's quite all right, I'm not judging you." He raised both hands, holding them in front of me defensively, before letting them fall to his sides. "But, you know, the café is quite close, so if you wouldn't mind, do you want to have a little chat with me?"

I was kind of surprised by his question, and his overall carefree attitude, but there was a shy and nervous smile on his face that told me otherwise. I sighed softly to myself before returning his smile with a small one of my own. "Sure, why not?"

Those three words uttered by me were apparently enough as I saw him relax. I was missing something, though.

"Wait!"

I felt kind of sheepish at having startled him, and I tucked my hands behind my back as I gave a nervous laugh. "What's your name?" I asked, feeling the familiar embarrassment creeping up on me again.

He let out a deep, merry laugh as he shook his head, and looked at me with an amused expression. Before I could stop myself, I thought of how his laughter felt smooth and comforting, like honey.

"Zhang Yixing."

I nodded. "Cho Daeun, nice to meet you."

His eyes crinkled up as he smiled at me. "Likewise. Should we get going?"

Oh God. Oh dear God. I had to admit I was feeling like the biggest idiot as I walked with him to the café. I hadn't even given a second thought to the fact that this Zhang Yixing guy could very well have been a kidnapper or even a murderer. A very good looking criminal, but that's besides the point. I knew nothing about him except for his name and that he was Chinese, and already, I was going on a date with him to the café. Wait, what? Why did I think this was a date? Okay, my stupid brain, just scratch that word. In all likelihood, I was just going with him to get to know him. So then why was I suddenly feeling so scared?

It wasn't until we had actually stepped foot into the café that I let out the breath I had been unintentionally holding. Okay, so he did not have any ulterior motives. Yet.

He turned to face me with a questioning smile, letting me choose a table, and of course, being extremely paranoid at the moment, I walked over to one right in the centre of the seating area. The fact that there was a group of high school girls seated at a nearby table, as well as a family of three at another one helped ease my nerves, and I was finally able to breathe normally as I sat down in front of the Chinese guy.

I was wondering if he realised how on edge I had been for the past couple of minutes, but one look at his face told me he was completely clueless about it. It worked in my favour, however, so I wasn't complaining.

He gave me another one of those cute little smiles of his, flashing his dimples at me, as a waitress approached us, a pencil and notepad in hand. "What would you like to have, Daeun?" He asked politely, looking at me expectantly as I turned my gaze to the woman, biting my lower lip in thought. "One cappuccino and a slice of red velvet cake, please," I recited without a pause; that was all I ever ordered whenever I was here. After jotting it down, the older lady turned to Yixing, tapping the back of the pencil on her cheek as she waited for his order.

I must say, Zhang Yixing was one hell of a confused individual! Even after staring at the menu card hard enough to burn a hole through it, he had changed his beverage order four times before finally settling on a choco mocha, and he took almost ten minutes to decide that he would like to eat a vanilla cheesecake along with it. I really had to admire the waitress for being so patient with him, if I had been in her shoes, I would have stormed off in literally one minute. But, well, they are paid to be patient, so I guess they don't really have an option.

For a while, Yixing and I just looked around the place as well as each other, without saying anything. The silence was a little awkward, and I wasn't really used to being open and friendly with someone I had met only twice. I was extremely relieved and thankful, though, when he brought up the topic of books and literature in general, and that started a conversation that I felt would never end -- not that I wanted it to end. We didn't really talk about our personal lives, and I knew our friendship hadn't reached that level yet, but yes, I could say that this fair skinned, black haired handsome man was my friend now.

Author's Note:

I'm not sure if I'll need to write an author's note at the end of every chapter, haha. I might not have anything to say every time.

Anyway, I literally wrote this in less than four hours, which I don't know is pure genius or sheer stupidity. I have no idea if my quality of writing is getting worse *cries*

I hope you liked it!~