Some would call him boring, some would call him normal. Kim Jonghyun never wanted all that much out life. What the hell was wrong with working 9 to 5 weekdays, and staying home with a good book on the weekends? A few trips to the store to get the basics, the occasional adventure to the opticians. Simplicity is bliss. Simplicity and routine, it kept him ticking along. There was a slim chance of anything taking him by surprise and throwing him under a bus- I mean aside from the fiasco of books not being returned to the library. Jonghyun didn’t like being called a librarian. It made him sound old. If anyone asked, he “works at a library”. His job title? A “library assistant”. The term “librarian” just made him feel like he’d aged about 50 years or so. 

7am. Such a nice time to get up. Jonghyun even got up at 7am on weekends, his body clock was completely accustomed to going to bed at 10pm and waking up at 7am, and that’s how he liked it. Jonghyun happily rolled out of bed at exactly 7am and performed his daily morning routine consisting of cereal and the 7 o’clock news, brushing his teeth, getting dressed, somewhat styling his hair a little, and commuting to work. A 10 minute walk at a leisurely pace. 5 minutes if he hurried in the event that he left the house too late, which was never. Past, present, or future. 

“Good morning, Jonghyun!” an elderly colleague greeted brightly. 

“Morning,” Jonghyun chirped, nodding once at her politely. 

Jonghyun hung his coat up on his usual hanger and switched his phone to silent mode before tucking into the inside pocket of his coat and turning around to sit behind the front desk of the library. He began sifting through various paperwork and book counts, satisfied that this would now be the next 8 hours of his life. 

“Yup, I’m back in Korea,” Kim Kibum spoke matter-of-factly to whoever was on the other end of his phone call. 

“Yeah it was a fun trip, no Mum I didn’t have with any girls. Yes of course I got drunk. Oh my god I didn’t have ! Good lord you’re not going to be a Grandma. I’m going back to Seoul, yes. I’ll come to Daegu soon okay? Alright bye,” Key slid his thumb over the hang up button and shoved his phone in his back pocket, continuing to strut out of the airport and into his previously ordered taxi. His mobile phone ringing- yet again- pulled him out of the daydreaming state he was trying to get into.

“Aghhh what is it? I’m tired. I’m in the taxi home I’ll be like 20 minutes,” he informed, pausing to let the caller speak. Key lived with a housemate, house sharing was a great option to be able to live in Seoul for cheap so he went for it. He was a social butterfly anyway so sharing his space with someone was fine. It was only the kitchen they shared, though. It was one of those arrangements. He’d become good friends with his housemate too, Minho was a good guy. Smart, but fun. 

“You need a book?” Key questioned. 

“Why can’t you get it? Oh that’s no excuse…fine, you owe me. What’s the title of the book? Alright I’ll get it on my way home.” Key hung up the phone and leaned forwards to enquire with the taxi driver. 

“Hey, Sir, I need to go to the library, so may you stop there and wait outside for me? I’ll pay you extra,” he offered, the driver simply nodding and muttering a polite enough “yes” in response. Key had never actually been to a library before come to think of it, he wasn’t much of a reader so they were never much use, but you could get books for free seeing as he wasn’t prepared to buy Minho’s book for him.

Key exited the car upon arrival at the library and wandered in, looking around tentatively. The library was pretty big and just, well, full of books to say the least. He used his initiative with his possibly limited amount of time in mind and went straight to the librarian to enquire if they had it. 

“Hi, Mr Librarian?” he asked, the librarian in question flinching awkwardly at the title. Jonghyun looked up at him questioningly. 

“Do you have this book?” Key asked, showing Jonghyun his phone where he had written down the title of the book in case he forgot. 

“Follow me,” Jonghyun beckoned, emerging from his spot behind the desk and walking straight towards the location of the book with Key in toe. He traced his finger along a shelve line of books before stopping at the book Key was after and pulling it out, handing it to him instantly. 

“This must be it then,” Key said as he scanned over the title. 

“Do you have a library card?” Jonghyun asked, earning an exasperated look from Key. 

“Library card? Can’t I just take it?” he pressed. Jonghyun shook his head, smiling slightly and remaining eye contact with Key, who then broke the eye contact to look upwards as if he was asking the heavens for a response. 

“How much would it be to buy this book from somewhere else? Hold on I’ll google it,” Key pulled his phone out of his back pocket and tapped in the password. Jonghyun stood directly in front of him, hands linked behind his back patiently. 

“What the…? Okay, fine, that’s expensive, I’ll get a library card. You never know, maybe I’ll come back here,” he sighed. 

“Maybe you will,” Jonghyun agreed, turning on his heels and venturing back to his desk while Key trailed behind. Jonghyun sat down at the front desk and began to fill some paper out. Key peered over, pouting slightly, trying to see what he was writing. 

“So do you read?” Jonghyun asked suddenly, not looking up from the paper. Key opened his mouth in surprise and spluttered a couple of incoherent syllables before speaking. 

“Not really, I was just picking this up for my friend you see, and I’m not prepared to pay that amount of money for it because the phone call didn’t include anything along the lines of ‘I’ll pay you back’, so, here I am!” he concluded, as if it was some great adventure that he had embarked on, Jonghyun just hummed in response. 

“Well, you should come back. Fill this out please,” he requested, passing the papers to Key and looking around in boredom while Key filled in all the empty boxes. 

“Should I?” 

“Hmm?”

“Come back, I mean,”” 

“Definitely,” Jonghyun nodded. Key made eye contact with him briefly before sniggering and looking back down at what he was doing, was this librarian flirting? Or was he just promoting the library? 

“Do you have any ID on you to confirm the name on the form?” Jonghyun asked. 

“Uh-huh,” Key nodded, putting the pen in his mouth while he fumbled with his bag. Jonghyun glanced at the pen and frowned before shaking his head and going back to looking around while Key found some ID. 

“Here,” Key handed Jonghyun his passport, who studied it briefly before glancing at the name on the application and handing it back. 

“Been travelling?” he asked. 

“How did you know?” Key replied, shoving his passport back in his bag and returning to the form.

“Would you usually carry your passport on you?” Jonghyun enquired, Key laughing a little in response. 

“Oh yeah,” he dumbly laughed. 

“Do you travel much?” Key asked, Jonghyun quickly shook his head. 

“Oh?” Key raised an eyebrow questioningly, pushing the finished form towards Jonghyun who ignored the travelling conversation and looked over the form. 

“Here is your library card, Mr Kim Kibum,” he stated, already holding a card out for Key to take. 

“Call me Key.”

“See you soon, Key.”