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There it was again. The smell. The tobacco smell. Kyungsoo had tried to report to the librarian that someone might be smoking in the library. It was against the rules, but the middle-aged man only looked uninterestedly at him and said he would take care of it later. That was when he noticed a stub of cigarette poking out from the librarian’s front pocket. Great, he thought. He knew right away that his complaint went to deaf ears.

Kyungsoo forever hated the smell of smoke. Maybe it had something to do with his home that always smelled of his mother’s cigarettes. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that his grandfather succumbed to lung cancer three years ago. Or maybe it really had nothing to do with anything and Kyungsoo was just a nerd with hatred towards things that screamed rebellion.

It had been three days that Kyungsoo noticed the smoke smell in the school library. His usual serene time in his sacred place was very much disturbed. He thought that the smell would pass and that whoever the hooligan was would find another comfy spot to take the toxic drags. However, that was not what happened because the next day, as Kyungsoo sat on his usual seat adjacent to the shelves, he could totally smell the nasty thing. Knowing that the librarian was nothing near helpful, he decided to find another seat. Maybe it won’t smell as bad near the windows, he thought. But boy was he wrong. The smell did not subside, if anything, it only smelled stronger. He started to feel angry. If it was possible, steam would have come out of his ears. He tilted his head upwards, feeling a headache coming. That was when he noticed the puffs of white smoke outside the window, floating to the library rafters and dissipated into the blue sky. He knew right away that he had found the er. He could not see who it was or who they were because the library used blurry glass for the bottom windows. The top ones, however, were clear glass. That’s why he could see the smoke. Kyungsoo immediately went out of the library, determined to confront the student.

Kyungsoo took a turn from the side of the library building and saw a figure with curly tuft of hair and a massive faded green hoodie crouching behind the building. The continuous white smoke coming out of his mouth was the perfect proof that he was the one Kyungsoo had been looking for.

“Hey!” yelled Kyungsoo as he went up to the culprit that was back-facing Kyungsoo. The stranger jumped upon hearing him and Kyungsoo felt a tiny bit of satisfaction as if he had given the smoker a little lesson. Kyungsoo went up to him and looked sternly to the other boy who had his palm on his left chest, trying to calm himself, while the other hand still holding his cigarette.

“. Why did you do that?” asked the other boy who turned out to have a timbre voice.

“Did you know that your smoke has been polluting the library these past few days?” asked Kyungsoo while totally ignoring the other’s question.

“I..I didn’t know,” answered him. He clearly dumbfounded by Kyungsoo’s bluntness.

“Well now you do. Smoke somewhere else and stop disturbing people who actually want to study.”

He stared at Kyungsoo with mouth agape and eyes a little too round. It felt like forever until the other smiled and answered, “Okay.” He then stood up, dusting the nonexistent dust from his trousers. After that he took a long drag of his cigarette, threw it on the ground and stepped on it to end the flame with eyes never leaving Kyungsoo.

“See you around then,” his eyes momentarily moved to Kyungsoo’s chest, “Do Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo stood there for a moment watching the tall figure disappearing from his sight and hopefully also from his favourite place that is the library.

 

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It was exactly two weeks later that Kyungsoo saw the tall guy again. The difference was that it was the other who found Kyungsoo crouching at the back of the library building. Having lost in his thoughts, Kyungsoo was not aware of the other’s presence until the smoker decided to crouch next to him without a word. Recognising the familiar face, Kyungsoo gave him a nod of acknowledgement.

“Why so somber, Do Kyungsoo?” questioned the guy who Kyungsoo still didn’t know the name.

“None of your business really,” answered him curtly.

“Okay..” said the dejected boy. “Wanna talk?” Kyungsoo only gave him a look and turned his head back to the forlorn-looking plant in front of him.

“Wanna smoke?” asked the other as he fished out a pack of cigarette from the pocket of his oversized hoodie and ed it to Kyungsoo’s face.

“Are you ing serious?”

The other guy drew back his arm and chuckled lightly. He took one from the pack and put it between his lips while he drew a lighter to light it. Kyungsoo took a side glance as the other boy had his left hand cupped around the flame of his lighter. Somehow he could not bring himself to stop the other guy from smoking today. He could only sigh really heavily.

“Bad day?” asked him to Kyungsoo.

“Kinda,” answered Kyungsoo. He thought he should at least answer the other guy because he had been trying to talk to him.

“You don’t mind this, do you?” asked the other guy as he nodded toward his cigarette.

“Will you actually leave if I say I do?”

“No.” The other guy answered with a grin that showcased his long row of teeth.

They continued crouching with their backs on the wall for minutes with none of them trying to break the comfortable silence. The only noise was from the other guy’s inhale and exhale. The white smoke coming out of his lungs floated to the library rafters, but not before swimming around them for few seconds. The smoke was so thick that Kyungsoo could make out pictures from it. In that moment of silence, he studied the features of the boy next to him. He noticed how the other guy actually looked so warm with his oversized hoodie that looked as if it was swallowing him. His curly hair also looked very fluffy that he actually wanted to pet his head. However, despite those all, Kyungsoo could still see the sharp lines of his nose, his jaw and his protruding ears. He could not help but think that the other guy was actually very good-looking. Too bad he was a smoker.

“What‘s your name?” asked Kyungsoo out of the blue.

“Chanyeol. Park Chanyeol.” The other guy who apparently went by the name of Park Chanyeol offered him a smile after taking another drag.

“Well, Park Chanyeol, I think I’ll be going now.” said Kyungsoo as he stood up slowly trying to circulate blood to his legs.

At that Chanyeol stood up abruptly and winced right away because of his numb legs. “Are you going home?”

“Yes. Why?”

“We can go home together.”

“Do we even go the same way?”

Chanyeol chuckled then answered, “We do. You’ve never noticed me riding the same bus with you?” Kyungsoo shook his head with a blank look on his face.

“Must be because you always take the front seats.” Chanyeol shrugged as he threw away the of his cigarette to the ground and kicked it to the grass.

“Come on.” beckoned Chanyeol to the shorter boy. And just like that Kyungsoo made friend with a smoker. Something he previously thought would never do under any circumstances because of his immense hatred towards smoking. Yet, there he was sitting side by side with Chanyeol on the bus listening to the taller boy’s story about his regular trips to the salon because apparently his hair wasn’t naturally curly.

Kyungsoo knew he was violating his own principal by tolerating the presence of a smoker around him, but he also knew that he actually found Chanyeol’s presence okay. Not more than okay, but at least it was not bad. And he was willing to find out what ‘this’ would lead to. Whatever ‘this’ means.