“How about a historical story about a poor who wants to mark his existence in history?” Sehun suggested.

“We’ve a library full with historical heroes already, Sehun.” Luhan said without looking up from his laptop.

“A young man who can talk to trees about the future?” Sehun did not even know where he got this crazy idea from, but his brain was exhausted from all the brainstorming.

“Sehun,” Luhan said in a serious tone, filled with just the slightest bit of annoyance, “I want to write literature, not a children’s book.”

“Then…” Sehun hesitated for a second before continuing. “Then how about a young man who falls in love with another male, but because destiny pulls them apart, his love will never be answered?”

“Sehun, stop giving me these unoriginal ideas. I don’t want some overused, cliché plot, but a real piece of originality.”

Unbeknownst to Luhan, Sehun was wearing a hurt expression.

♥

It had become an obsession, his life mission. It seemed as though his whole life revolved around it. Never in his life had something triggered his persistence so much, that even after a year of fruitless tries, he still continued to try. He was certain he would be able to do it. Too certain.

He would be the one to write the most original book ever. He would be the one to break out of the vicious circle of cliché stories, and write a beauty. He wanted a gem to arise in literature.

A gem created by him.

Intrigued by divine-like writers that had marked their name in the history of literature, it was his life goal to write a story that was not blemished by clichés, by predictability. It had to be original, solely original.

He did not particularly remember what had brought him such an idea, for in the deepest corner of his mind the realization that it was something impossible never left his mind. But he was determined, determined to show the world that not only was he a brilliant writer, but also an original writer. A writer that would shine amongst the millions others.

♥

“Luhan hyung…”

Luhan looked up from his laptop, his fingers glued onto the keys. Sehun was sitting in front of him, again, a small smile lingering on his lips.

“Yes, Sehun?”

Luhan and Sehun had crossed paths in a bubble tea shop, and ever since then, fate had tied the two of them together. They were just another example of two strangers whose lives got intertwined with each other. Luhan had let the other mark his existence in his life, while Sehun… Sehun was just unexplainably drawn to Luhan.

“I…Luhan hyung, I don’t really understand… Why is it so important, writing an original story?” Incomprehension was swimming in his eyes as he looked Luhan straight in the eyes.

“For a reason every writer lives for, Sehun, for a reason you may not understand.” Luhan says before putting his attention to the laptop screen in front of him again.

“Then, tell me, what do writers live for? Do they want to get their names known, get famous? Do they want their books to be read by millions of people?” Sehun did not understand it, he really did not, for all he saw was a young man burdening himself with an unbelievable difficult task.

“Sehun-ah,” Luhan answers without looking up, “when you read a book, what do you feel?”

Sehun had to think about it for a moment. The question had stunned him momentarily, leaving him speechless. He would not know, actually, what kind of emotions he felt upon reading the pages of a book.

“I… Whatever emotion the writer wants to convey, I think? Like, when I read a romantic story, I’ll feel the love the writer wants to describe, and when I read a tragedy, I’ll have this feeling of sadness fill me.”

Luhan nodded slightly, still not looking up to meet Sehun’s eyes. It made Sehun nervous, not knowing what Luhan was thinking.

“Sehun-ah.”

Sehun’s eyes flickered in surprise. Luhan’s voice was soft, as if he was hesitant himself.

“Yes, hyung?”

“Don’t stop upon finding the superficial truth. Read, until you find a writer’s most vulnerable lie.”

♥

Sehun did not understand Luhan. For him, he would want Luhan to stop pushing himself to write something he may not be able to write in his whole life, yet he wanted to support him. It was an internal conflict that frustrated him a lot, yet he could not put an end on it. Not when rationality told him to stop his friend, while emotions clouded his mind with patience, with belief.

“Chanyeol-ah, can I ask you something?”

Chanyeol looked up from his study book, wearing a gentle expression that assured Sehun that he would listen to whatever he wanted to tell him. Not that he was interested in chemical reactions anyways.

“Why do writers write?”

Sehun bluntly asked, earning a raised eyebrow from the other.

“You’re asking me why people write? The person who would rather throw inflammable substances on literature books and burn it heartlessly, just for the sake of science?”

Sehun shivered slightly upon remembering Chanyeol’s infamous project: whether Shakespeare’s books were just as prone to catch fire as the Harry Potter collection. How he ever came up with such a frightening idiotic idea would forever stay a secret for Sehun, and he knew he was better off not knowing it.

“Just… Tell me your thoughts, whatever they are.”

“Well…” Chanyeol tapped the back of his pencil against his chin repeatedly as he thought, “Maybe they write because they think creating overly thought sentences with hidden meaning behind them is what ‘shows their inner selves’, as how they like to describe it? I mean, really, they write nonsense for a living.”

“That’s not true,” Sehun said with a frown. “Some of them write the most beautiful stories you’ll ever encounter in your life.”

“I doubt that.” Chanyeol said that without the slightest bit of hesitation, a grin appearing on his lips. “But it seems to heavily depend on the writer, isn’t it?”

Sehun glared at him.

“I know what you want to say, and that is most definitely not true.”

“Stop pretending already, you hate reading books. If it wasn’t for that genius writer of yours, you would have never stepped onto the ground of our university’s library, Sehun. You started reading like some hopeless nerd ever since that writer has stepped into your life.”

Sehun could not deny it, since he really did started reading because of him. For the first time in his life, he was eager to roam through the library.

“It’s a good change, right?”

“Being friends with the old librarian?” Chanyeol scoffed playfully, “Oh yeah, a very good change.”

“Go burn your books.”

“I certainly will,” Chanyeol’s eyes were glinting with dark amusement as he spoke, “starting with your genius writer’s books.”

♥

“Luhan, how is it going?”

Minseok asked as he glanced at the other, who, as usual, had his eyes fixed on the laptop screen. For a moment, Minseok felt the urge to shut down the laptop, but he stopped himself with a calm expression. He did not want to cause Luhan to snap.

“I’m doing great, really.”

Minseok sighed softly as he watched his friend’s state. It looked like he had not slept for days. Luhan’s hair was a neglected mess, the dark bags under his eyes awfully visible, and not to mention his face that had been ripped off from its entire youthful glow. This was not healthy anymore, it certainly was not.

“How long have you been trying to work on this story of yours, Luhan?” Minseok asked him sternly.

“Lost count.” He replied emotionlessly.

“How old are you this year?” Minseok continued to throw him questions, questions he did not find quite relevant.

“Twenty-two, and you know that.”

“You’ve written two bestsellers at such a young age. Luhan, you already are doing a fantastic job at being a writer. Don’t put too much burden on yourself. You should be enjoying what you do, not pushing yourself over the limit. That was not your initial goal. You were the one who told me that you wrote, because it was your passion. You told me to write whatever your mind wished to put on paper, Luhan.”

Luhan had published his first book when he had just begun his university life. Ever since, his career as a promising writer had been endlessly successful. His second book had been praised to be astonishing, brilliant, unrestrained by the chains of simplicity.

“Minseok, listen-”

“No, Luhan, you listen to me.” Minseok’s voice was authoritarian, mixed with the slightest bit of anger. “It’s absurd, really, that you would cause your own self-destruction by wanting to write ‘an original story’, or whatever you call it.  I may not be a writer myself, but Luhan,” Utmost concern was lingering in his eyes, “I know that something like that doesn’t exist.”

Minseok’s heartbeats increased furiously the moment Luhan mercilessly threw his cup of coffee that had remained untouched on the ground, the liquid splashing randomly in the air. The loud crash had instantly deafened the chatter in the café, all eyes fixed on them.

“It does exist, Minseok,” Luhan’s eyes were boring into his s he spoke, “it does.”

Minseok gulped silently as he watched Luhan continue with what he was doing. This was not normal anymore. It had gone too far, but Minseok did not know what could possibly help Luhan.

♥

Sehun stepped into the library, his eyes instantly looking for his destined direction. The library was peacefully silent today, which he did not mind at all. He enjoyed it when silence enveloped him while he was reading. He had just finished Gabrielle Zevin’s ‘Elsewhere’, and was now in need of a new book. His fingertips slightly touched the covers of the book while his eyes were trying to find a new beauty to read. Upon touching the hard, cold cover of this one particular book, his heart skipped a beat. He did not know whether he was ready or not to read one of his books – he had been avoiding it with a reason – but it really did attract him. Just the name alone on the cover of the book was enough…

Petrichor
Lu Han

Sehun did not quite know why he did not dare to read Luhan’s books. Maybe it was because he wanted to wait until he was able to appreciate it fully, or maybe he was just plain anxious. Nervous about what Luhan, the person he had already claimed as a genius would write. But somewhere, he was confident to read the book right now. Sehun took one last glance at the book in his hands, pondering about it, before making his decision.

♥

A tired sigh escaped his lips as he slumped down against his chair. His eyes were staring holes into his laptop screen, even though they wanted to close so badly. Slowly, they wandered to his bookshelf – he saw it as his precious corner – before he shut his eyes closed tightly. It was not like he did not know that it was unhealthy to be like this. It was not like he did not know that he was causing his own death by acting like this.

It was not like Minseok’s words had flown above his head, without him catching anything of it.

“Aren’t you the famous writer, Luhan? Oh my, I love to read your work!”

“Brilliant, simply brilliant. I see a bright future for you, young man. Your writing is astonishing, truly.”

“Isn’t the story kind of a replica from Jeanne d’Arc, or maybe combined with just the slightest bit of your daily doses of clichés? Very well written, very well, but won’t readers get bored upon seeing the same pattern being used over and over again? Therefore, I’m not that fond of reading.”

His eyes slowly opened, revealing the sadness that was swimming in it. That person may not know just how much those words had crushed him, pained him, but it definitely did. For that one person to look at books in such a way, he could not accept it. Why, he did not quite know, but he just could not. Amongst the heavenly praises from all the readers, critics, this one criticism that was not even directed to him, unsettled him.

He had to show him that he, and only he, could show him just how an original story would flow from his hands.

He stretched his whole body before throwing himself over his laptop again, ignoring his cell phone that had been ringing non-stop.

♥

“Sehun, tell me once more why you brought me with you to this hell place?”

Chanyeol said with a groan while being dragged to the library by Sehun. Any other person and he would be certain to have killed the evil soul who dared to bring him to his hell. However, Sehun was his good friend – heck, his best friend who was the only one who could endure his weirdness – so he could not possibly murder him. Or maybe a life without Sehun was not that bad, if that meant he did not have to step onto the haunted grounds of their school library.

“I need your help.” Sehun said in a serious tone.

“Sehun…” Chanyeol struggled to get out of his grasp, “Don’t do this to me, okay? I’ll be nice to you from now on. I mean... Oh God, don’t tell me it’s because of that genius writer’s books of yours that I burned?!”

Sehun instantly stopped walking, his eyes widened in horror as he stared at Chanyeol.

“You did what?! You crazy-”

“It’s for the sake of science!” Chanyeol exclaimed.

“Is that so?” An evil grin suddenly making its way on his lips, scaring Chanyeol, “You know, I’ve got this science project too, and I need your help.”

“What the hell, we’re in the same-”

“It’s called ‘The great endurance of Park Chanyeol’, which means,” Sehun’s eyes shone with devilish amusement, “I’m going to fry your brain cells.”

♥

“Sehun-ah, I promise, no, I swear, I’ll never burn any books anymore. Just… Just let me go... Please…”

Chanyeol was at the point of crying, but Sehun ignored his desperate pleads. He was not going to let Chanyeol leave anytime soon.

“Get yourself together, Park Chanyeol. It’s not like it’s your first time here.” He said without looking up from his book.

“There are reasons why I don’t come here…” Chanyeol said and his body shivered when his eyes landed on the pile of books in front of him, “I mean, look at those books…”

“Chanyeol,” Sehun spoke, ignoring Chanyeol’s immature rant, “what does ‘petrichor’ mean?”

It was stupid, but all this time, Sehun did not know what the title meant of Luhan’s book. Reason? Simple. It was written in English.

“Do I look like a dictionary?”

“How many brain cells do you want to have left at the end of the day?” Sehun eyed him amusingly.

“Oh my God, I’m going already, you evil-”

“Frrrrrr-” Sehun tried to make fry-like sounds, failing completely, but Chanyeol still understood the message.

“Going to get you a beautiful dictionary!”

Sehun snickered before turning his attention back to the book. Unconsciously, his eyebrows furrowed as he scanned through the page for the nth time already, but he still could not find it. He just had this feeling, this confident feeling, that it was this page.

“Don’t stop upon finding the superficial truth. Read, until you find a writer’s most vulnerable lie.”

This was Luhan’s first published book, the book that had brought him the instant fame he deserved. This book did not even have the slightest bit of simplicity in it. Yes, it was not hard to read through the words, but the messages it wanted to convey – that is where the real challenge lies. His eyes stopped at the first sentence of the page.

Given the chance to escape, he had already planned out his escape route thoroughly.
 
And the second…

Often, as his eyes landed on things she had given him, he would be shortly reminded of their shared memories, before he would shake them out of his mind. 

And the third-

“The scent of rain on dry earth.”

Sehun looked up upon hearing Chanyeol’s voice.

“Petrichor,” Chanyeol said as he took place on his seat, “means ‘the scent of rain on dry earth’.”

Sehun’s eyes were wide with surprise. However, his heart started to beat immensely upon realizing something. It seemed to fit perfectly in his mind… He quickly went to the first page of the book, the foreword. He had not paid much attention to it initially, but now, it seemed as if it hinted something very, very important. His eyes scanned the foreword to that one particular sentence he was looking for.

Like drops of transparent rain, every letter conveys its own significance, and when put together, they reveal one’s inner thoughts.

Luckily Sehun had a quick thinking mind. A small smile lingered on his lips as he was reminded of what Luhan had once shown him. It was way back into the time when they had just befriended each other.

“Hyung, what are you doing?”

Luhan looked up from the sheet of paper he had been scribbling on, smiling.

“Just playing with letters.” He gestured Sehun to take place beside him.

“Hyung, you’re weird.” Sehun snickered with a playful grin.

“No, it’s called the art of letters.” He said as he wrote down some words.”Here, find out.”

Sehun looked at the neatly written words.

Sweet, yet childish. Extraverted, yet quiet. Humble, yet convinced. Unpretentious, yet gentle. Naïve, yet insightful.

“I don’t really see anything special, hyung…”

“Aish, look at it more careful.” Luhan urged with an innocent smile.

“Alright, alright,” Sehun said as he scanned the words over and over again, and sighed when he still could not find it, “Hyung, I don’t see it.”

“Yah, Sehun, I thought you were smarter than this…”

Sehun looked at the other, who was giving him a playful disappointed expression, the pout making him look like a child. He sighed once more before taking a better look at the words. It seemed as though the structure was the same every time, just with other words.

Playing with the letters, words…

Maybe… Sehun decided to give it a try as he grabbed the pen lying on the table and began to write down all the first words of the sentence, oblivious to the excited, hopeful look on Luhan’s face.

Sweet. Extraverted. Humble. Unpretentious. Naïve.  

“Hyung, I really don’t think-” He began, before he realized something. He encircled the first letter of every word, his eyes widening in surprise.

“And?” Luhan urged him enthusiastically. 

Sweet. Extraverted. Humble. Unpretentious. Naïve.  

“Sehun…”

Luhan had a liking for playing with letters, and Sehun was sure that this time would not be an exception. The first letter from the first sentence was ‘g’… Sehun looked at the second one: ‘o’. He continued writing down all the first letters of every sentence on the page, his heart beating fast as he did. It had to be… It had to be this…

Sehun looked at the small sentence Luhan had put in his story as a secret message.

“It can’t be…”

♥

“Luhan, can we meet tonight?”

“Tonight? A-Alright.”

Why Sehun wanted to meet up with him, Luhan did not know, but he did not see any reason not to come. However, these days, all his mind could think of was writing, writing, writing, and nothing else could even stand a chance of coming up into his mind.

Not even Sehun.

“Luhan hyung.”

Luhan immediately looked around to find the owner of the overly familiar voice.

“Sehun…” Luhan spoke as he watched how the other approached him.

“Hyung…”

Sehun looked at the night view in front of them, still trying to formulate the right sentences to say. He had purposely chosen this place – a nearly visited bridge – because he wanted silence. He wanted to talk to his hyung with just the two of them.

“Yes?”

“Do you remember how we became friends?” Sehun was trying to delay the confrontation.

“Of course,” Luhan said with a small smile, “it was in the bubble tea shop. Our orders got switched.”

Sehun felt a tinge of nostalgia fill him as he remembered that day Luhan’s and his path crossed. It was pure coincidence, but it had blossomed into a friendship he cherished.

“Hyung, I-… I won’t beat about the bush any longer…”

Luhan was surprised to hear Sehun speak in a serious tone he rarely heard from the younger. All he could come up with was that Sehun had something very important to tell him, and it made him feel nervous. Nervous at whatever was going to leave Sehun’s mouth.

“Your first book… Why?”

Luhan whole body stiffened. It could not be…

“What’s with it?” Luhan asked, more like whispered.

“You lied.”

It came like a huge shock for Luhan to hear those words coming from Sehun. He had not expected Sehun to find it… It was not like he did not want to… He… He just had not put his hopes too high back then…

“How…?”

“Go, be happy.”

Sehun’s eyes did not leave Luhan, not even when he began to tremble nervously upon hearing the sentence Sehun had found.

“Is that your vulnerable lie, hyung? Is it?”

The moment Sehun had found the sentence, he felt mixed emotions. He had read the story from begin to end, and it was a beautiful story, yet a heartbreaking one. However, if… If this was indeed a lie… Then that would mean…

“What’s the book about anyways?”

Chanyeol asked half curiously.

“Well,” Sehun tried to find the right words, “it’s about a young man named Kai, a promising dancer, who finds himself falling in love with the girl who lives in the apartment next to him. The girl can’t speak, so they can’t really communicate with each other. Slowly, they get together, and though there is a barrier between the two, they’re happy. Until one day, the young man leaves to go fulfill his dreams, leaving the girl behind. It’s heartbreaking, but the young man chose career over love.”

“You were the one who was left behind, isn’t it?”

 

I really don't know what I made of this story... I wanted to try some things out, but now I'm not that confident anymore XD Well, I hope you enjoyed :D Second part coming soon!

Tinywings