The weather outside was perfect, Seoul’s forecast couldn’t have described it anything other than sheer perfection. The sun was out and it glistened over every living being, giving the citizens a boost of energy to put a little hop in their step. The faint breeze was blowing as it gently brushed against the cheeks of the little kids racing one another to try and reach the swings before the other would occupy it. It was a gorgeous Saturday morning and everyone was outside … except for one librarian.

If you entered Seoul’s Public Library, you could hear the sound of books and their bindings sliding against the wooden shelves, the smells of fresh ink being pressed into overdue books to mark their late arrival, and see one male figure sitting at an ancient desk wearing a pair of glasses that did him no justice. He continued to slide a book out of the shelf and open its cover, pressing the stamp into the first page and repeating the same step as if he was a one-man assembly line. His glasses would occasionally slide down his perfect ski-slope nose and he would have to pause his work to push them back up. That was the only thing, aside from a cough every now and then, that ever made him cease his work. Other than that, he was not to be disturbed. His brown locks fell just below his eyebrows and his milky white skin worked well for him.

Many people would only work at a library to earn community service hour credits. No one wished to have such an insipid career. But oh the contrary, Park Chanyeol loved the simplicity of it all. He loved being surrounded by vast knowledge, all of it crammed into thin sheets of pages that held so many important dates and dialogue. He enjoyed walking into the building every morning to see the books lined up in neat rows, all alphabetized and arranged in an organized system.

Maybe that was his one flaw. Asides from being good looking and intelligent well beyond his years, he lacked the social aspects of his youth. While his friends were out drinking and wedding, some even beginning a new chapter in their lives by creating a family, he was still in the stage where he believed that relationships were trivial and would rather spend his time storing knowledge for later use. He was about to stand up when his long legs failed him yet again and his knee banged against the edge. He muttered an incoherent curse at his 185 cm height and sat back down when he reached a new ink pad.

He heard the door chime, signaling someone’s arrival yet he didn’t look up. His eyes continued to stare intently at the pages as he continued to stamp each and every book, not even bothering to meet eyes with the high school student. The said student was none other than Byun Baekhyun. He had the face of an adolescent child, even though he was in his senior year of high school. It wasn’t his fault that he had the eyes of a deer in headlights, he just ended up maturing in that direction. It was his senior year and his friends were out rejoicing the end of their high school miseries. Yet Baekhyun wasn’t able to join them. Why you may ask? Why he was none other than the dunce of the school that failed to meet the requirements in order to graduate. He cursed his apathetic literacy teacher for being lazy and never teaching his class the words they were supposed to know for the finals in junior year. All 5,000 words. Aside from literacy, Baekhyun was a pretty decent student, earning enough marks to pass him onto the next year. If only he could form decent thesis statements, outline some satisfactory research papers, and improve his vocabulary to that of a senior, would he be able to live his life in peace.

He stepped into the library for the very first time that day, feeling completely out of place. He wasn’t sure what to do in this destitute building and didn’t even know where to start. His feet wanted to take a step to the right but he then hesitated after seeing a bunch of colorful chairs that told him that must’ve been the children’s section.

“Um…that is…I…” He began to mumble to himself, wondering where to head to. Chanyeol heard the little mewling and finally cast his eyes onto the source of it. He saw the look of panic and distress in his eyes, his body shifting back and forth. How Baekhyun has failed to realize Chanyeol’s presence in the room was beyond him. Chanyeol stood up and slid the chair across the carpeted floor. His long legs carried him to the newcomer with few strides and Baekhyun looked at the tall figure in alarm.

“Can I help you?” Chanyeol asked the student. Baekhyun was taken aback by his deep bass voice and cleared his throat of anything that could falter his speech before replying,

“Y-yeah, I was wondering if you had a book with the SAT words in them.” Baekhyun mentally slapped himself for stuttering on the first word, a bad habit he’s developed around adults. Chanyeol laid out a mental map of the library and pinpointed the location of the high school SAT studies.

So he’s a high school student.

He turned his back to Baekhyun and began to walk to the left wing.

Baekhyun followed a few steps behind the tall man, wondering if all librarians were like the man before him. Chanyeol stopped near a few empty tables and extended his arm almost robotically towards several shelves that held several SAT Prep books.

“Mathematics is on the bottom and Literature is on the top.” Baekhyun dropped his book bag onto the nearby table and scanned the books in fear, not sure where to even start. He bit his bottom lip as his eyes scanned at the titles of the books that all had seemed to have had the same title but with different covers and authors.

“Um…”Baekhyun mumbled under his breath, not sure of himself. Seeing as the younger has made no initiative to move forward, Chanyeol sighed and pulled out several books from the mathematics section and several from the literature one. He placed three of the math ones on the desk and two of the literature books next to them.

“I’ve seen most students cull these stating that they were most subsidiary and efficacious when aiding them in the SATs.” Chanyeol commented. Baekhyun couldn’t comprehend half of the words the elder threw at him and simply nodded his head, replying a quick,

“Thank you.” Chanyeol knew the boy didn’t understand what he just told him but ignored it and gave him a brief nod. For some unknown reason as Chanyeol was making his way back to his desk, Baekhyun decided to blurt out,

“I-I’m Baekhyun by the way.” Chanyeol’s steps faltered for a brief second before continuing his way back to his destination. For a second, Chanyeol swore he heard the male say his name was bacon.

That’s absurd. What kind of parent in their right mind would name their son after a piece of meat, even if they were carnivorous.

Baekhyun slightly frowned, wondering whether the man heard his introduction or chose to ignore it. Baekhyun was the kind hearted boy whose parents taught him the mantra to greet others with a welcoming smile and treat them the way you would want to be treated. He easily befriended everyone and made no enemies on his account. Introducing himself to harmless strangers was almost like a daily task to him.

He sighed reminding himself why he was here in the first place and sat down, turning the very first page on his studious journey.

Chanyeol made his way back to his seat and as soon as his back leaned against the wood, he heard Baekhyun inhale a giant gulp of air as he squealed out,

“What the heck does the word inscrutable mean?!” Baekhyun’s hands quickly flipped the book to the back where the answer key was and dropped his head onto the wooden table in defeat.

“I’m doomed.” Baekhyun muttered into the table. The fact that the library was quiet allowed Chanyeol to hear Baekhyun’s words loud and clear, even if they were slightly muffled by the desk.

Something about the action brought out a miniscule of a smile from Chanyeol and he only shook his head as he brought his attention back to the books before him. Baekhyun continued to study by himself for a half an hour, taking a practice test and finally finishing the first twenty multiple choice questions. He took a deep breath before opening the back of the book to compare his answers to the correct ones.

Chanyeol closed the final book that was marked overdue and began to wheel around the cart towards Baekhyun’s direction. He placed the books back one-by-one in their designated shelf and was holding a book in midair when he heard Baekhyun break the silence yet again. The obnoxious sound surprised Chanyeol and he nearly dropped the book he was holding, careful to catch it in midair before it landed on the floor. Chanyeol breathed a sigh of relief and sent a silent glare to the boy for nearly making him drop one of his babies as Baekhyun only groaned,

“Why me?” He held out the last word and his head met with the banging of the desk once again. Chanyeol clicked his tongue and left the cart, walking towards Baekhyun’s dismal and lamentable figure. Baekhyun felt a shadow cast over him and looked up in time to see Chanyeol take a seat across from him. Baekhyun blinked his eyes a few times, staring at the librarian before him that grabbed a book nearest him and asked him a question,

“What does violescent mean?” Baekhyun blushed and fidgeted in his seat when replying,

“I-I don’t know.” Chanyeol examined him and moved on,

“What does superfluous mean?” Baekhyun shifted under his gaze and gave him the same answer as before again … and again … and again … and again for the fifth time. Chanyeol sighed and ran his fingers through his already messy hair. He shut the book and looked up at the time, telling him that his shift was to be over soon.

“Every Saturdays this library offers tutoring sessions. Go online and find out the times, they might actually provide you with some succor.” Baekhyun blinked at the man, asking him about his last word.

“But … I don’t need any help in soccer.” Chanyeol resisted the urge to facepalm himself when he replied,

“Not soccer, succor. It means assistance.” Baekhyun’s mouth went into the shape of an O and Chanyeol got up, his cell phone vibrated a second later that told him his shift was done for the day. Baekhyun turned in his seat and shouted after him,

“Wait! When do you, yourself offer tutoring sessions?” Chanyeol grabbed his keys from behind the desk and saw the lady who was to take over his shift exit her car outside. He was a few feet away from the door when he replied back,

“I don’t tutor.” He opened the door and walked out into the warm sunlight. He squinted his eyes for a second, readjusting to the new surroundings before finally walking away from the sanctuary until tomorrow.