“No school, yea man!” D.O shouted as we walked out of school. I kicked the rock in front of me, thinking about the hospital.

It was Friday which meant that I was supposed to stay later than on a school night. Today, though, I didn’t feel like going. I wanted to stay with my friends and go watch a movie.

“Sehun, just ditch today. Say you were sick or something,” Kai suggested.

“I don’t know…”I trailed off.

“It’s just for one day, nothing big will happen. I know you really want to watch a movie,” Baekhyun placed on arm on my shoulder.

I nodded my head, thinking of the possible consequences. My Mother would never know since I could call in sick anytime. I thought about Kris and what he said to me before. Setting me free only meant that I wouldn’t get scolded. That was a plus, right?

This ultimately led me to deciding to ditch for the day. No harm done.

○●○●○

“Which movie?”

“Not some sappy love movie,” Suho groaned. Last time, we somehow ended up in a movie theatre full of teenage girls crying when the lead girl and lead guy broke up—and when they got back together.

“Action?” I suggested.

“Yep, I’ll get the tickets,” Suho said.

“I’ll get the popcorn!” Chanyeol ran off excitedly.

“Let’s go get our seats,” I said.

○●○●○

“Your phone,” I head someone whisper.

I looked to my left and saw Kai pointing to my jeans. I took my phone out and squinted at the bright light in the dimly lit theatre. I was surprised to see that I had three missed calls just half an hour into the movie.

“I’ll be back,” I whispered before heading out to answer my phone.

“Hello?” I questioned.

“Sehun, are you not coming today?” It was Mrs. Lee.

I rolled my eyes. I had called in specifically to say that I wasn’t going but she still had to call me.

“No, I called in a while ago.”

“Are you not feeling well?”

“No.”

“Oh, well, I hope to see you tomorrow.” We bid goodbye and I thankfully put my phone away.

It was then when I noticed her walking down the street with her hand tightly placed around the strap of her white purse. She looked different. She was wearing navy blue skinny jeans with a loose beige blouse. Her brown hair was left to fall naturally; like usual. It was Haneul.

I followed her figure down the road and into the library. Without even knowing, I walked across the road. It was odd seeing her out of the hospital and alone. Was she even allowed to do any of this?

That question led me to making up endless possibilities of how she managed to sneak out. At one point, I even planned on asking her about how she made that escape.

I stood outside of the library for a while before deciding to completely ditch the movie and go in to the world of shelves filled with books. I rarely went into libraries; they were too quiet for me.

After sending a text to all my friends apologizing for leaving so abruptly, I opened the large doors and walked into the tall building. I had never been there before so it all surprised me; the size, the quietness, the people who seemed so immersed in their books.

“How do you find someone in this place?” I asked myself out loud.

“Sh!” The librarian shot at me with a finger placed against her lips. I nodded my head and walked down a random aisle. I looked from left to right for the small girl but didn’t find any luck.

“Maybe upstairs?” I asked myself.

“Sh!” The same librarian said. I jumped a bit when I found her standing right behind me. I gave her an odd look and proceeded to walk up the grand stairs located in the middle of the library.

What I found upstairs were more books than downstairs.

“Sehun?”

I shot up from my slugging position, knowing that I had finally found Haneul. After quickly turning around, I saw her holding two books in her hand, head titled in confusion.

“Hey,” I said awkwardly.

“What are you doing here?” She asked.

That was when I realized that I had no idea what I was doing in the library. Was I just following her?

“I-I don’t know,” I said quietly, taking out a random book to divert the attention.

“You like American history?” She asked me while looking at the book. I raised my eyebrow, not sure about when I mentioned history.

“The book,” She giggled.

I looked down and realized I was reading about the presidents of the U.S.A, “N-no.”

I took the book and threw it back on the shelf before turning around and sitting on an empty couch. She followed me and took one of her books out to read.

Being bookless, I decided to take out my phone and see if the guys texted me back. Most of them did and they all asked the same question: What’s wrong? I replied with a nothing to all of them. Nothing was wrong, so there was no need to give a big long explanation.

“Are you just going to sit here?” She asked me. I looked down at her and nodded my head before opening my bag to look for something interesting.

“Just get a book,” She said while shaking her head at my odd-looking state. I sighed before getting up. In the process of doing so, I managed to drop my bag and its contents spilled out.

I picked up the loose papers and the one binder I had.

“Is this a journal?” Haneul asked me while lifting up the orange book my teacher gave me. I quickly grabbed it from her and stuffed it into my bag.

“It’s an assignment. I don’t do journals,” I said while zipping my bag up.

“Why am I not surprised?” She laughed. “Now go get that book.”

I picked out a random book just to satisfy Haneul before settling down on the couch again. I began reading the book but zoned out many times. I really wasn’t the type to read.

○●○●○

“So what are you doing here?” We both asked at the same time. We had been sitting on the couch for about half an hour and I had lost interest in the book that started off with a snowball fight a long time ago.

“Well, I was allowed to go out for three hours today. So, I chose to come to the library. The nurses said that I had been doing much better lately, so with the permission of my Mother and Father—and my doctor—I was allowed to go out. My three hours are almost up,” She sighed.

“So you chose to come to the library,” I questioned, eyebrows raised.

“Yea,” She smiled.

I was very surprised. If my friends were given three hours to do whatever they wanted, they would go cause trouble in the first five minutes. They would hit the club or go vandalize a wall. They would not do homework, not read a book nor do some work. But Haneul here, a patient, would go to the library.

The world was full of interesting people.

“Why?”

“I love the quiet.”

“I hate it.”

“Then a library is not the right place for you, Sehun,” She pointed out.

“I know that.”

“Then what are you still doing here?” She asked once again.

I grew agitated with her constant question, “I don’t know.” My answer came out rather harshly which led me to immediately apologizing.

“I just saw you across the street so I decided to follow.”

Haneul nodded her head and put the book away in her bag. After packing her belongings and getting out a blazer to wear, she stood up, “Well, I’m going now. Bye, Sehun.”

“W-wait, I’ll walk you out,” I scrambled to get my bag. “I’m your caretaker after all.”

“So that’s why you stayed?”

“I guess.”

○●○●○

I found myself standing on the bus with Haneul who was sitting on the seat next to me. She insisted I go home but I refused to. I was afraid something bad would happen to her.

The bus was full of people coming home from work which meant the bus was very tightly packed. An elderly lady came on the bus at one point and Haneul gave up her seat for her. The lady thanked her continuously to which Haneul said it was no problem and smiled brightly.

She was tired and I knew it. I could tell by the way she leaned against the pole for support.

“You shouldn’t have stayed out so long if you were going to be this tired,” I said while taking her head and putting it on my shoulder. “What type of patient does that?”

She tried to break away from me so I put my arm around her forcing her to stay in place. She was a patient I continuously told myself.

○●○●○

The bus stop in front of the hospital arrived faster than expected but I wasn’t sure if I was thankful for that or not. Nonetheless, I followed her off the bus.

“I can go myself now, Sehun,” She said as we stood a metre apart from each other.

I nodded my head but stood firmly in my position.

“Bye,” She waved as she began walking backwards. “Oh, and I won’t tell anyone that you weren’t really sick today.”

I laughed a bit and she held up a pinky signalling that it was a promise. I held up my pinky as well and nodded my head.

“Don’t forget our trip to the mall next week!” I shouted.

Entry # 13

I’ve fallen behind on entries; 30 should have been done by now.

Who picks the library over the movie theatre?

She does.