Books Never Hurt
Love is... What? (A BTS Story)
In the morning, you'd wake up to see beautiful clouds, looking as if they'd been painted by the gods, and be welcomed by the warm heat of the sun, as the golden rays seeped from your window curtains until finally, ever so gently, brushing against your skin.
Well, back to reality now...
The outside was, like the past weeks, rainy and cloudy. Raindrops pelted my window, making it sound as if we were under attack, and the coldness of it all was slowly filling up in my room.
I woke up to the chilly air, barely brushing the very tip of my nose. Hugging my feather filled blankets closer to me for more warmth, I stayed there, laying on my bed, and thought.
For the first time, in a long, long time, I had dreamt of something other than that incident.
The dream was that I was placed on a grand stage, with bright, warm lights aimed directly at me, and I was seated on a grand piano. I was dressed in a highly elegant floor length dress, which I couldn't make out its full details, and had on a small, dainty diamond necklace that reminded me of my mom's when I was younger.
There was a crowd of thousands sitting down, waiting to see the performance that was about to start.
I was having a concert.
As I placed my placed my fingers on the keyboard, I noticed how nervous I was, with my fingers shaking violently and how I felt myself bite the bottom of my lip. I felt my eyes close as I was about to play the first note. But before I could, another pair of hands grabbed my shaky palms and interlaced them with their own.
Shocked, I looked beside me to find a man about my age, smiling at me. His figure was blurry in my vision, and I couldn't make out what his features were. I could only tell that those large hands interlaced with mine were a man's, and that it made me relax and calm. I felt myself smile back and place my hands back onto the piano.
Smiling, I looked out into the audience, seeing bright and excited expressions looking towards my partner and me. Looking back at the piano, I took a deep breath, one that was filled with confidence and courage,
And played.
There were so many questions to that dream of mine. Who was the man beside me? What was I doing there? And why was I wearing my mother's beloved necklace? That necklace was taken with her when she left.
Shaking my head, I got back to my senses and got off my bed. Walking over to my bathroom, I hopped in the shower and thought for a long time about my dream.
After I finished, I slipped on my uniform and some new shoes that the pin curled nurse had given me back in the infirmary room. Looking in the mirror, I saw how different I looked compared to all the other girls at school.
Wavy hair
Rosy cheeks
Knee high socks (the old school uniform wore high socks)
Side bangs (why is it that everyone only had bangs or middle parting or just a parting in general?)
Sighing at the differences, I pulled down my skirt at the acceptable length, and walked out of my room towards the downstairs kitchen.
Last night, my Aunt hadn't come home around 9 like she said she would, I noticed. As I walked into the room, I noticed the pot full of soup still on the table.
'Where is she?' I thought to myself.
Looking at the clock, I sighed, knowing it was the time to get going.
***
After several attempts, I finally managed to make it to the bus stop. Everything was easy as soon as I passed Monster Coffee and took several turns to a sidewalk that lead me to the bus.
As I entered the bus, I quickly looked for a free handle, knowing what would happen if I hadn't gotten one before the bus started moving.
As I grabbed a free handle, I let out a breath of relief, and looked out through the window, looking out for a certain fluffy haired boy. After a few minutes looking for him, I gave up and looked at the facts.
I'd gotten on the early bus today, and I took a later bus yesterday. So there was no way he could be on this bus.
Disappointed, I looked down towards my knee, which I'd reminded myself to bandaged up this morning before I left the house. The pain had gone down tremendously overnight, so thankfully I wouldn't have to go back to the infirmary.
"Is your knee fine?" A voice said behind me.
I spun around, only to stop in my tracts when Fluffy's and my nose brushed against each others due to the closeness.
"I-I... I'm fine.." I let out, trying to keep my breathing steady.
We were silent for a moment, both surprised by the sudden turn of events.
"That's.. Good." He said limply.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, trying to change the subject.
To my surprise he smiled and answered back, "I was running late yesterday, I normally come on time though."
"What made you late?"
"The guys. You met majority of them last night."
I nodded, remembering the rough housing they were doing at the coffee shop.
"Wait, you said majority."
"Yeah, majority."
I gulped, fearing what the next answer would be towards my next question, "Majority as in... There's more?"
Jungkook let out a laugh and nodded his head. "There's only one left, I promise. No need to look frightened."
My fear had diminished as I nodded slowly. There was only one more member to the rowdy group, maybe I could live through the night.
After my panicking had settled, Jungkook asked me a whole bunch of questions. most of them involved things I liked, disliked, wished to do later on in life, and my career. I didn't answer him back the first couple of rounds, which made him pout, and lean in closer to me.
"Why are you so curious?" I questioned him, hoping he'd soon drop the topics. Having him know too much about me is what I didn't want to happen.
'If he knows what happened..'
" I think it would be nice to get to know you. Plus if I'm going to ride to school with you and walk you home, I figured it'd be a nice start," He answered back, patting my head in the process.
"So, what do you like?" He continued.
Sighing, I answered back with a monotoned voice, "Music."
"What else?" He pressed on.
"Animals."
"Everyone likes animals." He countered.
"Well I'm just like everyone." I stated, saying it a bit harsher than it should've sounded.
Jungkook seemed unfazed by my comment and continued on.
"Dislikes?"
There was the slightest pause in my answer. There use to only be one thing I was afraid of, but lately I've become afraid of tons of things.
"Y-you don't need to know."
"How come?"
My hands were shaking. For some reason, I couldn't look him directly in the eyes.
'He doesn't need to know.'
Taking a deep breath, I quietly answered back, "I dislike people who lie, or deceive others." That's all I decided to tell him about.
Jungkook seemed unimpressed, but he just shrugged and nodded.
"What about you?" I asked, leaning closer to him.
"Me?"
"Yes, you. I might as well learn about you too."
He cleared his throat and responded back, "I like music."
"And?"
"Animals."
"Anything else?" I questioned, looking him in the eyes.
"Well what else do you like?"
"Not much."
"Well, not much for me either." Jungkook leaned in closer to me, wearing a smirk on his face.
"Yah, what are you doing-" I stammered.
The smirk on his face grew as I leaned back, trying to even the space between us. As he leaned in, I felt his breath upon my cheeks, gradually shielding the blush forming.
'Move out of the way! Do anything but stand there! What are you doing! Gahhhh!'
Just when his nose touched mine, he let out a chuckle and patted my head.
"What did you think I was going to do?"
Jungkook moved away, giving me a moment to breath. As soon as I was fairly distanced from him, I shot him a glare, only to earn chuckles in response.
"Yah!" I said, slapping his arm.
He calmly rubbed his arm and smirked at me. Just when I was about to hit him once more, the bus went to a halt. Jungkook, almost on cue, grabbed hold of my shoulders and balanced me.
"Th-thank you." I heard myself say.
"No problem. Its my job isn't it?"
I smiled at his comment, and we both walked out of the bus and to the great and highly expensive Honors High School.
***
The day had gone by faster than expected. I repeated the scene in the bus over and over in my mind, dumbfounded about my reactions.
The A Class was what I'd expected it to be; filled with highly important and rich kids, and tea. There were many rumors about me as well thanks to yesterday. Some thought I was an American Model coming to learn at Honors High, or I was a prodigy in the states. Both were entirely untrue, but even when I tried explaining, they stood in awe and walked away.
My bland music room wasn't helping me take my mind off of anything either. I'd practically played for hours on the piano, violin, and guitar; but on the piano I'd played the duet with Fluffy, on the violin I'd become side tracked, and on the guitar I'd pick at the G string.
'This isn't helping.'
To help my mind clear up, I decided to leave the room find the school library. Reading had always been a good escape place, so hopefully it would help now. Plus, there was no harm done in reading before.
When I reached the Main Building, there were dozens of maids asking of I needed assistance or if I wanted a refreshment. When I finally found my way to the library, I was standing in utter shock.
The library was bigger than you could imagine. There were countless shelves higher than twelve feet and filled with thousands of books. The room smelled of burgundy and sweet vanilla as I strolled pass the science fiction sections. (yes, more than one section)
I was looking for a certain fantasy book, one I'd read a dozen times back in California. Recently the author had published a second book to the series, and so I thought that it'd be a nice start to find that book as well. I first looked through the fiction sections, then the adventures, then the famous sections. Still, no luck.
After what seemed like several hours of searching, I decided to finally ask a worker.
"Excuse me." I said towards an old woman at the front desk. She looked up from her own book and smiled.
"Yes? May I help you?"
"I'm looking for this book called 'The Series Of Adventure' By Mei Chan,"
The lady typed what seemed like an ancient robotic code onto her compute and printed out a piece of paper.
"Shelf ten, row eleven, fantasy section." Was all she said.
'Fantasy section... Why haven't I thought about that?'
I walked up towards the Fantasy section and, sure enough, was overwhelmed once more.
There were shelves and shelves of fantasy novels stacked high into the ceiling. And to my luck, row eleven was the highest.
There was a ladder attached to the shelves, to which I happily took for help. There was no way I would get that book with my height. When I climbed onto the ladder, I looked through each book's name.
"Series of Aavalon, Series of Abnormal Events, Series of Accell world- ah!"
As I stood on the ladder, I finally found my book. The only problem was that the book was out of arms reach. Still, I thought maybe I could grab it.
I couldn't grab it.
By the time I'd touched the book, I was sent falling off of the ladder, and falling off an eight foot ladder wasn't really what I was looking forward to doing that day. Too scared out of my mind, I shut my eyes close and let out a small but loud yelp.
First the scrape on the knee, and now soon to become broken limbs. All because I wanted to read a book.
*Thud
"O-oww."
That voice didn't belong to me.
My eyes immediately shot open. There, underneath me, lay a blonde haired boy wincing in pain.
"I-I'm so sorry!" I said, trying to get off of him. Sadly, I slipped and landed straight onto his torso once more.
"It's okay.." I heard him try to say.
Once I'd gotten off of him, He was sprawled across the floor, coughing and trying to catch a breath. As soon as I registered what just happened in my mind, I immediately rushed by the poor boy's side.
"Umm.. A-Are you okay?' I asked, nudging him on his shoulder. Immediately, he shot up and said, "Yeah! I-I'm oka-ay."
His surprising action made me jump and hit against the book shelf, making a whole bunch of books fall and hit me and the Blondie on the head.
"S-sorry." He said, rubbing the top of his head.
"No! No, its my fault. I fell on you-""
"It's okay, really. I kind of needed that."
I stared at him in confusion until he lost my gaze and looked down at the floor. Tens of dozens of books laid on the ground, books I'd made fall. As I knelt down to pick the books up, the boy followed after me.
"It's okay, I can-" I started, but the boy grabbed more and more books into his arms.
"It's okay, really."
"No, I was looking for something anyways." I replied back, grabbing the stack of books in his hands and into mine.
"So was I." He said as well, taking the books back. Luckily, I held onto the books, keeping them in my grasp.
Usually girls would dream of this moment, meeting a cute boy in a library and contemplating about books.
I, however, was worried about him possibly having a concussion, since he wasn't upset at all about me literally falling on him,
Eventually, Blondie and I both decided to pick up the books and set them back in their places. The air between us was quiet until he started to ask, "So, um, how did you.. Fall?"
I felt my cheeks burn up from embarrassment as I told him about the book I was searching for.
"I was, uh, searching for a book, 'The Series of Adventure.'"
"This one?" Blondie said, holding the book in his hands.
Instantly, I reached for the book, only to pause when my fingers slightly brushed the boy's own.
We stood there for a few moments, staring at our hands, until he finally let go of the book and placed it firmly in my hands.
"Y-yes. This is the book." I managed to say. I could feel my pulse racing due to the previous incidents.
I put the book to the side and continued picking up the fallen books, not failing to notice the occasional glances the boy gave towards me. He nodded and gave me a slight smile, "Do you come here often?"
I looked up at the boy, slightly embarrassed. I'm new here, and now I have to repeat that I'm not from Seoul once more?
"I uh, I just came to Seoul recently. So, no, I don't come here often." Hopefully my voice sounded sturdy enough for no further interrogation. Thankfully, the boy just answered with an "Oh."
When we finished with the books, I grabbed my own and thanked the boy. Without all the commotion beforehand, I was able to study him properly.
He was a second year, and was quite handsome. He was tall, lean, and friendly looking, all the things my friends back in California would die for in a boyfriend.
But what stood out to me was his blonde hair. It suited him very well, I'll admit, and it made me feel left out of this place a bit less.
"Sorry about before, and thank you for helping me. I must've caused a lot of problems for you." I said, giving him a respective bow.
"It's okay, it wasn't your fault anyways. I should've watched where I was going." He quickly responded.
Thanking him once more, I hurried over to the check out desk and walked out of the Main Building. Halfway towards the school gates, I remembered I didn't get the name of the Blondie. I had half the mind to go back and ask him, but I knew I'd be late for my job. Sighing, I quickened my steps and walked out of the school gates.
***
Mark's first impression of me stayed for the entire day. Every now and then, I found myself glancing towards his direction, seeing if I could find something that interests him and become better friends. But, when he'd catch my gaze, he'd send out a glare and look away, giving fake smiles towards the customers in the cafe.
I'd found that he was very popular amongst the teenage women that came into the shop. They'd look at him and often turn red when he'd look their way. Mark surprisingly looked even more irritated as more girls went up to him.
"What's wrong," I asked him, "Aren't you lucky that all these girls like you?"
He shot me a glare and shrugged. "Girls that squeal and gossip annoy me. Fan girls are even worst."
I reasoned with his statement. Even I'd had a run in with being the center of everyone's attention, and that wasn't the least bit of fun.
"That's true," I said, nodding in agreement.
Mark looked at me, a bit surprised.
"What?" I then asked.
"You, of all people, agree with not liking people drooling all over you?"
I gave a confused look towards him and replied, "I don't like it as much as you do. When people talk about me here, its mostly due to the fact that I'm a foreigner or I made a mistake."
"Well what did people back in California think about you?" He questioned, making me shift uncomfortably.
"Not much," I said too quickly.
'It doesn't concern you.'
"I was exactly like I am now; quiet, boring, and now- a foreigner."
Mark stared at me for a few lingering seconds, until he finally spoke, "Well, that I didn't expect."
"Expect what?"
Unfortunately, we were interrupted by the sound of the door opening, followed by a herd of footsteps.
"Better greet the VIP guests." Mark smirked, obviously enjoying the worried expression on my face.
I shot him a glare and turned to greet the rowdy customers.
"Welcome back to Monster Coffee." I greeted the boys. They were having an arm wrestling challenge, and to the looks of it, Jimin was loosing to Jin.
"Soo-In!" Jimin exclaimed, loosing focus and eventually loosing towards Jin.
"I win! Thanks Soo-In." Jin sang, flashing me a smile.
Jimin pouted and crossed his arms, "Since when did you decide to tag team with Jin?"
"Since when did you start using informality with Soo-In-ah?" A voice rang behind me. I turned to find Jung Ho Seok patting my shoulder, "We just met her last night."
"Aish! It's fine! We're close buds, right, Soo-In?" Jimin chimed.
"Where's Jungkook?" I said, trying to switch the topic. Only five boys were in the shop, and I know Jungkook went to school, since he rode the bus with me.
"He's with V." Jin said nonchalantly.
"V?" I repeated.
"He's the one who you missed last night."
"He's around the same age as you and Jungkook, so you might have to put up with two boys, sorry about that in advance." Jung Ho Seok said.
Taking that in, I nodded and took their orders, which was, once more, the original. Mark was already halfway finished with the orders until the boys started messing up his hair once more.
"Aish really!" He complained, making me laugh. He shot me another one of his glares until Nam Joon patted his head and said, "How will you get a girlfriend with that look? Plus, you should be used to this by now."
Mark let out a frustrated sigh as he limply argued, "How can I be a man when you guise constantly treat me like a child?"
"Who are you being a man for anyway? There's only us and Soo-In," Jimin teased. Almost immediately, Mark's face turned red as he looked down towards the floor.
'Why is he so embarrassed?' I thought.
"Wahh~ No way!" Jimin exclaimed, nudging him in the ribs.
"What way?" I asked.
"Nothing." Mark quickly said before Jimin opened his mouth.
"Liar." I shot back, crossing my arms. Oddly enough, Mark couldn't meet my eyes.
"Wahh~ Just like Jungkook." Ho Seok said, jumping in the air. Mark threw a napkin ball at him, hitting him right on the head.
"What about Jungkook?" I questioned, desperately waiting for someone to answer.
"Yah, do you think V'll like her too?" Jimin asked Nam Joon, who started grinning ear to ear.
"Who knows, he hasn't met her yet, and it's only the second time we've met her."
"What are you guise talking about?" I asked once more, waving my hands in the air to achieve their attention. Nam Joon looked at me and asked,
"You're in the A Class with Jungkook, right?"
I nodded yes, to which he replied back to Jimin, "I don't think she'll even get the chance to talk to him at school."
"He's in Honors High?" I asked, but got ignored once more.
Giving up, I sat in a chair and stared at the walls absentmindedly.
"Are you okay?" Jin said, taking a chair next to me. He was also enjoying my confusion, I noticed.
"What are you guise talking about?"
"Nothing."
"It is something!" I complained, biting my bottom lip in frustration. Jin chuckled and replied back,
"It's just about V, that's all."
"Who is V?"
"He's yours and Jungkook's age like we said. He's a good guy, but he's rowdy like us so your dealing with two of us at your school."
I got up from my chair, scratching my head and thinking aloud, "So V's our age, and goes to our school, and is as troublesome as you guise..."
Jin replied with a simple "Yep."
I stood there, replaying what I'd just comprehended. Before Jin could comment once more, the door opened. Instantly, I greeted the new guests.
"Welcome to Monster Coffee-"
'Oh cheese puffs...'
Once again, I stood there, frozen.
Of all the people I fell on, I fell on the seventh rambunctious member in Jungkook's group.
V.
---------------------•••----------------------------
HellooooOooooO extra chapter because I posted the same one last time.... Oh silly me.
*does the SHINee Sherlock strut
Thx for the reads everyone! Maybe later on we could reach 1k reads? its a bit of a stretch, but its not impossible!
Thanks so much everyone!
{Neauchia}
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