Say
Dead Silence
Hyuna sighed as she started making her rounds around the library. There were a few books left out here and there, and a few pieces of trash on the floor, but all in all, it had been easy to clean up and Hyuna smiled to herself, happy for an easy night for once. She was just about to get her things and leave when she heard a sound, making her freeze for a second. She looked around silently, trying to pinpoint where such a robust sound emerged from.
Feeling her heart palpitate in her chest, numerous negative thoughts began to fill her head. Had someone managed to get in while I was locking up? What if it's a killer? Sehun would've texted if he was here.
Her heart started pumping a little bit harder when the sound came again, from somewhere behind one of the large shelves near the study areas in the back. She couldn’t be too careful, not when she was alone in a huge library and her stuff was all the way across the building at the front desk. Quietly, she began to take light steps over to the back bookcases, mentally preparing herself for whatever was to come. When she was only a step away, she took a deep breath and her head around the bookcase to see what was behind it.
It was a male.
A well-built, average height male with his head buried in one of the library books scattered around him on the table. His black hair was an absolute mess, and there was a little snore coming from his lips every time he’d breathe out. It was…actually quite adorable. Hyuna didn’t use that word for many things, but she felt like this time she’d allow herself to pin it to the guy in front of her. She wasn’t sure how long he just stood there staring and calming down her quickly beating heart, because he was really relieved that it hadn’t been a murderer, but she finally shook herself out of it and walked slowly over to where the man had decided to take a nap.a
The books were all medical books, and Hyuna winced in sympathy for the guy, because she knew that the medical books were by far the most boring books in the entire library. She almost didn’t want to wake him up, because he just looked so peaceful and cute and Hyuna was sure the poor thing was probably exhausted, but she had to. So, she took another deep breath and carefully reached out to touch the boy's shoulder and shake him in the slightest bit.
"Uhmm, excuse me, the library is closing now and I have to ask you to leave." The guy shifted, closing his mouth, and Hyuna noticed that he’d been drooling on one of their books about some type of infectious disease. Although she couldn’t blame him, because that book looked boring as hell, drooling on the books was kind of disgusting. "Hello?", she shook his shoulder again, still gentle, and the guy’s eyes opened. He blinked up at Hyuna, confusion painted on his face as he wrinkled his nose in this cute way that made the breath in her lungs disappear.
"What?" The male's voice was groggy and deep, and Hyuna got chills from it because she hadn’t been expecting such a y voice from someone with such a cute sleeping face.
"You fell asleep here in the library and we’re closing. I can’t leave you here overnight." As soon as the words were out of , the male snapped back up into a sitting position, eyes suddenly wide as he looked at the books on the table, then back up at Hyuna.
"Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I was just going to give my eyes a bit of a rest and I must have fallen completely asleep!", her exclaimed while he hurriedly began to gather up the books and writing utensils spread around him, and Hyuna simply stared at him. Usually, people she woke up frowned at her and glared or just sleepily said thank you and staggered out. She’d never had any of them apologize to her before, so this was new.
"Oh, it’s okay. It happens all the time, really. And I know how boring those books are. Especially if you're making your way through college or something like that." The guy looked up from where he’d been stuffing everything into his bag and gave her a bright smile that almost made Hyuna want to squint from the way it just shined in her face.
"Well, I’m still sorry. It must be a pain in the for you to have to wake everyone up all the time.", he chuckled. Hyuna shrugged, acting nonchalant as he messed with the keys on the lanyard around his neck. "Thank you, though! Dude, I would have probably been here all night and then gotten in trouble tomorrow when the next shift came in. Then I probably would’ve missed my class and I really can’t do that because the points for attendance are like eighty percent of the grade. So yeah, you basically saved me." Hyuna found herself laughing at the guy’s exaggerated story of what might have happened. Most likely, none of that would have happened, other than the fact that he’d stay overnight, but she still found it quite funny.
"I doubt it would’ve been that bad, the only staff here is my aunt, me and my friend with some interns. They would just do the same thing I just did. Wake you up and send you on your way.", Hyuna explained, nervously rubbing her arm. The guy swung his backpack onto his shoulders and grinned, running a hand through his hair.
"Well, still. You never know.", he leaned over and surprised Hyuna by tapping on her temple. "Have a little imagination, librarian lady." Hyuna rolled his eyes and ducked away from his large hand.
"I have plenty imagination, but I’m a realist when it comes to things; like my job. And my name’s Hyuna. Come on, let’s get going.", she grumbled, turning around and began to walk towards the front doors, and the guy followed, falling into step beside her.
"Nice to meet you, Hyuna. I’m Joonmyeon. So, are you going to school to be like, a librarian or something?" Hyuna laughed again, surprising herself just at how easy it was to talk to this stranger.
"No, no, this used to be my mother's library. And no one else wanted to take charge of it so...I did.", she whispered and glanced over at Joonmyeon to see his reaction and saw that the man’s mouth was open, almost as wide as his eyes, but he looked really amazed.
"Really? I'm…I'm so sorry. That must be a lot of weight on your shoulders…", Joonmyeon muttered, awkwardly scratching his head. "Oh, gosh, I'm an idiot.", he spoke again after seeing Hyuna's sullen face. "Uhhh…I actually wanted to check out another book earlier, but now I forgot what it was.", he quickly changed the subject.
"Okay. Can I help you find a certain book?", she asked, turning on her heels and walking back to the book shelves. He caught the sudden shift in her eyes, finding it quite intriguing on how she changed so drastically in a mere few seconds. "Is there something specific?", she questioned, snapping him out of his trance.
"Well… I was just looking for a good book to read. Nothing special.", he replied just loud enough for her to hear.
"I have some books that you might like.", Hyuna offered, feeling a little more comfortable with the stranger.
"You do?", he asked, slowly making his way beside her.
"Of course. This place is full of great stories." Hyuna smiled, a slight blush crawling onto her cheeks. "Let’s see…", her voice trailed off as her finger tapped on her lips, her eyes scanned the shelves of books trying to find the one that came to her mind instantly. Stepping up onto a stool, she reached up and pulled the book down from the shelf. Opening the cover, she flipped through the lettered pages just to make sure that this was the book that she was looking for. A smile pulled at the corner of her lips as you stepped down from the stool, closing the book, she walked over to him and held out the book.
He didn't grab it immediately as he was skimming the pages of another book in his hands. A smile was highly evident on his face once he accepted it and they made their way back to the front desk.
"I think you will really enjoy that one, it's one of my favorites.", she told him, taking the book back and scanning it before giving it back to him.
"I also wanted to return this book in person so it's not listed as overdue. I think this is the first book I've actually re time, and I don't want any of those emails again."
"R-right. Sorry. Those emails are automatically sent by my aunt. She's very picky about those things.", Hyuna murmured and took the book from him, scanning it and seeing his information pop up onto the screen. "Joonmyeon? It says that you actually do have another overdue book…uhm…The Hunger Games? Wouldn't you rather just watch the movie?", Hyuna chuckled, looking up at the dark haired male.
"Someone suggested it…", he muttered, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. "But I can swear to you, I returned that like at least three days ago.", he held up his hands defensively with a cocky grin making its way onto his face.
"It’s probably Sehun. He’s my friend that tries to help around here, but he’s a complete dolt.", Hyuna sighed, quickly typing something into the database. "I just marked it as returned. We have like eight copies here anyways; losing one won’t make a difference." He chuckled at her light behavior, wondering how she could be so calm at this time of night. "Thanks for stopping by Joonmyeon. Now I just have to--"
"Please, call me Suho.", he held up a hand to cut off her sentence. Hyuna paused for a second while looking up at the grinning male. "And if there’s anything you need help with, I’ll be glad to volunteer. I don’t think it’s fair for such a gorgeous lady to be working here alone this late at night.", Suho offered, leaning forward onto her desk a bit.
"I just need to lock up really…"
"You need a ride?"
"How did you--"
"It’s obvious, gorgeous. You’re boyfriend ditches you in the middle of the night, and crappily tries to make it p by helping you in this library."
"I don't need a ride, thank you very much. And Sehun’s not my boyfriend."
"Hmm...so Sehun is my competition.", he smirked, slowly tapping his fingers until they met hers. "On a scale of one to a hundred, what would you rate me?" Hyuna froze at his question, trying her best to settle in how confident and straightforward he was. "If it’ll help, I’d rate you a perfect hundred percent."
"And if I’m being completely honest, you’re a solid eighty."
"Eighty?!"
"Yes. No offense.", she chuckled, feeling her face heat up. "If it makes you feel better, Sehun is a forty."
"It actually does make me feel better. Thank you." His eyes looked around, seeing her gold name tag on her lanyard that hung around her neck, he smiled as he read her name to himself. "Thank you very much Kim Hyuna.", Suho tapped his finger on the edge of the desk as she looked up and smiled to him.
Smiling back, he walked out of the library, pulling his hood over his head. The large, heavy glass doors closed behind him with a loud thump. She gathered all her things up and made her way around the library once more, putting back the books that she checked in as well as making sure that all of the books were in their place.
Book after book she placed in it’s rightful place before she finally managed to make it to the last book. She stood on the stool to place it neatly at the top shelf, but as she lifted the book up onto the shelf, a small paper fell from its pages, the pastel paper gracefully fell onto the ground below. Stepping off of the stool, she knelt down and looked at the note that was once in the book.
The light blue paper held nothing on one side, however when she flipped it over, she saw a small message.
"Thank you so much for helping me find this book. I'm sure it'll be as lovely and intriguing as you are. Thank you so much and you were super nice and lovely to be around too. I hope to see you around, I know I will come back in to see you." ~ Suho
The simple, yet heartfelt note was just enough to make blush come onto your cheeks, a smile was brightly placed on her face while she stood back up and slid the book back into its place. Folding the note over, she slid it into her pocket.
“Let’’s go dork!” She jumped back when she heard a familiar voice behind her. Two arms encircled her waist and started pulling her backwards towards the front of the library again. “I said let’s go dorky mc dorkin.”
“Gosh. Why are you being such a Kai? I was trying to finish sorting my books.”, Hyuna groaned, finally pulling herself away from him. “And why are you here anyways? I thought Sehun was going to--”
“Yeah, you thought Sehun was gonna get you. But he got a little too busy with one of the girls at the party if you know what I’m saying.”, he lightly nudged her and winked, making her stomach churn at the sight. “Aww, don’t be like that, you used to love when I winked at you. I always thought that if I winked enough, then maybe you would finally give in and we could…”, he let the sentence finish itself as he let his lips travel over to her neck.
“Stop Kai. We broke up for a reason you know.”, she shoved him away again, grabbing her stuff from the front desk and headed out the door, making sure she locked it behind her. “Can you just take me home? It’s been a really long day and I just want to sleep.”
“Fine.”, Kai grumbled, walking over to Sehun’s car and unlocking it. The ride was full of silence; absolutely no talking whatsoever between the former couple as they headed home. “We’re here. Get out.”, he rasped, bringing the car to a sharp halt once they reached the outside of Hyuna’s home.
Hyuna opened the door,“Tha--”, she stopped herself when she glanced at the small bungalow. Kai looked at her, seeing that her face had become oddly stiff. He looked over her face at the place he became so familiar with and frowned, also feeling sorrowful at the sight. He leaned over her, closing the door and putting the car back into drive.
She didn’t ask any questions as he drove off, knowing the route he was taking by heart. “My parents let me have the guest house all to myself and they’re out on some second honeymoon thing so it’ll just be us there, okay?”, he explained when they exited the freeway. Hyuna only let out a gentle sigh as a response.
He helped her out of the car, bringing her bags into the guest house as she followed shortly behind him. “Is it okay if I shower?”, she asked quietly.
“Hyuna, maybe we should talk about--”
“Talking about this won’t help anything Jongin.” She saw his mouth open to speak again, but she quickly interrupted him. “I’m okay.” He bit his lip and continued to study her expression. “Now, is it okay with you if I go and take a shower?”
“Yeah.”, Kai sighed, knowing he couldn’t win at this conversation. “I’ll go get you some clothes to change into.” He headed into the one bedroom that the guest house provided and came back with a large blue shirt in his hands. “I remember you always said this was your favorite shirt of mine so…”
“Thank you.”
Kai watched as she sauntered off into the bathroom. “This girl really knows how to kill the mood.”, he thought when the heavy water of the shower was heard.
The water continued to run down the drain, as tears fell from her eyes. It hurt, this feeling of uselessness and vulnerability. She remembered how sudden the whole thing happened, how the words were spat at her so quickly like whips of fire against her heart. She faced the running water from the head and tried clean her mind out, but it did nothing to wash away the bitterness that she remembered.
She quickly turned the water off after finishing up her wash, seeing no point in wasting any excess water. “Did I take too long?”, she asked exiting the steamy room and going into the bedroom where Kai was fixing the large bed.
“No. You’re fine.” He glanced at her as he tossed some of his extra throw pillows on the floor. He took note of her extreme weight loss, seeing how the gap between her legs was quite large and, most of her bones were obviously outlined by skin. “Uhm, you wanna give me your clothes so I can wash them? I’m gonna start a load in the morning so…”
“Okay.” She handed him the folded up clothes in her arms and took a seat on the firm mattress. He scanned the clothes in his hands, seeing that all - literally all - of her clothes were there. A dirty smile made its way onto his face, seeing her black, strappy cutout . “What?”, she asked innocently.
“No ?”, he teased, holding up the small amount of fabric.
“Ugh. Shut up .”, she groaned and tossed a pillow at him, making him drop her clothes. They both chuckled as he picked up the mess. However, Kai paused once more when he saw the pastel paper that was once neatly folded in her pocket. He opened it and read the message slowly and carefully.
“Suho?”, he whispered to himself; almost inaudibly.
“What was that?”
“Where’d you get this from?”, he asked, holding up the paper for her to see.
“Just this guy from the library. I think he was flirting but it’s too late at night to be thinking about that kind of stuff.” Hyuna brushed off the topic as if it were nothing, but Kai felt his anger boil up in his gut. “Now come to bed. It’s weird having you just stand there.”
“But Hyuna, did this guy say somethi--”
“Are you going to stand there forever?”, she asked, propping herself up with one arm supporting her head. Kai bit his lip, seeing her roll onto her stomach and kick her legs up, making the shirt ride up a little bit.
“You are so shameless, baby girl.”, he smirked, crawling beside her onto the bed.
“How is it shameless to be sleeping in my ex boyfriend’s room?”, she questioned while fluttering her eyelashes and leaning a tad closer to his face.
“Don’t start something you can’t finish.”, he whispered into her ears, planting a quick kiss on her cheeks. He smiled and wrapped an arm around her, closing his eyes. “Turn off the lights, I’m tired.” Hyuna smacked him, trying to wriggle out of his embrace. “Stop struggling and just stay still.”, he grumbled, turning to his side and turned off the table light.
He whispered something again into her ears, planting another kiss on the top of her head. She finally relented and snuggled into his arms. The soothing way his hands moved up and down her back, the warmth of his body, and the feeling of his heart beating right below hers sedated her into a deep, comfortable slumber.
Kai continued to rub her back until he felt her limbs grow weak and her breaths soften. He stood up slowly, making sure not to wake her and walked to the other side of the room, dialing a number and holding his phone up to his ear.
“Hello?”
“What the hell Suho? This was not part of the plan that Jiyeon planned out. We’re supposed to wait until--”
“I know. Let’s just say that this is just a little present for ‘ol Suho here. She falls in love with me and then it’ll be much more easier to get her on our side.”
Kai let out a heavy breath, turning to look at the peacefully sleeping Hyuna. “You better be right. Or this is going to bite us all in the .”
“When am I ever wrong?”
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