She looked at the piece of paper she had in front of her, smiling by the new sentence that was added to it. She nodded satisfied and folded the paper and put it in the back pocket of her jeans and got up from the seat by the table.

She turned around, her eyes landing on the various book shelves in the library she was currently inside. Her smile widened and she started to look for a sign to she could find her way to the section she was looking for.

In the middle of her search she bumped into a taller brunette girl that seemed to work there. Her smile widened upon seeing the girl that turned towards her as well, the girl’s eyes slightly widened before they went back to normal.

“Ah, hi, Jessica.” The girl greeted with a small bow.

“Hi, Seohyun-ah. Still helping out at the library?” Jessica greeted with a wide smile. The girl nodded her head.

“Yeah, I help out when I can.” Seohyun answered and glanced at Jessica. She noticed the girl was alone and her left eyebrow rose.

“Are you…looking for something?” Seohyun asked.

“Ah, yeah, but I don’t need any help to find it.” Jessica assured. She checked the time on her phone before turning back to the girl. “I have to get going. See you around.” Jessica said and waved at the girl.

Seohyun watched after Jessica as the girl continued to look for the section she had been searching for. She slowly shook her head and turned back to what she had been doing earlier.


---


“Taeyeon.” The girl by the table in the living room looked up from the magazine she had been reading. Her eyes widened upon seeing the pile of books in the hands the person that was approaching her carried.

Her magazine dropped to the floor Taeyeon watched wide eyed as Jessica placed the pile of books on the table. The pile fell over which made the book scatter across the table, one even landed in Taeyeon’s lap. The girl now looked up at Jessica with a questioning look.

“Do you know what I think we should do?” Jessica said with a grin. Taeyeon placed the book in her lap on the table and tried to pile the rest of the books.

“Get a bigger table?” Taeyeon said and looked up at Jessica again. The latter shook her head and took a seat by the table, grabbing the nearest book and holding it up for Taeyeon to see.

“Learn Japanese!” Jessica said.

Taeyeon furrowed her eyebrows and read the title of the book Jessica was holding up. ‘Japanese for beginners’. She looked down on the rest of the books and noticed they were practicing books when it came to Japanese. She opened one and noticed it was showing how you were writing certain kanji characters. A sigh escaped her lips and she closed the book.

“Okay, why?” Taeyeon asked and turned to Jessica. The girl shrugged her shoulders and opened the book she had in her hands.

“I just think we should learn Japanese together.” Jessica said and grinned. She read something in the book and looked up at Taeyeon again.

“Konnichiwa, Jessica desu.” Jessica said with a grin.

Taeyeon didn’t say anything and continued to look at Jessica like she was stupid. Jessica’s smile faltered and she turned the book towards Taeyeon.

“It means ‘hello, I’m Jessica’.” Jessica said with a pout. “Now you try!”

“teru yo” Taeyeon said and turned to the book she had in front of her. Jessica blinked confused, brought the book she was holding for Taeyeon to read to herself. She read through the two pages to see if the words Taeyeon had said were anywhere there. Not seeing it anywhere she turned to Taeyeon with a pout.

“What does that mean?” Jessica asked.

Taeyeon didn’t answer and grabbed a book from the pile, flipped through a few pages before she placed it in front of Jessica. The girl looked through the page until her eyes landed on the word.

“I know…?” She said and looked up at Taeyeon. She saw the girl nodded her head.

“Where did you learn that from?” Jessica asked surprised.

“I watch anime. I’m ‘bout to learn something from it.” Taeyeon said and leaned back in her seat with arms crossed.

“So you already know some Japanese?” Jessica asked.

“Yes.”

A pout appeared on Jessica’s lips and she looked down at the books in front of her. She slowly closed them and leaned back in her seat with a disappointed look on her face.

“If you already know the basics then it’s no fun. I wanted us both to be beginners.” Jessica said and looked at the other girl.

“Well, we could learn another language.” Taeyeon suggested.

“But I wanted to learn Japanese.”

“Why don’t you learn it then?” Taeyeon said and pointed at the pile of books that were on the table.

“I wanted to learn it with you.” Jessica said and pouted.

Taeyeon looked at the pile of books. A sigh left her lips and she grabbed one book and flipped it open.

“I’m sure there’s something I don’t already know here.” Taeyeon said and began looking for words and phrases she was unfamiliar with.

A satisfied smile appeared on Jessica’s lips and she opened the books she had in front of her again. Her eyes settled on a list of common phrases she began to memories. Silence engulfed the two friends as they began learning words and phrases for this new language.

“Hey, Taeyeon, can you read in Japanese?” Jessica asked and glanced at the girl to her left.

“A bit,” Taeyeon answered without looking up.

Jessica’s smile dropped and she loudly closed the book in her hands which made Taeyeon look up confused.

“That’s cheating! You know so much more than me already!” Jessica whined and leaned back in her seat again.

“What?” Taeyeon asked and looked confused around.

“You know words, phrases and even how to read. It’s so unfair. It’s cheating!” Jessica said and crossed her arms.

“It’s cheating that I know more than you?” Taeyeon asked a bit amused by Jessica’s statement.

“Yes!”

“Are we doing some kind of competition here?”

“No.”

“Are we having a test?”

“No.”

“Then I can’t be cheating!” 

Seeing Jessica was pouting Taeyeon sighed and leaned back in her seat. She rubbed her forehead and looked at the pile of books in front of her. Another sigh escaped her lips and she opened one of them.

“How about you learn and I teach you?” Taeyeon suggested. She saw Jessica’s pout disappeared in and she returned to look at the book in front of her.

“That way you’ll learn the things I already know, and when you’ve done that we’re on the same level. Good enough?” Taeyeon said and looked at Jessica that had an uncertain expression on her face.

“What would you suggest I learn first?” Jessica asked and looked at the girl. Taeyeon sighed and flipped through a book to find the page she needed.

“Common phrases. Also how to read and write in hiragana.” Taeyeon said. She found a page with common phrases and handed it to Jessica, and she began searching for a hiragana alphabet while Jessica began memorizing some of the phrases.

When Taeyeon had found what she was looking for she placed the book in front of Jessica. The latter smiled at her and Taeyeon leaned back in her chair and watched as Jessica was trying to memorize everything on the page.

Jessica suddenly stopped and looked up at Taeyeon, the latter looked questioning at her which brought a smile to her lips.

“Why don’t you become a teacher?” Jessica suddenly asked. Taeyeon frowned upon the question and looked at the books on the table.

“Because I find no joy in teaching people things.”

“But you’re good at it.”

“Yeah, but how much happiness to I get from something I don’t find any fun in?” Taeyeon said and leaned back in her chair and sighed. Thinking it was a good reason Jessica nodded her head.

“But what do you find joy in?” Jessica asked.

“You know what I find joy in.”

“Reading books?”

“Yeah.”

“Playing games?”

“Yeah.”

“Watch movies?”

“Yeah.”

Jessica got silent as she couldn’t come up with something else. She looked at Taeyeon that raised one eyebrow.

“There’s one more thing.” Taeyeon pointed out.

Jessica got a thoughtful look on her face as she tried to figure it out. A smile appeared on Taeyeon’s lips as Jessica didn’t seem to know it.

“You.”

“What?”

“I find joy in hanging out with you.” Taeyeon stated.

A wide smile appeared on Jessica’s lips when she heard the last thing. She saw Taeyeon smiling back at her and she looked down on the book in front of her before looking back up at the girl.

“You make it sound like you don’t have other friends.” Jessica pointed out.

“Do you see me hanging out with other people?”

“No.”

“There you have your answer.”    

Jessica smiled and looked down on the book again.

“You should start hanging out with other people.”

“I’d rather not. It requires me stepping out of my comfort zone and I don’t want that.”

“Why?”

“It’s a hassle.” Taeyeon said and shrugged her shoulders. Jessica glanced at the other girl and noticed Taeyeon was looking at a book in her hands. A smile appeared on Jessica’s lips and she went back to learn the phrases and eventually learn how to write her name and Taeyeon’s name in hiragana. 


---


The girl that was playing with her phone on the bed looked up as the door to her room opened. Seeing her sister and a pile of books enter her eyes widened as Jessica went to her bookshelf and put back the books where she had taken them.

“Are you done?” Krystal asked.

“Yeah, I finished reading all of them.” Jessica said and put back the last book. She turned to her sister with a grin. “I’ll look up the rest I need to know on internet.” Jessica said.

“Okay, if there’s anything I can help you with you can just ask.” Krystal said. Jessica stopped in her way of walking out of the room. Krystal waited as she thought Jessica would ask her something, but soon a grin appeared on Jessica’s lips and she shook her head.

“Thanks, but I think I’ll find my answers on my own.” Jessica said and exited the room.

Krystal watched as the door to her room closed. She shrugged her shoulders and went back to what she had done on her phone.