Chapter 2

The anticipated day came earlier than expected. 17 April rolled by on an early summer when the air carried no breeze and trees provided no shade.

Chanyeol who once dreaded coming to the library, now smiled whenever he saw the white building. Ever since Jongdae visited the library that night, Chanyeol has been punctual for his shift. He used to make up all kinds of reason to escape that few minutes of shelving but now, he treats the library like his second home. Sometimes even working over time, hoping to see Jongdae walk through the door.

The sky has settled into a cooler tone as Chanyeol arrived at the library. Chaining his bike to the fence of the back entrance, so that no one would steal his main mode of transportation.

"Hurry!"

Chanyeol lifted his head up after locking the chain, only to find his coworker, waving his hand frantically, motioning Chanyeol to walk towards him.

Lifting his wrist, he checked his watch, squinting at the tiny hands and ticking . The watch clearly shown 5:12. He wasn't late, in fact he was early by a whopping 18 minutes. Than why was Baekhyun waiting for him at the back door instead of tending at the front counter?

"Would you hurry!" Baekhyun snapped at Chanyeol. If this was Baekhyun's way of welcoming his co-worker, Chanyeol would rather shelve more books than receive this special treatment. Either way, it was also not like Baekhyun to wait for Chanyeol at the back entrance. Or rather it wasn't like Baekhyun to wait for anyone.

Whenever Chanyeol and Baekhyun hung out, Chanyeol was always the one waiting, because apparently Baekhyun has nothing to wear, and the average time for Baekhyun to find something to wear or for Chanyeol to wait was an hour and a half.

"What's with you today?" Chanyeol carefully scanned him up and down, observing his every movement. "Are you on drugs?" He finally stood up and move towards Baekhyun.

Both of them know it was a joke, I mean Baekhyun breaking the law? You've gotta be kidding me! That kid has never broke a school rule let alone a law.

"Look here young man, I am doing you a favor today. Would you just hurry up." And that's when Chanyeol took everything back and concluded that Baekhyun was officially on drugs. Baekhyun and helping? One rarely finds that in the same sentence.

"You are definitely on drugs." Chanyeol muttered under his breath. He wanted to check if Baekhyun's pupils were dilated, but decides to forgo it, afraid that Baekhyun might smack him on the head again.

"I heard that." Chanyeol flinched and expected Baekhyun to hit him, but was relieved when the impact never came. "Now, would you hurry up? He's going to leave!"

"He's here? Why didn't you tell me earlier?!" Chanyeol shoved Baekhyun out of the way and almost crashed into the glass door. He forgot all the times he has been sitting aimlessly at the front desk just for him or all the times his been lingering around the fantasy section. He was clearly overjoyed to just hear his arrival.

"Well, I tried! If only you listened!" Said in disbelieved and dust himself from Chanyeol's push. "And thanks for the push, appreciate it very much."

"You know I love you." Chanyeol smiled cheekily at the shorter. However before he fully entered the library, he turned and asked Baekhyun one last question, "hey Baek, do you happen to also know where he is?" 

"What are you going to do without me." Baekhyun shook his head as Chanyeol rolled his eyes and looked towards the direction Baekhyun had pointed. Of course the fantasy section.

"Thanks" Chanyeol whispered as he stepped into the library's ground. He saw Baekhyun wave him off and walked away, wasn't he coming in too? Heck, Chanyeol didn't care, all he had in mind was Jongdae and only Jongdae.

As Chanyeol approach the section with heavy steps, he prayed that Jongdae would be still there. He peeked a little, hoping a boy would be standing there and indeed he was. A prominent smile rested on Chanyeol's face as he felt his heart accelerate.

Soon nerves started to get in Chanyeol's way, he was debating whether to approach Jongdae casually or 'coincidentally' meet. Unable to decide Chanyeol just went for it, he grabbed a misplaced book above the shelve so that in case if the situation gets awkward (or if Chanyeol embarrassed himself again) at least he has a back up plan.

Jongdae must have heard the weighty footsteps as he turned around. The features Chanyeol couldn't forget was right in front of him, smiling with a book in his hand.

Chanyeol who wanted to start a conversation was stopped by Jongdae's palm right in front of his eyes. He studied the faint lines embedded on Jongdae's palm, resisting the urge to trace them, but realizes the black ink on his palm.

"The Great Night" the librarian murmured, finding the requested book. He was sure he saw the title somewhere among the second or third cabinet.

Jongdae chose the book for a reason and he hoped Chanyeol got the hint too. However Chanyeol was as dense as a puddle and no matter how many time he repeated the title, he still didn't get the silent signal. His finger ran through the numerous books in search for one, still whispering the title under his breath. Ahh, there you are, with a victorious grin, Chanyeol picked the book out and handed it to Jongdae.

Bowing slightly as a thank you, Jongdae received the book. Although his exterior looks calm and cool, inside he was panicking , all his words were jumbled up and he can't construct a sentence. His head was also spinning badly due to Chanyeol's presence.

Before Jongdae even start his rehersed sentence, a girl, barely seven appeared out of no where and grabbed on Chanyeol's hand and at the same time grabbing all his attention.

"Can you help me?"

In that moment, Jongdae has never hated children that much. Sure they are annoying when they whine and cry but that was acceptable to Jongdae. But interrupting him when he was interacting with Chanyeol was way over the line.

He was clearly mad, furious even. He didn't screw up, instead a random kid screwed it up for him. As he saw them walk away, Jongdae could only curse and mentally plot the little girl's death. His emotion was overpowered by affection and maybe even love.

He watched as Chanyeol tailed behind the girl like an obidient puppy, following her as she maneuvered along the cabinets, soon they dissapeared among the multiple cabinets

Chanyeol without a word followed her in fear to reject her, afraid she would make a big ruckus in the library and because he doesn't have the heart to decline the girl's request. 

Well, it could also be partly because Chanyeol had an undeniable love for these little creatures. Being the oldest sibling in the family, he always showed affection towards his younger family members. From pampering to teaching them, he has an unexplainable love for them, just like his interest in fairytales.

"I want that." Even if the girl phrased her sentence in an impolite way, Chanyeol still obliged to the girls desire and retrieved a book from the top cabinet which she obviously can't reach. Without a word of gratitude the girl snatched the book and returned to her play mates. Chanyeol could only shrug at the girl's attitude, he wasn't the girl's parents or anyone related to her, so he had no say at her misguided behavior.

As he saw the girl ran away, he suddenly got reminded of how he just left abruptly and left Jongdae there awkwardly. He hurried back to the secluded area only to find the place completely barren, all traces of Jongdae were gone.

With a sigh, Chanyeol walked away, trying to forget about the bad impression he just left. He walked towards the counter to take over Baekhyun's role as clearly he hasn't return yet (late as usual). 

He got behind the counter with his head still lowered as a book was trusted forward. The familiar cover made Chanyeol snapped his head up. What was in front of him made him even happier, the regular smile returned as he place a pen on the counter top.

Jongdae got the pen and pressed it on the loan card. The messily written Jongdae was scribbled with the few usual stained through.

Chanyeol than took the loan card, stamping a date on it, 16 May. "So-" Why does Jongdae always get cut off whenever he spoke to Chanyeol, was this some kind of ill fate? All Jongdae wants was to get Chanyeol's number.

The silent air was suddenly replaced with vibration on the counter, Chanyeol thanked god that he remembered to put his phone on silence, unlike the other time when his (embarasing) ringtone rang throughout the library (I mean who even puts Hakuna Matata as their ringtone).

However not all was good, because that phone had attracted Jongdae's attention, or rather what was on the phone attracted his attention. 

Time stopped, unfortunately it wasn't the clinche star struck fall-in-love time stop. Everything Chanyeol had planned to say was all in vain or in fact all of the small interaction they had were all in the drain.

What was on the screen was a picture of Baekhyun and Chanyeol hugging, cheeks squished together. (Well, they were drunk that day and Baekhyun insisted that that would be his contact picture). However what drew most of Jongdae's attention was it's contact name, 'gangaji Baekie' (a/n: cause 강아지 means puppy) with multiple hearts added after it (in defense, Baekhyun added it himself).

Chanyeol knew Jongdae had mistaken the whole situation because his face which was once full of smiles now became blank and stoic, all signs of emotions seems to be cut off. 

In the background the vibration could still be heard, Chanyeol did not know what to do, all he did was darted his eyes from his phone to Jongdae. He didn't know how to start the conversation or how to make Jongdae stay.

Because right in front of Chanyeol was the sight of Jongdae pushing the glass door and exiting the building. That was it. Chanyeol lost his chance again, the first time by avoiding and the second by one stupid phone call.

Chanyeol kicked the counter slightly and let out an audible grunt to express his frustration. He knew chasing Jongdae was pointless as he would probably think Chanyeol was a creep and that would just make the whole situation even worse.

Picking up the phone he walked outside, each step was a stomp, and answered that damn call that ruined everything. "What do you want?!"

Baekhyun ignored his arrogance and answered casually, while on the other side of the line, Chanyeol who was flaming didn't answer back, instead he hung up, angry that the phone call was about something so mundane, he expected something more serious, and just because of this one call he missed his chance with Jongdae. Sure, he was going to come back on 16 May, but Chanyeol wasn't sure if Jongdae would even look at him.

"Do you want Hotteok cause I am at the stall you love."

(a/n):

Warning: I have yet proof read this chapter!!

Hello, I am sorry for the mega late update. I haven't been feeling well for the past few weeks so sorry for not updating. I know this story is going too fast and I should pace it down a little. I would try to slow it down for the next few chapters. Anyways thank you for reading, please subscibe and comment!!

xx