“Hi, how can I help you?”

“Hi, I was wondering if you sold this book?” Kyuhyun asked, handing him a piece of paper with the title written neatly on it.

The bookkeeper looked at the paper and smiled. “Sure.”

Kyuhyun followed the shorter male to where the book was located and smiled when he saw it.

“Thank you so much,” he said happily, “I’ve been looking for this one in every single bookshop and couldn’t find it at all.”

The latter laughed, “Have you read it before?” he asked.

Kyuhyun shook his head. “No, but I have to. As a dare, my friends told me to read it since I’ve haven’t touched a book since college. It’s a stupid dare, if you ask me.”

“But books are so fun to read, there’s always something different between each page. And, you never know, it can bring all sorts of wonders to you. Besides, this one is a good one. Shakespeare is a really good writer.” Kyuhyun just smiled, deciding to not mention how much he hated poetry and the concept of ‘love’. He couldn’t understand why people felt this way, and why they would waste their time on it. It was silly, but he knew it could happen to anyone.

“It won’t do any wonders to someone who hates reading, trust me. All books have ever done to me is put me to sleep.”

“You never know, it could change your life.” Kyuhyun wondered about that. How can a book change your life? He mentally scoffed at the latter’s words and kept quiet.

“Anyways, that’s 14 000 won.” The male said, making Kyuhyun shove his hands in his pocket to search for the money he brought. He handed the crumpled note and smiled sheepishly. As he got his change and the book, he turned and was about to leave when he unexpectedly halted.

“Hm? Is there anything else I can get you, sir?” the bookkeeper asked.

“Yes… your name?” He inquired before thinking about what he had just said. Kyuhyun had a sudden urge to smack himself in the face from embarrassment, but it seemed as though the latter didn’t think much of it.

“Eh? It’s Lee Sungmin.” He said.

Kyuhyun smiled, “Hi, I’m Kyuhyun. Uhm, Cho. Yeah. No. Yeah Cho Kyuhyun.” He stuttered, turning red, making Sungmin laugh at the awkwardness.

“It was nice meeting you.”

“Yeah, you too, I hope we could be friends.” Kyuhyun replied, mentally patting himself on the back for finally saying something right. Sungmin just smiled in return and watched Kyuhyun leave the bookstore, before letting out a sigh.

~

Sungmin closed up the shop and was about to go home. After locking up all the doors he turned, only to face his boyfriend’s mother. He smiled, bowed and greeted her, but received no reply, as usual.

“Are you still with my boy?” She asked.

“Y-yes. I really wa-”

“When are you going to break up with him?! You are a disgrace, and you shouldn’t be with someone as hardworking as Kanginnie. Leave him, and give him the freedom he deserves.”

Sungmin clasped his hands together and begged her to give him a chance, but she spat on him and left him with tears streaming down his face.”

~

Sungmin arrived home. It was 10, and he was exhausted. He opened the door to find his boyfriend drinking and watching a sport match. “Were you at home the whole day?”

“Why do you care?” He replied back, making Sungmin sigh. “Did you get your pay?” he asked.

Sungmin nodded and handed him the money. He smiled greedily at the bundle of cash that was in his hand, but his smile soon fell, when he counted not enough.

“Did you spend some of my money? Who told you to spend my money?” He shouted angrily. Your money? I earned it yet you say it’s your money? Sungmin thought, but shook his head, nonetheless.

“You must’ve counted wrong, I made sure it was the right amount.”

“ARE YOU CALLING ME STUPID? I’M TELLING YOU THAT MY MONEY IS GONE! I CAN COUNT, DO YOU WANT ME TO SHOW YOU?” He yelled, making Sungmin cringe. He started counting out loud, and as soon as he finished, it turned out that he really did count wrong. He glared at Sungmin and continued watching his match. Sungmin saw that whenever the opposing team scored, he’d take out 50 000 won from his wallet. This only meant one thing, gambling.

Sungmin looked around and saw the mess in the apartment and reached for the broom that was lying on the floor. He started sweeping up the rubbish that was scattered.

Brriiiiiiiing

He turned around to see his boyfriend’s phone, but he only had a glimpse since Kangin had taken it and answered really quickly. Sungmin saw how he lit up at the phone call and as soon as it ended, he left in a hurry. Sungmin just looked down as a lone tear escaped and ran down.

~

Instead of playing Starcraft until 4AM, Kyuhyun spent the time reading the book, although it was boring, and there were many times where he just wanted to give up, he thought of the smiling bookkeeper and forced himself to continue.

He was interested in Sungmin. He was always smiling, yet Kyuhyun felt that he was hiding something from the rest of the world. Kyuhyun sighed, it was 3AM and he was getting tired so he decided to call it a day, and went to bed, where he planned on what to say if he were to ‘supposedly’ go back to the bookstore.

~

Sungmin woke up and got ready to go to the store. After getting dressed, he realised his boyfriend hadn’t gone home. He let out a sad sigh and went out to work.

“Sungmin!” He jumped in shock and turned, to see Kyuhyun waving his hands wildly to get his attention. This made him unconsciously let out a genuine smile.

“Hi.” He said.

“Hi!! I thought that I wouldn’t see you today since I slept in today, and I was tired, and I didn’t know when your shifts ended and yeah, I need to buy a book too.” He blabbered.

Sungmin laughed. “It’s okay, and don’t worry, I work every second day from 8AM to 9PM.”

Kyuhyun smiled and decided to help him open up the store, and talked. He stayed until 8PM before needing to leave. He bought his book and then went home reluctantly.

This happened went on for weeks. Every second day, Kyuhyun would come from 8AM to 8PM, help around the store without getting paid, talk to Sungmin, and the buy a book before going home.

~

Ever since Kyuhyun came to the bookstore, Sungmin had felt happier. Despite the abuse that his boyfriend’s mother had given him after work, as well as the ignorance of Sungmin’s existence, when he was at home, he always felt content at work, and would always look forward to it.

“Don’t you need to work?” Sungmin asked one day.

“Of course I do. But I work at home, so my work hours are very flexible. Besides, I want to spend time with you.” Kyuhyun replied with no hesitation.

There was silence between the two, and Kyuhyun wanted to break it.

“Are you in a relationship?” he asked. Sungmin avoided Kyuhyun’s gaze.

“Yes.”

“Are you happy?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Why do you keep asking so many questions?”

“I just want to know. There’s something you’re not telling me.”

Silence.

“So?”

More silence.

“You can trust me Sungmin.”

“Just, don’t worry. It’s complicated,” he said.

“I worry Sungmin. Even though you’re smiling all the time, I can tell that they are fake, and that you are hiding something.”

“So what if I’m hiding something?!” Sungmin bursted, making Kyuhyun jump. “I don’t need to tell you. What are you to me anyways?”

Kyuhyun stared at Sungmin with betrayal shown in his eyes. “You’re right. What am I to you? All I’ve done is visit you at work and suffocate your private space.”

“Exactly! I work here to get some quiet from all the that’s been happening around me and then you come and ruin everything. Why are you even here anyways? You’re such an annoying leech that visits me whenever I work.”

“D-Do you really feel that way?”

“YES! I hate you! Just leave me alone!”

“AND WHAT IF I CAN’T? WHAT IF I’VE TRIED? BECAUSE I HAVE, BUT ALL I CAN DO NOW IS CONTINUE TO THINK OF YOU. I WANT TO RUN AWAY, BECAUSE I’M SCARED OF WHAT I’M FEELING! I HATE YOU TOO! I HATE THAT I FELL FOR YOU! I HATE EVERYTHING!!!” Kyuhyun screamed. He didn’t care if the whole world heard him, he didn’t care if he sounded like a little girl. He wanted to Sungmin to know. He turned and walked out, not stopping at Sungmin’s desperate calls and sobs.

~

Sungmin went home, his eyes were puffy from crying, and he felt dizzy. He gradually arrived home and saw his boyfriend sprawled on the couch. He looked blank, out of nowhere, he mumbled, “I’m in debt.”

Sungmin’s eyes widened. He was speechless as he stared at his boyfriend who wasn’t looking at him. His eyes started getting watery and he turned and walked away from the other.

~

Sungmin woke up, and his eyes were swelling from the amount of tears he had shed yesterday. He thought of his fight with Kyuhyun, and then his boyfriend’s debts. It all just made him want to crawl back in his bed and die. He knew that the fight was entirely his fault, but he didn’t know how to fix it. He didn’t know anything about the latter, and realised that he never asked about the other.

He got up and went to the living room, where he saw Kangin pacing back and forth.

“Morning.” He mumbled. It was enough for Kangin to stop and walk over to him. He hugged Sungmin affectionately and warmly smiled at him. This made him confused and Sungmin knew he wanted something.

“Can you help me?” he asked, confirming Sungmin’s thoughts.

“With what?”

“I need you to go this address.”

“Why can’t you go by yourself?”

“It’s to help me with my debts, they’ll pay you a lot, if you go there.”

“What do I have to do?”

“You’ll know once you get there, don’t worry.” Kangin said reassuringly.

“W-What if I don’t want to go?”

“Don’t you love me? You said you’d do anything for me right? Help me out, because we love each other.”

“Y-You love me?”

“Of course I do. Help me out please.”

“Okay.”

“Thank you. You can go tomorrow.”

“But I have work.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Sungmin bit his lip. Well, it wasn’t like Kyuhyun was ever going to meet him anymore because of that incident, so he nodded.

~

Kyuhyun woke up at 7 the next day, and immediately thought of Sungmin. He should apologize. It wasn’t entirely his fault, but he knew it was the right thing to do if he wanted to lift off all the guilt that was on his chest.

He got ready and left. He ran to the book store to see him, but as soon as he stepped in, he couldn’t find Sungmin. Instead, he saw a lady at the counter, flirtatiously smiling at him.

“Where’s the guy that usually works here?”

“I don’t know, but he said something about going to someplace today for a little job.”

“What job?”

“I don’t know.” She said, inching her way towards Kyuhyun, who in return, took steps back. He bowed at the lady and ran off.

~

Sungmin stood in front of the place that was written on the paper. He took a deep breath in and knocked on the door. The door opened, revealing rather rebel-like thugs. They smiled maliciously at Sungmin, making him gulp in fright, and took a step in.

“Is this the right place?” he murmured. He saw a tall muscle man, who seemed weaker than the other thugs, yet mentally stronger. He held Sungmin’s hand and tightened his grip before throwing him onto the couch. Sungmin screamed as he hit his head on the table. The man hovered above him, placing his legs on either sides of his body. The others who were in the room left, so the man and Sungmin were alone.

“Please! Stop! I went to the wrong place!” Sungmin yelled desperately. “I was supposed to-”

“Your boyfriend sent you here so he can get his money to pay off all his debts.” The man said, making Sungmin freeze in betrayal and shock, momentarily. The man shoved him back onto the couch and ripped his clothes off. Sungmin cried, begging him to stop but he continued.

“PLEASE! I’VE GOT A BRAIN TUMOR… I just can’t…” He said, sobbing. The man looked at him as if shocked, but it quickly disappeared as he growled and slapped him across the face.

“Do I look like I give a ?” he asked before swooping down and harshly planting his lips on Sungmin’s and when he refused to open his mouth, he bit on his lip hard until it bled.

Sungmin reached out to try and feel for anything on the table next to the couch, while the man was distracted and soon felt a glass vase. He took it and smashed it on the man’s head and as he stood back in bewilderment and anger, Sungmin ran out and never turned back.

~

Sungmin walked around the streets blankly. He didn’t know what to do. He felt defeated, used, betrayed and lost. He wandered around, not caring where he was going. It would’ve been better if his feet took him to someplace he had never been before anyways. He didn’t know how long he walked before he accidentally walked into someone. Without looking at the other, he bowed and continued to walk, but was stopped when that someone grabbed onto his hand.

“S-Sungmin.” The said man looked up and saw who he had walked into.

“Kyuhyun.” He knew that Kyuhyun had probably hated him at that moment, but he didn’t care. He burst into tears and hugged the taller man. “I’m so sorry.” He continuously mumbled.

“What happened to you and your clothes?” Kyuhyun asked worriedly. Sungmin said nothing and showed him the address.

“You went there?” he nodded, “And they did something to you?” another nod. “They stole from you?” a shake. “There were dogs?” another shake. “A fight?” a hesitant shake, so he was getting closer. “D-Did they you?” nothing. “They did didn’t they?” a sob.

Kyuhyun hugged him. “Why did you go there?”

“T-They didn’t me. They were going to but I ran away. My boyfriend told me to go there so that we could pay off our debts.”

“So, are you just going to listen to everything your boyfriend tells you to do? Even if it means putting your own life in danger?”

“You don’t understand! He says he loves me!”

Kyuhyun snorted, and dryly laughed. “You think he’d do this to you if he loved you? He wouldn’t do this to you if he loved you! He’d be finding a job to help you, instead of using you to get what he wants.”

Sungmin didn’t reply. He knew it was true, but he was just too stubborn to accept it.

“Come with me. You don’t need to go back to your boyfriend. Stay with me, and you can run away from all the people that ever did you wrong.”

“T-That’s just cowardly, Kyuhyun, you should know.”

“No. It’s taking initiative and doing what is right. It’s protecting yourself from those who will hurt you. Please come with me, I won’t hurt you like them”

“That’s exactly what he said. I don’t want to make the same mistake.” Sungmin murmured. He stuck and confused. He knew he stilled loved Kangin, but he also knew that he felt something towards Kyuhyun. He bit his lip, “Even if I run, he’ll find me eventually.”

“And I’ll protect you.” Kyuhyun replied with determination and no hesitation. Sungmin gulped and nodded.

“Okay, I’ll run. But only if you promise that you’ll be by my side throughout the journey.”

Kyuhyun let out a breath of relief and nodded, “That’s a promise I can keep forever.”

~

“Well, you can stay here with me.” Kyuhyun said, shyly byt warmly.

“This is your place?”

“Yeah. I know it isn’t much, but it feels like home.”

“It’s really nice. I like it.” Sungmin said truthfully, making Kyuhyun smile. He quickly ran off and came back with some clothes.

“Here, you should take a shower and get changed first. Your clothes are…” He trailed off. Sungmin remembered the ripped clothes he was wearing, took theclean clothes and smiled thankfully. He followed the Kyuhyun to where the bathroom was before closing the door behind him and cleaning himself up. Once he was done he went out to see Kyuhyun blankly staring at the wall, but his daydream was cut short immediately when Sungmin accidentally closed the bathroom door too loudly.

“Sorry.” He shyly said.

“It’s okay. You’re lip. Is it okay?” Sungmin touched his lip and felt a scab forming. It hurt, but he didn’t want to sound weak.

“Yeah, it’ll heal soon.” Kyuhyun nodded and there was an awkward silence, both contemplating on whether they should say something to the other. 

“Well, you can look around, I’m just gonna go get changed.” Kyuhyun said, breaking the tension. Sungmin nodded and decided to do as the taller said. He went out of the bedroom and to the living room, where he saw books that were neatly arranged onto the shelf, and then at the end, there were books stacked on top of each other. Sungmin decided to take a glimpse at what kinds of book Kyuhyun read and seeing that there were 6 books that weren’t arranged neatly with the other books, he assumed that those were the genres that Kyuhyun must’ve read.

He took the first book and read the title. I LOVE YOU. Tell your loved ones that you care.  A smiled crept onto his face. It was sweet how he wanted to buy a book like that. He placed the book down and reached for the next one. WILL. Is it time to write yours? Sungmin raised an eyebrow. Why would he want to buy a book so depressing? It wasn’t like he was going to die… right?

He decided to look at the third book. Only YOU can change yourself. He was confused as to why Kyuhyun would read such books, but nonetheless, he reached for the fourth book. BEE… 100 unknown facts about BEES. He smiled. Kyuhyun had an interest in bees?

He looked at the cover of the second last book. MINE… Take back what is yours. Sungmin wondered what had been taken from him to make him read such a book, but he continued to look at the last book, at the bottom of the stack. The biography of the comedian, LEE SUNGMIN. Sungmin softly chuckled. The guy had the same name as him, yet he hadn’t heard of him before. He placed the stacked books neatly and in order of where he first saw it before taking a few steps back.

He smiled at the amount of books Kyuhyun was reading, remembering that the latter mentioned the first time they met that he hadn’t touched a book in years. Then, something caught his eye. His smile turned into a pout and his eyebrows furrowed. He read the spine of the books that were stacked. The ones that he had read the title of.

I LOVE YOU.

WILL.

YOU.

BEE.

MINE.

LEE SUNGMIN.

His eyes widened. Could it be some sort of coincidence, that the spines matched up to become one sentence? Could it be that he did it on purpose?

“. I forgot it was there.” Sungmin turned around, startled by the deep voice that was behind him.

“You bought books for that?”

“W-Well, I knew you really liked books, and I wanted to be creative, when telling you how I felt about you.” He said sheepishly, rubbing his neck. “I swear though, I didn’t know you were in a relationship when I thought of this.”

Sungmin just replied back with a sad smile. He walked away from Kyuhyun and continued to look at the books that were on the shelf.

~

Kyuhyuns heart was beating fast. He didn’t mean for Sungmin to see the books that he had purposely bought and stacked in that order. When Sungmin didn’t reply and turned away, he knew that he had lost the battle of winning his heart. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to prevent himself from crying. He was about to walk away and leave Sungmin alone, when suddenly he felt a pair of arms wrap around him. Kyuhyun opened his eyes in confusion and saw the shorter male hugging him. He froze, not being able to return the hug, and just when he was about to, Sungmin let go.

He lifted up a book to show Kyuhyun, which made him even more confused. He glanced at Sungmin for a second before averting his gaze to the title of the book. YES, I will!!!

Kyuhyun looked at the book shocked, then at Sungmin again. “W-What do you mean?”

“You still don’t get it?” Sungmin asked softly, before walking back to the stacked books, and putting it at the bottom. He took a deep breath. “It’s the answer for the question.” He whispered before smiling with tears in his eyes.

“Then, why are you crying?”

“Just scared, I guess. I haven’t even broken up with Him, but I really want to be with you.”

“So, why don’t you tell him?”

“He doesn’t need to know. We were done long ago. I was just too stupid and stubborn to realise it.”

“So, what are you going to do?”

“Live life to the fullest. He can’t control me anymore. The only person that can stop me from doing what I want to do, is myself.” He glanced at Kyuhyun and hugged him. “I love you Kyu.” He murmured.

“I love you too.” He replied, hugging the shorter male back, “more than anything else in the world.”

~

“I’m glad you’ve decided to read again. I told you it could change your life.”

Kyuhyun laughed, “Yeah, but trust me, I still hate books.”

<’)))><      <’)))><      <’)))><     <’)))><       <’)))><

Yeah.. Im sorry if it wasnt how you expected it to be or if it wasnt really good. I confess, i did kinda rush it and didnt really read over it. So please forgive me (/\)

However, i hope you guys can comment and tell me what you think? maybe? xD

Anyways, if not, then its okay, i just hope that youd all stay safe and healthy :* MWAH