Keep the fun conversation going

“You saved the texts to draft instead of…”

“Yes.”

“And you didn’t check if the texts…”

“No.”

“So all those texts were…”

“Yes.”

“Well, Jiwon, after a careful deliberation I am going to offer you my assessment of your little predicament here. To quote Shakespeare, ‘thou are ed’.”

While Jiwon is aware of the fact that Hanbin is his best and longest friend, he can’t help but to seriously consider serving Hanbin a soup made entirely out of rat poison right now judging on how annoying he’s being about the whole text debacle with the cute girl from the library. However, he’s also aware that it will include some jail time if he goes through with his plan, so he decides against it. Hanbin can live to see another day. That doesn’t stop Jiwon from shooting murderous glares at his so-called best friend, while said best friend is recovering from laughter.

“I just don’t understand why you’re trying so hard, though. Wait no, you’re trying way too hard. Have you ever heard of what happened to the guy who’s trying too hard? He died.”

“Just like how you will be if you keep this up. Dead. Look Hanbin, she’s a senior, she’s a literature major, and she’s probably one of the cutest girl I’ve ever seen in my entire sad life of 18 years. Why shouldn’t I be trying hard?”

Jiwon exclaims that last question with such intensity that he sounds like he’s shouting, which makes a few seniors who are also at the cafeteria abruptly stop their conversation and turned their heads towards Jiwon and Hanbin’s table. Hanbin smiles sheepishly at them and nods his head, asking for their forgiveness for his kind-of-pathetic friend.

“Jiwon, would you quit increasing our chances of getting beaten up? Jinhwan hyung over there might look small and helpless, but I’ve actually seen him knock out a freshman twice his size without even breaking a sweat! Okay fine, in all seriousness, I’m pretty sure the reason why you keep ing up is that you’re hyping this up too much. Just be yourself, and she’ll like you for who you are.”

“Oh god, I know you’re like 99% vanilla but that has got to be the corniest thing that comes out of your mouth.”

“What do you expect? I’m about as experienced in girls as Junhoe is in fashion designing.”

“Junhoe isn’t…”

“My point exactly. So are you gonna meet her again or what?”

Jiwon sighs and fishes his phone out of his jeans’ front pocket, checking to see if she has texted him yet about where they can meet so he can return her book. After the agonizingly embarassing incident the night before, he did somehow manage to form sentences that were coherent enough so they could actually have a decent communication. Even though that communication centered around how he would return her book to her, Jiwon is thankful enough to be able to at least talk to her. Then his insides feels like it turns upside down when his phone lights up showing a text from her, and she’s asking him to meet her at the library. Jiwon fights the urge to throw up. It’s like returning to the scene of the crime.

“As a matter of fact, I’m meeting her right now. At the library.”

The grimace on Hanbin’s face at the mention of the library pretty much sums up how Jiwon currently feels. He dreads going back there but at the same time the prospect of meeting her again excites him. Jiwon finally drags himself out of the cafeteria towards the library, with Hanbin pleading for him not to burn it down or something this time because he has mid-term tests coming and he actually needs it. Hanbin’s helpless pleas are only met with Jiwon’s middle finger.

Jiwon shivers as soon as he walks into the library, and the accusing glare the librarian directs at him just makes it worse. He grins as wide as he can at her to further maintain his innocence, hoping that somehow she gets 'i am a law-abiding student and citizen and i am not here to cause any damage to a public property’ from his grin. It doesn’t take long for Jiwon to find the girl, as she is sitting in the exact same spot as the first time he saw her, just with a different book this time around.

She looks up from her book, notices that Jiwon is walking towards her, and quickly hides her face behind her book. As Jiwon’s steps bring him closer to her, he can hear her muffled giggles. A million and one thoughts are running in his head. Should he just throw her book at her and run out of the library to save him from the embarassment? Should he just run away, not return her book, and at the same time moves to a different college? At that point, realizing that he’s slowly going insane, Jiwon resigns to his fate and takes a seat beside her instead.

“Okay, laugh as much as you want, this library guy totally deserves it,”

Her face is laced with a shade of pink when she pulls the book away, and Jiwon has to hold on to the table in front of them to keep himself from falling off his seat because even with her watery eyes and flushed face she still looks disgustingly cute.

“I’m sorry library guy, it’s just…you were so ing funny last night. I’m pretty sure I just developed a six-pack abs from laughing so much.”

“I’m Jiwon, by the way, and I’ll be waiting for the thank you gesture for giving you a six-pack, then. Just FYI, I like burgers, hip hop music, and Supreme snapbacks.”

She furrows her eyebrows, seemingly thinking thoroughly about something, and while Jiwon is busy keeping himself from hyperventilating it’s not that hard for him to tell that she’s just pretending.

“You know what, I’m still gonna call you library guy cause let’s face it I have more fun that way. Also, excuse you, why are you expecting a reward for your own stupidity? You’re the one who should be thankful that I didn’t screenshot all your texts and print them out for the whole university to see.”

Jiwon stares at her in disbelief for a number of reasons. One, this is the first time he’s ever encountered a girl this cute with this much sass. Two, he’s wondering if she’ll kick her if he blurts out 'will you have my children?’ or something along those lines.

“Anyways, aren’t you here to give me my book back?”

“Oh, um…yeah, here it is. I read a few pages of it and it seems pretty interesting.”

She takes the book and shoves it into her backpack. Jiwon notices that there are already at least half a dozen books in it, and he begins to wonder how someone as petite as her could drag around at least ten pounds of weight on her shoulders everywhere. She just becomes even more interesting to him.

“Oh believe me, it is. I could lend you this book but I want it back cause I’m not finished with it yet. You wanna borrow it when I’m done?”

Jiwon grins, it’s like the heavens are finally forgiving him for his stupidity by giving him a chance to meet this girl again. Borrowing her books is the perfect excuse.

“Uh…yeah, that would be great. Let me know when you’re done?”

“Okay. I’ll text you. If you like Murakami, I have a few other books by Japanese authors you might like.”

“That…sounds absolutely perfect.”

Indeed, it is perfect. Jiwon has to fight the need to bust out a chorus from Defying Gravity right there at the library because he is too damn excited. He will have the chance to see her again, to talk to her again, and to have another chance to not make a complete out of himself again. At that time, for Jiwon everything is A-okay, the sky is blue, the birds are singing, and world peace is slowly coming true.

“Oh, library guy, I gotta go my boyfriend’s already here. I’ll text you, okay?”

Then everything comes to a screeching halt. Scratch that. The heavens haven’t forgiven Jiwon just yet.