Sheet 14

The Exchange For A Book Day

          It’s such a lovely day for a story or so Lee Soo Jung thinks as she skips her way towards the second-hand book shop. The summer rains have been occurring nearly every day since they’ve started doing outlines. She doesn’t know if it’s necessary for them to list down characters and all but she guesses it’s best to keep track.

          Today the sun decided to shine properly and she can’t help but smile stupidly. Progress, they’re really making progress.

          She sees someone standing by the door of the shop. It’s not strange to have someone waiting outside the shop doors but the guy is staring, most definitely at her.

          “Standing in the middle of the street isn’t safe, most especially to motorist.”

          “You mean not safe for—“

          “You? I don’t think so.”

          “Have I mentioned how frustrating you are?”

          “Can’t recall, you probably have... I might’ve forgotten. So what’s the reason of the standing around?”

          She points at the shop only to be met with a questioning gaze.

          “I’m aware that the shop is there...”

          “There’s a...” She looks back at the shop and sees nothing. “There’s a guy who’s been staring...at me earlier from the front of the shop...”

          “I really should recommend you some other book genres; you’re clearly being badly influenced by all these fairy tale books.”

          “I am not... He was... Never mind. I’m going to be late, I’ll go ahead...”

          “I’ll you... In case this mysterious person who’s been staring at you decided to make an appearance...”

          “I am not joking!” She’s exasperated. She can only take jokes so far but he has a bad habit of mocking her for every little thing since they started with story concepts.

          “I...” It’s pretty evident that he was taken aback by her sudden outburst. “I was...”

          “You don’t need to come with me, I can write things myself.”

          She didn’t wait for a response. Anything he says would infuriate her more. Maybe it would be best to do this alone instead of enduring. She might eventually do something really bad to him if this keeps up.

          For weeks she thought he’d realize to stop with the joking around, unfortunately he’s too thick to realize that the jokes are no longer funny to her. Hopefully, she’d be able to confront him about it the next time that they meet.

          There’s a large poster in front of the bookshop announcing an exchange-for-a-book day. What it really is, she’s curious to find out.

          The owner of the shop is at the counter when she opened the door, stacking a large array of books and checking the POS. “There you are... New books to be sorted upstairs, we actually need them down here so I have Woo Hyun come up there to bring down most of the books.”

          “An exchange...”

          “Customer’s can bring in their old books in exchange of another book they find interesting. We do it every third week of the month. Clients find it fun, I do too. There’s all sorts of people coming in and out of the store, it makes for a really fascinating day.”

          “I’ll go upstairs and help with the other books now then...”

          “Introduce yourself to Woo Hyun, he doesn’t have any idea who’s who in our staff.”

~0~

          The attic is in chaos, to put it mildly. She hasn’t seen these many books in all the time she’s been at the shop. Customers finding this event interesting is definitely an understatement.

          There’s another person amidst the books, stacking them by size which is a neat thing to do only she was asked the first time to organize the books by genre.

          “Ermmm, excuse me... Nam Woo Hyun?”

          A head of blond hair comes out from one of the high pile of volumes. “Yes? Are you sent here to help me?” He directs a very winsome smile at her. For a second she was struck at how identical he and the prince looks, except from the blond hair. “Oh, it’s you... I don’t see Sung Gyu. He’s been trailing you around for weeks now. I was starting to think I’ve been replaced.”

          “What?”

          “I still get the best friend role in the story, right?”

          “I hope so, I don’t have any interest in the part...”

          “Weird, a lot have been vying for it. Well, I do hope you really came here to help. There’s a lot of books to sort as you can see.”

          She smiles and started taking a few books from the stack. The sight and scent of books relaxes her. She almost forgot that she’s annoyed at a certain someone. Not until the person who’s sorting the books with her reminded her.

          “He’s right, you are adorable in an odd-ish sort of way...”

          “Pardon me?”

          “And polite too...”

          “I don’t get—“

          “He didn’t tell me you were a bit slow...”

          “Hey!”

          “Kidding... Sorry. You’re adorable. Let’s leave it at that.”

           They continue sorting the books and brought it downstairs. There are a couple of people already doing the trading, listing favourites and exchanging book recommendations. Unable to resist talks about books, Lee Soo Jung decided to join the festivities.

          She was busy relating the story of one of her recommended books when someone tapped her shoulder.

          “Excuse me, I can’t help but to interrupt after hearing you talk about that author...”

          She turns around to check who is speaking. To her surprise it was the boy from earlier, the one she saw by the front of the bookstore. “I saw you...”

          “Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to be creepy. I was supposed to come in but then I remember I haven’t got any books to trade so I went back home...”

          There were a bunch of girls that are staring at them, well the guy particularly. Lee Soo Jung can’t blame them, he’s face is sculptor’s dream.

          “I have, ermmm... a book to recommend you. If you don’t mind.” The sheepish look on his face as he hands over the book is absolutely endearing, particularly with his dimple showing.

          “Sure...” She took the book, examining it. ‘The Doll’ its title embossed in gold on a plain white cover. It looks expensive, she feels guilty not being able to give anything back. “I don’t have anything to exchange it with though...”

          “It’s fine.” He moved closer, looking around as if making sure that no one would hear. Whispering to her, “That book of yours, the one that you’re writing...”

          She’s puzzled she never told anyone that she’s writing anything.

“Write it for me, Narra.”

~0~

          Nam Woo Hyun stacks up the last of the boxes from downstairs, looking around the attic spotting a sling bag in a corner. He thought the assistant already went home. He went back downstairs to check with the other assistants no one has seen the part-timer since they’ve gone down to join the exchange.

          He was about to go back upstairs to double check when there was a banging on the shop’s door.

          “Sung Gyu?” he opens the door, worried because he’s never seen Sung Gyu act like this. “What’s wrong?”

          “Lee Soo Jung, is she still here?”

          “Her bag is; I can’t find the owner.” The distress on his friend’s face is enough to make him feel panic. “Hey, what’s happening?”

          “I think they’ve got her..."