Sheet 2

Once Upon A Time

          The bus ride to the suburbs of Jeonju wasn’t all that tiring. Her aunt promised to pick her up at the bus stop. The text message arrived fifteen minutes ago. She doesn’t think it takes that long to get here from their house.

          I should’ve walked. She thought to herself, gazing at her surroundings for the first time since she arrived at her destination.

          A guy wearing sunglasses and a black beanie sat next to her on the bench. The music blasting from his earphones is loud, rock music and he sings along with it. Soo Jung finds his voice a bit hypnotizing but he looks so much like those grudge punks she often sees on TV it’s scary to even sit next to him. It’s mostly prejudice though she can’t help but be cautious. Deciding to move seats, the guy suddenly stood up waving a hand at another person riding a mini bike. Soo Jung looked at him one last time before fishing for her mobile phone to send a message to her aunt to inquire on their whereabouts. As she’s stuffing her phone back into her shoulder bag, she saw something shiny next to her sneakered feet. Picking it up, it turned out to be a necklace with an infinite symbol for a pendant.

          It must be owned by that guy, she says out loud. A few people looked at her like she’d gone crazy. Mentally reprimanding herself, she looks at the necklace one more time trying to decide if she should just leave it where she found it or surrender it over to the lost and found (she actually has no idea where the lost and found is located). She’s having a mental dilemma when a familiar voice started calling her name.

          “Jung-unnie! Soo Jung-unnie! Over here!”

          Pocketing the necklace, she ran to hug her cousin. “Myeong Eunnie! It’s been a while!”

         “I’m glad you chose to stay with us during vacation rather than locking yourself inside that library. Too bad I won’t be able to show you around, I have piano and singing lessons to attend to…”

         “Really?”

         “Yeah, but I’m free until tomorrow, so we can still go around town…”

         “That’s a relief then, I can’t wait!”

          “Girls! It’s getting late! I still need to do the groceries…”

        The girls smiled at each other and arm in arm skipped towards the car, all the while chatting non-stop.

~0~

        Her aunt has a friend that owns a second-hand bookshop. She could only sigh happily at the coincidence. The first time they visited, Soo Jung immediately fell in love with the quaint shop. The smell of old books makes her nostalgic.

        She was busy looking through the old titles in the shelves that she barely heard her aunt calling her.

       “I knew you’d be in your own world again…”

       “Oh, Auntie… I’m sorry…”

       “My friend here told me she needs an extra hand… You don’t mind that I volunteered you, do you?”

        Lee Soo Jung was so elated she’s not able to say anything but nod her head vigorously. She could start today if they asked her to.

        “I’ll give you pay, of course. You can work between 3pm ‘till closing time. We close at around 7pm. It’s more of sorting books that have been sent or donated to us. You can take your time doing that. So basically the entire attic flat is yours.”

       “How can I say ‘No’ to that offer, Auntie? Even if you don’t pay me. When can I start?”

        Amused by Soo Jung’s enthusiasm, the store owner asked her to start when she wanted. She would’ve preferred to start that very day but her aunt insisted she go out shopping and sight-seeing with her and Myeong Eun. They won’t have plenty of time to bond once Myeong Eun starts her music lessons and Soo Jung her part-time.

~0~

          The next day finds our heroine an hour earlier than she’s supposed to but she felt restless being alone at her aunt’s house. So she decided she’ll just wander around the second floor. Checking the stack of books, most of them were either fairytales or history-centred. Being the curious little butterfly that she is, she sets aside some of that has peaked her interest to read during her free time or if allowed, to take home.

          At exactly 3pm, she started with the task that the owner has assigned to her. Making her own to-do list, she began arranging books by genre and listing down their titles and authors.

          And the time passed by without our heroine noticing.