Next stop is Seoul station. I repeat; Seoul station.

Kyungsoo looked up from his phone, picked his bag up and slung it over his shoulders while making his way through the sweaty bodies pressing against his own as he battled his way towards the exit door on the train.

 

Exits are on the left side. I repeat; left side.

He let his shoulders relax and stepped out of the train, kicking some pebbles out of the way as he walked towards the station exit where an elevator was standing invitingly, door open like being ready for a hug, directly in front of him.

Stepping in, he pressed the “close door” button before any other person could enter after him and stared boringly at the digits over the elevator door, praying nobody was waiting to enter some floors below him.

 

Ding.

 

Oh me, he thought as he bore holes into the door that was now sliding open, allowing a black haired teenage boy enter. Kyungsoo pressed himself against the wall on the other side of the intruder and picked up his phone only to stare at a black screen. . He had forgotten to charge his cellphone and was already late for work. Can this thing move any faster? Jesus.

Kyungsoo tapped his feet against the floor, something he always did when he was nervous or simply annoyed.

He didn’t know when or how he noticed, but he glanced at the teenage boy, picking up on how his breathing was ragged. His hands kept fidgeting. The boy was dressed in a simple dark grey t-shirt and black skinny jeans.  Though he couldn’t see his face clearly, he also noticed how his hair looked like it hadn’t been treated for months.

Weird, he thought, as it was January and the kid was only wearing a t-shirt. Kyungsoo looked at his phone again, forgetting that his battery had run out and groaned, visibly annoyed. The elevator stopped again, and Kyungsoo couldn’t help but curse under his breath as he decided to get out of the elevator and run down the stairs instead. To hell with electronics.

 

He came in 20 minutes late for work and decided that his shoes had the most interesting pattern he had ever laid his eyes on as his boss was scolding him.

‘’Now get back to work.’’ The lady before him said as she pointed angrily at the new incomes of John Green books. I would’ve been done by now if you hadn’t lashed out on me.

 

‘’What was that?’’ She her heels as her coffee colored eyes burned his chocolate colored ones.

 

‘’I’ll be on my way boss’’ grumpy old hag.

Kyungsoo worked at a library situated in the corner of the town, not too far from where he lives. It wasn’t that big though it contained nearly all the necessary books to fill his hungry mind. The library also had a wide range of books in many fields of Greek studies.

The boy loved working there, as there were very few people around. The library smelled of old books and black coffee, the sound of shoes clacking with a soft patter against the wooden floor and the occasional sound of someone turning the page; it was all soothing to him.

He let his fingers wander over the new books; it’s skin feeling soft against his own. Gripping the metal cart, he pushed it towards the John Green collection and listened to the squeaking of the old wheels against the oak floor.

 

There were people talking in hushed voices, sounds of chairs screeching against the floor, low tapping of keyboards from the computer section and slurps coming from the counter where his boss was sipping from a cup of coffee while glaring at him with her old musty face that practically screamed; No smiling allowed.

And Kyungsoo smiled, mainly because she hated it, and maybe also because the world was starting to hate him a bit too. He considered it all right though, as he wasn’t too fond of any of them anyway.

 

He closed his eyes, inhaling. The place had a strong scent of imagination and new ideas. He could hear the faint sound of the copy machine around the corner humming occasionally and felt his body relaxing. It always seemed to be like this. The library welcomed him with open arms, the warmth engulfing him and luring him further in to the comfort of books and quotes from pure and fresh imagination. He’d honestly choose reading books rather than partying in a heartbeat, why, you ask? Parties were simply put disgusting.

Sorry, let me rephrase that; people were simply put disgusting. Human beings were created to be selfish.

They seemed to only care for themselves, never being happy for you when things are going right, only seek refugee when they have problems but later not caring if you’ve got your own share of them and they never ever seem to see things from your point of view. People are still selfish after someone close to them dies, crying because they can no longer provide you with any of the things you did when you were alive. Kyungsoo seemed to only be able to put up with fictional characters rather than real life people.

 

A cough was heard from behind, as he turned startled to meet the stone cold eyes of the old grumpy geezer,

‘’Shhhh!’’ she hissed at his face angrily, spit raining on his pale skin.

‘’What? I didn’t even say anything’’

‘’Now you did’’, his boss her heels and walked away, her shoes leaving cold sounds of soft thudding against the floor. Sheesh.

 

Kyungsoo groans in annoyance as he clasps on his Daniel Wellington watch. It was already 22:35. He glares at the innocent black screen of his phone cursing under his breath as he for the third time that day, forgot that it had run out of battery.

He breathed out and watched as the fog before him disappeared as fast as it came before finally taking a step in to the convenience store right across the library. Draping the hood of his black hoodie over his head, he made his way further into the store, grabbing a shopping basket along with him.

Taro dried fish snacks, black bean noodles, two cabbages, fried tofu, one dragon fruit, a package of peaches and finally one slice of a baby watermelon. Carefully placing the basket on the marbled floor, he grabbed his left arm massaging it as he let his eyes wander over the limited selection of drinks in front of him.

Hmm, he tapped his chin once before deciding to go with Dr. Pepper. His hand reached out to grab a bottle when he saw a slightly tanned hand snatching the bottle he was reaching for, and watched as the person walked on without a care in the world.

It all happened too fast, his brain processing what had just happened too slowly.  The details he caught on to were 1. The person was definitely a male. 2. He was wearing a black hoodie. 3. He had tanned skin and 4. His name would likely be carved on a gravestone before he could utter the word lectiophilia.

Piece of , Kyungsoo huffed and grabbed a bottle, angrily shoving it into the basket before picking the basket up and wandering around the store to make sure not to bump into the stranger again.

He was about to grab a bag of chips when an employee of the store rested his hand on Kyungsoo’s shoulder.

Kyungsoo eyed the elder’s hand for a bit. The guy seemed to be in his late 20’s he observed from the wrinkles on his face, Kyungsoo’s eyes still lingered on the male’s hand before opening his mouth to speak, ‘’the – ‘’

‘’I’m afraid you have to come along with me, sir’’ the employee spoke, his voice firm.

‘’What for?’’ Kyungsoo felt his eyebrow twitching.

The man put on a fake smile before pushing Kyungsoo towards a room by the wall that Kyungsoo immediately assumed was the office.

The employee opened the door for Kyungsoo before slowly guiding him towards a black sofa seated by the left wall beside of the door he had just entered through.

The office walls were painted white, the space was kind of big but at the same time kind of small. There were about 5-8 screens surveilling the entire department store.

There was a desk in the middle of the room with a black-leathered chair resting behind it. Kyungsoo sat down at the plush sofa and noticed that there was seven chairs lined up against the wall across of him, making the office resemble much more like a waiting room.

‘’Make this quick, I have some where else I have to be.’’ At home.

‘’I’m afraid I wont be able to dismiss you just yet’’ the employee spoke stiffly.

‘’And why exactly is that?’’ Kyungsoo cocked his eyebrows, he didn’t even do except for, well… shop?

‘’I’ll be able to dismiss you once one of you return the items you’ve stolen from our department’’

One of you…? Kyungsoo turned to his left, baffled that there had been an individual that had been sitting next to him the entire time.

Young male, black hoodie and tan skin. It clicked together in Kyungsoo’s mind as the dots connected; the guy who snatched the drink from him earlier sat quietly gazing at nothing in particular with a slight frown on his face. No wonder he hadn’t noticed him earlier, he sat rooted on his seat like a statue, not moving except for the occasional blinks and his breathing heaving his chest up and down.

Kyungsoo only got a view of his side profile but then turned and let out a cheeky laugh before speaking up,

‘’Honestly, you’re wasting everyone’s time, and if you didn’t catch my words earlier; I have somewhere important to be. So, do you mind?’’ Kyungsoo got up to push past the employee, who simply pushed Kyungsoo back down on the sofa with the same stoic face and robotic voice,

‘’Sorry sir, but I do mind’’ the fake smile appeared again,

‘’One second’’ the guy said again and walked out of the office.

Kyungsoo gritted his teeth in annoyance before he turned to look at the male sitting beside of him again: black hoodie, black skinny jeans and black shoes.

He then looked at his own clothes; Black hoodie, black skinny jeans and black shoes.

Are you ing serious right now? Okay, so maybe they looked the same if you watched from a surveillance camera, but the height difference was much too obvious, how could they make such a mistake, were they blind? Do they honestly think that a thief would wander around the store for longer than necessary?

The room was quiet except for the rusty squeaking from the fan spinning above them and the rain tapping on the window on the wall behind the sofa.

Kyungsoo started fidgeting; a habit that appeared when he was either pissed off or nervous. In this case he was pissed off.

 

He tapped his feet against the floor making the whole sofa shake violently.

The male beside him let out a sharp breath, he turned to stare at Kyungsoo’s eyes with such intensity it almost made him shiver. Almost.

The boy stood up broadly and switched seats so that he was now sitting on the chair on the opposite side of his, Kyungsoo now getting a full view of his face.

Radiantly his sun kissed skin seemed to be glowing even through the dim lit room. His hair was as black as the sky on a cold December night, loose strands of hair framing his head.

The guy was staring out the window, but was he really seeing? His eyed seemed so sad, so vacant. It was as if he held no true emotions.

He was seeing, Kyungsoo decided. He didn’t know exactly what it was, but he was sure that the guy was seeing something. Maybe it was all in his mind, or maybe he was doing drugs.

But those eyes told Kyungsoo this stranger had existed, but had he ever really lived?

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