The best smell in the world is that of old books; they’re full of rich experiences, a lifetime of memories. Some old books have more personality than some individuals; they’ve seen more of the world, met more people.

That is why I have chosen to spend the rest of my life working at Read Between The Lines; a small vintage bookstore nestled cozily away from the hustle and bustle of the city. I love this store as if it were my own; it’s the one place I feel comfortable in, like I belong. I’ve been working here for 5 years and I’m still in love with it.

“Kwon Jaehwa, didn’t I tell you to go on your break 10 minutes ago?” I’m pulled from my thoughts by the voice of Min Yoongi, the owner of the store and my best friend.

“Where else would I rather be during my break than here?”

“You need to get a life, really” He shook his head, a smile playing on his lips. I just rolled my eyes, I was used to him teasing, and I knew he never meant it maliciously.

“How is it fair that you got given this store when I appreciate it so much more than you do?” I pouted slightly, standing up from the short stool that I had been using as a replacement chair. Yoongi had gotten this store as a birthday present from his grandfather; yeah, that’s how rich his family was, they just gave each other businesses, houses and cars as presents. However, it definitely wasn’t exactly what Yoongi wanted; he was more interested in music, not ‘dusty old books’ as he put it.

“You’ll be closing up this afternoon, Hoseok and I are going out for dinner so I’ll be leaving early” Yoongi had been in a relationship with his boyfriend Hoseok for almost 3 years, yet they still hadn’t left the honeymoon stage. Yoongi, normally a lethargic individual with an ‘I don’t give a about anything’ attitude, turned into a aegyo filled marshmallow when Hoseok was around. It’s safe to say, I avoided being around them as much as I could; not that I had a problem with Hoseok, he was kind, treated Yoongi well and didn’t take advantage of Yoongi’s money (as his other boyfriends had done in the past).

“Wait just a minute, I have plans too” It was my 1 year anniversary with my boyfriend, Gunwoo, and he had something special planned.

“With Gunwoo?” Yoongi scrunched his nose up as if he had gotten a whiff of some foul odor. Yoongi didn’t like Gunwoo and he made it quite obvious. He thought Gunwoo wasn’t good enough for me and that he didn’t treat me right. Yeah ok so Gunwoo sometimes left me waiting for him for hours and sometimes he would ignore my calls for weeks but he always had a reason, sometimes it was just that he occasionally felt the need to be away from human contact and I respected that because I understood it. Of course there was that one thing with Sojin but that was all sorted out now anyway. Not that my relationship was any of Yoongi’s business.

“Yes with Gunwoo, it’s our 1 year anniversary”

“1 year too long if you ask me” He mumbled under his breath, obviously not intending for me to hear.

“I don’t recall asking you” I snapped back. Gunwoo was the main cause of the rare fights we had; which created another thing Yoongi would bring up in his case against Gunwoo.

“Jaehwa, I’m sorry but I really think you need to find someone better, someone that treats you like the most precious thing in the world” He walked over and wrapped his arms around me.

“Gunwoo does” His eyebrows rose but he chose not to argue.

“Sometimes I wish I wasn’t gay because then you know we would be dating” He joked, bringing a smile to my lips. I was so grateful I had Yoongi; I just wish he would out of my love life.

 

In the end Yoongi decided to just close up early; it wasn’t a big deal, we didn’t get many customers anyway. And this way we could both go on our dates; even if Yoongi didn’t like me dating Gunwoo, he never intentionally stopped me from seeing him.

“Call me if you need me” Yoongi shouted to me as he was leaving. He always kept his phone on him and answered every time I called. It was probably super annoying to Hoseok but I was glad Yoongi was so caring; he was like the big brother I always wanted but never had. It wasn’t that often that I actually needed to call him, and I made sure to only contact him in emergency situations when he was with Hoseok. However because I didn’t drive, hated taking public transport at night, and there were times when Gunwoo didn’t show up, I sometimes needed to call Yoongi to come take me home.

“Have fun!” I yelled back. I heard a grunt in reply and the front door closed. I grabbed my phone from behind the counter and composed a quick message to Gunwoo.

I’m leaving work now, I’ll see you in 20 xx

He had asked me to meet him at the little café a couple businesses down from Read Between The Lines, and from there he’d take me to our real date location. But first, I needed to gussy up. I lived in the apartment building next door, the only apartment building in this little town square. I was quite fortunate to live there; it was in walking distance of everything I needed.

 

I walked into the dingy building, ecstatic to see that the elevator had finally been fixed. I was on the 5^th floor and I almost died walking up all those stairs everyday. I’ll admit it, I’m not athletic in the slightest.

I clicked the little button by the closed doors causing it to light up, indicating to the elevator that I was waiting for it.

It was making some pretty scary sounds but no way was I walking up all those stairs, I would probably pass out before I could make it to my date.

*Ding*

The elevator doors opened jerkily; so it seemed they had restored the elevator to its previous standards, not to an actual safe standard. The building was quite old, just as was everything in this area, and it was fairly close to being a health and safety hazard but it was cheap and the landlord was friendly.

I didn’t even realize there was anyone else in the elevator until I heard a very loud cough, making me almost jump out of my skin.

“Ah, I’m sorry” His voice was gentle and slightly croaky. The feeling of anxiety pooled in my stomach and I murmured a reply, I really wasn’t good with people.

I snuck a quick glance at him. Even under the flickering dim light of the elevator I could tell he was attractive, very attractive. He had chocolate coloured hair that fell slightly over his small eyes. His cheeks were kind of chubby which made him look young but there was something in his expression that made him look very mature. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt, one tight enough that there was no guessing needed to know how built he was. And his lips, oh my, they were plump and looked like they would be very soft. What was I doing? It was my 1-year anniversary and here I am thinking about some stranger’s lips. I quickly averted my eyes.   

There was an awkward atmosphere and I wanted the damn elevator to hurry up. Quite suddenly, the whole world seemed to shake, causing me to fall directly onto the stranger with the nice lips.

“Oh my god, what was that? Was that an earthquake? Am I going to die in here?” I was panicking and I couldn’t stop myself. I stiffened as I felt two hands on my shoulders.

“I don’t think it’s that extreme, the elevator just broke down” He gently pushed me off of him and I blushed, in my panic I forgot that I had fallen on top of him.

“The elevator can’t be broken again, it just got fixed” I wailed, why must I have the worst luck? On today of all days?

“I know, I thought we’d finally have a fully functioning elevator, one that didn’t feel like it was going to break off it’s wire and drop down the shaft”

“Don’t even say that” Now all I could think about was his words, as if I wasn’t panicking enough already. He seemed to realize just how much I was freaking out, and reached out to rest his hand on my arm.

“I was only joking, it’ll be fine, last time I got stuck in here, I was out within the hour” He smiled and I almost forgot about everything else, my mind stuck on that smile. His eyes disappeared as he cheeks rose with his mouth. His teeth were perfectly straight and so white that I swear the small space lit up faintly. But like I said, it almost made me forget, almost.

“Hour? I can’t be here for an hour”

“Why? Are you claustrophobic?” He looked at me with his head titled, his eyes shone with mix of concern and curiosity.

“No I’m not, I have a date tonight with my boyfriend, it’s our 1 year anniversary” I could feel tears begin to well up in my eyes. Gunwoo would be so angry; I didn’t want to make him angry, I just wanted him to be happy and to love me.

“Aw please don’t cry, I’ll call the landlord on the emergency phone” He stood up, grabbing the red phone that was built into the wall beside the buttons. He spoke into the phone, saying a few things but I wasn’t really paying attention. Things between Gunwoo and I hadn’t been really well lately and even though he had never said it, I felt like tonight was our last chance to fix everything.

“I’m sorry, he said it would take at least half an hour to get the people out here” He really did look sorry, casting his eyes down and smiling apologetically. “Can’t you text your boyfriend? To let him know what’s happened?”

Of course, why didn’t I think of that? I whipped my phone out of my pocket and clicked on messages.

I typed out a quick message cluing him into what was happening. Straight after I had clicked send, the phone suddenly powered down. Could this get any worse?

“Is this building haunted or something? I had at least 50% battery when I left work…are there ghosts stealing my phone’s power?” I heard faint giggling come from the other side of the enclosed space.

“I’m sure ghosts would have more important things to do than steal your phone’s battery power” He looked very amused, and I would’ve been very angry if his laugh hadn’t been so cute. “But you know, they do say this building is haunted” There was a small glint in his eye as a shuffled towards me slightly. I felt a chill run through me and down my spine; I hated ghost stories.

“Well, I’ve lived here for three years and I’ve never seen or heard any ghosts” I tried to sound brave and indifferent but the flickering light was diming further and fear was piercing my heart.

“You might not have but there has been many sightings, most involving a young girl holding a teddy bear” He shuffled forward again, lowering his voice. Unconsciously I leaned forward slightly, intrigued by his words but also terrified out of my mind.

“They say this girl lived here with her mother 50 years ago, they lived on the 5^th floor, apartment 513” I was shivering now and I thought my heart was going to explode; I lived in apartment 513. “One afternoon, the little girl was playing with her teddy by herself when her mother went crazy…she picked up the kitchen knife…she went to her daughter’s bedroom and…” He kept pausing dramatically, the only sound heard in those silences was our breathing, mine coming out fast and shaky. He looked me dead in the eye, my heart stopping all together for a moment, the silence suddenly feeling heavy. “CHOPPED HER UP!” I jumped at the sudden volume to his voice, almost hitting my heard against the wall. He burst into laughter, nothing like his giggles from early; no this was a full on laughing fit. I frowned, his cuteness not enough to keep me from being mad this time.

“I’m sorry…It’s just…I couldn’t resist” He caught my expression and attempted to apologize, not sounding very sincere as he kept giggling in between words. “I’ve seen you come out of your place before, that’s how I knew where you lived” His small giggles turned into coughs, deep chesty coughs that sounded like he was about to cough up a lung.

“Hey, are you ok?” I was still mad at him but I didn’t want him to die; I reached out my hand, unsure of what to do.

“I’m fine, just a cold, nothing to worry about” His smile didn’t reach his eyes but who was I to question it?

“Ok then…Um…Sir” We’d been in here for god knows how long and I realized I didn’t even know his name.

“Jimin, Park Jimin” His smile looking more genuine now.

“Jaehwa, Kwon Jaehwa” I felt my lips mirror his; damn his smile was contagious.

*Ding*

The doors opened, letting in more light than my eyes were used to.

“Uh, sorry about that” Pyongho, our landlord, mumbled sheepishly in his gruff voice.

“No problem” Jimin replied, helping me off of the floor. In the light of the lobby, I was able to see Jimin more clearly than in the elevator and my god, he was even more attractive than I initially thought. At once, I suddenly remembered Gunwoo and our date.

“What time is it? How long were we in there for?” I yelped, certain I had missed the date.

“It’s 7:30, you were in there for about 2 hours” 7:30?! We were supposed to meet at 6. I hoped he had gotten my message and wasn’t angry or upset with me. I politely (well as politely as I could be whilst trying to rush to the nearest power outlet) excused myself, running up the stairs with Jimin’s voice yelling out “let’s meet up again some time”.

 

My phone began to boot back up as soon as I plugged it in, and I nervously checked it. No messages and no missed calls. My eyebrows knitted together, why hadn’t he contacted me?

♪ you got a meseji ♪

 The screen lit up with a message from Gunwoo.

I can’t make it

How quick the tears sprung to my eyes was annoying, they were already trained to water when Gunwoo made a move. There was no ‘sorry’, no ‘I love you’, not even anything about me being trapped in the elevator even though my phone indicated that it had definitely sent through.

I flopped on my bed, why did I keep letting him hurt me like this? Oh right, because as much as he doesn’t seem to give a about me, I loved him.

 

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A/N: Firstly I just want to say that I absolutely love Gunwoo and I hated having to make him such a bad guy but you know, someone had to be it. 
Gunwoo and Chaejin are members of MYNAME, they aren't very popular even though they should be because they are ing great; so if you don't listen to them, you should. Also, I wrote this before I wrote my elevator one shot so it's purely a concidence..apparently I have a thing for people meeting in broken down elevators.

I really need to stop procrastinating writing my other chaptered fan fiction (Love Is Just A Game Of Chance) with writing this (and my other multiple Jikook one shots) but I started this a while ago and am currently writing chapter 3 and I love this story so much more than anything else right now. I'll try to upload regularly but I'm bad at sticking to any kind of schedule.
Sorry this author's note is so long, any other a/n I write won't be this long, I promise.