The blaring noise of the school’s bell snapped Samuel out of his dozy state, putting an end to his teacher’s lullaby-sounding voice. He yawned as the class started to get busy preparing to went home after giving their teacher the usual farewell, which came to a halt when the teacher suddenly stopped at the door and said, “Oh, I forgot to tell you your final assignment. You have to make reviews for five books, no foreign book. I want each review no less than two pages of your exercise book. You can submit it at the end of the term, which is two months from now, and you have to bring the books as a proof. Good luck!”

The teacher left with a wave of her hand, ignoring her students’ sounds of displeasure. As for Samuel, he couldn’t even do anything than letting his jaw dropped freely. When his mind finally able to process the assignment, he screamed, “OH MY GOD!” making the whole class turned his head to him. He felt like a bomb had just being thrown right at him. He tugged on his hair in distraught until someone tapped his shoulder, causing him looked up to find Daehwi with a worried face.

“What’s wrong?”

“You know what’s wrong,” Samuel back at pulling his hair out again, “I definitely can’t finish that assignment. Now I’m going to lose my scholarship.”

It had only been a year since he moved to Korea, and while he could understand Korean better than he was back then, he still had some difficulties at it, especially in reading and writing Hangul. He got into this school with athletic scholarship with the requirement that there had to be no red mark on his every subject. He had been struggling with Korean Literature, but he had never felt hopeless until today.

Daehwi sighed in understanding. He had been helping Samuel whenever he had trouble with his subjects because of his lack of Korean skill, but there was nothing he could do this time. He really felt bad for him. He got lost in his thought thinking for a way out before a pair of arms flung around his neck, and he nearly got choked with Seonho dangling on it.

“Why so gloomy? Let’s hang out somewhere!”

Daehwi put his hand on Samuel’s shoulder again. “He’s right, let’s lift your mood a little and maybe we can find a way to solve this problem.”

Samuel just slumped on his desk and said, “I’m not in the mood. Count me out,” which made Seonho look at him confusedly.

“What’s wrong with him?”

Daehwi sighed again. “Well, you hear what the teacher said, and you know how Samuel’s Hangul skill is. See the problem?”

It almost seemed like a lamp bulb had appeared and being inside his head. “Aaah, that assignment. Why don’t you look for books that had been translated to English? You read the English one and brought the Korean one to the teacher. Easy, right?”

It made Samuel sit straight on his chair and turned to them, his eyes brightened. Then realization hit him. “It’s a good idea, but how much it would cost? It can cost as much as my scholarship worth,” he said. Seonho shook his head in disbelief.

“Don’t you ever heard of a library? There’s one inside this school, you know. You can just borrow it!”

Samuel jumped from his chair and hugged both of his friend, screaming, “Thank you, you’re amazing!” before running out of the class, followed by his two best friends’ dazed eyes.

Ten minutes later, Samuel stood on the hallway, staring at the signboard. All the excitement he felt before had evaporated into thin air, replaced by nervousness that started creeping in. Library was a place he thought he would never stepped his foot into until today, and it somehow made him felt unsettled. He never really liked reading, even more here with his Korean skill, and he was too busy with his athletic club. He was afraid that he would feel out of place inside and people would look weirdly at him. He had been feeling that way ever since he came to Korea, with his Hispanic blood clearly shown on his face, and he just hated that feeling. With a his heart dragging on his feet, he forced himself to open the door.

Samuel was getting even more nervous as he stepped inside the space behind the door. The library was so big, and unsurprisingly quiet. The creaking sound of the door, each of his footsteps on the ceramic floor, and even the beatings of his heart sounded deafening inside the pregnant silence. There was no one on sight, as far as he could see even on the reception desk. It should’ve made him feel relieved. However, instead it made him felt lost, since now he didn't know where he should start searching and there was no one to ask.

He started wandering around, passing through the abundant rows of bookshelves and countless books, aged and new. He sometimes took a book only to look at the cover, read the synopsis, searching on internet if the book had English version made, and put it back. If it had, he would write down the title and look for the English version in the library. After forty minutes went by, he started to feel frustrated since he only found one pair of book he could use. This library didn’t have much translated books it seemed. Now that he thought about it, why would they have two versions of a book? He ran his fingers through his hair in annoyance. Only when he was about to put back the fifty-sixth book he had took out had he noticed a pair of round eyes watching him from the slightly wide gap between the books through the other side of the bookshelf.

Time started flowing in slow motion the moment his eyes was captured by the stranger’s deep gaze. His mind went blank. The face that was framed by the wooden grid of the bookshelf and two books so stunningly flawless, and the way sunlight hit its features made it shining so bright it took his breath away. The radiant smile slowly formed by those rosy plump lips made his heart flapping like a hummingbird. As lame as it sounded, which he would cringe on later when he remembered it, everything was just like a scene in some cheesy romantic movies, with him and the beautiful stranger as the leads. And as if it couldn’t get any more cringe-worthy, as Samuel was totally enchanted by the stranger, he felt like he could hear an orchestra playing romantic melody somewhere in the background. He must’ve gone crazy.

He didn't know how many minutes had actually passed for it felt like hours since time had frozen for him. It only started to turn again with a blink of his eyes when the face that had captivated him disappeared. He shut his eyes and opened it again for a few more times, hoping the face would appear again, only to get disappointed. It surely was only a hallucination formed by his stressed out mind. That face was too angelic for anyone to have in reality.

Maybe it’s time for me to give up, he thought as he turned around. However someone had already stood there, blocking the narrow path between the bookshelves that Samuel bumped into him, making the two books in his arm fell down to the floor. The person was taller and slightly bigger than him, so he assumed that he was a senior. He quickly bow down to apologize.

“Sorry! I don’t see you there. I’m really sorry!”

Samuel had expected to hear annoyed remarks or maybe even some angry yelling, yet what embraced his ears was a clear sound of a laugh tinkling his eardrums. God, why am I so cheesy today? Do I become weird because I'm too stressed out? Samuel frowned. Then that person surprised him even more by squatting down to pick up the book he had dropped before, stood back up and handed it over to him. Samuel finally looked up again to say thanks, which got choked inside his lungs when the angelic face from before filled his sight again, smirking in what seemed like amusement. Well, he had to admit he might look like a fool then even though he didn’t even know what kind of expression he made, but that was completely that stranger fault.

“What’s the book you’re looking for?” The stranger suddenly asked. Samuel, who was still in his dazed state, could only stare at the other blankly. “Huh?”

The stranger chuckled. “What’s the book you’re looking for?” he repeat, “Maybe I can help you, since I’m a library assistant.”

“Oh, right. Yeah. I-I’m looking for…” Samuel scratched his head, his mind somehow couldn’t form any words he could verbalize. , he has turned me into an idiot who can’t even complete a single sentence without stuttering. What’s wrong with you, Samuel?

“Do you like this author?” The stranger asked again. The sudden change of topic took him aback as he stared at the other boy confusedly. The stranger gestured at the books on his hands.

“This author, do you like her?”

Samuel shook his head so quickly his head felt like spinning. “No, I mean I don’t know. I just get them for my Korean Literature assignment.”

The stranger nodded in understanding. “Right, I remember now, there’s something like that on my first year too. Why do you bring two versions of this book then?”

Samuel hesitated on whether he should tell the stranger or not. They had just met afterall. But the stranger kept his gaze on him, waiting for his answer, and he somehow couldn’t reject him. “Um... actually, I just moved here. I can understand Korean well when it comes to verbal communication, but I still had a hard time with Hangul. That’s why I intend to read the English version and bring the Korean one to the teacher, but it’s difficult to find in this library and it cost too much if I buy them.”

The stranger raised his perfectly curved and adequately thick eyebrow in curiosity. He crossed his arms on his chest as he leaned closer to Samuel, resting his shoulder on the bookshelf. Samuel just hoped with all his might the other couldn’t hear how hard his heart was banging the wall of his chest trying to jump out screaming “Gosh why are you so gorgeous I can’t!” hysterically.

“Hmm, that’s weird. People usually learned Hangul first before they started speaking Korean. But your Korean sounds perfect to me, there’s almost no foreign accent when you speak it, but you have a hard time with Hangul. It’s kinda strange.”

“W-well, my mother is Korean. She often spoke to me in Korean since I was a child, so I’m used to it. However I just can’t get used to Hangul since I’ve only learned it when I came here. I’m okay reading short paragraphs, but reading a full book is still too much.”

The stranger hummed, “I get it now. So you can understand Korean perfectly when you listen to it?”

Samuel nodded reluctantly, puzzled. “Almost, but yeah.”

“Well, why don’t you pick some books and I read it for you?”

Samuel’s eyes widened, his jaw dropped. The offer caught him by surprise. He hastily waved his free hand. “No, no, you don’t have to do that. I don’t want to burden you.” Why was this stranger willing to go through such a length for me when we just met for the first time? Samuel wondered.

“It’s okay. In return, you have to teach me English. I’ve always wanted to learn English from a native speaker, and you’re the right person for it. We can get benefit from each other. How about that?”

Samuel thought about it. He didn’t want to spent too much for books he would only read once, and searching around for a library which provide English translated books would cost too much of his time when he didn’t even have that much with his athletic club activity and short deadline. This was the best option he could get.

“Okay, let’s do that.”

And the stranger smiled. A toothy smile so bright it blinded him, so adorable it melted him. The stranger moved away from where he rested on the bookshelf and held out his hand. “My name is Park Jihoon. I’m in my third year. What’s your name?”

Samuel moved the books to his other arms to hold the hand reached out for him. “Kim Samuel, first year. Please take care of me.”

“Me too.”