Blending in is one of Dahyun’s many talents. She can easily mold her own personality to fit in with any kind of crowd, any kind of event, and any kind of place. Unfortunately, there are a few exceptions.

For one, the library is definitely not her scene.

She doesn’t know if she should be using this adjective on something that’s not a person, but she doesn’t know how to describe it better because she simply finds it intimidating. The university’s main library has five floors, excluding the basement, and Dahyun doesn’t get why it has to have so many floors and wings and rooms when some of them don’t even contain any books.

The moment she got into this dreadful place for a compulsory freshman tour, she decided that she’s never going to step back into it again.

Well, people change their minds sometimes. For Dahyun, it happened the moment they entered the library’s main hall.

It was the most intimidating part of the library, with its high ceiling, its wide floor space, and its shelves so tall that they have to have ladders leaning against them. Between the rows and rows of these bookcases are rows and rows of long tables, and Dahyun shivers at the thought of students actually using them.

She doesn’t even have to imagine it for that thought to come to mind. It’s only the first week of school, yet there are already a handful of people who are sitting there and studying, and personally, Dahyun can’t see herself doing the same thing.

Well, until she saw the most beautiful girl she ever laid her eyes on amongst the people she called ‘nerds’ in her head, that is.

The following week at around the same time, she finds herself coming back to the library to see if the said girl happens to be around, and Dahyun feels as if the heavens are smiling down at her when she actually spots the stranger there, on the exact same seat where she last saw her.

Ever since then, Dahyun would swing by the library every Tuesday at four, because every single time, the girl would be there sitting at the third table from the left along the seventh row from the main hall’s entrance. She doesn’t know if this person spends more of her time in the library, but Dahyun would never go there on any other day at any other time. Setting foot in the said place wouldn’t be worth it if the girl weren’t there, and Dahyun would rather not take any chances.

Over time, however, she’s learned to actually tolerate her weekly ritual. She would either grab a random book from a random shelf or bring her own textbook, trying her best to keep a low profile by sitting two or three rows away from the cute girl to steal glances while actually doing some reading. Sometimes, she even finds herself thinking that the library is not the worst place to spend two hours of her afternoon at all.

And so she keeps this up, alone, because God forbid her roommate ever knows about it. Dahyun considers this as merely motivating and tricking herself into studying, but she’s certain that her best friend would call it stalking.

She manages to keep it a secret for two entire months until her dear friend approaches her one Tuesday afternoon and dumps three books on the table.

“Dahyun?” Chaeyoung harshly whispers as she sits across from Dahyun. “You’re here?”

To mask her nervousness about getting caught, Dahyun uses sarcasm. “Well, you’re not just imagining me, are you?”

“Why, yes, I actually feel like my mind is tricking me into thinking I’m actually seeing you inside a library,” Chaeyoung counters as she sits across Dahyun. “What are you doing here?”

“Studying,” Dahyun replies matter-of-factly, all while keeping her voice down since they’re in a library after all. “What else would I be doing here?”

At that, Chaeyoung narrows her eyes at Dahyun and hums unconvinced before looking around, and Dahyun holds her breath as her friend sees her crush and turns back to her with a knowing smirk.

“What?” Dahyun asks before going back to reading and pretending her friend can’t read her like a book just as open as the one she’s holding. She sees Chaeyoung’s hand lifting one side of the book.

“Women’s Studies, huh,” Chaeyoung says as she peers at the book’s title. “Is that what they call stalking these days?”

Called it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dahyun feigns innocence.

“I bet there’s one woman here that you would really like to study, is what I’m saying,” Chaeyoung supplies. “You know, the only girl who’s sitting near and who also happens to be attractive as heck. I’ve known you since middle school, and I know your type all too well, Kim Dahyun. I see right through you.”

“Shut up,” Dahyun counters weakly. “I really am studying.”

“Sure, I believe you,” Chaeyoung answers, but the way she draws out the first word and the look on her face say otherwise. “You look weird with your glasses by the way.”

“For real?” Dahyun says, consciously pushing her reading glasses up the bridge of her nose. “Damn it. It’s because I got circular lenses, isn’t it? Do you think a rectangular frame would look better on me? Should I take these off?”

“Why do you care? You can’t read without them, and you’re here to study, right?”

Dahyun breathes deeply in an attempt to restrain herself from reaching across the table and smacking the smug grin off of her friend’s face. “You’re right. I am here to study.”

To prove a point, Dahyun spends the next few minutes trying to bury her nose into her book and read the words in front of her, and sure, learning is important and knowledge is power and all, but it doesn’t seem worth it if she can’t even see the only reason she’s here, the pretty girl who’s sitting right behind—

“Do you want me to move?” Chaeyoung asks, and Dahyun sighs.

“Yes, please.”

“Thought so,” Chaeyoung says when Dahyun finally relents. Instead of moving to another seat, however, Chaeyoung stands up and walks right up to another table, the girl’s table, as Dahyun helplessly watches in horror.

As she sees them start talking, Dahyun opts to keep her head down as she convinces herself that no, Chaeyoung absolutely didn’t.

She only looks up when Chaeyoung waves a hand near her face and says, “Let’s go.”

“W-where are we going?” Dahyun asks dumbly as Chaeyoung steals her book to put it on top of her own.

“We’re gonna go sit with her. You know, not because she’s cute and you’ll get a nicer view when you sit on the same table as her or anything but to give space for others who need to study together.” Chaeyoung says all this as she slings her bag onto her shoulder and gathers all the books into her arms. “But you’re welcome.”

“Chaeyoung, w-wait,” Dahyun calls out, as loud as she can in a library anyway, but to no avail. Chaeyoung walks towards the girl’s table to sit beside her then places Dahyun’s book on the seat across the stranger, and Dahyun sighs before following suit.

“Thanks again, Mina,” she hears Chaeyoung say as she sits in front of Mina, and Dahyun’s stomach twists in the best kind of way because she finally knows the other girl’s name. “By the way, this is Dahyun.”

“Ah, we finally meet,” Mina greets, and Dahyun feels like she’s about to combust because: one, Mina sounds like an angel; two, Mina is looking straight at her; and three, Mina apparently becomes a hundred times more gorgeous when she smiles. “I’d ask you if you come here often, but I already know the answer.”

So much for being low-key, Dahyun thinks as she wishes the ground will just swallow her whole and chuckles nervously. “So you’ve noticed me?”

“It’s kinda hard not to,” Mina replies, but Dahyun isn’t entirely sure whether Mina meant it in a good way or a bad one.

“So Dahyun comes here often, huh?” Chaeyoung interrupts. “I’ve known her since middle school, and I never knew she was this fond of studying.”

Although Chaeyoung was obviously teasing Dahyun, she’s directing her words towards Mina, so Dahyun directs her explanation towards Mina too. “I’m just trying to improve my study habits since we’re in college now.”

“You know, even if Dahyun really is trying to change her lazy, study-phobic ways, she has always been a homebody, so one would think that she’d just opt to study in our dorm.”

“I like the ambience here, okay?” Dahyun argues, still looking at Mina instead of Chaeyoung. “It’s… conducive to learning.”

“The ambience,” Chaeyoung repeats as she finally turns to Dahyun. “Sure, let’s call it that.”

Before Dahyun can reach over and shut her friend’s mouth for her, Chaeyoung suddenly stands up. “Oh, shoot. I need to run to my class.”

Dahyun already knew it was a lie the moment Chaeyoung finished her sentence, but Mina can only suspiciously glance at her watch before asking, “You have classes at six?”

“Uhh at 5 PM, actually. It’s a make-up class and I forgot all about it. Anyway, I’ll get going.” Fortunately, Chaeyoung isn’t that bad of a liar and grabs her bag and books before Mina can question her any further. “See you at home, and see you around,” she says to Dahyun and Mina respectively, then leaves without waiting for the other two to bid her goodbye.

With that, Dahyun is left alone with Mina, and she’s not sure whether she wants to strangle her best friend or to thank her. As she spends the next few minutes just awkwardly looking at Mina while the girl reads and writes on her notes, she’s definitely leaning towards the first option.

Dahyun is starting to forget where she is when Mina breaks the silence with, “Please stop staring at me.”

“I… I’m sorry,” Dahyun apologizes, her face heating up in embarrassment, and bites her tongue before she can say that she can’t help it.

“Look, I don’t actually mind the staring, but I’m studying and you’re too distracting.”

Wait, what?

“Oh.” Dahyun’s face gets even warmer, although it’s caused by an entirely different emotion this time. “So… does that mean you won’t mind it if I stare at you when you’re not studying?” She asks, just to clarify.

“Sure,” Mina confirms. “Be my guest.”

Things are going way too smoothly for her, so Dahyun blinks in disbelief. She figures she should probably not complain about it though, so she decides to be bold, regardless of whether all of this will just turn out to be a dream in the end or not. “Can I ask when will you not be studying?”

Instead of giving a verbal response, Mina brings out a folder from her bag, pulls out a piece of paper from it, and hands the paper to Dahyun. Printed on it is what Dahyun assumes to be Mina’s schedule which includes not only her classes but also her fixed schedule for additional studying, and of course Mina is that organized.

“It says here that you’re only gonna study until 6 PM,” Dahyun points out and tries to act like this is brand new information for her. “Do you have anything to do afterwards?”

“It depends.”

“Depends on what?”

“Depends on you,” Mina says simply, her eyes not leaving the book in front of her, and Dahyun is grateful for that or else Mina would see how her jaw literally dropped for a second.

“Umm, okay, so do you wanna have dinner right after this, maybe?”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“I mean you look cute in specs, so sure, I guess,” Mina replies, and wow, is everything really supposed to be this easy?

“Really?” Dahyun asks, still in doubt. Luck is rarely on her side, meaning it’s been a while since the last time she has both simply and successfully asked a pretty girl out. “Just like that?”

“Just like that, yeah,” Mina affirms, looking up from what she’s doing to meet Dahyun’s gaze. “Can you imagine how much you would have accomplished by now if only you hadn’t wasted two months not approaching me?”

“Well, I’m thinking about it now,” Dahyun grumbles, mentally berating herself for being passive.

“You have plenty of time to make up for it though, so don’t worry,” Mina reassures. “Just let me finish this first, and I’m all yours.”

“O-okay,” Dahyun chokes out, flustered because of Mina’s choice of words.

Mina gives Dahyun one last smile before returning her focus to her notes, and Dahyun sits back and sighs.

Perhaps libraries aren’t so bad after all.

A/N: Send prompts and ruin my list of ships @ twitter.com/minamyouwu.