There aren’t too many reasons for Jung Eunji to visit the library everyday. Matter of fact, she only had two. First, she’s in dire need of knowledge about trigonometric ratios in geometry. And second, she’s too stressed out to deal with geometry in her life that she needed an escape from reality which is visiting the children’s section, flipping through the pages of Stuart Little, and making eye contact with him – the guy whose messy hair screamed the death of her because it was perfection in hues that made him shine. Technically, she had four reasons but she convinced herself that they were only two. In reality, the last of the four was what really kept her excited in visiting the library every single day.

Every time she’d catch a glimpse of him through her hooded eyes, he’d lift his lips upward in a tiny smirk and look back at her. She’ll then return her gaze down to the book she’s reading and it’d be his turn to study her features form afar. Once, he mouthed off a simple “hello” and she returned with a small wave. In another occasion, he gestured if she’s hungry and she only gave a thumbs up telling him she’s full.

Eunji was glad. Her unusual exchange with this unknown good-looking guy from the library made her mundane days a little out of the ordinary. It kept her smiling even if she’s getting zero progress in her understanding of the world of trigonometry. She knew it was a bit wrong that she’s more invested on seeing him rather than solving her problems in trigonometry but it didn’t matter to her. She’s more into arts and she progressed on other subjects. So it’s basically a matter of self-acceptance in her part that she’s not a math person and enjoyed more on art subjects and literature.

Their daily “meet-ups” in the library became her routine until one day, he disappeared. It felt like there was a wave of unfortunate events that choked her up that day. Her professor in Sociology had become a nightmare giving her plenty of research work for so little time. Her group mates weren’t helping her in their reports and to top it all, they abhorred her for not including their names in the project she made all by herself. Trigonometry had also been tiresome for her that she needed little space to breathe. She wanted to see his eyes even for a second but the moment she set foot in the library with no signs of him on his usual spot, her world grew lifeless.

“Stuart Little,” she muttered sadly as she thought that maybe her old little fella of a fictional book can cheer her up a bit in his absence. She quietly stood up out of her seat and marched towards the cushioned floors of the children’s section. Her hands routinely reached out towards the shelf where her favourite book was located. She bended down and sat carefully on the floor fixing her bag on her lap. With a sigh she turned to the first page of the book feeling a huge hole right in the centre of her heart. She didn’t imagine this certain guy, whom she hasn’t actually spoken to, had that effect on her. Days ago, she seemed like she’s the happiest girl in the library but now it felt like her life was so dull she can actually take the bad-tempered librarian’s position at the help desk. With a heavy heart, she flipped through the pages of her favourite book until her eyes came across a simple star-shaped sticky note at the last page.

I’m off campus today. I’ve been dying to know your name ever since. I’m Kim Sunggyu.