Preface
1983Park Jimin was 36 then, upon a ladder restocking his bookshelves when a young woman, college age, walked in wearing headphones. She bowed respectfully then walked towards the young adults' section. The man continued organizing the books by author and alphabetical order. Moments later the woman spoke to him.
"Excuse me, do you by chance sell stationery supplies?"
Jimin stepped down the ladder. "Just the essentials," he answered in his perfected Seoul dialect. "Do you have anything specific that you're looking for?" He asked gesturing for her to follow him.
"Just a few notebooks and pencils for art school," she answered.
"Mm," he led her towards the back section where he had a table set up from notebooks (with and without lines,) pens, pencils and sharpeners. "Here we are." She smiled happily while looking at the selection. "Let me know..." he stopped mid-sentence when he heard Joe Esposito's "Lady, Lady, Lady" playing from her headphones. The song sent a shudder through him.
It had been years since he'd heard the song but the effect it had on him felt just the same. Jimin used both his pointer and middle finger to touch his mouth. When he noticed where he was, he quickly dropped his hand. "Let me know if you need help with anything else." She thanked him then he quickly walked to the back room behind the counter.
"Is everything okay?" asked his long-term boyfriend, Himchan, who was setting up the table for their lunc
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