“So, the book is talking to you.” Ray placed the fresh stack of books on top of the counter. He waited for her to answer while he continued to take note of the new titles that has been delivered.

            “That’s not what I meant. I said it seemed like the book was talking to me.” Hanna stood up from the wingback chair with a faded red fabric and intricate patterns sewn across it. She leaned on the counter and Ray stopped what he was doing so he could finally get a look at her.

            “Alright, fine. Let’s use your words. So, the book seemed like it was talking to you,” he repeated, stressing on the words that Hanna emphasized previously. The corner of her lips started to curl upward as Ray resumed sorting out his list. “What’s the matter with that, right? I mean, considering the fact that you told me just now how the book is written in the character—”

            “Ji Eun,” Hanna abruptly says and Ray caught himself taking a deep breath to slow down his momentum.

            “In Ji Eun’s perspective,” he corrected, “Then it’s highly possible for you to feel like she’s talking to you because you’re technically reading her thoughts straight out of her mind. It’s no magic, Hanna.” She doesn’t answer him and the lack of one has made Ray raise his gaze from the assortment of paper in front of him to Hanna.

            “What?” He asked her slowly while she remained looking at him with a certain expression on her face that he just can’t put into words. “If you’re not going to answer my question, at least say something. I need you to know that I don’t appreciate the long stares.” He started to check into the things that he had already tidied and the awkwardness of it all made Hanna laugh just a little.

            “Don’t worry, Ray. I’m not into you,” she affirmed and Ray shook his head with a small smile on his face. He knows exactly what Hanna meant by this, of the entire list that Hanna could fall in love with—he won’t be in one. “Anyway, I know what you’re talking about but this one’s different, okay?” Her voice was soft yet convincing. But it was hard for him to relate at all the fuss Hanna had been talking about.

            “What makes this one different? What’s with Ji Eun?” He made gestures with his hand to try and fill-in the insufficiency of words for Hanna to spill what she really thinks of.

            “I—there’s just something, you know. Like—I’d be in certain situations and she would know exactly what to say—or at least, I’d read something that’s very fitting with my current dilemma or emotion or what not. I’d scribble on it and then the next line would be something related to what I just wrote. It’s like Ji Eun could you know…” she her lower lip and bit down gently as she tried to recollect her thoughts. “I feel like she understands me,” she finished simply.

            “You mean you can connect with the character?” He asked in his best attempt to appear like he comprehended what she just said. “How long have you been reading it?” Ray probed as he pushed his thin-wired glasses closer to his face, crossed his arm across his chest and casually leaned on the wall.

            “A week,” she answered.

            “And how far have you gotten?” He asked again.

            Her eyes darted elsewhere, trying to remember, “half-way,” she replied.

            “Okay,” he began to say and changed his position from impassively leaning on the wall to placing his elbow on the counter and his head on top of his hand.  “My take away from this is, Ji Eun is a female warrior who’s stuck in the forest due to the king that sent her there and now she’s trying to find her way out in the midst of deliriums from time to time.”

            “Yeah, you can say that.” Her voice almost sounded like a whisper.

            “Now, you feel like she’s talking to you through her thoughts?” He asked carefully and Hanna nodded. “Alright, and this has made you feel a certain way?” Ray enunciated each word clearly and she started to think about it but resorted to answer it with a nod yet again. “Hanna,” he began to say as gently as he could, “We all get that, though. Falling in love with a book’s character is easy especially if we can connect with their sentiments naturally.”

            “I don’t know, I just—sometimes it’s weird because it doesn’t seem like she’s talking to herself. Sometimes it feels like she’s conversing with me.” They look at each other for a few minutes but Ray broke it off by looking elsewhere. He stepped back and tilted his head so he could look at Hanna on a different view. Ray pursed his lips and without saying another word, he turned to open another box full of books.

            “If it bothers you so much then stop reading it,” he said directly after a long period of silence, taking a quick glance at how Hanna reacted. She just nodded to herself and then proceeded to shrug.

            “I can do that,” she prompted, “Only, I don’t want to.” Ray turned his head towards her direction. She had a smile that’s starting to form in her face.

            “Whenever I read about her, the world is quiet. I don’t get a lot of quiet times, Ray. Despite of being alone most of my day, I don’t have a lot of that.” She smiled at him melancholically.

            “Allow me to say,” he hesitated mid-sentence but pushed through after giving it some thought. “The last time you spoke about someone like that, you were telling me a story about Se Young.”

There was silence. Their eyes met again.

“Is that a bad thing?” She asked him.

“No,” he answered. “But I’d also like to remind you that Ji Eun is fictional. Her story ends right when you close the book.”

Hanna lets out a sigh, “You see, that’s the thing, though. Her words transcend beyond the covers that bind her.”

Ray gave her a knowing look and she smiled at him gently. Finally, he was won over and he placed the book he was holding down, “I guess, we all get that…” his voice trailed, “That certain comfort.” He picked up a copy of Wuthering Heights, raised it between him and Hanna, and asked her, “Want to try taking things off of your head?”

She lets out a small chuckle, “You know I don’t start reading a new book unless I finished the first one,” she answered.

He returned the book on top of the table, “Yeah,” he began to say, “I should know that.” Ray ran his fingers through his hair and he fixed his glasses that rested on top of his nose.

“Thanks for the coffee by the way,” she told him tenderly, her dimples deepened. He looked at her and a wide smile emerged on his face.

“Well, you’re welcome for now. Next time, you’re going to have to pay for coffee.” Ray beckoned at the empty room behind Hanna where an old lone piano sat unplayed for years. “Dad’s planning to turn it into a small coffee shop.”

Hanna looked over her shoulder, “More work for you then,” she said to him while her eyes settled on the piano that she had seen countless of times but something about it feels different in that certain moment.

“Sure, dad’s going to have to hire another person to help me around. That is if the coffee shop venture pushes through.” Hanna most definitely heard him, but she was drawn by the carvings on top of the piano, the white tiles that had remained clean despite the age, the beauty of it all came to a snapping second which made her flinch just a little when Ray placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Were you listening?” He asked her. She nodded with a sure expression on her face. “So, as I was saying, I could try reading the book for you.” His words take a moment to register in Hanna’s head but as soon as she understood what he meant, Ray was halfway through dismissing the whole idea of it. “It was just a passing thought, really. I mean, if I read it for you, maybe I’d fully understand where you’re coming from but—”

“I hav