Joohyun plugs in her earphones as she waits for the subway, not wanting to be disturbed by the noise of the world around her. She takes out a book that she's been reading for the past week or so and counts down to the time of her train. Perhaps it’s the life of a librarian – to live a life of plain routine and schedule. Joohyun never has to think twice about what she does from day to day; she goes to work in the morning and ends at 8 sharp every evening, either by subway or the bus. Nothing out of the ordinary has occurred for the past five years or so, and Joohyun thanks God for that.

Text Message from Yongsun

good morning

i’m already here so ill open up

Yongsun was considered senior to her, only because the latter had been working at the library since she was studying in high school. She taught Joohyun everything she knew, even how to cut corners at work. They became fast friends and partners, always working the same shifts.

Text Message from Yongsun

ah

that girl’s back again

That girl.

Joohyun is on the verge of having of a at the mere mention of her. She knows very well who Yongsun is referring to, because the both of them have interacted a lot with her. The only difference is that Yongsun is never on the receiving end of the chaos, just Joohyun.

Text Message to Yongsun

leave her to me

i’ll handle her

*

Silence is golden.

“I told you to wait patiently, didn’t I?”

“I am being patient!”

Yongsun puts down the stack of books she’s carrying, so she can lean over the counter. She stares at the woman in front of her with a sceptical expression and gestures to her, “You call this being patient?”

The said girl is sitting atop the table opposite Yongsun with a pout on her face, her legs swinging back and forth. “What do you mean? I’m not even saying anything.”

“Miss Son Seungwan, get off the table please.”

Son Seungwan; a student at Seoul University around the corner. She comes in almost every day to cause a mess here; though it’s no surprise from a delinquent after all. Occasionally, her brother – Son Youngjae – would join her after his classes end and the two siblings will study till dinner time. The only person who could make her sit down at a table, by the way. Most of the time though, Youngjae ends up being bored out of his mind so he comes down to the counter and offers his help. Now whilst the brother is usually not so much of a menace – surprisingly – Seungwan, on the other hand, tries to chat up her partner whenever she passes by.

When Yongsun says ‘passes by’, she means every hour. Seungwan comes downstairs to either return a book or ask for help – which don’t make sense either way because Seungwan comes every day, she knows the place like the back of her hand.

“Fine, fine… when is she coming?”

“Joohyun never comes in before 9. You know that by now, don’t you?”

Seungwan’s lips form into a pout, continuing to swing her legs back and forth. She knows for a fact that neither of the two librarians are big fans of hers, but she’s not going to give up. There’s just something so mysterious about Joohyun, in every way. Perhaps it’s the way Joohyun ignores her advances without fail, compared to the other girls at her school.

“How do you even go to school with your uniform like that?” Yongsun clasps her hands together, eyes scanning the delinquent in front of her with disdain. “Your hair is so untidy and your shirt is almost always filthy. Don’t they punish you for such things?”

“Not as long as I ace my work! And don’t you always say silence is golden?”

So, this one is a delinquent and a smartass, Yongsun continues to ponder. She partially wonders if her friend will eventually cave and go out with this one – well, there is an but it’s less than ten years anyway. The last person who attempted to ask Joohyun out was older than her by twenty years at the very least. Joohyun had rejected him in front of everyone else queueing to leave the library, safe to say he never returned after that fateful day. Even without the age factor, Joohyun had detested the sight of him. He always reeked of cigarette smoke and alcohol, which is a big red flag for her.

Smart people have always been extra attractive to Joohyun, so it might turn out differently this time. Yongsun would totally be on board for it, just for the chaos and her entertainment.

Seungwan leans in closer this time, having hopped off the desk earlier while Yongsun was daydreaming. “So… what does Joohyun-unnie like? Does she like bad girls? Smart ones? Hot? Tall or short?”

Now, Yongsun has half a mind to mess around with the student, what with the questions she’s flooding her with. It’s just something in Seungwan’s gaze that halts her mischief; the sincerity in her eyes changes Yongsun’s initial impression of her.

“Why is that so important?”

“Well… I want to have a quality she likes at least.” Seungwan starts out carefully, thinking about her own perspective simultaneously. “I know my flirting may go overboard sometimes but it’s only because I want to get a reaction from her. Maybe it would be better if I can adjust myself to her liking.”

Now whatever has happened the past few months or so, Yongsun throws it all out of the window once she hears Seungwan’s explanation. It’s a very honest and sweet sentiment; her eyes are glossy and her features blatantly shows that she’s perplexed. Yongsun always thought of the latter as a mere delinquent, full of mischief and extremely flamboyant. She can even admit that Seungwan didn’t receive any brownie points despite being polite and respectful. First impressions have always been of utmost importance to both herself and Joohyun, considering the number of people in and out of the library.

“Wouldn’t it be better if she likes you the way you are? That way, you can be sure she’s not in it for anything else, just plain simple you.”

“I don’t think that’ll happen,” Seungwan clears and flips her hair, concealing whatever emotion was present a second ago. The smile on her face is good enough to fool people. “Anyway, I’ll be down later. Hopefully, she’s here.”

Seungwan strides up the stairs, clearly lost in her own world. She doesn’t know what else to do in order for Joohyun to pay attention to her. It’s insane how much she likes the librarian, despite how far the latter is from her ideal type. Her ideal type has always been someone warm, funny and friendly – Joohyun doesn’t fit into any of that, at least for now.

The mystery about Joohyun is just luring her in.

“Noona, how did it go?”

“She’s not here yet,” Seungwan pouts at her brother, the latter cringing at the atrocious sight. “I think her friend has softened up towards me though; we managed to have some substance in our conversation.”

Youngjae flashes two thumbs up at his sister, beaming ever so widely. He can see why Seungwan is enamoured with the librarian though, despite her not being his bag of chips. “That’s a great start, Noona. Honestly, you just need to wow her with your awards from school. No one can tell you’re the smartest if you dress like that.”

The two siblings share a glare, Seungwan throwing her pen at her younger brother for his lack of tact. She knows what he’s trying to say; it’s pretty much whatever Yongsun was curious about earlier too.

“I mean the uniform is so darn stuffy and I hate it, plus I don’t see why clothing would be a negative impact on my brain or my smarts.”

Okay well… that’s a good point.

Honestly, their parents were never particular about such trivial matters because they work in a design firm – clothes and hair are meant to be different, spectacular. In short, nothing was more important than their children’s happiness.

“Youngjae-ah –”

“I’m now Eric, Noona!”

“Whatever. You’re always going to be Youngjae to me so it up.” Seungwan rolls her eyes hard enough for them to be stuck if ever, before continuing her sentence. “Her friend made a point, and talked about her liking me for me… so I’m not going to change, just to see how things go.”

See, their relationship has always been tight and close; the two siblings do have a bit of gap as well, but Seungwan was old enough to take care of Youngjae back at home and he remains aware of it. Perhaps it’s because their parents had already begun to get busy with their careers, that they didn’t pay much attention to him.

Seungwan was there throughout, whether it was to guide him along the right path or just have fun with him… she was present.

“I’ll support you, Noona.”

“That’s more than enough for me,” Seungwan grins.

At the reception counter…

“You’re finally here! I have stuff to tell you, oh my gosh!”

Joohyun can barely pretend she’s excited; it’s way too early for this positivity and energy. She was shoved and pushed around in the train because of the peak hour of office workers – it’s enough for the morning.

“What is it?”

Yongsun can tell her news isn’t going to be received well either, so she decides to hold it till later. “Nevermind, maybe during lunch. Don’t worry, just take your time to set up. It’s not a busy morning anyway.”

It’s not like her best friend to keep hemming and hawing but Joohyun just wants the day to go by for now. As mean as it sounds, the fact that the delinquent is here already makes her want to commit murder.

Truth be told, Joohyun didn’t really have a problem with Seungwan; in fact, she was quite enamoured when the student first stepped into the library. She remembers being the exact opposite then – certainly not a goody two shoes by any means though – but her teachers liked her to a great extent. One look was enough for her to wonder if Seungwan was a troublemaker in school, because she sure looks the part. Judging by the uniform design and logo on those socks, they’re also in the same university – or, was – Joohyun graduated a while ago.

If Seungwan hadn’t tried to butter her up and curry favour with her so blatantly and for so long, Joohyun wouldn’t dislike her so much. Worst of all, she does it in front of everyone too.

Anyhow, as long as Seungwan makes herself scarce, Joohyun will end the day off without losing her temper.

“Noona! Do you any help with books today?”

“No, I don’t but thanks for the offer, Eric.”

Eric pouts at the different answer today, and chooses to move towards Yongsun on the other side instead. “Something happened with Joohyun-noona? She doesn’t seem to be in a good mood.”

Yongsun shrugs, explaining to him that the latter is barely in a good mood this early anyway, or something along those lines. She knows the young one is no stranger to Joohyun’s weird mood swings but still. There’s something extremely off about Joohyun this morning though, and Yongsun hopes she doesn’t lash out at the wrong person – literally any other day except today. If Seungwan comes downstairs and tries to be smooth with her… oh God, there goes her chances.

Meanwhile, Seungwan continues to scroll up and down the website with curiosity written all over her face. She didn’t mean to stalk or find Joohyun’s profile back on the alumni site of their school but she did, and by chance too. Joohyun had a pair of nerdy spectacles and no hint of make up on her face yet the woman looks adorable. Most people would think of her as a goody-two-shoes but not Seungwan, she wants to befriend young Joohyun so badly.

“God, I’m down bad.”

“I don’t think you should even talk to her today, Noona. She doesn’t seem to be in a good mood at all.” Youngjae grabs a hold of his sister’s uniform as the latter struts down the stairs. “Noona, you’re going to get yelled at. Noona, please. NOONA!”

Seungwan can barely stop herself from grinning hard enough, the ends of her lips are about to split open. She just saw the cutest person on this damned universe and she wants to know more about Joohyun right now. Nothing will get in her way.

“Youngjae, it’s fine. When is she ever in a good mood to see me anyway?”

Okay.

Points are definitely being made.

Despite those points, however, Youngjae wishes his sister wasn’t so persistent about chasing this one librarian. He does enjoy seeing Seungwan get humbled occasionally because her greasiness is something else but she’s still his sister, and Youngjae will not allow anyone to do her wrong. Just like how Seungwan always protects him unconditionally, he will do the same. It will not matter one iota how pretty or nice the librarian and her friend are; Youngjae will make it a point to ruin all their days here. Though if all of this results in Seungwan finally winning over her, then Youngjae will play nice for the time being.

Seungwan almost lets out a scream when she spots Joohyun by the other corner, her eyes fixated on the computer screen in front of her. How can a mere, boring librarian look so… ethereal?

Yongsun and Youngjae’s eyes meet, the two going a little pale in fear at what is about to happen.

“Bae Joohyun! You’ll never guess what I found.”

“Oh, I wonder what it is.” Joohyun mumbles sarcastically, refusing to even spare the student a glance. She just knows something stupid is going to come out of . “Perhaps your sense of awareness?”

Ouch.

Seungwan simply puts the laptop down beside Joohyun, completely ignoring (or trying her best to ignore) the murderous gaze being thrown in her direction. “Look, it’s you! In your little glasses and cute self!”

Joohyun immediately sees red, her cheeks becoming flushed at the sight of her embarrassing past. She detests seeing old pictures of herself because firstly, her insecurities start to build again; secondly, it shouldn’t have been Seungwan of all people discovering those. Those nasty glasses that cou