The Book
Star Collectors [Side-Story to Behind the Thick-Framed Glasses]
✻ chapter one:
the book
yoon mi's pov
Silence.
Other than the rustle of newspapers under my feet and the paintbrush sliding against the hard, cold surface, silence filled the room with no sign of disruption in sight. I liked it quiet this way, because then I could focus on the thick, long, my paintbrush was making.
Dipping the painting tool into a can full of dark indigo paint, my jeans got splattered and my bangs fell down over my eyes. Puffing out my cheeks, I lifted the paintbrush to paint the last white area on the ceiling, careful not to let a large amount drip down.
Suddenly the door opened and a loud woot came after it. I dropped the paintbrush in surprise and hollered back at the figure who came crashing in. "AMBER!! Watch where you're going! And don't touch anything!"
My short-haired best friend stuck her tongue at me. "Well, hurry up! Dinner's ready... and whoa, it reeks of paint in here."
"I wonder why that is." I rolled my eyes and wiped my hands on my jeans. "Aren't you going to help me clean up?"
"Nope." She grinned cheekily and slipped out the door. "Have fun with that!"
I sighed and shook my head at her. Sure, Amber Liu was my best friend, but I don't know if she's the "best" friend.
Amber and I have been living together for quite some time now. My dad disappeared when I was four and my mom disowned me two years ago and her family took me on. I'm very grateful to be able to live how I am right now.
Amber shared her room with me and we're both really messy. The room was already small enough as it was and with all our belongings strewn everywhere, it looked like a landfill... except for today. Amber's parents, who I also call Mom and Dad, wanted us to clean our room so we cleared everything out and threw unneeded things away (which was most of our stuff). During that process, Amber wanted to paint our room a new color. Bored with the plain beige walls, she wanted me, the artist, to re-paint it.
And so I did; and I didn't just paint it, I painted hues and shades of dark blue, indigo, purple, smudges of black, and white dots and stars. Now the night sky looked back at us and I actually felt proud of my skills for once. The blending had worked out really well.
I dumped all of my tools into the sink and folded up all the newspapers I had laid out to cover the floor. Placing them in a corner, I went to open the windows and leave the door hanging open to let fresh air in. With one last glance at my masterpiece, I headed downstairs to have some of the wonderfully delicious food Mom had made.
-- ♥ --
"Whoa, that's so cool!"
"Yoon Mi, why are you so pro?"
It was the following day after I had painted our room and school was to be let out in just a couple of minutes. I secretly smiled as Amber flipped through picture after picture of the ceiling of the bedroom we shared together on her phone while Henry and Hyomin were crowding around the screen next to her, 'ooh-ing' and 'ah-ing'.
"It's sick, am I right?" Amber gloated to the other two. "You guys are so jealous, right?"
"Heck, yeah!" Henry exclaimed. "Yoon Mi, you should come over to my house and paint something for me."
Hyomin butted in and shook her head. "No way, come paint something for me first! I'll even pay you!"
Henry gasped at her offer and pointed accusingly at her. "Hey, that's not fair! I don't have any money!"
" for you." Amber joked. "Yoonie, you could totally have a painting business! We'd be filthy rich!"
I chuckled, laughing at her suggestion. At this moment, the bell rang and we exited the school building, each of us going our own ways. Hyomin went on her usual path to her house and Henry went to a doctor's appointment.
"Let's go home now." Amber slipped her phone inside her pocket and motioned for me to follow her but I shook my head.
"I need to stop by the school's library for a bit." I said, scratching the back of my head. "It's for Mrs. Jung's history assignment due on Friday."
"Alright, go get it. I'll wait for you here." She said, plopping her backpack onto the ground and leaning against the brick wall. I nodded and turn around, walking back into the school building.
The hallways were almost empty (it's amazing how fast the students here escaped from school) and I walked quietly, my sneakers squeaking against the tile floors. I turned the last corner to the library and unfortunately, I bumped heads with someone on the other side.
"Ow!" I took a sharp breath and winced, rubbing the top of my head. "Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going-"
"No, it's okay. It's my fault too. I was busy talking to Jonghwan here..." Upon hearing a boy's voice, I looked up and my eyes widened at who it was.
It was Rokhyun and Jonghwan, two of the popular guys at this school. Most of the popular guys were cold, rude, obnoxious, and think they're so cool, but these two particular boys were in fact, the exact opposite. They were outgoing, friendly, and nice to everyone... unless you were the total loser and outcast, of course.
The curly-haired boy was rubbing his own forehead as Jonghwan made a face and punched his arm lightly. "Sure, sure, blame it all on me."
Rokhyun swatted his hand away and looked over at me. "Are you okay though?"
"Y-yeah..." I blushed and fiddled with the hem of my shirt. I let out a barely audible "Um...uh... bye." and ran past them. As soon as I got to the library, I ducked behind a bookshelf and held my blushing cheeks in my hands.
"Oh. My. God. Oh. My. God." I freaked, holding my blushing cheeks in my bands. "Rokhyun. Just. Talked. To. Me. Oh. My. God."
I couldn't believe it; one the most famous Kingkas had spoken to me! Sure, he had only said like two sentences to me, but whatever. He had talked to me, and that's all that mattered. I inhaled and exhaled deeply, calming myself down and trying to slow down my heartbeat.
Once I did, I stood up from my hiding spot and accidentally bumped my head into the bookshelf behind me. "Ow..." I was about to rub my head, once again, when something else fell onto my head, causing me to fall back down again. "OW!"
I opened my eyes, squinting from the pain and scanned the floor to see what had hit me. I saw a black, leather-bound book laying near my shoe and I sighed. Duh, it was a library. What else could have fallen off the bookshelf?
I got up onto my feet, picking the book up in the process, and looked up to see where the book belonged. Strangely, the bookshelf seemed pretty full and there were no gaps for another book to be placed.
I was planning to just squeeze it in somewhere in between some other books and make it look like I was never here but my planned changed once I read the title- How to be a Star Collector.
"A star collector?" I said to myself, studying the gold font printed over plain black material. I opened the book to the first page, where another title page was found. How to be a Star Collector; written by Choi Jeong Soo... Your fate is in the stars! All you need to know about astrology lies in the pages of this book. Read more and learn how to change your life!
Learn how to change my life? Hmm, that sounded really tempting. Could this book help me get my crush? I thought to myself, the corner of the page. I started blushing again at the thought of Rokhyun and sighed. It sounded really suspicious... maybe this book was just a scam. It probably was; if it wasn't, then wouldn't everyone have perfect lives already?
Part of me wanted to leave the book somewhere but the other part was intrigued and wanted to keep it. After mentally arguing with myself, I eventually gave in and went to go check it out. The librarian, Mr. Yoon, took my ID card and scanned the barcode before typing a password into the computer and handing the book back to me. "Remember, library books can only be checked out for two weeks, then they become overdue."
"Ne." I nodded politely, slipping the book into my backpack. I skipped out the library, looking around for my best friend in the empty schoolyard, which was now empty. I made a puzzled face. "Didn't she say she would wait for me...?"
I looked to my left, then to my right, and once I looked back directly in front of me, she appeared out of nowhere and hollered into my face. "BOO!!"
"AMBER!!" I shrieked, jumping nearly two feet off the ground. "Don't do that! It's so immature!"
"Whatever, you scaredy-cat. Let's go already." She complained, already walking ahead of me to our house. "Did you find that one history book you were looking for?"
"History book...?" I repeated, walking a bit faster so I could catch up to her. Oh crud, I totally forgot about my homework assignment! "No, I didn't. I'll just look for it tomorrow."
Amber looked over at me with an excited flint in her eyes and bounced up and down. "Well then, no homework today! How about I teach you how to skateboard?"
"I think that would be a bad idea... I also have homework from other classes, you know." Wrong; I didn't. I just wanted to have time to check out the book that was bouncing against my back each time I took a step.
"Oh, fine then. I'll just go to the skatepark all by myself again." Amber sighed.
"I'm sorry, okay?" I bit my lip, feeling a bit uneasy about why I wasn't telling her about the book. We reached the block with our house and saw the roof coming into view. "How about tomorrow? Does tomorrow sound good to you?"
"Yeah, I guess." She agreed before kicking a lone pebble in the middle of the sidewalk. "I'll see you later, okay?"
"Okay."
Amber ran inside the garage to pull out her red skateboard that our friend, Henry, got her for her birthday years ago. She was already on the board in a flash and before I knew it, she was skating in the opposite direction we came in and to the local skatepark. At least my fibbing skills weren't that obvious...
I slipped our house key into the front door and walked in. "Umma, I'm home!"
Mom's voice echoed back from the kitchen after the door shut behind me. "Yoon Mi, you're home! Where's Amber?"
"She went to go skateboard again." I walked to the doorway and bowed, not sure if she saw it or not. Always be polite for safe measure. "I'll be upstairs, okay?"
Mom nodded, too engrossed in cooking some sort of red-looking food to comprehend what I was saying. "Uh-huh. Just be in the kitchen at six, honey."
"Ne." Nodding, I brought my backpack upstairs with me and into the paint-smelling bedroom I shared with my best friend. Flinging myself onto the bed and my bag right beside me, I pulled out the astrology book from earlier. I guess it's about time I "learned how to change my life". Ms. Jung's history assignment could wait for another day.
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✻ author's note the dorky me
Sorry for not updating this story, guys. I was stalling... and distracted xD Thanks for the 30+ subs for something that wasn't even written yet~ How was it so far?
~Ljjang창조♪
...why are you guys so shocked that i updated, otl i didn't take forever, y'know.
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