Flashback – 5 years ago

Saturday afternoon. Like usual, Leeteuk was at the library. He wasn’t especially a book lover, but he liked coming here because it was quiet. It was his hiding place. 

One year. Only one year left of school and he would be done. He would be free. His dream was to take his things and disappear in the world; he was curious and wanted to discover everything that was out there, beyond his little narrowed life. But he had another reason for wanting to go in the world... the thought of running away was very appealing in many different ways. The past year had been difficult… He hadn’t made the best choices and jeopardized his relationship with his family. He should be grateful enough to have a mother that accepted him as her legitimate son, when his own decided to abandon him… But instead he only did mistakes over mistakes and his last one was the last straw. Since then he was trying to get back to a straight path.  When he thought back at what he did, he felt ashamed. He had put his little brother in danger and he lied to save his skin, instead of protecting him as a good hyung. And his dongsaeng, so nice, so innocent, didn’t hold him responsible for what happened, he just forgave his hyung and expected for everything to go back to normal. But everything couldn’t go back to normal… how Leeteuk hated that, the generous nature of his dongsaeng, it was annoying how profoundly nice he was. In comparison, Leeteuk seemed to be lacking of everything. Yes, his dongsaeng was so freaking perfect… but even if it annoyed him, he still loved his little brother, because they were blood after all. And Leeteuk realized that it wasn’t Eunhyuk’s fault if he felt this way, it was his own, and he had to deal with it. So he decided to start from scratch in every way…

Leeteuk was looking aimlessly at the book shelf, when he noticed a very familiar red cover. He smiled at himself and reached out his hand to grab the book. But before he could touch it, another hand lied on it. Surprised, he turned to the person, just to find himself face to face with a beautiful dark haired girl. They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment, their hands still suspended in the air. On that split of moment, Leeteuk noticed all her features, she was really beautiful, a different kind of beauty. She was quite tall too for a girl, but what was most noticeable were her eyes, those profound chocolate brown eyes.

Eventually, they both pulled their hands away.

"I'm sorry." he apologized. "You can have it."

He said and turned back to wander the library when he heard her voice.

“You read 헤를 품은 달?”

He turned around to face her and frowned.

“Why? A boy can’t read that kind of book?”

“It is a love story…”

“A tragic one.”

“True!” she laughs.

Leeteuk couldn’t help but smile at her communicative laugh. And he had to admit being a bit proud of himself to have read this book. It was indeed a love story set in the old Joseon, and although it could appear to be a girl’s kind of book, it was still interesting and it was one of Leeteuk’s favorite books. The girl had stopped laughing and was now staring at him with an enigmatic smile. Something about her that attracted him, she gave up a strange feeling. She suddenly held out the book to him.

“You can have it. I guess I can read my version at home.”

“You already have the book?” he asked surprised.

She nodded.

“I have a newer version though… I could never find that beautiful old version they have in here.”

Leeteuk understood what she meant, the library’s version was indeed beautiful and he liked to turn its old pages and smell it.

He took the book from her hands and as he did so their fingers touched slightly but it was enough to send a kind of electrical pulse through his body. They pulled their hands and she laughed again.

“That’s what we can call a shocking encounter.”

“Shhhhhhhh.”

The librarian put a finger on her lips, intimating both of them to be silent; they were in a library after all.

“I better be quiet now.” the girl said, hushing.

She turned around and was going to leave when Leeteuk grabbed her arm. She turned to him with a questioning look but the boy was kind of lost and didn’t know what to say. He didn’t even know why he had grabbed her arm; the only thing he knew was that he didn’t want her to go just yet.

“Do you come here a lot?” he asked.

She nodded.

“I like the calm of it.”

He smiled. He liked it for the same reason.

“And books have a different feeling when you read it at a library.” She added.

The librarian told them to be quiet again and they moved to hide behind another bookshelf, far away from the librarian. When he was sure they were out of reach, Leeteuk let go of her arm.

“So you’re a bookworm.” he said mockingly.

“I am not!”

He raised an eyebrow teasing her and she crossed her arms on her chest.

“You’re the one that comes here every Saturday, not me.”

As soon as she said that, she seemed to regret it. He stared at her surprised. How could she know that, unless she noticed him before?

“So, not a bookworm but a stalker?”

She looked offended.

“I’m not! It’s just hard not to notice you when you’re always at the same spot every single week end.”

Leeteuk did his best not to laugh at her mad face. She was really adorable. The girl frowned; understanding little by little that he was just teasing her.

“Well I’m sorry I didn’t notice you before.” he said. “I should have…”

She blushed slightly, but smiled nonetheless. Then he had a crazy idea.

“Do you wanna get out of here? Go grab a coffee or something? You can tell me what you think about the book.”

What was he doing? He was inviting a total stranger to have coffee?! That was so not him. But this girl had something special. Something he couldn’t quite understand but that he was drawn to. She suddenly looked suspiciously at him.

“My mom told me never to follow strangers.”

“But I’m not a stranger am I?”

Indeed the feeli