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The library on campus was quiet, as expected, containing only the sounds of students murmuring and fingers tapping away at keyboards. Cartoon printouts of funky skeletons and witches adorned the walls, and on top of every other bookshelf was an assortment of tacky plastic pumpkins and even tackier plastic candles. Halloween was around the corner, and so were midterm exams.
Jiung was almost done with his shift, but he was in no rush, much to the dismay of a certain puppy-eyed companion.
“Come on,” Intak whined from where he was leaning against a bookshelf. He watched with growing frustration as Jiung leisurely carried piles of books from the front desk to their rightful shelves. “I’m starving.”
“Hi, Starving,” Jiung responded as he headed back to the front desk a few feet away, to pick up yet another pile of books. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
Intak rolled his eyes, then heard his stomach grumbling and groaned loudly enough for some of the other students to turn their heads.
“Shut up,” Jiung whisper-yelled, “you’re in a library.”
“And you’re taking way too long. If I don’t eat something right this second I’m going to drop dead.”
“Hallelujah,” Jiung said, and flashed a big smile when Intak gave him the finger. “I told you I’d be a while. You know what exam season’s like.”
Intak let out another groan, quieter this time, but he acquiesced, saying no more. As Jiung continued putting books away, he vaguely registered somebody approaching them. He was crouched down near the floor, looking at the labels on the bottom shelf, and he didn’t want to pause his concentration by looking at whoever was coming near. He assumed it was just another student entering the library, anyway.
“Oh, hey, Y/N,” Intak said.
Jiung shot up, and there you were, all shiny hair and pretty eyes. The rhythm of his heart malfunctioned for a moment as he caught sight of you.
“Hey,” you said, in that honeyed voice of yours, then turned to Jiung. He thought he could melt right then and there. “Hey, Jiung.”
“H—” His voice cracked, and he heard Intak cough to cover his laugh. Your lips, pink and glossy like they always were, twitched. Jiung cleared his throat and tried to fight the blush rising up his neck but it only burned into his skin brighter. “Hey,” he finally managed.
“What are you guys up to?”
Jiung panicked and looked at Intak. What were they up to? He’d forgotten everything since you showed up.
Intak bit back a teasing smile and focused his attention on you. “I’m just waiting for Jiung to finish up so we can get some food.”
Right. Yes. That’s what they were doing. Jiung looked down at the book still in his hand. Where was this supposed to go again?
“Oh, cool,” you said, then looked to Jiung again. He wished you wouldn’t do that - your eyes were like sparkly spotlights. “I was meaning to ask you, actually, if you worked here.”
Jiung blinked, going over what you’d just said to him in his head. You were meaning to ask him a question about himself, which meant you were curious about him, for who knows how long. Maybe he was running with the idea too far, but the implications of you wondering about him in your spare time planted a seed at the forefront of his brain and grew a stupidly large smile on his face.
“Yeah, I do!” he exclaimed, then realised how eager he was being. “I mean, yeah. I work here. Sometimes.”
“Sometimes?” you said, and there it was, right there on your face, that look that he’d seen you give to others so often. It was in your eyes, those damned eyes, dancing across your pupils, that teasing twinkle. It was in the way you tilted your chin down, so your lashes looked fuller, inkier, longer. It extended all the way to your lips pulling ever so subtly at the corners, a small little grin like you and him knew something that nobody else was in on. It sent Jiung’s heart spiralling. It was one thing seeing you look at other people this way, it was another to be a target of it.
“Yeah, you work here part-time, Jiung,” Intak nudged Jiung’s arm with his shoulder, “don’t you?”
Jiung blinked back into reality and turned to face his friend. He’d forgotten what anyone was talking about.
“Oh, so you’re probably pretty busy then,” you said, face casual again like you hadn’t just completely scrambled Jiung’s heartbeat.
“Um, yeah,” he responded intelligently. He was whatever you wanted him to be.
“Too busy to help me out with something?” You smiled at him, all pretty lips and pretty teeth.
“No,” Jiung said quickly, and when he shook his head rapidly, his dark brown hair shook with him. He almost shook his glasses right off his face. “No, not at all. Never.”
“Cool.” Your smile grew wider. “You know those two essays we have to submit in a couple days?”
Jiung nodded.
“Do you think you could email me some of the articles you used? And maybe a couple of points you wrote about, as well?”
Jiung blinked. Before he could even think to question you, you smiled again, that wickedly sexy smile. He never stood a chance.
“I’ll do it.” Jiung nodded with vehemence. “Yeah, I can do it right now, actually. Right after this shift.”
“Dude.” Intak held his hands out in a what the fuck gesture. Jiung paid him no mind; all of his attention was on you.
“Thanks, Jiung,” you said, and you greeted them both goodbye before leaving.
As he dreamily watched you walk away, Intak snapped a finger in front of his face. Jiung turned to him, not even clocking his annoyed expression.
“Did you see that?” Jiung said.
“I saw you make a total fool of yourself, yeah,” Intak snapped, but there was no malice in his tone.
Jiung sighed, leaned against the bookshelf with a dopey smile on his face. “She’s so pretty.”
“And manipulative.”
Jiung looked at him. “What?”
“Come on, Ji,” Intak said, then he put on his best impression of a girl: “Oh, Jiung, won’t you do my homework for me, pwetty pwease?” Intak pouted exaggeratedly and batted his eyelashes.
Jiung rolled his eyes, though he was trying not to laugh. “That’s not what happened. She’s just asking a friend to do her a favour.”
“A friend. Sure.” Intak gave Jiung a knowing look. “When has she ever spoken to you before this?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Jiung said, though the answer came to him immediately.
It was last year, in one of his lectures, when you were sitting somewhere in the middle of the hall. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen you, no, he’d been aware of you since the very first day, when you came in late in your leather jacket and air of sultry nonchalance. But this time, he was the late one, and you caught him staring at you, nearly tripping over the stairs as he walked. You smiled from the corner of your lips, and gave him the slightest wave. That was it. It wasn’t even a verbal interaction, but it played in Jiung’s head sometimes before he fell asleep.
“Maybe she’ll let you shine her shoes next,” Intak said. “Or maybe that’s reserved for her favourite boys.”
Jiung scoffed, not knowing how to respond to Intak’s ridiculousness. One thing was for sure though - he was going to be your favourite boy, whether you saw it coming or not.