You know without you I'm so lonely - [CHEOLSOO]

ㅡChapter 5ㅡ

"Choi Seungcheol! Wait for me!"

With his books in his hands, his hair dishevelled and a poor blue baseball jacket draped over his shoulders, Seungcheol stopped in the middle of the corridor, just enough to see a young girl with candy-colored hair running towards him. Exhausted, he didn't even have the courage to run off to shake her off.

He had chained a week of the most exhausting, his basketball training took all his free time because a competition was preparing. Added to that were the team meetings, their career choices and the exams before the holidays. He didn't have a second to himself.

"Are you going to the library?" Asked the young girl arriving at his height. Seungcheol's eyes stopped on his cheeks which were getting redder and redder. "Can I come with you?"

His only response was to turn on his heels and head back to the high school's "heaven", behavior that indicated "do whatever you want". Whether she was there or not didn't matter to him anymore, he had only one desire: to go back to his dormitory and sleep all day... Or even until the end of his life.

He was also dying to see Jisoo again. His lunch breaks were getting shorter and shorter and he missed the boy terribly. Sometimes he came to see him in those dreams. This was when his sleep was most restorative. But the sleepless nights due to successive revisions, even these small moments of respite had disappeared.

He arrived at the wide wooden doors of the campus library. It was located in the center of the main building and was a true paradise on earth. The huge libraries that covered the walls were lined with thousands of books of all kinds. A most pleasant silence reigned there at every moment of the day, you could find everything there and even what you were not looking for.

Seungcheol entered the sacred entrance while his comrade was silent at his side.

"I'm going to sit down." She whispered as she left to find a free seat.

Seungcheol went to the reception to return his books. He waited behind a student with big glasses who was talking with the head librarian of the establishment. She was a plump little lady with a kind smile that Seungcheol found adorable. His passion for books could rival the passion that Jisoo expressed every time he painted.

The dark-haired boy blushed, remembering every precious detail of Jisoo's beautiful face. Every expression and pout of his had been recorded deep in his heart.

"Seungcheol?!" called the librarian. "Are you sleeping? I've called you three times."

"I'm so sorry Mrs. C..." Seungcheol muttered as he approached with his books.

She smiled at him and happily registered the return of her books. Once done, Seungcheol left her to go and get lost in the labyrinths of the library. Surrounded by the books of the huge shelves, he felt strangely good, it had this effect on him every time. When the binding of a book interested him, he picked it up, leafed through it, put it down and started again. He wondered if one day Mrs. C had managed to read all the books in this place. There must have been thousands of them.

He turned left, then right, searching through science fiction, fantasy books. And then dead end, meeting with an angel.

Sitting cross-legged on a red leather armchair, a book with golden bindings in his hand, the bangs in front of his eyes and his slender fingers clinging to the white pages, under the rays of the sun in the light, Jisoo was reading. His chestnut hair was flying, under a wind from an unknown source, as if the two boys were in a romance. A drama music could have been played, no one would have been surprised.

Seungcheol felt all the fatigue accumulated over the past few weeks disappear as it had come. An adrenaline rush in his arm, his cheeks burning, he slowly walked towards Jisoo. As if he were nothing more than a mirage that would disappear as soon as he touched him. Lost in the back of the library.

Jisoo raised his head and a soft smile appeared on his lips. His eyes disappeared into two crescent moons.

"Hey!" Seungcheol began, approaching timidly. "What are you reading ?"

With a nod, Jisoo indicated the seat next to his, inviting him to sit down. Seungcheol didn't need to be asked and trotted to sit beside him. Jisoo showed him the cover of his book and the boy leaned down to read the title. He paid no attention to their sudden closeness, too focused on trying to read the romanized letters of the English alphabet.

"Do you know how to speak English!?" There you go, one more thing he discovered about this boy.

"I was born in the United States," the painter agreed, looking up at Seungcheol's curious face. "I lived there until I was 13."

Seungcheol looked at him with stars in his eyes, it had to be said that his English wasn't the best in the world, not at all.

"And... what is it about?" Seungcheol asked, suddenly pulling back, cheeks burning. He had just realized that their two faces were close to touching, he wondered if he wasn't encroaching too much on his personal space.

"It's a ninja and dragon story. There's a white fox and a monkey too. And man-eating pandas in a giant bamboo forest. Be careful! You could be their next target."

Saying those words, Jisoo let out a giggle that once again Seungcheol found adorable. With wide eyes he had listened to his speak. Or listen was a very big word, he had stared at the brunette's lips moving without giving the slightest attention to the meaning of the words he pronounced clearly and with enthusiasm. He shook his head, trying to shake off the strange thoughts that were going through his head.

"Pandas... Man-eaters?" He asked after coming back to his senses. "You made that up didn't you?"

Jisoo nodded and Seungcheol followed him in laughter. It had been a long time since Seungcheol had laughed, but with Jisoo he felt much more relaxed. A huge adorable smile clung to his face as his bursts of laughter echoed in the dead silence of the library, bouncing from wall to wall.

Jisoo resumed a serious expression and looked at Seungcheol. He had closed and put his book next to him. His head wedged on his fist, he looked at Seungcheol to him either not wanting to get tired of it.

"Something wrong?" Asked the black-haired boy who suddenly felt observed.

"Seungcheol." Jisoo said. "Let me paint your portrait."

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Author note :
THE LIBRARY CHAPTER!!

I'm truly sorry for the wait!
I hope you still liked it!

Cheolsoo of the day :