1945; Love during War

Chapter 3: The Letter

In the evening, Taehyung payed a visit to Hoseok's office. Hoseok's father was an author and wanted his son to become one too. But he found himself more of as an editor rather than the author. He believed as an editor, he was giving the final touch of beauty to the books, that made it more appealing to the readers. He was so caught up in work that he didn't see Taehyung coming in. 

"You know you could yourself a break" Taehyung said in a low tone. Hoseok got startled so badly that he almost tripped down all the piles of letters he had finally managed to arrange. "Taeeee, you could have at least knocked you know. You scared the hell out of me". Taehyung giggled placing his coat on the hanger and moved near to the mountain of letters and asked, "What are these?" while taking a letter in his hand.

"Oh these are my father's extraordinary approaches of connecting the world of authors". Confused with such a response, Taehyung raised an eyebrow and said, " Simple language please". Hoseok took one of the letter and said, "You see, my father believes that all the authors are connected to each other, for they use their pen and imagination, these days typewriters too, to make beautiful stories. So, this bond should be strengthened by connecting them with each other. So, my father came up with this idea that authors all around the world would send one of their books and write a letter explaining where the idea and inspiration for the book came from. These authors address the books to my office and we shuffle them all around different places. Some authors come by to drop their books because they feel that coming themselves, makes the process, you know more, intimate". 

Taehyung was so fascinated with the whole concept. He had met Hoseok's father a couple of times but he never knew the man had this side to himself. "Can I take one of the letters too?" Taehyung asked with pleading eyes.

"But you are not an author Tae. Well you are amazingly capable of being one but you never finish what you start". The minute Hoseok said it, he regretted it because he knew the reason why Taehyung couldn't finish his works. 

"I am sorry Tae, what I was trying to say was..". "Its ok, Hoseok-ah. I know you didn't say it with a bad intention". Hoseok felt guilty about bringing up the topic because he knew how much it affected Taehyung and how he was finally moving on. To lighten up Tae's mood, he decided he would give him one of the letters and book. 

"Ok, Taehyung, now I know I am suppose to give this around to authors only but since you have a very speciaaal place in my heart, I am willing to bend father's rule slighlty". He scanned around the books and grabbed a book covered in a white piece of clothing. "Take this one. Among all the parcels, this caught my special attention, thanks to the small note the author had place outside. Taehyung took the book into his hand and read the note outside which said,

"Never judge a book by its cover. As famous as this saying is, I feel the less used it is because at the end, people do judge a book by it cover and many a times, they judge people by their first impression too. I have wrapped my book in a white piece of clothing for two reasons; to build anticipation towards what the book holds and to ensure the reader is reading the book without judgments based on the cover. I hope you enjoy this book with all your heart and I look forward to a reply on how you felt.- Yours, JK"

It is funny how simple words can create such a huge impact in your heart. For Taehyung, he hadn't even read the book yet he somehow felt connected to the author. He was so lost in the note that he didn't even notice Hoseok calling his name. "Taehyung-ah, are you fine?" Lost in thoughts, Tae looked up "Huuh, oh I am fine". 

"I have a feeling I will like this book a lot" Taehyung said tracing his finger down the note with a smile on his face.