IQ148 // namjoon ✔️

__OCTOBER__

October; 2014

“Have you seen my pencil?” JungMi interjects and pats the floor around her frantically while holding her journal, open to a page, close to her chest, “I put it down just a moment ago before you sat down…”

“A pencil?” NamJoon repeats to himself as he looks around to try and conjure the object visually. He doesn't recall seeing one when he sat down.

It's only when he shifts his body to try and see if it rolled under the bookshelf does he feel something poking him from underneath.

He lifts his butt off the floor, reaches under, and pulls out a sharpened, yellow #2 pencil that snapped in half under his weight.

He lifts the shards and remains of her pencil for her to see and offers a gawky grin to express his remorse, “I'm sorry…”

JungMi pouts and presses her journal down harder against her chest, “It's alright… I was already finished with the poem anyway.” She picks the broken halves out of his hands and throws them into her pencil case.

While using her free hand, her other which holds the notebook close to her heart refuses to budge. Through the cracks of her fingers, NamJoon can make out the handwritten letters in complete capitalization scratched on the cover which labels the journal as:
JUNGMI'S NOTEBOOK.

NamJoon gradually becomes less embarrassed and more curious as he inquires subtly, “A poem? Can I read it?”

He notices how her knuckles start to curl around the spine of her journal, as if to lock it in place. She confirms in a sly manner, “Yes, a poem. For my eyes only.” She pulls the journal the smallest inch away from her chest to skim through her finished product.

NamJoon leans back casually and extends his torso to look over her shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of even just a word, but she shifts so that her back is to him and her notebook is out of sight.

“What's so secretive about this poem that I can't read it?” NamJoon exasperates.

JungMi chews on her bottom lip, hesitating in answering, “It's about you… but it's also about me.”

At the sound of 'you’ and 'me together in the same sentence, his ears perk up along with his already irritating interest.

He starts to poke her back repeatedly with the hope that she would let go of the journal in order to swat his hand away. He can already tell she's paranoid, but she's also relentless to let him have his way.

NamJoon sits up straight, his back completely aligned with the 90° ridge where the floor meets the wall. Even with his long torso extended to full capacity, he still can't see her notebook from behind her back, “Will I be able to read it?”

Matching his exasperation, JungMi shrugs him off, “Someday, perhaps…”

“We keep saying someday, but how far away is that?” NamJoon tries to reason with her.

JungMi spares him a glance over her shoulder and smirks, “Closer than it appears.”

NamJoon groans before arguing,“There's no time like the present! You might not get this chance again to show me.”

“I'm counting on it.” NamJoon can almost hear the smile in her voice as she said that looking away from him, afraid that seeing his face would sway her into showing him her journal.

He goes to tilt his head back in frustration, but hits his head against the shelf with a loud bang instead, causing JungMi to turn back around slightly just to see if the books on the shelf stay secure.