Lingering Jasmine | Im Jaebeom

Chapter One

The gentle rays of afternoon sunshine gleamed through the dusty storefront windows, almost as if they were warming the spines to the endless rows of books that lined the shelves of this quaint, family-owned bookstore. Delicate fingers traced each spine methodically as their owner internally read the titles, awaiting one that jumped out at him. Coming to the end of this aisle, he turns to the next, maintaining his slow, intentional pace as he continued through the following rows of novels; each one quietly hoping to be chosen by him. Jaebeom often frequented this bookstore on his days off as it was just a few blocks from his apartment complex. It was a safe haven for him, quietly tucked away in the back streets of Ilsan. The prospect of him being noticed was a rarity here and being that he was from a popular idol group, coming across refuges such as these where he could just be a normal civilian were precious and absolutely necessary to his survival.

Suddenly, Jaebeom paused as he glanced over the word '흰' (Huin | The White Book). The title was short enough to intrigue him, so he pulled the book from its confines and briefly skimmed the book's summary.

'... a fragmented autobiographical meditation on the death of the unnamed narrator's baby sister, who died two hours after her birth...' he quietly read to himself.

As he continued reading the summary, he could hear the faint sound of a cell phone ringing in the aisle to his left. The owner of the phone answered after only a few rings. He could barely make out the distressed responses the man gave, but made no effort trying to piece together what the conversation could possibly be about. The only thing that had his attention at this moment was the book in hand.

"Ah... Interesting..." he commented to himself as he carefully set his chosen book in the mesh shopping bag that the bookstore owner handed him as he was welcomed in. The bookstore owner was a fragile-looking man in his late 60s. He had gentle eyes and a hearty laugh that only seemed to be present when he was teasingly poking fun at Jaebeom. He always seemed to take a special liking to Jaebeom, possibly because he was a regular visitor, or maybe it was the fact that someone as young and attractive as Jaebeom had taken such a liking to books and the secrets they hold between their covers. He enjoyed the thought-provoking conversations they had when Jaebeom would share his theories on his recently finished novels as he came to pick up more to add to his massive collection. His joking was a way for him to show Jaebeom that he found him to be almost like family and Jaebeom never took offense to it. If anything, it was welcomed. He enjoyed the feeling of normalcy it brought.

"You remind me of my granddaughter, but a lot prettier!" the 할아버지 (Hal-ah-buh-ji | grandpa) joked as Jaebeom entered the shop just moments before, his boisterous laughter shook through his small, frail body. He quickly grabbed two shopping bags to hand to Jaebeom and his companion.

"Yes... I know..." Jaebeom jokingly sighed in response. The teasing from the 할아버지 (Hal-ah-buh-ji | grandpa) seemed to have increased when he began growing out his hair. He brushed his black, barely shoulder length locks from his face and safely tucked the loose strands in place behind his ears. A muffled, almost hollow laugh sounded from Jaebeom's side in reaction to his cute, seemingly embarrassed actions, as the two men retrieved the bags from the store owner. The moment Jaebeom laid eyes on the familiar books, he began his search where he did every visit, almost as if it were reflex, while the friend he had just entered with drifted off to another section of the bookstore.

After setting his first pick of the day in his bag, Jaebeom noticed a reflected light from a passing bicycle shine out of the corner of his eye. He looked over his broad left shoulder to see a book that the light briefly landed on before quickly disappearing with the rider. This book seemed almost as if shouting 'Pick me! Pick me!' out to him. He turned his body so he could read the title clearly '충실한 마음' (Choong-shil-han mah-eum | The Loyalties) it read in deep red lettering. He could tell that the author was foreign, possibly French. Immediately he was intrigued and reached his right hand out to get a better idea of the synopsis. Just as his hands gripped the book, a dainty hand rested on the book just inches below his.

'I didn't even realize anyone else was on the same aisle as me.', he thought to himself in shock.

His gaze instinctively began to trace the thin arm, hoping to catch a glimpse of the beautiful hand's owner when suddenly...

"JB, we have to head back to the company. PD님 (PD-nim | the producer) is having trouble opening up your sample track, it seems like the file is somehow corrupted or something." Jinyoung suddenly appeared from around the corner after finishing his phone conversation, breaking Jaebeom's train of thought.

He nodded in response and, as if remembering his actions just moments beforehand, he quickly glanced to his right in the direction of the hand that was there just moments ago. Only to see the very last portion of a small figure retreat around the corner of the bookshelf, barely able to discern any noticeable features other than it was a petite woman. A sweet floral smell lingered, trailing behind her in her place. Unable to pinpoint the familiar smell, he snapped out of his wandering thoughts. Jaebeom pulled the book that his hand was still resting on from the shelf and placed it in the bag next to the book titled '흰' (Huin | The White Book) which he chose earlier. He quickly followed Jinyoung to the checkout counter, they said their goodbyes to the kind, old bookstore owner and then crossed the store threshold into the warm rays of the setting, spring sun. The pair then made their way to their entertainment company's studio to resolve the issues that had arisen.

'What was that scent, though? It smelled so recognizable, yet I can't remember what it is.', Jaebeom couldn't help but let his thoughts drift back to the possessor of that beautiful hand. The fact that he was unable to get a decent look at her only piqued his curiosity even more.

'What made her leave so quickly? Wasn't she just reaching for this book?', he thought to himself as he was turning the book over in his hands. 'Did she decide she didn't want to read it?', he then glanced out the window and blankly watched the sites of Seoul pass him by as Jinyoung swiftly drove them to their destination.

To be continued...

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Hi everyone! Thank you so much for reading my very first chapter! Hopefully it wasn't as poorly written as I feel like it was! I'm planning on adding the next chapter tomorrow, so please stay tuned! I have a general direction for this first fic, but I'm not entirely positive on how long I intend to make it, so please bear with me!

I hope you enjoy and have a very nice day!

지혜 드림 <3