mask | DODAM

YEDAM

"nah, i think i'll go to the library," yedam said through the mask he was wearing as he was walking with his friends out of the building they were currently in. the masked male's friends had decided to hang out all together after school and get some tteokbokki together, but the male with the baby powder allergy had refused and decided to go to the library instead.

"but you never pass on an opportunity to eat tteokbokki!" junkyu complained, whining loudly that the younger male had refused to hang out with them. yedam just shrugged as a response, not necessarily describing a specific reason as to why he declined the offor, and stopped at the boundary of the school campus as he saw his friends off.

"i'll see you guys tomorrow," yedam said as the other ten boys waved to the masked male and walked away, leaving yedam in his spot to turn around and head to the main campus library. the second year university student needed to check out a book from that specific room to help him on his music theory assignment given to him by the teacher, and although the campus library was most likely to not have the book he needed, it still didn't hurt to check it out and see if it did.

placing his things down on an empty table upon arrival to the room filled with rows and rows of filled bookshelves, yedam began walking up and down the aisles of bookshelves to look for the specific music theory book that he needed.

the masked boy spent a good ten minutes looking through three aisles for the book he needed, but he had no luck so far. it seemed nearly impossible for him to find the book if he wasn't able to see it in those three bookshelves that were specifically for music and film theory. however, yedam kept looking. he even rechecked those three aisles before deciding to move on. the masked male hoped that the book would be in the campus library because if not, then he would have to make a stop by the public library on his way home, and he would prefer to not go there because for one, it was huge, so it would take a lot of time to look through all the books to find what he needed, and two, the books on the shelves of the public library were not necessarily organized like the main campus library.

after about another half hour, yedam still had no luck as to finding the music theory book that he was looking for. but that didn't go to say that the second year university student didn't find anything interesting, because for one, he did.

while yedam was walking down a row of bookshelves and looking through the thick packets of pages with written words that were placed on the wooden shelves, he saw a boy between the spaces of the books on one of plentiful shelves present in the room. the boy had his arms folded on the table and his head resting on it, pencil in one hand and still in writing position with papers and books scattered all over the vacant table in front of him, his backpack on the side of his chair. the masked boy took a good look at the boy from where he was and slowly approached him after a good three minutes of keeping his distance.

after coming closer, yedam recognized the other student as the guy he saw earlier that day, sleeping on the picnic table in the same position during his break between classes. he was walking by the picnic table when he saw the boy sleeping there, and yedam had taken a minute to study his face earlier that day from a distance.

the eye bags under the other student's eyes were very prominent and noticeable, and it made yedam think that the male must not be sleeping well during the night. his steady breathing and closed eyelids helped the masked male conclude that he was sleeping soundly at the time despite the chatter of passing students and pedestrians at the time, although the second year university student was a good seven feet from the other when he saw him earlier that day. and even now, seven feet away from the other, yedam could still see the dark bags hanging under his eyes despite the other sleeping peacefully in the library.

yedam knew it wasn't his business, and he knew that he probably shouldn't be concerned for the boy because yedam himself already had a lot to deal with, but he couldn't help but wonder what made the boy have such prominent eye bags and a sleepy face even while in a sleeping slumber. the masked male could expect that the other was lacking sleep, major sleep, but why? yedam couldn't establish that point, nor did he want to without knowing anything about the sleeping male. he didn't want to assume anything because that could come off as judgmental and impulsive, neither characteristic of which yedam possessed.