Two (1/1)

It was a moment before he said anything at all, the girl’s lips having parted, and his own heart rate increasing. Why? What? How? Was it the sensual glowing of the moonlight? Or what, that she shares the passion that he once had?“You can’t go home?” Sehun’s question was almost a whisper, like a grazing against the tissues of her history. Her eyes flickered momentarily, and once more her Adam’s apple moved up and down in her tension.“No…” Her voice, however soft, echoed against the bookshelves, and Sehun swore he could hear the books wailing for her.“The books…the books are your home correct? They speak to you, console you, and love you. You become a part of their stories. A part of their characters.”The girl’s head slowly rose to meet his eyes again, but his eyes were focused on his fiddling fingers. How did this boy know? How was he able to describe almost verbatim, what she feels? She, trying to escape the pressures of society, sought refuge here. Anyone who seeks refuge in the land of stories knows how it feels. So was he once…? No, it seemed impossible. In class, this boy refused to speak to any of the kids in the lower “caste”, the ones who were not worthy. And they were usually the bookworms, and math nerds, etc., that everybody dissed.“It seems impossible no? Your eyes look bewildered.”  Sehun chuckled, a small smirk arising on his lips, and the girl suddenly gasped again, almost willing herself not to shield her eyes.She scooted up next to him, so the moonlight splashed all over their figures.“That was from the one book-““Yeah. Where the girlfriend ditches they guy cause he was cheating on her. And she says-“Your eyes look bewildered.”The two recalled the line at the same time, their mouths agape at the action.“Wow…” She whispered. And Sehun cocked his head as if in understanding.“What book where you reading that caused you to cry?”  Sehun inquired, pointing at the book lying helplessly besides her.“Oh…” She fumbled around and retrieved the book from the floor.“To Kill a Mockingbird…”Sehun’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion and amusement.“What part of that made you cry?” The girl noticed the uplifting tone underneath his voice, and smiled a little to herself as well.“Well…It’s hard to explain.  For me…it’s the prosecution. When they wrongly accuse the poor man. It’s just…it kind of hit me…why do we need to be so cruel to each other? The man did nothing and just because…just because….”“…and nobody told the truth because of the pressures of society.” He breathed.Society pressures. Once more. He remembered that.The girl’s head bobbed up and down faintly, and he suddenly felt the urge to take her drooped shoulders, and hold her close to his heartbeat, so she too, could feel what was really in his heart.She was so much similar to him. Her passion. They way she immersed herself into the lives of these people. Worried about what would happen to the innocent character. Sympathizing with the injustice. Was it the unstable emotional state he had, the moonlight, or just…the way he saw himself in you that made his heart flutter? Suddenly, without thought, he decided someone needed to know.“I don’t know how to say this. I haven’t told anyone. But seeing as though my heart led me here, I kind of want to tell you something quite important. ”The girl nodded, and clasped her hands together. She shook her head after as if to get rid of the feeling, and gave Sehun her 100% attention.“I…Before highshcool…believe it or not…I was you. This place. This place was my home. I had nowhere to go then, so I just…I took refuge here, and if you ask me one question, I know every single book in this library. Even the mangas, even the self-help books. I was really here for so long. The books were my friends, and I’m not just saying that.”Awed, the girl continued to stare at his face transformation under the moonlight.“Go on…” she encouraged as Sehun began to choke.“I don’t know why…my life was never straight. My life was never perfect. And I gave up the strong hold I had on these novels to be able to feel worth it again. When all along, I didn’t realize that what made me worth it was the professional expertise on these books. I still know them all. I still have them all engraved in my mind. But I feel like I can’t go back. To what I was I mean.”The girl stared at his now glistening eyes, and she frowned. It was true then. What they say about peeling back the layers of the onion, the many thousands of thin layers to find the core. This guy…he had millions of layers, and tonight he had only shown one thick layer from those millions. So she couldn’t say much else. But she sympathized with him. They were the same.“You can always come back Sehun…Nothing’s stopping you but your own binds. Remember what Harper Lee said in to Kill a Mocking bird?” She looked at him hopefully, and then proceeded to speed flip to the pages until she found the quote she wanted.“She said, ‘Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing’.”Sehun looked deep into the glistening eyes of the stranger girl, one that he had never met, but seemed to suddenly know very well.“That’s right…I never knew what I had until it was gone.”“It’s the same for all of us.”It took a moment for Sehun to realize that the books had begun to talk to him. His ears expanded, and the books slowly peeked out of their hiding places and were advancing towards him. Warily, but accepting his retreat. They’re accepting him to return. It will take time, but they’re starting to come back.The moonlight never seemed brighter, his smile never seemed any brighter, and his heart never seemed to have that capacity to love.Until now.~~