"Great job at the gig last week, Rin," a voice shakes me from my reverie. I'd been sorting books in adult fiction, halfway through the translations of works by John Steinbeck. I place one last copy of Of Mice and Men on the shelf before turning to acknowledge the voice. It's Dabin.

"You were at the show?" I question. Dabin, precious as he is, has never been much for rap.

"How could I not go? Juyoung was talking to me about it a while back and I decided that I really wanted to come support you. You did a fantastic job— I mean, even I was having a great time."

"Wow, I never would've guessed. Thanks for coming out then, Dabin. That's really sweet of you."

"Of course. You know me, always trying to broaden my horizons."

"Keyword: trying."

"Precisely. Anyway, I'm supposed to help you shelve, but it seems you're already almost done." He glances at the cart of books to be shelved, which only contains a dozen or so novels.

A devious smile crosses my face. "Well, if you're so inclined to help, just finish this for me, okay?"

Dabin's about to respond, but I smile in that cutely mean way and skip off, chirping my thanks over my shoulder. I hear Dabin grumble out the words "I hate you" before I'm out of earshot.

It really is touching that he came to my show last week, though. It's been a full eight days since that Saturday's performance, making it also eight days before he felt bothered to bring it up. We were working together on Tuesday, so why didn't he mention it then? Dabin will always be a mystery, it seems.

I head off to the break room to get some coffee. I've been absolutely zonked lately, and some caffeine can only do me good. When I enter I head straight to the coffee machine and prepare myself some of the elixir of life. I wonder, where would the human race be without coffee?

As I'm relaxing, Kyeonghwa enters the room, looking as tired as I feel. Even so, she greets me cheerfully. "Hey, Rin. Done with the shelving?"

"Yeah, Dabin's just finishing it up. He should be back here any minute now."

"I know, I was just over there looking for you."

"Why? Nothing's wrong, right?"

She laughs, pronouncing only more the laugh lines in her face as her eyes crinkle at the sides. "Everything's fine. Your kids are here, is all."

"My..." I take a second to think about what she said before I remember Jieun and Jintae. "Oh, my kids! Did they ask for me?"

"A moment ago, yes. They're finished with another book you checked out for them."

"Okay, I'll take care of them," I state. Then, after chugging down the remainder of my coffee (which, may I add, was not a pleasant experience in the slightest) I hustle out of the break room to find the children.

"Rin!" Jieun exclaims. Her head peeks over the edge of the checkout counter and Jintae is beside her. I come out from behind the desk and over to the checkout line to greet them properly.

"How are you two doing today?" I ask them, crouching down to their level.

"We're great!" Jintae chimes. "We finished this book, too." He presents me with the chapter book he and Jieun had indulged themselves in and I take them behind the desk to check it in. This time, I have the two switch roles: Jieun actually scans the book in and Jintae uses the computer. With the book checked in, I walk the kids back out onto the library floor so they might find something to check out.

"Come on back when you find something else, okay?"

"We will," Jieun says. "But what if we can't reach a book this time?"

"My friend Dabin is still around. He's wearing a blue button-down and black jeans today, and he has a name tag. Ask him for help if you need him, alright? I've got some work to do."

A sad look crosses Jintae's face, and I can't help but feel the same way. I'd much rather spend time with these kids than shelve or check out books, but I don't get paid to babysit the duo. As much as I'd love to, I can't.

Jieun tugs Jintae away towards the children's section and I head over to the checkout desk. There aren't many people here, and having three people checking out books here isn't the most productive thing at the moment, but I'm still earning a paycheck. As I sit behind the desk doing absolutely nothing, the sound of the automatic door opening reaches me. My head turns towards the source of the noise almost without me being aware of it, and I examine the person that enters.

Much to my surprise, it's Yoongi.

Immediately a lot of disturbing thoughts enter my head. Has Yoongi been stalking me? Did he follow me here? How much information did Juyoung tell him?

As Yoongi approaches, though, he seems totally oblivious and not like a man on a mission at all, let alone one to find me. When the mint-haired boy finally catches my eye, he jumps back a bit as if my presence genuinely scared him.

"Rin? What're you doing here?"

Oh, hadn't expected to have to answer this one so soon. "I, uh— I work here?" It comes out as more of a question even though it's an answer. What's so embarrassing about working at the library?

"Really?" He questions. Then after a moment of pause, he seems to reach an agreement with himself. "Actually, I can see that. This place suits you."

"Oh. Um, thanks, I guess?" I stammer. God, talking to Yoongi is still awkward as all hell. When's this tension going to go away?

It seems I've got a lot of questions today.

"So, are you looking for anything specific?" I decide on just doing the normal employee-to-shopper shtick with the rationale that it might lessen the awkwardness.

"Yeah, I'm looking for a cookbook. Taehyung wants to try making dinner tonight and I'm the only one with a library card."

"Sounds wild."

"It is, definitely. Where might those be? I can get out of your hair faster that way."

Well, as awkward as this is, I really don't want Yoongi to leave. Don't ask me why, but something about not speaking with him for so long makes me want to make up for lost time. "I'll take you there," I decide.

"You sure? You look really busy," he laughs at his own sarcastic comment and nods for me to come out from behind the counter. I meet my green-haired companion on the other side and lead the way to our instructional material. As we're passing helpdesk in yet another awkward moment, the sound of my name coming from a child's mouth breaks the silence.

"Rin, we found one!" Jintae exclaims. God, these kids just seem to come out of nowhere. Jintae tugs on my apron and then his eyes lock with Yoongi's. "Woah, is your hair naturally that color? Were you born like that?"

"Jintae, that's rude!" Jieun says, slapping him on the arm. That's my girl, I can't help but think.

"Sorry, sir. We didn't want to bother you," Jieun gives a slight bow and begins pulling Jintae away from us when Yoongi speaks up.

"It's fine! You aren't bothering me. Who are you two?" He rests his hands on his knees and leans down to get eye-level with the kids.

"I'm Jieun, and this is Jintae. We come here to read." The greeting seems oddly rehearsed.

"I'm Yoongi, Rin's friend. It's nice to meet you two!" He smiles brightly and the kids just beam back at him. "I dyed my hair, by the way," he says to Jintae. He mumbles an "oh" in response.

"So, what'd you find?" I ask the kids.

"This one! We know this one. Usually, Noona reads it to us," Jintae explains. He hands me a copy of a folktale: The Disobedient Frog.

"Actually, do you think you could read it to us?" Jieun questions. I know I have "work" to do, but God, she's so adorable that saying no would probably kill me with guilt. Before I can find an answer, Yoongi supplies one for me.

"Sure! Rin, can you take us to a reading room?"

"Yeah, there's one this way," I say. I was probably going to say yes anyway. What's the worst Kyeonghwa could do, right?

We cross the library to one of the designated reading rooms, the kids babbling excitedly about us reading to them all the while. I take a second to brief myself on the plot of The Disobedient Frog in my head before I'll have to read it. If I remember correctly, it's about a mother frog and her arrogant son who always did the exact opposite of what she said to do. She becomes so worried about her son that it takes a physical toll on her. One day, the mother tells her son she won't live much longer, and that he should bury her by the river and not in the mountains. Then she dies. The distraught son, guilted by the fact that he pretty much killed his mother, does exactly what she says for the first time ever and buries her by the river. A storm follows a few days later and the nervous son keeps watch over his mother's grave and weeps for her. The moral is something about why green frogs cry when it rains, but the story is rather dark for something Jieun and Jintae would enjoy. Either way, they chose it, so it's up to Yoongi and myself to deliver a good story.

As we enter the pale yellow reading room, Jintae grabs a couple of cushions from a box in the back for Jieun and himself. Yoongi and I sit on a padded bench.

"Okay, you be the son, I'll be the mother and the narrator. That work for you?"

"Definitely."

I put on my best reading voice and begin, starting of course with the title. "The Disobedient Frog. A young frog lived with his widowed mother in a large pond." I turn the page, continuing.

"If his mother said to go play on the hillside, he went to the seashore. If she said do this, he did that. Whatever she said, he did the opposite." The kids hang on every word as if they can recite it from memory just as well as I can read it, looking up at Yoongi and myself expectantly.

I read a few more pages before I actually have to do the dialogue for the mother frog. Donning a high-pitched voice, I speak to Yoongi. "Is that so? Then why can't you croak properly? You don't even sound like a frog. Let me teach you." The smallest of smiles cracks its way onto Yoongi's face, and half of me wants to punch him. Okay, all of me at least kind of wants to punch him, but there are kids here. The worst part of this is that I'm about to do the frog impression. The kids practically bounce from their spots, excited to hear me do it. I take a deep breath and let out the best that I have. "Kaegul! Kaegul! Now you try." It comes out as a garbled mess, and the kids start cackling. Yoongi laughs a little, too, but I push the book towards him with a wry smile. He's got to do one next.

He looks at his part and takes a deep breath, as I did. Then, in a sharp, goofy tone, he speaks his line. "Kulgae! Kulgae!" More laughter ensues, from me as well. With the green hair, he even looks a bit like a frog.

I have no trouble with my next line. "Why, you impudent little rascal! You're going to be the death of me!" Mother Frog really speaks to me here, I won't lie.

We turn a few more pages, following the mother frog's death and reaching the end, where the son is in mourning of his dead mother. "Kaegul! Kaegul! Please don't wash my mother away!" Yoongi cries. He really seems to be feeling his character.

As narrator, I add my final two cents. "And ever since then, green frogs have cried Kaegul! Kaegul! when it rains," I conclude, closing the book with satisfaction.

Jieun and Jintae cheer as if they're a crowd of thirty students, and an unusual surge of pride hits me as they do so. I did alright, it seems.

"That was awesome!" Jintae exclaims. "You two are way more fun than Noona!"

"Will you do this again? Can you two come read more?" Jieun pleads.

"I'll come whenever I can, okay? I'm really busy a lot, but I'll do whatever I can to come spend time with you three," Yoongi says. "I had a lot of fun today."

"I'll read to you guys when you come around, but Yoongi might not always be here," I decide. I had a decently good time myself, after all. "You two should be heading home, though," I say to the kids. "You don't want anyone worrying about you."

"Right! We should go, Jintae," Jieun says. "Can we bring some of our friends next time?"

"Sure!" Yoongi agrees enthusiastically. "The more, the merrier."

"Okay, we will!" Jintae affirms. "Bye, Rin! Bye, Yoongi!"

I say my goodbyes and Yoongi waves, leaving the two of us alone in the reading room.

"That was quite the adventure, wasn't it?" Yoongi chuckles.

"Definitely," I agree. "Honestly, though, I did have a lot of fun."

"Me, too. I'm happy they asked us to do it more."

"Yeah, so am I."

The words keep coming before I can choke them down. "I know you're busy, like, all the time, what with being an idol and stuff. I get that. But, if you ever have the time and it's not Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday, would you like to grab lunch or something sometime? I totally get it if you can't, but—"

"Woah, Rin, slow down. Yes, I'd love to have lunch with you sometime. I'm free on Wednesday, I think. Want to meet somewhere?"

Okay, Rin, calm down. Answer the question. "I'd like that. The cafe across the street from here has some really good food. Want to meet there at, say, noon?"

"Sure!" He chirps, glancing at his phone. "Yep, I don't have anything planned. Noon on Wednesday; got it."

"Alright, guess I'll see you then?"

"Guess so! I've gotta go, but I'll see you around, okay Rin?"

"Yep! See you later, Yoongi!" And he leaves the reading room, too. He probably leaves the library. He probably heads back home.

He forgot to get a cookbook.

☽☼☾