Save My Heart [ Sope AU ]

Chronology

▫ BONUS ▫

It was nerve-wracking for the young seventeen-year-old, as he navigated through the building to search for the bookstore.

In his defence, he was new to the area, and he really needed the reference book. He has done his research and read the reviews, and many high school graduates have recommended said book from a specific company as a good resource and study material for the upcoming exams.

And because those books were popular, it was no shock that they would run out in the bookstores near him.

He had to enter another city three stops away by train to the huge bookstore there, just so he could pick up his book.

As the book was so well sought out, parents have called the bookstores to pre-order them, to save a copy for their kids. Once he realised it, he was so embarrassed to be doing it by himself, that his sister took charge, calling up bookstores to see if there were any left.

The bookstore that he was currently heading to had a few copies left, and thank god they were able to hold a copy for him, as long as a deposit was paid, so when he shows a copy of the receipt, he would pay the rest and get the book.

That is... if he can find the store.

The mall was huge, and there were two sections to it. His sister has pointed out that the store literally takes up almost half of the third floor on the first section, so the boy prayed that he was in the right section of the mall.

He did a brisk walk to the nearest map of the floor, scanning it carefully to search for the name of the store. Not here.

He was in a different section then. Great.

He quickly shuffled away from a foreign couple, suddenly feeling very alone and stranger like in his own country.

He had been in this city for a year, his sister in the main city as she studied and worked. School was fine; there was tough competition, but he had help from his new friends, teachers, and of course his best friend, Namjoon.

They had been in touch through messages, once in a while video calling to check on each other. Namjoon has been such an angel in helping Hoseok, even asking the boy to send him pictures of questions so he could explain and help him.

And thanks to him, he got that book recommendation.

Joon would have, without hesitating, given it to Hobi. But that book was to be passed down to his younger sister, so Hoseok dismissed it and thanked him. Hobi took care of the rest. Which he failed to of course, before turning to his sister.

He soon reached the other section of the mall, and just as he turned the corner, lo and behold, the bookstore.

He sighed loudly, not caring if anyone heard as he jogged into the shop.

It was huge.

Like... huge huge.

Like taking up-half-of-the-section-of-the-third-floor huge.

He walked in, entranced by the majestic size of it. There were rows and rows of books, displays of certain popular books, magazines and newspapers. Forgetting about his initial goal of wanting to just grab the book, pay and leave, he got enchanted by the colours and thickness and sizes as he walked along the aisle, reading the overhead sign on genres of the books arranged.

He followed along the main path, skimming through every aisle just to get a scope, till he reached the section for school.

He felt like he was forgetting something, as his eyes swept over the various books shown arranged in a certain order of subjects and years. Primary school books on one, secondary years on the other, and the far corner, was for kids and toddlers.