Chapter 1
"The Strange Encounter"
Spring 2018
In the midst of the busy street in Seoul city, a young girl at the age of 25 with the name Kim Ha Na, was walking down the street with a smile on her face. Unlike most people around her, she didn't have her face buried in her phone or her ears covered with headphones. She didn't seem distracted or far away, she looked straight ahead and took in everything her eyes could consume.
The sun was shining down upon her making her body feel warm and fresh, maing her raise her head and look up to the sky. It was a clear sky with only a few clouds visible, all of them white and puffy like big marshmallows.
As she bowed her head once again, she noticed a lady with a dog running past her with the phone in an armbands. She was probably listening to music on Spotify or Apple Music or wherever people listened to music these days.
While Ha Na continued walking down the street, she passed too many people to count, as always when it was a sunny spring day. Old couples walking hand in hand, young kids who were probably skipping school, big men in suits looking awfully important as they were on their way to work. Everything went by in a flash and Ha Na's eyes suddenly felt tired by all the visual noise she was receiving. So instead she took a deep breath, lifted her head to the sky and focused on the calming clouds passing by.
From the opposite direction, another person walking on the busy street of Seoul. A young boy at the age of 22 with the name Park Jimin. While he was walking he kept looking at his phone as he was replying to text messages from his friends. Usually he listened to music to cover up all the noise around him, but sadly, he had forgotten his headphones at home.
Suddenly, Jimin was startled by a dog barking and when he looked up from his phone, he saw a lady in running gear, trying to keep her dog under control. It seemed to have spotted another dog not to far away. Jimin noticed the armband and also the headphones which made him miss his own even more, but he soon pulled himself together and continued walking.
As he kept putting one foot in front of the other, his ears where met by all different kinds of sounds. Old couples talking calmly to each other, young kids laughing and cracking jokes that didn't even make sense, and big men in suits talking on the phone sounding like the big shots they probably were. All this noise made Jimin more and more annoyed so he lowered his head and kept his eyes to the ground, trying to shut out the sounds as much as possible.
Then suddenly, as the girl was walking down the street with her head in the clouds and the guy with his head to the ground, and the cool spring breeze flew by them, they collided. Both walking in a fast pace Ha Na's head bumped directly into Jimin's chest with great force resulting in all the air leaving Jimin's lungs and he immediately started gasping for air. When Jimin finally came back to his senses, he noticed the short girl sitting on the ground, she probably fell over after the collide.
"Oh, I'm really sorry!" Jimin hurried and held out his hand towards the girl, but she didn't even give the courtesy to look him the eyes. She didn't take his hand either, but instead got up on her own. Jimin looked at the girl who really was awfully short and had long brown hair with cute bangs covering her forehead. She was wearing a green dress and had a cardigan wrapped around her waist. Before Jimin could think of something else to say the girl suddenly bowed down in front of him and then quickly walked away.
"Wait! Are you just going to leave like that?" Jimin yelled at the girl but she didn't even stop to listen. Jimin lifted his brow as he watched the girl disappear from his sight.
"What a rude girl," he said to himself as he also continued walking.
***
When Ha Na entered the University library she saw the librarian wave at her from behind the counter and Ha Na kindly waved back before going straight to the shelves with all the returned books. The librarian was not an old and scary lady like you would assume. In fact she was a kind lady in her mid thirties who simply worked at the library because she loved the smell of books. At least that was what she had told Ha Na. Her name was Choi Ji Eun and Ha Na liked her a lot, mostly because she always smiled so brightly when they saw each other. The hadn't really talked a lot, only when Ha Na was being interviewed for the job.
After putting on her name tag, Ha Na took a stack of books and began her journey to put the books back in its rightful place. And it really was a journey. Starting with "ancient history of Korea", then moving on to "how to draw Manga, book 1" and continuing on to shelves with romance books.
Before putting the romance book back on the shelve, Ha Na couldn't help but read the synopsis and she was immediately intrigued. Putting down the other books, she opened to the first page and then swiped trough some more, trying to get a glimpse of how the story went. This was definitely going on her "To read list".
As Ha Na lifted her face again, she realized someone was standing in front of her, a girl, and she seemed to be talking to her as well. Ha Na carefully looked at the girls lips moving but it was too late to get into it now. Ha Na was getting a little flustered, trying to figure out what to do, when the girl's eyes suddenly lit up. She pointed at the name tag and smiled like she finally understood what was going on. Then she quickly took out her phone, typed in something and then showed it to Ha Na.
Where can I find the travel books?
Ha Na's face lit up in a bright smile and then kindly gestured for the girl to follow her.
After she finished helping the girl, Ha Na walked back to the shelves with returned books, but before she was able to pick up another stack, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.
From: Unnie 💕
Seriously, I'm going insane! I don't even think I'll be able to take the test today, I'll pass out before I get there 😩😭
Ha Na couldn't help but smile when she read the text. Her friend did have a nag for overreacting, but Ha Na just found her extremly cute that way.
Reply to: Unnie 💕
Stop worrying so much!
You studied a lot so it's gonna be fine ❤️ Tonight let's celebrate by watching kdrama all night!
From: Unnie 💕
Waaaah yes let's do that! 😱😱😱 What kdrama should we watch? A new one or should we just binge watch one of the usual's 🤔
Reply to Unnie 💕
I don't care, as long as it has Lee Minho as the lead!
From: Unnie 💕
You have me convinced 😍😍 Should we meet at your house around dinner time?
Reply to Unnie 💕
Sounds like a good idea 😊 See you tonight!
Ha Na put her phone back in her pocket and continued on with work. As she was arranging books on one of the shelves, Jimin entered the library with headphones on and a smile on his face. Without paying any attention to his surroundings, he walked up to counter to ask for the book he had booked. Earlier in the day he had gotten a text saying it should be ready for pick-up. But when Jimin looked at the shelve that said "Pick-up" he couldn't find it. After a while he started looking around for the librarian but once he found her, she was already in the middle of helping someone. That was when he noticed a girl lining books very neatly on a shelve. She would definitely be able to help him.
"Excuse me," Jimin said as he neared the girl, but he didn't get any reaction so he said it again, this time louder "excuse me!" He was now standing only a few meters away from the girl, but she didn't even look at him. Jimin looked at her ears thinking she might be listening to loud music, but she wasn't even wearing headphones or anything.
That was when Jimin noticed.
"You're the girl from this morning!" he said but Ha Na just turned around to grab some of the books she had put on the ground, and Jimin's patience was slowly running out.
"Woah you're still not talking to me?" Jimin said and grabbed her shoulder, but he quickly regretted what he had done when he saw Ha Na jump half a meter up in the air and drop all the books on the floor. Ha Na looked up and now noticed the young boy who was standing next to her with a shocked look on his face. Jimin looked back at Ha Na and now saw the nametag on her shirt.
"Kim Ha Na" it said and just above that he read; "DEAF".
Hello everyone!
Welcome to the first "real" chapter of this book, we have now officially begun the journey of this story and I hope you like the way we set off.
Please don't hold back and make sure to leave a comment down below to let me know how you liked the first chapter. Also, remember to stay safe and take good care of yourself.
Love, Annalise~