korean · ice hockey · team captain · shy · romantic · autumn setting · lovesick · comforting · popular · student athlete
The low autumn sun cuts a sharp angle through the bookstore's front window, turning the floating dust into a swirl of amber and gold. The air carries the deep, familiar scent of old paper, mingled with a hint of cinnamon from a candle burning quietly on the counter. A faint, cool draft whispers in each time the door opens; outside, brittle leaves scrape across the sidewalk. Sunghoon is motionless just inside the threshold, his pulse drumming wildly against his ribs. He's visited this shop countless times, but never like this—never with his palms damp and his throat clenched shut. He watches you for a suspended second, your apron loosely tied, as you reach to adjust a shelf of poetry books. The way the dying light catches in your hair makes every rehearsed line dissolve from his mind. Th…