He don't believe fate .He believe dates
991 Words
He didn’t sleep. Doesn’t try.
He has 17 minutes to figure out.
He tried to move on.Told himself: it's done.
You lsaid your piece. She said hers.
Delete the checkout history.Told Minho to shelve The Bell Jar in fiction by mistake. Lied to himself:It's was just a story .Just 3am brain.Just loneliness.
None of it stuck.
Because FATE
He didn’t believe in fate.He believe in date.
In overdue notice
But 3: 17am for 49 nights.Then 4 am.Then 4:17am.
That's not date.Thats pull.
He write things in head.You don’t have to write page 48.You don’t have to burn it. You can just live past it.
All of it's sounds like another note. Another fix.
So he decides.
He'll say nothing
4:16am.
Jungkook is already at the desk. He came in at 2am. Didn’t sleep. Didn’t try.
He has 17 minutes. That’s what she gave him. Not 18. Not 16. Seventeen.
He doesn’t know what to say. He had 24 hours to think and his brain is blank.
He tried to move on. Last night after she left, he told himself: _It’s done. You said your piece. She said hers. Go back to normal._
He tried to avoid the thoughts. Deleted the checkout history. Told Minho to shelve _The Bell Jar_ in Fiction by mistake. Said lies to himself: _It was just a story. It was just 3am brain. It was just loneliness._
None of it stuck.
Because FATE.
He doesn’t believe in fate. He believes in data. In overdue notices. In check-in times.
But 3:17am. For 49 nights. Then 4am. Then 4:17am.
That’s not data. That’s pattern. That’s pull.
4:17am.
The door shushes.
She walks in. Navy hoodie. No book. She said she was done with the book.
She stops in front of the desk.
Looks at the clock.
4:17am.
She doesn’t speak.
He doesn’t speak.
She walks around the desk.
He stands. Not sure why. Maybe to move. Maybe to run.
She sits in her chair. The one Taehyung caught him in. The one he stopped sitting in.
She looks at him. Then at the empty chair next to hers. The staff chair. His chair.
He sits.
4:18am.
16 minutes left.
He wants to say something. _I’m sorry. I’m glad you came. Don’t go._
He says nothing.
Because what if he doesn’t get any chance to spend time with her after this? What if 17 minutes is all FATE gives him?
He doesn’t know why he thinks like this. He’s blank.
He tried to plan words. Wrote them in his head. _You don’t have to write page 48. You don’t have to burn it. You can just live past it._
All of it sounded like another note. Another fix.
So he says nothing.
4:22am.
12 minutes left.
The radiators clank.
She pulls her sleeves down over her hands. Looks at the shelves. Not at him.
He looks at her.
Y/N.
The girl who comes in at 3:17am.
He doesn’t think about the future. Doesn’t think about the past. Doesn’t think about page 47 or the sticky notes or Jimin or university.
He thinks about her.
How she breathes quiet. How she checks out the same book to prove time wrong. How she said _I need to know someone’s there when I can’t._
He wants to stay with her.
He doesn’t know how many minutes. 17. Or 1700. Or a whole life.
He doesn’t get to pick.
4:30am.
4 minutes left.
She shifts. Pulls the blank sticky note out of her pocket. The one he gave her. Still blank. Still crinkled.
She sets it on the armrest between them.
Doesn’t look at him.
He doesn’t touch it.
4:33am.
1 minute left.
His chest hurts. Not the blood-coming-back hurt. The _this is it_ hurt.
She stands.
He stands.
4:34am.
Time’s up.
She doesn’t go to the door.
She picks up the sticky note. Holds it out. Not to him. To the space between them.
He takes it. Fingers brush. First time.
She lets go.
“Y/N,” he says. First time he’s said it out loud.
She looks at him.
“It’s not my name,” she says. Soft. “It’s my mom’s. Yoon Nari. She wrote it in every book she owned.”
She turns. Walks to the door.
Hand on the push bar.
“Mine’s Saeah,” she says. “But I don’t use it yet.”
The door shushes.
She’s gone.
He looks at the sticky note.
Still blank.
Except now, in tiny pencil. In the corner. Like she wrote it with her nail.
_17._
He puts it in his pocket.
6:22am. Minho comes in.
“Shift’s over, man.”
Jungkook nods. Stands.
“You okay?”
Jungkook thinks about it. About FATE. About 17 minutes. About not knowing if it was obsession or not obsession or both.
About Y/N. Saeah. The girl who came at 3:17am.
“Yeah,” he says. “I think so.”
He walks out.
The library is empty.
_The Bell Jar_ is on the shelf. 813.54 PLA.
He doesn’t check it out.
He goes home.
8:00am. His phone buzzes. Unknown number.
_Campus health center. 3pm. Coffee’s better. —J_
He doesn’t reply.
He sleeps.
3:00pm. He goes.
She’s not there.
Jimin is. Two coffees. Hands one over.
“She said you’d come or you wouldn’t.” Jimin shrugs. “She said 17 minutes was enough to decide.”
Jungkook drinks the coffee. It’s good. Not library coffee.
“She’s at the park,” Jimin says. “With the rabbits. She feeds them. Every day at 3:17pm.”
Jungkook puts the coffee down.
He doesn’t run. He walks.
3:17pm.
Park bench. Navy hoodie.
She’s holding a book. Not _The Bell Jar_.
She looks up when he sits.
Doesn’t say anything.
He doesn’t say anything.
They sit.
17 minutes pass.
She doesn’t leave.
He doesn’t leave.
At the end, they end up together.
Not because of FATE.
Because 17 minutes was enough to start.
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