I am not a K-Poppers or a Korean drama follower just like few people around me, but I have nothing against it. I simply don’t spend much time on it because of no time or I will be addicted and my priority changes.
Since the Movement Control Order (MCO) started, I read a few good reviews about a Korean series; Romance is a Bonus Book. It is a story about a publishing company, which I feel very relatable to me, just because I like books. I just finished with Episode 10 now.
There is a scene where Eun Ho confessed his loved to Dan-I after more than 20 years of friendship. The night Dan-I went back home (Eun Ho and Dan-I live together), when she saw Hae Rin in front of the house, she decided to go out with Seo Jin until Hae Rin come out from the house.
The love confession by Eun Ho disturbed Dan-I so much that when Dan-I was eating with Seo Jin, he knew something was wrong.
Seo Jin (SJ):
“Something is bothering you.”
” Tell me. I am a very good listener.”
“Why didn’t you tell me to lighten the load?”
Dan-I (DI):
“I had a book with me. A very old book.
“In her head, “The title is Cha Eun Ho”.
“Since it’s a very good book, whenever I feel tired, happy or empty, I used to take it out and read it. I’d memorize the lines of the book because I read it so many times. But lately, the book feels a bit strange to me.”
SJ:
“All of a sudden?”
DI:
“Yes. All of a sudden. Even when I read the lines I highlighted before, I don’t know why on earth I highlighted such lines. It is definitely the book that I read over and over again countless times, but I keep on seeing new sentences I haven’t seen before. I’ve now realized there were so many lines I missed. It feels like I’m reading a new book.”
Dani is obviously talking about Eun Ho. She knew him for years but never had any feelings for him, but now when Eun Ho confessed, she suddenly feels different.
I like how Seo Jin’s answered it.
SJ:
“Could it be because of you, the reader might have a change of heart? That’s how good books are. If you reread a book you read when you were ten, it feels completely different because we have changed.
The book you have hasn’t changed.
The heart of the reader has changed.”
I remember when my partner and I went to the Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair (KLIBF) 2018, we stop by a booth name Blink Book. He knew the person in charge. The Blink Book writer, Ain Maisarah, used to be a writer in PTS. PTS is a publisher that started to rise up during my early year of secondary school. She wrote a teenage novel.
We were talking a lot about books by Ain Maisarah and another novelist I knew, like Farihah Iskandar and Aizam Aiman. Stood up there, it reminisces all the memory during my teenage years. The books I started to read is light novels type and mostly lovey-dovey type. But as I grow up, I went through different phases of life, meeting many types of people and my environment changed.
15 years ago, the books were wonderful for me, but now, not that it’s not good, it’s just, I am a completely different person. I already leave behind the 13-year-old Aina. Same like what Seo Jun said. We pick a different type of reading now based on who we are and what we think.
Thank you Farihah and Aizam for introducing me to Jihan, Hazman, Suria, Khairi and Adilah. Not forgetting, my all-time favourite writer, Hlovate (can you produce next book ….? teehee) for bringing me cool people like Addin Shah, Kucai, Benz Alif, Ed Sassin, Ashraf Omar, Najwa, Abg Shah, Johana, Along and many more. May Allah bless all of you for making my teenage life so memorable. Amiin.