The place was a pin drop silence, as usual. She could hear nothing but the quiet peaceful sounds of paper turning and minds thinking at their best. Occasionally, the librarian would play her role, hushing some people and at times, the sound of the chair scraping against the floor could be heard.

She walked passed a shelf, filled with hundreds of fiction but nothing seems to grab her attention. She walked again, from one shelf to another. After few moments of wandering around, she finally found a book that completely stole her interest.  Carefully, she paced towards an empty seat, placing herself comfortably onto the chair. She opened the book, flipping through the first page.

As she was fully concentrating on her fiction, an unknown stranger took a seat at the table opposite to her. She glanced up when she realised the empty seat is now occupied. The stranger had managed to fully grab her attention away from her reading. He was perfectly gorgeous, almost like an angel. Even without him smiling, she knew for sure his smile could melt one’s heart. He has a slightly fair complexion and a pair of mesmerising eyes. The morning sunlight is hitting his complexion, causing his feature to stand out. In short, he is dashingly handsome.

Realizing that he was being stared, he looked up. Her eyes met his. A slight curl was formed on his exquisitely sculpted face. She looked away avoiding his mesmerising gaze.

The following day, she went to the same place again at the exact same time. And as usual, she would be wandering around the library finding some interesting book to read. An emerald green coloured book suddenly grabbed her attention. She smiled in satisfaction as she immediately took hold of the book. However just when she was about to take it away from the shelf, another hand grabbed the book. She looked up at that person with her eyes slightly narrowing. “Excuse me, but I saw…” she paused at the exact moment, when she saw that very familiar figure.

“Oh...That’s okay…Since you saw it first…” He said, carving his overwhelming smile. He handed to her the book and gave her one last smile before leaving her, still in a half conscious state. She turned her body to thank him, however it was too late. He had already disappeared.

With her eyes still wandering around searching for his figure, she arranged her step towards an empty seat. She took one last glance around the library before taking her seat.  Making sure he was out of her sight, she started to open the book and read through the first sentence.  However, her reading comes to a complete stop when the perfect stranger suddenly interrupted her by taking the seat next to her.

“I hope this seat is not taken yet…” he said, flashing an alluring smile of his. She looked around and the saw that the enormous library was almost occupied. “No, the seat is not taken yet.” She assured him as her heartbeat started to pound wildly.

Again he smiled, causing her heart to beat faster than usual.

She then looked down to her reading again, however at this particular moment; her concentration was fully distracted by the existence of this unknown person. Once in a while, she would take a glance over his perfect flawless face. She knew that she had already fallen for this stranger.

***

“Haneul, I’ve already arranged it for you, why didn’t you go and meet him?” Her mom growled at her. She ignored it and continued to flicker the remote control button. “Yah! I’m talking to you right now Choi Haneul… Your father and I had arranged a perfect marriage for you.” She barked at her.

“Mother, I told you already, I’m not getting married, especially when you and dad were the one choosing my future husband. I’m not going to do and that’s final.”  She said as she stomped her feet to her room. She threw herself onto the bed and stared emptily at the blank white ceiling. Out of the blues, his face came racing inside her thought. She had fall head over heels for him but one thing for sure, he’s everything she wants and everything she can’t have. He’s just a stranger and nothing more.

The next day, she went to the library again. Going to the library had become part of her routine. The library will be the only place she’ll meet with her so called ‘crush’ or also known as the perfect stranger. Unfortunately, today wasn’t her lucky day. He was nowhere in sight. She tried looking for him, walking pass from one shelf to another but alas, still he was nowhere to be seen. She took a glance over her watch. ‘He was always here at this time, but where is he?’ She thought. Her heart was frustrated by his absence. She wanted so badly to meet him. Maybe he already knows that she had been watching him that he felt really uncomfortable so he decided to stop coming here. Or maybe he found a new place to read. 1001 reasons came racing through her mind, but she couldn’t find the exact reason.

***

She stared at the empty seat in front of her wishing that the perfect stranger would occupy the empty seat. Her eyes wandered again looking for his figure. It had been a week since she last saw him. For the past one week, he was nowhere to be seen. Everyday she waited at the library in hope she could encounter him, however her hope shattered when he didn’t appear. ‘Maybe we’re not destined to meet again.’

She finally gave up.

“Where are we going mother?” She asked. “We are going to meet your future husband.” She casually said.”Mother, I told you I won’t marry him!” She protested.

“I’m not going to ask you to marry him at this moment. We are just going to visit him. He met with an accident last week. We should at least show some respect.” Reluctantly, she forced herself to visit him.

When she entered the ward, she could feel her heart skip a beat and her whole body was numb. She immediately stopped her pace with eyes slightly widened in disbelief when she saw the perfect stranger lying weakly on the hospital bed. He was slightly pale this time and there was a slight cut at the corner of his lips.

He curled a smile when he realised it was her. “Mother…” she pulled her sleeves as if she was asking for her mother’s explanation. “Is this?” She asked pointing towards his direction. “Yes, this is the guy I set you up the other day. He is my friend’s son.” Her mom explained.

She turned to face him again and slightly bowed. “You are the library girl right?” He suddenly asked.

“Huh?” She was confused for a moment. “Hye.” He greeted her warmly.

She finally discovered that the guy that her parents had set up was none other than this perfect stranger. The guy that she thought she’ll never meet again is destined to be hers forever.