She was again at the library, returning books and back to borrow more. But I was one step ahead of her. I had all the books on her list borrowed out.

I’ve never seen her fired up. Books must really be her thing. When she demanded the librarian who beat her, the librarian pointed her out to me.

“Excuse me, Are you Kwon Jiyong?” she asked a little irritated but still my name sounded like music in her angelic voice.

I put down the book I was reading to find her face sans the book. We both seemed surprised coming face to face with each other.

I was right, she looked perfect. In fact, she seemed familiar to me, like a face repeating in my dreams. We stared at each other for quite a while before she blushed and averted her gaze from me.

Shyly she asked again, “Are you Kwon Jiyong?”

“Yes I am. And you are?”  I asked.

“Park Sandara” she replied.

“Is there a problem Sandara?” I asked.

“Kind of. You see, I need to read the books you just borrowed” she said.

“But I haven’t finished them yet. You just have to wait your turn” I said, trying to goad her.

“But there are a lot of them Maybe you could let me lend a few then I’ll return them to you” she bargained.

“I don’t think I could do that. It’s against library rules.” I said.

She looked saddened by what I said that I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

“Tell you what. Let’s make a deal. I’ll return the books so you could borrow them but you’ll agree to go on a week without a book.”

“That’s a strange request but I think I could do that, however difficult it could be.” she said.

“Really? You haven’t even let me finish yet. You’d go a week without a book with me” I finished, showing her my killer smile.

She looked flustered with what I said. “With you? I don’t think… I mean… I…  ” She was at a loss for words, staring at me with wide eyes and blushed cheeks.

“You already said yes. We start tomorrow. I’ll pick you up at your home and we’ll go to school together.”

“Why would you want to this? What will you gain from depriving me of books? She asked seriously.

“Seriously? I think the books were doing you an injustice. Without them, I have the pleasure of looking at you.”