Chapter 22

Books. Tiffany had never seen so many books in her life. All around her were books. There were all kinds of them. There were books from small to large & pale to dark. Shelves & shelves of books. Taking a couple of steps forward, she noticed that there was a forest green sofa lying in the center of the room with cushions all around it. Large pillows surrounded the semi-circle, bed-like couch. Looking down, she also noticed that the carpet was of the same rich green color. Never had she seen so many books. She had been to her high school library & even the public one but none of that was even comparable to the sight she was seeing now. She let her eyes wander some more. They soon came to settle on an object that sat on a small glass counter near the sofa. As she got closer to the object, she finally realized what it was. There sat the little crystal figurine that she had bought for Mrs. Kim. It shined like brand new. It’s amazing how such a small object could perfect the look of such a large room.

“I can’t believe this. This is...is remarkable.” She whispered, more to herself rather than to anyone else. Deciding to see what kind of books there were, Tiffany began to take some off the shelves. The first one she saw was fantasy. Then it went to horror & philosophy. To the left side were science, humor, history & even romance, “There must be books of every genre here. In fact, almost every book that ever saw daylight could be here.” Then her eyes spotted a particular one with a pink cover pushed out a little further than the rest. Carefully placing a stool down, she stepped up & retrieved it. Yes, it was the book that she had acquired so many years before. There in the large room, Tiffany was once again, reunited with her book, the book that stayed by her side for so long. She slowly slid her fingers across the letters that read, ‘The Little Princess’.

“Oh, how I have missed you.” She jumped off the stool & headed straight for the couch. With a plop, she immediately turned the cover. She wasn’t exactly anticipating anything else other than the words. Well, it was a book after all. Instead, a small folded paper fell from the page & onto the floor, “What do we have here?” Picking it up, she read it & gasped.

‘Tiffany,

If you are here right now, reading this note, then you know my secret. In here lives the heart of my son, Taewoong. He loved books so every day I would buy him a couple new ones to add to his collection. After he died, I decided to continue buying the books. It was the only method I could think of to keep him from dying in my heart. There are over 500,000 books in these shelves. I now turn this library to you. Keep it & treasure it well for me, him & yourself.’

“She must have wrote this before she forgot me. This library is mine?” She stood up, shocked “How can this be? What did I ever do to deserve such a thing as this? I’m certainly not worthy of such a gift.”

“Ah, but you are, my dear.” That voice caused her to spin around, “You are worthy of a lot more than anyone can really offer you.”