It was another one of those days when Matilda had to wait, after school hours, for her father to pick her up. Usually, she would call her mother so she could come and pick her up but with her stepfather in the picture, she preferred waiting for her dad.

Little Matilda didn’t want to stay on school grounds though, so she decided to cross the street and wait for her father at the library. She was hoping that time would pass faster by aimlessly walking around in between books instead of standing still in front of her school entrance, all by herself.

As she walked inside the building, she stood still as her eyes wandered from one side to the other. She slowly started walking towards the front desk where she pulled herself up on her toes to ring the little desk bell that was just on the edge of the counter. She waited for a few more seconds and noticed that nobody was coming. She shrugged her shoulders and left as she turned around and started walking aisle through aisle while slowly observing the books that were stacked up on the shelves.

She had probably made the full tour of the library at least twice before finally catching Hyemi’s attention.

The young woman in question was placing back in their respective places the borrowed books that were brought back when she caught sight of the little six year old walking around as if she was looking for something. Leaving the carriage filled with books, she went up to Matilda as the girl turned around to face the lady, a greeting smile appearing on her face.

“Do you need any help? It seemed as if you were looking for something.”

“No it’s okay, I’m just looking around.”

“O-oh, okay then… Well, I’m just right over there if you change your mind.”

The little girl nodded her head and let Hyemi leave until she changed her mind and caught up to the young librarian. “A-actually I was wondering if you had a book I could read? I’m waiting for my father to pick me up…”

“Of course! I think I may have just the thing for you; come with me.”

Matilda closely followed Hyemi until she was lead on the other side of the library. Looking for the perfect book, it took the lady a few seconds until her eyes were set on what she was searching for. Taking it out of its place, she bent down to the little girl’s height and placed the book in front of her.

“Once upon a time… What’s it about?”

Her curious gaze met with the librarian’s smiling eyes as she glanced down, her hand caressing the cover before looking back up at the child. “This is a collection of fairy tales.”

Hyemi was glad to see the slight impressed look on Matilda’s face as she carefully took hold of the large book, staring at it before looking back at her. “Is it okay if I borrow it?”

“Of course, do you have a library card?”

“O-oh… No I don’t…” The disappointment across her face caught up to Hyemi, deciding to make it up to her. “How about we use my card then, hmm?”

“Really? Then is it okay, i-if I can borrow more books?”

The woman chuckled at the girl’s excitement and nodded her head as she got back up on her feet. “Go and pick the books you want and I’ll meet you at the counter, okay?”

“Thank you!” Politely bowing, she quickly ran off to start her search leaving an amused Hyemi watching the six year old disappear before she made her way back to her task at hand.

Once she was done, she was patiently waiting for the little girl until she saw a floating pile of books coming her way and quickly walking on the other side to help Matilda by placing them all on the wooden surface. Her eyes caught onto the various choices she picked and looked back down at the young one with a surprised expression on her face, taken aback by how mature the books were for her age.

“You know that we have books for you in the children’s section, right?”

“I know, but there wasn’t anything interesting.”

“Okay then…”

Once by one, she passed the codes of each novel she had, starting from Moby to Jane Eyre and even had some Oliver Twist and Pride and Prejudice, including in the end the fairy tale book she was borrowing. “Are you sure about these books though? We can maybe find something that fits more into, maybe, something for young teenagers?”

“It’s okay, really. I read those kind of books all the time. I have a full library of them at home.”

“O-oh ,o-kay.” She still felt a little bit uncomfortable but seeing the confident look on the girl’s face, she let go of the issue and finished up as she handed the small pile back to her. “What about your parents though? Won’t they be mad?”

“They’re okay with it; they’re the ones that buy me the books I want. Thank you again for letting me borrow them!”

“No problem~” She smiled at Matilda as she watched her leave towards the exit until she was completely out of sight.

‘She’s a strange kid…’

She shook her thought away and went back to her work while on the other side, Matilda was sitting on the steps of the library entrance waiting for her father to pick her up. She took this chance to randomly choose one of the books she had just borrowed and started reading.

A few minutes later, she heard her name being called out loudly making her lift her head up to see her father waving at her before crossing the street in a rush. “What are you doing here? I thought we agreed that you would wait for me at school?”

“I know but I got bored and I wanted to pass the time so I came here.”

“And where did you get these books?” Picking them up, the father quickly glanced at what his daughter was bringing back with her before putting his gaze back to her. “The lady who works there let me borrow them.”

“That’s nice of her~”

“Mhmm.”

“Come on, let’s get you home now. I may have to go back to work later so we have to hurry, okay?”

“But I thought it was your night off?”

“I know sweetie and I’m sorry but I have an important meeting that I can’t miss with important people. You understand, right?”

“Yes daddy…” A slight pout across her lips, she looked down as she followed her father back to the car where he helped her get in the back seat before following her and closing the door behind.

“Where to Mr. Lee?” Looking in the front, Changsun replied back to his driver, telling him to bring them back to his place. As the car started to move, the man looked back at Matilda who had just rested her head against him, linking her arms with his. He smiled as he softly her hair before placing a peck on the top of her head.

He hated not being able to hold his promise to his own daughter and felt bad for abandoning her like this but he knew that he would find a way to make it up to her and that’s where he put his focus on, all the way back to his place.