One week later

Hyemi was back at the library, finishing up her shift for the day before getting ready to head to her night class at school.

She hasn’t really seen Matilda hanging around as much anymore since she got discharged from the hospital, and the only time she came back was to give back the other novels she had borrowed and asked for an extension with that fairytale book. Hyemi ended up giving her the book, admitting that it was never really part of the library’s collection.

The gift left the little girl in awe. With what happened with her father, Hyemi was feeling guilty towards Matilda, thus freely giving her the book of tales.

For Matilda, that book was acting up her imagination, trying to find a way for her father to reconcile with her friend; her head in the clouds, she wanted her father to have a happy ending just like her mother has. Meeting Hyemi for the first time, she immediately knew that she was the princess that her father would need; she was the one that made him stop working like before.

Not even her own mother could do that.

It left a bigger impression on the little one and she didn’t want the bitterness to get in the way; a happy ending was needed.

That same night, Matilda was inside her bedroom looking through the pages to find the perfect fairytale to make into reality. Her voice was still chanting inside her head that if these stories happened once, they could happen again. Nothing was going to convince her otherwise.

She found what she was looking for, hitting her palms against the pages as she read the title.

She grabbed onto the book and ran out of her bedroom to the living room where she found her father watching TV. She jumped onto the couch and took a seat next to him, startling him in the process. “Daddy, can you read this to me please?”

Turning off the TV, he took the item away from her grasp and glanced at the title before looking back at her, arching an eyebrow, intrigued.

“Rapunzel?”

The next day, Matilda went back to the library, after school, looking strangely excited for Hyemi’s taste. Instead of sitting down and patiently waiting to be picked up, she was happily helping Hyemi around, placing back the books on their shelves or help the clients that were coming in and out of the building.

The other woman was quite enjoying the sight the little girl was giving her, despite still feeling like something was up.

While Hyemi was busy with her stacks of books in between the aisles, Matilda was by the main counter, helping out a student who needed a magazine for a school project. Since all the archives are kept in storage, the little girl had to go to the back, with the student’s reference, to pick up what he needed.

Once she disappeared, her father had just arrived as he parked his car by the sidewalk. Usually Matilda would’ve waited outside and since he wasn’t seeing her anywhere, he concluded that she was, either still on school grounds – which would’ve been a surprise – or inside the library. Going with the latter, he took in a deep breath, creating courage to walk through the door and face Hyemi.

He hasn’t seen her nor talk to her since she walked out on him at the hospital and now that he was going to face her, he could feel the unwarranted beating of his heart, pounding its way out of its cage, driving him to anxiety.

He made it to the entrance and hesitated on going inside as he had his arm stretched out towards the handle, his fingers grazing the metal knob. Once he grabbed hold of it, he quickly entered, hoping that picking up his daughter will go smoothly.

From the corner of her eyes, Hyemi saw the door opening and turned her head to see Changsun hesitantly walking in. Her smile fell from her face, her heart pounding against her chest, her grip onto a book becoming tighter by the second.

He was standing by the entrance when they locked eyes, a few feet separating them. The tension was there. Without even realizing it, Hyemi was holding in her breath as Changsun took careful steps, closing in the distance between them.

They were both so focused on each other, they didn’t notice Matilda coming back to the counter where the student was still waiting. She quietly gave him the review he needed and quickly ran out back after asking him to subtly walk out; the boy only gave her a curious look before shrugging and walking away. Matilda ran back to the storage room, hoping that the plan she had in mind was going to work.

Back to the other two, Changsun didn’t need to speak for Hyemi to know that he was picking up Matilda. “H-hmm, I think she’s in the back…”

Without saying anything else, she led the way towards the back of the library. The tension was still present, and now that they were physically closer to each other, it was becoming hard for Hyemi to focus on what she was suppose to do while Changsun could barely put aside the familiar feeling he had whenever he was in her presence.

Once they were by the entrance of the room in question, they both looked around for the little girl and couldn’t find her anywhere.

“Strange… I was sure she was here… Matilda?” She stepped foot inside, walking by the aisles to see if the little one was there, but still couldn’t see her anywhere. Not knowing what was going on, Changsun stepped inside as well, deciding to help Hyemi find his daughter; now that both of them were inside, Matilda took this chance to come out of her hiding spot to quickly close the door of the room, locking it in the process.

The sound of the door, along with her giggles, caught both of their attention as they turned their head to see the door closed. A frown across her forehead, Hyemi walked to the entrance, her hand on the knob, and tried opening it back. She gave it a few more tries and seeing that it wouldn’t budge, panic was starting to take over her.

“M-Matilda? Sweetie? Did you lock the door?”

“Yes!”

“Please unlock it! Your father is here to pick you up!”

“Nobody is going anywhere! Not until you two talk!”

“Matilda!”

The little light bulb over Changsun’s head suddenly ; he finally figured out what his daughter was up too. He let out a sigh as he made his way to the door and knocking on it, calling the young one out.

“Matilda, please get us out of here.”

“Daddy, you and Hyemi need to talk!”

“Sweetheart, please-”

“I’m not opening the door! Stop fighting with each other and then I’ll think about it.”

“Matilda! Open the door!”

“No!”

They both eventually give up on fighting against the little girl, knowing that she was hard headed and wouldn’t oblige to their demands. Hyemi slid her back against the door until she was sitting on the floor, followed by Changsun who sat down next to her.

“Why is she even doing this?” She turned her head to look at him, sensing that he knew what was up with the girl.

He let out a slight bitter chuckle. “In her mind, you are Rapunzel.”

“Rapunzel? Are you kidding me?”

“I wish.”

“Why Rapunzel? What’s so particular about that princess?”

“We’re locked inside a room.”

“And?”

“To her, I guess it’s the same thing as a tour.”

“Which makes me the princess and you the prince to rescue me?”

“Mhmm.”

“Ugh, I should’ve never given her that book.” She softly hit the back of her head against the door, a sigh out of as she closed her eyes, feeling guilty. “Don’t worry about the book… You did good by giving it to her.”

“How?” He took a moment to himself, before softly voicing out his answer. “It gave me the chance to get closer to her.” He wasn't looking at her when he answered; his eyes were closed, a faint smile appeared across his lips. She stared at him as she listened to his words, slight surprise taking over the look in her eyes. She didn’t know how to respond so instead, she didn’t say anything and let the silence speak for itself.

“I still can’t believe we got played by a six years old…”

“That’s Matilda for you.”

“Is it really because of the book or was she always like this?”

“Half and half, I’d say.”

Knowing that they weren’t going anywhere anytime soon, Changsun decided to take this chance to apologize for the way he’s acted lately. “I took your advice.”

“What advice?”

“I cut back at work.” She didn’t find it in herself to smile. Instead, she let out a bitter laugh, changing his gentle gaze into a confused one. “What?”

“It had to take your daughter’s health to wake you up?” He felt the hostility in her voice. He clenched his jaw as he looked away from her, his heart aching. She got up from the floor, her fingers sliding through her hair before turning around, finally bursting out the kept up anger.

“Why are you like this?! What the hell happened to you to put your work above everything else?!” He couldn’t look her in the eyes, nor could he formulate an answer, irritating her. “Answer me! Damn it! Or are you too busy to think about work that you don’t have time to talk?!”

He stood up on his feet, getting frustrated himself. He took a few steps closer to her, without looking away from his fixated glare on her.

“Why do you keep picking on me?! I’ve apologized countless of times! Why aren’t happy you about it?! Huh?! No, wait, what’s it to you anyways?! Why does it bother you so much how I manage my life?!”

“Because you’re just like him! You don’t have time to spend with your family and always disappear! You’re never there! You were never there when I needed you the most!”

Her abrupt outburst took both of them by surprise. Changsun was confused for a moment, not understanding what she was talking about while Hyemi was more focused on realizing what she had just said. She mumbled an apology, her lungs catching in the air that she missed, and turned her back on him, letting her fingers give another trail through her hair.

He figured out that she may be talking about her own father, remembering their conversation about how her own parents got divorced when she was as old as Matilda. He slowly walked to her, resting one hand on her shoulder only to have her at the touch, pushing herself further away from him.

He watched her go until she was on the other side of the room, hiding herself in between the last aisle, leaving him still standing by the entrance.

Another sigh came out of his mouth, feeling the energy draining out of him.

He didn’t want to leave things like that and decided to join her in the back of the storage room. He spotted her looking through the small window, her arms over her chest and heard faint sniffles. “I’m sorry Hyemi… I didn’t mean to snap like that.”

“Yes you did. I deserved it anyways… I wasn’t being fair to you.”

He made his way to her, standing by her side. He noticed the dried tears on her cheeks, his heart breaking at his sight. “Why are you crying?” Softly speaking up, she turned her head to look at him, letting her gaze meet his. He was worried about her, leaving her confused.

She forgot to answer him, lost in the way he was intently staring at her. She didn’t realize that he has been inching closer to her, his hands by her waist as he gently turned her body to face him. He didn’t want to take advantage of her weakness but he couldn’t shake off the urge of wanting to kiss her.

He leaned in further, making the gap disappear the closer he got. His hold onto her waist became firmer, his heart aching his chest in excitement. The moment he gently pressed his lips onto hers, a rush overtook his senses with goose bumps creeping up his spine.

Hyemi felt her heart skip a beat. Her eyes closed shut as quickly as he was kissing her, letting her lips press slightly harder against his. The tingle that sparked in the pit of her stomach left her in awe. As she felt him pull away, she quickly cupped his cheeks, pulling him back for another kiss.

The gesture took him by surprise and adjusted just as fast into the touch, grasping harder onto her waist. They let small puff of air in between them, merely parting their lips from each other before kissing again, tilting their heads for better angles. He was going to pull away once more, but she quickly stopped him by taking his bottom lip between hers, taking the chance to deepen the kiss.

He was left breathless but couldn’t really care anymore. He doesn’t remember having ever felt like this from merely a kiss, not even from his ex-wife and it was baffling him. There was something more intoxicating in that moment than he ever felt through his last and only relationship. He loved his ex-wife, he truly did, but this moment made it look different.

Hyemi could barely comprehend what was going on at the moment. Even though she was the one tightly holding onto the man, she didn’t know what took over her to be like this, especially after having admitted on disliking him.

That faint thought brought her back to reality. She slowed down with the kiss as they became faint touches to each other’s lips before stopping completely. She was shakily breathing as she had her eyes closed trying to regain her composure while Changsun was examining her, trying to figure out what she was thinking.

She hasn’t said a word yet, and so, he decided to break the silence by himself.

“I like you Hyemi… I really do.”

She fluttered her eyes open, taken aback by his confession. Her cheeks turned a shade of red, while staring at him. “W-why are you telling me this?”

He let out a sigh, pulling his head back without letting go of his hold on her waist. “You’re the first woman I’ve ever felt something for since my wife… and she was the only woman I’ve ever been with.”

She let her hands slide down from his neck to his chest, gripping gently onto his suit jacket, looking at her hold before lifting her head back up at him. “Changsun-ah… I like you too but… After the way you’ve treated me on that date-”

“Give me another chance. Let me take you out again and I’ll show you a better me. Please.”

“I’ve been disappointed enough in my life to know that its not easy for people to change-”

“Hyemi, please.”

As she was about to answer, they were suddenly interrupted with Matilda opening the door and looking for them until she jumped in front of them, a toothy grin plastered across her face the moment she spotted her father and her friend with their arms around each other.

“It was about time you two made up!”