-BY FATE-

At last, a satisfying load of books were cradled in the boy's arms. He bared the short distance between him and the desk he blurredly noticed seconds ago. The desk was sleek, neat and empty, aside from the single seat occupied by a discontented brunette whose dull emerald irises darted from left to right on the book courtly clenched by milky white palms. Trudging his shoes finally, he laid down the mountainous paperweight on the firm wooden table, then slowly taking a seat across the stranger. He blinked his eyes a few times seeing the girl in front of him but merely shrugged at her presence as he began to flip the pages of the book towards its epilogue.

The discreet silence between the two was casually filled by the constant whip of ancient book paper from side to side. But from the corner of the boy's eyes he could feel the displeased aura from the stranger's movements. She would sigh at every passing chapter as if she read with endurance. She would squirm slightly in her seat. The light colored cloth she wore started to wrinkle and look unfitting with the complexion of her emotions. She would stop avidly look at the clock, too.

Then, finally, she set down her book and stared at the spine of the books mounded in front of her. She ogled the titles slowly, sinking its essence one after the other. Later on her gaze halted at one of the books on the top section. She beamed at it, her hand slowly reached to grab it, when another hand swiftly beat her to it. She stood up sharply in disappointment, her eyes never leaving the book as her hand involuntarily grasped for it, where incidentally the boy's hands were too. The boy gasped almost inaudibly at her touch.

'That book…' she suddenly said.

'I'm going to borrow it from the library' the boy stated.

'I-I want to read it' the girl straightened up in front of the guy, not letting go of the book.

'I see…' the boy smiled.

'P-Please let me read it!' she nearly yelled.

'We could always read it together' the boy suggested, placing his palm on the girl's, handing her the book.

'Together?' she thought, blushing and silent.

The boy leaned into her ears with an innocent smile 'I'll be looking forward to lunch with you…'