My Fiancée Hates Me novel Chapter 12

It has been about three weeks since I had come here. Everyone including Garett has been rather helpful towards me.

I had no idea about the amount of manual work I would have to do before coming here. As a result, I put on more muscle mass. No wonder, Maura was so strong.

Librarians are not to be looked down upon despite their conservative appearance.

"The cellar?"

"There is a section where we keep unsorted books away," Garett said as he offered his hand for me.

I felt a bit awkward as I took his hand. It could not be helped as the footing was poor and my skirt was needlessly long.

Even so, I felt a bit guilty towards Erik since I had not held his hand in this this lifetime yet and apologized to him inside my head for taking the hand of another boy before him.

I put myself back into a bad mood once more because I remembered we would not have another chance to hold each other's hand anymore anyways.

Garett led me down the stairs of a room below the library.

It was a large open space with plenty of books, old shelves, blanket covers, pens, maps, and other stuff that seemed to have been kept away for a long time.

I accidentally snagged my foot over the carpet and was about to trip.

I braced myself by holding my hands out in front of me to help me break my fall.

"Careful!"

Garett had caught me with one arm around my chest and held me up by my shoulder.

My heart raced slightly.

"I'm sorry..."

"...I guess we should really blame the one who makes women's dresses so long," he said as he released me.

Wow... he is so smooth that he makes everything look so easy.

"What are we going to be doing here?"

"We are going to air out these books before we put them on our new shelves we just received from the woods craftsmen. Insects like to find their way into old books, so we will lay a blanket out and have books standing up in an accordion style and bathe in the sun. The insects will naturally come out in their own after a while and we can just collect them afterwards," he explained.

He looked back towards me as if he were checking up on me.

"I am not going to fall again," I told him I said as I picked up my skirt.

"That's not it... It doesn't bother you?" he asked with a concerned expression.

I wonder what he was worried about...

"...I think I will be fine," I answered him.

He pointed towards a dusty stack of books.

"I already laid out a blanket outside. Just help me carry that stack over there. I will go to that side," he said as he went to an even dustier side.

"It seems that there are more books on your side. I can help you after I am finished with my side."

He stared at me with wide eyes.

"It really doesn't bother you?"

"It's just a bit of dust."

"Normally, girls are not fine with insects or lots of dust."

Normally, ladies would refrain themselves of touching anything dirty or going anywhere near insects.

"Insects are also living beings trying to get by," I answered him.

"You are so strange," he said as he put on a mask and began picking up books.

Along with cleaning the books and sunbathing them, we had to set a different pile up for the books that were either too old or were damaged too much from insects eating through the pages. It was a shame, but those books were to be incinerated.

Garett looked the most disheartened out of all of us even though he barely showed it on his face. His eyes never went away from the scene of burning books.

The number of times I felt guilty towards Erik continues to accumulate.

Just like now, I wanted to comfort Garett...

A month later, I finally had my first break. I was working nonstop and probably more than most seeing as though I only alternated with my etiquette lessons and practically worked all days without rest. Maura had forced me to take a day off with her.

We found ourselves sitting outside of a cafe.

Our table seemed to be gathering quite a number of looks. I hardly feel that me in my long black and pale pink mermaid shaped skirt and white long sleeve shirt with a black necktie were anything to look at.

Maura was a rather beautiful young woman when dressed up. She had her wavy hair down. Her clothes consisted of a camel-colored blouse and a high waisted dark brown skirt with ruffled trims.

"Excuse me..."

A man soon walked up beside us as we were talking by ourselves.

It was the soldier from before was standing before Maura in plain civilian clothes. I remembered him because of his honey-colored hair and blue eyes.

Seeing him up close made me understand the large height difference between Maura and this person.

I have a hard time believing that she was capable of throwing him over her shoulder...

"What would you like from me?" she asked curtly.

"I've been waiting for you since I am not allowed in the library..."

He seemed much different from his past aggressive self.

"I see...You are here for Round 2," Maura said as she got up from her seat.

The person we have here seems ready for a free-for-all!

"Somewhere private then..."

"Let's duke it out right here," Maura said with an unwavering gaze.

That's unladylike, Maura!

"Alright then," he said as he moved his hands towards his back.

He soon used some sort of magic trick and pulled out a bouquet of flowers from his back.

The girls behind me gasped as they saw the romantic scene unfolding.

Maura accepted the bouquet and studied it with a blank expression.

"...Do you want me to use this as a weapon against you?" Maura asked with a strange look on her face.

The romantic scene was broken...

"This is for you!" he said loudly.