Scent of the vellichor mingled with vanilla in the calm air that nurtured the young minds. It was place thrilled with adventure and quests, a place of horror and hunts and a place where the young hearts met.

It was a library in the city of Tokyo.

At the strike of 9, the wind chime would move as door opened introducing a young girl. She had long blue tresses, resting on her back. And scarlet red eyes brimming with focus. She went to the cubicle in the study section and emptied out her bag. Turning on the table lab, she dived into her own world.

She was a girl of dreams, a girl of visions. But her wings were so heavy that she couldn't float.

Near her, a boy was arranging the new issues of magazine on the shelves. He worked under the Periodical section and was responsible for stocking the newspapers and journals. Although his hands were moving accordingly, his eyes would steal glances at the girl.

That was Raigen, a part timer at the Library. He wasn't a fan of books, No. He was fan of that girl who had booked his heart. And she was the sole reason why he even got this job.

All of his life, he had never seen someone so dedicated to something. He had spotted Risa many times in the city. Every time, working on a job different than the other. He had never seen her take a break nor had seen her spirit break.

At first, he was just curious as to what kind of person Risa was and slowly but surely his heart wavered, turning the curiosity into longing. And it has been 6 months already, he had been silently loving her in the silence of the library.

Raigen belonged to a rich family of Fukuda corps. It took a lot of convincing when his parents allowed him to work part time, till it got dark.

The sun had long kissed the land, now the only thing remaining was the darkness and his thumping heart. There were barely any people in the library at that time of day. And when his wrist watch beeped, that was his cue to clear out the remaining people in the library to close it for the day.

Proficiently, he made his way to the girl who had shelfed his heart. In a sweet voice, he breathed,

"Miss Risa. Sorry to trouble you but It's time to close the library."

Rise looked up to the boy and nodded with a smile. That was all the conversation they had. It was the same sentence every day, yet he waited impatiently for this exact moment each second.

His heart had finally found its sequel.

Raigen checked himself out as well. Outside the Library, stood a man in suit waiting patiently for him to arrive.

"Young Master, Madam has already crossed the road." The butler informed, opening the car door.

"Ah! Already? Let's hurry Eiji." Raigen said as he seated in the back seat. Eiji the butler ran the engine and drove his car. Every night, Raigen would follow Risa to her home. Her house was a bit far, yet she would jog there. Raigen couldn't help but get worried for her. She was after all a girl. His car would always be at the safe distance, so Risa wouldn't creep out.

Once he made sure that Risa had gone home safely, would he go back. His home was in the exact opposite direction and by the time he would reach home, it would already be mid night.

"Young Master, the dinner has been heated please do not sleep on empty stomach again." Eiji informed when they entered the Fukuda mansion.

"Alright Alright, I'll just take a quick shower." Raigen said and dashed into his room.

Mr. and Mrs. Fukuda had already retired for the day, they were had gotten used to their only son bailing them out for family dinner. As long as Raigen doesn't do something extreme, they were giving him the freedom to live his life.

After taking the quick shower, Raigen climbed down the stairs where Eiji was waiting on the dinning table.

"Let's eat." Raigen said and the master butler duo plunged in the meal.

"Young Master, you have a marriage meeting after university tomorrow." Eiji informed clearing away the table.

"Arg...Again?" Raigen said annoyed. How many marriage meetings he had been force through?

"Why can't mother understand that I don't want to get marry to those high heel princesses?" He truly was irritated at his mother's blind dates.

"Young Master, if you could get a girlfriend then Madam would stop insisting on it." Eiji suggested.

"You do know I only have eyes for Risa, right?"

"That is not good enough, Young Master. Sooner or later, even Madam Risa is bound to get married."

Hearing that, it felt like all the pages went blank. He never thought about it like that!

He had been so used to seeing Risa in her own world that the possibility of her being in love, hand in hand with someone never crossed his mind.

"T-that can't happen."

"Young Master, I suggest you confess your feelings to Madam Risa."

"That's right! I will do that!! Somehow cancel the marriage meeting!!!" Raigen shouted as he ran upstairs.

"That would be hard..." Eiji mumbled and shook his head. He would have to deal with Mrs. Fukuda's anger early in the morning.

Raigen dashed into his room and straight to his study desk. He took out his notebook and mechanical pencil. Ticking out the lead, he traced the pencil on the paper and started formulating a strategy on confessing.

. . .

The snores were anything but soft that even the sun came out to scold the preparator. But the privileged befall on the young butler who's constant banging at the door jolted Raigen out of his sleep.

"Wha –" He yawned and wiped the drool away from his face. "Ouch! My back." He fell asleep on the desk. He would surely be sore the whole day.

"Young master, get ready Sir and Madam are waiting for you at the breakfast table." Eiji informed as he picked out clothes for his young master to wear. "Would you like me to give you a massage?"

"Ah- No. I'll be fine." Raigen said and went to the bathroom to freshen up. Eiji placed the clothes on the bed and exit the room.

. . .

"Father, Mother, good morning." Raigen said with a sheepish smile. He knew his mother would getting extremely angry after learning his plans to cancel the marriage meeting, so he was going to play the good boy first.

"Raigen! I waited for you till mid night, when did you return last night?" Madam Fukuda had barely missed Raigen by few minutes last night.

"Honey, let him sit at least." Said Mr. Fukuda.

"There you go again, spoiling him." Mrs. Fukuda uttered.

"Mother, father, Iet's eat. I'm hungry." Raigen said before his parents start their love quarrel again.

"When will you be free from university today?"

"Ummm, today I have extra class but I will try to come as soon as possible."

Raigen lied a little.

"Try to come before 6, okay?"

"Okay." Raigen said with thumbs up.

He immediately scarfed the food down, before the topic would get exploit more. Giving quick pecks to his parents, he dashed out with Eiji following behind.

When they seated in the car, Raigen asked.

"You will handle the meeting, right?"

"Yes, Young Master, I'll do my best and young master should do his best as well."

"Of course, by tomorrow she'll be my girlfriend." Raigen grinned like an idiot.

It begun to rain on their way. When they reached the university.

"Young Master, this servant has failed you. I forgot to check the forecast."

"Nah! I'll be fine." Raigen said running away under the rain.

"Achoo!" Raigen cursed the rain which keep getting heavier and heavier but he swore to confess his feeling. It was now or never.

Raigen had an open event in the university where the students from different branches were going to come. Of course, he was excited and searched for Risa all over the place, exposing himself to wild rain but he learned that Risa's university branch was going to come next week only after running himself ragged.

The taste of disappointment didn't let him swallow any meal. So, he went to the library where he was sure to find Risa. Except he forgot that it was the day when the Stack section was going to look over the new books and arrange them according to the dewy decimal classification scheme. And that meant, Library would be closed for the day, every month there was one day where news books arrived and damaged books were replaced.

"Great, just my luck." But Raigen didn't give up, he had practically memorized Risa's route and he knew that she was going to pass through the bus stop to get to her home. So, Raigen exactly went to that bus stop.

Because of the constant rain the wind was telling a frozen story and Raigen was feeling slightly cold. After the strike of 6, his phone started to buzz and he knew it was from his mother so he switched it off completely.

"Sorry mother but this is the end of those blind meetings – Achoo!"

He witnessed many buses as they come and go, honking him awake at times but the book of his destination had yet to arrive. The rain had reduced to a dribble and sun light was being replaced by the shiny globes in different stores.

He exhaled the cold air which didn't cease its tease and closed his eyes to recall that beautiful face. She truly was the happy chapter of his mundane life.

The clock had been moving with its pace, sometimes with a tick and sometimes with a tock.

"Excuse me? Sir? Are you alright?"

That sweet melodious voice, he would never mistake in any of his lifetime. He jolted awake to the sight of most beautiful piece of poetry that had been given a shape. His heart beat a million miles when he saw those beautiful orbs, he leaped up and announced,

"Marry me!"

And he fainted.
The spring had yet to come but the flowers had already bloomed.

-----------

Sorry for errors and thank you for reading.