A Librarian's First Love

On a hot summer day in Metro city, the citizens spend their summer in the library to cool off from the hot weather. There are no beaches or forests around to cool off, so the only option they have to cool off is the library. It is a huge library which is home to many books for all ages to enjoy, a place where people can hang out in the outside patio, and an entertainment center in the third floor to watch movies. It is like living in a castle where there is so much fun to explore which is like entering a fairy tale.

This library is run by a girl named Natalie. She works there every summer because she loves the smell of brand new books, reading anything that interests her, the quietness of the library with no noise section, and most of all the love of helping the patrons. Her family owns the library, so that is why she works there whenever she has time. It is also thanks to the regulars that the library can remain open.

Over the years, Natalie never have been in love with anyone or adventure in her life, so the love of books substitute this love she never had. She does hope she can find a real love one day that shares her interest, but for now she will just have to enjoy the love of her patrons, the library, and books to fill the void.

Then one day both of her wishes come true. As she is attending to one of her regulars, she looks up towards the entrance to see someone new entering her library. She sees this handsome stranger carrying a backpack, wearing a green hat with a logo on it, brown pants, matching shirt, and boots. As he gets closer, she sees this stranger having a tan skin, brown eyes, and black hair.

Natalie thought this handsome stranger came out one of her books and she felt a spark in her like maybe destiny brought him to her. He soon walks by the check-out desk and greets her with a smile. His smile made her blush and she quickly looks away before he looks at her again.

As the days went by, this handsome stranger continues to come to the library and every time he passes the check-out desk, he would smile at Natalie and goes wondering off to find a good book to read. Natalie begins to notice the handsome stranger would always go to the travel, adventure, mystery, and history sections of the library. Then he comes to the check-out desk to check out the books. Natalie reviews the books to stamp the due date on them and is interesting the topics he picked. As she was giving him the books, he smiles at her as a thank you and he leaves the library. She falls even more in love with him because he is interested in the same topics she is interested.

The handsome stranger continues to come to the library to read even more books. When Natalie is not too busy she would follow him over the library through the different sections he goes through just curious in what book he would read next. Sometimes, he would sit at a desk to read a book rather quickly before putting it back. Natalie thought he looked so handsome focusing on reading his book and she does wish to sit next to him to read a book too. Even at some moments, he thinks he is catching her spying on him, but she is no longer there and she is to be found at the checkout desk. The handsome stranger could only laugh for a moment when he comes downstairs at the checkout desk seeing her their working. The handsome stranger leaves the library and she hopes he returns.

After this moment of spying, Natalie begins to worry of not seeing the handsome stranger for a few days. All she can think about is this stranger suddenly appearing and then disappearing from her life again.

As the days turn into two weeks, there is no sign of the handsome stranger returning to the library. Natalie does not care how long it will take, but she will continue eyeing the entrance hoping he will return. It seems she does not want to give up hope on him coming back because she thought she will finally have a chance at love and adventure.

The days continue on and on some of those days Natalie even catches herself thinking of this handsome stranger and how she helped her feel alive again. Then one day as she is attending to a patron, the handsome stranger stands in front of her making her shed tears of joy. Natalie is happy to see him again and does not want to forget this moment. He only smiles at her and Natalie laughs a bit. The handsome stranger comes closer to her, grabbing a napkin out of his pocket, and wipe away her tears from her face, so he can see her beautiful face.

From that day on, Natalie and the handsome stranger start spending time together during her free time bonding over books and the many other interests they shared. On other days, while Natalie is working around the library, he would talk about the many adventures he had around the world. Natalie seems so envious of his adventures wishing she could go with him, but she has to stay with the library. Even it seems this handsome stranger is also interested in Natalie because of her knowledge of the many books in the library and her dreams to be a writer. It really seems they do make a great couple for their knowledge of books. On other days, they continue talking for hours until the library closes and he even helps her clean up the library to get ready for the next day. As they begin to know each other better, they finally fall in love and they do not want to lose each other ever again.

It seems there time together is going to be cut short because he is leaving on a different adventure in Africa tomorrow. He invites her, but she declines because of her work in the library and she wanted him to stay and run the library together. He promised her when he gets back, he will come back to her and run the library together. As a gift to her to keep his promise, he gifts her a book he knows she has not read before, so Natalie can always think of him. Natalie promises to keep the book close to her and will always think of him. He tells her when he returns, he wants her to tell him everything about the story. She promises and kisses him while gifting him her hair ribbon so he can remember her during his trip. Natalie thought of asking him to keep in touch, but I think it is better this way. He accepts the gift and he promises to be back in a month. This step is hard for them because they are leaving the one’s they love since they believe they find their soul mate. The handsome stranger soon leaves the library for his trip and Natalie is left with the promise she made with him.

As the days move on, Natalie reads the book gifted to her and reads it every time she has the day off. As she reads, she can only think of him and hopefully returns to her safely. It took her about two weeks to finish the book before the end of the month and all she can still think about how much she misses her handsome stranger.

A month passed and Natalie hopes any day now he will be walking into the library and flashes his smile towards her. She starts to worry about him when he does not show up after the month and is even ready to go out and find him. When she is ready to leave, she sees someone she does not know holding her hair ribbon. Natalie knew something is not right. The stranger explains to her that he died from a shipwreck coming home to her and his last thoughts before dying were about her. Natalie breaks down in the library knowing she will never see him again.

Natalie will forever be heartbroken losing the first chance at love, but at least she has the memories she shared with him and the book which are her greatest treasures knowing his love will truly not be gone from her heart.