ꜱᴡᴇᴀᴛᴇʀ ᴡᴇᴀᴛʜᴇʀ

ꜱᴡᴇᴀᴛʜᴇʀ ᴡᴇᴀᴛʜᴇʀ

As an avid reader, you knew very well who Harlan Thrombey was and as a resident of the same small town, you definitely knew who Ransom Drysdale was.

You've heard all the horror stories about the Thrombey family and unlike most people from your town, you stayed away from the drama and the gossip.

Unfortunately for you, the Thrombeys are everyone's favorite family to gossip about and no matter where you went you would run into someone talking about them.

Except for your safe place, where gossip couldn't be heard or passed on: the library.

It is your favorite place in town, it's both gorgeous to look at and it is filled with so many books that it would probably take you a couple of lifetimes to read them all. It is almost as old as the town itself and you love that it was renovated multiple times but that they kept it exactly the same every time.

You spend all your free time there, either reading or browsing through the rows of shelves. More often than not, you were alone there. Especially on Saturday nights.

But there was this one Saturday night where you thought you were alone but you could hear that someone else was looking at books and reading a few pages before putting them down again.

Though you were aware that someone was in the library, you still jumped when you turned a corner and found yourself face-to-face with the mystery reader.

You chuckled at yourself for being so nervous and apologized to the other person for almost slamming right into them.

The last person you thought you'd run into at the library: Ransom Drysdale.

You weren't surprised to see him at the library because, of course, he would love books. Harlan probably introduced him to them at a very young age so that he could share his passion with his first grandson.

What surprised you was to see him there at night, especially on a Saturday. With all the things you have heard about him, you thought you'd have more chance of running into him at a bar or at a club.

You were surprised but you thought he looked like he belonged in here as much as you did.

You smiled at him and apologized again.

"I'm really sorry. I'm not used to seeing other people here, I need to watch where I'm going."

You looked at the book he was holding and pointed at it. "I just returned this book earlier, you're going to love it!"

He looked at you, not saying a word and then it dawned on you that even if Ransom was at the library, it didn't mean that he wanted to be chatted up by the local nerd. Clearly he wasn't interested in small talk because he didn't make any effort to engage with you whatsoever.

You cleared your throat. "Anyway, sorry again. Have a good night."

You quickly turned around and walked away to the other side of the library to make sure you weren't going to run into him by accident again.

Ransom watched you walk away with a small smile tugging at his lips.

For the next 3 Saturdays, Ransom was there at night with you and it was beginning to annoy you. You tried not to bother him by giving him his space but he kept going through the rows of your favorite genre and that meant he kept you away from the books you truly wanted to read.

The third week, you arrived earlier and was relieved to see Ransom wasn't there yet. You went straight to the books you wanted and made your way through the small lists you had made earlier of the books you wanted to borrow.