Ten Thousand Books, But Only One You

Side Story: 11 Three Worlds In Exchange for A Lifetime With You

Chapter 11: Three Worlds In Exchange for A Lifetime With You

From the corner of his eye, Shi Ruijie watched furtively as Qian Siyu arose from the adjacent table, cradled her laptop in one arm and walked towards the exit of the college's central library. Immediately, he looked out of the window as his hands landed on the foldable umbrella sitting on the table beside his laptop. Seeing that it was still drizzling, he bounced up from his seat, unintentionally knocking over his chair.

The loud noise attracted the swivelling of heads around him.

"Hey, where are you going?" His friend glanced up from his reading materials, startled by his sudden movements.

"If I don't return, bring my belongings back to the dorm," Shi Ruijie said, unbothered by the attention as he took wide strides to catch up with her departing figure.

He dashed out through the automatic sliding doors, just in time to see Qian Siyu stretching out a hand to feel the rainfall. Smiling to himself, he came up beside her and held out his umbrella. "Use this."

Qian Siyu flinched slightly in surprise but when her eyes traced upwards from the umbrella to its owner's face, he noticed that she relaxed a little. However, there was a constant shift of emotions in those beautiful black eyes.

Then she averted her eyes. As if she was avoiding him.

That was right, she had been avoiding him ever since that day when they left the book. He didn't even get a chance to explain and to apologise to her.

"No need." She shook her head and pushed the umbrella away gently. Pointing towards the clear sky, she smiled with pursed lips. "The rain has already stopped."

"A-ah?" Shi Ruijie stuttered, feeling an embarrassing warmth spreading upwards from his neck, his checks, his ears. "Sorry, I thought that it was still raining and I saw that you didn't have an umbrella, so I came out to bring one to you."

Qian Siyu frowned. "Were you watching me?"

His hands gripped the umbrella tightly. "Um... I just so happened to see you. And you were just sitting right there at the next table—it would be hard to miss a living person. Right?"

"Thanks for your kind gesture, but since it has stopped raining I won't be needing an umbrella anymore." Qian Siyu said, sounding a little callous. "I'll be leaving now."

She tarried a little, but seeing that Shi Ruijie remained silent as he stared blankly at a puddle of water, she turned around impatiently to leave.

"Siyu, wait!"

The urgency in his own voice caught him by surprise.

Qian Siyu's halted her footsteps and turned back to face him, as if giving him a second chance. "Do you... have something to say?"

Shi Ruijie nodded quickly and rambled on without caring that they were standing at the entrance of the central library with constant foot traffic. "I admit that it was petty of me to take revenge on you like that. I'm sorry for my actions and for causing you distress. If there is anything I can do to make it up to you—as long as you don't stay angry with me—"

"Oh, I'm not angry with you."

"You're not?" he echoed, a little hope sprouting in his heart.

"Not anymore," she replied softly and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "In the first place, I was the one who offended you. Not only did you bring me back to reality in one piece, but you are also not pursuing the matter further. For this, I'm very grateful and have no right to remain mad at you."