off limits ✧ zb1 applyfic

✧ thirty one

This was never how Lilah had planned to spend the day. All she wanted was to be at Narae's school festival and spend some time with her going around stalls, chatting and having fun. Unfortunately, midterms were approaching, and a lot quicker than it seemed. So here she was instead, stuck in a library with a pile of books sitting in front of her, left to look through the windows to watch friends and families enjoy a particularly sunny day.

Life was so unfair sometimes. She sighed, as she tried to skim over a book on the principles of management. By now, her eyes had glossed over completely, and the words on the page seemed like nothing but blurry stains. At this rate, she'd be here until tomorrow.

The familiar upbeat tune of her phone pulled her out of her hopeless cycle of reading through the same paragraph again and again, in hopes she wouldn’t stop paying attention after two words this time. She'd turned her phone around, the screen on the table, so she wouldn’t be tempted to look at it while studying, but she could hardly resist a text notification, could she? Okay, maybe she could have put it on silent. But then, she could miss emergencies. And that would be bad. Trying to convince herself it was alright to take a quick break, Lilah grabbed her phone.

The text was, indeed, not an emergency. In fact, it came from a certain limby boy, as was his name on her contacts.

In a text a little too long for Lilah's liking, Gyuvin explained he was bored and home alone, and asked her if she wanted to go on another bike ride. She sighed again as she stared at the message. Oh, what would she have given to be biking around instead of wasting away in this library... Unfortunately, she needed to study, and that was what she told him through her reply.

Her phone played the cheery tune again, as Gyuvin's reply came in the span of a second.

well
can i come bother you
i mean um
spend time with you  ꒰ა ₍ᐢ. ̫ .ᐢ₎ ໒꒱

Lilah couldn’t help but chuckle at the over the top emoticon, earning disapproving glares from the other patrons of the library. She cleared her throat, embarrassed by the feeling of eyes on her.

One thing she knew for sure, was that Gyuvin's presence would without a doubt distract her from what she'd come here to do. There was no way in hell she would get a single minute of studying done with a guy this chatty sitting next to her. On the other hand... Well, she wanted to see someone. She'd spent the better part of the day alone already, and if her only companion was to be this incredibly boring textbook, she would end up banging her head against the wall by the end of the night.

Not listening to her otherwise trusted common sense, Lilah replied to his message, telling him he could come.

And come he did, barely ten minutes after she'd agreed. She watched him walk through the door, a thousand times more laid back than anyone else sitting in this library, his hands lodged in his pockets. Gyuvin didn’t seem to fit this setting — Lilah could easily imagine he hadn’t opened a book since he'd graduated high school, except maybe for comics. And oh, how lucky he was! Lilah liked reading just fine. But about heart-fluttering romances, or spine-chilling thrillers. Not management. Never management.

When he spotted her, his lips turned into a wide, warm grin, giving color to the desaturated library they were in. He trotted to the table she was sitting at, and plopped down on the chair next to hers.

"I came as fast as I could," he explained, a little out of breath. "So, whatcha studying?"

Lilah huffed in annoyance. "Boring stuff. I'm trying to focus."

Gyuvin took a quick look at the textbook in her hands, before grimacing. "Well, good luck with that? I fell asleep twice simply trying to read the title," he joked, before resting his chin in both of his hands.