My Fiancée Hates Me
Chapter 23: Miss Shia

"Garett, there is a spiderweb on you," I said quietly.

We were back to our usual work schedule at Exurbia Library. It seemed almost forever since we had to take breaks for exams as well as the dance.

"Thank you..."

"1

He tried grabbing the strand.

"It's a hair strand?" I said on closer inspection.

He quickly flicked the hair away.

"Troublesome thing..."

Where would a long silver strand of hair come from?

Garett has always been a rather pristine and tidy person. It is unusual to see even a stray hair on him. I just wonder where a long silver strand of hair come from. No one here has silver hair, nor does most of our clientele.

Wait...

Why am I even thinking about it?

Am I bothered?

"You found a long strand of hair on Garett's uniform and now you can't help but be bothered by it," Maura said right next to my ear.

I shivered slightly from the strange feeling I received when Maura blew in my ear slightly.

"I am just curious... No one we know has long silver hair," I said as I covered my ear.

I thought back to the dance. There was only one person with silver hair...

Is Garett really communicating with Prince Erik again?

"There is a beautiful girl looking for Garett!" Clovis said.

I thought that I might as well follow the group. We had all crouched down behind a shelf.

"Lady Arielle?" Johor gasped.

Apparently, he was not the only one surprised.

"Is there something wrong with me being here?" I asked the group.

"No, it is just a bit unusual to see you on this side," Maura said.

We soon went back to watching Garett. He was talking with an elderly woman with long silver hair and a long red one-piece dress. The person soon turned, and we could finally see that it was actually a pretty girl and not an elderly woman. She had amazingly long eyelashes that accentuated her beautiful cat like red eyes and her small face. Her delicate skin looked as if it were a bed of snow and her lips were a light cranberry shade.

"She is beautiful..." I said out loud.

She suddenly clung onto Garett's arm. Garett shook her off as gentle as he could and left her after leaving some words.

"Do not follow me!" Garett said loudly as he left her.

The girl soon started crying.

I went over and handed her a handkerchief.

"Are you alright?" I asked her.

"Thank you," she said as she took the handkerchief. "You are?"

"I am Arielle Wordsworth. What about you?"

"Shia Salome."

"Miss Salome, do you mind me asking what that was about?"

"I am chasing after him."

"Come again?"

"I am chasing after him. He is my soulmate! I know it!"

This girl is out of her mind.

The beautiful girl kept returning back and forth every day.

"Arielle, I am here again," Miss Shia said.

We are still strangers, yet she uses my name so familiarly.

"Are you here to replace a book, Miss Salome?" I asked.

"Miss Salome, if you are not here to replace a book, please leave immediately," Garett said coldly.

"I will read anything that you recommend me," Miss Shia said.

"Really? How about 'A Hundred Ways to Disappear from the Person you Love'?" Garett said as he went away.

There is a book like that?

I actually might be interested in a book like that. If I need to disappear from Erik, perhaps the book could provide me with some helpful insight.

"You are so cruel, Garett," Miss Shia said in a high-pitched tone.

I suddenly felt a stinging sensation go through my head.

Why does this feel so familiar?

I escorted Miss Shia to a table on Garett's command. Even though he clearly disliked her, he still does not shoo her away probably due to his sense of responsibility rather than his difficulty towards interacting with women. Even so, he left me to entertain Miss Shia so that he could attend to his lovely books.

"May I ask why Miss Shia is intent on following Garett around?" I asked her.

Her eyes began sparkling.

"I first met Garett when I was wandering around the library. He was very kind to me in helping me replace a book. He told me that I had great taste when I finally chose a book. He smiled at me with the kindest smile. That was the moment I fell for him!"

Garett smiling? It is not uncommon. For someone to fall in love with Garett for such a reason... Garett has multiple qualities that make him a great catch.

"That is rather simple..."

"Could I ask something?"

"Yes?"

"Arielle speaks to me so formally and with a title all of the time...I was just wondering what you were to Garett?"

Is she questioning me?

"Garett is a colleague... It is troublesome to call each other with titles all of the time."

She smiled widely at me.

"I have heard you speaking with other colleagues as well. You speak rather formally with them as well. It is only with Garett that you do not speak formally with. Why is he different?"

"We have spent a long time together. It is only natural that I think of him as a close friend."

"Can someone who only knows someone for a few months really become that close so easily?"

"Of course..."

I felt uncomfortable with her questioning. I was close enough with Garett in our first life during our younger years. I had easily connected with Garett again because I was used to his behaviors and knowing how he was actually very kind.

This kind of questioning reminds me of someone...

I suddenly felt Miss Shia's face align with Lady Kaya Ouchi's face.

I had jumped back out of my seat.

"Arielle?"

Kaya Ouchi is in Arundel. At this time, she is still a commoner. From what I had gathered about her, she had never stepped out of Arundel until she entered high society which would not be for a few more years.

The person in front of me is Shia Salome. She is far from the shadow of that woman...

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "I need to go."

I left right afterwards and grabbed books ready for sorting.

"Those books do not go there," Garett corrected me.

"Ah, you're right..."

"Miss Salome is still here. Why have you not told her to leave yet?" Garett asked me.

"You wanted me to ask her to leave?"

"I assumed that she would listen to another woman's opinion."

"A woman's heart is complicated. She would not still be here if she did not think she would not have a chance. Maybe you are subconsciously letting her slip inside because you are actually interested in her."

"I thought you understood my intentions. It seems that you only understood me superficially. You do not know me as well as you think you do, so do not classify in a way that suits you, Lady Wordsworth," Garett said coldly.

Did I do something wrong?