Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 106: The Library

Chapter One Hundred and Six: The Library

His breath was taken away the moment he walked inside.

The library, from the outside, looked like a weathered, peeling, silver-barked tree that stretched about as high and three times as wide as the Eiffel Tower. Which was a gorgeous sight, all things considered... but the interior was what stole every ounce of air in his lungs.

Books.

The entire tree, was filled with books stretching from the ground and so far up that he couldn't even make them out anymore. There were so many that he knew he could spend a thousand years in here and not even read half of them. 

From floor to ceiling, thick roots served as bridges, connecting everything together. There were hundreds of thousands of mossy green hammocks, and high above, he saw small winged silhouettes occasionally flitting to and fro.

Many males and females of all ages, appearance-wise, were lazing around with scrolls and books, and all of them looked preoccupied with reading.

"Wow," he breathed, eyes watering from the sight. "Oh... my... fucking... God..."

He walked past his uncle, staring at all the tomes with his mouth hanging open. This place... it was heaven for him. If he'd died, then this building was heaven, because the one thing he'd loved more than making music for Ella had been reading.

It had been his obsession. 

When he'd been in his first year of middle school, he'd cleared out his middle school library halfway through the first semester and had been forced to sneak books out of the neighboring high school's library during his lunch breaks. By his third year of middle school, he had consumed every single book of personal interest from every library within busing distance.

He'd been so unsatisfied by not having anything to read that he'd saved up cash for a laptop computer and had started reading things online. That was originally how he'd found Wattpad and had gotten the idea to review other people's stories.

He had been hoping they would throw some good content at him to sate his hunger for books, but all he'd gotten was a barrage of disappointments and terrible writing skills. He'd even gotten bored enough to try his hand at writing his own story, but people had never bothered reading it.

This, however... this was the first thing he'd seen that had made him want to stay in Calcoon for a long, loooong time.

Vordt stared at his open mouth with a flat expression.

"Is it really that surprising?" he grunted. "You look like you're seeing the moon for the first time."

Xaphile fixed him with a stunned expression, literally on the verge of tears.

"The moon can't compare! This is the most impressive thing I've ever seen," he croaked, shaking his head in bewilderment. "I think I just found another goal in life. I might move into this library when everything is said and done!"

Vordt's brows came together.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me!" Xaphile squawked, flailing his arms in wonder. "This place is like a dream come true! I love to read! I really do love it, just as much as music! There are so many books here that I literally cannot freaking fathom just how long it would take to read all of them!"

Perhaps it was because of his excitement. 

Or maybe it was because his excitement sounded absurd.