Carmen sat on her desk, her legs dangling a few inches away from the marble floor.

“Yeah. My operation finished at 12 a.m.”, she said, her voice flat.

“You okay?”, Helena frowned, ducking her head.

Carmen nodded and showed her the book.

“I’m good. And Mr. Biz-zar-ri is, too. You might want to return this”.

Helena arched her eyebrows.

“Oh, I like that. And that part about the spring? ‘You knew there’d always be a spring’… Beautiful, huh?”, she smiled.

Carmen giggled.

“Well, it’s a surprise. I didn’t know you were into Hemingway. Thank you”.

Helena shrugged.

“Carmen, actually I didn’t give you this book”.

Carmen blinked.

“You didn’t?”.

Helena shook her head.

“Where did you get it?”, she asked.

”…Oh the morning sun in all its glory
Greets the day with hope and comfort too
And you fill my life with laughter
You can make it better
Ease my troubles that’s what you do…”

***

Carmen stood still before the Library’s employee, then placed the book on his neatly polished desk.

The employee was around 25 and almost bald, with thick glasses and hairless cheeks. He looked up from his computer monitor and smiled politely.

Carmen smiled back.

“Hi. I’m a physician, and I think a patient left that in my office”, she said.

The employee nodded and grabbed the book.

“Huh… Can you tell me who checked it out?”, Carmen asked hastily.

He smiled again that polite smile that he would dedicate to customers.

“I can’t tell you who”, he explained, clasping his hands on the desk, “I can tell you when”.

Carmen nodded slightly, pursing her lips, and the employee’s hands went on the computer keyboard.

“All right. Give me two minutes”, he said quietly.

Right then, Carmen heard a husky voice from behind.

“Hello, Carmen”.

She spun on her heels, meeting Shane’s incredible green eyes. Shane was already smiling that soothing smile of hers.

“Oh… Hi…”, Carmen stuttered, finding herself shocked by that sudden appearance.

“It’s nice to see you again”, Shane added, quietly.

Carmen blinked and sighed, repressing a giggle.

“Well, it’s weird to see you again”, she replied.

Shane bowed her head and then looked up, giving her a lopsided smirk.

“Weird is nice, right?”.

Carmen chuckled. Wordlessly, she followed Shane and started walking with her through the aisles full of books. Funnily enough, she had already forgotten about the employee.