Nevermore

Chapter 35

N I C H O L A S

"Did you bring your parchments and notes?" Eve asked after they'd met in the courtyard.

    "I did." Nicholas nodded. "Aren't you going to tell me where we're going?"

    "The library."

    "What?" He was surprised to hear that. She checked her watch. "It's past midnight. The library is closed."

    Eve smiled. "I know."

    The library was dark and dim as they snuck inside, crammed by wooden shelves and filled with hundreds of books. The moonlight beamed through the large windows that stood tall, from the marble floor to the high ceiling of the hall.

    With nothing but the moonlight, the shelves, and the thousand books keeping them company in that empty library, Nicholas and Eve began to study together, their pens in hand and their parchments surrounding them on the table.

    An hour had barely passed that Eve placed down her pen, stretching out her arms.

    Nicholas looked over at her. "Tired?"

    "Only of studying," she said. "How about we take a break?"

    "Sounds good." He closed his book. "What would you like to do?"

    Eve pursed her lips together, thinking as she glanced around the library. She then smiled brightly and turned to face Nicholas once she got an idea. "How about we each go and pick a few random books and bring them here, and then we'll choose one among them and read it together?"

    "Brilliant!" he said enthusiastically, jumping to his feet abruptly.

    Going to different directions of the library, the two of them returned back to their seats with four or five books in hand, placing them down on the table.

    There was a small debate on which book they should read, at last deciding to go with 'Two Gentlemen of Verona' by William Shakespeare. Eve had never read that play before, but Nicholas reassured her that it was a true masterpiece.

    With that, they sat down on the floor of the library with their backs leaning against one of the sheves as Nicholas opened the book and began to read.

***

Nicholas didn't realize how fast time had flied; how merciless the clicking of the clock had been. He never wanted the night to end. He would gladly burn down every clock in the world if only it could stop the time.

    "And why not death, rather than living torment? To die is to be banished from myself," Nicholas read through the book in his hands.

    His whole body suddenly tensed when Eve yawned lightly and then rested her head down on his shoulder. Nicholas tried not to let the tingling feeling in his stomach distract him as he read on,

    "Except I be by Sylvia in the night, there is no music in the nightingale. Unless I look on Sylvia in the day, there is no day for me to look upon."

    Eve smiled, but the moment she raised her head again, Nicholas was filled with a sense of emptiness. He had fallen in love with the touch of her.

    "How lucky she is," Eve muttered.

    "Sylvia?" Nicholas asked, and she nodded.

    "Sylvia, too. But mostly the person Shakespeare wrote these about, if there was one," she said, her gaze wandering toward the window to their right. "You know, I always wondered what it would feel like to be Shakespeare's muse. To be made immortal and be carved into the words of a poem. To be told 'life is too short to love you only in one, so I promise to look for you in the next life'."

    Nicholas smiled to himself. He loved the way she talked. He loved hearing her speak. But then, he suddenly frowned when his eyes fell on the palm of her hands, where he saw many scars carved into her pale skin.

    "Eve —" Nicholas let out a gasp, catching her wrist in his firm grasp. "What happened?"

    "Nothing," she mumbled, quickly pulling her hand out of his clutch.

    "It's certainly not nothing!" Nicholas said in horror, but Eve refused to meet his eyes. The scar was the remembrance of someone's punishment. It was left there by something like a whip.

    Nicholas let out a breath at last. "I'm sorry. If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to." But before Eve could reply, he took out a pen from his coat's pocket. He then raised his other hand, smiling at her softly. "Here. Give me your hand."

    Eve hesitated at first, staring at his hand with steady eyes. It took her long seconds until she finally raised her arm and let him hold her hand in his gentle grasp, and then watched with curiosity as Nicholas began to draw flowers over her scars with the black ink of his pen.

     A smile blossomed on her lips as he grew the flowers on her skin. For the first time in her life, she didn't hate her scars as much anymore.

    "There," Nicholas said with a sheepish smile after he was done, placing the pen back in his pocket.

    Eve couldn't help but to let out a soft laughter, placing a strand of her long hair behind her ear as she traced the flowers on her skin with her fingertips.

     Nicholas took a moment to look at her, to take her face in. Eve might not have been an exceptionally beautiful girl, but she was divine enough to him.

    And in that moment, their eyes met. Nicholas looked deep into her soul, through the ocean of her eyes, letting his gaze speak in the stead of his words.

    With hesitant hands, Eve rested her touch upon his cheeks, her eyes travelling down toward his lips. Nicholas's heart began racing. He held his breath, not daring to move, afraid that he would awake from a dream.

    And then, as gentle as a summer breeze, she leaned in and kissed him.

    At the touch of her lips against his, Nicholas's breath was driven from him, but he didn't care. He didn't care even if this were his last breath on this earth.

   He ran a hand through her hair and let his other arm wrap around her waist, bringing her closer to him. And wherever he touched her, love grew like a wildflower after a forest fire.