"Dusty Book" and "Its Lover"

Chapter 1- Questions

𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿'𝘀 𝗣𝗢𝗩

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒅. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒖𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒃𝒚.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒐𝒏 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒌𝒚 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒔. 𝑨𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈.

The pencil in her hand instantly went to her mouth as she nibbled the back of it, her gaze falling on the question paper. Her heart was filling with happiness instead of blood. She sighed — her two years of hard work had paid off well. Each and every question was familiar to her, like the aroma of a rose.

As she scribbled the right answers, a thought skipped into her mind. That caused her to lean back in her chair. She erased three of the correct answers and marked the wrong ones, which brought a bitter smile to her face. Then she used her pen and marked them all permanently.

Due to the time limit and the number of answers to complete, she didn’t even get a chance to look around and see the other students. Unfortunately, her focus was broken by a 𝓬𝓸𝓵𝓭 𝓿𝓸𝓲𝓬𝓮.

“𝙂𝙀𝙏 𝙊𝙐𝙏｡”

The examiner pointed towards a girl and boy as they rushed out of the class immediately.

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙬 𝙖 𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙣𝙖𝙫𝙮 𝙗𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙞𝙩 — 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧｡ 𝙈𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧｡

The lady who was in charge of the class was nowhere to be found. Maybe she had been too immersed in her paper to notice the examiner had changed. Now she felt more nervous. She knew she wasn't cheating, yet awkwardness crept in. Without wasting another second, she dived back into her exam paper.

After nearly two hours, time was up. She was so happy and confident — she knew she would pass. She rechecked every answer three times before handing it to the examiner. It was the same man — and due to the earlier shouting, she didn’t have the courage to look at his face. So she simply handed him the paper while Her eyes were fixed on his wristwatch, which gave a vintage vibe, then she left.

She took a deep breath and released it, filling her lungs with the air of the college.

It was her first time at her dream university, so she decided to take a short tour.

As she walked through the empty hallways, the first thing she noticed was the noticeboard — it held details about the entrance exam and the previous semester's results. She carefully examined the scores, amused by the top rankings of each student. Quickly shrugging it off, she moved on until she reached the courtyard, which was enormous, with a fountain in the middle. Half of the courtyard was filled with a garden and the herbal lab. She decided she would visit them properly later.

After passing some classrooms, she saw the seminar hall, and nearby, the auditorium. The playground was big enough to host any sport. She knew these few minutes weren’t enough to explore her dream university. And yet, she thought,“𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲?”

Then, her feet brought her to her dream place — the library.

Her eyes sparkled brighter than any star in the galaxy. She fell in love instantly. Though she couldn’t go inside, she had already decided — this was going to be her favorite place.

Her steps moved on their own, but her eyes remained stuck on the library. Suddenly, she heard footsteps, so she quickly walked away.

From her peripheral view, she realized it was a man — maybe a professor.

Awkwardness consumed her, her head dipped low as she headed to the exit.

Before she could step out, that person passed by her — she saw his shoes, the familiar navy-blue suit, and the watch on his wrist. She realized it was none other than her "𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫".

She reached the gate and saw him walking toward the parking area and getting into a car. She finally stepped out of the gate and glanced back at the college building.

Her eyes filled with hope. She walked away, unable to wait to return to this university and dive into the ocean of literature.

It took three hours to reach home, so she quickly made her way to the bus stop.

Once on the bus, she grabbed her small diary and started writing about her day and the first experience at college. She weaved a beautiful piece of poetry in ink.

𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕

Today is the entrance examination for the next new batch.

Each time the exam is held, I think about myself — how hard I worked for this. And now I’m here, the one who prepared the question paper with so much time and effort. I hope the students also worked hard to pass.

I got exam duty — to exchange with the teacher. I entered through the back of the class. Miss Clara greeted me and left, her duty done.

Some of the students noticed me.

As I observed them, a few kept glancing around, and some scribbled wrong answers.

𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒕 — 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒕. 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒏, 𝒔𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒍𝒚, 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔.

𝑰𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆.𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀?

Then I noticed a boy and girl whispering. I clenched my fists as anger bubbled inside me like lava. Without a word, I stood before them and ordered, “𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁｡”

Without any question or explanation, they both rushed out.

“𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐬?

They didn’t even try to explain,” I thought.

Every other student’s gaze fell straight onto their papers. I sighed.

Once more, my eyes returned to that careless girl. A question popped into my mind — 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬.

After some time, I sat down on the chair. No one dared to cheat after that.

As time ran out, students began handing me their papers.

I saw that same girl walking toward me. She handed her paper but didn’t even look at my face. I brushed it aside and didn’t think too much.

After spending an hour arranging the papers neatly, I placed them in the office.

From tomorrow onwards, I, along with three other professors, would begin the valuation.

It was already late. I locked my office and headed out.

That’s when I saw her again — she was admiring the library.

I think she noticed me too, as her head suddenly lowered.

I passed her and walked straight to my car.

“𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗵𝗮𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗮𝘆… 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗲𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆｡ 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲｡”

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