Chapter 2

 

 

 

Browsing through some of the books she had borrowed the day before, Gui Gui was taken aback by one of them looking extremely unfamiliar. She pondered and got confused. Pulling the odd one out from a tall pile, she yelped upon seeing the cover, "Yikes! What ghostly book is this? Cupid's Helpline? How did this came to be?" Attacked by goosebumps all over, she could not stand the eerie reaction it induced on herself and spun around to grab her backpack from the cluttered desk. Deciding its source must be the library, she dumped the book straight into the front pocket, zipped it up in a flash and dashed out of her bedroom.

 

 

Unbeknown to her, in the midst of the whole attempt, something had fell helplessly out of the book and landed onto the floor. The impact of friction against the furry carpet awakened Ya Tou from her unwilling slumber. "Ahh, finally out of heavy paper cage," she muttered while rubbing her eyes open. Glancing around, she hated to admit that everything was still 2-dimensional to her. Quickly brainstorming ways to escape from the skinny bookmark, she came up with an idea. Crossing her fingers, she figured, "Now I can only rely on the mind's 'Radiance'-measuring thermometer. Let's hope that every member of this home has done enough of love exercise over time." She worked on focusing her inner strength for a minute or so. "Bingo!" She instantly beamed with gladness and the level of radiance in the house was calculated to pass the 50th degree mark. Concentrating fully without reservations, she slowly dispersed into a cloud of blinding light, before emerging out of the paper in perfectly normal figure.

 

 

 

 

"Ohmigosh...Thank Heavens...Thank Heavens," she uttered with sweaty forehead and palms. She ought to be grateful for destiny's saving luck. Squinting her eyes opened after calming her being, she gasped with mouth opened wide after looking about the immediate surroundings. Overwhelmed and uncertain, she flopped onto the floor with a loud thud, "Oh no,...now what had brought me here and how will I go back? Awww..."

 

 

Arriving at the library, Gui Gui headed straight to the service desk to talk to the librarian and presented the wrongly-borrowed book.

 

"So you're returning this?" the lady wanted to confirm. Gui Gui eagerly nodded.

 

The librarian told her to hold onto the book while she proceeded to check the computer. Then, behind the counter, a fellow librarian approached the first lady. Gui Gui merely waited while they chatted and sounded to be discussing some issues.

 

 

"Strange, the screen's frozen," Gui Gui overheard more of their conversation exchange. Upon a thought, she guessed that there must be technical difficulties. Yet, she found herself open to waiting if there was a need to.

 

Not long, the librarian turned to her, "When did you borrow this?"

 

 

"Yesterday," Gui Gui replied straight. Then, it appeared that she got the sense that their interaction was being watched.

 

 

"Ahhh! Oh dear!" a passing girl shrieked and paced towards them. Giving Gui Gui a shocked stare, she exclaimed after seeing what she has in her hands, "How did this happen?! Where did you get it? Tell me!"

 

Gui Gui returned with a puzzled expression, "Why should you bother? We're in a library...where else can I get this from?"

 

 

The queer girl inquired of the librarian, "This book is written by a New York Times best-selling author and there is exactly only one copy in the whole of Taiwan, I am sure...It's not even out in stores yet. Can you possibly tell me you have just put this 'Cupid's Helpline' up on your shelves before everyone else did?"

 

 

The librarian was quite intimidated by her and requested for Gui Gui to let her have a look. After flipping through the pages to the back of the book, she could see the library stamp on it. This gave a positive answer to the girl's question.

 

From the other end of the line, he was momentarily startled by the sound of her voice.

 

"Wang Zi, if it's not for my cousin asking help in searching for student job vacancies around town, I wouldn't have come enquiring at West Street Library's service desk only to find out that you have dispose of my precious Wednesday's gift to you!" The girl practically yelled into the phone.

 

Wang Zi quickly covered his ear and feigned a stranger's voice, "Sorry, you've got the wrong number!" He hurriedly hung up.

 

 

"How could you?!" the girl cried out in fury.

 

Back in an empty classroom, Wang Zi kept wondering how his book donation to Mount Pleasant Library had circulated all the way to West Street's. Scratching his head, worries now pressured him to resolve the matter.

 

 

"Excuse me, are you done with your scolding?" the librarian asked.

 

The girl snatched the book away from her and brought it close to her face, "Yes, it's daisy-scented...This has got to be the one!" On the side, Gui Gui only shuddered at her display of such attitude.

 

 

"Young lady," the librarian called. "I understand that you're having suspicions about your boyfriend being cold-hearted but with our database system down at the moment, I can't retrieve the information of whosoever the real donor is." Then, she told Gui Gui, "You girl, I can't accept the return of this book because it would be impossible to track down your record without entering into the computer...So please come back tomorrow,okay?"

 

"Impossible to retrieve?" the girl's tone instantly changed from indignant to more hopeful. She then grabbed Gui Gui's arms and demanded, "So there's a possibility that you might have stolen or taken this book by force..."

 

 

Finding her all the more ridiculous, Gui Gui's temper rose to lash back at the insensible girl, "You're just dense! So what if I really stole it?" She then took the book from her and dangled it before her shocked face, "This is still under my name...So I get to keep it with me!" Sticking out her tongue, she made a face before walking off.

 

Stomping after her until the exit door closed, the girl shouted out in total dissatisfaction, "I'll find a day to settle with you!"