Lyan crouched down almost immediately, extending his hand toward her, his arm hovering halfway between the ground and her.
"Are you okay?"
His voice came out more nervous than he wanted. But well, it was hard to sound calm when he had just knocked one of the most well-known girls in the academy to the floor.
Sylvaine looked at him from below, without anger or surprise. She just looked at him, her eyes completely open and an expression not quite defined yet, as if she were still processing what had just happened.
Faced with her silence, Lyan could only swallow.
'What do I do…?'
Most likely, this was going to end badly either way. Knocking one of the top five most popular girls down in the middle of the library wasn't exactly the kind of thing that happened without consequences.
If his reputation was already what it was, this would make it much worse, if that was even still possible.
She still didn't say anything.
Lyan decided to stand up, slowly pulling his hand back as he began to straighten, already mentally calculating the distance to the nearest exit…
And then he felt something in his hand.
Fingers.
Sylvaine had taken his hand.
Lyan flinched slightly, stopping halfway between crouched and standing. She still wasn't looking at him, her gaze lowered as she used the grip to help herself up, very calmly, as if the fall hadn't bothered her at all.
Lyan finished standing up with her, without having made a conscious decision to do so.
Sylvaine stood up, let go of his hand, and began dusting off her uniform calmly. Starting with her skirt and then her sleeves.
Lyan, not quite knowing what to do, crouched down again to pick up the books from the floor.
"I'm sorry…" he muttered as he grabbed the first one. "Really, I wasn't looking where I—"
"I'm sorry, it was an accident, I should've paid more—"
Lyan kept murmuring as he picked them up one by one, never quite finishing any sentence.
Until a hand rested over his.
Lyan looked up, only to see Sylvaine crouched in front of him, her hand placed over his on one of the books they had both reached for at the same time.
She looked at him from up close, with a small, calm smile that didn't quite match the situation.
"Don't worry," she said. Her voice softer than Lyan expected. "It was my fault for not watching where I was going."
"No, seriously, it was my—"
"Thank you."
Lyan looked at her, confused. "What?"
She picked up the last books from the floor and stood up, and Lyan did the same.
Sylvaine adjusted the books she was holding against her chest and then pointed upward, toward the high shelf she had been reaching for before everything happened.
"Would you be so kind?" she said, looking at the shelf and then at him, pausing briefly. "Being so… tall."
She said that last part in a particular way, looking Lyan up and down, making him tense slightly.
"Sure…" he replied, turning toward the shelf.
Given his height, it wasn't a problem. He extended his arm, grabbing the book almost immediately and bringing it down without effort. As he did, his eyes fell on the cover.
It was an advanced English book for final-year students.
Lyan wondered why she, being in the same year as him, wanted a final-year book, but it wasn't his business. So he simply handed it to her without saying anything.
Sylvaine received it with both hands, her fingers brushing against Lyan's as she took the book.
Then she brought it close to her chest, pressing it against herself, and looked him in the eyes before smiling.
It was a different smile than before, her lips more parted and more… genuine.
She didn't stop there, but tilted her head slightly to one side without breaking eye contact.
Lyan stayed silent for a moment, then looked away.
"You're welcome." he said, turning to leave.
Without waiting for her to say anything else. And without looking back. He simply took the books he had left on the nearest shelf, tucked them awkwardly under his arm, and disappeared down the aisle.
- - - -
Sylvaine didn't move from where she stood.
She remained standing in front of the shelf, the book pressed against her chest, looking in the direction he had gone.
The smile on her face lasted only a few more seconds before disappearing.
She lowered her gaze to her own hands.
The ones that had touched his when she received the book. Somehow, she could still feel the sensation of that touch on her fingers.
Then she looked at the book, pressing it even tighter against her chest.
Bringing it closer to her face.
She inhaled slowly, her eyes half-lidded, letting the air fill her lungs completely before releasing it.
"It smells so good…" she murmured against the cover.
She lowered the book slightly, looking at her own right hand, the one that had brushed against his. Bringing her fingers to her mouth, she sucked them slowly, one by one.
"Mine…" she whispered, her voice coming out differently now, much softer and at the same time heavier. "You are completely mine and you still don't know it…"
Then she lowered her hand slowly, passing over her stomach, until she pressed it firmly against her crotch.
At that moment, she didn't care whether anyone was nearby or not.
She simply pressed her fingers against her intimacy, her eyes half-closed and her lips slightly parted, murmuring his name very softly, as if it were something that belonged only to her and no one else should hear.
"Lyan…" she murmured, completely enraptured.
Massaging her entrance more and more firmly, dampening her underwear.
Then, regaining a bit of awareness, she looked around, seeing no one nearby, so she moved her underwear aside and slid her fingers deep inside herself, while remembering his face, without stopping whispering his name.
After a few minutes, she looked at her fingers, completely covered in her own fluids.
"…"