Effortlessly beautiful

Amy turned her door handle to ensure it was locked and gave the house a once-over to ensure she closed the windows. She took out her Bluetooth earsets and hooked them into her ears before playing a song called 'I choose you by Sara Bareilles' as a kick start to her day. She was in such a great mood. Stella brought over her breakfast against her wishes though her complaints flew out the window once she took a bite of the woman's cooking.

Then she told her she would be visiting Katherine in the hospital who had given birth to a baby boy the previous night. She gave her the keys to the library just in case the guy named Ian would not arrive on time. Stella would join them later in the day.

From the unhurried pace she took, she arrived at the library within thirty minutes. But the place was still locked. She fished out the keys and started unlocking the metal bars. She heard rushing footsteps from behind her and stopped to look back. A young man was running towards her.

"You're Katherine's replacement?" He asked as he took over to unlock the bars.

"Yeah. You're Ian?" She glanced at the young man. He had an unruly aura about him with his short bangs covering his eyelids, piercings on his ears, and the black attire comprising of a shirt, ripped jeans and gumboots. He was probably in his late teens or early twenties.

"Yes. You must be Emily?" He spoke as he opened the metal doors.

Amy moved away to give him space as he went to unlock the glass doors with a passcode. Everything about him screamed bad boy. All that was missing was a motor bike. The doors slid open and he turned to give her the keys.

"Yes. Thank you. It's nice to meet you Ian", she smiled.

Ian, who had finally taken in her appearance, was stunned out of his boots. He could not believe there existed a woman as beautiful as her. Amy was wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers with some simple jewelry to compliment the ensemble. She was carrying a huge handbag with her and jacket resting on one elbow.

Amy took the keys while staring at him. The more she looked at him, the more she felt that he was not a stranger to her but she was not sure at the same time.

"Have we met before?" She could not help but ask.

Ian was snapped out of his trance and scratched the back of his head. "I-I-I don't think so", he stuttered. The tips of his ears grew red as he failed to maintain eye contact with her.

She gave a nod and walked inside. Ian walked in after her. She set down her things and out of habit, analyzed the security system. This was the only time in her life that she hated CCTV cameras so much. Ian took her looking around as curiosity. Then he remembered Stella's instructions.

"Oh! I was told to not let you lift a finger and tell on you if you don't listen. So I'll quickly clean up and then help you familiarize with our library computer system."

Stella was really babying her. Her homesickness was fading away as she let herself settle in this new environment and Stella was a huge contributing factor. But there was no way to convince the woman that she was feeling better. Amy shook her head helplessly.

The moment the Wi-Fi was turned on, she hacked into the security system after obtaining the IP address. In this age where the internet pretty much ruled everything, it made a hacker's life easy. She diverted the cameras away from her and deleted footage of her coming in. While Ian cleaned around, she turned on the computer and familiarized herself with the library's system. It was the the Dewey System. 'Piece of cake', she thought.

When Ian walked over, she was checking out the drawers of her new desk. The angle at which she bent forward in her seated position looking into the second drawer, made her hair fall to one side and expose her milky white slender neck. He stopped and listened to his heart hammering like a sledgehammer. How could a woman be so effortlessly beautiful?

Realizing he had been staring for too long, he cleared his throat and walked over. Amy was startled and he noticed her ears turned red. She avoided his gaze as she closed the drawer. 'Is she blushing?' he mused. The corners of his lips curved up into a smirk.

"I'll quickly show you the know-hows. Sorry, but I'll have to invade your personal space."

"It's alright."

As he broke down the know-hows, he could not help but notice how her leg was constantly shaking. He had seen how girls get nervous in his presence because they like him but this was the first time he felt giddy about it. He could not believe such a beauty had a crush on him.

"Call me if you need any help", he said. She nodded before he left her side. Ian could not help his smile as he walked away.

People started to come in around 10 to study. Amy noticed that most of them were students probably from a nearby college. Her morning wasn't as busy so she spent her time playing a mobile game to distract her. She didn't even notice Ian staring at her when he was helping some girls find books.

Stella arrived when it was an hour before lunch hour. Both women smiled when they saw each other. Stella propped her elbows atop Amy's high desk.

"How's it going so far?" She whispered while glancing at the students buried in their books.

"Good. How's Katherine and the baby?"

"They're both fine. Allan just can't put down his son." Both of them chuckled. "Did Ian help you settle?"

"Yes. He's been a great help. Although he probably thinks I'm weird already."

Stella chuckled, "Why? What happened?"

"I think he saw me looking at these." She pulled open the drawer she was looking through. "I was practically drooling when he walked in on me."

Stella laughed when she saw the peanut butter M&Ms. "You can have them if you want. Katherine probably forgot about them. Is that all you found? I'm sure there are a lot more snacks she kept in those drawers."

Stella walked over to help her find more snacks. Ian walked over from his station when he heard Stella's familiar voice.

"Grams", he called out.

"Grams?" Amy looked between the two. Stella halted in her movements and acknowledged him.

"Did he not tell you? He's my grandson."

Amy's mouth fell in the shape of an 'o'. Ian internally panicked wondering what she thought of him now especially with the age gap. Amy on the other hand finally realized why she thought him to look familiar. She must have seen him on one of the family pictures in Stella's home.