Desiderium

9| You read smut?

A R A B E L L A

Reading has always been one of my favorite passions so naturally, I loved going to the library. It was my safe, peaceful place.

And the best part of this house is the library that it has. It was an old library that contains an uncountable amount of books. Mostly because of its architecture, it seems that this library has been built hundreds of years
ago but it didn't reduce any of its charms it only embellished it. The old library includes a few towering walls of antique books, although they are primarily used as decorations to establish the ambiance.

The library has a distinct aroma. I could smell fresh ideas as soon as I walked in, a strong scent of imagination, fantasy, and creativity emanating from the books on the shelf begging to be read. The ancient fragrance of old book pages, unread novels on the racks, and the odor of dust flowing from these manuscripts.

Clearly, we've progressed from the days of paperbacks and enormous shelves, and I now have a library in my pocket. Despite this, the old library is as lively as ever, with comfy sitting and a quiet reading area—that I assumed was replacing the spaces formerly occupied by the huge antique piano that has been moved to the music room.

Entering the huge white French doors of the library —that I had visited a lot during the past few days—I instantly spotted my brother Marco sitting on the cold-looking floor, his backed leaning on the beige wall, and his head facing the huge window that overlooked the back garden of the house.

To be honest, I was quite surprised to see him hear, I never pegged Marco to be a reader.

"Do you read?" I asked out of nowhere clearly startling him.

"Shit, you scared me!" He gasped, his tense expression slightly relaxing once he saw it was only me.

"Sorry," I apologized not really meaning it.

"I do enjoy reading, not many people know about it though." He answered my previous question.

I feel strangely honored to know something about him that hot many know. But again, would he have told me if I didn't walk in on him reading. Maybe or maybe not.

"Normal people, huh! Nice choice, brother." I told him once I checked the title of the book he had in his hands.

"You like to read?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I do. 'Like to read' is an understatement."

"What genre do you like?" he questioned curiously, his interest evident.

"I mostly read contemporary romance. My latest obsession has beenLucy Score's book. They are absolutely amazing"

"You know that those books are rated 18+?" he asked amused.

"Yeah, and..." I shrugged off dismissively.

"You read smut?" he questioned playfully.

"If you know that those books contain smut it means that you also read them." I confidently stated hiding the embarrassment I was feeling right now because my older brother accidentally found out that I read inappropriate books.

When he stayed silent I continued "So the real question is; do you read smut, Marco?"

"I will tell dad." He challenged, completely ignoring my previous suspicion.

"I will also tell Enzo." I mocked him making him roll his eyes at me in annoyance. His focus went back to the book that he was reading so I got up and grabbed some random book from one of the giant shelves then went back and sat on the floor beside him.