A short-romance fantasy involving a secret library or time-loop destiny

A Short Fantasy Romance with a Time-Loop Twist

They say love is timeless. I didn’t believe it—until I met her in the library that doesn’t exist.

Let me explain.

Chapter One: The Door That Shouldn't Be There

It began on a rainy Tuesday at precisely 2:59 PM.

I was shelving books in the university’s dusty south wing—an area so forgotten, the lights flickered like they were haunted. That’s when I noticed something strange. A door where no door had ever been. No sign, no plaque. Just dark mahogany carved with strange symbols that shimmered, faintly, like heat rising from pavement.

Compelled, I opened it.

Inside was a library I’d never seen—ancient, endless, and silent. Spiral staircases floated in midair. Books fluttered like birds. Clocks ticked without hands. The whole room smelled of old magic and ink.

And that’s where I saw her.

Chapter Two: The Girl Who Only Exists at 2:59 PM

She was sitting by a window that looked out into a starless void. A red leather book lay open in her lap. She looked up, smiled like she’d been expecting me, and said:

“You’re late.”

Her name was Elira. She claimed she was trapped inside the library because of a curse: a time loop that reset every day at exactly 3:00 PM. She only had one minute with anyone who entered—no more, no less.

I laughed, nervously, thinking she was just playing along with some elaborate fantasy.

Then the clock struck 3:00.

And she vanished.

Chapter Three: The Minutes We Stole

Over the next week, I returned every day at 2:59 PM.

Each visit, we had only sixty seconds. Sixty seconds to talk. Sixty seconds to fall just a little deeper. I learned she’d been caught in this loop for centuries—she remembered every minute, every visitor, every second of her confinement.

But somehow, I was different.

“Time bends around you,” she said once. “Maybe you’re not meant to be here. Maybe you’re meant to break this.”

Her voice echoed through me long after the minute ended.

I started staying late after work. I tried reading the symbols on the door. I researched ancient time rituals, looping spells, libraries that existed between dimensions.

The door never opened at any other time.

But I was falling in love—one minute at a time.

Chapter Four: The Book That Wasn't There Yesterday

On the eighth day, something changed. A book appeared on my desk—one I hadn’t shelved.

It was red leather. Like the one Elira always held.

The title: "The Library Between Moments."

Inside were entries written in my handwriting—conversations we’d had. Words I hadn’t yet said. Pages turned themselves, ending on a final blank one that read:

“If you love her, break the clock.”

Chapter Five: The Final Minute

That day, I walked into the hidden library holding the red book. Elira looked up, a question in her eyes.

I didn’t speak.

I sprinted to the center of the room where the floating grandfather clock loomed—its hands locked between 2:59 and 3:00. Time itself trembled in the air.

I opened the book. Whispered the words on the final page. The air split open like paper. Gears ground. Magic cracked.

Elira screamed—but not in fear. In hope.

The clock exploded into light.

And everything went black.

Chapter Six: 3:01 PM

I woke up in the real library. The real world.

But this time… she was there.

Not behind a secret door. Not trapped in a loop.

Just Elira. Holding a red book. Smiling.

“You were right on time,” she said.

Final Thought

Some love stories stretch across galaxies.

Ours stretched across sixty seconds, repeated endlessly—until it didn’t.

True love isn’t always found in time. Sometimes, you have to break time to find it.

By[Kevin]