He looked a little put off by her response. It was perfectly fine if she didn’t want his help, of course, but her tone sounded unnecessarily formal, and he was surprised that she didn’t at least show some sign of appreciation for his offer. Or maybe his expectations were just too high; he was always unfailingly and, admittedly, excessively polite, but that really wasn’t the norm. But there was no use dwelling on it; it wasn’t like she had really been rude, and besides, she had probably just been too focused on finding the book that she was looking for. Then again, he hadn’t missed the fact that she tensed when he spoke, causing him to wonder if perhaps they had had some run in before, and he did something to offend her. But that hardly seemed likely; she didn’t look at all familiar, and he wasn’t really an offensive sort of bloke. Most likely, she had just been surprised by his interruption.
Of course, he could think of a few more cynical reasons why she could dislike him, but there was no use in assuming that she would judge him based on superficial reasons, let alone assuming that she disliked him to begin with.
No matter. He shrugged nonchalantly, resettling himself in his chair. If she didn’t want his help, then so be it. She was only finding a book; she would find it eventually, he assumed. He didn’t really understand why she didn’t want help- she could find it faster and finish earlier, what could be wrong with that?- but to each their own. Maybe she was just one of those stubborn people who didn’t like to receive help. Yes, that was probably it, even if he thought that that was a stupid way to be.
He glanced up at her again curiously, and he couldn’t help but look on pityingly as the girl grabbed a book seemingly randomly before recoiling. Clearly she really had no idea what she was doing. “You sure? I did most of research ages ago, so I’m uncomfortably familiar with most of the books,” he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.