A bright red envelope slid under the door of Linn's dorm room. It had a large "A" scrawled over the front of it. Carefully Linn picked it up, curious about what was inside. She pulled out a yellow card with unfamiliar handwriting on it. It read:
"Linn-ah,
You haven't been here long I know. And we have not yet properly met. But I feel like I really want know you. Go to the large oak, at 9pm tonight. Please, I'll be waiting."
It had no signature at the bottom. There seemed to be no clue to who it was. Linn sighed deeply as she threw it in the bin. "Probably just some joke of somebodies," she muttered to herself. Although at the back of her mind she could hear a little voice saying that it wasn't just a coincidence that it was her birthday today. But yet nobody knew it was her birthday, she had only came to this school a few weeks ago and nobody had really bothered to get to know her. She was just the foreigner to them, a novelty, nothing more.
The clock on her wall told her it was now 8pm. She decided that she wasn't going to venture out of the school buildings at night for somebody who didn't even leave their name. Instead she made her way to the students lounge to waste the rest of her night. "This is the worst birthday ever," Linn thought to herself as she walked through the long corridors. She had received a phone call a few hours ago from her family and friends but it just wasn't the same being away from them all. Also some gifts arrived in the post but they didn't seem special without the people there handing it to her. Eventually she reached the noisy students lounge. She walked across the lenght of the room, aware of all the eyes on her. She ignored them and walked straight for a quiet spot beside a bookshelf. The large comfy armchair welcomed her as she sat down on it's colourful seat. She had picked a random book that and began to read. Straight across from her there sat a boy who looked to be buried deep into a book about football. Every so often however his large brown eyes peeked from over the top of the book to stare at Linn. "He must think I'm weird too," she pondered, "The strange foreigner all by herself again." She shook away that thought and began reading the book again.
"What are you doing in MY seat?!" a shrill voice demanded. Linn looked up. A skinny girl, slightly smaller than her, was standing in front of her with a chubby girl standing in her shadow. "Yeah! What are you doing in her seat?!" the chubby girl echoed. "Emm..I..well" Linn stammered. Not looking for any trouble Linn stood up. "I'm sorry. I didn't know it was your seat," she said as she backed away from the armchair. The skinny girl pushed Linn away and said "Yeah well you better remember next time, foreigner!" The other girl, like a parrot, repeated "Yeah well you better remember next time, foreigner!" as she pushed her back as well. Suddenly a tall figure was by her side. It was the boy who was reading the football book. "What do you think you're doing?" he snapped to the two girls. They both looked down at their feet. "What has she done to you?" he questioned. The skinny girl then ran to him and threw her arms around his shoulders. "But oppa! I wanted to sit there! And the foreigner was in my way!" she pouted. He pushed her away. "Give her back her seat and then leave her alone," he commanded. "But but oppaaa!" she moaned. He then turned to Linn and spoke quietly "Are you ok?" Linn looked at him in amazement. It was the first time someone had actually taken the time to talk to her. "Eh..Yeah I'm fine.." she mumbled, embarrassed. The two other girls stormed off as his attention switched to Linn. "Don't let those two push you around," he said, "They're just idiots!" He smiled as he looked down at her then glanced at his watch, waved then left.
It was 8.50pm and Linn decided it was time to wander out of the students lounge. As she reached the door leading outside she suddenly remembered the letter left for her. The oak was just outside that door. "I could just go to look and see who it was who was waiting" she thought, "No. It was just a joke. I won't fall for it easily." She continued walking back to her room. On arrival she noticed that there was another envelope left on the ground. This one however was orange. She opened it and a red card fell out of it onto the floor. She picked it up and read:
"If you don't come I'll wait all night. For you I'd count all the stars twice. How about calling this making it even? Show up tonight do you need a reason?"
Linn began to feel as if this person was stalking her. The card joined the previous on in the bin. She felt that all this was too much for one night and so decided to go early to bed. "Worst birthday ever," was Linn's last thought as she drifted off into a deep sleep.
The clock read 5.30am when she her a tap at her door. Sleepily she got up wondering who would be waking her up this early. She pulled on some clothes and answered the door. There he stood. The boy who defended her, the football loving one. His eyes had dark circles under them as if he had been up all night. Never the less, he smiled down at her "I suppose I should have guessed you wouldn't turn up!" Linn was shocked. It was him who was sending the letters to her asking her to go out to the oak. "I-I didn't know it was you," she stuttered. He gave a slight laugh as he said "Guess I was being a bit too mysterious! You didn't even know my name yet, it's Minho." "Sorry," Linn said softly, "I thought it was somebody just playing a trick on me. I'm really sorry. Did you stay up all night?" Minho nodded slowly. "I'm really truly sorry!" she whispered apologetically. He smirked slightly. "Well do you want to make up for it?" he asked. Linn looked up to him suspiciously. "Follow me," he said as he outstretched his hand and took hers. He led her outside into the gathering light. They walked past the large oak tree and continued into the large clump of trees that cover the hill beside the school buildings. Eventually they reached the top where all land stopped as a large cliff opened up to a huge valley. He drew her closer to him as he saw her shivering in the early morning breeze. "I always wanted to bring someone up here," he breathed out as the sun began to rise up. "Why didn't you before?" Linn wondered aloud. He smiled and held her even closer, "Because no one was special enough." he paused and looked down at her, "Happy birthday Aislinn."
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