Title: Autumn

Prompt: Four Seasons & Fallen Leaves

Characters: Mark Tuan & Song Airin (OC)             

Bold = English

Song Airin loved autumn because of the beautiful colours which decorated the trees during autumn. But that wasn’t the only reason why, Airin usually took it upon herself to rake up the fallen leaves in the university garden, and for some reason someone would always offer to help her rake up the leaves. And that someone is Mark Tuan, he was one of the popular guys in the university, partly because he was from America and could speak English. Airin herself was from America and could speak English as well, but for some reason the guys and girls had different opinions about the popular people. Airin was classified as someone fashionable but moderately popular while Mark was very popular. Being one of the popular guys, many girls had crushes on Mark, and Airin was no exception although hers came after he had first offered her his help to rake up the fallen leaves. They became friends after that but they rarely met each other since they were from different faculties.

Airin was sitting on one of the stone seats in the university garden, underneath one of the largest trees in the university garden. Airin was reading a novel, she liked reading and she had a passion for books, so she took a course in creative writing in the arts faculty. Airin glanced at her watched which showed, 3.57pm, which meant it was nearly her shift to work in the garden.

Airin loved flowers as much as she loved reading, so she joined the botany club which grew all of the flowers and plants in the school. But since it was autumn, the types of flowers which could they could grow and bloom became lesser so the club decided to dedicate their time to raking up the fallen leaves to make compost for gardening.

Airin pulled out her bookmark from her bag and slipped it in between the pages of the book. But before Airin could close the book, the bookmark was blown away by the autumn breeze. Airin gasped before running after her bookmark, with her book in hand and bug slung over her shoulder. But luckily Airin didn’t have to run so far, as someone caught her book mark before it could fly further away. Airin heaved a sigh of relief before she noticed that Mark was the one who caught her bookmark.

“Is this yours?” Asked Mark.

“Yeah, thanks for catching it.” Said Airin.

“No problem.” Chuckled Mark, handing the bookmark back to Airin after taking a good look at it.

“Shall we get going? It’s almost time for our shift.” Said Mark.

“Sure!” Responded Airin.

The two made their way to their greenhouse office where they left their stuff before going to grab their tools.

Like Airin, Mark was a member of the botany club, his friend had recommended him to join the club if he wanted some peace and quiet during club hours. Mark was from the engineering faculty, unlike Airin who was from the arts faculty, and the engineering faculty was usually pretty noisy and loud. Mark didn’t really like botany at first, other than the fact it was really peaceful and soothing to study in the university garden, but it slowly grew onto him, especially when he was working with a girl by the name of Song Airin. Airin was different from other girls because she didn’t have a crush on him, and even if she did, she wasn’t the lovesick kind. Mark liked hanging out with Airin, but sadly they never got to meet each other outside of club hours and activities. There was a reason why he always volunteered to help her rake the leaves in the university garden. He liked hanging out with her as a friend and she could easily make him smile. They usually spoke in English whenever they do something together, it reminded them of their homes in America. But somewhere along the way, he started to miss her whenever she wasn’t around. They usually met up twice a week for club activities but they have never bumped into each other across the campus other than that.

 “Mark, I’m curious.” Spoke Airin.

“About what?” Asked Mark.

“Why did you choose to partner up with me? I mean there are other people who you could have paired up with.” Asked Airin.

“Do you really want to know?” Asked Mark.

“It’s just really comfortable hanging out with you, it’s different from when I hang out with my friends. Everyone from the engineering faculty is hyper one way or another and I’m no different but I just feel really comfortable hanging out with you because I can tell that you are a down to earth type of person. Maybe it’s because we are from different faculties and I don’t really know how the other students from the other faculties are like.” Said Mark.

“You don’t seem so hyper to me.” Said Airin, raising an eyebrow.

“Believe me, I am, in just a different way.” Responded Mark.

“So, why did you decide to continue partnering me?” Asked Mark.

“It’s almost the same reason as yours, I feel comfortable hanging out with you. But also because I get to see a different side of you from what I heard.” Shurgged Airin.

“What did you hear about me?” Asked Mark, raising an eyebrow.

“The usual, you are very popular among the girls in the arts faculty.” Replied Airin.

“What about you?” Asked Mark, with a small smirk.

“What about me?” Asked Airin.

“Do you like me?” Asked Mark, stating the question out right.

“What do you think?” Responded Airin, shyly.

“I’ll take it as a yes.” Chuckled Mark.

Mark and Airin moved the basket of leaves to the compost bin and left them inside for the leaves to compost. Mark and Airin then headed back to the office to sign out, raking up the leaves was their most important duty during autumn.

“So where are you heading now?” Asked Mark.

“I don’t know, I don’t have anything to do tonight.” Replied Airin.

“Then let me take you out on a date.” Proposed Mark.

“A what?” Asked Airin, not believing her ears.

“A date, and a chance for me to court you.” Said Mark.

“But why? I mean there are plenty other girls around, so why me?” Asked Airin.

“But none of them are you, like I said, you are special and different from others. You’re down to earth, kind and most importantly you’re my friend. That was what made me attracted to you in the first place.” Said Mark.

“So, what do you say? Will you give me a chance to court you, Song Airin?” Asked Mark.

Airin paused before feeling the butterflies in her stomach. Airin did have a crush Mark but she didn’t expect the feelings to be returned. The voice inside her head was rooting for her to say yes. Airin thought about it for a while before she took a deep breath.

“Yes, I would be happy go on a date with you, Mark Tuan.” Said Airin, with a bright smile.

Mark smiled before he hugged the shorter girl, and Airin hugged him back with a smile.