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I noticed a strange sensation unfurling inside my chest, but I tried to shake it off.
It was probably nothing, anyway.
Eleven
Dahlia
Iwas in the process of brushing my teeth when I heard a loud knock at my door.
“What?” I struggled to say around the toothbrush in my mouth.
“Come over here for a second!”I heard Ace’s voice calling out to me.
After rinsing my mouth with water, I shouted back. “But I’m getting ready for bed!”
“It will only take a second!”
Huffing, I stepped out of the bathroom only to find that Ace was nowhere to be seen. With an exasperated eye roll, I stepped out into the hall and followed the only source of light until it led me to the living room.
“This better be important—“
Whatever I’d been planning to say next got stuck in my throat when I saw all three of them there, waiting for me.
I felt… so very confused.
“What is… all of this?”
“A surprise birthday party!” Ace spoke up, his voice brimming with excitement.
Ah.
The little decorations around the living room made a lot more sense now. The entire space was filled with brightly colored balloons and the table was set in a more elaborate manner than usual. If I turned my head to the side and strained my neck a bit, I could just barely catch a glimpse of a tall birthday cake sitting on the kitchen table.
Witnessing the boys’ infectious enthusiasm, I couldn’t bring myself to disappoint them by revealing that today wasn’t actually my birthday. The date of birth on my ID was just a random date, but I suppose that it wasn’t that big of a deal since the day I usually celebrated my birthday on was randomly chosen as well.
“We weren’t sure what you’d like, but we also got you a little something.”
“You did?” I asked, feeling oddly touched. “You really didn’t have to.”
“Of course we did. What kind of birthday would this be without a present?” King said, handing me a blue gift bag with tiny gold stars sprinkled all over it.
It wasn’t very heavy, and I had to contain my excitement and not immediately peer inside since King was still talking.
“The one in the library is barely hanging by the thread, so we thought that we could get you a new one.”
With a mix of anticipation and excitement, I delved my hand into the bag and my fingers closed around the familiar shape of a book. I pulled it out and had to contain a delighted cry.
It wasThe Little Prince.
It was true that the one in the library was all ripped up and had a couple of pages missing, but I didn’t think that they had taken notice of it. Or that they would even care enough to knowthat it was my favorite book and think to replace it with a new one.
Feeling deeply moved, I flipped open the book, but then I had to frown when I saw what was on the inside.
“Guys?” I said, and when I looked up, I saw three pairs of worried eyes peering at me. I pointed my finger at the thing that had caught my eye.
“It’s signed.”
Scribbled down in bold lines on the very first page was a signature.
