Chapter 2

When a vaguely familiar song caused Aria to wake up, she found Eveline already fully dressed in the room. "What time is it?" Aria said, still sounding sleepy. "It's about 7 in the morning, you better get up, we're leaving for school at 8." "Wow, you start school late," Aria said. "Late? Seriously? Then please tell me why I still fall asleep as soon as we arrive?" Eveline answered while yawning.

Aria's first day passed slowly but steadily. She didn't understand much of the lessons that were taught at her school and though she wished she could blame it all on the new language, she knew that wasn't completely true. Of course her Dutch wasn't fluent, but she prepared herself well enough to be able to make a small conversation and understand most of the simple words. They only had two hours of English a week, but Aria was already excited for those, since she'd be able to fully express herself there. But for now, Eveline had to function as a translator, which she didn't seem to mind.

Around 4PM, or 16:00 as they write it here, they arrived back home. Aria found a present on her new desk. When she opened it up, it included a new phone and a little note from Ellen.

Aria,

Since you live in Belgium now you should be able to communicate with us and your Belgian friends and this is the easiest way to do it. Hope you like it!

Love,

Ellen

Suddenly, Aria's mind shifted to a certain person she hadn't thought of in a very long time. Remembering about it now made her feel bad, so she sat down at her desk and while she waited for her new phone to start, she grabbed a pen and some paper and started writing a letter she should've written as soon as she arrived.

Ezra,

I am terribly sorry it's been a while. The move was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. And I don't mean that mentally, because so far Belgium seems to suit me perfectly, but physically, because though I've packed everything I thought I might need, I still felt like I forgot something. Well, seems like I found out what it is.

I could ask you how you're doing, but secretly I already know the answer. You are in love with your new job, I'd bet my life on it. It's the perfect job for you. Remember what Confucius said? Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. I hope it feels that way.

I was thinking, now we both live in the same country, it might be good for us to finally meet. You've been my best friend for the past two years, though I've never even met you, but whenever I got a letter from you, my day was brighter. What about we meet for coffee on Tuesday? Eveline told me there is this really nice and cozy place just five minutes from my house and I guess it's pretty close to you too.

Oh, before I forget, Eveline's mom got me a phone, so if you ever feel too lazy to write a letter and go to the post office, send me a text, I included my phone number.

All the love,

Aria

Eveline was too busy studying for her French test to accompany Aria to the post office, but it ended up being so close to her house that she found it without Eveline's directions. When she arrived back home, she finally found the time to pick up a book and she didn't put it down until she was called down for dinner.

Before she knew it, it was Tuesday already, or only Tuesday, depending on how you like to see it. Today was different from yesterday in a lot of ways. She could feel the stress disappearing as the day passed. She even talked with a few of her classmates, who turned out to be extremely funny and spontaneous. After a while, she felt like she completely fitted in. Her day got even better when she felt her phone buzz in her pocket.

Aria! How did you know I'd be lazy and text you? Haha, anyway, I'd love to meet you there, can't wait! Say, about 17:00? - Ezra

Aria knew he was teasing her, since Belgian time always confused her.

If that means 5PM, I'll be there. If it means another time, you make sure you're there at 5 :) x Aria

As she put her phone back into her pocket, the bell rang and she quickly scanned the crowd looking for Eveline, since there was no way she already knew her schedule. Luckily she found Eveline quickly. Once they arrived in class, Aria told Eveline that she'd meet a penpal of her today, and she could see Eveline's smile when she mentioned her penpal was a boy. Aria just rolled her eyes while they both pretended to be more interested in the lesson than the stories about Ezra.

Belgian weather was unpredictable and in this case, cold. So Aria put an extra sweater in her bag as she left the house to meet Ezra. When the rain started to fall out of the sky, she started running to avoid getting too wet and meeting Ezra for the first time looking like she didn't care about how she looked at all. Though when she eventually arrived at the cafe, she couldn't have looked worse. At least, that's how she imagined it.

She made her way into the cafe, trying to fix her make-up without even knowing what's wrong with it. When a waitress came up to welcome her, she asked: "Is there a table for Fitz?" "Sure, follow me please," the woman said with a friendly smile on her face. Another thing she liked about this country, how humble the people were. They weren't all over you all the time, they were just friendly without overwhelming you or desperately trying to impress you. When they arrived at the back of the cafe, the waitress pointed to a table with a man, supposedly Ezra, sitting on it.

He was reading a book and didn't pay any attention to the people passing by, or to Aria standing in front of him. She took the chance to look at him as well as she could. She'd never seen really clear pictures of him, but for some reason the man sitting in front of her matched the image of the person she's been writing letters with for the past two years perfectly. She made her way to the table, but it wasn't until she sat down in her chair, Ezra looked up and her hazel eyes met his blue ones.

A/N

wantstowriteforyou: I live in Flanders, so the Dutch part yes :)

I had a long day at work so I thought about how I wanted to work out the storyline and I think I've got it now :)