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The airport was cold.
It was the kind of cold that made you draw your jacket in closer, rubbing your hands to stay warm. But Songmin didn't seem to notice, her jacket hanging on her arm as she walked through and out of the luggage retrieval room, pulling her suitcase behind her.
The airport was crowded.
It was the kind of crowded that normally would have bothered Songmin to no end, making her heart pulse like the rhythmic drumming of a sledgehammer and her lungs constrict as if being squeezed by the world's strongest snake. This she did care about, her feet instinctively speeding up in hopes of escape and her eyes flitting around nervously. Her heart raced too, but this wasn't because of the mass of people around her.
The airport was cold and crowded, but Songmin had somewhere to be and someone to meet.
The closer she got to the exit, the more her anxiety turned into excitement. She could already see him in her mind, his beautiful smile, his soothing voice, the birthmark on the back of his hand.
She emerged from the airport, the midday summer air warming her up instantly. Stepping aside from the doorway, she stopped and looked up and down the road, searching for him. The cacophony of car horns, engines, and human voices echoing under the overhang overhead made her nervous and she brought her limbs closer to herself, but she kept looking around, hoping to spot him.
He was nowhere to be found. Nowhere among the long line of cars and the traversing people along the side of the airport was his slim figure. She was getting antsy, her hand tightening around the handle of her suitcase. She took out her phone to check her texts, to make sure she was waiting at the correct spot to meet him.
"Leyi!"
Songmin recognized his voice instantly and her head lifted in his direction.
There he was, Huang Renjun, jogging towards her across the concrete in that oversized grey Moomin sweater he wore so often. Songmin's lips lifted into a soft smile at the way he was beaming, a child of a man just as eager to see her as she was to see him.
Her hands relaxed around her suitcase handle. He was here, really here.
He finally reached her after a few painfully long moments and immediately wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into him. She hugged back, squeezing him tightly and resting her head on his chest to make sure he was real. And he was, just as solid and real as she wanted him to be. The chaos of the outside world quieted and all she could feel was him.
His slim figure, his sweater, his ocean-breeze scented perfume. Everything just as comforting and real as she remembered.
"I'm so glad you're back."
Gods, she'd missed his voice more than she'd realized. She gave him another squeeze, fully taking in the feel of his embrace that she'd reminisced about every day she'd been gone.
