Chapter VIII - The Past and The Present.

"Mama! Tata! (Mom! Dad!)".

"Ana!!" Mom squeals ever so slightly before tightly wrapping her arms around me. I do the same. Immediately, I can sense her familiar fragrance, it was the one I bought her for mothers day last year. "Joj, Ana... (Oh, Ana!)," she says gently under her breath, as it becomes obvious that she will not let go of me any time soon. But not that I would in any way mind.

In what seemed like only seconds have passed, she lets go of me.

Looking up, behind mom, was dad's tall frame. We both look at each other, no words have to be said, our gazes say it all. In an instant, father wraps his big arms around me as I do the same.

It was in both of their hugs that I have realised how much I missed the physical acts of love from a mother and a father, rather than a few words of love that we exchange over Skype. I think it is fair to say that I missed my parents very much, who am I kidding? Of course I did! Almost too much.

After the hug between dad and me comes to an end, I give them both some space to get comfortable by taking off their coats and shoes. I offer them both a pair of slippers, but with a kind decline, they allow me to walk them deeper into my warm house.

Upon my entry into the living room, I notice how James is up on his feet.

I don't have to look behind me to know at whom my parents' eyes are looking upon. There was a brief second of silence, but to me, it felt like a lifetime has passed before someone was to have broken the awkward quiet.

"Good evening, I am James," James introduces himself. In the same time, he walks closer to my parents before greeting them both, "Its an honour to meet you Mr and Ms Lazarevic".

Even though James is an utter gentleman, I was pleasantly surprised by the pure formality and the manners he showed. But then again, it's my parents he is talking to...

"It's very nice to meet you too, James, and please, call me Maria," my mother begins.

"Yes, it is very nice to meet you, James, also, Alexander will do, there is no need for such formality," my father adds seconds after mother finished.

Once again, brief silence descended upon us all, causing the atmosphere in the room to change slightly for the worse.

"Please, have a seat everyone," I quickly jump in. With that, James takes the seat in which he was only minutes ago, while mom and dad sit to the left of James.

"Do you want to drink anything?" I ask.

Mother is the first one to look at me, father followed only milliseconds later.

"Ummm, for now, nothing, thank you," she says. I see father nod along with every word mom says. "But come here and sit down with us..." she adds moments later.

I do as I was told. I sit and fill in the gap between my parents and James.

From there, once again silence descends upon us. But it's not long before my mothers' voice breaks it.

"So, Ana has told me somethings about you, and by the sounds of it, you sound like a pure gentleman...". My eyes widen ever so slightly as both of us know that I mentioned no such thing in the conversation mother and I had not so long ago. Although, she is 100% correct. He is quite a man of courtesy.

Seconds pass before I look at James, just to see him look at me. "Is that so?" he asks, a smile patched on his lips. "I am very glad and honoured that your daughter and you think so highly of me," he adds.

With that, slowly my parents slowly begin to warm up to James as he does the same.

James told my parents about where he lives. He briefly opened up about his career, saying how he is working at a high tech airline manufacturing industry. He also mentioned how the company is working on planning new airliner models to aid the huge push in reducing the amount of carbon dioxide, along with other greenhouse gasses, being released.

Airplanes and his home... Los Angeles...

It feels like my head wants me to go crazy. I can't get the fact that James is leaving me soon out of my head. He lives half the globe away...

But... I have to accept the obvious. When he goes back home, he will forget about me, he will find someone else, someone better than me. Someone who will always be by his side...

I wish I can go with him, I want to go with him to Los Angeles, but my home... my home is here, my job is here, in Europe... How will I settle in, in Los Angeles? It would be like landing on another planet. I will most defiantly need time to adapt, to get used to the new way of living in Los Angeles.

Also, if I was to want to come back here, to visit my family and friends, it would not be the ordinary two-hour flight I'm accustomed to. I would have to catch multiple airlines, which would result in me having a transit that is about ten times the duration if I was going to fly from Euromania to Belgrade.

The laughter from my parents and James pulled me out of my trance and caused me to tune back into the conversation. I guess it was perfect timing for me to zone back is, as James just about began to talk about his past.

He told us about his childhood and how he always has wanted to become an astronaut, but sadly, he never succeeded in doing so.

"But I guess planning blueprints for planes and taking into account all the aeronautical engineering, that gets me as close to my dream to being an astronaut as possible... in some way..." he says.

Furthermore, he went on to talk about his family. His father worked his ass off around him and his brothers. His mother died at a very young age, after giving birth to his youngest brother, Jason. He says it was a miracle that he survived.

For the years that have passed, it was only his father, his two brothers and him.

He told us how his father became an alcoholic. Turning to alcohol for him was the easiest way to deal with the death of his wife and James's mother.

When he was in Elementary and almost four-fifths of the way through his secondary school, he said how he remembered coming back home to a bunch of beer bottles awaiting him throughout the whole house. Though he said his father was nothing but a hard-working man, he claims that that was the first time, in all those few years, he witnessed his father beginning to give up on life.

Then everything changed for the better when James's father met his current wife, but also James's and his brother's stepmother, Elanore. James said how his father did have a hard time coming clean off of alcohol, but it was for them, his family, that helped him and caused him to leave alcohol for good.

James mentioned how his stepmother is so fond of them all, and that his father couldn't have found a better woman to take care of them all. Though, his real mother was never to be beaten.

He also said how, for the longest time, he wanted to find the woman of his dreams, just like his father did - twice.

He didn't have much luck though. He has been to clubs, nights out with friends. He said how there wasn't a place where he didn't go to, in L.A.

He said how he wanted to give up on everything...

"And just like my father, I too turned to alcohol...".

He said how work was becoming stressful, life was becoming harder. His easiest was drowning his everyday problems and sorrows with alcohol, but also fantasizing about having a partner by his side...

Then, he got a call to fly to Euromania, for work reasons, which in turn caused him to spend a couple of weeks in the big city. That was before he decided to go and visit Belgrade for the two weeks he had off.

It was all just a pure coincidence that he decided to go to Belgrade, that he was on the same flight as me... that we were seat to seat. Hmmm, but now thinking about it, it almost seems too good to be a coincidence...

"Coming here to Belgrade was, without a doubt..." he begins before looking at me, into my eyes. "The best decision I have ever made...".

It was all meant to be a normal transit to Belgrade. He was meant to check-in, go through security, get to the gate on time...

Although all of that did happen, both of us went through it... Something extraordinary happened.

He found someone at a time he least expected to...

He found me.