Chapter 02

Chapter 02: Coming Home

Citra POV *

Home to more than dozens of theme parks is currently the place where I and my husband is staying, for about 7 months since we left our children alone at home, I wonder if they're doing okay.

Wendy was still very young at that time when she met her siblings, but she was able to take care of them who were still toddlers. She would wake up when the sun wasn't even up yet, play with them, and take care of them when we had hired a nanny to do the job. It was when she's turning 5, she knew that she was no longer an only child, she had to be able to become a reliable figure for her younger siblings, there was no longer the word "Me, a spoiled princess" in her life dictionary since then. Thank God, she was very mature.

The twins, Keiysy and Abi. The nosy duo likes to tease their sister when she is struggling with her laptop doing her thesis, not knowing what kind of riot they made at home is one of the things I missed so much. Usually, Keiysy was the one who thinks up the idea and her brother who is 1 hour younger than her will carry it out, when it comes to planning they're the master.

What breaks my heart the most is when they grow up so fast without us by their side all the time, when other children are usually sent to school by their parents, and their parents will come to the parents' meetings, while our children must be accompanied by a nanny, not us.

I looked at my large suitcase lying just in the middle of the king-size bed, making sure once again that I had packed all the things I needed, then closed it tightly. I called out to my husband, "Are you finished yet?"

He replied, a soft smile etched on his aging face, "Almost, do you have the passports?"

"Ah, right. The passports, I think I put it next to your mug."

He chuckled, "For 22 years we've been married," shooking his head on my carelessness, "You're still careless."

Ting. The elevator door rang after he pressed the button to the first floor, I saw some teenagers who were probably the same age as my children laughing. Seeing them I thought back to my kids, finally, I could see them again today. The taxi that took us to the busiest airport in the state glanced at the beautiful view plastered in the window, as we continued to drive trying to catch the flight time in half an hour.

Ardan, the man who proposed to me decades ago was on the phone with several clients informing them that we were on vacation for a while. As usual, many people are busy looking for which flight they will take to their destination.

Ardan turned to me, his face lits up as he points to a bakery shop in the front of the boarding room. "Wait here, I will go buy some snacks."

I looked around our departure hall which led to New York, it turned out that many families and their children were on vacation too. Just then, a boy bumped into me his melted chocolate-mint ice cream was spilled on my clothes, his mother came running after, apologizing. "Oh gosh, I'm very sorry. Dean, what do you have to say?". The little boy obeyed his mother, with a pitiful face he did what his mother told him, "I'm sorry."

I nodded, stroking his head lightly, "It's okay."

They returned to his chair again, the little boy kept looking back at me then Ardan showed up surprising me in the process as he handed me a cup of fresh latte and asked, "Something happened while I'm gone, right? You always look like that when something happened."

"He bumped into me earlier, and spilled his ice cream."

He grabbed by my hand to a restroom not far, "Ouch, poor you. Come, let's clean this out."

I cleaned out the specks in one of the lavatory stalls, and got back to our seats, "Departure this time is a bit long, huh? It's a bit windy today, the sky also looks cloudy. I hope the plane arrives on time, we still can meet them, right?"

I hold his hand tighter and he does the same, gently caressing my thumb then he brought the back of my hand closer to his lips, putting a small comforting kiss. While his other hand hugging me from the side occasionally stroking my hair as if to say everything will be fine, he does know how to calm me down without a single word. His deep warm gaze makes me sentimental for where he does the same thing every time I'm upset when we were still young, the small wrinkles on his face and the lines under his eyes reveal his hard work all this time, those countless sleepless nights remind me once again.

His gaze shifted to the white watch with silver engraving around it that inlace his left hand, a gift from his only son on his birthday last year, "If you're so worried, why don't we give them a call? I think they're on break."

Hearing that my hands immediately reached out the cellphone inside my blue velvet purse, both my fingers and my eyes frantically search for my kids' contacts lastly pressing the button to call them hoping one of them will answer. I didn't realize that I had bitten my nails and my breath was getting faster, couldn't wait to just talk to ask about how they are, on the other hand, I was also afraid of hearing their response.

Just now Keiysy answered, suddenly a woman appeared on the big LED screen announcing repeatedly, "Attention for all passengers of Airline City 7566 with destination to John Kennedy F. International Airport, we expect for you to enter Cabin 7, thank you and have a safe flight."

I asked him to hang up and tell the others that we're at the airport to go home, make him squeal in excitement then told me that they'll be welcoming us there. The flight attendants and flight attendants were seen lined up throughout the cabin, welcoming us and other passengers in a friendly manner, I saw from a distance, Dean, the child who had hit me, was also boarding the same plane. We're coming home, kids.

It doesn't feel like more than 2 hours have passed, it seems I fell asleep earlier and now we have arrived home, New York.

Breathing the air that feels a bit cold makes me blow my breath on both hands to keep them warm, can't wait any longer to see the children again, the same thing I can see from the happiness that radiates clearly on Ardan, he couldn't stop grinning ear to ear since the moment we got off the plane.

Their voices, scents, laughter, giggles, screaming when they fought each other, their faces when they felt sad and would come to us asking to be pampered. I can sense all of the above from here, a tear escape from my eyes no longer could hide the feelings wanting to embrace them just like we used to in the old days.

Ardan led the way and found a taxi we could take, along the way we saw many memories passing here and there. The kindergarten, the elementary school, the playground, and finally our house. Of all our trips that we've been on for a long time, this is the one that feels so emotional, not one that makes other journeys so easy, every parent will always have a hard time leaving their children, always.

A simple modernized 2 story house with a little garden filled with flowers that the girls planted back then, and a big shark statue was in the middle of them, Abi was the one who insisted. He kept crying for a shark, but a shark's too big to put in the pond and it would die eventually. So, we bought him the statue and he was bragging about it for days, I wonder if he still likes to brag.

We unpacked our luggage and tidy things up a bit, then walk by to check whether there are some groceries left, all the cupboards and the refrigerator are filled with a variety of foods, mostly ice creams, and chocolates. Wendy's fave, the other two prefer meat to sweets they think it's too cringy.

The doorbell ranged, I opened it to see a tall sweet middle-aged mother of Alin's with some fresh baked cupcakes and muffins. Alin's face resembles her so much, she greeted giving me a tight hug, "Long time no see, Citra. Did Orlando treat you well?"

I giggled returning her hug, walking away to the pantry, "The weather was nice and their airport's busy all the time. Come sit, I'll bring you some drinks."

She was seated in the living room waiting for me to come back from the kitchen with a tray that a tray of two glasses of lemonade to quench our thirst from the hot weather these days, " The weather has been increasing, right? I heard that they can fried eggs just using the sun rays, and it'll be cook than less a minute."

She gasped not believing it, she covers her mouth as something came to her mind, she pointed, "Oh my, come to think of it, I think I've heard it too, they even cook steak and salmon perfectly for 3 to 4 hours I think."

"The earth is already too hot for us to live in, ah they say there is a discovery that there is another planet besides earth that contains oxygen and they are analyzing whether it is safe to live in or not."

Keiysy was the one who knew about it, she would update me sometimes. Her eyes seem to brighten up when she talks about it, she really admires outer space and the solar system, that's why I brought her several related books, I hope she would like it.

The chatting between us moms continued until the sun begins to drown itself in a dazzling reddish-orange, goodbyes were to be said, and next time where we will continue again.