Hearts in Transit

The airport was alive with soft murmurs, rolling luggage wheels, and a bittersweet scent of departures. Elena stood at the boarding gate, her passport tucked into her palm, her suitcase beside her. Her heart thudded like an uneven drum. Not from fear of flying, but from the weight of goodbye.

Aidan arrived, breathless from running through the terminal, eyes searching. When he spotted her, he didn't smile—just walked straight into her arms.

"I didn't think you'd come," she whispered into his shoulder.

He pulled back just enough to look at her. "And miss the chance to kiss you in an airport like a movie scene? Never."

They laughed softly, but it quickly melted into silence, and their foreheads rested together.

"I'm scared," Elena admitted. "Not of going. Of being away from you. Of losing this… whatever this is."

"It's love," Aidan said simply. "The kind that's messy, inconvenient, and ridiculously strong."

She blinked fast, trying to hold back tears.

Aidan took a folded piece of paper from his pocket. "Open it after takeoff. No cheating."

"A letter?"

"A promise."

The boarding announcement echoed through the terminal.

"I have to go," she said, her voice tight.

He nodded but didn't move. "You were never meant to stay small, Elena. Go be massive. I'll be right here. Unless you want me to come chase you in Paris."

"You'd really do that?"

"In a heartbeat."

They kissed—slow, deliberate, and grounding. A kiss that said more than any goodbye ever could.

As Elena walked down the boarding bridge, she clutched the note. Once airborne, she finally opened it. Just a few words, scrawled in his confident handwriting:

"No matter where you go, my heart goes with you. — A."

She pressed the note to her chest, staring out the window as the clouds parted. She wasn't just chasing a dream anymore.

She was carrying love with her. And she wasn't running away this time—she was running toward something.