Under the Same Sky

Chapter 9- Almost strangers Almost home

I had played this moment in my head too many times — the airport, the crowds, the wait. But nothing prepared me for the stillness I felt when I saw her.

Élise stood by the carousel, scanning faces with a kind of nervous energy I knew all too well. She clutched her tote bag tightly, her coat slightly wrinkled from the long flight. Her hair was a bit messier than in her pictures, and that somehow made her even more real.

My feet didn’t move at first. All that distance — the messages, the calls, the late-night confessions — had led to this. And yet I hesitated. Not because I doubted her, but because for the first time in a long time, I was afraid of wanting something too much.

Then she saw me.

Our eyes locked. It wasn’t dramatic, no slow motion — just one beat of silence that said, “So, it’s really you.”

I smiled first. Her lips parted like she was about to say something, but instead, she walked toward me. We didn’t run. We didn’t cry. We just met in the middle and stood there, quiet in the chaos.

“Hi,” she breathed, as if unsure the word would land.

“Hi,” I said back, and I swear the sound of her voice untied every knot in me.