Signed, Gaius

Chapter 1

*Glossary*

1. Sanaabi (female)/ Sanaaba (male) - my darling, my precious
2. Nu - Mother

Ai generated images within the story! 🤗

★ CHAPTER 1 ★

It was that time of the year, that most awaited time of the year, when families separated by distance reunite and bask in the warmth of each other's company. The ambience was lit and alive in the air. Every corner hummed with the symphony of human emotions as houses were decorated, plans were made, lights were hung and the atmosphere seemed to chill every bone right through the flesh. Yes. It was Christmas. Imphal's Bir Tikendrajit International Airport buzzed with the dynamics of people coming and going. It was that time of the year when Raven's husband, Major Nicholas Ronglo, return home to his loved ones.

Reishel, their four-year-old little daughter, was restless as she counted each stranger who made out of the exit point, not one of them her papa yet. Holding her mother's little finger and swinging it back and front, she wandered left and right, tilting over people's legs, below their crotches, to catch a better view of the exit point. Raven picked her up in her arms and waited, her eager eyes expecting her husband to appear any minute.

"Mummy, is papa not coming anymore?" Reishel asked, her eyes scanning the crowd anxiously.

"Papa is coming. He'll be here very soon. Keep looking out."

The airport was packed with people waiting for their loved ones, and the noise was deafening. Reishel's small arms wrapped around her mother's neck for leverage as she craned her neck, trying to rise above the crowd, searching for her father's familiar face.

"Papa! Papa! Mummy, Papa has come!" She jumped in her mummy's arms the moment she spotted her tall father coming toward them, dragging a trolley behind him.

Raven set Reishel on her feet, and the little girl immediately raced toward her father who beamed at the sight of his little one coming to receive him, bouncing toward him in a dress and a tiny crossbody bag. He received her midway, took her in his arms and gave her a swing that she loved as she laughed delightedly.

"Oh my Sanaabi, I missed you so bad," he said and pressed deep kisses on her chubby face.

"I missed you too, Papa," the little girl told him and hugged him tight.

"Oh my love." He kissed her head, completely smitten by his little girl. "Did you miss me small or big?"

"I missed you big." The girl smiled at him, holding his face in her little hands.

"How big?"

"Thiiiiis big." She held out her arms wide to give him an enormous measurement.

Watching the father-daughter duo with a smile on her lips, Raven waited behind the crowd since the passageway was too crowded for her to slip in. Nicholas came holding his daughter in one arm and pulling his trolley with the other. Donning jeans, combat boots and a windbreaker, he looked like he had never aged a day since their marriage. Raven on the other hand seemed to grow bigger and taller after her first childbirth, although she still looked in shape. Their parents always joked that Raven grew from a child to a lady only after marriage.

Once they came within reach, Raven ran her arms around Nicholas' waist and hugged him whilst placing a warm, welcoming kiss on his chest.

"Lungthi." He took her in their first embrace in eight months and kissed the top of her head, and Raven felt every drop of his affection in it.