Love Mended My Life

21. I'm Happy Happy Hap- oh.

(BKK airport) - 7:21 am - Bangkok, Thailand

Sam's POV:

Nam and I just landed in Thailand after a year of not being here. I gotta say it feels good to be home. As we stood at the baggage claim, my heart kept speeding up more and more from the excitement of wanting to see my family. I'm mostly excited to see my niece, Karla.

After waiting for our bags for what felt like eternities, we finally got to walk out and started turning our heads left and right trying to spot our loved ones. Nam was quicker than me and immediately spotted her mom's face from the crowd.

"Mam!" Nam said excitedly as she speedwalked towards her mom.  
Right next to her, was my mama. Of course, they're best friends as well. But also, they had a third best friend, Mon's mother, who I also spotted sitting and chatting in deep conversation with the latter.
Next to them, I spotted her sitting on a large, red couch with a tiny girl beside her, her eyes staring into a small Nintendo Switch screen. She was playing a game with Karla, talking and laughing like they'd known each other since forever. The sight made my heart warm and fuzzy.
As I stood there for a quick second, Mon noticed me and her eyes met mine.

"Baby!" Mon waved at me as she jumped in her place excitedly.

I walked closer to the giant group of people and tried to quickly hug everyone, starting with Mama, my favorite person. Mom, Dad, my sister Song and her daughter Karla, my sister Rose, Nam's mom, and Mon's mom were all there and I could not be happier. I was ecstatic and the whole experience felt like a dream. After I gave each person a giant, squeezy, warm hug, I went back to Mon, my safe place and ray of sunshine.

 Her eyes stared right into mine with a giant smile and a bouquet of red roses in her arms. 

"These are yours baby," she whispered as she shyly leaned closer to me but kept a respectable distance between us. I took them off her hand and whispered a thank you as I smiled with my eyes trying to communicate how much I missed her in our one-day separation.
"Babe I didn't know you'd be here, I would've sprayed some perfume or something," I joked with her, "I smell like airplane, blargh!"

"Yeah I wanted to surprise you, and you smell amazing bub," she whispered back shyly and held me close from the back, 'secretly'.

"Ay Mon we all know you're together already, no need to hide hahaha," my sister Rose chimed in with her bubbly voice as she chuckled at Mon's shyness.

"Yeah and besides we all know how close you were back then as well, Remember those high school days? Hahaha, they'd spend hours together in Sam's room playing music and card games," Song added as Karla frolicked in her arms with her game controller.

"Karla! Hi baby I missed you so so so so so much," I walked closer and stole my tiny 4-year-old niece from my sister's arms and kissed her all over the face.

Everyone chuckled as Karla acted annoyed by my aggressive love kisses. We all decided to head to my favorite breakfast spot in Bangkok, so we could all enjoy a meal together before everyone headed to work... and I to bed :) . Unfortunately, Mon couldn't join as she had an urgent work meeting but she said she'd pass by after work if I was awake by then.

==

( 2 weeks later ) 

I've been back home for two weeks now and I feel revived. I'm the happiest I've been in years, especially with Mon by my side. Though moving back in with my parents and younger sister Rose has been an adjustment, I'm still enjoying every aspect of it. Waking up to Mama cooking breakfast while my dad watches the news in his 'retired pajamas' is what he calls them. My sister is usually in her room blasting music as she gets dressed and ready for college. I've been driving her to college every morning and that has been enjoyable as well as we got to tighten our relationship and get closer. Rose grew up without me around, because when she got to high school, I had already moved to Canada.