Winter put on her last touch of red lipstick on her lips. She then spun around to face her company.

 “So how is it?” she asked in anticipation.

Nana, her best friend, held her thumb up. “You looks great bae!”

Winter smiled and nodded. “I should be going now, thanks for your help Na.”

Her best friend chuckled and shrugged. “What do you expect? I’m your best friend.”

That resulted Winter to give her best friend a brief hugged.

Nana rolled her eyes as she hugged her back. “Cheese! Anyways, do you really want to go alone?”

 “Yeah. I don’t want to bring any chaperone.” Winter joked.

 “You said that.”                  

 “For sure you’ll gonna like him,” Winter guaranteed as she walked out the door.

Nana watched her leave and waved. “Fighting!”

-------                  

Winter was about to head across the road and grab a taxi when she heard her calling.

 “Hey! Hey bae! Bae Wiiiin! Heyyyyyyy! You left the placard that ‘I MADE’ for your boyfriend. How could youuuuuuu?!” Nana emphasized. She wondered how Rhea had even forgot that.

 “Stupid.” Nana muttered as she gave it to her who was now inside the taxi.

Winter laughed from her best friend’s childish fuming. “Okay sorry. High blood bae?”

 “Tss. Bye. I’ll prepare dinner, so you two must come home early.” Nana cautioned and ran back towards the apartment.

Winter smiled watching her running figure. *She’s really funny at times.*

 “Where shall we go ma’am?” The taxi driver suddenly asked.

 “At the airport please.”

-------

It was quarter to six of the evening when Winter arrived at the airport. She couldn’t explain the mix emotions that she was feeling right now.

At the very moment, she was holding the big placard that Nana made for her. Her best friend even placed some cute arrangements around it. There were different colors of paper being used to highlight the sixteen letters that was creatively pasted on the cardboard. A lot of effort could be seen from its visual. *My best friend made it perfectly.*

Winter sweetly smiled as she read the placard. “WELCOME MY MARK!”

She was living in Asia. Mark was living in Europe. It was a long distance relationship for months now but for the both of them love was not a measure of distance but a measure of willingness to take a risk.

They may only know each other through internet. They may only exchange their vows of love via FB but those were candid words of promises and waiting. And she was sure that it emanated from their beating hearts.

How many months she had been thinking for this day? How many weeks she was envisioning to finally meet him in person? How many days she wanted to talk to him for real? How many seconds she needed his arms enveloping her?

No one knows but her.

She was the happiest when Vincent told her about booking a plane ticket to see her. To kiss her. And to tell her how much he loved her. And today was the day. She needed only minutes of waiting but for Winter it’s too long. She just realized how she badly wanted to be with him at the precise moment.

She immediately raised her placard as soon as the passengers of Air Pacific Flight X15 finally announced its arrival.

She scanned the mob of passengers at the influx zone. Her eyes glanced over the area from left to right. Her heart started to ripple its beat.

Then a man caught her attention. It wasn’t just some random guy. This fellow wore a white long sleeve with a pair of black trousers. His good built matched with his manly look screamed for attention- specially her whole focus.

It was Mark. But who’s with him? He never told her that he had someone along. *Who is she?*

Winter took a step forward when she suddenly halted. The question on her mind had been answered in an instant. *Did he ever love me like what he is claiming?*

Mark was with a girl more likely years younger than him. They were linked arms and they were laughing in delight. In just a blink of an eye, the blonde girl kissed him on the cheek which Mark gave a sweet pecked on her forehead.

And just like that tears started to flow down Winter’s gloomy face.


-------

 “Then what happened next?” The six year old girl curiously asked.

Winter smiled and pinched her nose. “Asked your dad later.”

The little girl whose name was Lauren pouted. “But dad is busy mommy. He is working.”

Winter tilted her head to her stubbornness. “He will be here minutes from now.”

 “But it’s too long. Just tell me mom. Did he see you? What happened? Who is that girl though?” Her daughter bombarded her with questions.

 “Okay baby, I’ll finish the story tomorrow. How do you like that?”

Lauren smiled. “Really?”

Winter held out her pinky. “Yes baby, promise.”

 “So how do you like our love story?” Mark suddenly appeared inside the bed room.

 “Daddy!” Lauren happily exclaimed as she jumped out of bed and hugged his daddy’s long legs.

He smiled and picked her up.

She beamed. “Mommy promised to finish the story tomorrow.”

 “It’s a quite long love story I guess.” Mark chuckled and smiled at her wife.

They looked at each other lovingly and both shared a meaningful smile.

------

Hours later. The sun finally hid on the sky and lights from homes started to brighten the surroundings.

 “It’s dinner time!” Winter announced.

Her cute daughter rushed into the table. “Wow! My favourite! It’s looks yummy mom.”

Winter laughed as how adorable her daughter was. “Go tell your dad its dinner.”

Lauren nodded and left.

She blinked as she saw her daughter alone walking down the stair. “Where’s your daddy? I told you to call him Lor’s.”

 “He’s talking on the phone. I’m hungry mommy can I start eating now?”

She sighed and nodded. “Okay. Eat well. Mommy will just call daddy.”

Lauren ate a mouthful of rice as she bobbed her head.

-------

Winter couldn’t help but felt anxious. She went to her husband but she heard him talking to someone. Little did Mark knew, Winter constantly caught him having a ‘call time’ with whoever it was. It had been exactly a week from now as he had been talking to somebody over the phone.

She didn’t want to consider anything worst but it was her heart’s feeling. Her heart ached and she hate it. *Do you not love me anymore Mark?*

-------

The next day, it was Sunday. And it was Winter’s birthday. Mark don’t have work today so she expected a lot of bonding time with her family specially it’s her special day. Yet, it was nearly evening but even a simple happy birthday from him wasn’t given to her.

Feeling bitter Winter decided to go to the market by herself to buy ‘dinner.’

She headed back home. She walked towards the entrance with a frown on the face. Was it even brown out? That thought led her to look around the neighbourhood. *But all houses are lighted except our house.*

Her heart fluttered fast as she prayed to God. *Please, I hope my family are safe.*

 “Honey? Lauren baby?” she called as she opened the main door.

Silence.

She could only hear calmness and she could only see black.

Silence.

Silence.

And the lights was suddenly . Colourful decorations welcomed her eyes. There were balloons, rose petals, confetti and posters everywhere. A huge poster that says “HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY WINTER!” was hanged on the wall.

Then a blonde girl walked in front of her. She was holding a balloon on her hand and embraced her. “Happy birthday my dear sister-in-law.” It was Wendy, Mark’s younger sister. Winter remembered the time she first saw her. She was jealous of her that day at the airport. Every time she remembered that first encounter, her face blushed from embarrassment.

 “Thank you Wendy.” She kissed her cheek. “Where’s your brother and your niece?”

 “Honey.” A voice uttered from her back.

Winter looked back as her face lit up from so much happiness. There was her husband walking towards her still handsome as ever, he was holding a bouquet of her favourite red roses.

 “Happy birthday my Winter.” He kissed her. And she kissed back. “Thank you honey. This is so sweet of you.”

 “Mommy!” Her daughter screamed from afar.

Winter blinked her eyes in confusion. “Hon, is Lauren outside?”

Mark gave a mysterious smile. “Let’s take a look.”

Still confused, the couple approached the door hand in hand with Wendy giggling from behind.

 “Mommy, I’m here outside.”

And they went outside.

Winter popped out her eyes in surprised. “B-bae.” There was her best friend Nana who flew from Korea just to see her. She was holding a cake. “Blow it now bae Win. Happy Birthday.”

Tears dropped from her eyes as realization hit her. *So it was Nana all along that my husband had been talking to? It was Mark surprised for me and yet I doubted him.*

She blew the cake and prayed. For her, it was her best birthday ever. Spending it with the important people in her life. Additionally, it was more exciting with her soon to be son-in-law, Lauren’s future husband as she and Nana had agreed to.

Winter’s smile almost reached her ear when she saw her daughter playing together with Rome, Nana’s five year old son.

Nana introduced her spouse to her. It was Winter’s first time of seeing Jackson personally.

 “He’s so good looking Na.” Winter commented as they were now alone in their renowned girl’s talk. Nana proudly grinned. “Because we have taste.” She winked which caused them to laugh.

The two best of friends sighed in contentment as they observed their family from afar.

There was Wendy grilling the meat. There were Lauren and Rome sharing the red velvet cake. And there were their husbands, Mark and Jackson having their own boy’s talk.

Winter and Nana held their hands as they declared in bliss. “Love transports.”

-------

END