3 years later (New Chitose Airport)

Stroding her navy-blue luggage off the hallway, Ara walked out of the arrival gate. The lady was on the phone with her mother.

"Alright mom. I'm gonna be okay here. Nanaho will be with me. I'm not alone okay", the lady told her worried mom. For 3 years, she never stepped out of her country because of the protection order. She was allowed to travel but with a gps bracelet attached to her foot. This year, after the protection order was lifted, she planned to spend her winter at Sapporo, her old hometown.

As she was scanning the crowd, a slender lady with a long wavy hair waved at her cheerily. 

"Mom, I got to go. Nanaho is here. I will call you back later tonight. Bye-", Ara ended the call and waved back at Nanaho.

"Nana-chan!!", Ara called her childhood friend's name exuberantly and they hugged tightly.

"Ara-chan. Aitai (I miss you)", Nanaho told her and she released the hug. Chuckling softly, the two ladies walked out of the airport hand-in-hand, heading to a white Honda Civic car. Someone was at the driver seat, waiting for them. 

"Wataru-san? Oni?", Ara asked Nanaho out of curiosity. Her friend nodded her head with a bright smile. Wataru is Nanaho's older brother. Even though Ara was close to Nanaho as a child, her relationship with Wataru was like cat and dog. They just didn't get along well. 

Her Japanese friend walked towards the car and asked her brother to open the trunk so that Ara could put her luggage inside. Ara was waiting at the back of the car. 

Click. The trunk was opened. Ara was about to carry up her luggage when a pair of hand helped her to picked up the luggage. 

"Arigatou---", she spoke up. His long hair covered his face, and from Ara's line of sight, his side profile was slightly visible. She glanced at him sharply to see the face of an adult Wataru-san.

The guy put the luggage inside and turned to face her, giving her a warm smile. Gulping down her saliva, Ara's eyes opened as wide as . She was so shocked to the view of a familiar face in front of her. "J-jinwoo-sshi??"

The guy frowned a bit. "Ara-chan, hisashiburi (long time no see). You grow up well", ignoring her, he uttered words with a blank face. Ara was taken back. Is he really Wataru-san? They really looked alike. The voice too. Three years had passed but she still remembered the guy clearly. 

She still gazed on his face earnestly, without tearing it. They looked on each other's eyes for several awkward seconds.

"Nani (What is it)? Boku wa ikemen desu ka? (Am I that handsome)", he and chuckled by himself. Again, Ara was so baffled. Is this a dejavu. Jinwoo-sshi used to joke around like that too before.

The tall man asked her to get inside the car and then paced towards the driver seat. Shaking away her thought, she slid into the back seat. Her head was doing all the talking. She kept glancing at the driver once in awhile. They were so identical but Wataru was Nanaho biological brother. Impossible for him to forge his identity. Ara closed her eyes shut. 

That's not him.

She tried to hypnosis herself. Maybe she was too tired of the morning flight and her brain didn't really worked well yet. 

Whatever it is, that's not him.

-THE END-

P/s すみません、日本語がしゃべれません。🙏