Tadashi was bouncing on his heels, unaware of how much he was annoying Hiro as he kept on glancing over at the arrival terminal. His younger brother poked him in the ribs, earning a yelp from the twenty year old man.

"Quit it or I'll put you on a leash," Hiro warned, no nonsense expression flashing.

He rolled his eyes, and peeked over his shoulder, towards the empty terminal again. That was odd. The flight en route from China was supposed to arrive, where she told him she would take another flight to San Fran. Nervously, he glanced up at the listing board, heart easing a little at the reminder that her flight had already arrived. But it had been fifteen minutes and there was still no sign of her.

"You're still bouncing," Hiro commented. He turned to their aunt who was busy typing something in her phone and tugged on her sleeve. "Aunt Cass," he whined, doing the thing that Tadashi had hated ever since they were little children. "Tadashi wouldn't quit bugging me."

His older brother spared him a look of annoyance and Aunt Cass looked up from her phone to give him a small smile. "Oh, come on Hiro, he's excited to see his girlfriend! You'll understand when you're older."

He was about to laugh at the petulance on Hiro's face when he saw the first stream of passengers arriving from the terminal. The mood in the waiting hall instantly changed and everyone's attention sharpened, eager to catch a glimpse of their loved ones. He saw a head of dark waves bobbing in the crowd, and not for the first time internally teased his girlfriend's height. He knew that if he were to tell her outright, he wouldn't hear the end of it.

"There she is," Hiro said, pointing.

Sure enough, Ayako emerged from the throngs of people, wheeling her brown suitcase and holding another bag in her hands. She looked up at them, sensing their eyes and broke into a smile. His feet moved on their own accord and soon, they were rushing towards each other, her baggage forgotten as she threw her arms around him.

They both laughed at the sweet relief of finally being in each other's arms and it felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from his chest.

"Hey, you," she said fondly, planting a small kiss on his cheek.

He blushed, rubbing the spot where her lips touched his skin. "Hey. How was the flight?"

"It was good. Although the kid behind me couldn't stop crying. Thank God for cheap in-flight earplugs." She chuckled, and they both walked towards her forgotten suitcase, Tadashi helping her wheel it.

"Did you manage to get any sleep?"

Ayako pointed at the dark circles under her eyes as a way of answer. Tadashi broke into a smile and pinched her cheek, ignoring her sound of indignation as he picked up her suitcase.

"I've been lugging that thing around for days. I can carry it."

"No, no," he insisted, lifting it up by the handle. "It's for the reason that you've been carrying it for days that I'm helping.

Ayako fixed him a glare that was playful around the edges and stood on tiptoe, quickly pecking his cheek.

"I missed your endearing chivalry."

He blushed, spared from answering when Aunt Cass cleared her throat. Ayako turned around and the older woman enveloped her in a hug, taking her by surprise. She chuckled and embraced his aunt back, saying how happy she was at seeing her again.

Hiro stood by the side, catching her eye once she let go of Aunt Cass. He grinned his gap-toothed smile and Ayako hugged his shoulders, the bony edges digging into her ribs.

"Hey, heart still beating fine from the face mask?"

Hiro merely glared at her for the reminder and rolled his eyes. His hair was longer in the front now and brushed his thick eyebrows, framing his cheeky brown eyes that were so like his older brother's now as they both looked at her.

"Barely."

Ayako ruffled his hair and said in a mushy voice, "aw, you know I was sorry for that."

He huffed but smiled, nudging her shoulder. "Yeah, yeah, quit acting so smug anyway."

Ayako looked down at her phone and found it blinking with another message. It was from her mother, telling her that she was here and would be on the look out for her.

"Hmm, that's funny, she said that she's here."

"Who?" Aunt Cass asked, curious.

"My mom," Ayako replied and saw a familiar head of hair tied in its signature tight bun. Her mother walked into view and she waved, smiling widely. Masaki reciprocated the smile and Cass turned around, gasping.

"That's your mom?"

"Yeah," she replied as her mother came to a stop. Ayako reached up and hugged her, her mother patting her shoulder. Appraising the family of three behind her, she was stunned to see her mother giving Cass a warm smile.

"Thank you for welcoming my daughter and taking care of her. You must be my daughter's boyfriend's aunt. She mentioned you once."

Cass beamed and shook the other woman's hand, Ayako and Tadashi sharing a look.

This was the first time that their two families were meeting up with each other, and the two of them were thrown off to say the least. The sudden change of the plans left the both of them disorientated and apprehension crept around the edges of their laced hands, breaking off once Masaki's eyes landed on their close forms, both of their faces reddened with embarrassment.

"Are you hungry?" Masaki asked, ignoring the gesture of fondness between Ayako and him.

Her stomach rumbled in answer and Cass chuckled.

"There's a great cafe near the airport. We could go there," she suggested.

Ayako blanched and she glanced at Tadashi, not knowing whether to be amused or horrified. Masaki conceded with a nod of her head. "Since you so patiently waited for Ayako, it would only be fair."

"Great," Cass said and she could see that even though the two women were about the same age, Tadashi's aunt still retained a certain youthful outlook about her that was refreshing. She wondered if her mother could actually get along with someone that was so different from her. Cass strummed a topic about cafes and her mother responded with genuine interest, leading her to gauge that they might be good friends.

Tadashi picked up her suitcase and followed his aunt and her mom, sneaking a glance at her. "Is this really happening?"

"Hang on, I think I need some vodka to answer that question," she said and made a face.

"Will this be awkward?" Hiro piped up beside them and his brother shrugged. "Let's just hope Aunt Cass doesn't spill out any embarrassing stories."

"Oh, I hope she does," Ayako said with a mischievous look in her eye. "I can't wait to hear all the things you did as a kid."

Hiro snorted. "You should have just asked me, I could easily tell you."

Tadashi shot him a glare and Hiro raised his hands in mock surrender.

"...or not."

~~O~~O~~

Her room was immaculate, as far as pristine goes for a messy artist, a far cry from what she had imagined. She had envisioned cobwebs, dust and a messy wardrobe that she would have to clean up. But the bed was neatly done, her easel standing straight for once and her tubes of paint arranged neatly on her study desk.

Ayako knew then and there never to underestimate her mother's cleaning skills.

"Cass is such a nice lady," her mother mused the moment they entered the front door.

"Yeah," she agreed and set her suitcase down, running a hand through her greasy air. Recycled air in the plane had not been kind to her scalp and she internally sighed, already thinking of the work she had to do to tame her messy waves.

"How was your father?" Masaki asked after a minute of silence.

"He's fine," Ayako answered, remembering the letters inside the secret compartment. The information was on the tip of her tongue, ready to be voiced out and questioned. But something was holding her back, sticking her words in place. She didn't know what to make of those letters and wondered if it was even worth telling her mother.

"Was there enough money?"

Ayako nodded and said, "yes mom, thank you."

Masaki hummed and indicated at her baggage. "Just throw the dirty clothes in the washing machine, and I'll handle it tomorrow."

"Thanks, mom," she said, this time more sincere.

Her mother nodded and went to her room, and despite her sudden exit, Ayako felt warm all over from today. Their dinner with the Hamada family was actually fun, Masaki having found a good conversationalist in Aunt Cass who brought out her chatty side, her mother procuring more words during that dinner than she ever did in these past few months.

Part of her knew that it was taking her mother some effort to move past her father, and tonight was the first time she had ever seen her mother make an improvement from her usual stoic self. That gave her a huge dose of hope.

She brought out her phone, texting him as she laid on the bed, staring up at the white wash ceiling.

'Going to sleep. Goodnight.'

He replied back a moment later, saying: 'Goodnight. Hey, since our family has already met, do you think we're as good as married?'

She guffawed at that, sitting down on the couch cross legged.

'You still haven't met my dad,' she reminded him.

He texted back, cheekily saying: 'Oh well. Goodnight.'

Ayako shook her head at his immense dorkiness and texted back:

'Goodnight.'

A/N: I AM SO SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY OMG. I've been really busy with coursework and university that I had no time to edit this. I hope you guys would understand :/

Reviews are extremely welcomed :)