There was probably no need for her to go back. Technically speaking she should have been gone long enough to be forgotten by then. Nothing but a faded memory, she thought.
But she herself didn't want to forget. She remembered the good times, and she didn't want to let those comfortable days leave her completely. They seemed so far away, and yet so easy to simply reach back to.
She wanted to return to those days.
Quite a selfish thing, really. After all she'd left on her own free will, supposedly in need of something new to dedicate herself to. In need of a change of pace, she claimed.
It was quite selfish indeed, but there she was, going--...
Did one, who abandoned the place where they belonged, still have the right to call it as such? Frankly she didn't know anymore. She'd moved along so many times that the word now felt empty and without real meaning.
Or so she thought until the sound of his voice reached her ears.
''Wow, haven't seen you in a while.'' His tone was void of any sarcasm that sentence could've -- no. -- should've held, and she stopped dead in her tracks as their eyes met.
There he stood, in that same old manner he'd always had, with that same old eyebrow raised curiously at her.
And since no words managed to make their way passed her lips despite her racing thoughts, he just smiled and calmly added
The words were so simple, and yet they overwhelmed her with such an intensity of emotion, welling up tears in her eyes as that familiar strain in her throat rose up from chocking back a sob.
The widest grin still managed its way to her lips however, her feet finally finding the courage to carry her to him as her arms flew around his torso in a tight embrace.
And when it was returned without a moment of hesitation - and only then - she remembered the meaning of that word.
At that very moment, the feeling of comfort she had longed for all this time washed over her like a warm wave in the clearest of oceans.
Finally, she could voice those words again and mean them.
