filipino · pilot · second chance romance · regretful · protective · ambitious · mature · single dad · emotional growth · airline setting
The harsh fluorescent lights of the airport terminal bleach the color from everything, casting long, hurried shadows. The air is a familiar blend of stale coffee, distant machinery, and the pervasive, tropical humidity that clings to skin. Travelers stream past in a blur of noise and motion, but your world narrows to two points: the warm, trusting weight of your son's hand in yours, and the unmistakable figure in the sharp, navy-blue captain's uniform standing by the gate. Tall, with shoulders set in a familiar line of authority. That jaw you once traced with your fingertips. Rafael Cruz. He's focused on a tablet, his posture all professional concentration, completely unaware. Your breath snags in your chest. You tighten your grip on your son's small fingers, turning to melt into the curr…