"Attention all passengers. We are soon going to land."
Kevin is awoken by the pilot's voice coming from the PA system. He fixes himself up in the airplane chair and sits up straight, rubbing his eyes and coming back to his senses. The flight was about 5 hours; luckily, he had slept through most of it.
"Huh… what?" Kevin says, disoriented. The PA system boots up again.
"If you look to your left, you'll see our destination."
Kevin wearily turns to his left to look at the window. Then and there, everything comes back to him: his old home, which he had finally arrived at. Before Kevin could finish taking it all in, the Captain continued to talk.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Qiawu."
A couple of minutes later, the plane lands. While everyone starts getting their stuff to leave the aircraft, most are excited for their vacation, while others are coming for work or business. Kevin sat still in his chair, not daring to move.
Kevin felt a whirlwind of emotions; He sat there for a couple of minutes, in a trance-like state.
"Umm, excuse me, sir?" Someone taps him on the shoulder.
Kevin turns to his right and is greeted by a girl of similar age with long brown hair cascading down her back and a cute floral dress, carrying only a small handbag and a warm smile.
"Oh uh, hi," Kevin says nervously. "What's up?"
"Sorry for bothering, they told us it's time to leave, and you sorta looked half awake there.. just wanted to let you know," the girl says.
"Oh… thanks, I guess I wasn't paying attention," Kevin says, chuckling lightly.
"No worries! I have a little bit of jet lag too." She giggles back.
"My name is Fang, Hei. It's nice to meet you." She smiles
"My name is Kevin Qiau, nice to meet you too," He declares.
Kevin takes his backpack, and they both get off the airplane and head for the check-in area.
"I don't mean to pry, but what brings you to China?" She asks. Kevin takes a second to respond
"It's uhh, it's a long story, I guess," He mutters, staring into the distance.
"I understand, sorry," she says
"No worries, no worries," he replies, "do you mind if I ask you the same?"
"I went to America to visit, it was pretty fun, but nothing is better than home, you know?" She admits.
"Yeah, I guess that's true," Kevin mutters. "Your English is surprisingly good, by the way." He remarks with a slight grin.
"Oh, I guess you didn't know, this town has mostly English speakers now." She replies
"Really? I had no clue," Kevin replies.
"A couple of years ago, they started up this big tournament they do every year, since a lot of people from America come to watch, people began to learn English to sell their wares to tourists." She explains
Sometime later, they go to pick up their bags and make their way outside the airport. On the way, they discussed the length of the flight, and the girl talked about the kinds of things she did in America. Once they got outside the airport, a car was parked in front of them. Someone inside rolled down the windshield and waved at the girl.
"Welp, that's my ride," Hei Fang says as she turns to Kevin.
"Looks like it, if I see you around again, maybe you can show me some of the city?" Kevin asks.
"Definitely," she replies. Hei Fang walks to the car and gets in. Soon, the car drives off.
Kevin started to focus on his surroundings as he pondered his altercation with the girl. "If the trips have been this great so far, the rest can't be that bad," he thought to himself. Still, he wasn't that excited to see his old street, much less his old home. He shut the doubts he had to the back of his mind. He knew what he was here for; he knew where he had to go. He checked his phone to see Mr. Zhao's message
"Damn, it's really like she said, they really do speak mostly English here now," Kevin says to himself, reading Mr. Zhao's text. Kevin calls a taxi, then waits for a little while until it pulls up; then he gets inside.
"Where to, boss?" the taxi driver says.
"Taiyang Long street, please."
"Sure thing!"
Sitting in the cab with the window open, Kevin noticed something. The temperature didn't change compared to America, but the air felt different. He wasn't sure if it was the "wind of change" or the air quality was just better here, but something in Kevin told him he was home. Kevin sees the sign on his street. He can't barely read it due to it being in Mandarin, but he can tell this is his.
"Stop the car here, please," Kevin says to the taxi driver.
"Are you sure? I can just drive you directly to your house," the taxi driver responds.
"Yeah, I'm sure, I wanna walk the rest of the way."
"Alright, sir, have a good day."
"Thanks, you too."
Kevin got out of the car. And began the walk to his old home. Passing all the houses on his street felt like a mix of Deja vu and a hangover. The houses were exactly like he remembered them. As he drew closer and closer to his old home, Kevin began to feel nauseous and his heart began to pound. What would his sister think about him coming back? Was she told he would come? If she were, would that have made it better? He was afraid of what their relationship would be now, or better, what his sister would think of him. Did she even know why he left? So many questions raced through Kevin's mind. Finally, after what felt like days of walking, but what was only a few minutes, Kevin had made it home. He didn't even have to look at the address given by Mr. Zhao.
"This is it," he mutters to himself nervously. He takes a deep breath and walks towards the door—memories flooding back with every step. The door was red, needing either a key or a code to open the lock. Kevin takes out his phone to get the code while twisting the knob out of instinct.
"Wait, it's already open?" Kevin twisted the knob fully and opened the door without needing to unlock it.
"Huh, that's weird.." Kevin tries his best to brush it off, but he's put on edge.
He opens the door and goes inside the house. A wave of nostalgia hits him like a rocket to the face—the dark brown wood flooring. The white walls have old pictures and paintings hanging on them. And to his side, a shoe rack, missing four pairs of shoes. Less than he remembered. He turns to the living room. The same dark wood floor with a brown couch and a TV. Books are all over the floor, with a bookshelf to the far right.
"Hello.. anyone here?" Kevin asks. Nobody responds.
"Damn, I thought I would get a warm welcome," he says sarcastically. He looks around a bit more. Everything in the room reminds him a bit more of his childhood. Then, out of nowhere, he hears someone from behind.
"Who the fuck are you?"
Before Kevin can turn around to see who is speaking to him, he receives a powerful kick to the back, nearly toppling him over. He can feel the shock all the way down his spine. Instinctively, he takes a boxing stance, ready to square up against this mysterious opponent.