"I'll let you know when I arrive," Adam ignored Max's joke without batting an eye.

"You'd better!" Max raised one hand up toward Adam when he walked back into the car.

Right before he closed the door, Max winked at Jan and only said loudly enough for her to hear.

"Good luck!"

Before she could fully process what he meant and say some goodbyes, Max already drove away in his usual maniac manner.

Blinking at the sight of the sedan getting smaller and smaller, she wondered whether she would encounter it again on a street one day.

Probably.

This was the second time Jan was at Schiphol airport, and certainly the first time going to the Departure area. There were many things going on - shops, restaurants, people, especially people - everywhere, but they were just a blur to her. Her mind and body at this moment were fully focused on the figure of Adam in front of her, which happened to turn around after they had taken some escalators.

"Do you want to wait here while I check my luggage in?" He asked and inclined his head toward a coffee shop.

"Sure!" She answered automatically.

He waved to her a little before walking away. She waved back mechanically, looking at him until he fully disappeared in the crowd.

Jan wasn't sure what she wanted to do next. She wandered past the bar of the coffee shop and saw a few empty chairs facing large windows, through which she could see some airplanes parking outside. The next thing she knew, she found herself plopping down on one of those chairs, staring at the airplanes as if they had hypnotized her.

She knew she hadn't been thinking much the moment they set foot in the airport. Either she didn't want to think or her thinking faculty had stopped for some reason. She didn't think about it either. Her eyes just followed the airplanes blankly, from the closest standing ones to the departing and arriving ones in the background.

She probably sat like that for a long time, until a familiar voice brought her back to reality.

"Do you want some drinks?"

Jan's head jerked up and she saw Adam put two cups of hot liquid down and sit down in the chair beside her. The one on her side seemed to be hot chocolate, and his looked like tea.

"Thanks," she said softly and took her cup, while looking at him like she anticipated something.

He just went ahead sipping his tea. The steam from the tea fogged his shades up, so he slid them on top of his head. She couldn't suppress a light giggle.

"Now you're laughing!" He also giggled back.

"Did you do it on purpose?" She was wide-eyed.

"Who knows?" He smiled mischievously and took another sip.

She began staring at the steam coming from her cup of hot chocolate.

"This is just like when we were at the hospital..."

When she looked up, she saw Adam's clear blue eyes full of inexplicable, strong emotions.

"Sounds like ages ago," Jan finished her sentence softly.

"Seems to me it's just happened yesterday," he mumbled. His eyes softened.

"True."

She started sipping at her hot chocolate. Her gaze drifted again to the airplanes outside. But her mind slowly played back all the moments she had had with Adam so far. She was amazed at the sheer amount of things that had happened. The hospital, the studio, the Rijksmuseum, ...her dorms, the ice-skating rink, his apartment...

Her face got hotter and hotter as flashbacks of those last things replayed in her mind. She desperately sought something to distract her blood flow from rushing to her head.

"How is it going with your new music?"

The moment the words escaped Jan's mouth, she realized she had broken the long silence also for him. And he looked rather surprised.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to!" She quickly added. Her face felt even hotter than before. "I'm just... curious..."

"No that's fine," Adam gave her a reassuring smile. "It turned out all good actually. I finally managed to settle on good terms, or on ok terms, with my ex-label. I've got a new label and they're happy to produce the new music we made."

"That's great!"

"Yeah, I also managed to include the extra songs in the new album."

His smile now reached his eyes. The beautiful blueness stared at her intently, passionately.

"Oh wow. That's... awesome!" was all she could utter before letting go and getting lost in his electrifying blue eyes.

If before Jan had been afraid of this sensation, now she welcomed it with open arms. This would very well be the last time she got to see these eyes so close, so bare, so raw.

(cont.)