"17:54pm" it read on my digital watch.

The sign on the televised screen of arriving planes still remained the same.

"Confirmed", it read in white words highlighted by a block, blood red in colour.

The seconds were ticking by.

Patiently, we waited.

A young girl, probably in her mid-twenties, was dressed in a beige dress. The hem line of the dress ended about 3 inches above her knees. She looked... refined. Just by watching her, you could see the impatience in her eyes. In the way she carried herself. She leaned against the back of the chair, fiddling with her phone, crossing one leg over the other, then uncrossing them, then crossing them again. And as i sat there, i couldn't help but wonder, who exactly was she waiting for...

A man, three seats down from her. A japanese man, from the looks of it. He too, was waiting. With his curly hair, and round rimmed glasses, he leaned forward in his seat. He glanced around the arrival hall, and stared in the direction of the glass panel. The glass panel that separated those arriving from those waiting. He stared through the glass panel, almost willing whoever he was waiting for, to suddenly appear, so that he too, may leave.

Two little boys, one dressed in a blue shirt, the other in a brown one, ran towards the glass panel, screaming "Daddy! Daddy!" The taller one, who i assume to be the older brother, pointed at the smartly dressed man in a black suit through the glass wall, all the while jumping up and down. There was a look of pure excitement, pure joy, and pure happiness in his face. The way his smile wasn't only seen from literally the shape of his mouth, but also from the sparkle in his eyes. The way he turned back towards his mother, pointed ahead, and said: "daddy." He said it with such conviction, almost as if he hadn't seen his father in quite a while. That though, is a side of the story that we'll never know.

Behind the glass panel, the man in a black suit stopped in his track. He smiled, a genuinely happy, and somewhat, from the looks of it, grateful smile. He stopped, and he waved at the two excited little boys, jumping up and down only a few metres away from him. The only thing that had probably stopped him from running towards them to carry them in his arms, was this glass panel. As he continued towards the sliding doors that would mark the gateway and the unification of his family, his little boys, and their mother, ran parallel alongside him...

A young man, dressed smartly, just like the previous. Much more youthful in comparison to the first though.

That same girl, she suddenly sat up in her seat, sat straight up. Poised, and... ready. Ready for what, i couldn't tell then. She took out her phone, a blackberry, and started fiddling with it again. She sat up straight, and she looked alert, so alert in a sense that she was comparable to a meerkat. She sat ramrod straight, and stared intently through the glass panel. Her gaze didn't differ for even a second, she stared hard, almost willing the glass panel to melt, and then, he appeared. That same young man, he appeared in her view. And almost like an excitable little child, she jumped up, her three inch heels not exactly the best source of balance, and she smiled a demure smile in his direction. He too smiled back. Then both of them, walked paralled to each other, to the same point where those arriving, met those who had been waiting. They hugged each other tightly, a quick peck on the cheek, and off they went. Their longing to be with each other again, was so very evident in the way they both conducted themselves around each other. Another unification again, of people, of feelings, of memories.

Now, it was "18:16" on my digital watch, and yet, after checking once more, the plane still had not landed. My siblings were getting impatient. My sister and i refused to move from the spot infront of the televised screen. We stared at the screen, at the flight that was supposed to have arrived from Manado, Indonesia by now. We stared at it, willing the words "confirmed" to change to "landed". I suppose that we stood there for a whole good 2 minutes, and finally, finally, the words changed to "landed". They were no longer highlighted in red, but now, green.

We ran back to where our mother was seated, and we informed her of this great news. We too then, joined the people standing right infront of the glass panel. As if we too, just by staring straight through it, would will him to appear in the arrival hall sooner.

"18:22", and he finally appeared. Dressed the way he usually did: long sleeve shirt, black pants, and black dress shoes. He spotted us, and waved in our direction. Immediately, my sister became an exact replica of the two young boys i had seen earlier, excitedly jumping up and down, and waving maniacally.

We all walked to the sliding doors. The doors that separated us from being together. And as he walked through, all of us, all six of us, converged around him, and formed a great big hugging circle. I was, relieved in a sense, that he was back home. But the greatest impact of his return, was on my mother, who had had a stressful day that day, sending, fetching and worrying about her four troublemakers. It had only been a day of separation, but we were all glad.

Glad for my father's return.

A family, would not really feel complete with one member missing, and even if it was for the shortest time, for only about a day, each member of the family would feel as though something was amiss. Something that was intangible, and something would feel unusual, but definitely, there would be a sense of longing, for that person's return.

A glass panel, served as a barrier, and though it was a barrier, many appeared to be able to "knock it down" just by willing the person on the other side to reciprocate some kind of reaction to their heartfelt smiles of joy. It was an amusing thing really, how this barrier almost seemed invisible from the way people on either sides reacted to its' presence. A young boy and his father, and a young girl and a young man.

For my father's return, i was glad.

But my mother, was the happiest of all.

And as we walked towards the exit of the arrival hall, heading in the direction of the carpark, i submerged myself in the atmosphere i was surrounded in, and just took it all in. The way my little brother struggled with tolling my father's luggage, and yet remained happy, the way my two sisters would sing songs, talk and do a walk-skip kind of action, the way my father and mother held hands, walking side by side, discussing matter only known to them, and the way my mother laughed, her hearty cheerful laugh, one i had not heard in quite a while. I was surrounded by my family, not just physically, but emotionally as well, encompassed in a sphere of love, untangible, and yet, definitely present.