“I love you” he whispered into her neck, hugging her at the airport.

“I love you too..” she mumbled, holding back tears.

“Don’t forget me, my love.”

“Of course I won’t, it’s only university. I’ll be back before you know it.” She replied.

“We have to text every day! Long distance will be hard.”

“ okay. Let’s make a safe word or something.”

Quickly, a man rushed past them and dropped a hot cup of tea onto the floor.

“Shit.” He cursed

“Oh no!” The girl said, reaching out to help him up.

The man and girl helped clean up the drink and bought him a new hoodie.

“Lovely to meet you” they said, smiling.

“You too! Thank you again.”

He walked off.

“Tea” the man said

“What now?” She looked at him, irritated “I need to go soon”

“Our safe word. Tea.”

They laughed hard until they couldn’t breathe.

And with that she walked off, boarding the plane.

Weeks of texting turned into every hour and then a few times a day and then a few times a month until their phones fell silent. It had been 12 years and the girl stayed longer than she had planned to and had now had two beautiful children and was married to a wealthy man. On the other hand, the boy became the manager of a huge restaurant with an only child who was adorable. They were both happy but felt as if they were missing something, or someone.

Mom is typing…

-Hey Rachel, I can’t wait to see you tomorrow, bring the kids and mark. Love you!-

Rachel is typing…

-Ok mom, see you soon. Cant wait to travel back to you all. :)-

When they got there, the girl and her family were at a restaurant, ordering only the most expensive foods.

“give me my money back!” Someone was shouting across the room.

“Sorry sir, please sit down!” Said another man.

“I want to speak to your manager! This is disgusting food and I want a refund!” He shouted again, ignoring his surroundings

“Ok sir, if you sit down we will call our manager for you.”

He sat down.

A few moments later, the matter was finally sorted so the manager was going around tables, apologising to everyone. Until he came over to the table of the girl.

“Hello, sorry for the inconveni-“ he paused.

The girl looked up at him, puzzled.

“Rachel. You never came back! Oh god I was waiting for you to ..” his paused again, scanning her new family.

“Do I know you, sir?” She asked, extremely confused.

“It’s me, Ben!”

She looked around, as if apologising to her husband.

“Tea.” He said, smiling.

“Pardon me?” She said, shocked

“You’ve forgotten me.” He nodded, heart breaking fully.

“I have forgotten.” She said while raising her eyebrows