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eyes plenty of times in recent days whenever Victorz had done something that annoyed him. It was like a mix of anger and disappointment, something that was always accompanied by a hint of disappointment in Victorz himself. This feeling of disappointment seemed especially prominent since his father wasn't even there to share it with him. It made Victorz feel sick in the pit of his stomach, and he felt tears forming in the corners of his eyes. Why did he have to feel this way? Everything about this whole situation sucked, especially after all of the things that had happened recently. The last thing that he wanted to feel was guilt, he wanted to feel happy. And now that he had been given another chance, he didn't even want to consider taking it. Just when he was beginning to wonder if Alex had fallen asleep, he heard the sound of his father saying, "That was fast." His mind snapped into action as he processed his dad's words and realized that they must have been referring to the fact that their plane had arrived at its destination. Without wasting any time, Victorz grabbed his bag and began heading down the airplane aisle towards the exit door. He made quick work of getting into the waiting area where most of the other passengers waited for their flights. They were either standing awkwardly or sitting down on the seats near the doors. The crowd around the airport had grown considerably since the flight attendants had announced their arrival several hours earlier. He noticed that they were moving in the general direction of the exits, some of them even running. As he approached the glass doors, he could see several people already outside of the arrivals hall, waiting to meet their relatives and friends. His mother, who was holding onto both her children, immediately ran toward him with a warm smile on her lips. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulled him close and held him tight. "Are you alright? Do you need me to bring you home first?" she whispered to him. For some reason, it made Victorz tear up, even though he hadn't been feeling particularly emotional lately. He nodded, but didn't speak. "Alright sweethear t," she responded softly as she placed a gentle kiss on top of his head. Her embrace never faltered for a single second. "We'll wait here for a while for Alex and then we'll go home." Victorz nodded his head again, still unable to get his mouth to form sentences. He didn't know how to describe what happened, although he assumed that his mother must have noticed how upset he was and must have guessed that something had transpired at the house to cause the sudden change in his attitude. Still, she didn't mention anything about what had happened. Instead, she took him by the arm and began leading him away from the entrance. She looked at her watch and said, "We should probably go inside soon, he needs to collect his things. He won't want to come home late on Saturday. We can leave once we have everything ready. Let's go, let's go!" She smiled brightly as she led her son towards the departure lounge. Victorz stared out the window, not knowing how to react to the events of the day or the fact that he had no clue how Alex was doing. It wasn't his business anyway. He just had to focus on getting home and dealing with whatever was wrong there, because the rest could take care of itself. He was perfectly capable of handling it alone. Alex was still sitting next to his luggage when Victorz stepped back into the room twenty minutes later with his family in tow. Alex looked up from the floor when he saw him enter and gave him a small smile and a wave that he returned with a nod of his head. Victorz took a few steps closer, stopping just a few feet away from his cousin's suitcase and sat down on the chair next to it. He reached under his seat, fished out a magazine that he had bought that afternoon, and pretended to read it as he waited.