After a long journey, I finally returned to my hometown that I hadn’t seen in years.
The familiar streets greeted me like old friends. The same corner store where I used to buy candy as a child. The same bus stop where I waited every moming for school.
Everything here remained the same.
Time seemed to have pressed pause in this place.
Even after so many years away, it looked exactly like the hometown in my memories.
As I dragged my single suitcase down the cobblestone path, Mrs. Brown appeared at her garden gate.
Her eyes widened in recognition before breaking into the warmest smile I’d seen in months.
“Aria! Is that really you?”
She dropped her watering can and rushed over to embrace me.
My neighbor Mrs. Brown was both surprised and delighted to see me.
“Look at you! Still as beautiful as ever, but so thin. Have you been eating properly?”
Her motherly fussing brought tears to my eyes.
She enthusiastically helped me clean up the old house.
