Planned Variables - An international romance (M18+)

“To all residents of Singapore, welcome home.”

The captain’s announcement regarding the local time, weather, and the usual arrival logistics ended with the phrase that caught Damon off guard.

Home.

His connecting flight on the way to Thailand had touched down in Singapore a little ahead of schedule, at 4:45 a.m. Outside the window, the lights of the airport glowed against the darkness as the plane taxied towards its gate.

For the last twelve years, home had been wherever the US Army told him it was. Before that, it had been the town where he grew up. Now he was landing in a country he had barely spent any time in, yet somehow it was the place he felt closest to home.

His lips curved.

Lara.

He couldn’t wait to see her again.

It felt almost unfair to be in her country but still have to wait to hold her. He was only connecting through Singapore that morning, travelling onward to Bangkok for a few days of bilateral meetings, but he’d managed to work out LIWCO (Leave in Conjunction with Official Travel) so he could spend one full day in Singapore on the return leg.

One full day to see Lara.

And one full day to meet her parents.

It was a meeting he kept telling himself he had no reason to be nervous about.

Not that the reminder made him feel any better.

The inflight announcement came to let passengers know there would be a short wait before they could taxi to their gate. Damon reached for his phone.

It was early, but he’d promised Lara he’d message her when he landed.

So he did.

Damon:

Landed in Singapore. If you woke up, just smile at this message and go back to sleep.

Her reply came immediately.

Lara:

Welcome to Singapore ♥️. I checked, you’re landing at terminal 3, your connection leaves out of Terminal 2 Gate F59. Enough time for you to make it but you might want to get moving.

Damon:

You were texting me past midnight. Why are you up?

Lara:

You’re taxiing to gate B4 right? You get out, turn right, all the way to transfer desk A. Beyond that is the Skytrain to terminal 2. Take that and when you get off, turn right and walk a bit to F59.

He smiled at his screen as the plane came to a stop, fingers tapping.

Damon:

You are ridiculous.

Lara:

I love you too 😘😇

Damon:

Hey mission control, since you’ve done your recon, where’s the best place for me to grab coffee on the way?

Lara:

I’ll look it up. Call me when you get off the plane. And before you say anything, I’m not going back to sleep until your next flight takes off.

Damon:

And people think I’m the stubborn one.

A few minutes later, he called. She told him to get to the other terminal first, less than an hour until boarding, and coffee might make things really rushed. Her voice was quieter than usual, more muffled, and he thought she was close to dozing off, but she refused to hang up.

“Yes, just getting off the Skytrain,” Damon said into the phone.

“Okay, it’s almost 5:30. Boarding’s at 6:00, right? You’re going to want to head to the gate,” Lara instructed.

Damon turned out of the Skytrain platform, swung right, and looked down a long stretch of gates. His was at the very end, away from any shops or cafés.

“Baby, my flight is only at 6:50, I’m going to get coffee first, so that I don't double back.”

“No!” Lara exclaimed. “Major, terminal two is weird. And at this time, things move slow. You want to go closer—make sure there's no queue at the gate. Just trust me on this, okay? You'll see.”

Damon exhaled, shaking his head with a small, reluctant smile. “Fine, though I feel it's your sleep deprivation talking. Go back to bed.”

“It's not!” she whined. “Why do you keep asking me to do that? Am I annoying you? Too bad, be annoyed and stay on the line.”

Damon passed a few gates until he could see his about two hundred meters ahead. A few people milled about, not much of a crowd or line.

“There's no one there; I'm going to grab coffee,” he told Lara.

He turned around and nearly bumped into a family rushing to their gate.

“Oh careful,” the voice on the other end said. He froze.

“Lara… what did you just say?” he asked, brows furrowing.

She suppressed a laugh. “Be careful. Don’t knock anyone down.” Her voice less muffled than before.

He went quiet for a few seconds. His eyes swept the area, and in half a heartbeat, he understood.

“Something wrong, Major?” she asked, teasing.

A grin spread across his face.

“Yeah. I’m going to have to get off the phone. This hottie is walking up to me — I want to go chat her up.”

Lara laughed.

“Sure. I’ve got to go too. Oh, and I forgot to mention — you might see me around Bangkok the next couple of days. Just FYI.”

“What the hell Lar?” Damon said with an unrestrained smile on his face as she reached him.

“Here's your coffee,” she handed the cup to him but he just dropped his backpack and grabbed her waist instead.

“Surprise,” She said, then laughed. “I can't believe you listened to me. You had so much time to grab a coffee. God I love you.”

“I can't believe you're here. What the hell is happening?” he said and bent down to kiss her.

Damon looked around, taking in the neighborhood as he walked to the concrete lift lobby of Lara’s parents’ apartment block. Beside him, Nisha and Pravin set an easy pace.. The logistics of the last forty-eight hours had been a bit of a blur. Lara flew back the morning prior right after his work meetings concluded, then greeted him late last night when he finally touched down in Singapore. She had personally seen him settled at her sister-in-law, Nisha’s place before heading home to her family. Damon had been more than happy to follow her lead, not entirely sure what to expect despite all of her brother Sid’s preparatory information.

Nisha noticed a flicker of nerves on his face—something she hadn’t seen before.

“They don’t bite,” she said, putting a reassuring hand on his arm. “Even if they do, nothing Ghost can’t handle.”

“Relax, man,” Pravin, Sid’s childhood best friend, chimed in. Lara had asked him to join them as a favour, hoping he could help grease the conversation if things got awkward.

“Lara’s more worried they’ll say something to upset you than the other way around,” Nisha added.

Damon paused, a little surprised. He smiled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah… I guess I’ll be fine.”

Lara appeared at the open door the moment she heard their footsteps. Damon smiled as he took her in. She looked stunning in a cream-and-gold salwar suit with a vibrant red scarf or dupatta, as she mentioned to him before.

Nisha slipped past Lara into the foyer, rubbing her pregnancy bump. “You guys have your moment. I need to sit down, these babies are not cooperating today.”

Pravin followed closely behind, giving them some space.

“It’s so weird having you here,” Lara said, her face lighting up with a nervous, giddy smile.

“You look amazing,” Damon responded.

“This is not what I normally wear at home, okay?” Lara teased, smoothing down the fabric. “I only dressed up because of the Deepavali gathering later. And... maybe to look a bit cute for you.”

As they stepped inside, Lara’s father, Mr Kathirselvan, stepped forward to greet them. They exchanged warm pleasantries just as her mother walked out from the kitchen to join them.

“So, Damon, where in the US is your family from?” Mr Kathirselvan asked, his eyes lighting up. “You know, back in 1989, I went to—”

Lara groaned loudly. “Appa, I told you not to bring up that trip. How many times do I have to tell you he’s not from anywhere near there?”

“It’s fine,” Damon intervened quickly, trying to deploy his best tactical diplomacy to defuse the situation. “What were you saying, Uncle? Where did you go?”

Lara narrowed her eyes, looking between Damon and her dad. “He’s lying to you, Appa. I already warned him you would bring it up. He knows it’s Boston, but he’s just pretending to be polite.”

From her spot on the sofa behind them, Nisha couldn’t help but laugh.

Lara’s father waved his daughter off. “Don’t worry about her, Damon. She’s always like that. Needs to control everything. I just hope she doesn’t do it to you. She gave us talking points before you arrived, as if her mother and I don’t know how to converse with guests. We’re teachers! All we do is talk. You come sit down. Lara, go get everyone some drinks.”

Nisha offered to help, but Lara told her to relax. Then she looked over at Pravin, narrowing her eyes. “Are you pregnant too? You could at least offer to help.”

“Lara, enna mariyaathai illaama paesuraai [why are you being disrespectful]?” her mother chided gently.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Lara muttered under her breath. “Amma, you know this is your fake son, right? Your real one is still on a US Army base.”

Pravin looked immensely smug. Mrs Kathirselvan just shook her head.

“I can help,” Damon offered, planting his hands on his knees to stand up.

“What are you trying to do, show me up?” Pravin remarked. “Do you think you’re better than me? Just sit down.”

Lara put her hand on Damon’s shoulder to guide him back down, but quickly retracted it, remembering she was in her parents’ living room.

“It’s fine, I was just messing around,” Lara said, waving a hand. “Amma, you sit down too. I’ll go get the water and the iced lemon tea.” She paused, casting a dramatic look back at Damon before walking off. “You know Cinderella? How they treated her like a maid? Loosely based on my life, by the way.”

“I don’t recall Cinderella being so mouthy,” Pravin called out after her.