India, May 5 -- Author Stefany Valentine lost all hopes of meeting her mother after not having any contact with her for 25 years and even feared that she had died. But on New Year's eve of 2023, a call from her sister-in-law changed her life.

For the first time, in over two decades, in August 2024, Stefany came face-to-face with her mother Meiling Valentine.

Speaking to PEOPLE.com, Stefany said she wondered whether she would be able to recognise her mother in the crowd after all these years and safe to say, she added, "I did."

"It was just so good to hug her for the first time. I needed that hug," the author said.

At the time of Stefany's reunion with her mother at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the author was working on he...