After a week, all the seniors returned to campus for the pre-graduation celebrations. Many bottles of wines were stored in ice buckets, and delicate pastries decorated the linen-lined tables. Candles were lit under the sunset-painted sky as soft jazz echoed through the wind. Young women dressed in all shapes and sizes huddled together for group pictures, and young men jumped in to ruin the moments. Each night was similar, but everyone cherished their last moments as students in one class.

Chanyeol and Melanie stood side by side as they witnessed their friends laugh in joy. Two special friends of theirs were missing, however. "I wonder how Kai and Claire are doing," Chanyeol pondered.

"They're probably having fun doing their own thing. Campus is pretty quiet now," Melanie nodded.

"They have the whole place to themselves, yeah. No one else is there except for some of the juniors."

"Mmhm."

"I'm glad it all worked out for them," Chanyeol smiled. "I just wish they were here with us too."

"Well, they're long distancing soon. Maybe they want to spend as much leftover time together as possible," Melanie suggested.

"Maybe. Hope they're not regretting missing out on all this food though!" Chanyeol laughed. "Sehun's been eating all of it."

"Oh please, if Sehun were with Kai and Claire and ate their food, he'd be dead from a food-induced coma," she retorted.

Both of them soon laughed as they spotted Sehun sticking up his middle finger at them from across the small lawn. "What friends I have..." he muttered before chugging another glass of wine.

~~~~~~~~~~

What Melanie stated turned out to not be far off. Kai was accepted into a prestigious graduate program despite his failed thesis, and he submitted his deposit for the program at Claire's encouragement. He didn't know if this was a wise decision. This school was the best of his accepted schools, but it was also the furthest away from where Claire will be. Seeing each other would be difficult, and he was scared.  Yet, Claire somehow convinced him that it would work, so he decided to go for it.

Kai lay in bed with the love of his life and her hair as she snoozed next to him. The sunlight peeked through the blinds and scattered itself all across his desk and floor. The illumination cast soft shadows on her features, and Kai admired her smooth skin, her ruby-red lips, her jet-black hair, and her straight nose. He chuckled as he recalled Claire's small complaints of her facial features. She was neither pleased or displeased with her looks, and he couldn't understand why she didn't think she was pretty. After all, he saw her as the most beautiful woman in the world.

The brightness woke Claire up, and she stirred into Kai's arms. In response, he tightened his hold on her and patted her back. She hummed in comfort, and blinked one eye open to meet Kai's loving gaze. "Morning," she murmured.

"Morning," his deep voice rumbled.

"How long were you awake?"

"Not long. Sleep well?" he brushed some bangs out of her eyes.

"Mm!" she squealed and hugged him even tighter.

"Aww, so cute," he chuckled. She wiggled in his arms, and Kai laughed. "I can live every day like this."

"Really?"

"Yup."

But Claire was reminded of how that would not be the case very soon. "It won't be like that though..."

The atmosphere turned a bit depressed as Kai tried to comfort her, "Hey, hey, we'll be okay."

"Will we?" her tear-ridden eyes betrayed her sadness.

"Yeah. You want to stay with me?"

"Mm," she nodded.

"Then we'll be just fine. We'll cherish every moment when we're together, and we'll miss each other when we're not next to each other. Doesn't mean I'll stop thinking of you though," he spoke clearly as he wiped the tears from her eyes.

Claire smiled, and placed her head right above his heart. "Since when did you become so wise?"

Kai smiled as he felt vibrations through his chest. "Since I decided to be with you for the rest of eternity."

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "You can't promise eternity though, Jongin."

"No, but I want to think that it will be an eternity."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I don't know how souls function after death, but all I know is I'll love you for a lifetime, and I will never stop loving you."

"Jongin..."

"Even with my dying breath, I will never stop," he affirmed as he stared straight into her eyes.

Claire's eyes filled with tears again. "I won't stop either, Jongin. You can count on that." 

Kai wiped them away and planted a loving kiss on her forehead. "I love you, Claire."

"I love you too, Jongin. Always." Even if Claire didn't know when they can be next be together every day, she was positive about the strength of their relationship. Distance will not rip them apart, nor will anything else. If anything, she believed the distance in the next few years would only tighten their bond and their trust for each other. 

She shook her head and buried her head into the crook of Kai's neck. As he chuckled and placed another gentle kiss on her temple, she rid her mind of those thoughts. All she needed at the moment was to have him with her, and she can accomplish anything.

~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later, the couple head to the kitchen. In anticipation for graduation and the fact that their families will meet, Kai wanted to prepare a meal for both of their parents. In the last few days, he carefully researched different dishes that he thought Claire's parents would like ("Mom likes vegetables, Dad likes meat, and they both like seafood," was what Claire said to him then when he asked). Once his list was finished, he and Claire head to the supermarket, where they ended up with ingredients such as lobster, rib-eye, and scallops.

The main dish he wanted to perfect was a lobster bisque, so he pulled out endless herbs, two lobsters, and cream, just to name a few. After steaming the lobster in the largest pot they could find, Claire stared as he pulled out a smaller saucepan began to boil water. "Need help?" she asked.

"Nope, I can do it."

"So I just have to sit here and watch you do this?"

"Yep!"

And so she waited as she watched him carefully hammer each lobster open to take out the delicious and juicy flesh. His nimble fingers pried open the tails and heads, and he dropped the shells into the water along with a cheesecloth full of herbs, garlic, and onions. Claire smiled, who knew that this quiet boy could cook such wonderful things? Not long after, she inhaled the aroma of butter as he sauteed the lobster in a little butter, minced garlic, and salt.

Kai looked back and smiled at her, to which she scrunched her nose up in mirth. He laughed and resumed to preparing the cream mixture that would go in with the stock. A comforting quietness aded the kitchen, with the only obvious sounds being the boil of the water and the sizzle of the pan as he continued to toast the lobster flesh.

Soon, an hour passed, and Claire looked up at Kai while he pulled out the blender. "You need a blender?"

"Yep," he replied.

"How come?"

"I'm going to blend up the lobster meat, along with the cream and the stock. Actually, can you help me strain the pot?"

Claire nodded and proceeded to hold a strainer over the blender as Kai poured the stock through. Once the lobster, stock, cream, and cooked onions were placed in the blender, Kai turned it on to pulse, and soon a creamy soup came into existence.

She couldn't believe her eyes when he carefully poured the soup into the bowl, took a tiny ladle of savory cream, and drizzled it gently over the bisque. Kai then topped the dish off with a small sprig of parsley and few chili flakes, which made the soup look like it came out of a five-star restaurant. Claire raised her eyes to him, only to receive a wink in return. "You did not tell me you could make such... BEAUTIFUL FOOD!"

Kai chuckled and poked her cheeks, "You never asked."

"Now all the food I made for you seems ugly..."

"But it tastes delicious!" he grinned.

"Still..." she mumbled.

"Why don't you try it? Maybe I need to work on flavoring, as pretty as this is..." Kai suggested.

Claire nodded and took a small sip of the bisque. In an instant, her taste buds were stimulated, and she felt her brain relax from the wonderful mixture of flavors. She could taste the lobster, a hint of butter, a little sweetness from the onions, and a small kick from the chili. The cream served to reduce the texture to a kind of silkiness she never experienced before, and all the other herbal flavors tickled .

Kai waited anxiously for her reply, only to find that she moaned and let out an, "Oh God, Jongin, this is amazing." He raised his eyebrows in amusement as she took another sip and squealed.

She then opened her eyes and found him standing next to her, "What are you doing? You eat this too, you made it." He barely had time to sit when she held the spoon out to him.

Once he tasted the bisque for himself, his eyes widened in surprise.  "This is better than I expected," he mumbled.

"My parents will be impressed," she nodded.

"Really?"

"Yep! You got nothing to be afraid of."

Kai nodded, feeling a little better about himself, "I guess that's one thing off my worry list."

She chuckled and ruffled his smooth hair, to which he laughed and pecked her on the cheek before returning to eating his culinary creation.

Hey all, here is another chapter! I don't want to be the giver of bad news, but this story will be coming to an end soon! I hope you'll continue to like it, despite the simplicity of the story.

I want to give a huge thank you to all my new subscribers!!! Thank you so much for following this story, I cannot express how much it means to me. Hope all of you are having a good start to the new year!