April 2019, Spring

"Welcome back!" Clara squealed while I lugged my cello out of Leon's car and strapped it over my shoulders.

Winding down the window at the passenger seat, Leon stretched over and said, "Clara, please take care of her. My phone's always with me, call me if there's anything." 

I stepped in front of Clara, placing both hands on my waist as I bent down to look at him. I interrupted "Dad, I'm going to be fine in school." 

"I can't afford to let anything happen to my baby," he chuckled. 

My head pulled back into an expression of distaste but quickly recovered to give him a smile. "I'm off to school! I'll miss you!" 

"Take it easy, sweetheart," he smiled charmingly. "I'll miss you too." 

━━━━━━━━━━

June 2019, Summer

"Damn, I can't believe we graduated!" Tyson exclaimed and looped his hand around Mabel's shoulder.

"Tyson," Mabel grumbled. "Get your heavy hand off me."

"I'm just so happy," he laughed and removed the hand from Mabel. He made a small jog towards Leon and jumped on his back, immediately throwing Leon off balance as he stumbled forward.

"Get off me!" Leon growled. "Goddamned it, you are so heavy—" 

"Rachelle, take a picture of us!" Tyson stayed on Leon's back while raising a peace sign towards me. 

I hurriedly raised my camera and snapped a picture. My thumb hovered over and pressed onto the button to open the gallery. A laugh choked out of me when I compared Tyson's overjoyed face to Leon's about-to-murder-someone look.  

"Do I look funny?" Leon frowned as he threw Tyson off his back and walked towards me. 

"Happy graduation!" I chirped, quickly hiding the camera behind my back.

━━━━━━━━━━

September 2019, Fall

Leon's arms wrapped tightly around me, holding me close to him as he buried his head into the crook of my neck. He took a deep inhale and whispered, "I'll miss you." 

"I'll miss you too," I breathed. A weight settled in my chest as I hugged him with all the strength I could find in my arms. 

We stood in front of the departure hall gates, hugging each other way too tightly as each of us tried to pour out all the emotions in hopes that they could reach the pounding heart on the other side of our embrace.

Then, he pulled away, his eyes peered into mine and stayed locked to them. There were so many feelings within us right now that it was almost impossible to describe and go over each and every one of them. His face broke into a helpless smile while sighing and I felt a rush of tears welling up in my eyes. My hands raised to brush them away as I began to hate myself for turning into a crybaby. 

A pair of warm hands rested against my cheeks and he cooed, "It always breaks my heart when you cry." 

"Kiss me goodbye?" I laughed through my croaky voice. 

One of his hand moved to curl onto the back of my neck as he pulled me towards him. His lips pressed against mine and there was nothing soft and gentle in the way we kissed. It was almost desperate and utterly heart-wrenching. 

When it was time to part, he entered through the gates and I stood outside, watching him. He turned around from the inside. Separated by the glass barrier, we waved and our gaze lingered at each other for a moment too long. 

━━━━━━━━━━

December 2019, Winter

───────────────

R: Will you return for Christmas?

───────────────

The text remained in our conversation window with a single tick indicating that it had not been read since two days ago when I first arrived back at home. I sat on the couch in the living room which faced the main door, wishfully hoping for that someone to walk through it. 

But it didn't happen. 

Disappointed, I left the seat and went to the dining hall with Mom, Katherine and Paul. I sat at the table, poking mindlessly at the food as my eyes stayed locked at the empty chair on the opposite side of the table. A sudden coldness rushed into my heart and I wondered why the warmth of the house couldn't reach me. 

I finished the Christmas dinner in silence and returned home. Plopping myself into my bed, I grabbed a pillow and covered it over my face while sobbing into it. I knew that all these was going to be difficult, but I just didn't expect us to also grow apart from this. 

Swarmed by my negative thoughts, I didn't even realise that my room door was pushed open until I heard someone panting loudly from at the door, "Why did you leave so early?" 

The familiar voice met my ears and I quickly threw the pillow aside as I jolted up from my bed. Leon stood right at the door, breathing erratic as though he had just run for the cliffs. A lump of emotion rose to my throat and I couldn't express how relieved I was at this moment to see him right in front of me. 

"Leo," I cried as I stumbled off my bed and made a short sprint towards him. 

"Come here, you silly girl." He stepped into the room and caught me firmly. Hugging me tightly as he squeezed me into his embrace. The familiar scent of cotton and soap wafted into my nose and it finally hit me real hard to know that this was real and he was back.

And in one swift motion, he swung me up into his hold and my legs wrapped around his waist for support. He lifted his leg to kick the door closed and stepped into my room. We moved towards my bed and he dropped me into the soft sheets. 

His body hovered over mine, leaning his weight against me while pushing me underneath him. He lowered himself but one of my hands shot out immediately to cover his mouth. "My mom will be back in a while!" I gasped. 

His hand gripped onto my wrist and moved them aside. "I told her to stay over at my parents' place tonight," he spoke with urgency in his tone. 

"Wha—" I didn't even have the chance to finish what I wanted to say before his lips closed over mine and he kissed me fervently. 

━━━━━━━━━━

May 2020, Spring

"Lovebirds, stand a little closer." I waved my hand side to side, giving them with a signal.

"We are practically skin to skin!" Clara whined and Max looked towards me with a perplexed expression.

"Must I state it out?" I complained, but they stood in their positions looking at me as though I just spoke to them in a foreign language. With my forehead in my palm, I sighed loudly, "My god, just kiss already!"

"Rachelle!" Clara exclaimed but Max was already pulling her into a passionate kiss.

I quickly raised my camera and snapped multiple shots of them. Stupid Clara, you'll thank me later.

"Don't forget your graduation is next year!" Clara folded her arms in front of her chest as she stomped towards me. 

"Time to pay taxes, dear Clara!" I teased cheekily.

She rolled her eyes at me and I was thankful that my finger stayed on the shutter button because I managed to capture that ugly expression which I threatened to display in her wedding slideshows.

━━━━━━━━━━

April 2021, Spring

I rubbed my hands nervously as I waited outside the audition room.

───────────────

L: Don't be too nervous, just give it your best shot.

R: Leo, I'm scared.

L: Sweetheart, just breathe. You can do this.

───────────────

"Ms Anderson," a lady called as she stepped out of the room. Her finger raised to adjust her spectacles before inspecting me sternly. Her gaze dropped back onto her clipboard as she scribbled something on real quickly. "Please follow me."

I took one last breath before grabbing onto my cello and followed right behind her.

━━━━━━━━━━

May 2021, Spring

───────────────

L: Sweetheart, I wish I could be there. 

R: It's fine.

───────────────

I stared blankly at my phone screen, trying to process those words into my mind without bringing the hurt and disappointment along. Yet, it was just another futile attempt and I let out a long sigh before locking my phone and pushing it deep into the pocket of my gown. 

"It's your graduation day, sweetie! Don't sigh!" she exclaimed. 

"You're right," I plastered a smile, trying to feel genuinely happy but it sort of failed because of the emptiness felt from Leon's absence had engulfed me in whole. 

"Ladies, stand closer to take a picture," Max gestured with his hand. 

"Jesus, that sounded horrifyingly familiar," I commented but before I could react, Clara tugged on my arm and planted a kiss on my cheek. This girl, seriously. 

Then, I took a picture with Mom and I can't believe that she actually teared up on my graduation. That was kind of an overreaction right there, considering that this was the entry point into the scary phase of my life named adulting. If anyone should be crying, I think it should be me. 

"Anyways, Rae, I have something to show you," Clara chuckled playfully. I wondered what she meant but she was already pulling on my arm and leading me towards the direction of the school's building. 

We walked down the hallway of the academy before stopping in front of the music room. "Are you playing some sort of remembering the good old days crap?" I asked, giving her a funny laugh. 

"Oh please." She rolled her eyes at me and instructed, "Just open the door already." 

I turned around and pushed the door open. What was inside the room threw me off totally, I stared with eyes wide opened and too stunned to even move. 

"Happy graduation!" Leon beamed, one of his hands held onto the neck of a beautiful cello while the other had a huge bouquet of flowers. 

"You said you couldn't attend my graduation!" I fumed. 

"Well, I had to prepare a graduation surprise for you," he laughed. 

"You idiot," I laughed through my tears. 

"No," he chuckled heartily. "You're the silly one." 

━━━━━━━━━━

July 2021, Summer

"Hi, this is Rachelle Anderson." 

"Hi, Ms Anderson. I am Janelle, representing the Philharmonic to make this call to you," a lady's voice sounded from the phone. 

"Y-Yes!" I stammered, nervously pushing myself up from the couch. 

"Thank you for the splendid performance during your audition. After careful consideration, we would like to extend an offer for you to join the Philharmonic. Please understand that you have up till the end of the month to decide, do contact me back via this number. We look forward to your favourable reply."

"W-wait!" I hurriedly stopped before she could hang up the phone.

"May I offer any other help, Ms Anderson?"

"I don't need time to consider. I would love to accept it right now," I replied firmly. 

"That's really lovely. The HR will be sending you the paperwork via the email address that you provided in your CV in a few days time. We look forward to meeting you in August," Janelle said before ending the call.

I placed my phone on the coffee table and shrieked in excitement. Cotton jumped onto the couch and looked at me. I picked him up and nuzzled into his fur, giggling as my heart brimmed with happiness. 

━━━━━━━━━━

May 2026, Spring
Paris, 08:00

Parking my car, I made my way to the cafe to grab my morning coffee. The icy cold breeze from the remains of winter gushed, sending chills from my neck down to my back. My feet lifted into a small jog as I rushed to the door of the cafe. 

Pushing past the door, I was greeted with a warm gush of wind that caressed softly over my almost frozen face. I headed over to the counter to make an order before tugging my gloves off and reaching into my coat to grab my phone. 

───────────────

L: I'm getting ready for bed. I assume that you are heading to grab coffee?

R: What time is it on your side? And you're right, I just ordered a cup of latte.

L: 11 pm. You're always running on different timing.

R: Didn't have the choice, I had to travel a lot.

L: I'll call you when I wake up. Let me know if you have time.

R: I freed out my afternoon.

L: Great! See you later, sweetheart.

R: Good night, Leo. I miss you.

L: Good morning, Rae. I miss you more.

───────────────

"Here's your to-go latte," the barista pressed on a cap and passed the cup to me.

"Thank you." I slipped on my gloves and grabbed the cup of coffee before leaving the cafe. 

✿

Thoughts on long-distance relationships?