✓ Never Is A Promise, p.js

33 | the stillness of our love

33. THE STILLNESS OF OUR LOVE

[disclaimer: mature, explicit scenes ahead! if you're uncomfy, please skip]

— JAY'S POV

The sizzling sound that erupts from Jay's cooking pan fills up the entire kitchen, as he's carefully preparing the dinner for both of him and Anais. The savoury aroma of the home-cooked pasta that lingers in the air allures Anais into the kitchen space, as she watches the love of her life delicately putting a pinch of salt into the tomato sauce before stirring. "Can you have a taste of it? Tell me if it taste fine?" Jay asks, scooping up a small amount of sauce to let Anais have a taste test.

Anais shoves the remaining sauce on the spoon into her mouth and licks her lips together with an approving of nod in return, "Okay, this tastes so scrumptious already" The female compliments. Upon those genuine approval from his girlfriend, Jay turns off the stove carefully and scoops the sauce before pouring them onto those served plates on the counter behind them. In the meantime, Anais helps Jay to bring out two glasses for wine from the cupboard, bringing them over to their living room.

Replacing a bottle of wine and two glasses on the coffee table in Jay's living room, Anais eventually slouches down comfortably on the wooden floor whilst waiting for Jay to serve their dinner of the night on the table right before her. "I tried my very best to cook after so long. Hope you have some mercy on me and not judge me too much" Jay states with a small smile, placing a plate of pasta for Anais and himself.

"Oh, when did I ever judge, huh? As if you're not a better cook than me" A smirk trickles slightly as she responses, watching the male attentively pours the wine into their glasses. Before they could devour their dinner, both of them clink their glasses of wine together and exchange their ardent smiles proudly. The both of them didn't want the night to be super formal with fancy dinners, sitting at the dining table whatsoever but instead it supposed to be one of those times they could have a chill meal while having a chat together.

"How did you plan all this? You know, travelling all the way from Seoul just to see me here?" Jay interrupts, chewing on his food out of corteous as he's side glancing over to Anais on his right side. The girlfriend shrugs off her shoulders coolly as a response—as if like the entire plan of travelling was barely unplanned in her mind—but she merely hoped for it to go smoothly in her own way. "I just thought that the distance was just killing me slowly. You know, being away from you for almost after a year? I just— I feel like I needed to see you again."

Jay pauses in the moment of time as he heard her response, refused to deny the truth of it as he felt the same as her deep within. But of course, a part of him feels terrible that he couldn't commit to travel in a long journey to see her due to his current working condition. "I would be lying to admit that I didn't miss you at all when we parted ways. Every day, I want all of you here with me. But having this responsibility as an adult and being away from you at the same time making it harder for me to commit on that part, which makes me feel bad about this" Jay admits.

Anais reaches out Jay's hand in hers in no time as she tightens her fingers, creating those warmth he never knew he needed right now as a sense of comfort, "Hey, don't say that Jay. Don't blame yourself on this. I understand where you're coming from, hence why I'm here for you. Do you know how happy I am travelling to a country I haven't even visited before just to see you again?" Anais says, taking a small bite of her pasta.

"Well, thank you for travelling thousand miles away just to meet me. But still, my mind always drifted back to the moments when we had little arguments over the video call before" Jay reminds, causing Anais to tilt her head slightly of that whole flashback of it. "When I called you at two in the morning to ask whether or not you remember our first anniversary?" Anais asks.