16

Morning came and Jane slowly opened her eyes, only to be startled by a grinning Kiano.

"I knew you were staring at me," she complained. He randomly did that, and it was nothing she ever got used to. All throughout their marriage, there were some days where he would wake up early and watch her sleep.

"Just a happy man admiring his happy wife."

She rubbed her eyes and leaned away from him when she saw that he was giving her a creepy smile. "What do you want?" she asked, sitting up and leaning against the headboard. He gave her a quick kiss.

"Nothing. I'm just happy that you're my wife."

"Okay, you want something. What is it?" she demanded to know. He chuckled, nodding his head as he reached for his MacBook.

"Have you seen this?" he casually asked, turning it to her so she reads for herself. She thought it was another one of many scandalous articles.

At first she skimmed, then when she realised what she was looking at, she immediately got up on her feet. Kiano laughed as he came around to stand next to her.

Jane read under her breath, gasping as she held back tears, "Dear Llewellyn, on behalf of the Admission Committee, it is my pleasure to offer you admission to the MIT Class of- Oh my God." At this point, she was shaking and Kiano place his hand beneath the one she had his laptop in in case she dropped it.

"He got in," she said, still unsure as she read that opening sentence over and over again.

"Yes he did," he confirmed with the brightest smile ever. Jane wrapped her arms around Kiano and squeezed as tightly as she could, feeling the stress and anxiety of the last few weeks vanish as they held each other.

***

Downstairs, Lle was lost in his own little world as he plugged his earphones in. He already took a shower when he woke up, as instructed by Soph, and was now listening to another playlist she sent him. He didn't want to check the page when he woke up because it would bring his mood down. He didn't want anything to ruin his day.

He decreased the volume when his parents walked into the kitchen. "Good morning," he said. They greeted him back as they went about making their own breakfast. His mom turned to him with a small smile.

"What would a successful MIT applicant want for breakfast?" she casually asked, taking out the ingredients. Kiano jokingly rolled his eyes at her corny line, but she just stuck her tongue out at him.

"I just had an oats meal with- Wait, what?" he asked, taking one earphone out. His mom simply smiled, which made Lle stand up. "What?" he asked again, looking at his dad who had that proud look that Lle identified easily. "I... I got- Really?"

"Yes, you got in, hun," his mom said, engulfing him in a hug.

"Group hug," Kiano said as he joined them. They all chuckled before pulling away. "I'm really proud of you, son. Take it up a notch." Lle laughed, nodding. Instead of saying 'keep it up', his dad would say, 'take it up a notch'.

"My baby is going to MIT," Jane cooed, pinching Lle's cheeks, which made him red.

"I should have checked the results this morning," he said a bit too quickly, still not believing it.

"I'm glad we surprised you. Go tell all your friends. I know you're dying to," Jane said, practically pushing him in out of the kicthen. Once he got to his room, he immediately thought of calling Karri, but he knew that she was sleeping. She never got up before noon because she usually studied all night. So he called someone who he was sure was awake.

While it rang, he switched his laptop on and the page immediately loaded. And true to his parents' word, he got in.

"Hello?"

"I GOT IN!" he immediately yelled, feeling over the moon.

"Wait, what? Into MIT?" she asked, shocked.

"Yes. I cannot believe this."

"I'm so proud of you, Lle! Now we're finally going to college together," she chuckled.

"I never had doubts," he laughed.

"Oh, yes. You were extremely confident," she teased.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking a mock exam, you?"

"Nothing, really. Can I come over so we study together?"

Just then, there was a knock on his door. His dad's head popped in. "Your mom said you should get ready. She wants to take you out."

"Alright, I'll be right there," he said. "I guess I can't come right now," he said to Sophie.

"Oh, yeah, that's not a problem," she said, her voice cracking a little at the end.

"You good?" he asked, worried.

She cleared her throat, giggling. "Yes, Lle. Hurry up and go to your mom. I'll be here when you guys are done, okay?"

"Alright. See you later." She immediately cut the call after that, which he thought was because she was busy with the exam prep.

He got into a change of simple clothes and went downstairs where his parents were waiting for him, just to find them in lazier looking clothes.

He got into a change of simple clothes and went downstairs where his parents were waiting for him, just to find them in lazier looking clothes

"You got your credit card?" Jane asked

"No. I thought you were taking me out?" he asked, confused.

"I said I'm taking you out. Where in that sentence did I say I was gonna pay?" Jane teased, making Lle's jaw drop to the floor.

"Jane," Kiano said, pinching the bridge of his nose to stop himself from laughing. "I'm done with you."

"No, you're not. You love me too much," she said, reaching up for a kiss, which he willingly accepted.

"Ugh, can we go?" Lle asked, walking out first. He didn't want to witness them eating each other's faces.