Claire's POV

My thumb swiped my luminous cell phone screen, my eyes intensely captivated by the bright orange and white colour that now filled my vision. My gaze was locked on the words 'Start Reading' but there was still an obstacle barricading my desires.

I looked over at Logan who was sitting at his desk zealously working on his to-do list which he had made to make sure we were all set and ready for our trip to Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was completely hyped about it, afterall, we had been dreaming about it for more than four years.

Meanwhile, my attention was glued on something else. I trotted over to him and pouted "Can I disturb you?"

He sighed, looking up "What happened now?"

Teasingly, I turned his ergonomic chair towards me and sat on his lap, petting his hair "I want to sign into wattpad. Will you suggest me a good username?"

"Seriously, Claire?" he chuckled with humiliation "Do you even remember that our flight is tomorrow morning? In fact, do you realize that our dreams are finally going to come true?!"

"Um...I thought of a username but I needed your opinion" I uttered, deliberately ignoring his question "How about 'The Euphoric Writer'?"

He stared at me, smiling, but exceedingly annoyed at the same time. Even though he knew I was as excited about this as he was, he hated the fact that I teased him all the time. After a while, he said "That's lame"

"No it's not! Shut up" I signed into wattpad and was immediately greeted with numerous, vivid books. Hastily, I clicked on 'create' "I'm going to name my story 'My Pretend Boyfriend'"

Logan's body went stiff when I said that. Leaning up, he looked into my cell phone screen from behind my shoulder "Claire...what the hell are you up to?"

"I'm going to write the story of us!"

His face went pale with horror and he coughed "Stop hinting Taylor Swift please, I hate her. And moreover, you're about to write a story about two nerds who pretend to date each other to seek attention. I highly doubt anyone will read that"

"Okay fine! We all know you're an awesome writer, Mr. Walker. Now cut it, will you? I hate you so much" I groaned and got off of him but he caught my arm pulling me back to him "Let me go!"

He wrapped his arms around me and as much as I wanted to stay mad at him for roasting my story idea, I also wanted him to hold me. After a long time of struggling against his grip, I gave up and let him embrace me.

We remained like that for while. His hands sifted through my hair, combing my blonde locks while my hand rested on his chest feeling his heart beat. He kissed my hair. I asked him "How's your wound?" but it came out as a mere whisper.

I felt him smile as he placed a kiss on my cheeks, as if aware of the kind of effect he had on me. He whispered back, perfectly matching the nuance in my tone "It's very good. I can go back to doing heavy workouts now"

Turning my head towards him, I touched my forehead to his, ardently leering into his eyes, that deep abyss of bluish-green that never failed to soften my heart "Logan...finally"

He smiled, tightening his strong arms around me. I adored how possessive he was of me. He made me feel special in a way everyone failed to. I kissed him, gripping his face intently, pulling his luscious blonde hair forcefully. His hand rested on my thighs, making butterflies rage disaster in the pit of my stomach.

Just then, Logan's father entered the room abruptly, saw us and immediately closed the door again.

Horrified, I hopped off of Logan's lap while he rubbed his temple muttering "Oh God"

Mr. Walker was now meticulously opening the door "Did I interrupt something?"

Rolling his eyes, Logan replied "Yeah you kinda did. You should knock, Dad"

A sheepish grin formed on his lips "Dad, huh? Sounds cool, you should call me that often. Now get your ass downstairs son. Dinner's ready"

The clink of lock echoed throughout the room after he exited, followed by a hushed silence where he and I looked at each other.

"Wow" I said "He's one of those badass fathers"

"But he's a really good father" Logan giggled then looked over at the work pending on his desk "Alright, there are a few things that I need to manage since someone isn't responsible about hers-"

"I am!"

"-so you can go downstairs and wait for me. I'll make it quick" he turned around and got back to working on his to-do list.

Puffing my cheeks frustratingly, I staggered out of the door. Cocky Logan, acting all 'responsible'. But I was enjoying because I wasn't afraid of things going wrong, he was always ready for every obstacle.

Logan's parents and my parents bought a two-story, massive residence in the chilly city center of Cambridge. He turned 18 a month ago and could legally possess a house so he was assigned as the homeowner.

My heart was jumping furiously on the thought of living alone in a house with Logan, I hid it, hoping to save the excitement for later.

I could confidently say that all my friends had a happy ending to their story. Almost all of them were able to attain their dream universities with Adriel attaining a seat into the same university as James.

The last time I had a good talk with Dylan was at Natalie's afterparty following prom. He told me he and Venetia had made up after she had a brutal fight with Cade but didn't mention about how he was going to take their relationship further. Venetia apologized to me. I hadn't forgiven her exactly, but I let it be, considering she had a very troubling past. I wished for their well-being.

Natalie got into the university she was aspiring for after a series of wretched nervous-breakdowns every day before the exams began.

And me? I gave the valedictorian speech on graduation day that I forced Logan to write. Poor guy, he spent all night trying to perfectly edit the speech, but it was worth it! I was the highlight of the day and honestly, I realized that I didn't like a lot of attention.

I appreciated the little moments spent with friends and family who truly loved me instead of having a lot of people flock around me when they evidently don't even care.

It was sad, having no idea when I'll get to meet these people again but I was most excited to start a whole new life, a whole new beginning with Logan. I was about to face the real world, but I had him by my side and trusted him with all my heart.

Shit was about to get down and I received a surge of adrenaline just thinking about it every minute.

Unexpectedly, my cell phone rang while I was heading downstairs for dinner. When I looked at the screen, an unknown number filled my vision. For a moment, I decided to ignore it but considered that it could be important.

I answered the call "Hello?"

"Hey...Claire?"

I froze for a moment, recognizing that voice to be familiar "Who is this?"

"It's Carlton"

The grip on my phone tightened. I gulped, hoping he hadn't called me to threaten me "How'd you get my number?" my voice was trembling with fear.

"Uh...I'm not supposed to tell you but...Dylan gave it to me" he sounded very serious and calm at the same time "Claire...I...I heard that you guys are leaving tomorrow"

"Yeah" I licked my chapped lips, trying to end the conversation soon. I had a bad feeling that he could have an ulterior motive.

"That's cool. Umm...I wanted to uh...apologize. I know what I did was so insane that it cannot be forgiven and I...I thank you for not reporting me to the police. I'll make sure to call Logan later and apologize to him personally"

I had no idea how to respond to that since, for the first time in forever, he actually sounded guilty and sad.

When I didn't respond, he resumed "I might be an asshole Claire, but I'm not a monster. I got too carried away and...I bet you know what it feels like to be madly in love, don't you?"

"Yes, Carlton" was all I could say.

"I'm hoping you would still forgive me" he said "And...how's Breanna?"

Even after Breanna had rejected him, he still loved her this much to ask about her behind her back. I respected his caring nature towards her.

"She's...fine" I gulped, trying not to say anything stupid "I talked to her a few days ago. Carlton there's something you should know" I let it out, knowing I couldn't keep it in for long "I asked her about why she rejected you"

"....and?"

"And" I breathed "She told me she rejected you because of Logan. But it wasn't because she liked Logan. It was because she hurt him"

"I'm sorry? I don't understand, Claire" he seemed surprisingly kind.

"She told me that the guilt of almost killing someone was too much" I said "She was the one who saw Logan crashed into the pole that night, bleeding and unconscious. She told me that this incident broke her apart. She fell into depression because she had no idea that there was evil in her. She shut herself out from the world..."

"Claire? Is she okay?"

"She's okay now" I smiled, trying to sound cheerful.

"Okay" he replied "Thank you so much Claire, I hope you and Logan achieve success ahead"

**********

He left me.

The soles of my shoes noisily scraped the rock-strewn sidewalk. Placing a woolen scarf around my neck, my legs strolled down the stunning footpaths of Cambridge city that were fraught with fallen leaves.

I kicked a leaf aside, hoping he was there for me to walk down these serene streets but he wasn't here. He left me.

A breezy gale swept down the early morning street, swishing my hair in all directions. Instinctively, my hands tightened around the stripe of the bag hanging from my shoulder that contained all the books I needed for my first day in Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

It had been so long, so fucking long since I had been aspiring for this day to come where I would walk into my dream university hand-in-hand with my dream boy aka Logan Walker.

But he left me.

I craved his presence by my side. Realization hit me like hefty medieval cudgel straight into the core of my heart.

I will have to do this alone.

My eyes scanned the gates of MIT when I reached and suddenly, I didn't want to go. I wanted to stay there hoping he would return, hoping he would run back to me.

I stopped right in front of the enormous gate, scrutinizing the towering white pillars up ahead.

This was my dream.

My heart began to thud louder and louder every passing minute. I didn't want to do this. God, I didn't know it was so hard to do this without him.

"Claire?"

My eyes widened when I heard it. My head whipped around and I was shocked to see the person staring in front of me.

Logan Walker.

"What the fuck took you so long?!" I yelled but at the same time, happiness invaded my heart.

"I'm sorry!" he groaned, holding up his headphone "It took me forever to find this. I might have accidently kicked it under our bed last night"

"I don't care!" I fisted my hands "I was so scared that I'll have to walk into my dream university without you just because of a stupid headphone!"

"Okay, okay calm down Cookie Jar" putting his headphones into his bag, he rubbed my arms "I know you're excited but you need to calm down"

I started breathing fast "I'm trying. Are you sure we're completely ready?"

"Yes"

"Hold on!" I gasped "We were reading my math book yesterday! Did I forget to put it in my bag?!"

"No I put it back before we slept"

"What about my entrance ID?!"

"It's there in your bag, I checked it this morning"

"Oh my God! What about my lucky notebook?!" I clutched my hair.

Rolling his eyes, he uttered "You left it on the dining table so I put it in your bag"

"What about-"

"Claire!" he cut me off, pausing and standing in front of me. He placed both his hands on my shoulders and shook me "Take a chill pill. Pull yourself together. We're totally ready!"

I pouted in response "I get scared, okay?"

He tapped my nose playfully "Let's go, shall we?"

I smiled at him lovingly, trailing my fingers down his arms then intertwining our fingers together. We walked down the path, together.

I couldn't take my eyes off of his face. He looked so beautiful, so excited and so...happy.

It was genuine happiness that I never saw on his face during highschool because we used to feel so left out. But in this place, everyone was going to be like us and I had faith in his company.

I squeezed his hand as we entered the gate and smiled to myself.

I was ready to take our relationship further and I knew that he was too.

Although I didn't know what the future awaited but we promised to try our utmost to keep going as far as we our potential could take us.

"Logan?" I asked, exhaling deeply to calm down my racing heart "What if something goes wrong?"

He ceased to a stop abruptly. Slowly, he turned around and stood in front of me, looking at me worriedly with those deep cyan eyes "Princess...what're you saying? Weren't you the one who asked me to stay positive?"

"I know, Logan, but...something always goes wrong. Always"

He lifted his cold palms and cupped my face, stroking both my cheeks lovingly with his thumb "The bad days are over, Claire. The pain is all over. This place...behind me...it's our new beginning, it's our future. Highschool is over. You don't have to worry about anything going wrong"

"With new a beginning, comes a new set of problems"

"Tell me this - has there ever been a problem we haven't overcome?" his grin widened "If we were weak then we wouldn't be here right now. But we are and so I am certain whatever comes in our way next...we'll deal with it. Wouldn't we, Claire?"

I chuckled at the cheerful nuance in his voice. Gleefully, I looked up at the towering structure of the building behind him and the numerous, enthusiastic students trudging towards it. I couldn't wait to join them.

Staring back at Logan, I tiptoed, wrapping my arms around his neck. I leaned up to kiss him, feeling the chilly breeze caressing our faces and muttered...

"Yes. Always"

Final Author's Note:

Seriously, who wants to freaking cry right now? Cause I've been crying for the past 24 hours.

But these are happy tears (T___T) I completed another book, like...just wow. Twin Tussle achieved more than I thought it would but I have my hopes higher for this one.

The name of this book used to be 'My Pretend Boyfriend' and I miss calling it MPB. This story was very different from Twin Tussle. I focused highly on the descriptive parts :) so I'm hoping you guys loved them!

Sincere thanks to everyone who supported me and reached the end! Thank you very very much! Ya'll are so freakin awesome :*

There are a lot of silent readers. That's okay! I'm not greedy for votes or anything, I'm just very happy that you read it! Do leave a comment here (if possible) and tell me what you thought! :)

There are a lot of people to whom I couldn't dedicate a chapter but you guys have been a very important part in my book's success and I can't thank you all enough! :')

❤️️❤️️❤️️

Please do check out my other book "Carlton", you guys are gonna LOVE it. The genre will be a bit different but please check it out, I'm sure it won't disappoint you!

Again, thanks a tonne for being the most understanding and enthusiastic readers ever! I love all of you!! XD

A note to the writers:

A successful book doesn't have to have a huge amount of reads OR numerous votes OR a lot of attention OR even a high rank. Even if there is just one reader who makes it to the end of your book and genuinely likes it, then congratulations, your book is a success!

I now announce Always as COMPLETE

Love, K!