»»»End of May»»»

I wake up to my alarm going off at 6:30am. Graduation time, babyyyy!

I smile a little and reach over Jungkook to turn my alarm off before taking the sheets off and getting out of bed. Over the past week, I've written down an entire schedule for today. It's going to be the single-most-important day of my life so far; I can not afford to mess it up.

As soon as my feet touch the ground, I go to my window to pull open the curtain to let some light into the small dorm.

Glancing over to Jungkook, I realize that he's still asleep, so I walk over to him. "Hey, honey," I push his hair out of his face before sitting on the edge of the bed.

He doesn't budge- not that I expected him to. I nudge him a bit and he still stays completely still, "Jungkook," I say and nudge him a little harder.

He stirs and his pretty brown eyes flutter open tiredly, "good morning, sunshine," I giggle quietly.

"Hi," he speaks groggily and squints at the clock, "it's 6:35 in the morning."

"Yep," I smile, "and we need to get ready for graduation."

"We need to be there by noon," he rolls over on his side away from me, "I'm not getting up yet."

"I don't want to be late, Kookie," I roll him back.

"We won't be late," he rolls back and I roll my eyes.

"Fine, but I'm getting you up in an hour," I warn and stand up.

I go to my wardrobe and pull out an above-the-knee white dress along with black heels before going into the bathroom to shower.

»»»

My hair is done in a low bun with a little white flower in it, I have my dress on, and now I'm working on my makeup.

The last thing I do is mascara, but when I look into my makeup box for it, I realize I'm all out. Oh no.

I look into the mirror and see my bare lashes contrasting with the rest of my makeup. I rush out of the bathroom and see Jungkook lounging on my couch while drinking coffee.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" He asks calmly and takes a sip.

"I don't have any mascara," I panic and look around for any extras.

"....so?"

"So, I look like a clown," I open my wardrobe.

He snorts, "you don't look like a clown."

I send him a glare before proceeding to sift through the bottom of my wardrobe.

"Hey, at least it's not all over your nose and eyelids like that time at the museum," he shrugs.

I crack a smile and finally find the thin tube, "yes!" I wave it in excitement and quickly go back to the bathroom.

I look in the mirror and apply the mascara to my lashes, making them seem longer and darker with each upward swipe of the wand. I do the same to the other eye, and that's when I remember Jungkook is still not dressed.

"Kook, please get dressed or something," I say to him from the bathroom.

"We have four and a half hours until we need to be there," he denies, "it'll take me maybe twenty minutes to get ready."

"Aren't you going to take a shower or something?"

"I took one last night, remember?"

"Yeah," I put the mascara wand back into its container and put it with the rest of my makeup, "I just don't want to be late."

"We won't be late," I hear him going to the sink to wash his cup out, "I promise."

I come out of the bathroom and Jungkook picks up my glasses from the counter, "you should wear your glasses."

"I hate my glasses," I make my way toward him.

"Why?" He holds them up and looks through the lenses, "are they the wrong prescription or..."

"No, I just look stupid in them," I shrug.

"You don't look stupid, you look really cute," he gently puts them on my face, "see? Beautiful."

"My glasses make my face look weird."

"If weird equals stunning, then yes," he cups my face in his hands.

I look down with a pink tint to my cheeks, "you're blind, Kookie."

"You're the one who needs glasses," he lifts my chin so I'll look at him, "but you're beautiful either way."

I shake my head with a smile before going into the bathroom to look at myself in the mirror. Seeing the big, round glasses sit upon my nose, I realize that they're not as bad as I thought.

I guess I do look kinda cute with these.

I turn my face side to side to see them from different angles before noticing Jungkook standing in the doorway with a little smile.

"I guess they're not that bad," I admit while admiring how nice I look in them. He nods with a loving gaze before I change the subject, "but will you get ready now?"

He rolls his eyes dramatically, still retaining a smile, "I guess."

He picks up the folded clothes he brought from his dorm last night and we switch places so he's in the bathroom and I'm in the room.

"Are your parents coming?" I call to him and take my earrings off of my nightstand.

"They said they would, but I'm not counting on it," he says, "are yours?"

"Yep, but they might miss the very beginning. Hopefully they'll be there by the time we cross the stage," I carefully put the earrings into my ears, feeling the thin silver chains dangle below my lobes.

A minute or so later, Jungkook comes out wearing an all-black outfit. A nice dress shirt, pants with a belt, and a tie to match.

"Someone looks quite dashing today," I smirk as he adjusts his dark hair.

"Why thank you," he reflects my tone, "are you happy now that I'm ready?"

I step closer and slowly wrap my fingers around his tie, "yes," I pull him closer so his face is mere centimeters from mine.

"You know," he glances up at the clock, "we have a few hours until we need to leave."

"Yeah," my eyes flicker to his lips.

"What could we do for a few hours?" The corner of his mouth quirks upward.

"A few hours? Wow, Jeon, you're getting ambitious."

"Test me."

»»»

"Eliana Rostell," the man on stage calls and I look to Jessie and Oliver next to me with a smile.

"Almost there," Oli giddily nudges me and I straighten out my graduation robe before making my way onto the stage.

I see the camera flashing while I walk across the stage to greet the Chancellor. He smiles at me kindly and hands over my parchment while the audience claps.

I shake his hand and another click and flash come from the camera before I walk offstage. I can't help the huge smile invading my cheeks as I collect my parchment folder and alumni information. I reach up to my hat, moving the mortarboard tassel to the other side to indicate that I've finally gone from graduand to graduate.

After taking a seat, I watch my friends graduate after me and I almost feel like a proud mother watching her children walk across that stage to graduate.

Jessie, Oliver, Nathan, Hannah, and the rest of the boys sit in the same area as each other. "I'm so happy, oh my gosh," Jessie punches the air with her fists.

"Don't get too happy yet, we still have to sit through the speakers," I giggle quietly.

After everyone has gone across the stage, the Chairperson introduces the guest speaker. And when he concludes, the Chairperson introduces the student representative.

I nearly fall asleep, not gonna lie, and when I glance over at Jimin, he's not even trying to hide the fact that he's sleeping.

Head up, mouth open, relaxed posture... Until Seokjin elbows him pretty hard. He jerks and raises his head, glaring at the older before straightening his posture and paying attention.

I smirk at their childishness. Despite graduating and receiving our degrees, we're still kids at heart- especially the boys.

I glance over at Jungkook who is looking down at his diploma and certificates of achievement. A gentle and happy gaze falls upon the papers, then he looks over to me and our eyes meet.

Both of us smile sheepishly and return our gazes to the stage until the whole thing is over.

Afterwards, we're released to go outside, so our whole group links arms and leaves.

Once we're out there, I see my parents- well, they see me first.

"ELIANAAAA!" My mom practically cries and rushes to me, earrings flopping and bracelets jangling around her wrists.

"Hi, Mom!" I hug her with a big smile and my dad joins in.

We all pull away and I see tears in my mom's eyes, but when I glance to my dad, I also see tears building in his.

"I'm so proud of you, sweetheart," my mom cups one side of my face and my dad rubs one of his eyes.

"Thank you," I smile and look around them to find my friends. Jessie sees me and drags her mom over to us.

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Rostell!" She greets and hugs them both.

"Oh, Jessie!" My mom exclaims joyously, "I remember when you were just starting here with Ellie."

Soon after, Oliver, Nathan, Hannah, and the boys all come over to tell us that we're throwing our caps up together.

"I'll be back," I tell my parents and join the group. We stand in a circle-ish figure and count to three.

"Wait, on three or after three?" Hoseok asks.

"After." "On."

"No, it's on," Yoongi says.

"It's after," Namjoon dismisses the older.

"On," Seokjin shakes his head, "throw our caps up on th-"

"No one goes 'one, two, *throw your caps up*'"

"After three sounds better," Jimin decides.

"Just- ONE, TWO, THREE!" Taehyung shouts and half the group throws on three while the other half throws after three.

I giggle in excitement, seeing all of our caps fly into the air for a few moments before they all come down.

"OW!" Namjoon rubs his head after his cap hit him on its descent.

We laugh and continue to cheer before finding and picking up our caps off the concrete ground.

"So, did your parents come?" I look up into Jungkook's bright doe eyes.

"No," he shrugs, "but that's okay. I didn't expect them to."

"Awe," I rub his arm, "well I'm sure my parents would be happy to see you."

He nods and I pull him along by the hand to see my parents. My mom instantly brings him into a big hug- probably even bigger than the one I received from her

My dad gives him a handshake and my mom expresses how proud she is of both of us until Jungkook says something a little suspicious.

"Mr. Rostell, could I speak to you for a minute?" He asks and my dad doesn't seem too surprised.

He nods and they walk away from us. They're far enough that I can't hear anything they're saying, but I can still see them.

"What's that about?" I ask my mom.

"I don't know," she plays with my hair, "and frankly, I don't care; my little girl just graduated."

I smile brightly and nod, "I'm proud of myself."

"Oh, and you're wearing your glasses!" She notices, "I thought you didn't like them."

"Someone changed my mind," I adjust them on my face, "and I realized they aren't so bad after all."

"I have a feeling it was Jungkook," she gives me a knowing look.

"Yeah," I peer behind my mom at Jungkook and my dad with a soft smile.

"You really like that boy, don't you?"

"Yeah," I nod and my smile grows a little wider, "and I'm sure he really likes me, too."

Jungkook and my dad come back moments later and Kook seems to be in a strange mood. He's clearly happy... But what were they chatting about?

»»»end of the day»»»

We all went out to a theme park after leaving the ceremony for graduation, and honestly it was one of the most exciting things we've done as a group.

Hobi was only the coat rack for two rides before we all convinced him to at least try the carousel.... And then the amusement park's craziest roller coaster.

It was a blast screaming our lungs out, eating a hefty amount of cotton candy, and generally screwing around. On the tea cup ride, Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook spun the little cup so fast they could barely get it to stop by the end of the ride.

The twelve of us had nothing short of a blast.

Oh, I almost forgot; Jungkook and I even had a really cute moment on the top of the ferris wheel. We kissed like you would with your high school sweetheart, and it was strangely romantic aside from the distracting screaming from our friends in the other carts.

All in all, once Jungkook and I got back to his dorm, we were exhausted beyond belief.

I was so tired on the drive home that I could barely keep my eyes on the road, and the rest of the people piled into my car were already asleep.

But now, as I lay in bed next to the love of my life- who is half asleep with ketchup smudged on his cheek- I feel more alive than I ever have.

I couldn't ask for anything better than this. I have amazing friends, a wonderful boyfriend, I just graduated university with my degree and certificates.

Life is good.

"Goodnight, Kookie," I whisper my last goodnight to him before the start of our actual adult lives begin.

"Goodnight, El."

The end.

••••••••••••

Don't fret just yet! Yes, this is the final chapter of Bittersweet, but I will possibly be working on a sequel ;)

Which font do you have your books set to?

Mine is Avenir

💕💕💕💕💕💕💕