Hidden Love (Scoups)

𝟷...ᴏɴᴄᴇ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ

That was nine years now and Nabi's father is nothing more than a distant memory.

Nabi tore her eyes away from the window.

Slowly reaching towards her phone, which was lying face upwards on the table, she clicked the power button on the side and checked the time. 

Forty six minutes past eight. Forty six minutes past the initial meeting time. 

Nabi then checked her notification center. 

Nothing. No messages, no missed calls, absolutely nothing. 

Slowly she put down her phone and leaned back into the couch. 

Nabi's isn't particularly surprised or disappointed. In all honesty, a part of her expected it. This isn't the first time she has been stood up but she never once felt anger or rage. Nabi understands that her boyfriend has a very hectic schedule and is busy. It isn't easy for him to take time off from his busy schedules and meet her, not to mention that they only have very limited places to meet up with one another. 

However she just couldn't help but feel a slight pang of disappointment today. Nabi hasn't seen her boyfriend in nearly a month. Nabi's work is resuming from the New Year Holidays day after tomorrow and she wanted to see him at least once before her stressful life begins again. 

Turns out the heavens didn't want that however. 

Drowning her hot chocolate down her throat, Nabi prepared to leave. She knew he isn't going to show up to their meet up and Nabi has no other reason to  stay at the cafe any longer. 

Wrapping her oddly mismatched and mis-colored scarf around her neck, Nabi wore her coat. Shoving her phone in her purse and wearing her face mask, she got up from the couch and took the tissue and the empty paper cup off the table and threw them away on her way out. 

Nabi stepped out of the coffee shop and swore softly in her head almost instantly.

It is starting to snow harder and Nabi didn't have a beanie nor an umbrella to shield her from the snow. Knowing she has no other choice, Nabi simply stepped onto the sidewalk with no second thoughts, burying her hands deep in the pocket of her coat. 

At least she only needs to walk until the bus stop. 

Nabi can endure the cold till then. 

The snow had seemed to only double in amount by the time Nabi got off the bus and walked towards her rooftop apartment, about a five to ten minute walk. She shivered as she made her way towards home. 

Nabi lived in a rooftop apartment in Seoul, a large single room which provided an attached bathroom and a tiny kitchen. There is also another tiny storage room right next to Nabi's apartment, but she had never really utilized. It is dirty, tiny, inconvenient but enough for Nabi to live by. Rooftop apartments are often romanticized in Korean dramas but reality is far from it. In dramas, rooftop apartments are shown to have a wonderful view, a place to barbecue, somewhere you could enjoy the pleasant wind but really it is awfully hot in the summers and awfully cold in the winters. As for the view, Nabi did have a pretty view but she couldn't even see it half of the time because of the clouds and pollution. 

Her landlord had provided her with a fan for the summers and a small electric heater for the winters but the heater barely provided any warmth in the apartment. Nabi often slept with double layers of socks and a sweater on top of her pajamas to make sure she doesn't freeze overnight.