By the time their dinner had actually finished, Nabi couldn't wait to get home. All throughout dinner, all she heard was her mother praising her boyfriend and his two kids with occasionally nitpicking at Nabi's choice of clothes to her poor quality of skin due to lack of proper skin care.
But for Suho's sake, Nabi remained civil and quite and simply ignored most of her mother's comments, and well most of her mother's chattering. Nabi had figured out by now that David is supporting her mother financially and is providing her with ample amount of money because Nabi had seen quite a few of credit cards in her mother's wallet when she opened it earlier.
Despite this, she made no offer or move to pay for the meal and just let Nabi handle the bill all by herself. Nabi guesses it is expected of her since she is the breadwinner. Still, it would be nice to actually eat a meal her mother bought for her.
She watched quietly as Suho hailed their mother a cab, which Nabi also paid for, and then also watched as Suho walked to the subway station after he bid her goodbye and reminded her to eat properly again.
Now that Nabi is finally alone, she turned towards the direction of the bus stop and began to walk into the direction with the silhouettes of two men standing in the distance stopped her in her tracks.
At first she stopped because she got startled by the two silhouettes standing incredibly still but upon having a second look, Nabi realized she knew the two men.
Maybe a bit too well.
She stepped closer without ay hesitance and narrowed her eyes in concentration, "Coups?"
Sure enough, Scoups stepped out of the shadows and into the dim light of the streetlamp, revealing himself and Nabi slowed down in her steps.
"Was that Mingyu?" Was the first thing Scoups asked when she was near enough, skipping all the greetings.
Nabi frowned, confused and said, "Mingyu? No. Why?"
Scoups nodded his head sternly once, showing his understanding, and explained, *He said he was going out with a friend again. I thought it might have been you since the last time he said he was meeting a friend, he went to see you."
"Well, that wasn't Mingyu. We don't meet all that often," Nabi told him.
"Who was that then," Scoups asked, clearly referring to her brother who just left a couple of moments ago.
"Suho," Nabi answered, "What are you. . ."
Nabi had started to ask him a question which was when she truly realized that he wasn't alone as the second silhouette stepped into the dim light as well, making his presence known.
Jeonghan.
Her voice trailed away, her question dead in her throat as she closed her mouth and gave him a little bow, acknowledging him and he barely nodded in her direction as well.
"Were you both out?" Nabi asked, addressing Scoups only.
"We went out for drinks," Scoups answered, "Although we're still headed towards the place."
This time it was Nabi that gave the stern nod, as if to show her understanding and said. "I see."
Nabi has already met all of the Seventeen's members before, few on multiple occasions as well, so it wasn't like she was starstruck or surprised to see Jeonghan with Scoups. Nabi is also aware of the close friendship between the two and how they often go out to eat dinner or drink together, and Nabi honestly could care less about who Scoups is friends with and who he isn't.
However the reason why she grew uncomfortable when she saw Jeonghan standing at a small distance from them, was more due to the aura he produces. Nabi has met Jeonghan quite a few times before and each time he had either pretend she doesn't really exist or greet her once and then ignore her for the rest of the time.
At first Nabi was confused because she had heard such great thing about Jeonghan and his kindness and she also knows that Jeonghan is a very caring and loving person but she just couldn't figure out why he dislikes her so much. It's not like she can go ahead and talk about her concerns to Scoups either because Nabi knows that Scoups really values his frienship with Jeonghan and will most likely take his side and leave her alone.
Jeonghan just makes her feel so insecure sometimes that Nabi really goes out of her way to avoid seeing him. Nabi doesn't know why but she feels that Jeonghan just has this gaze which makes Nabi feel as if he can glance right into her soul.
Some moments of silence went by as the air around the three began to fill in with awkward tension, which Nabi broke by saying, "I should get going then. Enjoy your day."
Nabi began to make her move to leave but Scoups quickly held her hand to prevent her from leaving already.
"Wait," He said, stepping a bit more closer, as if he couldn't get any closer already.
Scoups looked back at Jeonghan, almost as if he were making sure Jeonghan can't hear them, and said, "Let me get you a taxi."
For a moment Nabi had thought that Scoups would offer to drive her home but when she head what he said, Nabi said, "It's okay. I can just get a taxi by myself."
"I would take you home but its been a long day and we both have been talking about grabbing a drink together for a while so, " Scoups rambled on and Nabi cut him off, saying, "It's okay. It really is. You don't have to explain yourself to me. I'm not asking you to take me home. Besides, its not we both had actual plans to meet up. This is just a pure coincidence."
Scoups looked at Nabi, studying her face, before turning around to face Jeonghan and said, "You go ahead. I'll join you in a bit."
Jeonghan nodded wordlessly and walked away, walking past them but keeping his safe distance.
"What are you doing?" Nabi asked, once Jeonghan was a bit away.
"I'll wait for you until a taxi arrives, "Scoups said, taking out his phone and opening and app in it,"Let me call one for you."
"It's okay, I can just do it myself," Nabi began to protest but Scoups cut her off and said, "Can't you just let me do this? It's not even a big deal."
Nabi shut up after that and quietly watched as Scoups called for a prepaid taxi using an app in his phone.
"Are you okay?" Scoups asked her.
Nabi wondered what he was actually trying to say but nonetheless answered, "I am."
"You don't look too okay," Scoups commented, putting his phone away in his pocket, from where he had picked it out in the first place.
Nabi sighed in such a low volume that it was hardly audible and repeated what Scoups had just stated moments earlier, "It's just been a long day."
Scoups picked up quickly that something was bothering Nabi but he wasn't sure exactly what he was. Now that he has been paying even more extra attention to Nabi lately, Scoups had realized how good of an actress Nabi really is. It had dawned to Scoups how much Nabi hides and invalidates her own feelings and how she barley ever speaks her own opinion.
Nabi prefers to be non confrontational and would rather stay quiet and accept injustice than fight others for what is correct.
"Well. . .you know you can talk to me anytime you want to, right?" Scoups gently reminded.
Nabi barely glanced at Scoups and said, "I know."
As a white taxi slowly rolled into view, Scoups nodded towards it and said, "That's your ride. Are you free this weekend?"
"Weekend? Mostly," Nabi answered honestly. She mostly just spend her weekend in bed, recharging for the upcoming week.
"Do you want to go out?" Scoups asked Nabi.
She looked at him with a questioning look in her gaze and said, "I'll be free whenever you are."
"Great! I'll text you later more," Scoups said, leaning down to peck her cheeks and said, "Your ride is here. Text me when you reach home."
Nabi nodded, thanking Scoups as he opened the car gate for Nabi and she got in the car.
"Goodnight," Scoups said as Nabi rolled down her window.
"Goodnight," Nabi told him.
February 6, 2022
Nabi woke up with a jolt, squinting her eyes when the sun hit her eyes through the car window.
She blinked a couple of times, trying to blink her sleepiness away and sat up a bit straighter in her seat, looking at her left side to see Scoups driving.
Scoups heard her moving and briefly glanced at her before focusing on the road once more.
"You're awake?" Scoups.
"Sorry. . .I didn't realize when I fell asleep," Nabi apologized, yawning and looking outside the window.
"It's okay. You fell asleep not soon after we left Seoul," Scoups answered.
"How long have you been driving?" Nabi asked.
"Nearly two hours now," Scoups asked.
"Sorry," Nabi pursued her lips," You didn't feel sleepy in the middle did you?"
Nabi never had the opportunity to spend time to learn and obtain a driver's license due to her poverty and she never felt she was missing out since Seoul has a very convenient metro system, but she knows that it is an unsaid rule that the person sitting next to the driver can't fall asleep so the driver too keeps awake.
"It's okay," Scoups shook his head, his eyes still on the road, "I had a good night's sleep last night so I don't feel sleepy at all."
"Aren't you hungry?" Nabi asked, realizing that they had taken off for the road at an early time.
"I actually stopped at a place to eat while you were sleeping," Scoups told her.
"Really?" Nabi blinked, surprised.
"I thought about waking you up but you looked so calm peaceful. You must have had a busy week," Scoups said.
Nabi hummed and said, "I was just tired."
"Well, I hope you are refreshed now. We're almost there," Scoups said, looking at one of the road signs than back at the navigator.
It had turned out that Scoups wanted to stay true to his word about taking Nabi out somewhere and had picked her up early in the morning today to take her out somewhere outside of Seoul. Nabi had initially assumed that by "going out", Scoups meant going out to grab dinner but apparently he wanted to take her out of the city itself.
So he had picked her up early in the morning at her apartment and decided to driver her nearly three hours outside of Seoul to go see the sea for a break.
Nabi wasn't too sure if she wanted to go on an extensive day long trip at first. She wanted to recharge from the week on the weekend and she also cannot drive and was concerned if Scoups would be able to drive nearly six hours back and forth.
However seeing how meticulously Scoups had planned the entire thing, from picking her up to deciding where to go to even picking out the best restaurant to eat at, Nabi decided to go along with his plan.
She would feel bad to just turn him down just because she wasn't "feeling it".
"Is there why you want to go to the sea?" Nabi asked after taking a sip of water, remembering how determined Scoups was to drive out to the sea.
"It's calming," Scoups shrugged, "And you like going to the sea. You find it relaxing."
Nabi looked at Scoups in slight astonishment and asked, "How do you know?"
Scoups's grip on the steering wheel tightened slightly and he said, "Contrary to what you think, I do pay attention to what you say."
Nabi's cheeks flushed as she looked the other way and mumbled, "I never said you don't".
But she spoke so quietly that Scoups had barely heard her and instead her said, "We're here. Do you want to go to the beach first? Walk a bit."
Nabi nodded her head as she eagerly looked out. Sure enough the vast blue ocean was in her view and the sandy beach was right in front of her, with barely any people on it. It was expected however. Who comes to the beach in February?
Nabi stepped out when Scoups had parked and walked onto the sad, loving the feeling of the cool sea breeze blowing her hair in the air and smelling the salt of the ocean in the air.
She smiled as she closed her eyes, wanting this moment to stay longer as she walked closer to the ocean, the sound of waves crashing against the shore bringing a different sense of calm to her.
"You really like the ocean, huh?" Scoups asked, slowly catching up to where Nabi had walked up too. His hands in the pocket of his jacket as a bucket hat protected his ears from the harsh wind.
"Aren't you cold?" He asked her and Nabi shook her head. The cold was the last thing in her mind.
"It's been so long since I've been at a beach," Nabi said.
Scoups glanced at her sideways and asked, "Why?"
Nabi shrugged her shoulders once and said, "There was no one to take me. And it's too sad coming alone. My brother hates being in the water, my mom was never around and my dad was the only one who would take me. But then he went away too and I just stopped coming."
Scoups stayed silent, thinking of the right words to say.
He stepped a bit more closer and took her hand in his, entangling their fingers together before putting their joint hand together in the pocket of his jacket.,
"You have me now. You can come with me anytime you want from now on," Scoups told her.
Nabi smiled.
She hoped that it would actually come true.
I only have one thing to say today and that is that if you haven't hear Seungkwan's new OST then you better go and listen to it right now. It's so so so good and Seungkwan sounds so different there than he does in Seventeen. Honestly all of Seventeen members OSTs are very good and I wish they received more hype and attention than they do right now.