February 18, 2022
Nabi is currently sitting at a cafe, sipping her warm coffee while she patiently waited for her visitor to show up.
She was sent by Jang to interview that amateur Webtooner he had told her about earlier. Jang wanted Nabi to familiarize herself with the ideas and the concepts of this new potential contractor and also wanted her to understand and familiarize herself with the author as well.
Now that Nabi no longer is taking care of Mia, she decided to take on the new author Jang had been talking about. Working with only one person can become monotonous and boring very quickly and Nabi also wanted a breath of fresh air.
She's just praying it isn't someone as arrogant as Jay again.
One Jay is enough for Nabi to handle at the moment.
Now that she sat in the cafe and looked around, Nabi realized that this is the exact same location she was supposed to meet Scoups at the beginning of the year when he had stood her up.
That was more than a month ago now and the roads were no longer covered in glistening snow and neither were there any children shrieking and laughing outside as their mothers ran after them to prevent them from slipping and falling.
Neither were there any young couples walking around hand in hand, making Nabi feel even more miserable than ever.
Instead pedestrians walked about the sidewalk, getting around their day as cars zoomed down the somewhat busy road.
It's funny how she unconsciously chose this location once again.
Maybe its because the interior and ambiance is so nice and maybe its also because she wants to share this cafe experience with someone at least once. Even if that person is a complete stranger.
And judging by the time it looks like Nabi may once again be left all alone if the person doesn't arrive soon.
Nabi knows she isn't exactly the most punctual person on the planet but she also condemns tardiness when its by nearly twenty minutes.
Still, she must stay patient and wait at least ten more minutes before getting up and leave.
Nabi was busy staring out the window in nothingness, nearly falling asleep when the doors to the cafe burst open and a very frantic woman, and also very pregnant, walked in with a tiny girl holding her hand.
The woman's loud entrance was so dramatic that it successfully caught the attention of everyone in the cafe, not minding that there were barley even six people sitting inside, including Nabi herself.
Nabi looked on curiously, wondering why such a heavily pregnant woman was walking out when she should be resting.
Then Nabi looked on baffled as she saw the woman search the cafe by whipping her head around before she finally spotted Nabi and began to make her way there.
Realization dawned on her slowly as Nabi came to the understand that this very heavily pregnant is none other than the person she is supposed to meet.
Nabi watched on with mock horror and mock shock as she processed this information.
Nabi had read the only few chapters of the Webtoon that had been published on the site and that had been sent to her by Jang.
This Webtoon is very gore and violent and bloody and even Nabi, who loves horror and action, had to grimace multiple times reading it. It was about Vampires who eat humans hearts, with very detailed graphics, and hang their victims upside down in public, just like how Jesus was crucified.
In her opinion the goriness needed to get toned down a bit but it certainly is a change from Unexpected Fate.
Nabi was expecting a young man or even a young woman but never in a million years did she imagine the author to be a mid thirties woman who is pregnant with her second child.
Hell, this woman looked like she couldn't even touch an ant if she tried to.
She looked so sweet and tiny and gentle that Nabi for a moment genuinely believed that all that caffeine is finally getting to her head.
"Hi! Are you Park Nabi?" The woman asked, stopping in front of Nabi with a hand on her back, supporting herself, and other holding onto her young daughter's hand.
Nabi nodded her said and asked, "Shin Jimin-shi?"
One of the reasons why Nabi was confused about who to expect is the widely unisex name the author had. She's met so many male and female Jimins in her course of life that she now knows its best to not just assume anything from before.
The woman smiled and said, "Oh! Thank god!"
Ms. Shin sat down on the couch opposite of of Nabi and said, "Sorry I'm late. My babysitter got food poisoning last minute so I had to ready my daughter and drag her with me."
"Oh. . .no, it's okay," Nabi told her.
"Thank you," Ms. Shin breathed heavily, "Just give a moment dear. It's not easy moving around when you're thirty nine weeks pregnant."
Thirty Nine Weeks!
"A-are you sure you should be out like this?" Nabi asked, frowning in worry.
"Oh don't worry dear. I'm all good. Besides, Bella doesn't move around as much," Ms. Shin said and Nabi assumed that Bella is her unborn daughter's name.
"Do you want something to drink?" Nabi offered.
"No, it's okay," Ms. Shin shook her head.
"Are you sure? It's on the company card," Nabi told her.
"Well. . .I'm good, but is it okay if I get my daughter some milk from the kids menu. It'll be better to busy her otherwise she won't let us talk peacefully," Ms. Shin said and Nabi nodded getting up.
"Let me get it. Please sit and rest," She told Ms. Shin, concerned for her.
After Nabi got the milk from the kids menu, she sat down on the couch handing the milk carton over.
"Right," Nabi said, opening her laptop and her notebook, saying, "Let's get started."
"So. . .this is really just an information session. Just to get the entire process started and all," Nabi told her, and Ms. Shin nodded her head, "I read whatever it is that you have written till now and it has certainly piqued my interest. There are a few suggestions I would make to it, but I believe it is a selling story."
"So you want to sign with me?" Ms. Shin asked.
"We do want to sign with you," Nabi confirmed, "Of course, we won't sign anything today. I'm just here to introduce and tell you the terms of the treaty as well as get some basic points across. Like how things will work from writing to editing to publishing as you Editor."
"Wait-you aren't the CEO?" Ms. Shin asked, "No wonder I thought you are young."
"No. . .I'm not. I'm just an employee," Nabi asked, slightly flustered, "You'll get to meet him next time. Well, that is if you are also satisfied with everything."
"Oh, I'm already satisfied. In fact I can't wait to sign the contract. I'm so bored by sitting at home all day doing nothing that my husband encouraged me to start making a Webtoon. You see, back in my day, when I was in univeristy, me and my husband used to run a Twilight fan fiction together. We both have always loved Vampires and believe in them completely. Even out home is Vampire themed!" Ms. Shin began oversharing.
Nabi tried to keep a straight face as she received all of these un-needed information and said, "Oh?"
"Of course we had to keep those set aside when Edward here was born," Ms. Shin blabbered.
"Edward? Nabi questioned, confused to say the least.
"My daughter," Ms. Shin answered, clearing Nabi's doubts.
"Y-your daughter?" Nabi stammered like an idiot.
"Yes. My daughter. Edward," Ms. Shin answered, "When I feel pregnant with Edward, I was sure it was boy. You know, a vampire's instinct."
Nabi wanted to point out that Ms. Shin is a human, not a vampire but fought off the urge.
"But I guess Edward here decided to just change its gender last minute. But I was already hooked on Edward so we just decided to name her Edward," Ms. Shin told Nabi.
Nabi wanted to point out that babies just don7t change their genders last minute since its not in their hands but again fought off the urge.
"o-oh. . .I see. Then I presume Bella is. . .?"Nabi asked.
"A boy, of course," Ms. Shin beamed, "We had to name our children after Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. How couldn't we?"
It then struck to Nabi that her poor kids just weren't given a mismatched name, they were practically named after the Twilight saga characters.
Nabi wasn't sure if she is supposed to find this funny or feel bad for the kids or simply get up and walk away from this half crazy woman.
But given all fangirl antics aside, she seemed like a genuinely bubbly person so Nabi kept her seat and continued.
"Right. . .so as I was saying before, uh-today I'm just going to explain the entire process to you and-oh!" Nabi changed the direction of her talk when she Ms. Shin's daughter accidentally knock of her milk off the table, dropping it all over her tiny dress and legs and the floor.
"Oh no Edward," Ms. Shin cried, looking slightly distressed.
At first Nabi wasn't sure what to do but then when she saw Ms. Shin bending over to clean, Nabi immediately stood up and quickly went over to grab some tissues before bending down to the floor.
"Oh no, you don't have to do this," Ms. Shin told her.
"Please, its no problem," Nabi said, "Why don't you instead sit over. You shouldn't be bending down in your condition."
"You are too kind. I can't just let you clean up my mess" Ms. Shin said.
"No it's okay. I insist," Nabi told her.
"All right dear. In truth it is a bit hard for me to move around these days," Ms.Shin said, "Being pregnant really isn't easy. Especially when you are so far long-OH!"
Nabi looked up frantically when she heard Ms.Shin gasp loudly, wondering what was wrong.
Ms.Shin only looked at Nabi with a look mixed with horror and shock and Nabi wondered what she had done wrong.
"Are you okay?" Nabi asked in concern.
Ms.Shin looked down at her belly then looked back up at Nabi.
"My water just broke"
"Where are you?" Jang asked and Nabi can picture him with his eyebrows furrowed together, wondering why its taking Nabi four hours in a meeting.
"I'm at the hospital," Nabi spoke in a quietly manner, not wanting to disturb people around her.
"WHAT! Why are you in the hospital? Did you faint again? Oh my god! Why didn't you call me?" Jang freaked out.
"No no no. I'm fine," Nabi told him, "I'm completely healthy. I swear."
"Then what are you doing in a hospital?" Jang demanded.
"Uh. . .I-I'm delivering a baby," Nabi answered.
"What?"
"I mean, I'm not literally delivering a baby. I'm waiting for the baby to be delivered," Nabi said then sighed. How is she supposed to explain her insane situation to Jang?
"Um Ms. Shin, the author, yeah she went into labour during our meeting," Nabi said.
"Oh my god!" Jang said a bit more calmly.
"Yeah so I had to call an ambulance," Nabi said, massaging her temple, "And her husband is apparently in Ilsan for a one day business trip and isn't picking up the phone so she asked me come with her."
When Nabi heard no response from Jang, she said, "I mean her husband picked up later, but Ms.Shin already went into the operation theater so I'm waiting for her husband to arrive before I leave."
"Wow"
"Yeah I know its a bit crazy but I can't say no to a woman in labour-Edward, no. Don't run there," Nabi said, keeping an eye on Edward who was trying to wander off.
One of the another reasons why she just couldn't leave was because someone also needed to be with Edward.
"Who's Edward?" Jang asked curiously.
"Ms.Shin's daughter," Nabi answered.
"You mean son," Jang tried to correct.
"No, I mean daughter," Nabi said before sighing, "Look I'll explain everything later okay. It's kind of confusing."
"O-okay?"Jang said truly sounding confused.
"Do you want me to send someone to be with you?" Jang asked.
"No its okay. I think the husband should be coming in soon by now," Nabi said, glancing at her worn down wrist watch.
"Are you sure?" Jang asked.
"Positive," Nabi answered, "You can close the office. I have my laptop and ipad with me so I'll just go straight home after this."
"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow then. Call me if anything else comes up," Jang told her and Nabi hummed in reply.
Nabi sighed as she removed her phone from her ear and looked down.
She has been sitting for a long time now but Nabi knows that it takes time for babies to get delivered. She has heard of women being in labour as long as eighteen hours before so she knows its probably safe to expect to wait for more time.
However when the rooms of the operation theater opened and Nabi looked up to see one of the nurses walking in with a baby carried in her arms, Nabi got up from her place and walked over.
"Are you Shin Jimin's guardian?" The nurse asked and Nabi nodded her head. She supposes she is the only guardian here at the moment.
"Congratulations! It's a boy," The nurse told Nabi, "We'll be moving Jimin-shi to a different room in a short while."
Nabi nodded her head as the nurse moved the baby in Nabi's arms without even giving her a second to protest.
Nabi held the baby precariously, scared to drop it accidentally or even hurt it. She has barely even had much experience with babies, even though she has practically raised her brother, and is admittedly afraid of being around them since she doesn't know what to do or how to react.
However as she now held Bella, watching him as he slept soundly after closing his eyes, taking in his tiny eyes and mouth and nose, she couldn't help but feel as if she was in the middle of something magical.
She couldn't help but wonder if she would ever get to experience something as magical as this again before.
"Edward! Do you want to see you baby brother," Nabi called out, suddenly remembering the daughter.
Nabi bent down carefully as Edward walked her way towards.
Nabi cradled the baby in her hands and she couldn't help but welcome the feeling of security and stability wash over her and she wanted this feeling to last forever.
In the future, with hindsight, Nabi would later wish she hadn't cursed herself right now.
After all, happiness has never really been her best friend.
Okay so this chapter may seem lowkey useless and filled with nothingness but I kind of just wanted to express that Nabi is currently living in a state of stability where she feels secure and satisfied with her life as it is. But of course, Nabi's character is mostly built to suffer rather than cherish so this is kind of like the calm before the storm.
Childbirths are supposed to feel magical and beautiful and I wanted to use that to express that Nabi has started to finally feel some of the beauty there is to be living.
We've kind of reached half way point in the book or even past that but now the main problems have yet to come so watch out for that.