NABI

It hadn’t been that long ago but for some reason, Nabi felt this undeniable discomfort upon nearing the entrance of the familiar building. The old rundown apartment building where Han Sungjae lived. Anxiety resurfaced as she went in with careful steps towards the entrance.

She swore she was over it.

There was no reason to see each other again.

She had been going great, surprisingly.

She hadn’t cried since that day that she had begged him for the last time, and that was more than a week ago. Did she move on too fact? Or was he really just that bad? She couldn’t possibly figure it out. Perhaps, she’d just been buried into her work, even when she was home. She was too tired to feel anything else. In fact, she’d been feeling too physically unwell to even think about the emotional side effects of the breakup. This very reason resulted to her discretely making a trip to the doctor to get some treatment for her fatigue.

And as it turned out, it wasn’t merely work fatigue.

Nor was it a side effect of the recent breakup.

She was ing pregnant.

It had been three days since she found out but somehow, it still hadn’t fully sank in. She didn’t know what to do or who to talk to. She was mostly afraid … but kind of excited. She had always wanted a child someday. However, the fact that the father had to be Han Sungjae took away most of the fun that she could get out of the news. Eventually, she had to make the decision to come to him. As much as she hated the idea, he was still the father of this baby. He needed to know about it.

She wasn’t planning on trying get back together with him. Hell ing no. That would be the last thing she’d ever want to do, after how he’d treated her.

But she wouldn’t be able to live with it if she didn’t come clean with the father, at least.

When Nabi arrived in front of his door, a slight hesitation arises. Coming clean with him meant that there was a possibility that he might use this against her in some way. She was aware of the consequences. But as much as Han Sungjae loved money, he never really liked the thought of potentially being a part of her family. He had always expressed that to her, quite often, actually.  

He hated the corporate world. He hated the limelight and the attention. He hated the fast-paced nature of her life.

But he loved the money that came with it, and he loved to do absolutely nothing with his life.

Being at home playing video games, that was all that he wanted to do.

Nabi had calculated everything in her head before coming here. She knew he could potentially threaten to sell this information to the media if she didn’t get rid of the baby. She could threaten him back with a lawsuit for defamation and the attention alone that this could bring him would make him back out. He could also potentially make her pay him as a ‘thank you’ for making her pregnant—this one just sounded like him. He was that arrogant and dumb.

The last possibility was that he may simply push her away and straight up tell her to get an abortion because he doesn’t want anything to do with her.

Before Nabi could even raise a hand to knock, the door swung open. To her surprise, it wasn’t him. It was a woman. A Caucasian woman, in fact. She was pretty tall and slim like a model, and her outfit looked like she came straight out of manga. Basically, a Caucasian person who wants to look Asian—that kind of look. She even had these huge contact lenses that made her hazelnut eyes really pop.

“Uh, hello. Can I help you?” She shyly asked in Korean, but her accent was pretty strong. She was hugging a case of empty bottles of beer. She must be going out to get some more for Sungjae. It was an easy guess.

Nabi took a step back and tipped her head lower while still maintaining the slightest eye contact. “Hi, I’m a colleague of Han Sungjae from his old job. I would just like to speak with him really quickly. Ab—about … about his former workplace. It’s important, I was sent by my boss.” She lied. The woman didn’t need to know about their relationship. She seemed pretty nice actually, she didn’t deserve to be in an awkward position.

The woman blinked cluelessly as she looked behind her. “Uhm, babe? Someone from your old work needs you.” She spoke a little louder this time before sliding through the small space Nabi had left in front of the door to go out. “I have to go get snacks outside, please come in, miss. He’s just in the bathroom.” The woman said and bowed a couple times before walking away, leaving the door to Nabi.

With much hesitation, Nabi walked in and closed the door behind her.

“Someone from what? I can’t understand you, you need to say your words clearly, Mela—” The painfully familiar voice echoed through the hallway on the left. Sungjae came out with nothing but his pants on. He looked like he just got out of shower. When he met eyes with her, his face immediately sank in disappointment.

“What are you doing here? I swear to god, if you told Melanie we had a relationship, I’m going to ing slap you.” He threatened right away, making Nabi flinch in fear.

“I di—didn’t. I said—I said I was yo—your … your work colleague from before. I just need to—” Nabi could feel the tears forming in her eyes, but she held them in. “I need to tell you something important.”

Sungjae sighed and leaned on the wall beside his couch. He shook his damp hair with his hands and said, “This better be worth my time. Just so you know, Melani and I are together and we’re planning to get married, she’s my only chance to move to the U.S. and start anew. So please, make this quick before she gets back. I’m serious about her. She’s my only shot. We’ve been talking online for months now, and she finally got here, so don’t think this was out of nowhere or whatever. It’s real.” For the first time, his tone was sincere despite that the substance of his words were still quite opportunistic.

Did he just admit to cheating on her then? Stupid son of a , he probably didn’t even realize what he just did.

But whatever, Nabi thought.

“I just want you to know that,” She paused for a few seconds before finally letting the news out. “I’m pregnant.”

The disappointment in Sungjae’s face tightened a knot in her stomach. To this he said, “Uhm, thank you for letting me know? I guess I appreciate it or whatever. Just get rid of it then, I don’t mind. I don’t care about it. Condoms break sometimes, you know how it is. I’m not planning to stay in this country anyway so get rid of it yourself, you don’t need me to hold your hand while they take it out, do you?”

The sarcasm in his tone made her blood race and she could feel her face heat up with awareness. Her grip on her handbag tightened and she could feel her fists trembling a little.  

Nabi stood there dumbfounded. She couldn’t believe he could say these things so nonchalantly, as if they were never in a relationship before.

He made her feel like they were nothing but a one-night stand … that lasted a year.

“ you.” She managed to say, earning a grimace from the man.

But before he could react in any way, Nabi turned and walked to the door. As she stepped out, she met the same woman again who was now holding a plastic bag on one hand and an ice cream cone on the other.

Nabi stopped and glanced at Sungjae one last time before meeting the woman’s eyes again. “You seem like a really kind lady, and a beautiful one too. Take care and don’t forget to be kind to yourself. Goodbye.” She said in straight English before walking off.

Waking up the next morning felt like waking up with a hangover.

Nabi had a nightmare where she was lying and tied on a hospital bed, Sungjae’s face loomed over her as he laughed evilly. On her other side was her mother, glaring down at her angrily. When she looked beneath her, there were people in scrubs and masks, and they were holding what she could only guess were surgical tools.

Fortunately, she screamed in the dream so loudly that she ended up waking herself before anything more painful happened.

“Coffee. I need coffee. I need coffee.” She hummed, trying to get her mind off the memory of the nightmare. At this point, only coffee could potentially save her from having a mental brea—

Wait. Should she be drinking coffee? She had heard in the past from an employee that caffeine was to be avoided as much as possible during pregnancy.

Pregnancy.

She was pregnant. Right.

She. Was. Pregnant. As. .

As if finding out about it for the first time once again, Nabi clutched on her chest and grunted. “—I’m pregnant.” Unwanted tears formed on the corners of her eyes it was becoming harder to drive. She decided to pull over at the closest spot she could find. It was a little farther than the café she wanted to go to, but she probably needed some fresh air anyway.

She didn’t mind walking a little more if it meant that she wasn’t putting her life on the line … including the little life inside of her.

As she started walking, she began searching things up on her phone. Questions such as Can pregnant women drink coffee? and How much caffeine is allowed during pregnancy? were some of the things she looked up.

Apparently, it’s best to avoid caffeine but if necessary or unavoidable, it is advised to limit caffeine consumption to 200 milligrams per day.

How the was she supposed to make sure she was having only that amount in a day? She’d been surviving through coffee for as long as she could remember. How could she even confirm the exact amount of caffeine in every cup of coffee she would buy?

Perhaps, it was best to avoid it altogether.

She wanted to take care of what is inside of her … at least until her mother found out about it. After that … who knows what could happen?

As much as she wanted to keep the baby. As much as she actually liked the idea of being a mother—of being a really good mother—she felt like it was out of her hands because she was alone. There was nobody that would be on her side other than herself.

Maybe if her father was alive … he’d be the most supportive, most excited grandfather ever. It wouldn’t have mattered to him how the child was conceived or who was involved. He would have loved it with all his heart.

Shaking the negative thought off, Nabi rushed inside the café and walked straight towards the counter, passing the other customers waiting. Her aura alone made most of the people move for her, and she was well aware of it.

She was always here after all.

She owned the building across, for God’s sake.

Of course she could skip the line.

That was until a hand blocked her way before she could pass halfway through. “Woah, ma’am. Did you not see the line? You are not going to be a—”

She met eyes with the owner of the hand and lo and behold, it was none other than the poop guy, Byun Baekhyun. Nabi’s face sank as she stared at the guy who was now looking up at the ceiling, a disgruntled smirk on his face. “Are you kidding me?” She heard him utter under his breath.

When he looked down at her again, she realized she had been staring so she quickly looked away, laser focused back on the menu up front.

“Wow. That’s three meet-cutes so far. What are the chances?” He laughed, but she could tell he was less than amused by the unexpected interaction.

After their not-so-spectacular meeting in his office, Nabi was really hoping to have a little more time before she had to deal with the Byuns again. Especially now … How exactly was she supposed to go through with the arranged marriage if she was carrying a child?

This was another reason why she was convinced that her mother would certainly make her do something she didn’t want to do once it was all out in the open. Her mother would not let anything, especially not an unborn child from a bastard like Han Sungjae, take away this opportunity away from them again.

To her mother, the Byun Group were competition. And going through with this arranged marriage was claiming victory and permanently getting rid of the competition … by take over everything. Im Sooha want to monopolize the hotel and shopping industry. It was d