𝐒𝐄𝐎𝐔𝐋 | √

cold parks pretending to be warm

𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭.

Ellora stepped out into the balcony of her room, bare feet padding silently over the cold wooden floor and sheer silk nightgown whispering at her thighs.

The moon was halfway full and bright in the pitch black midnight sky, hanging above the dark buildings in the far horizon. The stars weren’t visible tonight, hidden by the clouds that roamed the infinite dark expanse above her, and the winds slithered through the trees that surrounded her ground floor room that looked out over the River Han, right by the shore.

She couldn’t sleep.

No matter how hard she tried, sleep to her was an elusive fantasy for tonight, and she had resigned herself to that. Hence, at present, she leaned forward, placing her folded arms on the wooden railing and staring at the waters of the Han.

The river was peaceful, as it was expected to be at two in the morning when the world was asleep, but she was awake. The moonlight reflected off the tranquil waves in bursts of shimmering light, looking so similar to the very stars that she couldn’t see. It seemed as though the waters had taken on the duty of the sky, letting the midnight rest for a while till the river bore the weight of the millions of twinkling lights.

She let her eyes move over the cityscape, mind empty and no thoughts running through her brain, as it had been for the last week that she had stayed in Seoul.

Several kilometres away on the other bank of the Han, the dark buildings melted into the midnight sky, edges blurring till she couldn’t tell where the buildings began and the night ended. The streets, however, glowed bright, the endless colours of neon lights blending into each other and moving in bright white lines as the cars and bikes sped down the roads. The sight, despite being so explosive, was silent- no sound reached her ears, and she revelled in that quiet, a small smile curling up her lips.

“You really do love water, don't you?”

A small smile grew on her face, and she closed her eyes for a moment before turning towards the sound and raising a shoulder in a half-shrug.

As always, he had crept up unnoticed, coming to stand at the lamp-post that stood just beyond her room’s balcony. Tonight, he was dressed in warm, soft clothes in dark tones, silent feet covered in air-max shoes and a small plastic bag dangling precariously from his fingers. His lips curved up into a serene smile, and he pulled his other hand from his sweatpants' pocket to wave at her.

Ellora couldn’t fathom what he was doing outside so late in the night, and she found that she didn’t care. He was here, and his presence itself was enough to make her the corners of her lips twitch and pull into a small smile that mirrored his.

“Hello, Namjoon.”

He pushed away from the lamp post, his smile growing wider, and placed his elbows on the wooden railing that Ellora herself was leaning against. They were close now, maybe just a little under a metre away from each other, and neither of them would have it any other way, except being even closer.

“What are you doing up so late, Ms Winters?”

His voice was low, deep. Playful notes coloured his rich, velvety tones, and his eyes twinkled like the stars that were absent in the midnight sky. It made Ellora bubble with a comforting warmth. He had become her safe place so soon, so quickly, that she would have thought it was impossible for someone like her, and yet, here she was– one week of knowing him and loving every minute she spent with him. And so she leaned closer to him, a playful smirk of her own on her features and shook her head.