First Snow

Here I Am Again

Author note: Thank you dears for your overwhelming support and kindness. Thank you for reading and cheering and not calling me out for my English that isn't always perfect.
I hope you'll enjoy this huge update.
As always, stay safe, take care of you and your loved ones. ❤️❤️❤️

***

"Where do I drop you off?" the young man asked almost shyly.

"At the Schweizerhof hotel" she answered absentmindly.

As the car pulled away, Seri looked in the rearview mirror, hoping to see a now familiar figure materialize. For what, she didn't know.

But he was well and truly gone.

She didn't know how to feel. Disappointed? Angry? Touched? He was disconcerting, surprising her when she thought nothing could surprise her anymore. She had never had someone looking after her. Really looking after her, looking at her, listening to her, acknowledging her. Of course, her employees acknowledged her, but they were paid to do so, so it didn't really count.
But he wasn't paid. And he looked, he listened, well, mostly, and he acknowledged her, despite trying to ignore her. She wasn't stupid, she was pretty good at reading people, and yet, she wasn't sure of where to stand with him.

His smile, his shyness, his deep voice and handsome face, his gentleness, even his aloofness, she felt drowned to it all, the magnetism almost scary since he was a stranger. Totally her type, she had said. She hadn't expecting her words to come and bite her back by crossing paths again.

She felt the young man giving her curious glances, and finally turned to him, as he abruptly looked away to stare at  the road. He was younger, wearing civilian clothes and definitely looked easier to approach.

"What's your name?"

"Ju Meok, Miss..."

He opened his mouth, probably to ask hers, but he changed his mind and closed it. She could see curiously almost bursting out of him, and couldn't help but smile.

"So, you're his driver?" she asked.

"His assistant more precisely, one of his assistants", he replied proudly.

"I see..."

She couldn't see anything at all. Imagining him as an ambassador was still odd. This evening, which promised to be one of the worst of her life, had finally been full of surprises. She would never have imagined meeting him again, let alone at a gala, even if secretly, a part of herself that she had carefully gagged, hoped so. She had imagined a hermit living in a secluded chalet, when he actually was the ambassador of North Korea. The irony of it was so huge that she didn't know how she felt about it.

Should she feel something? A repulsion? A patriotic leap leading her to keep her distance and contact the secret services?

She didn't feel any of that.

She only felt the kindness of his gaze, the warmth that enveloped her through his jacket, those flutterings in her stomach and this irrepressible desire to know.

To know him.

"For how long have you known Ri Jeong Hyeok ?"

He thought for a moment and nodded happily.

" For five years! We were in his company, at the outpost..."

She wasn't sure if others citizens felt the same way, but it often amazed her to know that somehow, people she could never met lived that close to Seoul. She could meet with Europeans, Americans, Africans, others Asians, but not North Koreans. The border was so close, and yet, the line was completely impenetrable...