"Nabi means butterfly. I named you Nabi, because I want you to be as free as a butterfly, as pretty as butterfly, as loved as a butterfly, as colorful as a butterfly."

"But aren't butterflies all caterpillars before? Aren't they ugly?" 

"You're still not getting my point. Caterpillars are unique creatures Nabi, do you know why? Because they are the only living creatures on Earth who are given the opportunity to leave their past and move on completely. I want you to be able to let go of your painful past too."

January 7th, 2022 

Nabi stared at her reflection on the bathroom mirror in front of her. The bright mirror lights shone against her and only highlighted the hidden wrinkled lines on her forehead and the under eye bags she tried to desperately hide this morning. 

Nabi's isn't what you would extraordinary beautiful. 

Yes, she has been told multiple times that she is indeed very pretty, but Nabi never considered her beauty to be out of the world. If she were to admit it herself, she got seriously lucky with inheriting her parents charming looks. One reason why Nabi attracted so many comments was because of the innocent aura she projected from her looks. 

Nabi has very pale skin. In fact so pale that sometimes she looked like she is part of the walking sun or that she hasn't seen the sun in a hundred years. Her eyes were bigger than most typical Koreans, being blessed with the double eyelid most Koreans want, making her eyes appear even bigger and more attractive. Her nose is tiny and slightly pointed, people often comparing it with a deer's nose and her lips had a natural rouge pink color which contrasted with her pale skin and highlighted more on her beauty and that innocent look everyone continues to associate her with. 

Nabi's hair, on the other hand, is dark, straight and long, stopping just above her elbows. Nabi had never dyed her hair, thus mainting her healthy hair, and neither as she ever chemically straightened or curled her hair. Nabi was born with naturally dark and straight hair and often didn't know what to do with it. Nabi has only two hairstyles in her capability and that is either pulling her hair back in a ponytail or leaving it down with a headband on top. 

Nabi always liked her longer hair and so does Seungcheol, who likes to run his fingers through her hair whenever they are intimate. 

She took out the lipstick from her purse and leaned into the mirror, pursuing her lips and applying the lipstick on her lips, retouching on the makeup from the morning. 

Nabi was now at a restaurant in a four seasons hotel, having her monthly lunch with Mia, one of the two writers she is assigned to edit and guide their story. Nabi is required to meet with both of her writers at least a month in person and catch up in person with whatever they are planning to do with their stories. 

She had excused herself to go use the washroom and that was now ten minutes ago. 

In all honestly, she wasn't feeling too great. Nabi always enjoys her time with Mia, with the latter being more like a friend than co-worker, but Nabi had ended up getting her period early in the morning today, making her feel terrible. 

She sighed and took a one last look in the mirror before exiting the bathroom, the heels she is wearing echoing against the marble polished floor with each step she took. 

Making her way back towards the table Mia is seated at, Nabi put a smile on her face and sat down across from Mia. 

"Oh, you're back. I had thought you had ditched me," Mia said, commenting on Nabi's unusually long time in the bathroom. 

Mia is an aspiring writer and in the past two years her followers and subscribers have grown insanely huge. Although she isn't the top web book writer, Mia is most definitely in the top twenty ranks and is starting to get pretty well known.  

"Sorry. I wasn't feeling too well," Nabi apologized. 

"Why? What's wrong? Are you sick?" Mia asked, curious, taking a sip of the luxurious white wine she had ordered.

 Nabi had simply just asked for water. 

Shaking her head, Nabi explained, "No. Just mother nature."

"Oh," Mia said, immediately understanding and giving Nabi an apologetic look, "How's your brother doing by the way. I haven't heard from him for a while." 

"Suho's fine. He went to Jeju with his friends for the break, that's probably why you haven't heard from him," Nabi said, suddenly frowning and saying, "I didn't realize you still kept in touch."

"I text him every now and then to make sure he's doing fine. Ever since I met you, he's become like my own little brother too," Mia said, "I feel a sense of responsibility over him too you know." 

"Well its fine. If it makes you feel better, I haven't heard from him in a while too. He still hasn't replied back to my Happy New Year message," Nabi told him pointedly. 

Mia rolled her eyes at the fresh news and said, "Please don't tell me you paid for trip to Jeju." 

Nabi didn't say anything, only sipped on her drink.

Mia sighed as she leaned back into her chair and said, "You're too lenient with him. You shouldn't be giving him this much money. I swear you're too soft on him." 

"He's only twenty. I want him to enjoy his youth as much as he can. Besides, I don't mind paying for his expenses. It's my job," Nabi explained herself. 

"It shouldn't be your job in the first place. Nabi, you work your ass off day and night to earn the bare minimum for your family. The least he can do is be mindful of your hardwork and not waste money on useless trips. Tell him to at least get a part time job so you don't have to at least pay for him leisure activities," Mia told Nabi, her tone serious.

Mia sighed when Nabi didn't say anything and asked, "Speaking of jobs, where is your mother by the way. What's she up to now."

"I'm not too sure," Nabi shrugged before explaining, "Last time I talked to her, she was planning to travel to Cebu and stay there for a while." 

"Cebu? With who?" Mia asked. 

Again Nabi shrugged her shoulders and said, "I'm not too sure. She apparently met someone at the massage parlor she was working at. I don't even know his name. She didn't tell me." 

"Geez. Haven't you talked to her since?" Mia asked, folding her arms. 

"I did text her on New Years," Nabi said after thinking for a while. 

"And? Did she reply?" Mia asked, an eyebrow raised as she waited for Nabi to answer. 

Nabi took in a deep breath and poked her tongue against the insides of her cheeks, pondering before saying, "She read it. Didn't reply." 

Nabi suddenly shook her head sideways as if they would automatically erase the memories of her mother. 

"Anyways," Nabi started, "We should wrap up now." 

"What? Why? It's only one. We have the whole day free with us," Mia said, sounding a bit dejected, checking the time on the silver Cartier wrist watch sitting on her left arm. 

"Sorry unnie. I still have work. I have to meet with Jay this afternoon," Nabi told her. 

"Jay?" Mia made a face, "You still work with him?" 

"I have to," Nabi said, "But it's alright. I've figured how to deal with him at this point. Besides, he pays well." 

Mia sighed, as if she were still not satisfied with Nabi's answer but nonetheless said, "Alright. If you really have to. I can't stop you from doing work. But you should seriously take a break someday otherwise you'll work yourself to death."  

"It's only been two days since we re-started unnie. I have barely been working right now," Nabi assured her. 

Mia gestured towards a passing waiter to bring them the bill, her newly done french manicure shining under the yellow lights of the restaurant, and Nabi's hands automatically moved towards her purse, reaching for her wallet to pay for the lunch bill. 

However Mia was quicker and she placed her hand on top of Nabi's left hand, which is resting upon the table, and stopped her. 

"Don't. It's my treat," Mia spoke in her uniquely deep voice, her hands soft and tiny against Nabi's own rough hands. 

"But unnie. I can't let you pay. You're my customer," Nabi said, her eyebrows furrowed together. 

"Stop with the nonsense. I'm older so I'm paying," Mia immediately dismissed Nabi's thoughts and said, "Besides. You're technically my boss. If anything, I should be the one being all grateful." 

"Unnie-"

"I'm paying and end of story. We may have met due to work but that does mean we have to make our relationship all formal," Mia told her almost as if she is scolding her. 

Without even giving Nabi a chance to counter that thought, Mia immediately handed over her black card to the waiter who had come with the bill, securing their payment. 

Nabi slowly relaxed herself, letting go off her wallet, feeling guilty for not being quick enough to pay. 

"You're seriously going to get me in trouble one day unnie. I'm supposed to pay. It's the company's rule," Nabi said, sighing, not exactly happy with the outcome. 

Mia only smiled in victory. 

Later when the two women walked outside the restaurant to go on their separate ways, Nabi stopped and said, "Don't forget to email me the outline of your next three chapters by Monday. I will be forwarding you an email later today which summarizes the content we discussed today." 

"Yes ma'am," Mia said, "And you don't forget to eat properly at times and take care of yourself. As for Suho, don't worry about him, I'll deal with him myself."

Nabi shook her head at Mia's words but nonetheless smiled and bid the older woman goodbye. 

As soon as Mia disappeared out of sight, Nabi turned towards the other direction and cringed her face in pain from her lower abdomen. Her cramps were killing her today and Nabi seriously wanted to go home and sleep but she still had another meeting to go through.

Although Mia is Nabi's customer and the person she is in charge of, the two share a very informal relationship. Mia was one of the first people the company had signed a contract with and Mia's stories and web books were automatically given to Nabi to look after. Nabi now knows Mia for about two years and the latter really treats Nabi like a close friend and a younger sister. 

Even though they may not contact each other daily as friends, whenever the two do meet, Mia always treats Nabi like a close friend and makes sure to hear a detailed life update from Nabi. Moreover, Mia also has managed to meet Suho, and also treats Suho like her little brother too. 

Nabi is definitely grateful for the comfortable environment Mia has created, however at the same time Nabi cannot relax a hundred percent around Mia purely due to the basis of which their relationship has even been created. At the end of the day, their main reason of interaction is due to a work and it creates an invisible line between conversations. 

Nabi glances at the time on her phone screen and sees that she has plenty of time before her next meeting with Jake, the second writer Nabi is assigned with. 

Nabi can easily walk back to her company building, where the meeting will take place in the ground floor cafe, and she can also use public transport. 

However Nabi quickly ditched both ideas as she swiftly came up with something more convenient as another shot of brutal pain erupted in her lower abdomen. She had taken a painkiller earlier but clearly isn't enough to numb her nerves. 

Nabi clearly was is no good shape to walk all the way of her company building and neither did she have the mental energy to deal with public transport, which leaves the option of using a taxi open.

However taxis are expensive and Nabi can't exactly afford that kind of luxury at the moment. 

Yet, Nabi also possessed the company card with her. Every time an employee went out for a work related meeting, Jang gave them the company card for expenses. However Nabi didn't use it today since Mia ended up paying before Nabi could. Nabi can easily use the card for the taxi expenses since she didn't use it for lunch. 

Technically, traveling back and forth is also due to work meetings. This can easily be counted as company expenses too. 

Nabi sighed and lightly bit her lower tongue as she weighed her options and tried to work out what to do. Deep inside she wanted to take the taxi route but knew that morally it probably isn't right. 

But when another strong shot of pain hit her exactly a second later, Nabi quickly made up her mind. 

Since she was still at the entrance of the four season's hotel, Nabi could easily find a taxi and sat in it, soon reaching her company building in around fifteen minutes. 

After paying for the taxi ride, Nabi decided to straightway go to the ground floor cafe, where she is supposed to meet Jake. Their mutually decided meeting time is still thirty minutes away but Nabi decided to just arrive earlier and get some work done before her meeting, 

Ordering an iced americano, Nabi's go to coffee, she found herself a table by the window looking over to the road and sat herself down on one of its empty seat. 

Taking out her laptop form her bag, she opened it, entering her password in before getting to work. 

Since the details from her lunch with Mia were still fresh in her brain, Nabi decided to quickly write that post meeting email, summarizing the details of their meeting and sending it to Mia.

As she plugged in her bluetooth earphones and played a forty minute long lofi video she found on YouTube, Nabi immersed her self with her work, finishing her projects by prioritizing the ones with a quicker deadline. 

It has only been two days since her office restarted but Nabi already has tons of work to complete. 

The rest of the world faded away as she concentrated on her the screen in front of her, the lofi music as the only source of sound in Nabi's current world. When Nabi started to concentrate, she was skilled enough to block anything from the outside world to distract her. 

Nabi didn't like to procrastinate. Procrastination only leads to lost time and Nabi doesn't have time to loose. 

She was so lost in her own world that Nabi didn't even realize when someone had come up to her and had pulled out the chair opposite form her, sitting down on it. In fact it wasn't when Nabi caught a glance of movement from the very corner of the eye when she realized someone was sitting directly opposite from her. 

Startled, Nabi snapped her head back, her back straightening itself and her hands frozen over her keyboard, eyes wide with eyebrows furrowed together as her brain went into complete defense mode. 

Nabi had expected the person to be Jay, as such pranks can be expected from him, however the person sitting in front of her is no other than Seungcheol. 

Seungcheol, dressed in black track pants and a red padded jacket with a white beanie on top, raised one of his thick eyebrows up as a response to Nabi's somewhat violent reaction. 

Nabi couldn't see his entire face since he is wearing black mask to hide his identity, but knew that he was probably smiling under the black mask, succeeding in surprising her. 

"Seungcheol. . .what are you doing here?" Nabi said, taking her earbuds out as she made a full recovery from her shock. 

Scoups put his phone on the table, making it face downwards, and said, "I came to see you." 

"To see me?" Nabi asked, pointing at herself, surprised at the sudden development. 

Seungcheol nodded, reaching over to grab Nabi's iced Americano and take a sip of it, briefly lowering his mask. 

"I was passing by this area and I saw you through the window from the other side of the road," He explained, gesturing towards the window behind Nabi and she looked back towards it as if it would help her understand his point of view. 

"And you recognized me?" Nabi asked, genuinely surprised. 

Scoups smiled lightly at her and told her, "I could recognize you anywhere." 

Nabi blushed slightly, not knowing what to say in reply. Nabi has never been good with her words, never minding that she is a person of few words anyways. Whenever Nabi didn't know how to reply back to the other person, she would just awkwardly laugh and complement them on their outfit.

"What are you doing anyways?" Scoups asked, suddenly sliding down to the empty spot next to her so that they were now side to side and he leaned in to glance at her laptop screen.

"Just work," Nabi told him. 

"Can't you take the rest of the day off?" Scoups asked. 

Nabi shook her head and said, "I can't work. I'm at work." 

"But we haven't had a proper day out in so long," Scoups whined slightly.

"I really can't," Nabi shook her head once more, "I have a meeting in a couple of meetings."

"Meeting? When?" Scoups asked. 

"Literally in. . ."Nabi glanced down at her phone to check in time," In about five minutes. If he comes at time that is."

Scoups sighed, weighing his options. 

"Fine. I'll stay here then," He announced after thinking for a while. 

"Here?" Nabi asked. 

"Yeah. You can work until the afternoon and leave work early and then I'll take you out for dinner," Scoups said.

"But you can't just stay here. I have a meeting with our client," Nabi explained.

"That's fine. I'll just stay here at the table beside yours," Scoups said and then as if to prove his point, he slid on the couch until he was a table away.

Nabi sat bewildered, in loss of words. 

However Nabi didn't have much time to come up with response because someone was soon calling her name. 

She looked in the direction of the voice and saw that this time, it was indeed Jay who is walking towards her. 

Nabi looked at the time, unable to believe her own eyes. 

The man who is almost always fashinably late is now ten minutes early to a meeting Nabi has set up with him. Nabi never thought she would live to say the day Jay arriving to a meeting early. 

Perhaps being on time must be his new year's resolution. That's the only logical explanation Nabi can come up with for this miracle. 

Jay, on the other, walked towards Nabi with an iced Americano in his right hand, while a very expensive looking watch rested on his left wrist. A ray bans sat on on his nose bridge, like usual, and his hair looked like he just walked out of the salon. 

Jay, who has an enormous smirk sitting on his face, walked over to Nabi and stopped right in front of her and said, "Nabi darling, it's been so long."

Nabi sighed. 

It's going to be an another long meeting. 

I have been suffering through a serious writers block where I literally didn't have any motivation to write at all the past two weeks. I have a lot of ideas for this book, I just need the motivation to read. But seeing the reads cross 100 and seeing the reads go up on my other books really does make me wanna show you guys better stories. 

Thank you for always reading my books and I promise that I'm going to try my best to improve my writing. 

Have a great day everyone : )