until dawn | jeon jungkook

ii. a sense of home

After an hour long drive, Noor finally reached her destination.

Miss Aisha had called it a cabin but in reality, it was a beautiful traditional Hanok— similar to the one she grew up in before moving to the city, just a lot bigger.

On the outside, it was old-fashioned. There were no other houses around it, which felt a bit odd. But on the drive there, she had noticed a small shopping area about five minutes away so she wasn't that worried. There were three separate parts to the house— probably with three different sleeping areas and bathrooms— one joint kitchen and a large, open patio area.

It was nice, felt cozy. Noor walked through the front gate, "Hello? Is anyone here?"

"Oh, hello," A lady walked out from the kitchen at her voice, "You must be Noor, am I correct?"

"Yes," Noor smiled, "And you are...?"

"Kim Bora," She responded, wiping her hands on her already dirty apron before stepping towards Noor and holding out her hand for a handshake. It seemed odd that she didn't immediately bow to Noor like most people would, even if Noor never bowed back after Miss Aisha had taught her not to bow to anyone but Allah. Maybe Bora just knew to be respectful and go for a handshake instead? Or maybe, due to her hijab and abaya, she thought Noor was a foreigner and opted for the option she thought foreigners were used to? Either way, Noor returned her handshake graciously.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Bora," She responded.

"Nah, just call me Auntie," Bora waved her hand to dismiss Noor's formality, "Every one of my costumers does. It's casual around here. I'm a cool lady, you know."

"I can tell," Noor giggled at the lady's comments, "Well then Auntie, it is. I'll just pretend as if I've known you my whole life."

"Don't over do it," Bora waved her index finger in front of Noor which just made her grin more.

"Noted," Noor nodded.

"Well, come on then. Let me show your room," She waved Noor to follow her into the rightmost cabin. Noor grabbed her suitcase handle — her backpack was already around her shoulders — and followed the lady into the cabin.

It was spacious, but not very furnished. A mattress laid across the floor as a place to sleep, a dresser and a closet were pushed against two opposite walls and that was all there was for furniture. Other than that, there was a small door that Noor assumed led to a personal bathroom that she was glad for.

"It's small and humble, but trust me, it feels like home," Bora said, handing Noor sheets she had just taken out from the closet.

Noor smiled and shook her head, humble as ever, "It's perfect. Thank you for allowing me to stay here."

"It's just business. Why wouldn't I let you stay if you're paying me?"

That only made Noor smile brighter. She didn't point out how many wouldn't agree with that logic, even if it sounds dumb. She just said, "Thank you anyway."

"It's fine. The floors are heated by the way, so it's fine to sleep on the floor. Oh, and just to let you know, I'll be having another costumer rooming in the opposite room on the other side of the courtyard in three days," Bora informed, "It's a guy so just thought I'd give you a quick heads up."

Noor was glad to know this before making a mistake. "Okay, I'll be careful. Thank you, Auntie."

"Hm... If you want food, go to the market and got something. Or buy groceries. Tonight it'll be on me though. I'm making kimchi jigae and some beef dumplings," She announced loudly as she walked out of the room.

"Sounds good!" Noor called out to her, "I'll see you then."

With that, Noor slid the door of the room closed and stared at her surroundings, her hands at her waist. "This is nice," She muttered to herself, "Really nice."

..'• 🪔•'..

After changing into something more comfortable and letting her hair breathe after hours, Noor cuddled up in the blankets and grabbed her laptop to start browsing for any Halal certified food near. Thankfully, it didn't take long as a few different restaurants showed up in the exact little town she had passed to get to this place. Apparently, the little community was mostly a Muslim community.

She was ecstatic. She could take a 5 minute walk to a mosque to pray if she wanted, she had food available at all times— including delivery if she didn't feel like going out and there was even a library so she could get in some extra reading since she hadn't brought all her religious books with her. Not only that, she could maybe finally interact with fellow Korean-Muslims for the first time in her religious journey and have someone to relate to. A whole community of people like her.

She made a mental note to thank Miss Aisha whenever she called her since this was definitely her doing. She had made sure Noor would feel the most comfortable.

With that concern out of the way, she opened a new tab and searched up the latest pop culture news— something she hadn't done in a long time. She checked to see if anything about her had popped up, if any paparazzi somehow spotted her at the airport.

Thankfully, all the articles focused on BTS and their arrival back into the country. Getting caught up in the fine text of the article while trying to spot her name, she found out that the group was taking a month long break to allow themselves to breathe before they'd return back to working on new music.

Satisfied that her name (the old one that is) wasn't mentioned once, she closed her laptop and stood up. She fished out her prayer mat from her suitcase and was going to use her compass to find the direction of the Qiblah, but she realised that the ceiling already had an arrow in the direction. She smiled before laying the mat down for Isha prayer.

She wondered if the mosque was close enough that she would hear the Adhan, but she would have to wait until Fajr to find that out. Right now, she just pulled on an Abaya over her t-shirt, wrapped a hijab around her head and started her prayer, her heart immediately at ease.

Finishing up her long prayer, she did the Sunnah acts of reciting the Ayat-uk-Kursi and the dhikr after her prayer. Then, finally, she held her hands together and up, starting her long dua. "Ya Allah, give me what's best for me," She asked, her hands held out in front of her, "And keep away from me the bad. You know what's best, Allah, so keep me away from the bad. Make this journey a good one. Reunite me with my family and give them Hidayah... please ya Rab, give them Hidayah. Guide my loved ones. Save them from my fire. Save them, ya Allah..."

That's one dua she never let slip away. Everyday, she'd pray for that. Everyday, every night... every second in her heart, she prayed for them.

"Ameen," Concluding her prayer, she folded up her prayer mat. So jet lagged, she slipped off her hijab and abaya and completely forgot that the Auntie had told her to eat dinner with her— just forget to eat dinner at all and headed straight to bed, earlier than usual that night.