The cool breeze of the winter blew past my face sending a shiver all over. I knew it was a sign to start drinking the hot cocoa I ordered.
Just as I was sipping on the warm melted chocolate that gave my throat that sweet warm feeling, Haewon arrived with her own cup of cocoa.
She put on the best smile she could give and said, "Hope I didn't make you wait too long."
"It's fine, I don't have classes for today and I had the cocoa to keep me company," I humored and she just let out a low laught then started paying attention to her cocoa.
Her smile could be said to be beautiful but they were clearly forced. No matter how widely she smiled you could still see the sadness behind her eyes.
The past few months here in London had slowly drained her of who she was.
She became quiet. She lost her spunk. She lost her snark.
Although, we don't really mention it much but I can still remember when I first met her back when i was 16 and still studying in Korea.
It was the usual setting of a company dinner. An overly fancy restaurant used to gloat of what your riches can buy you.
Fancy food that are expensive but never filling and genuinely I was bored out of my mind. I thought I had to sit through another boring adult talk and staring at other people who are supposedly strangers but are basically wearing the same thing. All of them just looked boring, bland, and corporate.
That was until she walked in. When everyone was wearing dresses and pencil skirts, she wore ripped skinny jeans and a baggy shirt, topped off with a shiny red lip that could be mistaken for a bright red ruby.
Even her hair was hard to miss. Long jet black hair paired with bangs that covered her brows.
The whole night, I couldn't help but stare at be in awe of how much she stood up for herself even when her mother made jabs at what she was wearing.
I would be lying if I didn't say she was intriguing.
I have met many girls but she somehow not only managed to break regular beauty and fashion standards but also somehow simultaneously broke society's norms.
Yet here I am watching her slowly waste away into a pit of depression that she can't even admit to herself.
I had even caught her once just crying in front of the bathroom mirror and just cutting her hair. She parted her bangs away and even dyed her hair brown. She took on a new persona to comfort herself somehow. She abandoned her black clothes and started wearing skirts and dull colored clothing.
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