From Seoul With Love✅

40; Bonds Beyond Borders.

I'm alive. Got caught in university web, badly. Sha, include me in your prayers, I'm close to shutting down at this point. My brain is tired!

"I let you be unsupervised for a while, and this is what you've become." A familiar voice, etched to Amina's mind rebuked lightly, before tutting in disappointment.

A mug of warm tea, brewed to perfection with a bit more of cocoa powder just as Amina likes it was placed on the coffee table in front of her—the steam from it dancing above before disappearing into thin air.

Amina, now showered again and dressed in a warm clothing, extended her hand out from the heap of throw blanket wrapped around her to take the mug into her hold. To avoid getting burns, she pulled the sleeves of the oversized hoodie to cover her palms before wrapping it around the mug.

The warmth from it seeped into her palms, providing much needed warmth. That, along with the blanket and hoodie would've made her hot and bothered had it not been for the air conditioning that was left on the low, providing the perfect balance for her.

Everything had been set to her liking, even she couldn't deny it.

And yet still, she kept her lips shut and refused to acknowledge the other person present in the room, whom now took the position beside her on the couch, facing her. She simply kept her gaze on the table in front of her, while she took small sips of the tea.

"—What would you have done had it not been I've arrived on time? Would you have stayed under the rain like that and fallen sick, huh?"

Amina ignored the person, pretending as if she couldn't hear a thing. Instead, she blew out a small breath before bringing the mug to her lips again.

A sigh came from beside her, and from the corner of her eyes, she could see the person shaking her head. "Don't tell me you're acting this pathetic because that boy left you." The distaste in the woman's voice was hard to miss. She then scoffed. "Please, you may be a disappointment but you can't be that pathetic, right?"

Upon hearing that, Amina's head instantly whipped to the side, settling her steel gaze on the woman with slightly narrowed eyes. "What do you know, Mrs. Ibrahim?" She inquired, because she was sure as hell from the woman's tone that she knows quite a lot. "Do you have a hand in this?"

Taheera Ibrahim, Amina's step mother and the reason she left home in the first place stared at her as if she'd grown two heads, before she scoffed, looking away. "Oh, please. Save those questions for your father, not me." She threw a quick glance at her nails, to examine the new Henna she'd gotten on her nails, one of the few things she actually worries about.

Amina could only scoff as well, rolling her eyes in the process. She didn't need to press further; she could tell the woman was telling the truth. She may be a lot of things, but a liar isn't one of them. However, it doesn't make Amina detest her any less. How could she not?

The age difference between her and the woman is only eight years old, but if one sees them together, you might even mistake them for being siblings. It was one of the reasons Amina detested her quite a lot, because why would her father marry someone that young to be her mother?

She refuses to accept it. Call her childish, but she cannot fathom the thought of someone like that filling in the shoes of her late mother. For Amina who'd only ever known life through the lens of her parents, whom she needed the most after the death of her mother is nothing short of a motherly figure to fill the gap in her heart.

However, Taheera is anything but a step mother. At least, she doesn't look the part.

She's chic, all about the latest fashion trends and designer outfits. Amina dare say the woman knows more about fashion than she does, and to think she's the one in the industry. Wedding parties? She's there. Fundraiser events for the rich and famous? She's there. Anything that involves elites? She is definitely there.