I remained seated on the cold stone wall outside of Le Dolce. Shin was almost done with his evening, and final, shift at the café. Because I finish up work at the studio earlier than him, I usually take a cab over and wait for him, then we walk back to our apartment together. I leaned my head against the bark of the old oak tree behind me. Cool gusts of wind blew across my skin, causing me to shiver slightly and pull my wool coat closer to my body. The winter weather was being even harsher than usual in London this year. I was also starting to feel a little sick, making matters worse. Shin moved here to London with his band about two years ago, also when we met and first started dating. Now that we had moved in with each other, we both needed to work extra hard to pay off our share of the rent, so missing even one day of work might mean no food for a couple of days. I pulled my arms over my queasy feeling stomach in hopes of it feeling better.
"Rose!" Shin's voice called out to me from the door of the café. I looked up and smiled. He ran over to me and hugged me tightly. I buried my face in his thick jacket and inhaled. He always smelled so good and in a way, comforting.
"How was work? I hope you didn't sneak any snacks again!" I joked. We started walking down the brick sidewalk heading to our apartment building. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and kept me close to his side.
"Don't worry, I didn't today. Well, actually just a cookie…but that was it," I laughed and playfully looked up at him. He looked down at me with his adorable crooked smile.
"Just don't get caught! We don't want your boss yelling at you again!" I said to him, leaning into his firm grip on my shoulder.
"Trust me, he won't. He's been out sick for a week now and I doubt the other employees would rat me out. They do it too!"
"Shin, what am I gonna do with you?"
"Love me forever and ever and ever?" I giggled. He says the cutest things sometimes.
"You already know I will," I assured him. He then pulled me around so that I was standing in front of him and kissed me. It took me by surprise, so I just stood there blushing for a moment, until it dawned on me that he was kissing me, and I kissed him back. After about a minute we separated and continued on our way home.