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The phone was ringing.  And Taehyung wasn’t in the office right now to answer it.  Nia picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Hi!  This is Jihyo Kang calling from Jung Corp.  Mr. Jung would like to schedule a business lunch with Mr. Kim.  Does he have anything open this week?”

“Uh…” Nia was beyond confused.  Since when were they getting together to have business lunches. “Hang on, I’ll check his schedule.”

She turned towards her computer and checked the schedule. “He has a lunch spot open on Thursday at one.”

“Perfect!  Thank you!  Thursday at one, you said?”

“Yeah….”

What was going on?

——————–

That week’s mysteries didn’t end there.  When Nia and Taehyung arrived at work the next day, the ground floor was buzzing with excitement.  Which was odd.  No one was ever energetic in the mornings.

“Ms. Choi, how would you like a coffee this morning, dear?”

Nia smiled at the little old lady who ran their food court.  Or, more like supervised.  Nia had asked Taehyung once why such a position even existed.  He’d simply brushed it off, so she had to assume it was a position that had previously existed that Taehyung was too nice to get rid of.

“Of course, Mrs. Lee.  Thank you.  How are your grandchildren?”

“Ah, they’re getting along just fine.  My oldest granddaughter is back in town today.  I can’t wait to see her.” Mrs. Lee handed Nia her coffee. “Here you go.  Have a nice day, Ms. Choi.”

“You too, Mrs. Lee.”

——————–

Nia still hadn’t figured out what exactly was going on in the office.  It was the afternoon, and still, everyone seemed more hyper than usual.

“Ms. Choi, do you want to go out on a girls’ night with me tonight?  Get some dinner, maybe?”

Nia looked up.  Mrs. Jeon was standing next to Taehyung’s desk, going through a pile of paperwork.

“We barely know each other, though.”

“Exactly!  I’d like to get to know you.  And we need a night out before next week.”

“Next week?”

“Did you not know?  We have a huge shoot next week with a model from Paris.  It’s gonna be a looonnnggg week.” Mrs. Jeon shook her head.

“Oh.  Sure, I guess.  I don’t think I have any plans tonight.  Where do you want to go?”

——————–

“…and then, he tripped over the package on my front porch.  I mean, how could he not notice it was there?  And it wasn’t even a small package!  It had to be at least a foot and a half tall!”

Nia laughed.  She hadn’t known this dinner was going to be so fun. “That’s how you met him?”

“Yup.  And then my parents told me I’d be tutoring him over the fall.  In all honesty, sixteen-year-old me was so mad.  I mean, first this guy gets my cat dirty, then he bruises my package, and now I have to tutor him?  Worst week ever!”

“You two got off to a bad start,” Nia responded, still laughing.

“Yep!”

“So, how did you two end up dating, then?”

“Actually, I don’t even know.  I just remember one day he was the annoying kid who needed help with math, and the next day he was the cute art nerd.  And then I never looked at him the same way again.”

Nia smiled.

“What about you?  Are you dating anyone?  Do you have some grand love story?”

“Ah…well…you see, I don’t have many memories from before I was twenty-two.”

“Oh?  Really?  May I ask why?”

“I had a brain tumor removed that year and it wiped all my memories out.  I’ve only recently recovered some of them.  They brought many surprises, though.”

“Ooo!  Like what?”

“Well, for one I discovered I had a boyfriend before my surgery that I didn’t know about.”

“Are you back together now, then?”

Nia laughed. “Not yet.  We’re getting there, I suppose.  I lucked out when I found him, but he helped me find a lot of memories without even knowing.”

“How romantic.  Is he a nice guy?”

“Oh yeah.  Super sweet.”

“Does he like kids?”

Nia paused. “That’s…a good question.” But it did trip another memory.