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“I found something.”

“What?  What did you find- wait, how did you find it?”

“Come here.” Nia grabbed Hobi’s hand and led him to her bedroom.  His eyes widened at the number of paintings she had laid out on her bed.

“I went to my parents’ house today and looked through the attic.  I found these.  I- Hobi, I think they’re a clue.  Look at them.  Do you notice any similarities?” Nia wrung her hands nervously.  She hoped she had made the right decision in trusting her fiancé.

Hobi glanced from one painting to the next before finally replying, “They all seem to have the same subject.  Who is he?”

Nia shook her head tearfully. “I don’t know.  I wish I knew.  I think he could probably tell me more about my past than my parents ever would.”

“Then let’s find him.”

Nia’s head whipped up. “What?”

“You heard me.  Let’s find him.  There has to be a key in one of these paintings to his identity.  And he’s in so many of them I’d imagine there’s a piece of him in one of your other belongings too.”

Nia threw herself at him suddenly. “Oh, Hobi, thank you!”

Hobi smiled tremulously and wrapped his arms around her. “Of course.  I’d do anything to make you happy, Nia.”

——————–

Taehyung knew something was up when Nia skipped into work on Monday.  She was never this energetic.  Except that he didn’t have to ask her to know what had happened.  He had a pretty good inclination of what it was.  He watched her take phone calls and happily greet the people on the other end all day.  It was definitely a change of pace from before.

“Mr. Kim, don’t forget about your business dinner this evening!  Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?”

Taehyung nodded. “It’s all right, you can go home.  I’d imagine you have things to do this evening.  I can handle it myself.”

Nia nodded and started to pack up her stuff when something occurred to her. “Mr. Kim, didn’t you say your girlfriend died from a brain tumor eight years ago?”

Taehyung tried to hide his grimace.  Had she figured it out?  He wasn’t sure he wanted to be the one to tell her.  Clearly, he’d been forced out of her life for a reason.

“Yes, why?” he asked hesitantly.

“Oh, nothing.” She responded distantly. “I just thought it was an odd coincidence.”

“Ok….”

Except that she was staring at him oddly now, almost like she was studying his face.  He internally cringed at the thought that she’d figured it out herself.  Even with how sweet and bubbly she was, she hated being lied to.  He remembered.  He’d tried to plan her a surprise once, but she’d detected that he’d been lying and pounced on him.  He shuddered at the thought of having that happen again.

“Well, I’ll get out of your hair now.  See you tomorrow!”

With that, she was skipping out the door.  And Taehyung was left wondering why she’d chosen that specific set of words.

——————–

That night, Nia sat in her bed studying her paintings.  The more she looked at them and the more she thought, the more the subject resembled her boss.  But she wasn’t so sure.  Even with what he’d said about his girlfriend, it could’ve all been an odd coincidence.  Except that there was one painting that stopped her short.  The mysterious man was staring up at the sky, and she’d painted his side profile.  And it reminded her forcibly of Mr. Kim’s side profile the other day.  Except now it was a bit sharper.  She nearly burst into tears in that moment.  Because suddenly she knew why he’d been so open with her.  He trusted her.  He knew her.  But how would she approach the subject with him?