The law department was empty except for Attorney Cha’s secretary who was sitting with a burger on his desk.

“Where’s everyone?” Jongin asked.

“They’ve gone for lunch.”

“Where?” his immediate question.

“Perhaps the cafeteria.” Which had Jongin abruptly spinning around and back to the elevator. Once the lift opened again he hurriedly walked down the hallway toward the cafeteria, spun around before catching sight of Namjoo sitting with Kyung at a table in the far end.

Breathing a sigh of relief that they hadn’t gone out he quickly got himself some cafeteria food and gripped his tray as he walked toward them. The surrounding workers watched curiously as he neared their table and sat down across from the two. Namjoo shot him a glance but said nothing.

As if he wasn’t there Kyung continued talking, “Hwan is talking about holding a birthday party for Yejun. Have you thought about what to buy?”

“He hasn’t mentioned it to me yet,” Namjoo told him.

Jongin wondered if the younger brother had mentioned to her about his visit to Joohwan’s workplace. Was she angry about it?

“About what I asked,” Namjoo said, “how is it going?”

What had she asked? She’d asked Kyung a favor?! What kind?!

“I’m trying to get in touch with someone a friend knows. I’ll let you know as soon as possible.” Kyung promised then glanced at his watch. “I have to go up. Field work. Are you done?”

“I’m done,” Namjoo replied. Grabbing her tray they stood up in unison and walked away together. Clamping his teeth together he looked up, eyes on Namjoo’s back growing smaller in view.

Appetite lost Jongin stood up to get rid of his tray and headed upstairs to his office. Namjoo was sitting at the couch again, typing furiously. Without saying anything to her he sat down at his desk, pretended to shuffle through some papers all the while watching her from afar. The distance between them felt like a gorge he had to jump across.

A knock on the door interrupted his watch and he turned to find Secretary Hong walk in. “The meeting is about to start.”

“Oh…” he murmured and stood to his feet, accepting the leather binder the secretary handed him. With a discreet glance at Namjoo he walked out and spent the next two hours sorely bored in the meeting room. When he returned late that afternoon, Namjoo was already gone.

Packing up he drove back to the sullen house standing like an abandoned mansion on a spooky hill. The housekeeper was done for the day, the house cleaned, mopped, and vacuumed. It was nearly empty. No Jaegeun ready to jump him or his mother coming to greet him, persuade him with dinner before bed, and no Namjoo attempting a silly dance to cheer him up.

It was lonesome.

Walking down the hallway that seemed like an endless tunnel of blues Jongin wondered what Jaegeun was up to these days. Lately he never even bothered about asking the boy about school or his friends. Everyone was on their own.

Jongin hesitated before reaching for the doorknob and opened it to find Jaegeun sitting at his desk with a textbook sprawled open in front of him. The nephew was focused, concentrated because there was nothing else worth focusing on.

Knocking, Jongin asked, “Can I come in?”

Jaegeun turned around to look at him and nodded without saying anything. He seemed, instead like a rebellious teenager, not the young six-year-old he should be. Why had he gotten mature so fast?

Taking a seat at the edge of his now bigger bed, Jongin said, “How’s school?”

“Same.” His short reply, meaning he didn’t want to talk.

Jongin pressed his lips together. Their relationship had gotten so cold after Namjoo died.

“Tomorrow, how about not going?” Jongin wondered. This had the young boy turning to look at him with wider eyes. “I mean,” Jongin hesitated, “do you want to go to work with me?”

“Why?”

“There’s someone you might want to see.”

“Who?”

“If you come with me tomorrow, you’ll find out.”

~~~~~

Namjoo just sat there in her car that early morning pondering over what she was really doing here. She kind of wished she was in Britain again, far from here. It had been so quiet there and she had been in control – well, for the most part. Why was she locked up in that office with Jongin like Rapunzel in her tower? What did he want from her exactly? Once Kyung immediately found her a reliable divorce lawyer she would bring the subject up again, but until then she didn’t think she would be able to get Jongin out of her life, at least not officially.

Grabbing the cup of coffee sitting in the cup holder she stepped out and walked into the building. Today she would have to work harder in order to go through that stack of heavy papers. Once she was done with them there would be no reason to be there in Jongin’s office. As she thought about it something struck her. Why did she have to work there in his office? Why couldn’t she take the work out and find somewhere else to work on them?

Damn, she felt stupid for not realizing that earlier. She would have to talk with Secretary Hong. The moment she stepped out of the elevator she found the man lingering around the hall like he was waiting for someone.

Hurrying toward him she began, “I have something to say.”

“Oh, yes?”

“I was thinking about bringing those papers out of the office. You know, work on them in my own office.” Namjoo said.

“Ah…um…well,” she frowned as he stammered, wondering why he also seemed unsure about it. “You’d have to talk to the Chairman about it.”

Namjoo frowned at him then turned and opened the door to walk in. Again, it was empty. Walking over to the sitting area Namjoo sat down and powered the laptop on. She was prepared to switch on her flat eye mode of irritation when the door opened. The atmosphere in the room fluctuated and Namjoo sensed something that made her turn. A step in from the doorway she recognized a young boy, staring back at her shocked, eyes stunned and face pale.

Jaegeun.

Something profound combusted in her and she slowly rose to her feet, realizing she’d forgotten the little boy. His young face broke and tears began streaming before his footsteps pounded across the room and he lunged toward her. His tiny arms locked around her waist and he wailed against her, his tears immediately soaking her blouse.

Nostalgia spread through her. Touched and extremely sorry for suddenly leaving him without even a goodbye, she hugged him, placed a hand over the back of his head. “I’m sorry, Jaegeun. I broke our promise.”

~~~~~

“Isn’t that your nephew?” Secretary Hong whispered from behind. “You and the secretary know each other?”

“Quiet,” Jongin snapped.

If he could repair a part of Jaegeun’s heart, maybe the young boy might be able to experience happiness again. He was too young to be sad and angry.

Jongin had known Namjoo would melt in the arms of Jaegeun. She just had to. He hadn’t expected that the sight of them together would have hope springing to life inside his heart.

“Sir, we have a meeting to go to.” Secretary Hong urged from behind.

Jongin bit his lower lip. He didn’t want to leave just yet. He wanted to join the warm reunion happening before his eyes, be a part of it, and share it with them.

“We’re going to be late,” Secretary Hong whispered with more urgency.

“All right, I heard you,” Jongin muttered annoyed. Catching a last glimpse of Namjoo and his nephew he turned to follow Secretary Hong out.

~~~~~

Contrary to her plans to work extremely hard that day, Namjoo sat with Jaegeun on the couch leaning against her like she was some pillow. The laptop was powered on but she hadn’t been able to touch even a document.

“Shouldn’t you be in school?” Namjoo asked digging through her bag for some sweets she knew she had stashed in there somewhere.

“Uncle said I didn’t have to go to school.”

“What?” Namjoo frowned. “Has he gone crazy?”

“I hate Uncle.” Jaegeun muttered against her arm. Namjoo turned to look at him out of surprise. She had least expected to hear that.

“No, you don’t. Don’t say that,” Namjoo ran a hand over his hair. “Your Uncle loves you and very much.”

“No he doesn’t.” Jaegeun said. “I hate him.”

Namjoo stilled, sat there for a silent second then said. “Why do you hate him, Jaegeun?”

“Uncle never let me talk about you. He won’t let anyone talk about you. He said you’re bad and that you died.” Namjoo stared at the young boy taken aback. “Grandma thinks you’re dead too. They all think you’re very bad. You’re not bad. I know you aren’t.”

“What are you talking about?”

“When you left there was a fire. Uncle went to find you but he came back without you and said you died. They all believe you’re dead!”

Confused, Namjoo frowned even more. “What fire, Jaegeun?”

“I don’t know. Uncle just said there was a fire when he went to find you and then he wouldn’t let me talk about you. Where did you go Auntie? I missed you. No one cared about me. Uncle changed. He became mean and wouldn’t play with me anymore.” Jaegeun cried. “I missed you. Why didn’t you come home?”

Questions raced through her mind as she comforted Jaegeun again. What fire? What death? She didn’t die. Two years ago she’d gone to Jeju then flown to Britain.

What exactly was going on?

~~~~~

Jaegeun was knocked out on Namjoo’s lap so she’d set the laptop on the arm of the couch, quietly typing away. She looked up when he walked in that afternoon after the meeting. Shrugging his jacket off he walked toward her and handed it to her.

“Put it on him,” Jongin said. Quietly taking it from him Namjoo gently placed the jacket over Jaegeun like a blanket. “Did he cry again?”

“A lot,” Namjoo responded.

Jongin ran his eyes over the sleeping nephew then turned to walk back to his desk but halted after three steps. Turning back around he glanced at Namjoo and hesitated, expecting her to turn him away. “Are you hungry?”

Namjoo’s unreadable eyes scanned the laptop then the window before she looked up at him. “Guess I am.”

“What do you want to eat?” he expected her to say she didn’t need him to get her anything but instead she said, “Maybe a sandwich and some water.”

“All right,” he calmly said and turned to walk back out. Once the door closed behind him he let out a deep breath and felt his heart drum madly against his chest.

Namjoo had spoken to him.

~~~~~

Namjoo found it ironic that she had actually planned to stay behind to finish up as much work as possible, but instead she was staying late because of Jaegeun. Glued to her he made it impossible for her to even get up to go to the bathroom. “Don’t leave me,” he would beg, his cry pulling her heartstrings.

Whatever had happened in the past two years, Namjoo sensed that it wasn’t the peaceful kind of happiness she’d imagined him to have. Maybe there was a story, she was starting to think, behind that angry glare Jongin gave her.

Afraid Jongin’s nephew would be bored Namjoo cut off work early and a movie she’d found on the internet, and spent the next hour or two watching it with him while Jongin worked at his desk. This was unexpected but against a little boy, there wasn’t much she could do. She was tied, she realized. The link she hadn’t thought about was here.

“Lets go home, Jaegeun,” Jongin stood up from his desk.

“No, I don’t want to.” Climbing onto the couch he refused.

Closing the window Namjoo readily shut the laptop, ready to go home and call it a day. She needed some time alone, to think. As Jongin walked over she suddenly gasped, her body forced to bend forward and she later realized Jaegeun had climbed onto her back. The child wrapped his arms around her neck at once.

“Jaegeun,” Jongin sounded more insistent.

“No. I want to be with Auntie,” Jaegeun whined.

“You need to come home with me.”

“Then lets take Auntie home too.”

Namjoo’s gaze immediately turned away from Jongin. There was no home in his home. She couldn’t even imagine going back there.

“Jaegeun,” Jongin tried more softly this time. “Auntie has her own home.”

“No,” unable to understand, Jaegeun cried. “I want to be with Auntie. If Auntie’s not home, I won’t go home.”

This fight was going nowhere. Gently biting her tongue Namjoo stood and shifted Jaegeun more correctly onto her back. “I’ll give Jaegeun a ride and drop him off at home.”

Jongin’s brow slightly deepened above his eye and he glanced at his stubborn nephew. “Then, lets do it this way. Why not let him stay with you for the night?”

Namjoo’s brow twitched at the suggestion.

“I can get some of his clothes and drop them off.”

“No.” she immediately interjected. That would mean he would need to come to her place. No way in hell would she let him know where she was staying. “I’ll take him out for a while until he’s happy and drop him off at home.”

“I’m going to stay with you,” Jaegeun insisted.

Namjoo hissed frustration through her teeth. “We can’t do that Jaegeun. You need to go home.”

“I don’t want to go home. Please, Auntie,” he begged, tightened his arms around her neck, and buried his face into her shoulder. He was no longer that of a toddler, but the move made her heart weak against him. This parentless child was sad and miserable, and believed he hated his uncle.

Groaning from the back of she gave in, defeated. “All right.”

~~~~~

Who would have thought that Jaegeun could move Namjoo’s heart to an extent that saying “No” was impossible? Jongin mused over the fact as he rode the elevator up to her place and stepped out of the lift when it arrived on her floor. Namjoo opened the door for him after he rang the doorbell but seemed to block his way in by opening only a crack of the door.

“Can I come in?” he asked. “At least, I want see Jaegeun before I leave.”

Namjoo pondered his words cautiously before reluctantly letting him in. Jaegeun was having a bowl of some food on the couch in front of the TV. As Namjoo closed the door behind him he curiously glanced around the vintage apartment. Red walls, gold curtains, and wooden floorboards. It was furnished with elegance and Namjoo even had her own view of the city just like he did in his office.

This was a much better place than the hostel. And she lived alone, he realized.

“I’ll have him in bed soon,” Namjoo promised. “Good enough for you?”

He looked at her then handed over the tiny duffel bag he’d come with. When Namjoo extended her hand out for it that was when he finally saw that her wedding ring was missing.

***Aha! So Namjoo doesn't know about the fire that took over the hostel two years ago!