A week have passed by since the New Year’s Eve and Soeun started to work again after she took a long leave to spend more time with her son. Of course this morning she felt sad to separate with him but that naughty boy didn’t even glance at his mother when he joined his friends at the day care centre.

Her mind was wondering back at the New Year celebration where a mysterious man suddenly appeared and joined their outing. Lee Junho was a stranger to her yet his appearance unexplainably brought happiness to her and of course to her son. When she watched their interaction, Soeun can’t help to feel sad for her son because he never had a chance to have a fatherly love. A few hours with Junho somehow filled Junwoo’s longing.  

Soeun still remembered the moment of their separation at the bus stop where Junho shamelessly asking for her number and she still remembered how she had ignored his request. She had learnt her lesson and although Junho seemed like a nice man, she didn’t dare to take the risk again.

“You are afraid, I get it and I understand. I won’t force you Soeun-shi but remember one thing. If we are meant to be together I’m sure we will meet again someday no matter how long will it take.”

She sighed for the ninth time already. It was his last words before she stepped into the bus that night and for some reason, his words still resonance in her mind. ‘Is he interested in me? No, it can’t be right? It was a sin to think that a gorgeous man like him have interest at a single mother like me.’ Her mind screaming for an answer.

“I understand you’ve got a Monday blues sickness especially after you took a long leave but your regular ‘sigh’ is disturbing my concentration.” Her colleague Kim Hana glared at her from her desk.

Soeun wanted to say something, maybe an apology because she didn’t want to share her story with her friend but their boss suddenly appeared from his room and clapped his hands to have their attention. “Okay listen everyone, I got a call from HR department and they requested that all staffs must gather at the ground floor now. They have an important announcement to make.”

“Is this a fire drill?” First question was asked but before her boss can answer, another question pop up. “Are we going to get sacked Mr Jang?” And then the whole office became a fish market. Everyone started to speak and Mr Jang had to massage his temple to calm his nerve before he shouted; “NO! I can assure you that you will see me again tomorrow. Shush and go to the ground floor now.”

While inside the lift, her friend Hana whispered to her ear. “Last week I’ve heard some people talking inside the toilet that our company’s president wants to introduce his successor to us. I also heard that he is the only heir left in their family.”

“Left? What do you mean by left?” Soeun asked out of curiosity.

Hana rolled her eyes at Soeun. “How can I know? I was inside the cubicle when I heard them talking. I also wondered about it because the president preferred to keep his family in private.”

“So you think we are all summoned to meet his successor?” Soeun absentmindedly asked her friend. Things like this never got her attention. It has nothing to do with her. All she wanted to do now is to be with her son and kiss him endlessly.

“Maybe.”

It took about 15 minutes to gather all staffs from the 5 storeys building. Yup, luckily it was just the branch office in Incheon. Soeun couldn’t imagine if the same situation happen at their 70 storeys headquarters in Seoul.

“Testing 1 2 3, aaa aaa testing.” All staffs immediately looked up at the corridor on the first floor where the voice coming from. Soeun scanned the corridor and recognised a few important people except the emcee. They were the VVIP of their branch and a few from the HQ. Then, her eyes landed at the youngest person among them. He looked strangely familiar and Soeun rolled her eyes as she recognised the face.

She immediately looked down and raised her hand to cover her face. She took a peek at him and frown at the sight above her. She had to questioning herself; ‘Is it really Lee Junho?’ The man’s face was definitely belongs to Lee Junho but the man himself was not like the man she met a few days ago.

His aura was dark, gloomy and sad. His eyes were soulless and he was standing there while pensively looking at nothing. Soeun curiously staring at him and hardly believing that he was the same Lee Junho. He looked lost in his own world.

The microphone was changing hand and few people started to talk but she couldn’t hear anything coming from the speaker.    

Then like a sudden glint, Soeun saw a changed on his eyes. His eyes moved a little and looked down straight into her eyes. She was shocked but for some reason, she couldn’t take away her eyes from him. He stared at her and slowly his expression changed 360 degree. He smiled a little and his small eyes started to glow. It looked like his soul finally found its owner.

To cut the story short, Lee Junho was the said successor to replace his father someday. He introduced himself and stated his vision and mission for the company. It sounded too scripted for the Lee Junho she knew but who was she to judge him. She barely knew him.

She sighed a relief when they have to go to other branches to do the same introduction. She didn’t know for how long she could hide from him especially now he already found her. Knowing his status now gave her more than enough reasons not to get involve with Mr Lee Junho. He’s a whale and she’s just a plankton. If she’s not careful enough, she might be swallowed by him. She did think to run away. She even took around 10 minutes in front of a blank word document on her laptop to construct a resignation letter but when she taught about her huge responsibilities such as her son and her house’s loan, she knew it was a stupid idea to quit from her stable job.

When her office hour ended, she kind of expecting Lee Junho would wait for her somewhere near her office. She peeked at the entrance of her office to scan outside the building. She searched for imported expensive cars but found nothing suspicious. She mentally whacked her brain and laughed at herself for suspecting that someone like him really has feeling for a single mother like her. Soeun composed herself and walked out from the building to take a train to go home.

Lee Junho smiled at the sight in front of him. He saw her happily walking towards the train station. He had waited for her for hours under the freezing weather but he didn’t want to show himself yet. He preferred to follow her because he knew she would run away from him after what had happen earlier. Thanks to her, his day didn’t end up as gloomy as he taught.

Junho was standing behind her when the train approaching. The eager commuters who couldn’t wait to go home started to push around to get into the train and he and Soeun were pushed inside. He used his body to protect her from getting crushed and she suddenly turned her body to face him. Her eyes widen in shock while all he could do was grinning at her. They were so close but they chose to keep quiet until the train reached Soeun’s destination.

“Why are you following me?” Soeun looked frustrated because he kept trailing behind her.

“Are you going to fetch Juni from the day care centre?” He changed the subject.

“Yes, but you are not answering me!”

“Where is his day care centre?”

“About 5 minute more from here and please answer my question!” Soeun couldn’t believe why she kept answering his question while he never answered hers.

“Hah, I guess that’s the place.” He pointed at the building and raced towards it without waiting for Soeun’s reply.

Soeun sighed again and shaking her head at the eager man. She followed him going inside the day care centre.

For some reasons, Junho really missed the little boy and he couldn’t wait to meet him. After their separation, he kept thinking about them. So when he saw Junwoo playing inside the day care centre, he couldn’t hide his eagerness and yelling his name; “JUNI!!” while waving at him.

The little boy who had recognised him, immediately running towards his open arms. Junho lifted him from the floor and hugged him tightly.

“Well look who’s here. I finally meet Junwoo’s father.” One of the nannies approached him and before Soeun uttered a ‘no’ he immediately spoke up.

“Nice to meet you and thank you for taking care of my son. I’m sorry I can’t come earlier but you will see me more in the future.” Junho could feel Soeun’s eyes drilling at the back of his head but he ignored her glare.

They walked together to Soeun’s apartment while he carried Junwoo. Junwoo replaying the songs he learnt from his day care centre. He asked Junho to sing together with him and he would get angry every time Junho sang the wrong lyrics. “Yah I can barely understand your gibberish language so how can you know I sang the wrong lyrics?”  Junho showed his dissatisfaction at the little boy.

“Gbjfhkmxdjdvk (stop to take his breath and continue) bfdvbkjfvndkfnvfk …. (and Junwoo’s animated explanations continued for about 3 minute).”

“…… I guess …. I am wrong then.” Junho chose to surrender and from the corner of his eyes, he saw Soeun tried to hold her laughter and automatically his lips curled up in happiness.

Finally they reach at the front door of her apartment. Soeun was keying in the code to open the door when she heard Junho’s question. “Err Soeun-shi, can I use your toilet please? I’ve been waiting for you outside your office for hours and I don’t think I can hold ‘you know what’ anymore.”

Soeun froze at his words and just stood still for a while. The door was already open but she couldn’t even move her finger that still pointing at the keyboard of the door.

“Err Miss Kim, can I use your toilet please? It’s freezing out here and I don’t think I can hold ‘you know what’ anymore.”

Another voice haunted her again. Years have passed by and she thought she was already forgetting everything about him but she could still hear his voice loud and clear.

That deep voice… how could she only realised the similarity now?

She turned around to study Junho’s face. No, they were not the same man but she couldn’t explain why she saw some similarities between them. She shook her head to gain her senses. Coincident was the only answered she preferred to believe. She didn’t want to think about him anymore. Maybe it was a famous line to get into someone’s house.

Soeun took her son from him and went inside her apartment. Junho was trailing behind her but before he took a step inside the apartment, Soeun placed her hand on his chest to stop him. “There’s a petrol station in front of my apartment and you can release ‘you know what’ there.” Then she immediately closed the door. His son staring disapprovingly at her while pouting his lips. “Hello! You just know him for two days so you don’t have the right to judge my action. He’s a stranger so you can’t definitely trust him!” She tried to convince his son not to trust him but it sounded like she tried to convince herself and she started to feel scared.