“You know how you told me about JYP’s offer?”

It was a warm day, and Jay and Paula finished eating an early dinner of local Italian food at his penthouse patio, polishing off a bottle of red wine. They were dressed for the weather, in shorts and tees; Jay was wearing a snapback too.

After their meal at the BBQ restaurant, they kept in touch, usually through text. There were a couple times where they met up in the months that followed but they usually just messaged each other.

On this day on the patio, they hadn’t seen each other in a while, so they were catching up, talking about various things, but mostly how busy they both were: Jay with his music and Paula with finishing up the school year. And ultimately the new job presented before her.

“Yeah, what about it?” she asked after taking another sip of wine.

Her bare feet were propped up on his chair, indicative of how comfortable they were with each other in such a short amount of time. It helped both were born and raised in North America, so none of the usual Korean formalities applied.

“You gonna take it?” he continued to question, gauging her response.

“Probably,” she shrugged, “You know how I feel about this city. This is probably my only option aside from teaching, and although I enjoyed my kids, this is a new opportunity and one I think I’ll like—Why are you grilling me?”

He didn’t reply, but instead dropped, “What would you think about working for me?” without looking at her, casually sipping his drink.

She stared at him blankly. “You serious?” Paula finally uttered.

He bobbed his head in confirmation. “Wae? Shee-reo?” he teased, glancing in her direction. Why? You don’t like it?

“That’s not what I said,” she deadpanned, bringing her feet down and straightening her back, “Are we seriously talking about this?”

“We are,” Jay stated, leaning back in his chair and giving her his full