"11 am at boardroom." Ji Young said to Minji after the announcement of the new task. He and she are going to have a meeting, only the two of them, and discuss their 'strategic planning' for the task. This meeting is actually conducted by Ji Young, not Minji. Never. Ji Young sounded determined and optimistic when he said it to Minji and the opposite? Minji sounded restless, worried when she said "Okay."

"Where are you going?" Tiffany asked as she saw Minji parting way from her. "Hey." "Meeting!" Minji waved goodbye to Tiffany.

-----------

As soon as she arrived at the doorstep of the boardroom, JI Young is already there with papers on his hands, patiently waiting for Minji. "Act normal." She whispered and had a deep breath and entered the boardroom. "Hi." Ji Young greeted with a handsome, attractive smile. "Hi." Minji smiled back, the 'act normal' smile. They sat side by side; their arms are fee inches away from each other. Minji was wearing tight jeans and sweater while Ji Young was wearing polo inside and sweater outside that made him look handsome , even handsome. There were papers on the table in front of Minji that got her curious. "By the way, these are the information we need and going to use. Chaerin gave it to me yesterday. She said these papers include Dollar and Se Joo's schedule for one week, their connection to common persons in the industry and etcetera." They seem close, Minji thought. Chaerin immediately gave the information to Ji Young's hands which is, for Minji, unusual. As far as Minji can remember, Chaerin never did this or maybe once only and never repeated it. Chaerin lets the assigned person to find information and finish the task before the deadline. Minji wasn't looking at Ji Young as he explained what the papers are for. Instead, her eyes were fixed on the papers scattered on the table and on Ji Young's hands arranging these papers in orderly manner. The boardroom is not really the official boardroom of Seoul Mag, name of the magazine Minji and Ji Young work for. The official boardroom is located on the 7th floor of the building, near the president's office. The boardroom where Ji Young and Minji staying is just as big as Chaerin's office, good place for a small team to discuss important matters. The table is U in shape. The background is plain white for the use of projector. The boardroom can only accommodate 8 individuals. It is spacious enough for eight individuals to move around. Small urgent meetings, small presentations happen in this boardroom. "Okay." blank response for Minji. "Can we have lunch first before we start?" Ji Young asked and caught Minji's eyes. "I already ordered food for us. " He smiled.

The food was delivered all the way up to third floor, at the boardroom. Minji was busy thinking about how much is the food because she will surely going to pay for it because Ji Young didn't mention that the food is free. "Bon appetite." Ji Young said as he opened his food. Minji took random paper from the table to help her act normal because the embarrassment is rising again. The paper she picked was all about Dollar and Se Joo's schedules; she got interested and read it.  "You look fine." Ji Young said while chewing his food. You look fine. Minji was kind of startled. Did he remember? He wasn't drunk as I' am. Of course, he did! You look fine. "Me?" Minji unconsciously dropped the paper she was holding. "What do you mean?" Act normal! Her heart was starting to beat fast. She doesn't want to hear it from him. "No need to feel embarrassed about it." BOOM! And the bomb exploded. Yep. Just now. "About... what?" Did he know she was trying to act normal? She was struggling. Is it obvious? "At Banpo bridge. Han River. Two bottles of soju. Sharks." eyes starting to get wide. "You remembered it... all?" "Yes." Minji was looking at Ji Young. She was mentally blocked and started shaking her hands below the table and closed her eyes, zipped her lips and head was at down position. She was blushing! It is exactly the position of an embarrass person. Ji Young watched her, smirking. "What are you doing?" he asked. "I'm trying to stay normal." She said, almost a whisper, as she continued shaking her hands. "Don't be too embarrassed. You were drunk. It's understandable." Understandable? How could he use this word? "Why did you suddenly open about it?" Her hands stopped shaking, faced Ji Young and still blushing. "Because I felt like you're not going to talk if I'm not going to spit it out." "I'm actually going to talk. I just needed time." "And I also felt like you're avoiding contacts with me which will make our task difficult." "I'm actually going to have contact with you. I just needed time." "Really? I guess I should've waited longer." This is so unbelievable! "Can we just forget about it?" "Why?" She just has to admit it since he already opened about it. "Because it's too embarrassing." She said cutely and it was completely unintentional. It's the embarrassment that controls her now. Additionally, the blush got redder. "But that was out first meeting." Ji Young was having... fun. The smile says it all. "Just erase that from your memory. Let's start again."Minji cleared . "Hi, I'm Kim Minji, an entertainment writer at Seoul Mag." She offered her hand. She was feeling desperate. "Lee Ji Young." He shakes hand with her, playing along with her. "There. Out first meeting." Minji was feeling confident this time. Unintentionally cute, Ji Young thought, smiling. He can't hide it. "Okay. I already erased it from my memory." He continued eating. Minji exhaled. Ji Young heard it loud and clear. Minji's face hissed from blushing as well as her feelings. "It's obvious, you know. With your gestures, eye contacts with me. It's obvious. You're embarrassed." Ji Young said. He seems like he's teasing Minji. And he was. "Are you teasing me?" Minji figured it out. "Nope. We just met here. Why would I tease you?" "You sound like you're teasing me. And you said there were sharks at the river." "And you believed it." "Because I was drunk." "I was trying to get you out of danger." "I wasn't planning to jump." "Well, you look like you're going to jump." Minji didn't respond. I thought it was already erased, Minji thought as she find the conversation absurd because they were like reminiscing the scenes at the Banpo bridge. Embarrassing! "Let's just forget about it. Once again. We have to make a promise." Minji raised her pinky finger. Ji Young stared at it. "What promise?" "That we will never ever talk about it again. Ever. And let's bury it forever. Promise?" Minji really looked serious and was waiting for Ji Young to respond. Ji Young placed down his spoon and pinky promised with her. "Promise." And the promise was sealed. "Is it really that embarrassing?" Ji Young said. Minji glared at him, a death glare. Ji Young busied himself with his meal.

----------------

The clouds outside the building were starting to get greyer and darker. It's going to rain any minute now. After 10 hours of working at the office which were though for Minji, it's time to go home. She was shutting down her PC, placing pens, pencils, correction tape, tissue box, highlighters back to their rightful place. She took her coat and slang on her shoulder bag, flipped her hair and checked everything her brain can remember to check before leaving her cubicle, the office and the building. "Minji-ah!" Tiffany approached, ready to go home also. "You ready?" "Yeah." Suddenly, sound of thunder came. It was so loud that is made the office workers nervous. "That was loud. Oh boy, it's going to rain hard." Tiffany looked at Minji expecting her to response. But Minji was frozen right where she's standing, staring at the clouds outside the building's windows. She didn't seem afraid or nervous about the loud thunderclap that filled the whole building. Then tears started to form below her beautiful eyes. Her blank face was remembering a painful memory right after the thunder roared so loud. Tiffany found herself shocked as she saw the tears fall from Minji's eyes. She was crying silently. "Minji." Tiffany called not sure what to do. "Are you... okay?" Minji turned to her and wiped her tears and forced a smile. "Yeah." She chuckled, fake chuckle, forced chuckle, the sad one. "Silly. Let's go before the rain pour." "O-okay."

--------------

On their way home, the ride was silent. Tiffany was just glancing on Minji who is sitting at the passenger's seat. She wanted to talk but something's stopping her, it didn't feel right either. Minji was crying. Tiffany felt sad for her friend that she have known for four and a half years.

On their way home, the rain poured. It was heavy rain drops coming from the sky. The rain drops were like small pieces of ice falling on Tiffany's car roof and glass. It was cold even if the conditioner was off. Thunders are getting louder and louder. It was traffic. Everyone has their umbrella. The aura outside th car looks sad and heavy and so with inside the car.

On their way home, Minji was looking outside the car's window, observing people, listening to countless thunderclaps and rain drops but the coldness, she didn't feel it. She's sad. She's down again after she remembered her mom along the loud thunders. Mom's sad again, she thought. I'm sorry mom. I couldn't keep my promise. It's just so hard. It's so hard to be happy, mom.

-----------

They had arrived at Minji's house and the rain stopped pouring. Minji and Tiffany stepped outside the car and together stood in front of Minji's door and faced each other. "Thank you for the ride." "You sure you're okay?" "Yeah. Don't worry. I'll continue to be okay." Silence. Then Tiffany hugged her. She didn't say a word. Her hug said thousands of words and Minji got it so she hugged back without also saying a word. "I'll go inside now." "Yeah sure." "Good night." "Good night." Minji went inside and Tiffany left. Somehow, Tiffany's hug had lessened the sadness she was feeling.

As she entered, she sat on the couch that is on the left side of the door. She sat there silently. Her mind was blank, no thoughts at all. She felt like she didn't want to move. But her heart was so loud that it's the only thing she can hear. Her heart was screaming out of pain. The pain she had kept for so many years. She sat there like a statue. All of a sudden, the telephone rang. Her frozen body moved and picked up the telephone. "Hello. Kim Minji." Her voice was sad. "Hey, Minji. It's unnie." Her eldest sister called, her eldest step sister. "Oh." She sounded uninterested. She wasn't happy her step sister called and it's been a while since her sister called. Maybe she'll check on Minji or there's something else. "How are you?" "I'm doing fine." Minji was clearing . "That's good to hear." "Why did you call?" "I called because..." the eldest sister's voice turned sad. "...you know that tomorrow's dad death anniversary, right?" Minji didn't respond. She didn't know about it, honestly. She lost contact, communication with her father. She lost her relationship with her father. Minji leaned on the wall. "You'll come right?" She didn't respond again. Her sister can hear her breathe. "Minji?" "I don't know." You have to come. You need to. You should come." "Look, I have to finish something important. I and my partner are going to start tomorrow. It's very urgent because it's due in six days." "But it's dad. Everyone will come. Can't you skip just one day from work?" "No." Everyone will come. Hearing this made Minji to make her final decision and that is "Unnie, I'm sorry. I can't come." "Minji, if the reason you can't come is because of the past-""Past?" Minji smiled, she got annoyed and offended. "I need to hang up." "Minji." "Bye." And she did hang up.

Her feelings got heavier after the call. Why does she have to call? The rain poured again. She buried her face with her hands. It's painful. She got back to the couch and there she was again, just like a statue. But this time, she's a statue that is crying. She saw a paper that is ready to be thrown. She took it. The paper was crumpled. She took a ball pen from her bag. She wrote this while crying:

When thunder appeared, I remembered how my mom left me. She left me and made me promise to her that I will be happy, live happy. But I can't keep it. The thunders, I knew my mom is sad. I have such a miserable life. The thunders...

She cried that her tears continuously fell on the paper.

She cried that she crumpled the paper back with her hands and didn't throw it anywhere, she held it.

I have such a miserable life.                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Note: Dollar and Se Joo are only fictional characters.