Morgan got home and plopped down on her couch; she was completely exhausted.

“Oh man what a long day”, she muttered to herself.

She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She went through the entire day in her mind: appointments set up with prospective partners, clients followed up with and travel plans made. Then her mind settled on Junsu himself.

He was shorter than most men but that didn’t mean he was not eye catching. The man had a certain charisma oozing out of him. He had black hair with unevenly cut bangs across his forehead and cascading down one side of his face. The back of his hair was closely shaved. He had broad and strong shoulders and a very firm, plump looking behind. It was unusual for a man but oh boy, was it ever tempting to grab.

Morgan laughed out loud, “Girl, you need to get out more. Stop fantasizing about your new boss.”

She wondered what he was like outside of work. He didn’t seem to be the stuffy type.

Morgan went into her room and changed into something more comfortable. She made herself some dinner and settled down at the kitchen table to eat.

Her meal was just done when her phone rang,

“Hello?” she answered.

“Hey!!!!” two voices greeted her. It was her friend Sandra along with Jaejoong; Sandra’s boyfriend.

“How are you guys?” Morgan asked. She hadn’t seen them in a few weeks.

“Us, who cares” said Jaejoong.

“Yeah, how was your first day?” Sandra said excitedly.

Morgan sighed, “Ah it was busy but that’s good, time went by fast and --”

Jaejoong interrupted, “How is your boss?”

Morgan giggled, “Junsu is really cool actually. He seems laid back and he wasn’t totally .”

“What’s with the giggle?” Sandra said. She sounded suspicious of Morgan.

“Oh well…he’s pretty hot.” Morgan shyly admitted.

“Yah, are you thinking of having a hot office romance?” Jaejoong asked, sounding entirely amused.

Morgan blushed; she was glad they couldn’t see her at the moment.

“No way; Morgan knows better than that.” Sandra scoffed.

“Yeah…I wouldn’t do that sort of thing. Imagine how awkward it would be if things didn’t work out” Morgan agreed.

The three friends talked for a while. Eventually, Morgan began to yawn and looked at her clock. She realized it was already 10 o’clock. She said her goodbyes and hung up the phone. She quickly washed her dishes, brushed her teeth and headed to bed.

Junsu got into the office and Morgan was already there. He paused at the door for a second to watch her typing away at her computer.

Her hair looked black but he knew it was browner than it seemed from far. It complimented her tanned skin.

She seemed totally focused on her screen.

He walked towards her and coughed once he reached her desk. She looked up at him with a big smile.

“Good morning, Junsu! Here are your messages” and she handed him a stack of neatly organized cue cards.

He took them and smiled back at her, “Make sure you take breaks from staring at the screen. You’ll strain your eyes if you don’t” he mentioned quietly.

He walked past her and entered his own office.

The entire day passed by quickly. A few clients came in to meet with Junsu and Morgan escorted them into the meeting room she had booked for the day.

Near the end of the day, when she had already cleared the day’s work load, she sat at her desk and crossed her arms across the desk, with her head lying on top of her arms. She took in a few deep breaths and enjoyed the quiet.

“You can go home now if you’d like”, a voice said behind her.

Morgan jumped and spun around in her chair.

She bowed her head apologetically and spoke in a rush, “I’m so sorry Mr. Kim. I wasn’t sleeping, really.”

Junsu laughed, “No need to bow, and I thought I told you that Mr. Kim is my father!”

Morgan looked up at him and saw that he had his coat on and his briefcase in his hand.

“Are you done for the day?” she asked him, timidly.

He picked at imaginary lint on his shoulder before responding, “Yes, the day is finally over for me. If you’re finished with your duties for today, this would be your cue to leave as well.”

He said goodnight and left.

Morgan sighed. “Oh man that wasn’t embarrassing at all!”

She tidied up her desk and shutdown the computer, then grabbed her coat and headed out.

She made it out of the building and was walking down the sidewalk, towards the bus stop, when her cell phone rang.

She looked down at the call display and saw her ex boyfriend’s name.

“Ugh, what does Dimitri want?” she said as she hit the Busy button.

She shoved the phone back into her pocket and kept walking. Just a few steps closer to the bus stop and the phone buzzed again. This time it was a text message,

Morgan yanked the phone out of her pocket and read the message.

“Hey, listen, I wanted to talk to you. I got a ticket, stupid cop. I need help please”

That was the entire message. Morgan went over it again and still couldn’t believe it.

She mumbled to herself, “I honestly don’t need this right now… he never changes”

Stomping angrily she finally reached the bus stop. She checked to see if the bus was near; it was nowhere in sight. She pulled out her phone again and called her ex boyfriend. He answered on the 4^th ring.

“Hey” he said, calmly.

“I read your message”, Morgan bluntly stated.

Dimitri paused before speaking carefully, “Yeah about that….I need help paying the ticket.”

Morgan bit her lower lip in frustration.

“What about your friends, can’t they help you?” she asked.

She paced back and forth with her head looking down.

“Morgan, you know I can’t rely on those guys. Come on, baby. Please help me out”, he begged.

At the term of endearment, Morgan had to bite back the urge to throw up.

“Dimitri, I’m not your baby. Haven’t been for many months now…” she told him.

He sighed, “Ok sorry but can you help?”

She didn’t like the somewhat impatient tone of his voice, but she made herself ignore it.

“How much do you need?” she asked.

“The fine is $350…..” he trailed off.

“What the is the ticket for, Dimitri?” she yelled at him. She stopped dead in her tracks. This was ridiculous.

“Well, my buddy Yuri and I were in the car. He had a chick in the back and….the ticket is for indecent exposure.”

“You’re joking, right? You called me, to ask if I would pay for your fine, a fine which you got because you and Yuri were screwing around with some in the back seat of your car. That’s basically it, right?”

There was silence on the other end of the line then Dimitri sighed.

“You really don’t know me, do you?” he asked quietly.

Morgan rolled her eyes. She knew he’d say something like that. Whenever something came up and she made the smallest criticism, Dimitri always played the victim.

“Yeah you’re a total stranger.” She said sarcastically.

“This isn’t funny, Morgan…” protested Dimitri.

Angry, Morgan snapped, “You’re right, this isn’t funny. I have a new job and I’m trying to move on. I get a call from you and you want me to pay your dirty little fine. You are so right, this isn’t funny. It’s pathetic!”

She hung up the phone and turned it off.

She shut her eyes tightly to fight back the angry tears. It felt like whenever she was moving up, he was always there to try and drag her back down.

Shaking her head to try and clear the frustration, she looked up to see if the bus was there.

“Oh come on! Where the hell is the bus?” she cried out.

On an impulse, Morgan decided to forget the bus and head down a few blocks to one of her favorite bars.

She walked into the bar and the hostess led her to a small table in a corner. When Morgan’s beer arrived, Morgan gulped down a quarter of the glass in one quick motion. She slammed the glass down and sighed in relief. She held her head in her hands and tried to lose all thoughts of Dimitri.

“Kwaenchana?” a voice said, next to her.

Morgan turned her head and saw Junsu sitting next to her. She had been so absorbed in her thoughts that she hadn’t heard him sit down.

“Junsu!” she exclaimed.

He smiled, “I hope you don’t mind me sitting here.”

She shook her head, “I don’t mind at all. What did you say, just two seconds ago…kwen…?”

He drank a little of his beer before answering, “Kwaenchana; it can mean ‘it’s alright’ or ‘are you alright’. It is Korean; I apologize but sometimes I slip into my native language.”

“Oh cool; kwaen…cha...na…” she quietly tested the word out for herself.

“Well said, but…will you answer me?” Junsu asked.

Morgan took another large swig of her beer and thought momentarily.

“It’s a long story but basically…I’m trying to move on in life and there are certain people who seem to be trying to make me fail.” She shrugged her shoulders in hopelessness.

Junsu leaned forward and looked deep into Morgan’s eyes.

“Only you can permit others to drag you down. Be strong, as I believe you already are, and ignore those people.” He said to her, in a firm voice.

She looked down at her hands, “I know I’m strong but sometimes I wonder why things are always such a struggle for me…”

Junsu reached over and patter her on the back.

“This may not be what you want to hear, but anything worthwhile always takes a lot of effort.” He said.

Morgan laughed, “You’re not the first person to tell me that. Ah, enough about me. What about you?”

Junsu drank some more beer, “What about me?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know. What are you doing here alone?”

He looked down and Morgan thought she heard him sigh, softly.

Quickly, he raised his head and half smiled at her, “Oh, you know. I’m just unwinding after a hard day’s work…”

She laughed, “I can bear witness to how hard you worked today. After all, I booked all those meetings!”

They laughed together and spent a little while longer chatting and enjoying the camaraderie.

At one point, Junsu’s cell phone vibrated. He glanced down at it and ignored the call. He gulped down the remainder of his beer and cleared his throat.

“Unfortunately, Morgan, I need to be going. Would you like a ride home?” he offered.

Morgan looked at him quizzically, wondering why he ignored the call. She shrugged it off and replied to him.

“I don’t want to be a bother; I’ll be fine on the bus.”

He stood up and put his coat on and looked down at her.

“Are you sure? It’s no problem at all to drive you.” He repeated.

She hesitantly agreed and put on her coat. Junsu paid the bill and the two walked out, Junsu leading the way to where his car was parked.

The ride to her house was short; they listened to some music on the radio and chatted a bit here and there.

Arriving at her house, Morgan grew quiet. She unbuckled her seat belt and fidgeted with her coat zipper.

Junsu watched her fiddling and smiled to himself.

“So….” Morgan trailed off, attempting to break the silence.

“I really liked relaxing with you, Morgan. It was nice to get to see you outside of the office.”

Morgan took a quick look at him and laughed awkwardly, “Yeah it was fun…”

He continued speaking, “I hope this doesn’t turn out to be the first and last time.”

She turned her head to look at him and blinked.

“Seriously?” she asked him, completely caught off guard. It wasn’t everyday that a boss says that sort of thing to an assistant.

“Yeh, I’m serious. I’d like to get to know you better, as a person, not just an assistant.” He explained.

She blinked at him more, “Alright, yeah, that sounds nice; I’d be ok with that.”

Morgan gathered her bag in her hands and turned towards him one more time.

“Thank you for the ride. Have a safe drive home; I’ll see you tomorrow at work.”

He nodded at her, “Have a good night, Morgan.”

She made it to the door and turned around. His car was there and it appeared as though he was waiting to see her walk through the door. She waved at him and turned back around to unlock her door.

She opened the door and walked through; she heard him drive away behind her.

She closed the door and fell back on it. She stood there, her back against her front door and thought aloud to herself.

“Why does he seem so lonely…?”