“Good job, Ms. Song. As usual, your articles are always well written.” My boss smiles at me as he scans through the papers I just handed him. He says I have done a good job while it seems like he is not going to read them all. He sets it aside and smiles at me. “Thank you for your hard work.”

“That’s how it should be.” I smile back to which he nods in satisfaction. He says few more things before finally letting me off. Minutes later, I am walking back to my table, feeling a bit light since I am able to get rid of one workload.

“Going home early?” Kim Jong In, another writer who occupies the table opposite mine, smiles and looks at me. He probably notices the light expression on my face. I smile.

“Yup. He accepted it and the interrogation was not necessary.” I tell him and he chuckles lightly, getting the inside joke that normally, the boss would throw in a lot of question to us before accepting the articles. Some writers will go out of his office cussing and marching so aggressively out. Today, I’m not one of them, though previously, I did that, too.

“Great. How about snack before you go? My treat.” He invites, and that sounds good to me. After all, I’m feeling a bit hungry after rushing that paper for four hours straight today.

“That’s a good-“ Before I can finish the sentence, my phone rings. “Excuse me.”

I take it out of my bag to find out it is him calling. Is he going to remind me again that I am his? Is he going to tell him that he feels I’m about to eat some snack with a guy who I can feel is doing some moves to woo me? How is his instinct stronger than a girl’s?

“What’s up?” I let my greetings more minimal, careful not to add the “Did you feel I was about to cheat on you?” part.

“Can you go home early today?”

Wow. Great. Not only that he feels about my plan of getting some snack with a guy, he also feels that I can go early today. So great. Wait, did he install any tracker on me? I should check my bag later.

“I think so. Why?” Maybe he installed the tracker near my mind, that lying is not possible right now. I decide to just tell the truth.

“Great. We need to prepare something good. My parents are on their way here.”

“What?” Do I hear it wrongly? His parents? Aren’t they in Hong Kong?

“Mom just called me. They are on their way here. They will probably arrive at night.”

I learned from some random conversations with Taemin before that his parents left to Hong Kong just after he graduated from College. The couple used to hold their car manufacturing business here in Korea and managed to get on the world market. The company is really big that their name has become synonymous to luxury. Taemin refused to hold the company since he wanted to be a doctor, so while they are still the biggest stock holder in the company, someone else is at the highest office managing the whole company.

Meanwhile, the couple is now venturing into food business in Hong Kong. They have put up so many Korean restaurants there which become trademarks and a ‘must visit’ for tourists or even locals in the place.

I end the call after a minute of talking to him then I turn to my good friend Jong In to deliver the bad news. “I’m sorry, Jong In, I can’t today.”

“Aww.” I notice his expression became a bit down. “That’s sad.” He looks down, sighs heavily and shows me a bitter smile. “I thought your marriage was just a big joke. I guess not.”

“Excuse me?” I respond with surprise. I am not aware that these people in the office know about my marriage, or is it just him and some few friends?

“Saw him picking you up the last time, when I asked your colleagues about that guy, they said he’s your husband. I only laughed about it. I was never aware you’re engaged all along.” He says, and I only get confusion instead of clarification.

“You asked about him?”

“Well, yeah.” He looks down again, smiles very shyly like a teenager and looks at me with that embarrassed face. I wonder what’s up with this friend. “But nevermind. It might be a bit late but congratulations and best wishes.”

“Thank you.” I smile despite the awkwardness. “So, maybe we can grab some snack next time?”

“Sure, sure. Tell me when you’re free.” His bright smile comes to life and I’m relieved.

“Definitely.” I smile back and start gathering my things. “I’ll go on my way now. See you.”

I’m not sure if there are enough supplies at home for some ingredients tonight so I just go to the market to buy what I might need for some dishes to cook. I’m not really a good cook, okay. I’m not confident with this, so maybe I’ll ask mom’s help?

Without being hesitant about it, I dial her number. One ring and she answers it right away. “Omma, help me out.”

She chuckles on the other line before answering. “You don’t remember calling your mother unless you need something? Very ungrateful. Are you so busy with your husband?”

“Omma~~” I complain and she chuckles again. It’s not true. Though I am not able to call her for the past days, I normally would call her just to ask how they are doing at home and just to talk randomly. She’s just joking.

“Okay, okay, what’s up?”

I start telling her about Taemin’s parents coming over at home tonight and ask if she could drop by and help me with the foods. Mom knows very well that I’m not a really good cook. I can prepare food, but not as promising as others would do.

“Fine. I’ll help since I don’t want to feel embarrassed as your mother.” She answers before hanging up the phone telling that she’d meet me at the supermarket in few minutes. I sigh in relief. Thank goodness, mom’s there for the rescue.

Taemin’s parents know that we rushed the marriage because we really wanted to get Dannie right away. I think they know about Dannie’s mother being my bestfriend, too, but on the part about the two of us not being a real couple, I’m not sure. I’ll have to ask Taemin for that.

Now, if they don’t know, they we would have to act in front of them as well. At least my mom and dad knows. They know that this is just an arrangement between the two of us for the sake of the child, so there’s no reason acting around mom. I can also say what I want. Saves me some effort of being a drama queen.

Mom and I reach the house around 4:30 in the afternoon and we start preparing right away. She is a very good cook since she just loves cooking. She spends time reading some food magazine and watching some cooking show, then after a while you would see her in the kitchen trying out those recipes she learned from those shows. Unfortunately, I don’t have as much fondness in cooking as she has, so I just eat what she serves most of the time. But of course, I learned how to cook from her. I figured out it’s a must for a woman, and since some time ago, we were talking about the possibility of me moving in to some other place. There was once an offer for me to go to the other country to attend a two-month workshop for journalists. I just had to decline it for some reasons before.

While both of us are in the kitchen working together, we hear the noise coming from the door. Dannie comes in while talking to her daddy. They are laughing and she sounds excited. Perhaps, Taemin has told her that her grandparents are coming in tonight.

“You’re kinda forgetting that you never formally introduced that man to us so I’m surprised I’m helping you cook these for someone else’s parents.”

“Mom.” I complain and let out a moan but quickly recover when Dannie appears in the kitchen. “Oh, hi, sweetie, guess who’s here?” I say rather cheerfully which got my daughter’s eyes bigger.

“Grandma!” She calls loudly with a huge smile on her face. Since Danmi and I are bestfriends, they used to always go to our house before, so Dannie knows my mom well.

My mom kneels down and open her arms widely for her. “Why don’t you give grandma a huge hug?” She says lovingly and Dannie quickly complies. I hear her chuckles as my mom lifts her up and kisses her on the cheek. They look lovely together. Then out of nowhere, Taemin appears. He pauses when he meets my mom’s gaze. I exchange glances from Taemin to mom and I feel that awkward atmosphere between the three of us. Only Dannie could not feel it, I guess.

“It’s nice to see you again…. Omoni.” For some seconds, he hesitates to call her ‘omoni’ but he does anyways. My mom smiles and slowly nods.

“I heard your parents are coming over, so I’m here to help Rae In in the kitchen.” She puts Dannie down but still holds her hand. “I’ll just help Dannie change clothes and will come back in a bit.” She tells me, nods at Taemin and walks out of the kitchen with Dannie.

I think she’s trying to give the both of us some time to talk.