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Bang Yongguk could hear the office phone ringing when he stepped out of his truck in front of his shop. By the second ring, he realized that his assistant must be out for lunch.

He quickly unlocked the door and sprinted for the desk.

“Husbands for hire.” he said into the phone.

There was a pause.

“Hello?” he said.

“Uh, yes, I would like to speak to the manager, please.” a woman said in a pleasantly soft voice.

“Speaking.” Yongguk was also a foreman, owner and, from the looks of things, the receptionist.

“My name is Bae Suzy. I saw your ad in the paper and would like to hire one of your men for the weekend.”

'His men?' He had two part-time assistant who helped him when he got behind on his work orders.

“Is this some kind of emergency, Miss…, uh, Bae? We’re backed up on our jobs. If you have a plumbing problem, I’m sure we can have it taken care of without working the entire weekend.”

There was a silence on the other end of the line before the woman finally said, “I don’t have a plumbing problem.”

“Well, maybe if you tell me what your problem is, I could give you some idea when I’d be able to come to your home.”

“This is really very difficult, Mr. uh…”

“Yongguk. Bang Yongguk.”

“Mr. Bang, would it be possible to meet with you this afternoon and discuss the matter? It’s rather urgent.”

Yongguk looked down to his stained Levi’s, the torn sleeve on his shirt and his battered work boots. He’d make one hell of an impression looking like this. He gave a mental shrug.”Sure. Just give me your address and I’ll......”

“I’m staying at a hotel downtown.” She said hurriedly, and gave him the name of the hotel.

'My God.  She must have a bigger problem than I had guessed if she’d had to move out of the house.'

“Right. I should be there in about half an hour.”

He heard the other person gave a sigh of obvious relief. “That will be fine. I’ll meet you in the lobby.”

“Why don’t you give me a description of yourself, so I’ll know who I’m looking for.”

“Oh! Of course, I wasn’t thinking. I’ll be wearing a dress with dark green blazer and black hair.”

'A blazer in August? ' Well, he guessed it took all kinds.

“What do you look like?” She asked.

“I’ll be wearing work clothes, brown hair.” A brief description.

“Oh,” She chuckled. “Yes, of course. I’ll see you soon, Mr. Bang.” She hung up the phone.

Yongguk replaced the cordless phone just as his assistant came sailing into the office.

“Sorry I’m late.” She said, which was the way she started every conversation they’d had in the fifteen months she’d worked for him.

“Am I scheduled for anything tomorrow?” Yongguk asked.

She sat down and opened the appointment book. “You are supposed to go to Mr. Kim’s place in the morning to give him an estimate on building deck….. then play golf with him in the afternoon.”

He and Kim Himchan had gone to school together. If he had to, he could cancel the golf date, and do the estimate on Monday. He’d wait to see what kind of emergency Miss Bae had