It was a spectacular summer day outside but Choi Young Do could barely pay attention. He was in the middle of an unusually busy day. He had been at it since 7 A.M that day and yet, he did not get any inkling that he was getting anywhere near the top, on the day’s schedule. Not to mention that he had to convene emergency show stopper meeting for two of his overseas properties. The backup generator at the seaside property in Sri Lanka had blown up and the head chef in Maldives had ‘defected’ to their competitor. He had just got off a meeting with the Swiss operational partners and was looking at a possibility of an international trip overseas to close the deal. He reached up to his nape with both hands and tried to work out the tensed muscles as he perused the long winded operational contract, cloaked in complicated legal terms, that was freshly minted from his fax machine. He soon gave up on his relaxation attempt as he got deeper and deeper into the contract, annotating a line here, a paragraph there and writing down his questions about the contract terms on bright post-its.

Suddenly the door to his office banged open and in walked a huffy face that he had not seen in a long time. Following her closely was his frantic secretary, fearful and shocked, vainly trying to put himself between the unwelcome visitor and Choi Young Do. She looked the same as she did in high school and it seemed that her ways had not changed much. She was a spoilt, entitled, rich kid, pretty much like everybody he knew. They were not great friends but they were friendly enough. And there was something else they had in common.

Lee Bo Na ignored the pleas and outstretched hands of his secretary to march up to Choi Young Do’s desk and addressed the bemused spectator directly, without preamble, as was her style.

“I did wait for 15 minutes out there. But this man said that he could not even notify you about a waiting visitor till you called him first, to indicate that you are ready! Seriously? What if there is an emergency?”

Choi Young Do looked from his poor secretary, who was standing to the side of his desk and wringing his hands in frustration and anxiety, to the flushed and annoyed face of the woman before him and asked, “Is this an emergency?”

Lee Bo Na huffed a little more, rolled her eyes and pulled out a chair and flopped down in it. Since it was clear that she had made herself comfortable, Choi Young Do nodded to his secretary that he could retreat since he had clearly lost this one. The poor man hung his head in defeat and shame and turned to leave. Choi Young Do waited for him to close the door behind him and carefully gathered up the contract he was reviewing. He took his time to set the papers aside under a fancy crystal paperweight and capped his pen.

He finally looked up to meet the annoyed stare on Lee Bo Na’s face and smirked.

“To what do I owe this honor? Has Chan-young finally ditched you? Looking for a new boyfriend?”

She bolted upright, eyes flaring, voice rising an octave.

“Ya! We are very much together. And even if we break up, I wouldn’t touch you with a barge pole.” She shivered to get her point home.

Choi Young Do was amused rather than offended. It was always so easy to rile her up. He decided to play up a bit more.

“Well, since you turned up alone I thought you had broken up. I have always seen you together. You are always joined at the hip…..like Siamese Twins.” Now he gave an exaggerated shiver to express his disgust at the thought.

Lee Bo Na narrowed her eyes at him but decided to bite back her words. She was an apparent airhead but she could be a very clever manipulator if she wanted something badly. And she was here on a mission. She did not fly all the way from USA to pick a meaningless verbal fight with the ‘grade schooler’ Choi Young Do. She needed to keep a level head. She pursed her lips and let the barb go unanswered. She spoke stiffly, expressing her exact opinion of Choi Young Do’s teasing.

“I will have you know that he is here. We travelled together and after our…..work…..is done here, we will travel back together. Right now, he is in a very important meeting. So I thought I would come by and invite you to dinner tonight.”

Choi Young Do matched her overly stiff and condescending tone as he replied.

“Ah! I am honored indeed that you so thoughtfully included me in your guest list. But, I am afraid, I have to decline. I do not accept dinner invitations at such short notice. Perhaps you would be kind enough to consult my secretary for an opening in my schedule. I am a very busy man, you see.”

Lee Bo Na knew she had to let on more to lure him. She was not here because she was fond of Choi Young Do’s company, not that she hated it either, but he was not an amiable person overall and she did not miss his company all these years. She leaned in over his desk and nodded to him to beckon him to come close, as if she was about to divulge a great secret. Choi Young Do smiled at her conspiratorial gesture and leaned in.

“This is about Kim Won and Cha Eun Sang. You need to come.”

Choi Young Do looked up sharply at her. Lee Bo Na held a finger to her lips and cast a furtive glance about as if she expected Choi Young Do’s office to be bugged. Choi Young Do was still scrutinizing her face to figure out how much she knew and what was she up to. Lee Bo Na grabbed a stack of Post-It lying on the desk and pulled out a pen from her purse. She scribbled something in haste and peeled it off. She slapped the Post-It in front of Choi Young and stood up.

“See you in the evening. You have to come. Around 7-30 is fine.” She smiled.

As soon as she left, his hapless secretary entered, apologizing profusely about his failure to stop the unwelcome visitor. Choi Young Do shut him and dismissed him with one wave of his hand. His eyes were still fixed on that Post-it, stuck on his desk at an angle. On it was an address and a phone number. He tried to decide if he should call Kim Won or Cha Eun Sang to ask how Lee Bo Na had come by this piece of critical information. Did Mr. Yoon tell her? With Kim Won’s permission? How many other people knew about this? The more people knew about it, the more chance of the news being leaked to the media. The shares of Jeguk Group would crash due to uncertainty over its Chairman’s health. Takeover attempts, distress sale, ousting Kim Won, mergers, all were a distinct possibility and he did not relish the prospect of any of those.

He was too worked up and needed a confirmation immediately. His fingers automatically called Cha Eun Sang’s phone. She had barely said ‘hello’ before he started, almost interrogating her.

“How come Lee Bo Na knows about Kim Won? She is not the most sensible person to be trusted with this piece of information. Did you tell her? Does hyung know you told her? Who else knows?”

There was an exasperated sigh on the other end before she spoke. “It’s complicated. But she has been my friend for a long time and she knows how to keep a secret despite what you think. And Chan-young……”

Choi Young Do burst out, “He knows too? What the hell? Do you have any idea why hyung wanted to keep this a secret? Do you know what this could do to the company? The share prices? The Board of Directors? How can you involve strangers in this fiasco?”

She bit out, angry and irritated, “They are not strangers. They are my friends. They are well -wishers. They want to help, willingly. They are honorable and good people. And you barely know them so don’t judge. They are helping without any expectations and arm twisting. So I will take whatever help I can get to fix this.”

Something deep inside Choi Young Do burned….jealousy may be……that she had reached out to others for help because she thought he had failed to sway Kim Won’s decision. Plus, there was the nagging realization that he had indeed failed to work his charm on Kim Won and leverage that to get him give in. Failure and jealousy always cut him deep. He was never going to win any medal for sportsmanship.

He retorted, “Then why does your ‘friend’ want my help in this matter? If they are that capable, let them handle it all. I will be glad to wash my hands off this. I have a life and no dearth of troubles of my own.”