It was a wonderful day of summer. The perfect temperature and just the right amount of sunshine beckoned everybody to leave their indoor habitat and step outside. Apparently, the message was not lost on many.  The street outside was thronged with people, enjoying a perfect weekend. He could hear the goings on in the café below. The tinkering of china and muted voices from several conversations, interspersed with laughter, floated up to the tiny living space above the café. Choi Young Do sat next to the bay window that overlooked the streets below. There were boxes of papers on the table next to him, along with a laptop but he was not particularly anxious to get back to those. Instead he people watched from his vantage point as he nursed an extra-large iced coffee. It was fun and exciting to snoop on strangers, taking a peek into their lives for a few seconds. He was tempted to head outside and stay outside for the rest of the day.

Choi Young Do glanced at his cellphone that lay on the table. He did not want to acknowledge that a part of him was waiting for a call or text from Cha Eun Sang. He wondered if she had decided against consulting him on that contract. After all, they had parted on a bitter note….again. The game of push and pull is a part and parcel of his life as a businessman and he was rather good at it. But when it came to Cha Eun Sang, he often miscalculated. His emotions hindered his negotiation skills. A rueful smile accompanied his memory of just how often he had seen the back of that girl, walking away from him in anger, hurt or humiliation. And yet, he hoped that she would call him and give him an excuse to step outside on a beautiful day like this. He was sure that she would not be thrilled to accompany him on a long drive, beautiful day or not. Instead he settled on a venue nearby so that he could walk and soak up the sun a bit.

The call finally came in well past midday. Choi Young Do was snoozing on his mother’s bed, enjoying a catnap when his phone trilled. He smiled at the set of unknown numbers that showed up on his phone and managed to greet in an even voice though he immediately jumped off the bed and started pacing within the confines of the small bedroom in nervous anticipation.

“This is Cha Eun Sang” her voice sounded polite and hesitant, “I was wondering if you could meet with me sometime today to go over the contract.”

Choi Young Do was inexplicably happy to see that she had taken up his challenge. She had called him…..for the first time in his life. He reflexively fist bumped his own reflection in the full size mirror that hung in his mother’s bedroom.

“Well…” he wanted to sound absolutely casual, “I am spending the day near the university campus. Do you think you could come down to this part of the town?”

Cha Eun Sang was quiet for a moment as Choi Young Do allowed her the time to respond.

“Alright. Where exactly? And when?”

What she could not see was the mischievous smile that showed up on Choi Young Do’s face. He had her where he wanted her and it made him exceedingly pleased with his negotiation skills.

He gave her the general directions and told her to be there in two hours’ time. The rest of the afternoon was unproductive as Choi Young Do could not bring himself to focus on the accounting work for the café. He simply had to put it off. On the other hand, he found out that it is equally difficult to laze around when he was so looking forward to meeting someone. He forced himself to wait till it was well past the time he had quoted to Cha Eun Sang. He texted his mother about stepping out for a few hours and started walking towards the convenience store, where she was waiting.

She was already there, as he had imagined, sitting at a rickety table with a can of soda. He caught her eye as he walked up and pulled up a chair on the opposite side of the table.

“Sorry. Did I keep you waiting? I was busy with something and did not notice the time at all.”

Cha Eun Sang shrugged her shoulder and muttered, “It’s alright. Don’t worry about it.”

Somehow Choi Young Do felt a twinge of guilt along with a pang of disappointment. She was no fun when he could not elicit the kind of reaction that he wanted. He wanted to shake her up so badly.

“For shame, Cha Eun Sang! You get me to leave the comfort of my weekend rest to come help you and you don’t even bother to buy me a drink!”

All he got was a dejected sigh and a barely age appropriate eye roll as she pushed her chair out and got up. She grabbed a small wallet out of a backpack that was leaning against her chair.

“What do you want? Which one?” She asked in a voice which was better suited to deal with a difficult child.

The said overgrown child however looked totally unperturbed, leaning back in the much abused folding chair that he was occupying. She could not help but observe just how comfortable he looked, whether in a plush chair in a hotel’s restaurant or on a barely functional folding one. There was an easy grace about the way Choi Young Do handled himself, unfussy but elegant.

Choi Young Do leaned forward to peer at the drink that was sitting in front of Cha Eun Sang and said, “The same.”

As Cha Eun Sang turned around and walked into the store, Choi Young Do noticed that she was casually dressed. She was wearing a pair of dark colored jeans and a white shirt. That ensemble with that backpack could easily fool one to believe that she was a student. He flashed back to other times in the distant past, when they had met at another convenience store. The only difference was that this time she came to him, expressly to meet him. They did not just run into each other, he was not hoping to catch her……she came to him.

Cha Eun Sang came back and placed the can of soda in front him on the table and reoccupied her chair. Choi Young Do actually grabbed the can and proceeded to flip the top as he continued the conversation.

“Where is Sunny?”

She was mildly surprised that he should actually care enough to ask about Sunny when he was not around. He, after all, did not look like kind, who fawn over children.

“I left him with my mother at her shop. I will pick him up on my way back.”

Choi Young Do remembered her mother. A kind, simple and loving woman, who had once fed his soul with her home cooked meal. Over a single afternoon he had felt assuaged by her tender ministrations, when his world was ravaged by bitterness, rage and frustration.

“How is she?” he had to ask.

Surprised again, Cha Eun Sang looked hard to see if he was making small talk or asking sincerely. It seemed that he was genuinely interested for he held his gaze and his raised eyebrows prodded her for an answer.

“She is still working hard. She runs a small food joint in our old neighborhood. Still lives in that small apartment” she sighed and continued in a defeated voice, “Still refuses to move in with me or receive my financial support. Still stubborn and self-righteous as ever.”

Choi Young Do snorted, “You don’t say.”

Cha Eun Sang let that roll off her and instead reached into her backpack and pulled out the contract file and held it out to Choi Young Do.

“Smoothly done” Choi Young Do snickered, “Back to business, are we?”

He took the file and noticed that Cha Eun Sang had a pad and pen ready to take notes. He smiled a little behind the file as he thought to himself that it completed the ‘student’ look to the ‘T’. After a thorough reading that took him about 20 minutes, he set the file down and unhurriedly grabbed his soda for a sip, while Cha Eun Sang looked at him anxiously, waiting for him to speak.

He decided to lay it down bare for her. There was no point in giving misleading information, when someone had entrusted him with her faith.

“Well, it all seems to be in order. No contradictory clauses, no ambiguous conditions and seemingly clear cut deadlines. So, viewed in itself, it is fine.”

Cha Eun Sang did not seem relieved as Choi Young Do sipped his drink with apparent nonchalance. So she decided to nudge the conversation along.

“But? There’s a ‘but’ somewhere, isn’t there?”

Choi Young Do liked the fact that she was still very perceptive. She could at times read his mind too, that is when she wanted to, when she opened her heart to him a little, just a little.

He expounded like an experienced, no-nonsense adviser about the basics of a contract renewal.

“The most important thing is to study the new contract in reference to the old one. Are new the terms more favorable to you? Was there more room to negotiate better terms? How effective was the old contract in fulfilling the company’s needs? Did they fail on any of their deliverables? Did you take any punitive action?”

Choi Young Do watched as Cha Eun Sang looked like she was at sea. If she had thought that Choi Young Do was a silver bullet for all her worries, she had another think coming. If anything, she looked more anxious, her eyes filled with uncertainty and her fingers fidgeting with the pen in her hand.

Ch