The next day, I was about to leave the house and take the bus to the mall for some books and school supplies, but Mr. Yoo was already standing in front of the door waiting for me.

“Sorry Miss Hyemin, Mr. Jeon has ordered me to drive you wherever you want to go out, especially since you are still not familiar with places in Seoul.”

I had wanted to explore the city alone by feet, but I guess enjoying some car ride wouldn’t be too bad. Plus, I rarely get to ride in a car before anyways. “Okay then, thanks, Mr. Yoo.”

As we were getting in the car, Mr. Yoo spoke up, “Miss, you can just call me Jaesuk, no need to call me too formally.”

“Okay, Jaesuk aju—”

“And no need to add the ajussi part, I’m not that old.” He added with a big cheesy smile.

“Then you also have to call me Hyemin without the ‘Miss’ part. Deal?”

Jaesuk hesitated for a moment before smiling again. “Deal.”

Since the car ride was going to take a while, I decided to start a conversation. “Jaesuk, how long have you worked for Mr. Jeon?”

“Over ten years, but I’ve known him for over twenty years. We used to be middle and high school classmates.”

Wow, I never expected that. “Then you should be very close to him, why do you still call him Mr. Jeon?”

“I like to call him formally when I’m working, even though he doesn’t want me to, because he is still my boss, regardless of our personal relationships. We were best friends in high school, but I never got my college degree, while he went to business school and got an MBA. He’s a very smart guy, and very loyal to the people around him.”

Wow, I feel like I’m learning more about my stepdad through Jaesuk more than himself or my mom. Maybe I can pry more information from him… “Uhmmm, you don’t have to answer this if you’re not allowed to, but I’m just curious, what happened to his first marriage?”

I had obviously touched on a very sensitive topic, but Jaesuk was still nice enough to answer. “Well, all I know is that they slowly drifted apart as Mr. Jeon focused more on work than family. I guess you could say they stopped loving each other. It was a peaceful break-up… at least between the two of them.”

At least between the two of them? Does that mean there was a third person? I figured I’d already asked enough questions about this. “Thanks Jaesuk, for telling me all this. I promise I won’t tell anyone what you told me.”

I could see him smiling through the reflection of the windshield. “No problem. I’m sure Mr. Jeon would be willing to tell you more if you asked him.”

Arriving at the mall, Jaesuk parked the car in the parking lot and followed me up to the book store. After buying all the necessary supplies, I turned to Jaesuk. “You can go home first and drop off the stuff. I want to walk around here for a bit and then go home myself.”

Jaesuk was about to object, but I beat him to it, “If Mr. Jeon blames you for not doing your job, just say that I told you to do so, and you can blame me for everything.”

He finally gave in after thinking about it for a minute. “Okay, but please do call me if you get lost or anything. And stay safe.”

“Don’t worry, I will.” I nodded before he left and walked towards the elevator.

The mall was kind of boring, so I walked back out onto the streets and continued walking around. Just when I was getting a bit thirsty, a coffee shop called Xpresso showed up. I noticed a “We’re Hiring” sign on the front window before walking in. The store was fairly empty when I walked in, probably since it was already 2PM on a weekday.

The lady behind the counter noticed my presence. “Hi, what would you like to order today?”