THE first thing that came to mind when I look down and spot the large, green smudge on my white top wasn't a thought that expressed annoyance or anything of the sort, but I thought about how this much is expected.

If a Monday morning presented itself, and I haven't been flashed with some kind of food or drink, then I know for sure that I wouldn't be able to think straight for the rest of the day. And just like any other regular morning, I found myself sporting the you've-been-a-bad-girl look before rushing off to my bedroom for a change.

And so my morning officially starts; if I'm not rushing from one area of my apartment to the next, then that means there's something wrong with the mobility functions of my body, if I'm not stepping on, or tripping over a toy that I swear I had put in the box, then that also means the number have toys in my household is on the decline and that's very bad.

The rush of the morning continues when I return with a new top only to find that the once occupied high chair is empty, and the cake I made the night before is strewn all over a toddler's hands and face. My morning wouldn't be complete without these string of events happening, and as I stand and stare as the young one enjoys herself, the one striking thought that runs through my mind is whether or not I packed her bag for preschool yet. 

"All gone." 

The second round of rushing begins when I start to clean up so I can finally leave the apartment; I realized that since giving birth I can never be on time for anything, so I never freak out when it dawns on me that I won't be able to make it to work on time. Since I first have to swing by the preschool before I head to the office, the constant on-the-go movement leaves little room for thoughts.

The panic sets in when I'm stuck in traffic, my three year old has kicked off her shoe and is now crying because she can't reach the floor of the car. As a mother, one of the things I hate to see is my child crying, and it doesn't matter if she brought the situation on herself, a child's tears have always been my weakness.

So then I find myself turning on my blinkers and pulling over so I can retrieve the shoe, and when that problem's solved another one always arises. And it comes in the form of my daughter's mischievous giggles. 

"Go bye-bye." 

"Mi Cha-ah, daddy lied to me when he said he's been potty training you on the weekends didn't he?" 

The world of a divorced, single mother always seem different from the lives of normal people, it's a world where everything revolves around one person, and that definitely isn't me, as my child stands at the center that world. 

"YOU'RE late, again." 

"Thank you," I gratefully accept a cup of coffee from my secretary as I step through the revolving doors of the building, "and why do you have so many case files?"

Jin Young has been my secretary/trusted paralegal for about three years now, the twenty-six year old towers over me at about five feet, seven inches, and even though his height and daily resting face makes him look really mature, he's actually a bit child-like. And that observation of mine proves to be true with each passing day, and not to mention the fact that he's now pouting at me. 

"Mr. Cha's leave officially starts today, all his cases have been reassigned to you." 

"All of them?" I stop in my tracks and look at the lanky paralegal who's looking around nervously as my voice echoes across the lobby. 

"Yes." 

I shake my head at him but continue on my way towards the elevators with Jin Young in tow. "There are approximately two hundred and fifty lawyers in this law firm, why me?" Jin Young glances away from my stare as I look at him, "what have I done wrong?" 

I groan as I enter the elevator, the other occupants steal glances at me as I make a rather childish whining sound during the elevator's ascension.

Having more cases means additional workload, which I'll just happen to take home.

The additional workload also means finding pages of case files with drawings all over them.

Or worse, ripped pages which have been chewed up by a child who lives to be mischievous. 

"You're a junior partner," I sigh at that as we step off the elevator, "you speak four languages, you win all your cases, you graduated with first-class honours from Harvard, you-"

"Have you studied my resume?" the paralegal clears his throat awkwardly at me, "anyway, I'm going to see Mr. Kim. Mr. Cha deals with mergers, acquisitions and corporate shenanigans, do you know what that entails? The boring stuff, and do you know what I do?" 

He quickly nods his head, "the fun, nail biting, heart racing stuff: civil and criminal litigation," I smile at him and continue on my way, "actually, there's no time to see Mr. Kim, you have a meeting, they're already here." 

I slowly ball my hands into fists as I try to contain my annoyance, it should be a shocker that a law firm of this size and repertoire lacks in-house communication, but what can I say? The bigger-heads just do whatever it is they feel like. 

"We do house counsel for CJ E&M," he hands me a file, "it's a media and entertainment company located in Mapo, a subsidiary of the CJ Group and in 2016 they acquired AOMG," I give him a confused look, "it's a record label." 

We continue walking towards my office, "do you have any idea what this meeting's about?" 

He quickly nods his head, "before he left, Mr. Cha and the AOMG CEOs were finalizing the deal of some distribution contract, all you have to do is notify them of the changes, which I have marked, and just get them to sign." 

I nod my head at him as I look down on the file, "good work Jin Young-ah, silver star for you." 

"Why not the gold star?" 

I give him a serious look, "Mi Cha-ah keeps escaping from the high chair that you recommended." 

I leave the paralegal standing by his lonesome in the hallway with a dejected look on his face as I enter my office. The two occupants politely stand to their feet upon my arrival, and the first thing that catches my eye are the tattooed knuckles and wrists of the shorter male.

The various CEOs that I see roll through here on a daily basis are either old, fat, bald, or a mixture of the three. "My apologies for being a bit late," I bow at them and they do so in return, "take a seat." 

I smile at the two then quickly walk over to my desk, I sigh softly as I spot that missing building block that I've been hunting for in my apartment. Why is it that Mi Cha's belongings seem to follow me everywhere? 

I pick up the block then place it on my desk as I sit, I take a deep breath then focus my attention on the two men before me. And maybe it was because I started off my morning in a rush, or it could be the fact that I was caught off guard by the sudden case assignments, but whatever reason it may be:

I now realize just how handsome the two clients are. 

"Um..." I look at that tattooed short man once more but my eyes seem to want to stay fixated on the slightly, taller man, "I was just notified of this meeting a few seconds ago, so please forgive me if I seem flustered." 

The two men nod their heads in understanding. "That's okay," the taller of the two points to the name plate on my desk, "you have a unique first name."

I blink at the devilishly handsome man then clear my throat, "ah, thank you Mr..."

"Jung, Jung Kiseok." 

"Is it like D H I A H in English? The H in your name would be silent right?" 

I nod my head at Mr. Tattoo, "exactly, and you are?" 

He smiles happily, "Park Jaebeom," now that he's sporting a smile, I can see how good-looking he is.

I nod my head as I open the file before me, "I'm not sure if he notified you beforehand, but Mr. Cha is on leave starting today so I'll be handling your contract," I spin through the pages as I speak. "I heard you've been over this more than once and the changes have been implemented."

I hand them the two similar copies, "but I'd advise you to double check if such changes are included before you sign." I reach into my pen holder and hand them the writing tools, "naturally the company will not be liable for any damages caused due to your negligence upon signing." 

"So are you saying that if we sign and CJ E&M doesn't do something that we thought was in the contract then we'll have to be responsible?" 

Mr Devilishly Handsome squints his eyes at me as he waits for my answer, but all I can do is utter a soft yes as I get lost in his gaze. I clear my throat awkwardly, "that would be the case but I've been told that there was an acquisition, so technically CJ E&M would be baring all losses, it's like stabbing yourself with your left hand, and then blaming your right hand for it, while you bleed out." 

The two men chuckle at the example, "that's funny." 

A knock comes at the door and Jin Young enters with two cups of coffee from the café downstairs and a bottle of water, he bows at the two men then hand them the beverages. I watch out of confusion as he places the bottle of water before me, but that feeling slips away as I quickly open the bottle so I could attempt to quench my sudden thirst. 

"I hope Americano suits your taste," I furrow my eyebrows as I looked at him, "the coffee machine on our floor's broken." 

No it's not you liar!

The two men thank the young paralegal in unison, he bows at them again then leaves my office in the same speed that he entered, it's so obvious that he's up to something.

"Okay, I think that's everything," Jung Devilishly Handsome hands the papers back to me with a smile, "so are you like our lawyer now?" 

I twiddle my thumbs as I think about that, "well I haven't met my supervisor yet, but I guess I'll be responsible for you two." 

Mr Park claps childishly at that, "it's nice to see a female on our legal team, I've been surrounded by men so much I think I'm going crazy." 

I chuckle at that, "ignore him," Jung Kiseok's deep voice draws me in completely, "he actually loves us." 

My heart picks up its pace as I notice the subtle rise in his upper lip as he smirks at me, and I really start to wonder what wrong I've done. Why do I have to meet a handsome man at work off all the places in South Korea?

The last handsome male I tangled with in a work-related capacity, ended up tearing out my heart and stomping all over it.

I guess the universe does like playing tricks on people. 

I glance at my watch then look at the two, "I'm happy that everything went smoothly today, and I hope everything goes well for the two of you."

Jung Kiseok seems to hold onto my hand a little longer than his colleague when I went for a parting handshake. Jin Young and I  the two to the elevator and stand there as the doors closes solidifying their exit.

Jin Young places a hand on his chest then lets out a deep breath, his shoulders visibly sag, and so he has to lean on the wall for support. "Daebak," I furrow my eyebrows as he hits his head, "I should've asked for a picture." 

"What the hell?"

The paralegal straightens up then looks at me, "you don't know?" I shake my head, "that was Jay Park and Simon Dominic." 

I raise my eyebrows at him, "who?" 

He sighs in frustration then opens his mouth, "Simon, Simon Dominic, Simon D O M I N I C oh, oh." 

I make a face, "was that an attempt at singing?" 

I turn on my heels and head back to my office, I grab my briefcase and a few files, Jin Young meets me at the door and we navigate through the many hallways as we make our way to the elevators once more. The new woman at the front desk stands upon our arrival and bows at us, I blink up at her as the natural blush of her cheeks and ears stand prominent. 

"Excuse me Lawyer Ko," she outstretches her hand and hands me piece of paper, "someone left you a note." 

She places both hands over then resumes her previous position as it seems like her legs could no longer handle the weight of her body. Jin Young and I share a look but left the young lady to herself as we heard the familiar ding of the elevator. 

"Whatever happened to Hyun Jin-ssi? She wasn't as weird as the new girl," I stuff the note in my pocket as I look at Jin Young.

"She migrated." 

"I see," I sigh, "are you ready for court today?" 

He nods his head confidently, "even though you look like someone who doesn't really have a care in the world, you're quite meticulous," he innocently shakes his fists at me, "sunbae, fighting!"

I pat his shoulder, "you still at pep talks Jin Young-ah." 

THE typical work days of a career woman includes:

• getting up early;
• getting to work;
• heading home at the end of the day to a family. 

H​​​​​​​owever, the work days of a divorced, single mother of a three year old takes an entirely different route:

The daytime seems fine as those hours are spent at the office.

But there will be moments when you get that text which tells you what classmate your child bit.

There's no such thing as staying late in the office as you have to get home so your child's caretaker can get back to her own family.

And I should mention the other moments when your child randomly asks for her father, and when you call the bastard he doesn't pick up, so you find yourself trying to prevent a breakdown from happening. 

"Where's mommy?" I cover all my face with my hair as I speak in a high pitched voice, "mommy's here!" 

Mi Cha giggles loudly as I play with her, her laughter takes over the entire apartment as I tickle her sides, and I too find myself joining in with the laughter. "You still like those jokes huh?" she crawls onto my lap and I hug her then rock her from side to side, "how much does Mi Cha love mommy?" 

She outstretches her tiny arms, "this big, mommy!"

I widen my eyes as I play along with her, "Mommy loves Mi Cha..." I stretch my arms to the ceiling, "...this big!" 

She giggles then looks up to the ceiling, when she starts to blink her eyes a few time I know that she's tired. Now, getting a three year old to settle down and take a nap is rather difficult, but this lawyer got this case down to a T.

"Mi Cha-ah, wanna cuddle?" 

"Yes, mommy." 

I tuck her small body underneath the covers of my bed then lay beside her, we stare at each other for a while, and I watch and wait patiently for her eyes to close. When I'm sure she's completely fallen asleep, I get off the bed and turn off the lights.

One of the good things about raising a child, are the moments where you're able to just enjoy the new memories that the two of you make on a daily basis. Having and raising a child is so fulfilling, and not a day has passed where I haven't felt happier that I've been blessed with such a beautiful daughter.

I won't lie by saying that being a single parent doesn't have its difficulties, but living for someone else has never felt so satisfying.

So I enjoy being on my own.

I enjoy being a divorced, single mother.

Because the happiness that I feel, is a type that can never be bought.