“Does…. This have anything to do with my parents wanting to meet you?”

 

Ji Hyo asked her boyfriend, who she had been going out with for the past year and a half. She stirred the ice americano with a straw in one hand, but her eyes were still focused on the man in front of her. She had been surprised when Bo Lin insisted that they meet up. Both of them had been rather busy for the past month and rarely had a chance to talk save for the occasional phone calls.

 

Bo Lin’s eyes grew wide for a second. “I-I suppose it does have something to do with them.”

 

He took a deep breath.

 

“Ji Hyo…. I think we should stop seeing each other.”

 

She almost spit out her drink.

 

At least he was apologetic about bailing on her (and her parents) and repeated the apologies until Ji Hyo stopped looking at him with that blank stare on her face.

 

“I really enjoyed being with you, I really did. But I kept thinking about this and I don’t think I’m ready for such a serious relationship especially now that the business is just starting to pick up.”

 

That was the gist of it anyhow.

 

“I understand.” The fraction of a smile still remained her face but her tone was colder than when they had first started. She turned around and exited the way she came from, not stomping away like she actually wanted to (even though she did kick that annoying rock on the sidewalk into the street).

 

Not the worst break up, she told herself, firmly wrapped in her blanket burrito.  The TV was on a low volume, a tub of ice cream was half gone in her fridge, and her phone was charging just outside arm’s reach.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry.

Bo Lin’s face appeared in her mind’s eye, head hung low and hands clasped together tight on his knees.

Sorry doesn’t fix anything, jerk.

 

What in the world was she supposed to tell her parents?

 

And just her luck, her mother called that night. She was practically gushing that Ji Hyo was finally bringing somebody home.

 

“I was almost starting to get worried, your relationships never lasted past five months! I knew I shouldn’t have, after all, you did get your good genes from me–”

 

In the distance she heard her father interjected, “Hey, half of those are from me!–”

 

Her mother scoffed before turning back to her daughter. “Anyways, I’m going grocery shopping tomorrow for the occasion. Does he have any allergies? I hope he likes chicken…. He’s not vegetarian is he?”

 

“Yeah, chicken’s fine, mom.” She wanted to tear her hair out. How in the world was she supposed to tell her mother that they just broke up, and she had nobody to bring home now? She’d never hear the end of of it.

 

“Ji Hyo, what’s wrong?” A sternness entered her tone just then.

 

Ji Hyo gulped.  “Nothing, nothing. Just a rough day at work… Gwang Soo got the deadlines mixed up again, so our department had to stay overtime to finish it on time so I’m just really tired. Plus I, uh, had to bring some documents home to finish.”

 

Her mother seemed to believe that and said only a few more things (to not keep the leftovers in the back of the fridge where she easily forgot about them and let them rot, and to get the persimmons since they were going to be on sale soon) before hanging up.

 

-

 

The question lingered over her head like a personal dark cloud. It had gotten to the point where she was zoning out far more times than usual. Even Suk Jin the manager who was usually oblivious as long the work was done seemed to have noticed giving her a curious look as she turned in the paperwork.

 

Break could not come fast enough.

 

Ji Hyo slumped in her seat. It was one of the few perks of having been at the office as long as she had been without getting promoted, that she knew all the little nooks and crannies of the building. The break room assigned to the marketing team was a couple floors over, but it was universally agreed by the few that knew of its existence that human resources had the best lounge area. Comfy chairs, a snack and ice cream dispenser, a couple books, not to mention the fast and reliable wifi.

Normally though she would have gone to the Cafe Bene just across from the office to grab her special blend of ice americano with caramel drizzle which would more or less get her through the rest of the day instead. But she had broken up with her then boyfriend of two years the other day in that same cafe and she did not need to relive that moment ever again, nor did she need to be reminded of that mess of a day. She was sure that Hana, the rather laidback but willowy looking barista, would have given her a look that would have spoke volumes within it. For ease of her mind, Ji Hyo was not stepping into that particular place, the best damned ice americano in the town or not.

 

Instead she made do with the vending machine coffee, too sweet smelling without any whipped cream, the warmth from the paper cup seeping into her hands. Ji Hyo stared at the dark drink hoping for some perspective and sanity and the ability to make sense of it all and that was quite a lot to ask for your average vending machine coffee*.

 

“Why aren’t at your hole at Cafe Bean or whatever it is you go to on your breaks?”

 

“Jong Kook!”

 

Jong Kook was one of the core members at the human resources department, recently made supervisor. He had also collaborated with the marketing team for a couple of their more extensive projects, which was how they had come to know each other. He had also been the one to tell her about their state-of-the-art break room, although at the time it had sorely been to rub it in.

 

“First of all it’s Cafe Bene, not Coffee Bean. And second, what I’m not allowed to use the company break room or something?”

 

“I mean I don’t see much of a reason why you would come into our building and up the elevator just to use our break room, when you’ve got a perfectly fine one in your department. Just saying you might have as well went to the cafe, since that’s the one thing our department lacks,  good coffee.”

 

“Not like you would know, am I right?” Ji Hyo looked pointedly at Jong Kook’s cup of tea.

 

His status as a health fanatic had long transcended the confines of his own department and anybody that had met the muscled man even once could attest to how much he hated coffee and fried foods, which didn’t make a lot of sense since Ji Hyo couldn’t possibly imagine giving up her love of coffee and french fries, pork cutlet bowls, or better yet fried chicken.

Jong Kook shrugged, a small smile itching at the corner of his face. He sat down on a nearby chair coffee in one hand and phone in the other.

Jong Kook was a guy that she was on pretty good terms with now that she thought of it. And like that, her brain snatched up that stray thought as it might have hit a buzzer for a million dollar question on jeopardy.

 

“Jong Kook?”

 

“Hm?” Jong Kook paused the game of Bubble Tap he was on and looked up at Ji Hyo.

 

“Are you dating anyone right now?”

 

There was a long silence, to the point where Ji Hyo was starting to think maybe she had imagined the whole situation and not said anything at all.

 

Finally, Jong Kook said, “Did you ask me if I was dating anyone right now?”

 

Ji Hyo nodded fervently.

 

“No.” And then, “Why?”

 

“Could we talk really quick, maybe not here?”

 

“Uh, sure.”

 

Jong Kook had no idea what had brought this on, and was at this point too scared to ask. There was no telling what gears were turning in Ji Hyo’s head, her eyes shining determinedly as she marched down the corridor. He supposed he could follow.

 

Once they were in a relatively isolated corner of an unused room, Ji Hyo spun on her heels.

 

“So what’s all this about? Is this about the cafe? I didn’t mean anything by it–”

 

“Hold your questions until after I finished, Jong Kook.” Ji Hyo said, gesturing towards the empty chairs in the rooms. The cheap kind that was all metal, not a single layer of padding to be found, which was probably why this room was rarely used for anything except storage.

 

Jong Kook sat himself down, feeling rather like a young intern at the mercy of the boss all over again at the sheer will that Ji Hyo was known to possess.

 

“I broke up with my boyfriend the other day in that cafe I always used to go to, so I don’t want to show my face there ever again. Second, I promised my parents I’d be bringing someone home this weekend, which was supposed to be the now ex-boyfriend, except now I don’t have anyone to bring home because I just broke up with my boyfriend obviously. And you do not want to tell my mother that 'hey I just broke up with my significant other of a year and half', when this is literally all she’s been talking about for the last couple of weeks.”

 

Ji Hyo stopped pacing for a moment and turned rather dramatically to look at Jong Kook again, who was still reeling from trying to unpack that bucket of information.

 

“So. Jong Kook, I thought, hey you’re a decent guy that I happen to know, and it turns out you’re not dating anyone either! What if you came down for the weekend as my partner, and then we’ll have my parents off our backs….” She faltered a little bit, her thoughts catching up with her words, but still determined not to feel embarrassed because embarrassment was always a far sweeter option than the wrath and disappointment of Mother Song. “And then we could break up like after, and just say it didn’t work out or something for another reason. How about it?”

 

“So… If I’m getting this right, I’m pretending your boyfriend for a week?”

 

“Basically. Yeah.”

 

Jong Kook looked thoughtful for a second, Ji Hyo literally watching with not so bated breath.

 

“Hey, my mother’s a great cook. If that helps. In any way at all.”

 

“Hmm…”

 

“Uh, I’ll stop bothering you so much at work, I promise to stop putting off my reports for the HR department–”

 

“Deal.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes.” He was suddenly pulled into a hug by Ji Hyo. “Hey, it better be some really good food.”

 

Ji Hyo just kept muttering, “Oh thank god, thanks so much Jong Kook.” Finally peeling herself away after Jong Kook pat head she added, “It’s some sort of chicken dish. Do you like chicken?”

 

Jong Kook chuckled. “I love chicken.”

 

-

 

Jong Kook was the one that suggested that they spend the next couple of days together so they could get to know each other.

 

“I’m a terrible liar, I can’t make stuff up at the drop of a hat.”

 

“Yeah, that’s more Jae Suk’s forte.”

 

“Mmhm, so it would be nice to think of a backstory or something. So I don’t have to play along if you say something ridiculous. Or just in case we get separated and they ask us questions. Match mouths.”

 

“Match mouths?”

 

“Yes. No, not like that! Come on, I mean keeping our story straight.”

 

“Ah, right. Honestly I wouldn’t put it past my mom to grill me after our dinner date for all the details in a mother-daughter bonding time.”

 

“That’s sweet,” Jong Kook said. “So in meantime, I’m guessing your dad is going to pull me aside and interrogate me while giving me the shovel talk?”

 

“My dad is about as intimidating as a muffin, you’ve got nothing to worry about. But… My mom, you know. She’s probably dying to ask questions since I haven’t brought anyone home for the holidays before.”

 

They ended up making their way to Ji Hyo’s house after work to flesh out their plans. At first it was rather serious, except once they had started talking, the conversation had ended up sidetracking to increasingly ridiculous stories.

 

“Okay, okay, last one. We met at the Han River because you were drunk and wanted to go for a dip like it was your jacuzzi in your private winter mansion. And I, being the good bystander that I was decided to fish you out–”

 

“In your favorite hoodie–”

 

“–because I didn’t want to be blamed for your death. Fine, I had to lose my hoodie too because someone was weighing me down. And then you got mad because you just wanted to take a swim and then you forced me to buy you a meal.”

 

Ji Hyo cackled, “And I was so moved by your generosity that I fell hook, line, and sinker.”

 

“And we just happened to be working for the same company, and then I kept on running into you because Suk Jin always gives me his paperwork, so we kept seeing each other until you actually asked me out for once. ”

 

“Can I say that I did it because you looked so sad, and then you spilled coffee on me because you were drunk–”

 

“Why am I always drunk? I mean that work is hard to do sober, but come on, I am not an alcoholic.”

 

“I don’t know Ji Hyo, the way I’ve seen you drink men twice your size under the table–” Jong Kook was quickly reprimanded with a glare from Ji Hyo’s end. “Fine, you spilled coffee because someone bumped into you, and then you insisted on taking my jacket and washing it.”

 

Ji Hyo nodded her approval finally, complete with a wicked grin. But nonetheless, she was having too much fun with this and continued to let her brain run through its spontaneous collection of meet-cute ideas worthy of soap operas.

 

“How about you were biking along the Han River and then you were so distracted that you ended up crashing into someone, that was me. And then you had to take me to the hospital.”

 

“I would never!” Jong Kook replied, looking much too scandalized to take seriously. “I'll have you know I haven't gotten a single ticket these past two years. What would I even get distracted by at the Han River? The same river that I pass by every single day?”

 

“Maybe there was a big accident.”

 

“...How about we don't make up a major accident for our backstory.”

 

“Fair enough.”

 

Yeah, she honestly missed talking to Jong Kook. He had made the stupid team meetings between marketing and HR more bearable somehow because he was so easy to talk to. Of course which was why he got promoted and they had to deal with someone else but moot point. He was surprisingly easy to get along with once one got past the exterior of a man who looked more fit to be a security guard than a human resources employee.

 

In the end they just decided to be honest in how they met. They worked at the same company after all, so it was just one of those very mundane romances made over a series of meetings.

 

Ji Hyo added, “Pretty boring, but believable.”

 

“It’s gets the job done,” Jong Kook offered, pushing his glasses up his nose again. At the moment they were both sitting at her dining room table, Jong Kook scribbling down something in his notebook with one hand.

 

“Jong Kook, is that the kind of attitude you bring with you to work? Doing just the bare minimum, shame on you.”

 

“Or maybe I just know how to have my priorities straight, and get other stuff done instead of spending hours on seemingly trivial stuff like a certain someone.”

 

No doubt he was feeling slightly put off since she had laughed at his glasses earlier. (“Fine, I’ll just take them off-” “No, keep them on, they look cute on you-” “But you were laughing at me-” “I wasn’t, honest!”) She really hadn’t been laughing at him, it was just something she hadn’t expected. Granted, they’d only worked together a couple times, and she could be pretty blank at times, but you would think she would have at least picked up on the fact that her friend wore glasses of all things when reading!

 

“What are you talking about? I always get my work done in a reasonable amount of time.”

 

“Always? Remember your first year here?”

 

“That was one time– just because I ended up taking forever and bothering the hell out of Suk Jin that one time for the Project Prism Tower. It was my first big project you know, and they were a pretty new company, so we had to make sure to get the details right, even though it was really crazy because they kept changing the lineups and stuff.”

 

Jong Kook allowed himself a small victory smile seeing Ji Hyo get worked up again to defend her past self. She was so fun to tease honestly.

 

“Hey, I heard it really paid off.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yeah. Really impressive for a first project. I didn’t say it was a bad thing, Ji Hyo.” There he was again, sharp tongued one moment and then placating and kind in the next. 

 

She didn’t know what to make of it.

 

“Thanks.”

 

There was a brief silence as they realized that they were getting off topic again. They had come together to discuss a coherent story that was all, not whatever it was that they were doing.

 

“How long have you guys– I mean, it’s us now, I guess– how long have we been dating?” Jong Kook asked.

 

“A year and half. I actually didn't tell them too much details so maybe thats a good thing. I literally only told them a couple months ago, and since she was so eager to meet him in person, my mom didn't ask too much questions beforehand, ”

 

“Not even his name?” Jong Kook snickered.

 

“Aish. I might have mentioned his name but she probably forgot. Worst case scenario, that's your nickname.”

 

“Got it. Anything else?”

 

“Hmm… Well we've been dating for a year and half, so.” Ji Hyo figured it was best to be straightforward. “How comfortable are you with, uh, physical affection?”

 

“We're not going to be making out in front of your mother, I hope?”

 

“No but, I don't know…. I think like holding hands and kissing should be on our radar. Make it believable.”

 

“Believable, right.” Jong Kook ran his hand through his hair. He was thoughtful for a moment, clicking the pen off, on, off.

 

Sensing his unease, Ji Hyo said, “Hey, hey we don't have to go really far if you're not comfortable. It was just a thought! I’m still thankful that you’re going this far for me.”

 

“No, I can do this. You did promise me good food and paperwork on time after all. Hand holding and hugs are fine obviously.” As if to make a point, Jong Kook rested his hand on top of hers on the table. “It’s just– no, you know what, I think I'd be good with a quick peck on the lips or cheek.”

 

“Yeah that sounds good. No need to you know–”

 

“In front of your parents no less–”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Right.”

 

It wasn’t that he would have disliked to kiss her. Ji Hyo was a perfectly attractive individual really. She was fairly popular, especially with men. It was just… strange to suddenly have to think about doing that with someone he had been on good terms, as mere friends, a couple days ago.

 

Ji Hyo stretched, feeling her joints pop nicely. “I think I'm ready to call it a day.”

 

“I don't think you even put this much effort into your work, Ji Hyo.”

 

“Our boss isn't half as scary as my mom. Plus in that case it's a group effort but this is all me. Do you really want to disappoint my own mother?”

 

“I'm sure she's a lovely lady, so no I would rather not.” Jong Kook also stood up. “Well if we're done here, I should also get back to my place.”

 

“Right, wouldn't want to keep you from doing whatever it is you do.”

 

Ji Hyo saw him off at the door, after Jong Kook did a quick once over to make sure he had everything. Not like he broug