Feeling his back aching, Jongin stood and stretched. Sleeping at a sauna was his last resort. He’s been looking for place to stay but because the civil service exam’s just around the corner, all the goshiwons are taken. He couldn’t afford to rent an officetel with the money that he has. The deposit and monthly rents are just so expensive.

He has lived with couple of his workmates in a basement unit before for a year and he barely survived. He became sickly because of the environment. Imagine living with icky molds with little or no sunlight at all. He was lucky enough to snag a small room when he moved out. His former landlord actually did not like to rent out the room to him because he’s not a student reviewing for the board exams. Maybe the landlord saw that he was struggling a lot that’s why he allowed him to stay there.

And look at him now, sleeping at a sauna and filling his stomach with convenience bought triangle kimbap and ramyeon.

He has checked how much money he’s got left that he could spend for himself and he could only sigh. He’s afraid that he’s going to spend the money he’s been saving for the end of the month. Asking for an advance from his boss never crossed his mind. Minjung has been too kind on him. He knows that taking advantage of that is not good.

It’s just that if his situation does not get better, he might end up sleeping on the streets.

“Hello there.”

“Oh, hello,” he greeted in return when he saw Jiyoung. She looked better than the last time that he saw her. A small smile was plastered on her face. “Boss just stepped out for a coffee break. Do you want to wait at her office?”

“Um, yeah. Sure,” she replied after thinking about it. Jongin led her to Minjung’s office.

“Would you like to drink something while waiting? Tea? Coffee? Water?”

“No, thanks,” Jiyoung replied, shaking her head with a smile. “Here, this is for you.” She handed him a box of pretty looking cupcakes and a little pot of cactus. “I haven’t properly thanked you for what you did. I was so busy crying back then.” She chuckled, finding what happened a bit funny.

“Thank you for these,” he said, smiling. He noticed that she was not wearing her ring anymore and he couldn’t help but ask. “How’s everything going? How have you been?”

“Well,” she started, touching the finger which used to have a ring around it. “I filed for divorce and I’m just waiting for the decision. It took me long enough to wake up from my delusions. I think I now fully understand what Minjung must have felt.”

Jongin noticed how she looked surprised as if she said something that she’s not supposed to say. Smoothly, she tried to change the topic. “By the way, you look dashing with that suit and tie of yours. Aren’t you allowed to wear casual clothes?” she asked and he looked down at what he was wearing.

He chuckled. “I just have this kind of clothes in my closet and most of my casual clothes are out of date so I just thought that I might as well stick with this.”

“How bad could your clothes be?”

“It’s on a level where you’ll not dare to say that you know me when you see me on the streets. My closet screams early 2000s.”

“That bad?” she asked, laughing. “Oh gosh, I just imagined that.”

“What’s bad?” Minjung asked when she entered. Jongin greeted her right away. Jiyoung was still chuckling.

“Oh, we were just talking about his closet,” Jiyoung replied and Minjung turned to Jongin with a confused expression. She actually looked amused. Minjung shook her head as she approached them.

“Getting close to my secretary, I see,” Minjung commented, tone laced with tease. “What brings you here anyway?”

“Nothing really. I just want to talk about some stuff,” Jiyoung shrugged.

Understanding what that meant, Jongin excused himself but before he could leave, Minjung called his name.

“Change of plans,” she started. “We’ll go to the factory first before going to the meeting.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The factory was a big warehouse which was converted to accommodate various machines used in making clothes. It took them an hour and a half to get there. Jongin let his eyes roam, wondering how much it must’ve taken the company to put up such workplace. Matching his pace with Minjung, they walked through rows of sewing machines.

“Manager Song,” Minjung greeted when they were a few meters away from a middle aged man. The latter bowed his head in greeting before walking towards them.

“It’s an honor to be graced by your presence, ma’am.” His tone was friendly and Jongin noticed how Minjung’s face lit up because of his comment. She looked cute.

“Good with words as usual, aren’t we?” she commented, chuckling. “By the way, this is my secretary.” She turned to Jongin as if giving him the cue to introduce himself. Jongin bowed his head.

“Hello, my name is Kim Jongin.”

The older man smiled, acknowledging him. “He is Manager Song, the one who’s in charge here in the factory,” Minjung informed, looking at Jongin. She then turned to the manager. “Now, should we start the check up?”

Minutes later, they were looking around – checking the equipments and the progress in the production. Jongin could see how much Minjung’s taking her job seriously. She was listening attentively, asking questions here and there. He, on the other hand, was attentively listening while taking down notes.

They approached the rows of sewing machines where the workers were busily working. They looked so immersed in what they were doing – running fabrics through the machines and checking the stitches. Minjung approached one worker and the latter actually looked surprised. Minjung just gave her