July

“Hey, Rae. Thanks for coming in last minute.” Ambassador Franklin greeted Luna as he gestured towards a chair for her. Luna looked at Dave in confusion as she sat down. Ambassadors didn't sit in on performance reviews. This will either be very good or very bad, Luna reasoned.

“It's perfectly fine, gentlemen. My last class wrapped up ahead of schedule because of a fire drill.” Luna explained as she pulled a pen and notepad out of her briefcase. Not that she planned to write anything, she needed something to do with her hands.

“The content of this review shouldn't be shocking to anyone. Rae, you are a consummate professional. You get high marks all around. You're punctual, respectful, knowledgeable, resourceful and informative. You've never gotten a bad review from a school. Everyone from the principals on down think you're the best American they've ever met,” Dave joked as he shuffled through papers. “You aced the review, that was never in question.”

“So if we aren't here to discuss how I can better my performance . . .why are we here?” Luna asked, still confused about why Mike was there. His presence was making her nervous.

“We have a problem, Rae.” Mike told her stiffly.

“The problem is, you're too good at your job.” Dave explained.

“Is that possible?” Luna asked them.

“It is if you want to keep doing the job you love, where you love doing it. It's a problem because you are now on the radar.”

“Who's radar?” What the hell are they talking about?, she screamed in her head. Dave and Mike looked at each other before they both sat back in their seats. Luna started to feel physically ill.

“The embassy in Buenos Aires has need of a Public Diplomacy Officer with proficiency in both Spanish and French,” Mike began. “Rae, Ambassador Thompson has requested you by name.”

“What?” Luna asked breathlessly. She felt a wave of heat pass over her and her heart skip a beat. She dropped the notebook and pressed her hand to her chest. It felt like she was about to have another asthma attack. Luna knew of Ambassador Josephine Thompson by reputation. She was the youngest woman in U.S. history to gain an ambassadorship and Luna admired her greatly for that. She was driven, intelligent, hardworking and well respected. It would be an honor to learn under her, but . . Argentina? That's on the other side of the world! No, no. “Is this a request or an official relocation?”

“A direct request and an offer, but I can assume by your reaction that this isn't something you want,” Dave replied with sympathy as he passed her a bottle of water from his desk. “There's a way of out this, if you want to take it.”

“Anything.” Luna vowed, not bothering to ask for the stipulations. She'd do anything to stay in South Korea. Her life was in Seoul. She had friends there. A new house that she hadn't even begun to furnish. YoungBae . . .YoungBae was in South Korea. I can't leave.

“You'll have to change job titles.” Dave informed her.

“To what? Consular? Economic? I've never tried it, but I'm sure I can learn.” Luna answered with eagerness and certainty.

“No, that's too flexible. We need to move you into management.” Mike argued.

“But there aren't any management positions open.” Luna reminded him.

“There will be when I take the position in Argentina. I'll go there and you get my job here. I speak Italian, my French is okay, so learning Spanish shouldn't be that hard. Besides, Kathy isn't wild about Asia or the idea of our child growing up speaking Korean,” Dave admitted with a helpless shrug.

“You should know, Rae, that there are some changes being made to the job description. For instance, the US government is cheap and is tired of paying so much for gas mileage. What that means is, people in your department won't have to check in at the embassy every morning anymore. You'll go straight to your schools from now on.” Mike told her as he leaned forward and tapped his pen on the desk.

“You know what my job is like. I do visas, I supervise you all, I make the schedules, I meet with department heads at other embassies, I set up the visits with schools. The beauty of all that for you, will be that you can do a lot of it remotely. You'll have to hold staff meetings on Mondays, but beyond that, you're schedule is flexible and you won't have to set foot in here if you don't have to. I know much you hate sitting behind a desk.”

“There won't be as much travel for you, either. At least not official travel.” said Mike.

“I can live with that.” Luna assured them. They discussed with her what it would mean to her pay grade and benefits. More of both. Luna listened to them as best she could, but all that was getting through was 'I can stay.'

“In the interest of full disclosure, working under Ambassador Thompson could be great for your career. She's smart, ambitious and she's a bit of a feminist. She's always looking to recruit bright, young women to her team. You know she's got a great chance at being Secretary of State one day. You could follow her all the way. She keeps people close to her that she believes in and she requested you by name, Rae. You could have an ambassadorship in less than 15 years if you take the position. If you need to take some time to weight your options—”

“I don't need time,” she cut in. “I know this will sound strange based on my career choice but, I'm not one for politics. I like working with children and I like working in Asia. I've built a reputation here and I don't want to leave. The offer is tempting, but I must decline. Please convey my sincerest gratitude to Ambassador Thompson for her consideration, but . . . my place is here. I'll take the promotion.”

With that, the men stood and shook her hand as the meeting wrapped up. She thanked them both for the opportunity and promised them that they wouldn't regret the decision.

“On a personal note, are you still with that young man I met?” Mike asked her on the way out.

“Yes. He's still around.” Luna informed him with an embarrassingly happy smile.

“Is he why you looked like you were going to have a heart attack and die when I told you about Argentina?”

“He's a large part of it, yes. Also, I just bought a house. I've put down roots here and I really, really don't want to leave yet,” she confided.

“You really love him?”

“More than words can say,” Luna admitted honestly. Mike nodded his head in approval and shook her hand once more before walking to his office. Dave came out and asked Luna if she had any more questions for him. “Just one. How soon can you be gone?”

*****

“Where are we going? I thought you wanted to eat at Mercury?” YoungBae asked as he watched Luna drive in the wrong direction.

“I have two surprises for you first,” Luna drove to the house from the YG building. Luna parked on the street outside of the privacy wall and killed the engine. He looked at her curiously. “Trust me. Come on.”

“Wow. What is this place?” he asked her as he got out of the car and looked around.

“Before we get to that, I have some news,” Luna gripped his hands and took a deep breath. “I got my review today. I did very well. High marks across the board.”

“Well, that wasn't in question. What about the other part?” YoungBae asked anxiously.

“Not only am I not being transferred, I got a promotion!” she shouted excitedly. YoungBae pulled her in for a tight hug as the knot in his chest finally loosened up. He had been so worried about it since she told him about it in Japan. “It's great, baby. I'm taking over for Dave and they're changing the duties so I won't have to be in the office much—it's a long story. Whatever. What's important, is that I will be in South Korea for the foreseeable future.” she finished with a bright smile. YoungBae picked her up and spun her around in delight. When he set her down, he kissed her smiling lips.

“That is a load off of my mind, Dal-ee,” he told her with another string of kisses. He was so relieved to not have that threat hanging over them any more. “What's the other surprise?” Luna stepped on to the drive way and spread her arms. He looked at her strangely as she waved her arms. “I don't get it.”

“This house, silly! It's mine—ours—whatever,” she stammered out excitedly. “Come on, I'll show you around.” Luna grabbed his hand and pulled him across the front yard to the front steps. She removed the brick from the wall like she had seen HyoJin do and unlocked the door. She took one step inside when she felt him pull back on her hand.

“Hold on. I'm going to need you to explain this to me.”

“The house belongs—belonged—to HyoJin-halmoni and her family. When she was here two weeks ago, she sold it to me.”

“You . . . bought a house?” he asked slowly.

“Yes and I want you to live in it with me,” she said simply as she pulled him through the door. “Isn't it adorable? Maknae came over and helped me—”

“Stop. You bought a house two weeks ago, you told Lee SeungHyun about it and I'm just hearing about it now?” he turned and looked at her. She looked down at her feet and bit her lip.

“Yes, but I only called him because his mother does real-estate and I had some questions about owning property as a foreigner,” Luna explained quickly. “And, I didn't tell you about the house at first because I needed to know if I'd be transferred first. Let me show you around,” she suggested as she took his hand. She commented about changes she wanted to make and pointed out cute things about the house as they explored together. YoungBae's posture remained stiff and he didn't say a word as the tour progressed. At