Such a magnificent view greeted her when she stepped outside; the trees have started to change their colors, the foliages now turning into deep oranges, with some reddish spurt here and there, yellows and browns instead of just the usual greens. Autumn for her signals a change is coming. 

Dusk is starting to settle in and people are now hurrying to get home, some to a waiting family, like the eager young father she saw clutching on some cans of milk, others to probably an empty home like the young woman she saw balancing her bags and Chinese take-out. 

She went one block after the other, just walking around. To a casual observer she looked like a lost student aimlessly wandering the streets in search of a familiar place, for her she was walking with a silent purpose, letting her feet direct her to a gallery whose window displays a most intriguing painting, the boy trapped in a human heart. She finally reached East Lane Street and only needed to cross one more block to get to the gallery. 

She was waiting by the curb for the pedestrian light to turn green, when a black sedan pulled up in front of her. 

Jiyong set his black sedan for a quick idle, his hazard lights blinking as he stopped by East Lane Street to drop off a business associate’s daughter who made no secret of her “undying affections” for him. He kept glancing at his watch with the full intention of letting her know she was rather keeping him from an important appointment. When she didn’t make a move to get off, he politely said, “Annie, this is your stop. I still got another meeting to get to I’m sorry I can’t have coffee at your place.”

“I’m sure daddy would want for you to drop by and taste the new coffee beans I ordered straight from Brazil. It’s called Sumatra beans,” she said proud at her “knowledge” of coffee beans. She reached out to pull Jiyong for a kiss.

Jiyong raised his eyebrows and balked at both what she said about the coffee beans and trying to do, “Uh, that’s good but I am really running late.” 

Meanwhile, Chae rin was about to cross the zebra lane when the pedestrian light suddenly changed to red and a car sped by, almost hitting her. She quickly stepped back but missed the curb and hit her right elbow on the idling black sedan.

The speeding car caught Jiyong’s attention and he automatically craned his neck back to check if there was anyone unfortunate enough to have been hit by the car. He didn’t see anyone lying unconscious on the ground but he did see a blond woman stepping back and hitting her elbow on the trunk of his car. 

He stepped out of the car completely ignoring Annie’s annoying advances and checked on the lady, “Miss? Did the speeding car hit you?”

She looked up, hearing an almost familiar voice, is it him? It can’t be him, but it is him. She almost smiled but when she heard him say again, “Miss?” her face fell and she replied, “I’m sorry, no I’m fine, but I think I hit your car. Did I dent it?”

“No, don’t worry about that one. Come on let me get you to a hospital so we can get that checked.”

As he neared her, she noticed that a young woman was already standing right behind him, appearing ready to unsheathe her claws in case she gets in their way. 

“No, I’m fine, thanks,” she said brushing off the dirt from her dress making a move to stand up.

“No, I insist. Come on,” he bent to assist her and whispered, “Look, do me a favor, please? I really just want to get her out of my car and free myself from the young lady you see standing right behind me.”

He bent just way too close that she caught a pretty good dose of his fine perfume, still fresh and all so manly. He helped her stand up and guided her to the front seat of his car, “Annie, I’m helping this young lady and get her checked in hospital.” And without as much as a backward glance he closed the passenger door and quickly jumped in to his side of the car and drove off.