The meeting progressed as it usually did. The only thing missing was Jackson, but he was safe, so it was OK. Seulgi called order and gave the initial opening and brief. Nayeon took over and led the others in their activities and concerns. Everything was fairly procedural and mundane. There were a couple of ‘How do you do…?’ and thankfully nothing over the top nor something that HR needed to be made aware of.

Just to be obnoxious, the Boss walked by her doorway, waving. But he did not come in, so that was a relief.

Today’s meeting took longer because there was more chattering than entirely necessary. However, things had been strange lately.  So, it was to be expected that the morning meetings reflected this.

They were getting back to what was considered ‘normal’ – for them at least. A bit of personal chatter would not harm anything. The banter was actually healthy and reaffirming bonds, so Seulgi actually encouraged it. Within reason.

The only thing that was actually out of the ordinary was that Bhuwakul did not join them. Seulgi mentally shrugged. He was not required to show up to her meetings, so she would not say anything. She would send him a text at the end of the day to check up on him if she didn’t see him.

With that loose end satisfactorily tucked away, she went back to her current thoughts about what was going on.

Everyone helped tidy up her office upon the conclusion.

A voice called out, “Nayeon?”

The person in question turned back into the office and looked at a question.

“Let’s have lunch?”

“Sure thing, Seulgi. When?”

“Noon should be good unless you have a problem with that time.”

“I’ll message you if anything changes. See you at noon,” Nayeon said to the crown of her head.

An already distracted voice returned, “Looking forward to it.” And Seulgi was already lost in the fog of war that was her project emails.

And lost, she was. One of the larger clients made a change to the specification of a part that they wanted to use, but this change was made well after the agreement, and no reason was given. So, Seulgi was going to have to figure out the whats and whys all over again. And if it was feasible to do so.

She got a memo pad and wrote about half a page of notes. She then texted Min-jeong and asked her to make herself present. She folded the paper in half and waited for the girl.

About five minutes later, her little minion popped up. “Yes, boss?”

Seulgi waved the paper at her. “Take this down to Line four. Find the line boss and give this to him. Wait for an answer. This is more important than you know, so take care.”

What she said was not entirely correct, but neither was it wholly an exaggeration. It was very important, but she wanted to give the girl a sense of importance, too. As well as a sense of her importance in the cog of the business being done.

Off Min-jeong went and she went on to the next issue. She was a bit more freewheeling than normal today because she was going to be gone in the latter part of the afternoon.

Seulgi’s mom was sitting at the dining room table with a laptop, and notepad and was humming.  Alfred was suspicious of this, but since the place was quiet, he would not interfere too much.

Nayeon was trying not to let intrusive thoughts mess up her morning. She never had to worry when Seulgi wanted to talk to her. Why was she worrying now? It messed up her whole morning, she tried to shake the feeling, but couldn’t. It was like a maggot wiggling in her brain. No matter how she tried to ignore the thoughts, she couldn’t.

She did her best to power through her doubts and be productive. She has had doubts and fears before. We all have, she thought. But, she could not shake these for some reason.

Nayeon went ahead and slapped her cheeks to refocus herself. (She saw this work in an anime, so she tried it. Surprisingly, it worked.) She dug back into her work with a renewed vigor.  She was able to keep untoward thoughts at bay as the clock ticked down the seconds until it was time for lunch.

Jackson had his phone in hand. He texted Gillian, ‘Come get me tomorrow! I talked to the doctors and they said I could go home tomorrow. I can’t wait to be home with you and the little one.’ He had an angelic smile that broke no few passing nurses' hearts

He didn’t say anything about his mom because he didn’t know if she was still there or not.

Gillian’s phone dinged a message notification. She read it and shocked her entire department by standing up in the middle of a meeting and shouting “ALL RIGHT!”

Then she looked around in deep crimson mortification. She sat back down with more speed than decorum.

“Sorry, all. That text was from my husband. He can come back tomorrow.” That was enough said. Everyone around her either gave her a congratulations or gave her a good mocking, depending on their level of friendship.

Bhuwakul was not having a good morning. He woke up late. He dropped soup on his suit, so he had to change it before leaving for work. Worst of all, he is trapped in his apartment. His door won’t open. It’s very firmly stuck. The doorknob will turn, but the door won’t open. He did not deal well with the notion of being trapped, but as a strong-minded man, he did not panic.

Bhuwakul called the maintenance man for his apartments and reported being trapped as his door wouldn’t open. They said that they would send someone over as soon as possible. After all, he was an excellent tenant, and being locked inside your apartment, unwillingly at least, was a fire hazard.

It was two hours later that Bhuwakul found out that there was a particularly large drunk asleep in front of his door.