Seulgi pondered a haiku in front of her.

The garden is green.

The garden is greener with care.

The gardener cares.

She found this in a book of poems years ago and it stuck with her. She likes plants, but she has a brown thumb. She actually managed to kill a philodendron before. It’s not something to be proud of. She’s just glad that she is good with Suki. She was also glad to have Suki. The furry menace was good to her as well.

Min-Jeong had never been to her boss’s apartment before. Seulgi’s office was always so meticulously kept, that she naturally imagined that her housing would be the same.

Imagine her surprise at the chaos that they found when they got in. Papers were scattered everywhere. A bowl upturned on the floor with...something...sicky and kind of smelly leaking out from under it. The remains of a sandwich were strewn all over. Books askew. DVDs knocked over. Other things were obviously out of place and in general, it was, in a word, a mess.

“Oh, Suki,” was all Seulgi said with a sigh.

The culprit of the disaster was sitting in a furry lump in the middle of the floor, innocence incarnate. She swished up and demanded some pets.

“One day, I am going to make mittens out of your furry hide,” Seulgi threatened. Suki took her about as seriously as any human does when threatened by Seulgi. The primary antagonist in Seulgi’s life reached up and patted her knee and meowed.

“You jerk.” She reached down and picked up the fuzzy child and hobbled over to the couch to sit down. She will rest a moment before starting the clean up.

Seeing her apartment looking like a war zone, she completely forgot her guest. She was reminded of Min-Jeong’s presence when she heard some noise of paper shuffling behind her.

“Don’t worry about it, Min-Jeong. I’ll get to it. Come over and sit down.”

“It’s no problem, ma’am. I don’t mind doing some disaster relief. You need to stay there and rest your ankle. If you don’t mind me asking, is this normal?”

“I told you, quit calling me ‘ma’am’. Especially in my own home.”

“Yes, ma’am. Where should I put this?”

Seulgi squinted her eyes at the younger woman. It could be her imagination, but there looked to be a spark of malicious humor in Min-Jeong’s eyes whenever she said ‘ma’am’. Seulgi was 60% sure that Min-Jeong was doing it on purpose to annoy her.

She shook herself thinking that was a petty thing to think about her helper.

“Over there on the counter, please. Don’t worry about organizing the paper, I’ll do that later.”

She was amazed at just how fast the apartment was sorted out. While scratching the belly full of the silky fur, the contented purring indicated that everything was just right in Suki’s universe.

When asked how she got to be so good at cleaning, Min-Jeong explained that she was the eldest sister of three and at an early age, she was tasked to clean after the other little monsters. She, of course, was never the one messing up the house, it was all her sibling's fault. But since her siblings would still get her in trouble for what was obviously their mess, it was a self defense to start cleaning soon as she saw a thing out of place. It was so ingrained that she just naturally kicked into Clean Mode when she saw the mess.

“To answer your question, Min-Jeong, no. This is not normal. This horrid creature was up to something today.” Looking down, she continued, “What got into you, Suki?”

Suki, with immense dignity, ignored the questions and pawed her hand to keep scratching the sweet spot in the middle of her chest. Both of them sighed. The cat in pleasure, the human in exasperation.

In a surprisingly short amount of time, the apartment was restored to order.

Seulgi grabbed her phone after tossing the cat off her lap.

“What do you want on your pizza, Min-Jeong?”

“Oh, no need for that, ma’am.”

Now Seulgi was 90% certain that the girl was doing it on purpose.

Min-Jeong was grabbing a vacuum cleaner when she hear Seulgi say, “Come over here. Sit down, and be good. For a change.”

She continued, “You have gone above and beyond. This is the bare minimum I can do for thanking you for all of your help. Now, what do you like on your pizza?”

After being answered, they agreed on what should be on the dinner. She decided to splurge a bit, so the order was placed for a pizza, a dozen bbq’d wings, and a couple of beers. She also got out her credit card and paid over the phone, so there would be no problem when the delivery driver showed up. Min-Jeong tried to half heartedly decline, but under the glare of her boss, she quietly acquiesced.

Seulgi made a brief call to the front desk to let them know that they ordered some pizza, so they should expect someone for her in about 45 minutes.

Seulgi was pleasantly surprised with the younger woman’s ability to make small talk. They had a thoroughly enjoyable forty-five minute wait for the pizza and noshies. She was able to learn a lot more about Min-Jeong in that brief wait than all of the time they worked together.

They were actually neighbors, in a way. They both grew up in one town next to each other on the outskirts of Seoul. Both had about the same education. They went to the same high school, just a few years apart. They spoke of teachers they both knew. The principal still had that little shrub in his office that he was inordinately proud of. And he still had that ridiculous mustache.

The moment was warm and full of laughter. Min-Jong's reserve was finally broken and the conversation was natural for both women.

The conversation was briefly halted when the doorbell rang with the pizza. Seulgi was surprised that when she was getting up to answer the door, she was pushed back on to the couch and Min-Jeong walked to the door.

Pizza was acquired, and the girl set it on the kitchen countertop and then asked where the plates were.

She brought over plates of pizza, wings, the beers, and some paper towels.

Seulgi was slightly uncomfortable as she normally played hostess in her own home. It was odd to be waited on by a guest. Not unpleasant, but a new feeling to be sure.

The conversation picked up where it left off. Min-Jeong had some keenly sharp observations that they talked about. They talked about the school janitor’s tattoos, the hair growing out of the lunch lady’s mole on her neck, and how the PE teacher gave off some creepy vibes.

What they didn’t know was that the PE teacher was arrested for inappropriate actions towards a minor after Min-Jeong graduated. She was now in prison.

It was an interesting time for the ladies. They learned quite a bit about each other. They moved from strictly professional to becoming friends.

As with all good things, the night had to come to an end. Min-Jeong picked up the plates and washed them off. She finished the rest of the tidying up and prepared to go home.

“Thank you very much for all of your help tonight. I really appreciate it.”

Min-Jeong replied, “No problem, ma’am.” with a wink.

Yup, 100% certain now.