After piling up my things, I went to inform him that I was going to leave.

It was already 6... I went to his room and peeked through the glass door. He was still working...

In these four months that I've worked for him, one thing I learnt about him is that... He... is a hard worker. He puts a lot of efforts into every single goal he sets.

Not many bosses work this late, but he... He always makes sure to keep things perfect and works hard to bone to make it that way. He's responsible. Maybe that's why he doesn't like his employees coming late or being irresponsible, I guess...

...

Hmph... But he is a little too strict. Working under him as his secretary is a challenging task... But... What is not challenging?

*Sighs*

~

I waited for him to notice me as I didn't want to disturb him... But, he seemed too focused on work.

At times like these... When he's wearing glasses and all focussed on work, it's hard to not admire him...

He is extremely good-looking for sure. He gives off that nice and sweet high-school nerd vibes, with a flavour of cold but soft bad boy.

He should've been in the film industry for his good-looks. On my first day at MoonTalks, I mistook him to be a model.

...

After waiting for a few seconds, I carefully knocked on his door.

"Yes." He said without taking his eyes off the screen.

"I'll be off, sir." I announced.

And it made him divert his gaze from the screen towards me.

"Hmm..." He said and went back to work.

"Aren't you leaving?" I asked.

"Yes, I will, after this. This is the last one." He replied in a rather robotic voice with his eyes glued to the screen.

"Okay then, I'll take my leave." I said and turned towards the door when he called out my name.

"Uhm, Dayun" He called out.

"Yes?" I turned to face him.

"Tomorrow, try to come early. We've to go see the site." He mentioned.

"What?" I was confused.

"What? Did you already forget?" He rolled his eyes annoyed.

'Site? What site?' I started thinking what he meant by that.

After some time, I could remember,

'Wait.... Yeah, yeah, yeah... That site... We're supposed to visit the site on which the new store was going to be built. Yes... Right... I remember now. But, was it tomorrow? Really? I didn't know that. I didn't pay much attention to when we were going. Darn...'

Just as I remembered, "We should visit the site of our new building, don't you remember?", he said grabbing his face with his hands in annoyance... or maybe headache, since he was working for a long time? Or because of both..? Who knows?

Either way, it was clear that I had pissed him off twice in a day which isn't an uncommon thing, "Yeah, yeah. Yes, I remember. Yes." I stumbled.

"Aren't you a bit forgetful these days, Ms. Ro?" He asked me.

"Actually... Sir... The thing is..."

School started. Getting my daughter to school and making her do her homework is so huge of a task to me that I often forget things of these kind. My daughter is a hard one, on top of that. And I need some time to learn to manage things. But how do I tell him? First of all... What can I tell him when the fault is mine?

"I'm sorry." I made it simple.

"Look Dayun... The reason you're still standing here is because you are talented and do your job well. Don't ruin it by coming late and forgetting things." He told me, once again setting his gaze towards me.

"Okay sir. I'll try my best." I gave the same reply that everyone does at these situations, but never really follows.

"I don't need mere words."

"I know." I looked to the side.

"Good. You may leave now." He said and quickly went back to focus on his work again and I left.

~

After Dayun left Insoo noticed something on his table. And it was... Her handbag.

"Ro Dayun! You've left your-"

She left already.

"I shall give it to her tomorrow then." He said after taking it into his custody.

The face she always has after doing something wrong popped in his mind, "Ah... This woman..." He massaged his temples.

~

~

~

Dayun drove straight to Iseul's school which was just a ten minutes' drive.

After parking her car safely at the parking lot, she went inside the school to pick her daughter up.

She had joined Iseul in some extra-curricular activities like singing, drawing and sports to not keep her daughter waiting for her since she comes late every day.

Iseul's school ends at 4 and these things keep her engaged till she comes to pick her up past 6. The girl loves it too, so... It's a 'two birds in one stone'.

She could send her home in a school bus but being here is a lot safer at least the workers and peons would look after her daughter.

~

She entered the school gates and went straight to the staircase of the class room where Iseul always waited for her.

She spotted Iseul, "Iseul-ah, momma's here", she announced to get her 6-year-old daughter to notice her presence. She was colouring with her crayons, it seemed.

"Momma..." Iseul came running towards her as soon as she saw her mother, leaving behind all her colouring books.

She ran straight into her arms and she took her daughter in and kissed her cheeks.

"How was my princess's day today?" She asked.

"It was soo good, momma. I got 1, 2, 3... Three new friends today!" Iseul replied cutely.

Dayun giggled at her daughter remembering and counting her friends one by one.

Shifting to this new school and new environment could have been a little hard for Iseul too. She had to leave her friends behind in Muan. Her, getting new friends is a good thing.

"Oh, I see. My Iseul is doing great then."

Iseul nods with enthusiasm that made Dayun smile.

"Okay Iseul... Pack your bags, we'll leave."

Dayun helped Iseul pack her bags.

She held the bag in one hand and took her daughter's hands in the other. They started walking towards her car.

"How was your day, Momma?" Iseul asked.

Dayun laughed at how the roles were reversed, "Mine? My day was great too." Dayun answered her daughter.

They talked about many random things on their little car ride home...

"Momma, what are you thinking? Did you forget something?" Iseul asked Dayun noticing her monologues about having forgotten something... Which of course was her hand bag, but the girl couldn't remember.

"Yes, Iseul. I think I forgot something but couldn't remember what it is." She said cluelessly focussing on the road.

"Think harder Momma. My teacher said if we think for 2 minutes, we'd remember things." Iseul stated.

"Is that so." Her voice came out as a gentle whisper as she still focussed on the road.

"By the way... Let's do some shopping before we head home. Momma has things to buy." Dayun mentioned.

Iseul was too quick deny. "Nooo... I want to go home first", she said.

"Just half an hour, Iseul... Momma won't take longer. And the mall is on the way too." She tried to convince.

"No, I don't want to come." She was stub-born.

"Why? Do you want to pee? Is that why you want to go home?" She asked. "In the mall, they have-" She tried to persuade but was interrupted by her daughter's screams.

"NO! Momma, I just want to go home. GO HOME!" She didn't budge.

"Okay, okay... I'd drive you home first and then I'd come back." She lost to her but still hoped she could convince her after reaching home.

...

They parked the car and entered their room. They lived in an apartment.

As soon as Dayun opened the door, Iseul started running inside.

"Iseul, be careful!" She warned.

But she didn't listen.

'This girl never listens.' She sighed.

"Okay, Iseul, momma has gotta go shopping. Wash your hands and face before you eat snacks. Most importantly keep the door closed and don't open it until I come. Got it?"

"Got it." She obeyed.

"Are you sure you don't want to come Iseul? Momma will-"

"No!" She didn't even let her complete her sentence.

"Okay, I get it." Worn out, she accepted her defeat.

'I have only a few things to buy and I could buy them in the neighbourhood store. It wouldn't take longer than 20 minutes. She should be fine, I guess...' She convinced herself.

"But stay near the telephone and call me if-"

"If I find any stranger knocking on the door." Iseul finished.

"Yes... Please be safe, Iseul, I would make it quick and would be back within 20 minutes."

"Hmm..." She hummed too focused on searching her snacks.

Dayun was about to leave when,

"Momma, buy me crayons, I want crayons." Iseul stopped her snack search and looked at her mother only to put forward her demand.

"Crayons? Okay I'll get it." Dayun noted as she too had noticed that her daughter's crayons were about to be used up.

"Okay then, I'll leave, be safe." She said once again before leaving.

~

~

~

She decided to walk to the nearest grocery store to buy her things... After she reached, she quickly grabbed a shopping cart and started picking up all the required items.

The shop being small and without much crowd played to her advantage.

Dayun's POV,

"Flour, check. Cookies, check. Toothpaste, check..." I checked my list.

"Crayons..?" I moved the cart searching for them.

But suddenly I felt someone watching me...

I turned to look at the direction but... No, there was no one...

Even though it worried me, I pushed that thought away. After all, this isn't the first time I was getting these kinds of feelings. I have been getting them for the past seven years now. And they only got worse after moving to this city again.

Ignoring the feeling, I searched for crayons and found them in the children's section. "Crayons... check." I made sure to check my list.

"I'm almost done." I proceeded to look for the last few things that I had to buy.

I was moving my shopping cart along the sections when a voice... A familiar one... Made me stop.

".....9?..... No, I can't.... Unfortunately, some of my employees come late. So, I'll be there at 10... Yeah... Yeah... Okay... Hmm... Get it ready... Yeah..." I diverted my attention towards the direction of the voice.

And just as I expected, it was him. Moon Insoo... The same man with the same frown that I see every day at work.

I saw him standing near the books section.

I see him every day at work. Should I see him here too? I was annoyed. Dealing with him during the working hours was enough for me.

Aarghh... What should I do? Should I go and greet him? Or shall I go unnoticed?

I started thinking and came to a conclusion,

'I'll just walk away. He's on his phone, he wouldn't have noticed me anyway.'

Thinking that, I turned the opposite side and started walking.

But something about the conversation he had, got me thinking.

What was he talking about anyways? Was he talking about that site? 

"Unfortunately, some of my employees come late?" Was he talking about me?

Is it because I come late? Really..?! What does he take me for? I'm usually just five minutes late. Just five minutes! And I am late just for the last few days to which I had reasons. And I actually felt bad for that today. But he... 

Hmph... Since he goes around complaining people about me, behind my back, I don't feel bad anymore. It's not like I'm the only person that comes late, right?...

Or is it just me?

Whatever.

Ignoring the thoughts, I quickly took the other things I needed, even more quick than before so that I can leave before he could notice me. After checking off all the things on my list I went to the billing counter.

I placed my things on the desk one by one and the cashier started billing.

I verified the things that I had bought once again and took out my purse.

I was watching the cashier do her job...

But all of a sudden, she stopped what she was doing and looked behind me. Her eyes literally gleamed...

...

What? What is with that look? What is she looking at, this amusedly? I was curious.

I turned my head towards the direction at which she was looking. And my eyes met a familiar pair of dark brown ones...

"Ignoring me?" He asked.

With that I fell back flat... Again.

To be continued...