Once everyone had given their updates and requests, Seulgi opened the floor or internal things. It did not have to be business-reted.

  The first person to speak up was the Boss of all people. “You know Momma cat, Seulgi? She had kittens st weekend.”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful. She is such a sweet thing,” Seulgi said cheerfully.

  The rest put in the various things that they had been having going on around them. Both good and bad.

  Once this wound down, Seulgi cleared her throat and got everyone’s attention. “I have some very good news for everyone. I’m gd that you are here, Boss. This saves me from sending you an email. They found Jackson.” Bombshell dropped. Instant chaos. Everybody started talking all at once, except for Seulgi, Yeji, and Bhuwakul. The only one who noticed this was the Boss.

  She knocked on her desk, progressively louder. Once everyone calmed down, Seulgi continued. “They found him and took him to a hospital to be checked out. So far, they have found nothing wrong with him. As of st night, he was with his wife, son, and mother. I spent about two hours with them st night in his hospital room.” Yeji and Bhuwakul didn’t ask why she failed to mention that they were there, too. ”They didn’t find anything wrong, but they are keeping him for observation. He ought to be home in the next couple of days. Unless something happens or if there is something hidden, he ought to be back next week.”

  More chatter. All of it is happy. Lots of ughter and a couple of soppy eyes.

  “Is there anything else?” There was nothing else to be added. So, she started handing out papers to everyone. She took one piece of paper, crossed out the bit that said GO AWAY in seventy-two point font, and hand wrote “Thank you for your positive participation,” and handed it to the Boss. He grinned and said nothing as he wandered off.

  As they were putting the chairs away, Seulgi noticed a note on her desk from the Boss. It said: Call me ter and tell me what actually happened to Jackson.

  That old rascal. She never could get anything past him. She stuck the note into her pocket. The room cleared and only Yeji and Nayeon were left. Nayeon looked at Yeji and said, “Could you excuse us?”

  There was a formality to her voice that was very rarely ever heard and never towards Seulgi. Both Yeji’s and Seulgi’s eyes widened. Yeji excused herself and went about her business.

  “So, what’s up, Nayeon?”

  She could tell this was not a business conversation, so she moved it over to the couch. She sat on one end of the couch facing towards Nayeon who sat at the other end.

  Nayeon took a moment to steel her nerves. Seulgi gave her time. She wondered if she screwed up again like she did when she let Soo-Young tease her too much. She did a quick search of her recent memory but didn’t think so. So, she stilled her mind and heart and readied herself to listen.

  Nayeon, on the other hand, stayed standing. She walked around the office. She looked at a couple of pictures, she touched one of the objects on the bookcase. She turned around and looked at Seulgi. She walked over to the couch and sat opposite her.

  “Seulgi, I have a simple question for you,” Nayeon started. Seulgi nodded in encouragement.

  “Do I need to start looking for another job?”

  Of all the things that Seulgi was thinking that this might be about, this was not it. That’s one thing to expect, Nayeon was always out in left field.

  “Wait…what?”

  “Do I need to start getting my resume ready? Should I start clearing my desk? What’s going on, Seulgi?”

  “What are you talking about?! Where is this coming from?”

  Nayeon started to tick points off on her fingers. “First: what is even going on? I am feeling so out of the loop. It’s like you no longer trust me enough to confide in me. Second: You have some extracurricur stuff going on that you will include Yeji and Bhuwakul, but not me. It’s like you are excluding me. Is this deliberate? Third: What’s going on that we all need to hide? The Twins won’t say it, but they are more than a bit nervous that something is going on that they are not being told about. And so am I. Are we in danger, Seulgi? Does this have to do with what happened to Wendy and Jackson? Fourth: What happened to Jackson? Why is he in the hospital? Can whatever happen to him happen to the rest of us?

  “You have too many secrets that might come back to the rest of us, Seulgi. And that leads me to my fifth point: With everything going on, and everything not being said, should I start looking for another job? Should I tell the Twins to start looking?”

  Nayeon’s cheeks were flushed. She looked a bit wild-eyed. She was also breathing fairly heavily getting all that raw emotion out in a rush.

  Seulgi moved across the couch and grabbed Nayeon’s hand. This was an unexpected move and Nayeon tried to pull back, but Seulgi would not allow her to pull away.

  “No. No, you do not need to start looking for a job. No, you do not need to update your resume. Everyone has nothing but good things to say about both you and your work.”

  If the situation had been different, this is where Seulgi would have razzed Nayeon about how delusional others were to not see how Nayeon actually was. However, at this moment in time, that would have been grossly inappropriate and unforgivable.

  Seulgi continued. “Yes, there are things happening around here that you are not privy to. And before you ask, there are some things I cannot tell you because they involve police and ongoing investigations. I legally can’t tell you. I promise you that when I can tell you everything, I will. But, until then, I have to keep some things from you. There are some things that I might never be able to tell you, and you know that. However, it will never be because I do not trust you. You already know that I have more faith in you than I do most of my family.

  “Trust me, if our roles were reversed and you had to keep things from me, I would be upset, too. I might not take it with as much grace as you are. Actually, you are taking this better than I would expect.” She added a hand squeeze to this. “The reason that Yeji is involved in this is that she is better at physical security than you are. There is some danger and she is currently acting as a quasi-bodyguard. And before you ask, you should not be in any danger. We are thinking that I should not be in any more danger as well, but we’re just making sure for the next couple of days. After this, everything should be back to normal.”

  Seulgi desperately wished that she was not lying to one of her best friends.