“Yeji, you hang on a moment, please,” floated out from behind everyone.

  Nayeon, in her least convincing stage whisper ever, said: “Oooo, what did you do now? You’re in trouble!” and left ughing at her own joke.

  Yeji, being Yeji, just made a short sharp movement, spping Nayeon on the butt as she turned around to head back into the conference room.

  Seulgi ignored their antics. Technically, she should have reprimanded Yeji for ‘physical violence,’ but she agreed that Nayeon deserved it.

  Seulgi was typing away with machine precision on her ptop, so Yeji just quietly sat and waited. This was not how things normally went, but she understood that Seulgi needed her, so she was willing to wait a reasonable amount for her boss to get back to her.

  It took several minutes before Seulgi was done. It was longer than Seulgi wanted, but not as long as Yeji expected.

  Seulgi violently exhaled. She took a moment to arch her back and it sounded like a zipper. “I have got to get back into the gym.”

  Yeji just quietly and attentively looked at Seulgi with more patience than anyone else that Seulgi had ever known. Seulgi would have worried about her, but she knew that Yeji was one of the smartest, most capable people that she had ever had the pleasure to meet.

  Seulgi closed her ptop, got up, and said, “Follow me.”

  With cat-like grace, Yeji stood and opened the door to the conference room. When they exited, they went back to Seulgi’s office. Seulgi walked in and asked Detective Kim how much more time he would need. It would be at least an hour.

  So, Seulgi set her ptop on the corner of her desk and walked back out to Yeji. They headed to the elevator and descended to the ground floor. Though she normally would take the stairs, neither woman was wearing shoes that would be conducive to stairs. Once the elevator doors open, Seulgi lead her across the brightly lit, glistening atrium.

  Mystified, Yeji followed her Lord and Commander out the front entrance. She had no clue where they were going, but she was getting more and more interested in what was about to happen. To make things even more bizarre, Seulgi entwined her arm into Yejis’. This was a rare thing for both of them, while walking arm-in-arm and they just basked in each other’s company. They had some light-hearted small talk going, so they did not hear the panting that was close, but not so close as to bother them.

  Seulgi leads them to a small bistro. They got sat and ordered some drinks to start off with. Seulgi wanted tea, and Yeji got a coffee. They chatted some more while waiting for their drinks. It was way too early for lunch, so they ordered some finger food appetizers.

  Seulgi signaled that it was now time for the real reason for them to chat. Other than there was a cop in her office looking for clues.

  “Real talk?”

  “Real talk. Go.”

  Seulgi knew that this verbal shorthand was how to talk to Yeji about things about to get serious.

  “OK. Tell me what you know about what happened to Wendy.”

  Yeji gave the general information that most people had. But nothing too specific.

  “OK. So, to start, she did not ‘fall’. She was pushed. It was deliberate.”

  Yeji’s eyes widened in shock.

  “We do not know who did it or why. All that we really know is that it was not an accident.”

  They were silent for a bit while Yeji mulled over this new information with her eyes unfocusing. This time, Seulgi waited on the younger, slender woman. While waiting, Seulgi took a moment to think that while Yeji had such striking, feline features, she had two dogs. While one of her non-work best friends (someone she knew in College) named Shin Ryu-jin, who looked like she was rough around the edges had two cats. This just proves that you cannot make assumptions about other people.

  Yeji murmured, “And now, Jackson…” unaware that she spoke aloud. She had been always a quiet girl, but now she is a fairly quiet woman. However, Seulgi knew that those clockwork cogs inside her head were whirring probably faster than she assumed that they were. Yeji was one of the smartest people that she had ever met. Seulgi just had to nudge her in a direction and she would come to the correct conclusion ninety percent of the time.

  As a child, her parents noticed these moments where she just stopped whatever she was doing and started thinking to the exclusion of all else. Her parents were worried that she might have something medically wrong, that she stopped thinking or moving. Finally, a child psychiatrist said it was quite the opposite. She was not autistic, she was super focused on whatever it was that she was thinking about.

  Her siblings took the chance to tease her about these ‘episodes’ until they learned that she could, metaphorically speaking, take her brain out and beat them to death with her IQ. That’s just how big-brained that Yeji is.

  This is why she takes Yeji out to quiet pces so that there would not be any distractions and will ‘sic’ her on a problem. That current problem is how Wendy being tossed off a bridge and Jackson disappearing might be connected. And if they are, how are they connected? Seulgi just sat back with her tea and snacks and let her personal computer colte the data given.

  It took a while to process. A non-audible ‘ding’ was made with Yeji’s eyes making a slow blink indicating that she was coming back.

  “Oh. Oh, crap. Seulgi, should you be out here without some sort of bodyguard? If whoever pushed Wendy and snatched Jackson is targeting you, you’re in serious danger! The only thing that I cannot figure out is why.” She said the st work pintively.

  Seulgi had already paid the bill anticipating when Yeji would ‘wake up.’

  They grabbed their coats and started heading back. The detective ought to be done by now, so it should be safe to go back. 'Safe' being a retive word. Seulgi confided that while they were together, Yeji was her bodyguard, that’s how much trust she had in her and her abilities. They both smiled at each other at this.

  The trip back was uneventful outside of contingency pnning. Both of them walked warily back to the office building. Neither of them noticed their shadow.

  There was one bit of happiness upon their return. Inside the empty office, there were two messages on her desk. One was a simple note from the Detective asking for any additional information that came up with his phone number and the other was from Song-Soon. It simply said ‘Wendy woke up.’