The bck jacket was pin, unadorned, and unremarkable. It was just your standard bck jacket to be warm and keep the rain off. The person’s average sized back was towards her as well. She was going to just walk away, leaving the person in the hallway. He knocked a third time, even louder than the first two combined.

  She shook but steeled herself to push the intercom. “Yes? Can I help you?”

  The man turned around but was still too close to be distinct. “Um, yeah. I have a pizza delivery for 1406?” At least, that’s what he said, there was no way to confirm that through the camera.

  With a rush of a breath of relief, she leaned back against the door. She took a moment to compose herself and said, “That’s next door. I’m 1404.”

  “Oh! I am sorry for disturbing you. Have a good night.” And with that, the man walked out of the frame of the camera.

  She knew that the guards would not let anyone sketchy or uncleared in, but after the st few weeks, she was justifiably nervous.

  With a sigh of relief, she went back to her soup. That was when she heard a tiny voice coming from near the couch and remembered being on the phone with JooHyun when the person knocked on her door.

  She picked up the phone and heard her friend in near frantic tears. Feeling terrible, she ran over to the phone and picked it up.

  Seulgi apologized saying, “I’m so sorry! Someone knocked on my front door and it startled me. He said that he was a pizza guy making a delivery. He knocked on the wrong door. He was meant to go to the next door down.”

  JooHyun sighed with audible relief. With the whole notion of everything that is going on, then Seulgi dropping the phone and not being reachable scared her. It scared her more than a little if she was going to be honest with herself.

  They ended their call with a bit more small talk, but then Seulgi excused herself as she needed to call Gillian next and that might take a bit.

  Seulgi consumed about half of her soup, fairly quickly, but not so fast as to burn her tongue. Suki was watching her and thought ‘I’m bringing this up the next time she says anything about MY eating habits!’ Suki snorted in a very cat-like fashion at this thought.

  Seulgi slowed down. She could afford to go slower, as she had enough for the basics of necessity. Now, she was just enjoying the rest, so there was no need to gulp it.

  She dialed Gillian. One ring. Two rings. Three rings. “Jackson?”

  “No, Gillian, its Seulgi.”

  “Oh, Seulgi. Sorry, I am still hoping that Jackson will call. What’s up?”

  Gillian lost most of her interest in the conversation when she found out that it was not her missing beloved calling. Seulgi could not honestly bme her. Neither would she take any sort of offense at the snub. She could only imagine what Gillian was going through. She made a mental promise to try and call more, but not too much more as she did not want to be a pest.

  “I’m just checking in with you. How are you doing? How’s the little one?” Seulgi asked.

  Gillian was normally the life of the party. She was the center of attention. She was a force of nature to be reckoned with. However, the person on the phone was none of these things. She was distracted, she was shallow, and she was not the Gillian that Seulgi loved and admired.

  Again, this was totally understandable. Seulgi wanted to keep Gillian engaged, give her things to focus on, to keep her grounded and still with them. She knew that Gillian needed more than just the baby to live for. She wanted Gillian to be Gillian for Jackson when he got home.

  With this in mind, Seulgi engaged in small talk, and updates as to what’s been going on with the other woman. Sadly, she had run out of time off, so she had to go back to work. Her mother-in-w gdly ‘moved in’ with her to watch the baby while she worked. Gillian was actually amazed at how well they got along. They were frosty when Jackson and Gillian started dating. It was never a Cold War, per se, but there was no real warmth, either.

  This crisis had forced them both to set aside all things, real or imagined until Jackson was either back or found. Fortunately, Jackson’s mother was fantastic with the baby, making Gillian’s excursions back to work much easier. There was nothing easy about it, but easier can be worth so very much, too. Especially now.

  After Gillian ran out of things to chat about, Seulgi told her about the things that she had been up to. And the things those around her, as well. Yeji’s hand, Wendy’s flight back to Canada. She expined the ‘security setup’ for her group and for Wendy’s people as well. She was very hopeful that it was all overkill, and she immediately winced at using that particur word, but better safe than sorry. Gillian agreed that it was necessary. She also thought about how to implement it herself as well. She was fiercely capable, so Seulgi was not worried. If Gillian said it would be done, it was good as done.

  Gillian gave some updates on the baby. Seulgi told of some of the antics that Suki got up to. They had talked for more than an hour, closer to two. It was a pleasant conversation, all things given. The baby needed to be fed and put down for the evening, so Gillian needed to clear the line.

  By the time that they were done, Seulgi’s soup had gone cold. She was debating if she should warm it up again, or put it in the fridge for ter. She finally decided to heat it back up and finish it as there was not too much left. She decided on simplicity and just put the bowl in the microwave and warmed it up. She had not washed the pot she cooked the soup in yet, but it was too much of a hassle. She was eminently capable, but right now, she just wanted to do simple.

  So, she did simple. While the soup was warming in the microwave, she washed the pot and put it on the dish rack to dry. It took longer to wash the pot than to warm the soup, so she pulled the rich broth out of the microwave after the pot was hung to dry.

  With both hands on the soup bowl, she went to the kitchen table. She lightly bumped Suki with her hip and giggled. It was immature, but it was just another shot in the eternal war between cats and humans. The eternal war continued.

  Suki had been asleep, so she nearly tumbled off the top of the couch onto the seat of the couch. Her cws had dug in before she fell, but the indignation would not be so easily forgiven. Tonight was about to be more interesting.