His hand rested motionless on the computer mouse. His dead stare pierced through the computer screen and beyond into empty space. The ticking of the clock chopped time into small pieces and the incessant hum of the computer filled the room. His office was merely a small room at the corner of the hallway. Not the fancy corner offices executive employees would have in big firms. his office only had two windows instead of a whole wall full of them. One was opening a view onto the small shopping alley, their office was located at and the other showed the hallway. His desk was clean and organized. All the files were sorted into categories and within those categories cascading in alphabetical order. For him his office was a sacred place. The sofa in the corner was chosen with great care and effort, with ergonomy and color taken in consideration. On his second day he had changed all the light bulbs from cold light to warm light except the one in his desk lamp because he felt like warm light at the desk would have a negative effect on his productivity.
He leaned back and looked at his phone. Usually he wouldn't even take it out of his bag but since he and Song were officially dating he would check for a new message every 15 minutes which for him came close to obsessive behavior. He put down his glasses as he saw there was no message and sighed.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door and without waiting for an answer, Oren entered. In Go's eyes, this was an obnoxious quality of his. Why would anyone knock if they didn't care about the response anyway? Why would he bother? In addition, the interiors of all offices were visible through the corridor window anyway. So you didn't even have to knock to find out if the colleague in question was busy. You just had to look through the window.
Go looked up and regarded the lanky man wordlessly.
"Are you done?" Oren asked with a cheerful expression.
Go blinked. "Please?"
His boss sighed. "I asked you earlier if you wanted to go to BARbara with me. Listen, if you don't show up there anymore, Marie will start to resent you."
Go nodded and stood up. "Maybe you are right." He turned off the screen and put the laptop in his bag. Then he followed Oren out of the office and locked the door behind him. It was a habit he had only picked up after working at Panoma. While he was on par with Johnny and Ezra, his actual work and paperwork was his, June's, and Oren's sole business. Not that the others were all that interested in accounts and such. so he locked the door just in case.
They walked down the hall to the elevator. While they waited, Oren continued, "Marie has asked me about you twice already. I don't know what happened between you two, but I think you should see her again. You don't have to sleep with her right away if you don't want to."
Go nodded silently. He wasn't sure whether Oren knew it or not, but Marie was not romantically interested in him the slightest and neither was Go interested in her. One could say they had some kind of friendship going. Marie's story was a rather tragic one and he had always respected her for the moral standard she held herself up to. In the office, he was generally not very talkative. So it was only natural that no one knew about his relationship with Song. Which pretty much included Marie. In Panoma, relationships weren't exactly welcomed but tolerated. In essence it was up to each employee how they lived their private lives. June and Oren trusted that everyone could appreciate the dangers they regularly faced and the risk it posed to their loved ones. Go knew that he would have to tell her about the content of his work eventually but he wanted to give the matter some time and thought first.
Lost in thought, Go almost didn't notice that Oren was saying something, but he wasn't really listening. Lately he'd often found himself completely lost in thought. About his and Song's first date and the night that followed. Why it was this night specifically that he thought about so much was a mystery to him because that night nothing had happened. Go had to admit that he had gotten his hopes up when she asked him to walk her home, but they ended up falling asleep next to each other, quite decently. In fact, she was so exhausted that she fell asleep on the bedspread with her makeup and clothes on. Go had no choice but to take off her shoes and place her on the bed in a way that would fit him as well. The following morning he woke up early and left her apartment. Of course he had left her a note and also sent a message. After all, he wanted to see her again.
It was her second night that rattled his mind a lot more and caused him to make mistakes in accounts. It caused extra work. For their second date, they had arranged to go to the movies. Song said she didn't really care about the film, she just wanted to go to the cinema since the last visit was some time ago. So they sat at the back of the room and watched some random Hollywood flick. The theater was almost empty. They had been introduced to this film as a box-office hit. But the man at the register, who referred to himself as a movie connoisseur, rather blew it on this recommendation. The movie was so boring. Halfway through, Song leaned over and cheekily whispered in his ear, "Would you like to make out?" Go blinked a few times. As if he didn't understand correctly. "Like the teenagers in American movies always do. I've never done this before. Are you down?"
Her breath blew against his ear and her breast pressed against his shoulder. Of course she didn't have to ask him twice. And so it was that they shared their first kiss in a dark, undercrowded, and stuffy movie theater.
"And I'm all for redesigning the office from scratch. I want bean bags in the corners and an air hockey table." Oren mused loudly. "And also an ice cream truck that comes every Wednesday to boost morale."
Go nodded in agreement and mumbled: "As long as June gives her consent, that shouldn't be a problem."
Oren stopped in the small hallway between the elevator and the foyer. "Well, something must be going on with you. Has anyone died? Are you okay with your parents?"
Go turned around and for the first time in ten minutes his eyes focused on something. He was so out of it. "I'm sorry, what? No, I don't know. You know I have no contact with them."
Oren shook his head. "However. I guess sometimes you're just off track too."
Go was secretly glad Oren dropped the matter so quickly. He wouldn't know how to explain.
They stepped outside through the glass door. For a moment, Go paused, as he does every night after the end of shift, and looked at the aquariums in the Panoma and Pets window. The pet shop that her office was above. Just as the door closed behind them, Oren stopped and felt in his pockets for something. "I think I forgot something upstairs. "Will you wait for me a little longer? Or maybe you can get cigarettes from the kiosk at the train station? I'll meet you there."
Go grumbled an answer and sighing, Oren padded back into the hallway. After a few seconds he tore himself away from the aquarium and turned the corner on his way to the nearest subway station. It was a warm summer night and only a few people were out and about in the small shopping district. Lost in thought, he crossed the street and headed for the kiosk. He only looked up when someone called his name. Go looked around in astonishment.
"Hey, stranger." Song was leaning against the lamppost next to the timetable. She smiled at him. Her hair was tied in a loose ponytail and she was wearing a short linen dress. Her feet were in sandals. When Go saw her, his heart gave an involuntary leap of joy, but the next moment his demeanor immediately changed. This was what he tried to avoid.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, smiling and trying to hide his anxiety, but Song immediately sensed something was wrong.
"Is everything okay?" She approached him and took his hand. She looked up at him worried. "I thought I'd surprise you and pick you up. Maybe we can go get something to eat?" Go squeezed her hand.
"You could have let me know you were coming. How do you even know where I work?" He glanced over her shoulder, looking for Oren. There was a good reason nobody in the office knew about her. He didn't want to expose Song to the passive danger that dealing with him and especially with the others from Panoma entailed. And he knew full well that if Oren saw her, he would strike up a friendly conversation. He would have no negative intentions at all but if anyone saw that the two had been in contact - even if it was just a minute's interaction - she would be in long-term danger. Go spent his time keeping the company papers in order so no one really knew who he was but the enemies of their clients had a very clear idea of what Oren looked like and what position he held.
Instinctively, Song pulled her hand away from his and took a step back. Go realized that he must have hurt her feelings. But he couldn't take that into account at that moment.
"If you don't feel like spending time with me, just say so." she said in a cool voice. Go was silent. It pained him to see her like this, but he couldn't expose her to the company and business. He didn't want to show her what he did on a daily basis. Not yet. Again he looked around for Oren. He had to pass any moment. So if hurting her feelings made her leave quickly so be it.
"It's just bad tonight," he murmured.
Song snorted. "Honestly, I am not down for this. Just tell me what's up, or don't. I don't want to have to read minds." She turned around and followed his gaze, but couldn't make out what he was looking for because the space around the station was relatively empty.
To prevent her looking around any further, Go hastily said, "I'll call you, okay? Promised. Right now it's just really inconvenient. I have an appointment with a colleague and-"
"Uh." Song started bitterly. "So I am an inconvenience? Good to know." She started walking past him down the stairs to the subway. "Do me a favor and don't call me. I really don't need this fake secrecy. When you said we were exclusive I honestly believed you meant it."
Go's heart sank as he watched her descend the stairs. He just turned to follow her when Oren's voice came from behind him.
"Is the brand sold out?"
Go blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"
"The cigarettes." Oren jerked his thumb at the kiosk over his shoulder, but his eyes were fixed on Song, who was just turning the corner. He had watched the two from a distance for a moment and only approached them when she was descending the stairs. "What's the matter with you today?"
"I'm sorry." muttered Go absentmindedly. "I can't go to Kasem, I still have something important to do at home."
"Who was that?" Oren asked and Go gave him a cold look.
"That doesn't concern you."
"Are you sure? Somehow she looks familiar to me. But I can't say exactly where I've seen her before."
"Do me a favor and don't think about it." With that, Go turned on his heel and ran down the stairs. Hoping that Song would still be standing on the platform waiting for him, he turned the corner just as the subway was leaving the station. A glance at the display told him the next one would arrive in seven minutes. For a moment he considered taking a cab. But then he decided against it. It was probably better if he gave her a moment to herself and allowed himself to think carefully about what he was going to say. Because he had to find a way to explain his behavior without giving the real reason and without having to lie to her directly. He didn't want to lose her. And he was aware that this was not a sustainable way of keeping his work from her. But breaking up was absolutely out of the question for him. Even if Oren had seen them. Somehow Go would manage that.
On the train he tried to prepare for the upcoming conversation, but his mind kept wandering. Again and again he realized that this could have been their last conversation and immediately he thought of all the reasons why he fervently hoped that she would listen to him. He thought about how her eyes and nose scrunched when she ate something tasty. Or how she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet when she was in a good mood. Or how the scar stretched down her back and almost to her chest in front. How unique it made her beauty seem. Go thought about the shampoo in her bathroom and how his hair smelled of it after he showered at her place. He pushed his glasses up and rubbed his eyes. It couldn't be over. He didn't want to accept that his paranoia had blown his chance at something so promising.
Arriving at her station, he pushed past the other passengers and hurried out the stairs. The apartment building was only two streets away.
Silence reigned in the foyer of the house. There was no porter and none of the other residents were there. He pressed the button for the elevator and as the meter counted down, Go suddenly hesitated. What if she really didn't want to see him again? Did he do the right thing? Was this perhaps the worst thing he could do? Would she maybe take it like he was harassing her?
The doors opened and a man in a black raincoat stepped out. Lost in thought, Go caught him out of the corner of his eye, entered the elevator, and pushed the button to the correct floor.
When he reached the top and the doors slid open, an ice-cold shiver ran down his spine. The door to Song's apartment was wide open. The light in the hallway was on, but it was dead quiet. Go put his bag down next to the elevator and cautiously entered the apartment. He didn't dare call out to her. The dresser drawers in the entrance area had been pulled out and thrown on the floor. Their content was scattered everywhere. The door to the bathroom off the hallway was also open, but there was no light on. As a precaution, he closed the door. Step by step he felt his way towards the kitchen and the living room. It seemed to him that the apartment was brightly lit, except for the bathroom. He still didn't dare call her. What if she was injured and needed help? Or worse, what if she didn't answer him? He quickly thought better of it and when he entered the living room and called her name out loud, a dark shadow swooped down on him from behind the closet. Reflexively, Go spun around, deflecting his attacker with his shoulder and pinning him against the cabinet with his forearm under his chin. He acted on pure instinct. His glasses slipped off his nose and skidded across the floor. Unable to see clearly it took him a moment to realize that it was Song. She had a laceration above her eye and blood was slowly running down her face. In some places it was already dry. When she recognized him, she dropped the vase she had attacked him with and it smashed on the floor. Tears of relief ran down her face. He immediately let go of her, startled, and she fell to the ground. Without a word, he squatted down next to her and took her in his arms. Song cried uncontrollably. She still wore the dress and only one sandal. Her ponytail was undone and hair stuck to the blood in her face. They sat on the floor of the brightly lit living room amid the shards. He ran his hand over her hair, hoping she would calm down. Her fingers dug into his shoulder and back and it seemed like she would never let him go.
"I'm sorry." he said softly and shook his head hard in response. "I should have come after you immediately, then you wouldn't have been here when ... what actually happened here?"
Song let go of him and looked up at his face with swollen eyes. "Someone broke in while I was going to see you. When I came back I must have surprised him. He overpowered me, bumped into the hallway coat rack and disappeared out the door."
He dried her tears with his sleeve. Some of the blood came off alongside it and left a red stain.
"Let me look for my glasses and then we'll get you face cleaned. Does it hurt a lot?"
She sniffed. "Wha?"
Go shook his head. "Nevermind I will be right back."
"Can you clean up the shards first? I only have one shoe."
He smiled wryly. "I know but I have to find my glasses first. I can't see shit, you know?"
"Oh. Right." She laughed and sniffed once more. "Go ahead."
***
"Well this is embarrassing." She sat on the toilet seat and kept her eyes closed.
"You think?" Go, sitting across from her on the edge of the tub, was busy cleaning her face with a wet towel. He would have preferred gauze and disinfectant, but to his surprise she didn't own a first aid kit.
"I have a laceration, I am only wearing one shoe and you're wiping blood off my face. Not to leave out the fact that I hastily broke up with you not even an hour ago."
Go stopped. He looked at her with a frown and worried eyes. "Did you?"
She sighed. "If you let me, I would like to take that back. I must have been out of my mind."
He lowered the towel. "I came here to apologize and I had this whole speech prepared but honestly, now I am just ... ." he paused. "Can I kiss you?"
Song nodded. He carefully leaned towards her and gently placed his lips on hers.
"I'm sorry." she whispered and opened her eyes. "I didn't mean it."
"No, you were right. I shouldn't have been so harsh. It's just that I can't tell you at the moment why I reacted this way. It will take some time. Are you okay with that?"
"Are you seeing someone else?" Go shook his head.
"Then I'm okay with it. Just promise me to be straight with me in the future."
"Of course. Maybe ... just don't come over to my work place? This that acceptable? I promise I'll tell you soon."
She nods. "That does sound kinda red-flag-ish but I will play along."
Go gave her another small kiss. "Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?"
"It's okay. I'll go tomorrow if I get a headache. But for now I am just tired."
He put a plaster on the laceration above her eye and then left her alone. She wanted to take a shower and Go had decided it would be better if he spent the night in his own bed. However, he promised her that he would come back the next morning and help clean up. He was sure that Oren and June could manage without him for a morning.
He collected his bag, which had been patiently waiting for him next to the elevator, and rode it back to the ground floor. On the way there, he suddenly thought of the man who had passed him on the way here. Somehow his physique looked familiar. Although he hadn't been able to have a proper look at his face, Go was convinced that he knew him from somewhere. When he left the residential building behind and walked back to the station, the scales fell from his eyes. He stopped. The man in the hallway was the husband of a client. 3 months ago, before he met Song, a woman approached Panoma to inquire about their services. She had been desperately looking for a way to leave her husband with her daughter. Her husband was a choleric and deeply conservative man with a stressful job. In the evenings, he took out the frustration that built up in him during the working day on his family. The whole thing had been highly emotional, which is why June mainly took care of the two and Giselle and Johnny did the escort and protection part. Since the moment Giselle heard that this case was about an abusive husband and father she not only asked to be assigned to the case but also desperately prayed for an opportunity to wipe his face. According to Panoma's code of business, she needed a valid reason to do so. Even though it was a big part in the job description, Oren didn't like it, when they used force without cause.
Go had met him once. He was the only one from the company who had actually seen him. Giselle and Johnny escorted the wife and daughter to the airport, from where a smuggler took them across the border. Since there were no hick-ups at all, they assumed they would be done for the day.
Go was looking at the aquariums when suddenly this man showed up right next to him. He was short and quite chubby. His face had soft features and the clothes were tastefully chosen. Looking back at it now, there was nothing about him that suggested he was abusive to his family in the most brutal way. He had politely asked Go if he knew the area. Equally politely, Go admitted that, apart from his commute, he wasn't very knowledgeable. The smaller man nodded and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. Then he eyed Go up and down, glancing back and forth between him and the pet shop.
"You work here?" he had asked.
Go said no. "My office is a little further down the street."
"What exactly are you doing?" It was the exaggerated casualness and lack of genuine interest that caused Go to exercise extra caution. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he sensed that the short man had suspicions about him.
"I work in accounting for a small insurance company." That was the protocol answer anyone of them was supposed to give when someone was asking about their occupation.
"Forgive my bluntness, but that doesn't sound particularly interesting."
Go shrugged and said it doesn't always have to be exciting. After all, life was riveting enough.
"You are probably right. Excuse me, I don't want to keep you any longer." He turned to him. "Have a nice day."
Go nodded to him and said goodbye. After making sure the short, soft-faced man wasn't following him, he immediately called Giselle to ask the wife for a description of her husband. She confirmed his suspicions. Of course there was a file about him but Go never looked at it because he was not involved in that part of the operation. He simply didn't need to know. Needless to say that since this day he always had a look at the files.
So this man, or possibly a private detective, had been following him for three months? Or just the last few days? In favor of the latter, they apparently thought Song's apartment was his. And now Song had surprised him during the break-in at her apartment by coming home earlier than expected. Or had he broken into her house, fully aware that Go didn't live there? He wasn't sure which of the two facts frightened him more. In any case, the next steps were clear for him.
He had to inform June and Oren that someone was apparently about to uncover the connection between the pet shop and their illegal activities.
And he had to figure out a way to make sure Song wasn't in any further danger.