Lights from the lampposts lit the path. Quiet, no passersby around, just one vehicle zooming past. They stood with their backs on the glass display a few meters apart from each other, yet the awkwardness kept floating in the air. The (Kim’s siblings’) ice cream that Hoseok brought for her didn’t seem to have successfully erased it.

Having finished his popsicle earlier than Jiah, he discreetly glanced at her as he nibbled the wooden stick with his lips.

While pondering how to start a conversation, his mind drifted to the times his personal assistant had amazed him. Perhaps, those moments could be brought up break the silence.

When she tried to adjust to his vibe or pace, when she almost broke Seokjin’s bones. Almost! When Joohee became close with her within a day. That day, Jiah showed him how to play with hairpins to unlock the door. How many talents and skills she had, he wondered. Yet, to start a conversation with ‘you know you have amazed me many times, you know?’ didn’t seem to work for someone like him.

“I… I just wanna get my phone,” Jiah said, her voice shrunk at the end.

Hoseok allowed a short silence pass, wondering if he should answer. He scratched his nape before pulling down the ice cream stick. “I-I know,” he said.

Although he expected Jiah to make a move into the premises, her feet remained on the ground. This led to another awkward exchange. Slender fingers fiddled with the empty ice cream pack, crackling in the silence, as he thought of ways to get her to go inside and take it. However, he made a different decision.

He pushed away from the glass display and stood still. "W-wait... wait here," he said as he stepped inside the boutique.

He headed to his office, grabbing the pastel pink cased phone from the table. Looking around, he saw a brown coat on the guest’s leather chair. Assuming it belonged to her, he took it too. Then, he strode out of the room and slowed his paces when Jiah’s back view filled his sight. Having stretched his arm to Jiah, he looked straight ahead, above her head. “Here!” he said.

Through his peripheral vision, he caught Jiah’s bewildered look. Slowly, she reached out for the phone. “Thank you,” she said in a small voice.

“Uhm. Yeah.” Hoseok shifted his gaze elsewhere, scratching his nape before he – yet again – stealthily watched Jiah quickly put on her coat.

Jiah didn’t seem to leave. Did she have something to say? The next thing he knew that he was caught off guard. She bent down with her palms stuck above her knees and said, “I am sorry, boss!”

Hoseok almost cried of frustration. He said, “oh my gosh, don’t call me ‘boss’!”

“I know but I must!”

“No, please don’t. I hate it!”

“In case you’re planning to fire me –”

In an almost crying frown, the boss shook his head, saying, "no, no! I don’t have the power to fire you. Seokjin gonna burn me alive!”

Upon hearing his name, Jiah stiffened. Slowly, she straightened herself up, staring at him with her doe eyes. She asked, “did I worry him? Did I worry others?”

The boss took some time to calm down before saying, “yes. Y-you had him and the others… worry.”

"Did Seokjin scold you?”

Wondered if it was a good idea to be honest, he gulped his saliva before saying, “he… he did.”

Again, Jiah bowed down and said, “I’m so sorry!”

“No no no no no. Please don’t! It’s, it’s… what happened this afternoon… it’s not your fault.” Hoseok held his hands together and fiddled with his fingers, head bowed down, avoiding her gaze. He said, “you have your reasons.”

He caught his assistant staring at him sadly. He didn’t need that stare; he didn’t want it. He needed to apologize. He would push himself out of his comfort zone and talk about the holiday with her. But before he could say anything, Jiah’s phone rang.

Her hands scurried to bring the phone up to eye level, swiping the screen and attaching it to her ear. “Hello?” she whispered to the phone. She glanced at him for a moment before turning to talk on the phone.

He scraped the tip of his shoes against the concrete while waiting for her. As if the universe gave him a chance to rearrange words to be used later, he decided how to express his apology.

Looking up at the dark, starless sky, he muttered a few apology lines. He mentally groaned, ‘when was the last time I apologized?’

His peripheral vision caught Jiah turning around and sauntered to him. When he saw that she had put on her coat, that relieved his heart since he was cognizant of how long she had been out in the cold weather. His assistant flashed him a bitter smile. “My father called. He’s waiting for me," she said, lazily raising the pastel pink phone in her hand. Hoseok lightly nodded. Her lips pursed in a thin line. She walked backwards as she said, “have a good night.”

Just as his assistant turned around, his guts told him to stop her. “Jiah, wait!” he called, but she didn’t hear him. Blame him for the small voice. He scurried to her, grabbed her wrist as he said, “wait!”

Jiah’s face filled with question when her eyes shot up from her wrist and met Hoseok’s. “Yeah?”

Hoseok swiftly let her wrist go and massaged his hooded nape, buzzing. Maybe he should take this chance to know her, pushing himself out of the comfort zone, to apologize for making her cry, for making her vulnerable when she didn’t have to, and apologize for putting his ego in first place.

“It’s… It’s late. I… I don’t think it’s a good idea to hail a taxi,” he said, trying not to look at her. “I mean, not even a bus is convenient at this hour.”

She blinked. Hoseok side-glanced at her. "Uh, well... you know... taxis and buses at one in the morning. Baddies and... and, you know, ghosts?" he said, chuckling awkwardly later. His assistant's reaction wasn’t as he expected. Quiet. He pursed his lips tight and turned his head to hide his embarrassed grimace.

Jiah snorted, stifling giggles, causing Hoseok to side-glance at her again. That sound and view tickled his stomach. And that soft intonation after her giggles, “ghost?” She laughed. “You worried ghosts and baddies will come and catch me?”

There was a broad grin on her face that Hoseok couldn’t help but join in. He pulled his hoodie closer as he raised both of his shoulders.

Jiah laughed even more. Her eyes forming crescent moons, throwing her head back. And later, he laughed with her.

“If I say, I want to send you home, to make… amends for this afternoon, would you… would you come?” He asked, his eyes sparkled.

Jiah's smile dwindled slowly before regaining strength with the soft look. Scrunching her nose, she said, “if that’s an opportunity to know my boss better –” she nudged her boss softly “– why not?”

Hoseok stumbled a step before trying to balance himself with the help of the glass display beside him. Seeing her turning side to side, smiling at him, he let out a shy, brief chuckle.

**********

As the car drove out of the parking lot, it passed by their now-dark boutique and through the tall yellow lamppost on the road. As quietness buzzed through the mood in the car, Hoseok’s stomach fiddled and twisted with nervousness.

Seeing Jiah hugging herself, he quickly reached for the heater button as he asked, “are you cold?”

She looked at his index finger attached to the heater button, then at him. “Yeah,” she said, letting him press the button. Warm air blew through the car's air vents then.

“You were in the cold so long,” he muttered, loud enough for his assistant to hear.

“No. I wasn’t.”

"You weren't?" He looked at her from the corner of his eye, seeing her bob her head. “Where were you?”

“I was in a convenient store.”

“But how come… how come Seokjin hyung couldn’t find you?”

The woman turned to face at him. “Seokjin tried to find me?”

Short silence, Hoseok’s eyes darted at the GPS screen at the center before answering, “yeah.” Then, he caught Jiah looking down at her lap. “It-It’s okay. He was… We were worried about you.”

Jiah gave him a long, soft and sad coo. “I’m sorry”

He let out a soft sigh and flashed a bitter smile. “It’s okay,” he said.

The journey became silence again. What could have been done to break the silence, he thought. The apology was nowhere in his mind, but he was concentrating on the road and Jiah beside him. She was nibbling her lips.

“Are you okay?” He knew that was the first time he had asked Jiah that question.

“I’m okay,” Jiah replied. Hoseok nodded. And then, there was nothing. Silence buzzing again.

Maybe he should try asking what Seokjin had told her. Yet, he didn’t know how to phrase a question. His index finger tapping on the steering wheel, thinking.

However, it seemed that Jiah also had the same thought as he did. Mind filled with questions and curiosity. She started, “why do you love wearing hoodies?”

Another swift glance at her. He answered, “I don’t love wearing them.”

Jiah raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

He showed her a thin-lips smile, nodding his head. How much he trusted his assistant, he had no clue. He didn’t think the truth behind the reason he wore hoodies would matter to anyone. But it was true that he never loved wearing them. People’s deductions were only deductions. Whatever assumptions he had heard people make were never accurately correct.

He knew some of his staff assumed he wore hoodies every day because of his sister. But they didn’t seem to dare speculate why it was because of his sister.

“But, why do you wear hoodies every day?” his assistant asked again.

How would she react if he was to reveal the truth behind his idea? Remembering how close she became with Seokjin, could he trust her? Though, she was his personal assistant, thus he had the rights to demand her to not tell anyone.

“Can I trust you?” was the question he asked Jiah.