“Good afternoon, Mr. Singleton,” the security guard at the front desk says.
“Afternoon, Hector. Beautiful day, isn’t it?” I reply, probably radiating post-coital energy like a human lighthouse.
“Nothing but sunshine and rainbows.” He smiles.
I check my watch—forty-five minutes until my meeting with Tab at the publisher’s office. That’s just enough time to get a real lunch, since mine got… repurposed.
I pass a bookstore and spot a poster forLove and Lawsuits. I can’t help but smile. Who would have guessed that a passion project would lead me back to the woman I fell for in college, all these years later?
I duck into a deli and grab a sandwich, my phone buzzing with a text from Tab.
Tab
Running 15 minutes late. Traffic nightmare. Bring coffee if you value my sanity.
I type back a quick acknowledgment and order her usual, triple shot with almond milk and too much cinnamon. Whilewaiting, I pull out my phone again to check the time and see my lock screen—Minji and I in Seoul, standing beneath cherry blossoms, all smiles.
Coffee in hand, I head toward the publisher’s office, weaving through the crowded sidewalk. My mind drifts to the small velvet box hidden in my sock drawer at home. For three months, it’s been sitting there, waiting for the perfect moment. I’ve rehearsed a dozen different proposals in my head, each one discarded for being too cliché, too grand, or not grand enough for a woman like Minji.
“Excuse me,” a businesswoman mutters as she brushes past me, jolting me back to reality. I’ve stopped walking in the middle of the sidewalk like a tourist.
I know Minji loves me. But marriage is something else. She’s spent her career helping people end theirs, so she knows better than anyone how wrong it can go. Every day, she sees the fallout from broken promises and vows. Yet I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life. I want to be her husband. I want her to be my wife. I want to build something permanent with her, something that defies all the statistics she can quote from memory.
I check my watch again and quicken my pace. Tab will murder me if I’m late with her coffee. As I approach the publisher’s building, my phone rings—Minji’s ringtone, the theme fromLaw & Order(her idea of a joke). I nearly drop the coffee in my rush to answer.
“Hey, everything okay?” I ask, pressing the phone to my ear. “I thought you had a call?”
“I did, it was quick. I’m just missing you.”
“Damn, I should’ve stayed longer if I knew that call was going to bethatquick. But if you can leave early, just go to my place. After I meet with Tab, I’ll head straight home and we can head to your place from there.”
“Mmm, that sounds perfect.” I can hear the smile in her voice. “My last client just canceled. I might actually leave on time for once.”
“A miracle. Should I alert the media?”
She laughs, that genuine sound that still makes my chest tighten. “Very funny. Just for that, I’m stealing your favorite sweatshirt again.”
“It looks better on you anyway. I’ll see you soon, okay?”
“Soon,” she echoes, and then adds, more softly, “I love you.”
I’m grinning like an idiot as I pocket my phone and push through the revolving door of the publishing house. Even after a year together, those three words from her still feel like winning the lottery.
CHAPTER 43
AARON
Ridingthe elevator up to the fourteenth floor, I find myself thinking about the box hidden in my sock drawer. Maybe tonight is the night. No big setup, no crowd—just the two of us. Minji hates anything flashy. If I ever tried to propose to her in front of a huge crowd or even in a restaurant, she’d probably kill me.
When the doors open, Tab is already in the reception area, glancing at her watch and pretending to be impatient.
“You’re late,” she reaches for the coffee before I can even offer it.
“I’m exactly on time. You’re early, considering you told me you were going to be late.”
She rolls her eyes, but a smile slips through. “Traffic wasn’t bad after all. Are you ready? Courtney’s already inside with the marketing team.”
I walk with Tab down the hall toward the conference room, still half-distracted by thoughts of Minji. “Remind me what this meeting’s about again?”
