"Why are you calling me?"

Sighing, Lia stood outside the small store, watching as a few customers made their way past her with bags strung to their arms. Mr. Kim had been out of the office yet again today which resulted in her having a half day. This had been the second day in a row that Mr. Kim apparently hadn't shown up to work and he apparently never did that sort of thing before. The last time she had seen him herself was Wednesday evening at the apartment building. He seemed to have been unaccounted for since. Even though Lia was worried about this, she tuned it out for a moment to listen to the grouchy man on the other end of the line.

"I was calling to see if you needed any supplies," said Lia. "I got let off work early."

"Ughh..."

She sighed. Even though she was slightly miffed by Namjoon's grouchiness, she knew that he was sick like the others and one's attitude and tolerance got changed when that happened. It wasn't like Lia hadn't handled grumpy before anyway.

"This is your one and only offer," she warned as she leaned against the brick of the store.

"What happened to this morning when you said you'd run back out if you had to?"

"That was before I knew I was getting out half day. The offer has changed."

There was the sound of shifting on the other end of the line accompanied by the bed creaking as Namjoon apparently got up. Lia let out another sigh as she listened to Namjoon walking about the apartment.

"Ramen," he eventually replied.

"That's vague. What kind do I get?"

"I trust your judgement. I know you'll pick out a kind I like. You know us well enough by now," he said. "Some more than others."

Lia froze when she heard those words. She remembered Jungkook's fear about Namjoon finding out. Was it possible that he had discovered their secret already?

"Fine. I'll get that. Anything else?" she asked quickly.

"No."

"Great then. Rest up and I'll be over in a bit."

Namjoon gave her a brief goodbye after that before hanging up the phone. Lia moved to slip her phone away before she entered the store. The store was laid out in such a way that every aisle seemed to barely have enough room for one person to slip down to get what they needed. The tiny store was crowded too which surprised her since it was early afternoon. Lia figured that would be okay though because she just was coming in for one thing. Unfortunately - as luck would have it - the one aisle she needed to go down was already basically a human sardine can.

Instead of making herself a human pancake, she opted to stay where she was at the end of the aisle until it had cleared out some. As she waited for the people in the aisle to make their purchases, she allowed her gaze to wander about the place. When her eyes swept over the front of the store, she was surprised to see none other than her boss standing there. He was standing currently with his back to her so that he didn't notice her; a small white bouquet of flowers in his hands as he finished paying the cashier. Lia's eyes continued to track his movements even after he had slipped out of the store with his purchase in hand.

Without thinking it through, Lia moved to walk out of the store to follow after him. As she walked, Lia kept in mind everything that she had learned from detective movies and novels throughout the year. So as not to get caught tailing him, Lia moved to blend in with the small crowd of people on the sidewalk around her as she trailed a few feet behind him. They walked like this for ten minutes or so before they reached a part of the city that she really hadn't traveled in yet. Everything about this part of the city seemed to look run down. Less houses and shops lined the streets around her. Where there were less buildings, there was more blank spaces for alleys. There weren't nearly as many people on the sidewalks either, leaving Lia exposed to whoever was walking about. As she passed by what felt like the hundredth alley in two minutes, she felt as if she was about to be jumped. She couldn't help but to cast furtive glances down every alley she passed, wondering if something sinister was hidden in the shadows.

'You're being foolish,' she thought as she clutched her purse tighter and kept on trailing Mr. Kim. 'There isn't anything hiding in the shadows waiting to jump out at you.'

Just as she had managed to convince herself that she was being ridiculous, what she had feared most happened. Lia watched as Mr. Kim disappeared around a corner up ahead. She was about to move to follow him when someone slipped out of an alley nearby, grabbing a hold of her purse strap to try to yank it off her arm.

Lia knew the smart thing would be to let it go so she wouldn't get hurt, but she couldn't. She wasn't about to let some random creep get the better of her. Slipping the purse strap down her arm, she gripped the strap in return with one of her hands and started a tug of war with the crispy critter.

The man that was attempting to steal her purse was as crispy a critter as they came. She could barely make out his beady eyes amongst the grime and facial hair covering his face; his beer belly protruding from a greasy red sweatshirt. In Lia's mind, he looked like a thug Santa Clause. Lia kept her hand gripping the purse strap tightly, trying to tug it backwards to free it from his grasp but was unable to. Even though the man looked like he had eaten nothing but Christmas cookies for the last decade, he still had enough strength to yank her and the purse forward rather easily. It was embarrassing.

Just when Lia was beginning to think that she was doomed, someone suddenly appeared behind her. Whoever it was leaned over her a bit to grip the purse, yanking it free from the crispy critter's grasp in one tug. Lia noticed a mixture of terror and panic cross the man's face as Lia's purse was handed back to her; her hero moving to stand beside her.

"You have three seconds to go before I call the authorities."

Lia paled when the voice beside her sounded familiar. As she turned her head, she saw that Mr. Kim was standing beside her.

The man didn't take long to debate, soon disappearing back again into whatever shadows he had come from.

"Are you okay?"

Lia nodded her head as she turned to face him with a blush to her cheeks.

"Yes. Thank you."

He nodded his head curtly as he observed her. Somehow he had managed to keep the white bouquet of flowers from being harmed during the entire transaction. When the silence continued, Mr. Kim moved to speak again.

"Lia were you following me?"

Lia couldn't fight the blush away from her cheeks at his straight-to-the-point question as her mind tried to stumble for an answer that wouldn't end up with her being fired.

"Yes," she said eventually with a sigh. She figured there wasn't any point in lying.

Instead of asking her any follow-up questions, Mr. Kim just nodded his head and moved to walk back in the direction he had been walking previously.

"You may as well come with me at this point since you've come so far," he said, "It'll be safer anyway."

Lia nodded, quickly following after him. Neither of them said anything as they walked for another block or so. It was then - as they rounded the last corner - that Lia's eyes were greeted by a cemetery. It looked like a little forgotten island. She moved to follow him across the street and past the gate that looked as if they were being held up by weeds.

She continued to say nothing as they walked amongst the graves. When he eventually came to a stop, she watched as he kneeled in front of one. It seemed to be the most well taken care of grave in sight. Lia didn't have to look at the name to know who the grave was for. He laid the bouquet down in front of it before sitting back on his haunches.

"You must come here often," Lia finally said.

"What makes you say that?" he asked without looking up from the gravestone.

"It looks like it's the most tended one around," she said.

A small smirk came on his face as he broke his gaze with the gravestone to look up at her.

"You really are perceptive."

"Sort of. I mean, I wasn't perceptive enough to stay out of harm's way."

"No, but you stood your ground. It shows you're strong. Resilient. You remind me of my son in that way."

He paused as he looked back at the gravestone at those words.

"I come here as much as I can, but it's hard to with the job I have," said Mr. Kim, "With the anniversary of his death being yesterday, I needed to be here as much as I could though. One day wasn't enough."

Lia nodded. She hadn't expected him to explain himself at all, but in a way she knew it must have felt good to confide in someone. She couldn't help but to feel guilty as he talked though. His son wasn't dead. He was alive.

"Why is he buried here?" she asked softly.

Lia worried that her question was too intrusive and immediately regret it when it left her mouth. She figured that it was just because he wanted his personal life private, but found out she was wrong when Mr. Kim began to speak again.

"No one wanted to waste grave space on an empty grave. This was one of the only places I could find that didn't care. I wanted to do this to honor him and to remember him, but I've never once given up thinking that he might still be out there somewhere. I miss my son too, so being here helps me to feel closer to him in a weird way. At first, I lived out by the sea and the grave was too far away for me to visit. That's why I took the position I did at Exposure so I could come here more often."

Listening to Mr. Kim speak made Lia more determined than ever to talk to Namjoon about all this today when she saw him. One way or another, she had to convince him to let Mr. Kim in on this secret; to let him see that his son was alive. Lia knew just the way to go about it too.