Employ Me!

Ann brought out the phone from the purse immediately after it beeped, and she saw the text from Grace.

"Can't we talk about it later? I'm in the middle of a date, as you can very well see," Ann responded with a text smiling apologetically at Tae-Joon.

"No, it can't wait. Meet me in the ladies' room right now," Grace responded with a text while giving her a daring look from across the room as she walked to the ladies' room.

"Sorry, I need to use the ladies' room. I'll be back soon," Ann said to Tae-Joon with a pleading smile as she stood up.

"Alright, be careful," He said as he continued with his meal while asking for more.

"What do you think you're doing out there?" Grace asked immediately after Ann joined her in the ladies' room.

"Is this the idea you came up with?" Ann asked, ignoring Grace's question.

"Ok, I can't live in that rathole you call home. Even the maids in my home have better clothes than you do in that thing you call a closet. I can't eat those things you call your favorite, either. So I came up with a nice plan for us."

Ann closed her eyes, trying hard not to get angry with Grace, so she took a deep breath to calm herself, "So, what's this nice plan?"

"Employ me!" Grace said, smiling at the level of her intelligence.

"What do you mean by that?" Ann asked, perplexed.

"Do you have any idea about the kind of work I do at the company?" Grace asked with arched brows.

"No, I don't. I'm yet to go to the office," Ann said, unsure of where the conversation was headed.

"Good. So you'll employ me as your personal assistant. That way, I get to do my job myself, dress the way I want, eat the way I want, and you'll provide me with suitable accommodation and a car, too," Grace said with a flourish.

Ann considered it for a second. "Do I really have such powers?" She asked Grace.

"No, you don't. But Grace does, and as long as you're occupying my position, you have the power to do all that. All you need to do is talk to my father about it, and he will grant you whatever you request," Grace said with total assurance.

"What's in all this for me? Because I can see you have a lot to gain from it all, and I have nothing to benefit from," Ann said. She had always been good at negotiations, and she had good business sense.

"You can keep the house and car when things return to normal, and you'll also get to learn a lot from me. It's a rare privilege, you know?" Grace said, giving Ann a sweet smile for the first time.

Ann stared deep into her eyes. She wanted to be sure Grace wasn't trying to use her, "I need to confirm something from you before accepting this deal," Ann said.

"What's that?" Grace asked, rolling her eyes. Why couldn't the girl just gratefully accept her offer?

"Do you love him?" She asked, swinging her head in Tae-Joon's direction to indicate who she meant.

Grace giggled at the question, "Don't tell me you like that boring prude," Grace said, looking at Ann in an honest shock.

"Or is it his money? You want to use him as a ladder out of poverty?" She asked, looking at Ann in disbelief. Maybe the girl wasn't so bad after all. She liked ambitious ladies.

"No, it has absolutely nothing to do with his money. I've always just liked him before now. You'll see his pictures all over my phone gallery," Ann said with a straight face.

"Ok.. and you brought this up because?" Grace asked, quirking her brows again.

"Because I don't want you to marry him," She said flatly without batting an eyelid.

"I see," Grace said as she scrolled through the phone's gallery.

"It might just turn out well for us all. Do all I've asked you to do, and we will both get along greatly. So, are you in?" She asked with an outstretched hand.

"I'm in," Ann said, taking Grace's hand in her own.

**********

Ann was relieved as she walked out of the restaurant with Tae-Joon. It was all going better than she had expected. The Deity was surely in her favor, she thought with a smile.

"Why are you smiling to yourself?" Tae-Joon asked, glancing at Grace.

"Do you believe in supernatural beings? Like, do you believe there is a God somewhere?" She asked, looking at him curiously.

"Yes, I do. There has to be one."

How else could he explain what was going on? He was sure the Deity had looked down on his predicament and had made things happen the way they did after their first date. All he could hope for was for her not to change when she regained her memory.

She wanted him to kiss her as she had always dreamt about. "Do you drink Soju?" She asked randomly. She didn't want their day to end so soon. She wanted to spend more time with him. Maybe she could hide under the influence of alcohol to get the kiss she so much desired.

Tae-Joon looked at her. He hadn't figured her to be one to drink Soju. She seemed more like the type to take just exotic wines. "Sure I do."

"Great! Let's get a bottle or two and stay out some more," She said, batting her eyelids in a way that made him blink in surprise before laughing out loud.

"This accident was good for you. For us, too, from the look of things," He said, chuckling. He was glad he had come out alone with her. If he had been with his driver, things would have gone differently.

They bought the drinks and sat in the car drinking. "So you said you liked me... how long have you liked me?" He asked curiously.

"For some years now," She said, wondering where the questions were leading to.

"Are you sure about that? Or you're like this because of the accident?" He asked, not wanting to read too much meaning into her statement.

She looked at him, and she didn't know what to say to that. There was no way he'd believe her if she told him she wasn't Grace. She really wanted to tell him that, and she really wanted to confide in him. She wanted him to love her as Ann and not as Grace.

But could she really take that risk? She would work on making him fall in love with her first, and after that, she will tell him the truth. For now, all she wanted to do was to kiss him.