the heart of the matter

Joon was just not the guy Bom remembered. She knew it would not work out at the Campus Coffee Shop. Of course, it was Natalie's idea.

"We're so short-handed." She'd said and Bom knew she needed a job, but he kept watching her as if she might be a thief. Not once had they had a real conversation.

"And I don't think we will have a real conversation," Bom told Cody later when they back at his apartment.

He only nodded. She was beginning to think he wasn't all that much different that Joon. He could be so stoic. Maybe he couldn't even put up with her.

But he brushed a loose hair out of her eyes, he kissed her forehead and looked her in the eye.

"We'll look for another job." He was even lipped. "You shouldn't have to work there."

Bom couldn't help but almost smile. If only she'd heard those words from her father long ago about that test that was to secure a great career for her. She thought of all the things she could have been doing that would have made her happy. Maybe she would have learned to sew or knit or crochet. Yes, it was the simplest of things she wished she'd known instead of new laws to enforce and tax codes.

His warm hand caressed her face. This felt more like home than where she came from.