Chance Upon A Tempest

Chapter 5

By the time you arrive at work, it is 8:00 AM. Most people don't arrive for work until around 9:00, so the parking lot is still mostly empty. You park your car and walk into the office building. You press the elevator call button and wait for one to arrive. As you tap your foot to the music in your head, you don't hear the fact that someone has walked up and is now standing behind you. It isn't until the person says, "Good morning," that you whip around to see who it is.

You see Jimin standing there, dressed in a well-tailored dark purple suit with a silvery grey tie. You think, "Good Lord, he looks good. I bet; he is a sight to behold in court." You say, "Good morning, Jimin."

He holds your gaze a second or two longer than you feel comfortable doing. You swear he is studying every inch of your face and as he does, he asks, "How was your weekend?"

With a picture of Owen's face rising up to the surface of your mind, you say, "I didn't do much other than hang out at home. We did go out for brunch, but really nothing much else. What about you?"

The elevator arrives and the two of you walk into it. Jimin replies, "The entire weekend was taken up with a friend's wedding out of town."

"Oh, that must have been fun."

"It was." Suddenly, Jimin turns to you and says, "By the way, you'll be accompanying me to court this morning, and when we return, I want you sitting in on a client meeting with me."

"Okay. Who is the client?"

"The case files that you reviewed last week, it's that client coming in. I'm going to break the news to him about the guilty plea on lesser charges deal."

"Great. Thank you for letting me sit in on everything. I really appreciate it."

The elevator stops at your floor, and you walk out. As you do, Jimin says, "I'll come and get you in about an hour for court." The doors of the elevator close slowly, and he never breaks eye contact with you.

Walking to your office, you think, "My heart feels like it is trying to jump out of my chest. He is so intense. Christ almighty!"

Once in your office, you know you only have about an hour before you have to leave for court, so you start your day by checking phone messages and emails. About fifteen minutes into your email checking, you get a knock at your door. You shout, "Come in."

In comes one of the administrative assistants that has been assigned to you. You say, "Good morning, Lauren. What's up?"

"Good morning, Jimin wanted me to pass these files along to you. He said you are going to want to go over it before court this morning."

"Oh, great. Thank you."

You decide to spend the rest of your time before Jimin comes to collect you for court on reviewing the file. When you are about ¾ of the way done with the content of the file, you get another knock at your door. You say, "Come in."

When you look up, it is Jimin. But this time, the heavy intensity from this morning is gone and he has a bright smile. He says, "You ready to go?"

"Yes, I am. Let me just grab my things."

Once you get to the parking garage, the two of you walk towards Jimin's car in silence. You want to say something, anything, to fill the quiet, but you have no idea what to say. In the midst of you trying to search for a conversation starter, Jimin asks, "You look like you are concentrating on something. What are you thinking about?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing really. I have a question, the case that you had me review this morning, what's going to happen in court today?"

"It's the arraignment. It won't be too long. Well, depending on what's on the docket, we might have to wait around for a bit. The actual arraignment for our client won't take too long."