Pet pet. "Nervous?"

"Not really, actually. But... probably at least partly because of the way she's treating this. If it's just a business meeting, clearly she in fact has no desire for familial feelings. So there's not really a way in which she'd care if I'm one way or another."

"She clearly has no meaningful expectations so you don't need to worry about falling short of them?"

"Yeah. Pretty much."

"I assume it's not the kind of meeting I should be offering to attend for moral support but correct me if I'm wrong."

"Yeah I think not really. And I should... remember that the main goal is figuring out if she has any insight about what to do about Kang Jaehyuk."

"...why, what else are you likely to get sidetracked by?"

Shrug. "Family stuff, I guess."

Pet pet. "You could I suppose literally go in with an agenda in hand."

"Yeah, I suppose I could. That wouldn't be a bad idea."

"It does some... tone-setting, even if you wouldn't actually forget your priorities for the meeting. But perhaps tone-setting in a useful way."

"I feel like the fact that she scheduled a timed meeting for 2:45PM on a Wednesday sets the tone all on its own."

"It really does." Kiss. "I wish you luck."

"Thank you, Haru-ya."

He agonised over how to greet his mother for a while.

He doesn't know her, so calling her "mum" is out of the question. "Mother", using a formal register, is what he called her in public when he was younger and his whole family had to be present in the same place at the same time, but he didn't call her anything in private because they didn't talk, and right now if he called her that and she called him "Kang Jaeha-shi" (or worse, "Kang Jaeha-nim") he'd probably die.

So when he's taken to her office by a secretary, what he says while he's bowing to her is, "Good afternoon, Nam Hee-seo-nim."

Nam Hee-seo's office is elegant and modern, all angles and chrome and saturated colours, gorgeous abstract paintings and two potted plants—not succulents, proper plants that need care to survive. One wall entirely made of glass so they can see the river from the absurd height this building goes up to, and behind her glass desk there's a bookcase showcasing an array of books on business, economics, and engineering.

And the woman herself is exactly who you'd expect would work here. Her makeup is understated but perfect, the kind of makeup a Hollywood actor would wear for a scene in which her character was meant to "not be wearing any makeup"; her suit accentuates her figure in a way that could be considered sexy but not sexual; her high heels are sharp enough you could stab a man with them; and she wears an easy, confident, even affable smile as she stands up and says, "Jaeha! It's been too long. Please, sit," gesturing at the little sofas and walking over to them herself.

The family resemblance is unmistakeable. Jaeha looks a lot more like his mother than like his father, it seems. He has her eyes, and her nose, and her lips, and her eyebrows, and most of all that exact same smile.

Ah.

Jaeha can't actually wear that smile, here. There's something very disarming about it and he can't match it. He can't read it, either; having been on the other side of it, he knows it doesn't mean anything, even though he can feel his body wanting to relax in its presence, wanting to think that everything is okay and she is on his side and maybe she knows something he doesn't but if he plays his cards right she might just be willing to share after a glass of wine or two. He knows she's doing it on purpose. The smile Jaeha has to use esper powers to sport, she wears with the familiarity of an old friend. 

He follows the instructions and sits on the sofa that's a little bit less than perpendicular to the one she chose, so that they're not directly facing each other but are closer. "I know you must be very busy, and I'm very sorry to intrude upon your time."

"Oh, don't worry about that, I always have time for family!"

What.

"Ah, would you like some tea? Some coffee?" she asks, looking over Jaeha's shoulder.

Ahh. They have an audience. He looks over his shoulder, too, at the secretary who still hasn't shut the door, then back at his mother. "No, thank you, Nam Hee-seo-nim, I'm not staying very long anyway."

"Well, I'll have myself some tea. You know how I like it, yes?" she asks her secretary, unnecessarily.

"Yes, president-nim. I'll be back shortly."

She bows and shuts the door.

"So, how have you been? It's been so long! I heard you've made quite a name for yourself as a psychic esper. The anti-Nightmare, isn't it?"

"Well, powers are always a lottery. I can't claim responsibility for what I've been given, but since I have been given it, the least I can do is use it for good."