Second Option

The air felt tense. Jin stood up from his chair and gave Ava a slight bow.

"Please, excuse me," he said.

Jin turned around and walked to the door. Ava hit the button to unlock it. A buzz rang out and Jin reached for the handle.

"Jin…" Ava began as the door opened slightly. Jin turned around to face his boss. "If you change your mind, this job could use you."

Jin nodded and exited the office. He returned to his desk to calm his nerves. His palms felt sweaty and his heart was still in his throat. Allan approached Jin's desk and rested his arms on the cubicle walls.

"You good buddy?" asked Allen.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Jin responded.

A few cubicles down, Allen's computer lit up. The speakers blasted out a soundbite "You Got Mail" to notify that Allen had a new email.

Jin glanced past Allen and down the hall at his cubicle.

"You still have an AOL email?" Jin questioned.

"Oh no, no, no. I just have that as my notification sound on my computer."

"Because…"

"It's nostalgic. Plus it reminds me of my favorite movie."

"You've got mail is your favorite movie?"

"Of course. I'm a huge Meg Ryan fan."

"Really?" Jin smirked.

"Ever since I saw The Diner scene at 10 years old. That curly blonde hair…" Allen paused for a moment as if he was reliving a memory. He laughed, "Let's just say from that day on little Allen didn't want to play with Legos anymore."

Jin pinched the top part of the bridge of his nose and cringed slightly. "Allen, sometimes I just can't with you."

"Then you add Tom Hanks to the movie and it's leaving me starstruck. So yeah, 'You've got Mail' is my favorite movie."

Allen went to address the email, but quickly turned back to Jin to ask him an important question, "What's your favorite movie?"

Jin thought for a moment, he thought about lying and saying something like The Matrix, or The Godfather, but he knew he had to be honest with himself and Allen, "Toy Story."

Allen smiled, "Tom Hanks! Man is a national treasure."

Allen returned to his cubicle. Behind Jin, Hugh passed by, "I always thought Toy Story 2 was the best."

Jin swerved in his chair to face Hugh, "Can't beat the original."

At his computer, Allen opened his email. He was giddy with anticipation since he didn't receive emails too often, unless it was from his parents. To whom were retired and living out their days back in Ann Arbor, Michigan; away from the neighborhoods of Detroit that Allen was raised on.

The email was from The Boss. It asked Allen to report to her office at his earliest convenience. He was quick to shut the browser and race to the door to Ava's office. A buzz rang out and Allen entered.

Hugh took notice of Allen going into the office so shortly after Jin left.

"I don't know what you said in there, or what anything is about, but whatever it is, looks like you got Allen involved."

Jin turned back to look at Allen's empty cubicle. He gave out a bit of a sigh. Hugh left the vicinity and Jin continued to mess around on his computer to pass the time.

After a short while, the buzz of The Boss's door unlocking rang out again and Allen pranced his way through the doorway. He approached Jin who was on the verge of taking a nap.

"I was just given a top secret, super important mission," he said proudly.

Jin leaned back and tilted his head up to face Allen upside-down. "Congratulations."

"Yeah, The Boss said I was amongst her top choices for this secret job. I didn't get all the details, but she said I needed to form a team and add one more member."

Jin knew where this was going. "Look, Allen…"

"Come on, buddy. What do you say?"

"I'm good for now. I'm not looking for a new task right now."

Allen's face did a poor job to hide his disappointment. He was never one to have a strong poker face. "I understand."

Allen turned his sights to Hugh, who was across the office at the watercooler. He made an attempt to walk with a bit of swagger across the office. He swung his left arm and kept his right hand in his pocket. Allen swayed his shoulders. As he walked by other coworkers, he gave a nonchalant nod.

"Hugh, my guy" Allen began as he leaned onto the watercooler. He grabbed a paper cup and pressed it on the tab for water, not realizing he was pressing for hot water.

"Hey," Hugh replied.

"Boss has a top secret mission for me, said the team needed on more. You in?"

Allen took a sip of the water. The water singed his tongue and he nearly dropped the cup.

Hugh glanced at the steam rising from the cup and back up at Allen. "You good?"

"Never better."

"Yeah… What's the payout?"

Allen didn't actually know the answer to that question, but he didn't want to discourage Hugh from joining his team. "That's classified. But believe me, it'll be worth it."

Hugh raised an eyebrow and Allen took another sip from his hot water; he was too committed to set it aside.

"Sure Allen, I'll work with you."

With the cup half empty, Allen added cold water to make the liquid lukewarm. He nodded his head back in an attempt to act subtle. "Cool. I'll send you the details," he remarked as he moved back to his desk.

The rest of the day at the office went without anything else of importance occurring. Jin browsed on his computer; Allen went home early to take care of some "home-work" as he called it. Hugh chatted with George, Esteban, and Carl.

As six o'clock rolled around, Jin returned to his car. He remembered his phone had vibrated as he was entering Ava's office. He had forgotten to see what it was. He swiped on his phone notifications and saw that Sebastian had added him to the group chat for Baltimore this upcoming weekend.

A few messages from the girls poked fun at Sebastian for adding another guy to that chat. They asked if Jin was 'like' Sebastian with a few purple vegetable emojis and a set of eyes looking to the left. Jin didn't respond and set the phone on the passenger seat. He drove home for the night, mentally preparing himself for the weekend that was quickly approaching.