Errors: On Emil Leonhardt

Seattle, WA

November 200x

12:31 PM

“You’re real stubborn, you know that?”

“Wasn’t asking for a critique on my overall character, but yeah, I do know.” Min-seo rolls her eyes. Emil simply stabs at his carrot cake, “It was a small argument, Min. It’ll get resolved in no time. Kwon’s going to approach me because he needs something from me, and the entire thing will be forgotten. Water under the bridge.”

“Haneul.”

“What?”

She shakes her head. “His name is Haneul, Emil. At least get it right.”

“But wouldn’t he rather be called by his surname—”

“Since when? Look,” she exhales, “Just...stop being stubborn and apologize. You made a mistake. You both did. But you need to be mature about it, too. And no,” she interrupts, “I don’t care who started the argument first. You need to apologize for it. Christ.” Min-seo sighs. She glances into her coffee cup and downs what remains. “Your stubbornness will be the death of you someday.”

Emil tries to ignore that last part.

Min-seo was right about him being stubborn, but he didn’t exactly want to admit that. Besides, the argument had been Kwon’s fault entirely. Kwon was too focused on safety and contingency; Emil, however, argued that their agents knew what they were signing up for—so why bother to shelter and protect? It had escalated until both were yelling, and that was when Gaius had interjected. Audra had pulled Kwon away; Min-seo dragged Emil out of the office and into the cafe they were currently eating at.

“I don’t understand.” Min-seo glances at him and quirks a brow. “He’s always yappering about safety and security and shit; doesn’t he know that we care about that too? Honestly.” He folds his arms over his chest, “I don’t know why Audra brought him in to begin with.”

“Now that’s not fair,” she argues. “ Haneul has been with Audra from the start. He knows what she wants. I don’t think that he’d suggest or do anything that would get in the way of her vision.” He throws her a look. Min-seo brushes her hair out of her eyes and continues, “She trusts him with her life, Emil. I get where you’re coming from, I really do. The people we got knew what they were signing up for.”

“So you do agree with me—”

Min-seo holds a hand up. Emil quiets.

“I agree with you, but I agree with Haneul too. If I had to be honest…” Min-seo lowers her voice, “...I’m worried about what Audra wants.”

“What?”

“Don’t get me wrong, okay? It’s just…” She hesitates. Emil’s then-critical gaze softens. “I just want to believe that Audra still has the best intentions. “We’re in something big. I don’t want it to turn out one day that we’ve sided with some kind of malicious force.”

“Audra wouldn’t.”

“I know, I know. She’s a good person. I just can’t help but feel…”

Min-seo trails off. Emil tries to push her into speaking, but she doesn’t. Min-seo only finishes her glass of water, raises her hand, and orders yet another coffee. Emil glances at his half-eaten cake and pushes it towards her. Min-seo forks a piece into her mouth.

“We knew what we were signing up for when Gaius invited us.”

A statement, a question. Emil lets Min-seo decipher what he means when he says that. The last thing Emil wanted to find out was that he had committed an error bigger than what they had entered into. She says nothing for a moment. The question hangs in the air and Emil finds himself second-guessing for the stillest of moments.

Errors.

Both of them hated committing errors; Min-seo because of her careful and meticulous tendencies, and Emil because of how he refused to admit when he was in the wrong.

The whole joining Audra’s team thing had been a conversation that they had pondered over for weeks; even in accepting the call Emil had to admit that there was a slight sliver of hesitation. He wondered at the time whether to accept was the right thing to do, given that he didn’t exactly know Audra and Kwon that well at the time. Gaius was a friend, but out of everyone it was Min-seo he had trusted the most. And even Min-seo was hesitant, reluctant; not usually a good sign at all.

They remain quiet. Min-seo’s coffee arrives. She thanks the waitress and takes another long drink. The carrot cake remains untouched between them and all they hear is the soft chatter of other customers and the cheesy pop song playing on the speakers. If unease had a sound, this would be it.

Min-seo doesn’t answer Emil’s statement-slash-question.

He doesn’t know whether bringing it up was another error on his part, or not.