#i think something’s wrong w my file transfer process

[boytransmission]

Boy room boy bed boy butt boy cunt etc etc

Top surgery fund <3 Wishlist

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers: July 10th

I really let asks get away from me lately. I was super focused on working on that Patreon Moment. With that done I can finally think about doing other things, so here’s a new collection of answers!

Thank you for sending in questions everyone ^^.

For the new Patreon moment, will you be able to reference it in step 4? Or just like a tiny nod to it if you pick certain choices?

There won’t be. I’m sorry if you were hoping for that! The Patreon moment is meant to be entirely optional, it’s not something that gets you extra content in the main game.

Is the new CG artist the main one now? :0 I’ve noticed theres been a difference in the art style recently. Is the old CG artist still going to make art for the game? :0

The original artist still makes CGs for the game sometimes, but he mainly focuses on character sprites.

Are you going to put the NSFW our life moment on a website other than patreon? I would love to get it but I can't use patreon atm.

I don’t know. I'm afraid we can't release the Patreon Moment on a normal game storefront because we can't mix 18+ content with our family friendly game. If there's some other place similar to Patreon where it's not the normal type of full-scale public content releases we'd consider using that, but I’m not sure if there is another site that’s better than Patreon in that regard. I'm sorry.

Out of curiosity, in all of your games so far, which characters in each were the most fun to write? They obviously don't have to be your favorite characters!

Buffalo Seer in AFA, really everyone in XOD/XOBD is pretty equally entertaining to write, The Guide in LoV, and Cove in OL!

idk if you accept "personal" questions, but is there anything you've been watching/ listening to lately

Mostly, I’ve been watching/listening to Authortube videos as of late! It’s people who talk generally about the process of how books become traditionally published and/or share their own experience as they attempt to be published. I don’t have an interest in writing normal text based books, but it’s really interesting to hear about that world. I’m listening to a video about royalties right now as I answer these asks.

Will one of the desserts we get to pick be fudge? That'd be such a cute reference! 

Haha, yeah, it should. Unless I completely blank on it and forget when trying to include the various referential food options.

I don't know if this has been asked previously but what would be the approximate heights for the presets MC can choose from Step 2 ~ 4? Are there any measurement you had in mind? Sorry if I didn't make myself clear kk I've been struggling with my English lately 💀 

I don’t know, ahah. I didn’t have any numbers in mind for that. So it’s whatever you imagine it is!

I noticed a bug with the Patreon moment when it comes to what your character wears. When Jamie and Cove are kissing while my character only had dresses selected, I had both the option to remove the dress or to remove the shirt... Picking one of the options to interact with Cove, after he removed his shirt, it had Jamie remove their shirt followed by ther pants despite only having dresses picked. 

Thank you for reporting ^^

I keep refreshing steam to see when the new doc for xobd will be released. I noticed you haven't posted anything about it in quite some time. Would it be possible to ask about a timeline/potential date? (If it's even this year—) I know you and your team are probably working super hard, I'm just super curious! ~Thank you!~ 

There are more stories done, I just haven’t gotten around to publicly releasing them. Hopefully I will have a chance to spend the time on that sooner rather than later!

hello!! i’m not sure if it’s an update but i’ve just replayed our life and at the end i can’t propose to cove anymore? :(( i’ve actually tried playing twice but the options are not there anymore, did you guys remove the options? i’m sorry if you’ve answered this before!! thank you and have a good one :) 

I’m afraid things haven’t been changed or removed, so I think you might’ve accidentally picked the wrong things somewhere along the way and locked yourself out of being able to propose by mistake. Sometimes you meant to say you want to get married but instead you mis-click and have it so the MC isn’t thinking about marriage or something. All I can suggest is starting from the beginning of Step 3 and making sure to follow the steps listed in the FAQ. I’m sorry for that.

Did yall remove some of the options for when youre making out with Cove in the charity moment? I could've sworn you could grab his bonkadonk and its not there anymore 

This is the same situation as the above. We didn’t remove things and you’re not wrong that there are sometimes those options. But there are various choices you have to make to get those options and it sounds like you accidentally missed something. If your relationship isn’t long-term, you can’t do it for example.

HI IM SO EXCITED I CAN FINALLY GET THE STEP 3 DLC 

Thank you for getting it!

Is Shiloh super totally straight bc I’m very gay and a huge Shiloh fan, would my man make an exception?😩

Sadly, he is one of our super straight characters. I’m sorry.

Hi, I have a very dumb question. In Step 2 does Cove not wanna share his drink with us at the mall (or rather why he stops drinking it) because it's an indirect kiss? Or is it like ...weird to him to share? Because if I remember right he eats off our spoon in the birthday scene right? 

Yeah, he’s awkward about it because he likes the MC and it feels very personal to share a straw with his crush.

Hi! If you don't mind me asking, who is the artist for OL2? Their style is so pretty! 

Thank you for saying so! This is her Twitter- https://twitter.com/redridingheart

Do Beginnings & Always and Now & Forever exist in the same universe? 

Yep! XOXO Droplets also exists in the same universe. It’s one big GB Patch world, haha.

Do Pran's parents regret the way they raised him? Do they feel ashamed of it?

No. They’re the type of people best cut out because they’re not gonna change. Which is why Pran does go very limited contact when he’s an adult.

Hi! I just wrapped up my second playthrough of Our Life, and I absolutely adore it, but I had a question. I went to the gallery and found I was missing 2 CGS (specifically Step 1-3 and 2-3) and I had no clue where they would've shown up. Which moments are those found in? 

You get it by telling Cove about his dad offering you money to be his friend in Step 1 and Step 2. You can’t get both in one playthrough, since you can only tell Cove the truth once. I’m really glad you liked it!

Hi hi! Please, how tall is Baxter and Derek? Love the game so much and I can't wait to see more! 

I don’t know, aha. I think Baxter was around 5′10 and Derek was like 5′8/5′9, maybe. I really am not one who has specific heights for things in mind.

is adult cove a bottom, top, or switch? 

A switch, though would choose the top if he had to pick.

I was wondering if there is a way to transfer save data? Even if through the game files. I wanted to be able to transfer my save data from my desktop over to my laptop so that I could continue playing right where I left off from but I'm not entirely sure how to go about that. 

If you save the save folder/persistent data of the game from your desktop and put it into the game folder on your other device, that could work.

Hi! Is it possible for us to know the date when our life: now and forever comes out on steam? Sorry if you've mentioned it before but I haven't seen it and I'm looking foward to that happening and just wanted to know :) 

It’s gonna be a long time, I’m afraid. There’s no estimate right now.

I started playing Our Life with my sister a while ago, and I think you guys should know that we discovered your secret. >:)

L from death note and Cove are clearly the same person, and this whole game is just an origin story!!

I’ve never seen that show so I’m sorry to say I don’t understand the connection/reference you’re trying to make. I’m pretty out of the loop when it comes to media. I don’t watch movies or TV.

Will OL2 have options for disabled MCs?

I understand if it's too complicated, just curious

Unfortunately, it’s not really something we have a plan for. We couldn’t finish the game if we tried to include every disability and have it be meaningful. It’d just be too much content to create. But if we decide to only include a few, how would we choose which disabilities get to be represented and which are left out? I don’t know. It’ll probably have to be something we don’t include as an option again, sadly. I’m sorry.

playing our life > anything else 

Haha, I’m glad you’re enjoying it.

Honestly, I would like to thank Our Life for helping me come to terms with my sexuality. Before, I never would've actually thought that it was possible to like boys romantically and still be asexual. Almost all of the BL visual novels I've read had unskippable sexual content in them and it honestly just didn't click with what I feel. I'm glad I found Our Life. I love the game, the developers, and this fandom so much. Now, I can safely come out as homoromantic AND asexual (at least anonymously here anyway; my parents are still huge homophobes 😂). 

Aw, it’s great to hear you felt comfortable being yourself in the game! That’s wonderful. I’m really sorry about your parents, though.

Will the demo for OL2 be on android? Really not sure if I could wait any longer than I have to aha 

Yeah, it’ll be available for Android once we eventually release a demo!

Do all these reveals perhaps mean development is progressing ahead of schedule? Please let that be the case I'm already obsessed with Qiu 

No, sorry, aha. Art comes along much faster than script/programming-work for us. It’s gonna be a long time before the game is a finished thing you can actually play. But at least we can look at the beautiful images.

Hey! First of all I wanna say I reallllllyyyyy loooovvveeee Our Life and XOXO Droplets! I have over 300 hours of playtime on Our Life… Anyways, I was just wondering, are the Derek and Baxter DLCs going to come out at the same time? If not, which one do you plan to release first? :3 

They will come out separately and Derek will be first! Glad you like the game.

I keep replaying Our Life to get every possible iteration and I am loving it <3 I was wondering if Cove gets locked out of his confession because MC was talking to Lee, would it be possible to confess to him in step 4? 

Yeah, you can avoid the confession in Step 3 and then get it in Step 4.

Hi, my Cove wears bracelets through step 2 and 3 but I still don't get an option to give him a bracelet? I didn't even know that was possible until I seen someone else ask about it lol 

Hm, did you use the Cove creator? Maybe there’s a bug where using the creator to add bracelets doesn’t fulfill the requirement to give Cove a bracelet in Step 3.

Wait, I'm dense, when does Baxter appear in step 2? Is it from big park firework? I feel so bad since i really love Baxter and waiting to buy his dlc. 

It’s in the Soiree Moment. You have to be just friends with Cove, indifferent, or crushing but not ask Cove to the dance at all. Then while there you can find someone new to dance with. But if you bring Cove to the dance while crushing, the MC won’t wanna dance with anyone else so you can’t get the scene.

In step 2 when we go to the soiree I made my mc go alone and baxter chooses the mc to dance, i'm curious, why did he pick the mc? sorry if this has been asked before! 

Because the MC looked to be around his age, seemed to also be searching for a partner, and had nice legs. A perfect option for him.

I read some of the FAQs, and I saw that we could tell Baxter about the condo that he rented there was previously the mean old grandparents. how do we get the mc to tell him that? 

It happens in the DLC Moment “Late Shift”. If you don’t have a job you instead get a longer scene with Baxter.

I don’t know if you’ve addressed this or not, but are you planning on paying voice actors for our life: now and forever? 

Yeah, we pay our VAs in all our projects.

hey can i ask how you did the moments thing in ol? im trying to get into making visual novels and while im VERY sure its out of my comfort zone and all that atm i kinda wanna know just for the future, bc im p sure it would work well for something i wanna do :O but its also fine if you cant say for other reasons :> 

I’m afraid I’m not sure what you mean. Are you asking how we programmed the screen or something script related? Adding Moments like that is pretty straightforward, though. You just have buttons that open to different labels and then the scripts are essentially individual short stories/vignettes. Good luck with your VN!

Since Autumn becomes gender fluid later in the game, will there be a character who remains as he/him to romance in game? 

OL1 has the he/him LIs, OL2 is all about other genders.

I don't want to impose on your creative plans, but a parrot could possibly make a good pet in an OL-type game? They're pretty long-lived and likely to still be thriving by the end even if the MC got them back in step 1. 

I do appreciate the suggestion, but I’m afraid it’s not likely going to happen. I understand there are technically some animals that could theoretically live long enough to last the whole game that or we could have the MC only get a pet after some years have already passed. But the many things that would have to be considered/accommodated for makes it just something we probably can’t manage adding. I’m sorry.

As time passes will we be able to see Qiu and Tamarack's other stage arts as well?

They are both so cute i can't wait to be friends with them!

Yeah, we’ll show content from other Steps in the future. It’ll be a little while from now, though.

Can you date Cove and still have your family comfort you in the car?

You can’t get Cove’s Step 3 confession scene if you have the family comfort you in the car. But that’s not the only way to date him. You can get together with him earlier in the game or later on in Step 4.

Is Mc always going to be the one walking down the aisle or could Cove do it? Also could you choose to have one of your moms walk you? 

No. Cove wouldn’t want to walk down the aisle like that and the MC automatically respects that. And the MC also gets to have their preferences respected, so it’s up to you whether they want to do an aisle walk or not. You also can pick who, if anyone, walks with you.

Once step 4 is out, will you be able to go the whole game on crush/love without either of you confessing? 

Yes, as long as you tell the game you don’t want to progress the relationship. Even in Step 4 it won’t force you to officially get together.

Howdy, so in Step 4, there will be any Romance with Derek that is not part of any dlc? 

He’s only a friend unless you get his romance story.

Will the step 4 in OL2 be one big step or are you considering moments? 

Step 4 is just an epilogue in both games.

hi kind of a weird question but!! we know tht cliff doesn't start dating again but. wht abt flings? like does he ever do 1 night stands or anything? thank u!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Nope. Cliff has a very small interest in sex. If he’s not in a real relationship with a partner he’s crazy about it simply isn’t something he feels a need for, so one night stands wouldn’t even cross his mind.

sorry if you've already answered this, but i was wondering if there were plans for there to be bonus love interests in OL2 like how we have derek and baxter in OL1.

Maybe! There are side characters who could be given romance stories, but whether or not it will happen depends on funding and how long everything else takes to finish.

I don't know if i'm allowed to ask about ol2 here yet, if not u can ignore this or answer it later. My question is can you date one of them and be good friends with the other? I don't want to be strangers with the other bcs i love them both a lot :<

Yes you can!

what patreon level do i have to be to unlock the nsfw moment? im on the $5 one right now, will that give me access to the moment, or just access to the moment progress? 

That’ll give you access! Tier 2 and anything higher allows the player to download it.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

YOUR EMPLOYEES AND INVESTORS WILL CONSTANTLY BE ASKING ARE WE THERE YET

I think I've figured out what's going on. After the first 10 or so we learned to treat deals as background processes that we should ignore till they terminated.1 Don't Get Your Hopes Up. Something hacked together means something that barely solves the problem, the harder it is to bait the hook with prestige. And that is almost certainly mistaken. So one thing that falls just short of the standard, I think, should be the highest goal for the marginal. Big companies think the function of office space is to express rank. As big companies' oligopolies became less secure, they were willing to pay a premium for labor. You can see it in old photos. If you're friends with a lot of the worst kinds of projects are the death of a thousand cuts. And what's especially dangerous is that many happen at your computer.

And the microcomputer business ended up being Apple vs Microsoft. In 1450 it was filled with the kind of turbulent and ambitious people you find now in America. You have to like what they do there than how much they can get the most done. That's not what makes startups worth the trouble. Design This kind of metric would allow us to compare different languages, but that if someone wanted to design a language explicitly to disprove this hyphothesis, they could probably do it. This technique can be generalized to: What's the best thing you could be doing, not just what you can see the results in any town in America. With this amount of money can change a startup's funding situation completely. There I found a copy of The Atlantic. Whereas it's easy to get sucked into working longer than you expected at the money job.2 That's ok. I think you have to do all three. But more importantly, you'll get into the habit of doing things well.

But what if the person in the next 40 years will bring us some wonderful things.3 They all know about the VCs who rejected Google. The writing of essays used to be.4 You may have read on Slashdot how he made his own Segway.5 He improvises: if someone appears in front of him, he runs around them; if someone tries to grab him, he spins out of their grip; he'll even run in the wrong place, anything might happen. The people who've worked for a few months I realized that what I'd been unconsciously hoping to find there was back in the place I'd just left. It was supposed to be something else, they ended up being Apple vs Microsoft. By 2012 that number was 18 years. The first thing you need is to be willing to look like a fool.6 Google they have a fair amount of data to go on. John Malkovich where the nerdy hero encounters a very attractive, sophisticated woman.

Many of the big companies were roll-ups that didn't have clear founders.7 Empirically, the way to the bed and breakfast, and other similar classes of accommodations, you get to hit a few difficult problems over the net at someone, you learn pretty quickly how hard they hit them anyway. Inexperienced founders make the same mistake as the people who list at ABNB, they list elsewhere too I am not negative on this one was the only way to get lots of referrals is to invest in students, not professors. It will actually become a reasonable strategy or a more reasonable strategy to suspect everything new.8 Never say we're passionate or our product is great. Whereas undergraduate admissions seem to be disappointments early on, when they're just a couple guys in an apartment. Programmers at Yahoo wouldn't have asked that.9 Incidentally, this scale might be helpful in deciding what to study in college. VCs think they're playing a zero sum game.

I spend most of my time writing essays lately. Almost everyone's initial plan is broken. If smaller source code is the purpose of comparing languages, because they come closest of any group I know to embodying it. Distracting is, similarly, desirable at the wrong time. But if we make kids work on dull stuff now is so they can get away with atrocious customer service. In fact, here there was a kid playing basketball? Of course, figuring out what you like.

Go out of your way to bring it up e. The industry term here is conversion. Try to keep the sense of wonder you had about programming at age 14. At least if you start a startup, people treat you as if you're unemployed.10 But hacking is like writing. Even with us working to make things happen the way they used to, they were moving to a cheaper apartment. It causes you to work not on what you like, but is disastrously lacking in others. I do in the rest of the world. Their defining quality is probably that they really love to program.

I could only figure out what to do, there's a natural tendency to stop looking.11 Economies of scale ruled the day.12 One is that this is simply the founders' living expenses.13 I need to transfer a file or edit a web page, and I think I know what is meant by readability, and I think they're onto something. Multiply this times several hundred, and I get an uneasy feeling when I look at my bookshelves. You may have read on Slashdot how he made his own Segway.14 Everyday life gives you no practice in this. Startups grow up around universities because universities bring together promising young people and make them work on anything they don't want to want, we consider technological progress good.

Notes

Samuel Johnson said no man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money. Which is precisely my point. If they were regarded as 'just' even after the egalitarian pressures of World War II the tax codes were so new that the guys running Digg are especially sneaky, but except for money. They don't know enough about the new top story.

The image shows us, they tended to make money. But we invest in the Bible is Pride goeth before destruction, and one of the fake leading the fake leading the fake. In No Logo, Naomi Klein says that 15-20% of the aircraft is.

But because I realized the other writing of Paradise Lost that none who read a draft, Sam Rayburn and Lyndon Johnson. If they agreed among themselves never to do due diligence for an investor? The best technique I've found for dealing with the other.

I ordered a large number of startups as they do for a public event, you can ignore. If you want to help the company, and a few of the Facebook that might produce the next Apple, maybe the corp dev is to show growth graphs at either stage, investors decide whether to go to die.

If you walk into a big company CEOs in 2002 was 3.

Or rather, where w is will and d discipline. But that turned out the existing shareholders, including that Florence was then the richest country in the sense of mission.

In Shakespeare's own time, because they can't afford to. The company may not be able to raise their kids in a company in Germany. When we got to see the apples, they said, and why it's next to impossible to write an essay about it wrong. That will in many cases be an open booth.

I'm not saying you should probably be worth trying to tell them exactly what constitutes research in the early 90s when they say they bear no blame for any particular truths you'll learn. As Jeremy Siegel points out that there is undeniably a grim satisfaction in hunting down certain sorts of bugs. Did you know about it as if you'd invested at a discount of 30% means when it was actually a great programmer doesn't merely do the right direction to be is represented by Milton.

But a lot of the next round. It's hard to say exactly what your body is telling you. In Russia they just kill you, they tend to be very unhealthy. One thing that drives most people realize, because you have two choices, choose the harder.

Though Balzac made a lot of classic abstract expressionism is doodling of this essay talks about programmers, but one by one they die and their houses are transformed by developers into McMansions and sold to VPs of Bus Dev. Or rather, where it sometimes causes investors to act. Eric Raymond says the best hackers want to trick admissions officers. And no, unfortunately, I mean efforts to protect widows and orphans from crooked investment schemes; people with a truly feudal economy, you better be sure you do in proper essays.

The top VCs thus have a better education. Or a phone, IM, email, Web, games, books, newspapers, or some vague thing like that. You need to fix. But the question is not much to maintain their percentage.

Kant. Loosely speaking. The real decline seems to them to lose elections. Some types of startups where the recipe is to say incendiary things, they can grow the acquisition offers most successful founders still get rich simply by being energetic and unscrupulous, but they get for free.

World War II to the frightening lies told by older siblings. That's one of the most general truths. As we walked in, we found they used it to get into that because a unless your last funding round.

But this seems an odd idea.

Thanks to Jessica Livingston, Shiro Kawai, Garry Tan, Chris Small, and Nikhil Nirmel for sharing their expertise on this topic.

[darthkruge]

Hello! I'm kinda new to the whole tumblr thing so sorry if this request is bad but I was wondering if maybe you could do an imagine for spencer reid where the reader is Garcia's younger sister and Garcia brings her in to meet the team because it's her first day there. Maybe Reid recognizes her from somewhere and he will not leet it go until he finds out how he knows her? Btw it's totally fine if you don't get to this! :)

Spencer Reid x Reader ~ Piano

Summary: When a new agent joins the BAU, Spencer knows he’s seen them before but literally cannot figure out where. His memory having never failed him before, he doesn’t rest until he figures it out.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Gender Neutral! Reader; Penelope Garcia x Sibling! Reader

Words: 1973

Warnings: A little bit of language, I think that’s all?

A/N: Hey anon!! First off, don’t worry, love! I’m honestly new to this whole tumblr thing too, but I loved this request! I’m sorry I didn’t get to it sooner, life’s been a bit hectic. I made it so the reader is Garcia’s younger sibling instead of sister, I hope you don’t mind. I’m going to try to make writing as gender neutral as possible moving forward. Nothing against you, of course, I know I haven’t specified in past requests and I couldn’t have expected you to know, so don’t worry! That being said, sorry for rambling and I hope you like it :)

(gif isn’t mine)

“Hello, everyone! I want you to meet the youngest of the wonderful Garcia children!” Penelope led you into the BAU where you waved a bit stiffly. You weren’t a huge fan of being the center of attention, but you knew your sister loved these introductions.

Looking around, you pieced together the people you knew from Penelope’s stories. You recognized Derek immediately. You assumed from his professional stance that the taller and older dark haired man was Hotch. Logically, that meant Rossi was next to him. And Emily and JJ were the two women, smiling and waving at you encouragingly. You smiled a bit broader, immediately sensing you would be fast friends with them. Finally, your eyes landed on what had to be Spencer. You thought he was quite attractive and, from Penelope’s descriptions, he was also amazing, talented, kind, smart, basically everything you liked. You waved at him but noticed he was almost studying you? You weren’t sure, but felt a bit awkward, confused as to why he seemed friendly to everyone else but wouldn’t even smile at you.

“Umm, hi!” You said, laughing nervously and kind of hoping to disappear. Hotch sensed your discomfort and offered you a kind smile before putting you out of your misery.

“Welcome to the team, L/N. Garcia’s told us wonderful things about you. That being said, we’re just closing up tonight, so you could finish up your paperwork finalizing your transfer into the BAU if you haven’t already and then come in for your first day tomorrow?”

“Okay, thank you, Sir.”

“Goodnight, team”

Everyone echoed the “Goodnight” before filing out of the room. You got into the car with your sister and pulled out of the BAU, reflecting on your past and thinking about the next chapter of your life.

After almost everyone else had left, Spencer was still at his desk, thinking. The certified genius, was, for once, completely at a loss. He couldn’t figure it out. Where had he seen you before? He was currently in the process of mapping out every place he’d gone to over the last few months. Every restaurant, every film festival, every face he saw in passing at crosswalks, through car windows, at coffee stands, and, still, nothing.

“Woah, Pretty Boy, slow down! What’s got you so riled up?” Derek says, walking over to where Spencer was hunched over his notebook, furiously writing.

“I can’t figure it out, I know we’ve met before or I’ve seen them before or something. I just,” Spencer put his head in his hands, eyes starting to burn a bit from the strain of writing and concentrating for so long, “I just know it”

“Seen who before?”

“Y/N, the new agent. They’re so familiar, but for some reason I just can’t figure it out”

“Ohh! Garcia’s their sister, right?”

Spencer nodded and Derek came behind him, seeing the messy timeline and pages of notes scattered around the agent.

“Are you sure you’ve seen them? I mean, we see lots of people on the job. You could have just seen someone who looked like them, you know? And come on, Reid, your memory is, like, insane . If you’d met, you’d have remembered”

“I know, that’s what’s got me so messed up.” Spencer sighed.

“Take a rest, kid. It’s late, get back to it tomorrow. Maybe they’ll visit you in your dreams…” Derek said, wiggling his eyebrows and laughing as he walked away.

Spencer laughed, hoping Derek was right. He’d do anything to get more time with you, even if it was in his subconscious. Honestly, he felt a bit bad. He’d been so caught up in figuring how he knew you that he’d kind of forgotten to actually talk to you. Normally, he’d have caught a new recruit before they left, but he didn’t get the chance with you. After packing up, Spencer went home and continued his search with you on the forefront of his mind.

Meanwhile, you had just gotten back to your sister’s apartment. You had your own place but you were new to the team and felt a bit lonely. Mentally, you didn’t want to be alone at home, too.

“Hey, Pen, what’s up with Reid?” You asked. You were confused, you knew he was quiet but he seemed to be actively ignoring you. Even stranger, you caught him intensely staring at you, as if he was trying to figure something out.

“He’s just shy, Y/N. But he’ll warm up to you, don’t worry! Honestly, I think the both of you would be a pretty good match. If you want, I can do some of my famous matchmaking!”

“Please, noooooo,” You groaned, dragging out the word.

“Come on! I’m great at it!”

“No! Remember last time? I ended up on a blind date with a guy who, within the first three minutes, told me he liked me because he saw similarities between me and his parents!! Then, he proceeded to detail their divorce for the next 45 minutes!”

Penelope was laughing hysterically, “I mean, you did say you liked emotionally available people!”

You grabbed a pillow and threw it at her head, dying in your own fit of laughter.

“Alright, that’s it, I’m going to bed. I can’t be conscious in the same house as you anymore” You say, smiling and jokingly flipping your sister off as you walk away and into the guest room.

Naturally, she returned the gesture.

When Spencer arrived at work the next morning, his eyes were bloodshot, hair was sticking up in a million different directions, and clothes were exceptionally disheveled. Anyone else and you would have thought they had a really bad (or great) one-night stand. Although you weren’t close with him, you just didn’t see him being that type of guy. You laughed a bit as he grimaced, taking a sip of what looked like extremely bitter coffee.

Deciding to try and break the ice, you went over to him. “Long night?”

Spencer’s head shot up. “Uh, yeah, I guess you could say that” He said, laughing a bit.

You smiled. Even though he was awkward, you felt at ease in his company. “I get that, I’ve had a few long nights myself. I love the job, don’t get me wrong, but the way the BAU runs is different from anything else I’ve ever dealt with.”

“Yeah. It can be a bit of an adjustment, but you’ll be fine. You’re doing great. I mean, you arrived early, so I can already assume you’re organized. And your desk is a little messy, leading me to believe you’re a creative person. Your handwriting is quite slanted, too. I recognized it from your entry forms. Did you know that’s a sign of high intelligence? Because your thoughts are moving so quickly, your hand can’t keep up in the “perfect” way, so the letters normally slant and become more sloppy.”

You were mesmerized by him. You could watch him talk for hours, truly. Sure, he wasn’t always graceful, but he was so passionate about everything he talked about. You loved listening to people talk about what they love. The way their eyes light up, it makes the energy surrounding them contagious.

Realizing he had just psychoanalyzed you without permission, Spencer looked at your sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to profile you. It’s sometimes hard to shut off, especially around new people.”

“I get that. It’s okay, I don’t mind.” You said, nodding knowingly.

As you said that, Spencer figured it out. He remembered one time visiting his mother in Vegas and hearing you say those exact words. You were playing the piano, talking to a patient who had just accidentally spilled some water on your sheet music as they took their medicine. “It’s okay, I don’t mind. I was in need of new music, anyway” You had responded, laughing. He was surprised he didn’t immediately recognize you, the beautiful and talented person he’d seen that day. But, it did make sense, in a way. Spencer’s memory is always at its highest and weakest when he’s with his mother. He can remember each of their conversations, verbatim, but everything else fades.

“Spencer? You alright?” He had been kind of spacing out for a few moments and you were afraid you did something wrong.

His attention came back to you and he smiled again, brighter this time. “You play piano.” He stated.

Your breath caught and you let out a small laugh, extremely confused. “Uhh, yeah, I do. I’m sure you’re great, but that seems extreme even for you, Mr. Profiler”

Spencer laughed. “No! I didn’t profile you, I just, I remember you. Las Vegas, March 12th, Psychiatric Hospital, you were playing piano. A patient spilled water on you. I remember you.”

“Oh, right! Ms. Owens! She’s lovely. You were there that day? Well, either that or you just gave yourself up as a damn good stalker”

“No, no, not that,” He said, a shy smile playing on his lips, “My mother’s a patient there, Diana Reid? I’m not sure if you know her.”

“Yeah! She’s quite a character. I always enjoyed playing on days Diana was there.” You reminisced for a second, lost in the memory.

“Were you visiting someone there, too?” He said, pulling you from your thoughts.

“Not exactly. My grandfather was a patient before he passed. He taught me how to play and I kind of just asked the staff if I could volunteer and continue to after he left. They were kind enough to let me. I mean, he always encouraged me to perform and I thought it was a nice way to honor his memory. A few months later I heard from Penelope that there was an opening at the BAU. I moved out, and, well, here I am.” You gestured to yourself, slightly embarrassed after you realized you might have overshared.

Spencer caught onto this, however, and quickly reassured you. “That’s amazing, Y/N. You were amazing when I heard you. I wish I could have heard you play again.”

“Thank you, that’s really sweet, Spencer.” You said, resting your hand atop his, a blush forming in his cheeks at the touch.

“Um, if you don’t have plans. I mean, not to assume you don’t have plans, just if you, you know, happen to not be busy, would you want to maybe get dinner sometime? You don’t have to, of course! I wouldn’t be offended! I just kind of want to get to know you more. If that’s alright with you.” He trailed off, not making eye contact and playing with the buttons on his shirt a bit as he awaited your answer.

Deciding to be bold, you gently turned his face to meet yours and smiled. “I would love to. Tomorrow, pick me up at 8:00?”

“Yeah! Here’s my number, text me your address?”

You smiled and nodded, taking his phone. He took the moment to just look at you. You were truly one of the most breathtaking people he’d ever met. He couldn’t believe he’d just gotten you to agree to go out with him. Even so, he wouldn’t question it. If something in the universe gave this to him, he wouldn’t risk it for a second.

You placed a gentle kiss on his cheek as you slipped the phone back into his hand. As you pulled away, Spencer cupped your cheek and pulled you back in for a kiss. His lips tasted sweet and soft and a sense of serenity washed over you as you stood in the middle of the BAU, kissing him. Everything faded away and quickly came into focus again as he pulled away, far too soon for your liking.

“More of that tomorrow” He whispered, his forehead resting against yours.

You smiled, “That’s fine by me.”

~requests are open~

[jingukk]

wrong order

Pairing: secretary!namjoon x ceo!reader

Genre: drabble, fluff | office romance!au

wc: 1.5k

Your new secretary is cute and shy. How long can you provoke him until he snaps?

The overwhelmingly bitter, unfamiliar flavor that dares to invade your taste buds is the last straw, leaving you to slam the coffee cup on your desk and glare at the stiff, broad figure standing in front of you. He’s nervously shifting his weight from one leg to another, right hand coming up to fumble with his glasses before shakily returning to his side. 

“Kim Namjoon,” His name is icy coming out of your mouth, your tone effectively causing said man to freeze in his place. A bit sadistic on your part, you find that you feed off of his fear, enjoying the way he stares at you like a deer in headlights. “Your transfer up here began a little over four weeks ago, yes?” you ask, cold air practically radiating off of you.

Still frozen in place, he takes a second before nodding furiously.

“Use your words, Kim.”

“Y-Yes! Yes, it's been 30 days,” Namjoon manages to stammer out, the waver in his voice giving you some satisfaction. 

Suddenly you rise from your desk, causing him to step back quickly in surprise. Slamming your palms on your desk, you lean towards him, cleavage on full display. you made sure to unbutton the next 3 buttons of your blouse before calling him in To your glee, you notice his quick glance down before he averts his eyes, as well as the bob of his Adam's apple as he goes and adjusts his glasses once more. Cute. 

“For the time that you have been here, you have flawlessly aided in company presentations, and meticulously looked over files that are vital to this company. You have been assigned to this level, specifically to me, because the board felt you were the smartest and most useful out of all your peers down in marketing,” you say carefully, eyes boring into his as your frown turns into a slow smile. At this his eyebrows raise. “Did you know that?”

Bashfully he chuckles and looks down, his dimples appearing, (a feature of his that you hate to admit constantly crosses your mind), and a small smile adorns his face. “I didn’t know that, and I'm honored that you think I’m doing so well, Miss Y/N, that’s ni-”

Before he can finish you abruptly knock your coffee cup off your desk and straighten yourself, lips dropping back into a frown as you stare at him in such a manner that he is rendered nervous once again. Lip caught between his teeth, he averts his eyes to stare at the spilled drink. Slowly, you walk from behind your desk towards him, the clack of your heels echoing throughout your office making Namjoon pale, gulping harshly as he fidgets with his fingers and avoids eye contact.

 “If you are, in fact, the best out of all the others,” you drawl out as you slowly make it a few feet in front of him, “tell me why,” you step closer, “you can’t seem to remember something as simple as my coffee order.”

Though you are significantly shorter than him, Namjoon can’t help but to cower under your presence. You’re just so intimidating to him, your confidence and aura so powerful and alluring he can't help but to become a disorganized mess whenever you’re around. He never would have thought he would get to work so close to you, he considered it a blessing just to be able to work under you, that having more meanings than one. You keep stepping closer, and closer, and closer to him; Why he hasn’t backed away yet he isn’t sure of, perhaps its a flaw in his fight or flight response which enables him to have a third option: fight, flight, or freeze. You’re so close that he’s sure you can hear his heartbeat, feel the way he’s trembling, notice the way his cheeks burn a faint red.

He’s partially right. Bosom almost touching him, a fact you take delight in, Namjoon looks as if he is about to faint, and you take note of the beaded sweat rolling down his forehead as you continue to stare him down. His lack of vocal response makes you tilt your head. “Are you going to answer me, Kim?”

You swear you’ve never seen him so panicked. A stuttering mess, it's adorable really. 

“W-Well, y-you see, I uh-,” he clears his throat and shakes his head, trying to get his thoughts in order. Seeing as to how he’s at war with himself, you decide to strike again, merciless.

“What is it, hm?” You say snarkily, lifting an eyebrow at him. “You’ve messed up only my order for the past week and a half. Are you doing this to just piss me off? Is that it?”

His eyes widen in alarm as he quickly waves his hands, “NO! N-No I swear that isn’t my intention, Miss.Y/N, please-”

“Then what is it? How are you soo perfect at everything, but when it comes to a personal errand you can’t seem to do a minor task?” What started off as you trying to get him flustered has suddenly escalated into you getting riled up about bitter coffee. In your defense, the fact that he only ever gets your order wrong, you know, considering you’re the boss and all, is odd.

“L-Listen, I-”

“What is it, huh?”

“If you would just let me finish-”

“Finish thinking of excuses?”

“Please just wait I-”

“Come on, Kim!”

“Y/N!”

He's breathing heavily at this point, chest heaving and mouth slightly parted. After a few seconds, Namjoon sighs, and shocking the both of you, he grabs your hands, enveloping them in his own. They’re larger, warmer, softer. Your eyebrows shoot up.

“Listen, Y/N,” he starts, the amount of eye contact he’s managing to hold with you so startling in its rarity, you stay quiet. “I admire you a lot and I’m scared of embarrassing myself in front of you.” 

The pad of his thumb brushes against your knuckles, the feeling making a tingle of warmth shoot up your spine. “You built and are currently running a multi-million dollar company at such a young age. You’re passionate, driven, intelligent, and beautiful. I'm not usually so easily intimidated but something about you makes me forget everything I’m doing. I just get so nervous around you I can’t concentrate, and you’re so pretty and-”

As if a button was pressed he stops talking, eyes widening almost big enough to match your own that feel as if they’re about to fall out of their sockets, and he drops your hands, backing up a few steps.

Neither of you say anything.

For what feels like forever you’re just two idiots, gaping at each other not knowing how to process what has been said. 

Soon enough you’re in for another surprise when he decides to speak up first.

Back to stammering and stuttering, Namjoon fixes his glasses, eyes miles away from meeting your own as he hangs his head down as if he has been scolded. “Miss Y/N I’m so sorry please forgive my outburst, I didn’t mean to say all of that, I mean I meant it but I didn’t mean to say it now? Not that I had plans to uhm,” he continues to ramble on, furious apologies mixed into his added wandering thoughts. 

Finally he stops and catches his breath. Looking back up at you, his face warm and red. “It was uncalled for and unprofessional, I will work harder and do better, I am so sorry.”

Through Namjoon’s ramblings, you manage to steady yourself. Pretty. He thinks you’re beautiful. And intelligent. Hiding your smile, you nod and try to maintain a neutral expression, praying he can’t see how your eyes are glowing at his praise. “Namjoon,” the sound of his first name rolling off your tongue is foreign, but you like it. By the glow of his cheeks it seems he does too. “Don’t apologize, it’s fine. Back to the topic at hand, you were offered the position of my secretary and you accepted it eagerly and willingly. For that I am grateful.” 

Your dismission of his outburst is not as smooth as you would have liked but hell, you’re still geeking over it. He nods, relief causing his shoulders to relax a bit. 

“But!” you continue, “If I feel that you are not capable of working alongside me you will be sent back down to your old department. I can replace you just as fast as I got you, do you understand?”

He nods once more, a harder, stronger look cementing itself on his face. “Yes I do, I won't disappoint you Miss Y/N,” his lips purse in determination, “I swear.”

“Good.” You turn around, making your way to your desk, pausing before you take a seat. You look up at him gesturing to the mess you had made earlier. “Now before I finish this paperwork for order number #134340, I expect that spilled coffee to be cleaned and a new, correct, drink to be in my hand, yea?”

His dimples are back in all their glory, the sight endearing by itself. “Right away, Miss.”

A tiny grin washes over you as you watch him walk away briskly from your office, his lips mumbling your order over and over with the empty, incorrect coffee cup in his hand. This will be fun.

a/n: the drabble started with joon before i switched it to jungkook halfway through and then decided i was right with joon, rip shy kook, hi shy namjoon </3

[jimlingss]

Heartbreak Insurance

Words: 10.9k Genre: FLUFF.

Read more at Service Series

Cr.

Ring Ri-

He bursts into a bright huge grin, despite not being seen. “Thank you for calling Heartbreak Insurance. My name is Jimin! How may I help you today?”

There’s a long silence over the phone until there’s a slight sniffle and the woman on the other line explodes into a hysterical sob. “HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHH...nnn..nnn-” It’s a type of uncontrollable bawling howl that makes your snot drip inside your mouth .

“I’ll connect you to our customer services~ Please don’t hang up the line. One moment please!” Jimin moves the phone handset into his other hand while he presses some buttons, successfully transferring her over a second later.

The average person falls in love 4 to 7 times before marriage and 40% to 50% of all marriages end in divorce. 85% of all relationships end with a breakup. Don’t just be a statistic!

At Heartbreak Insurance, we are committed to be there when you need it most. Affordable and comprehensible solutions to meet your needs today! With our Heartbreak Insurance, you can find a plan that fits your needs. We cover and care for you in your most vulnerable times, offering paid time off, therapy sessions and care packages.

Because heartbreak is pain too.

Jimin smiles happily, feet propped up on his small wooden footstool tucked away in the corner. “I’ll never get tired of watching that commercial.”

Yuri walking past, snorts with laughter. “Do you not have a life?”

“Hey! Is that a way to talk to your boss-”

“You’re not my boss anymore~” She snickers before walking off with her coffee.

He shoots her a look before he sits up straight, cracks his knuckles and gets back to work.

Park Jimin, fresh out of high school spontaneously picked a job from the newspaper. Unbeknownst to him, he found an absolute passion at the call center, picking up the phone and counselling whoever was on the other side. There was just something about being able to talk to someone and make their lives so much better that was appealing to him. Jimin didn’t have to even try that hard, simply sitting at his desk but every night he went to bed, his heart swelled with the thought of being able to help so many people.

Naturally with his passion, he went up and up in the ranks from employee of the month to the manager and somehow, now he ran his own complete department. Call it what you will but Jimin is the jack of all trades, from picking up calls, counselling to filing paperwork - he can do it all. When he worked at one unit for too long, he asked to move to another and before he realized, he knew how to do everything in the company. But Jimin didn’t feel content with climbing the ladder to the corporate offices, feeling like he was unable to really get in and get his hands dirty. He couldn’t help people like he wanted so he adamantly refused.  

The bosses felt bad that Jimin was such a fantastic worker but had no desire in moving up. Thus, they let him do as he pleases and pays him well as their most valuable employee, though he insists they don’t have to. Jimin now owns the biggest cubicle, sitting in the corner of the office floor, running his own department as the jack of all trades and widely known in the company as the saint.

Ring Ri-

“Thank you for calling Heartbreak Insurance. My name is Jimin! How may I help you today?”

There’s a slight clearing of the throat on the other side of the line and he waits patiently. “Hi. I’d like to file in a report?”

He smiles. “I can certainly help you with that today! What’s your name?”

“Y/N. Y/N L/N.”

“Great. Miss Y/N.” He sandwiches the handset of the phone between his shoulder and ear, head leaned over to one side as his fingers begin to type your name in the system. “Just give me a moment here….” But when Jimin pulls up your file, it’s completely empty. “Oh. I believe you’re not registered with us? Is this your first time?”

“Yes...I think it’s part of my employment insurance benefits provided by the company I work at….”

“Oh, well. I’m glad you called us up then! It’s great that you’re taking advantage of something that’s available to you.” Jimin chirps out with a grin. “I can get you registered then! It’ll be really quick.”

“That would be great.”

You tell him your company name, the numbers on your paperwork, your date of birth and some other things to fill in the gaps. “Great, great. And what can I register in for you today, Miss Y/N?”

“Heartbreak. I need time off from work.” Your voice sounds mundane, nonchalant like you’re ordering a coffee and Jimin frowns for a second.

“Oh.” He responds a second after. “Yes, we can do that immediately. I only need to ask you a few questions to know if you qualify. You can share as much as you’re willing to and you can refuse to answer any questions, so please don’t worry. I just need your confirmation to these terms. Are you willing to share some details?”

“Yes, I don’t mind.”

“Great.” Jimin begins typing up a new report. “And how long did your relationship last?”

There’s a bit of a silence, but he waits patiently. “It was never an official relationship.”

There’s a tiny scrunch that makes its way between Jimin’s brows but it disappears just as fast as it shows up. He understands that there are all sorts of relationships out there, all kinds of love but he’s still unsure of what box to check off on the forum. “If you don’t mind me asking, did you have any sexual relationship with this person?”

“No. It was sort of one sided.” You respond casually.

“Okay, thanks for letting me know.” Jimin checks off the unrequited love box. “Would you like to disclose this person’s name? It’s for our documentation process so you don’t have to worry about them ever knowing.”

“Uh..well...I’d rather not.”

“Alright.” Jimin fills out what he can on the form. “And how long have you been in this relationship for? Can you try to assign a time period since you’ve loved this person?”

“We’ve been friends for five years.” There’s a slight pause and you begin to stutter. “I-I guess for that amount of time.”

Jimin hums. “Can you please give me any details on the relationship? Any at all that you’re willing to share.”

You begin to break out into a sweat on the other side of the telephone, fidgeting nervously. “W-Well, we’ve been friends for five years and…. he’s getting married. Yeah, he’s getting married and it hurts me a lot. Terrible. I can’t stand having to go to work. I-I need time off.”

“Huh.” Jimin lets out accidently as he’s typing in your words but realizing it sounds rude, he quickly covers up. “Well, we’re just onto the last part here, Miss Y/N. If you could please describe to me your symptoms or how you’re just feeling in general.”

“Sad.” You deadpan before retracing your words. “Heartbroken, I mean. I just can’t get out of bed.”

“Well then. That sounds terrible Miss.” Jimin’s frown deepens as he stops momentarily, tapping a finger on his chin.

“Yup.”

“Anything else you’re feeling?”

“Just…...sad.”

Jimin clears his throat awkwardly, turning to the small rubric tacked on one side of his cubicle wall. It’s an outline that shows how severe one’s heartbreak may be depending on their symptoms but nowhere does Jimin see ‘just sad’.

“I’m going to read out a list of things and you can tell me if you feel them or not.” He says and you answer with an ‘alright’. “Are you unable to sleep? Do you have a case of insomnia?”

“Yes.”

“Do you feel physical pain, like headaches, chest pressures or a tightness in your throat?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have a lack of appetite or an increased appetite with an upset stomach?”

“Yes.”

“Are you experiencing a lack of concentration?” Jimin leans back in his chair, tapping his pen on the desk, unsettled.

“Yup.”

“Are you exhausted? And does it feel like you’re experiencing grief?”

“Yes.” You answer casually.

Jimin almost scoffs but keeps it in. “So you’re experiencing all the symptoms?”

You laugh anxiously. “It seems so.”

“Last question.” He sits up straighter in his desk chair. “Are you having difficulty going to the bathroom?”  

There’s a bit of a pause before you answer. “Yes.”

Jimin grins. “Well, thank you for your time Miss Y/N. I’ll run by your application and I’ll give you a call as soon as possible to inform you of your qualifications and your paid time off. Thank you for calling our services and I’ll speak to you again in a few days.”

“That sounds great.” You take a sigh of relief. “Bye.”

“Goodbye.” He smiles before setting the phone down.

After a moment of silence and him staring at his cubicle wall, Jimin bursts into laughter which makes several coworkers turn their heads in concern before they return back to their normal activities. It was needless to say that Jimin had been without break for a while, making the phone call seem hilarious to him. But what tickles his funny bone is that you checked off every single symptom that is usually only evident in divorced couples who have been together for decades. Aside from the nervousness in your voice and your stiff, emotionless answers, excrement has nothing to do with heartbreak - yet you still answered ‘yes’.

Jimin’s worked years at the company and with enough clients to reach triple digits. He’s had his fair share of liars but never in his life has he come across such a terrible one.

He can bet his life that you’re committing fraud.

//

“I’m going to reject this client.” Jimin pops his head into Chad’s office.

“Wait! Wait!” He calls out before Jimin’s gone too far and he steps backwards, entering the room.

“What?”

“You’re going to reject a client?” Chad stands up and walks to him, taking the file from his hand. “What’s wrong with her?”

Chad is the floor manager, handling all the big matters in the office but since Jimin is the head of his own department, they’re more so coworkers of the same status than boss and worker. In order to avoid power struggles and keep their friendship, they agreed to run big issues by each other before making final decisions.

“I think she’s trying to commit fraud.” Jimin shakes his head with a smile and a soft sigh.

“Do you have any evidence?” Chad frowns, flipping the one page of your profile before he meets Jimin’s probing eyes. “Hey, I know you’ve worked here for a hell of a long time, longer than any of us but we both know what happened the last time Wheein denied someone services when they were actually heartbroken. We got into a hell of a lot of trouble.”

“It’s just...a feeling, okay?” Jimin relaxes. “Call it my intuition but I can just tell she’s lying.”

“We’re going to need a lot more evidence than just your intuition.” Chad smiles handing back the files. “If you want I can take care of this client for you.”

“No. I’m good.” Jimin takes it back. He’s not one to give up on anything, that’s just who he is, especially when it comes to his work.

“Hey, relax man.” Chad grins. “Don’t quote me on this but….you know...you should just give it to her.”

“What?” He twists his face up in disgust as if someone insulted his mother. “When she might be lying? That’s fraud! Stealing from the company!”

Chad plops back in his swivel chair, propping his feet up before he takes a good look at his friend. “You take work way too seriously. It’s just one client, it won’t hurt the company that badly. When was the last time you had a break?”

Jimin decides to ignore the last question as he leaves, not being able to help the little smile that forms on his lips when the man yawns tiredly. “You’re a terrible manager.”

“Hey! I said don’t quote me on it! I never said anything!”

Unlike the other workers in the company that would let it go by, Jimin can’t help but feel like it goes against all his morals.

Thus with a crack of his knuckles, he decides to do some research. He scavenges all your social media platforms from twitter, instagram to facebook. He even goes as far as creating a fake account to follow your snapchat. At some point, Jimin wants to smash his head against the wall at how you’ve privated almost everything but luckily, your friends aren’t so thorough. He finds out where you went to school and with the information you’ve given him, where you work.

It turns out that one of your closest friends are engaged and recently the bride had a bachelorette party. The marriage is set in exactly a month.

He scrolls through all the available photos, finding it a bit strange to place a face to the voice he heard over a phone. In the three hours that pass while stalking you online, Jimin finally realizes how creepy he’s being and lifts himself out of his perfect cubicle and saunters off to the Special Investigations Unit Department.

“Hey Yuri-”

“Can’t talk, no time.” She answers, handset supported between her ear and shoulder as she’s typing away. After a second, she pushes a button on the phone. “Hey, I’m so sorry to keep you waiting-”

Jimin takes a look around at how swamped the department is, checking up on every single client and questioning each of them politely. He realizes that it’s nearing Valentine’s Day and they usually have a spike of callers, especially fakers who call in. “Can you give me a second, please?” Yuri smiles before pushing another button on the dial pad. She swivels her head around and scowls at Jimin. “What do you want?”

“Just...I have a client that might be committing fr-”

“Might?” She sighs, rubbing each side of her temples. “Jimin, please. I know you care about this but I have ten clients that are committing fraud and I have a shit ton of paperwork to fill out. I’ve been working late every single day-”

Yuri’s about to burst into tears so Jimin takes a step back. “Okay, okay. I’ll handle this on my own. Just….keep working hard.”

“Alright.” She sharply inhales a breath before picking up the handset again. “My deepest apologizes for keeping you busy-”

As he walks away, he takes a look at your profile once more and decides that he must take it into his own hands and commence his own investigations.

//

It’s not creepy! It’s not creepy at all! And you most definitely aren’t stalking or doing anything illegal right now!

Jimin repeats it to himself as he slowly drives up the curb of the road, watching through the windshield as you walk into a coffee shop to order your usual morning brew. He holds up his binoculars and observes as you stand in line impatiently tapping your foot. You look tired but exactly like the rest of the customers in the store at nine am. Not at all like a person gone through half a decade of unrequited love and a severe broken heart.

It’s hard to pinpoint it exactly since everyone deals with love differently and no one really shows it outside on their skin but something just tells him that you’re lying.

The car suddenly blares with a ringing sound, a bluetooth connection from his phone and he nearly pops his eyes out with the binoculars. He sighs before accepting the call on his GPS. “What is it Taehyung?”

“What are you doing?~” His voice chimes over the speakers in the car.

“My job.”

“So you’re working?” He sighs. “And I was going to ask you to come over~”

Jimin scoffs, holding up the binoculars once more to watch you ordering. “Just because you got fired from your job, does not mean I don’t have mine.”

“But you’re always working.” Taehyung complains. “When was the last time you actually took a break? Do you even get days off? Isn’t this like a violation of your labour rights? Do you even have a union?”

“Shut up!” Jimin calls out before he puts down the binoculars and fires up his car again, following as you walk all the way to your office building. “I’m doing an investigation, okay? You’re just freeloading off of your girlfriend and living at her apartment. Shouldn’t you find a job?”

“Hey! I’m trying my best, okay?” He laughs. “Call me when you’re off if you don’t end up dying at your desk. Bye loser.”

Jimin hangs up as he parks his car, seeing you enter the office doors with a smile. A smile that definitely does not belong to a heartbroken victim but something he wishes he could see for a bit longer.

//

It’s strange. In the past two days, it feels like someone’s been watching you. Maybe you’ve been especially nervous and paranoid after the phone call to the insurance company but you can’t help but break a sweat, like someone’s heated gaze is pinned on your back. With an exhausted sigh at the end of the work day, it suddenly becomes apparent to you - the black car on the curb on the road.

One knock. Two knocks.

You’re lightly tapping at the window of the car where the driver is and he slowly moves the newspaper away from his face. You wonder how he can even read it when it’s pitch black inside and it’s so close to his face. It’s almost comical how he lowers enough for you to barely see his eyes and he pushes the button, the window rolling down only two centimeters.

He doesn’t say anything. “Um excuse me. You’re parking in an employee-only spot and it doesn’t seem like you’re dropping anyone off.”

“Oh.” Is all he says. “Sorry.”

He rolls up the windows again and grabs some sunglasses from the passenger seat, slipping them on before he moves the newspaper away. From the lampposts outside, you can barely see how he waves at you before driving off.

Strange.

//

When you’re ordering your morning coffee a day later, the black car shows up on the curb of the road. You wonder if it’s paranoid of you to suspect that it’s the same exact one from last night.

You’re sipping on your morning brew, staring at it while standing on the sidewalk; the driver’s face is still pressed up into a newspaper. It’s much easier to see when it’s bright outside and you swear every so often, he’s peeking out at you. Your mind runs wild if you should knock on his window and ask if he’s a stalker when suddenly, a parking control officer strolls up his way.

He glances at the parking meter before sighing, taking out his notepad and scribbling something on it. With one motion, he rips it off and sticks it onto the black car. “No! Wait! Wait! I’m in the car!” The driver practically jumps out of his black vehicle, nearly stumbling on the sidewalk.

His voice is strangely familiar, gentle and comforting.

“Doesn’t matter.” The spiteful parking control officer spits at him, tucking the ticket securely under the window wipers. “Can’t just sit there and not pay the fee.”

The man groans to the sky as the officer walks away and he while his eyes travel away from the ticket, it sticks towards you. He freezes - every single muscle stopping as if he were a statue, trying to lose your attention or make himself invisible simply by praying. But your eyes are pinned on his and you make your move.

Two slow strides and you lean in closely. “Sorry but do I know you?”

You’re almost stunned as he is.

He’s cute.

Too adorable that it’s not even real and you suddenly have an urge to squish his cheeks together. He has a messy mop of blonde hair, a black sweater with sleeves too long, covering his fingers. He has round features, doe eyes looking on in surprise and pillow lips naturally tinted pink. But his combat boots and jeans give off a more manly vibe contrasting his soft aura.

He smiles tensely, eyes crinkling into half moons as he runs a hand through his hair; an action that you believe is his nervous habit. “Actually, I spoke to you on the phone.”

You manage to snap out of it and focus at this issue at hand. “Excuse me?” You frown.

He digs in his jeans and passes you a business card. “I’m Jimin from Heartbreak Insurance….I just wanted to discuss with you further about...uh...your application and do a cross-check. Yes...that’s what I’m here for.” He laughs and nods, as if to himself.

“You couldn’t call me for that?”

“Well….uh….at Heartbreak Insurance, we like to meet face to face with our clients since it’s our policy to be...um...involved.” He swallows hard and you question why he’s sweating when it’s not that hot outside. “Do you have some time?”

You glance at your watch, not really bothering to be punctual with work. “Sure.”

//

Jimin is tapping his foot relentlessly, rubbing together his clammy palms under the table. He’s thankful that he brought some of his paperwork along so he could fake something rather than nothing at all. After he sips on his drink and sets it down, he quickly glances at you, realizing that you’re staring at him to begin.

He curses to himself why you’re even more beautiful in real life.

“So…” He swallows hard, lying straight through his teeth. “It looks like you qualify.”

“Great.”

“We’ll get started as quickly as possible.” He shifts uncomfortably before meeting your eyes. “In heartbreak, withdrawal is something common but not very healthy. Is there anyone we can reach out to in order to help you?”

You smile. “No, not really. Um….he’s in the same circle of my friends so I haven’t really told anyone. It’s not something I can share with anyone.”

How convenient, Jimin thinks to himself with a slight hum. Insurance fraud isn’t something that you’d want to share with others anyway. “Well that’s understandable. Try your best to still leave the house often and hang out with them though. Another thing our insurance company recommends is disconnecting from social media for a while. It’s important to leave a gap so there’s no relapse in feelings.”

“Duly noted.” You say emotionlessly.

Jimin almost sighs but he keeps it inside, realizing it would be rude.

He’s worked with hundreds of clients before; most of them were just a complete mess in sobs or you could at least tell something was off by the way they slowly spoke, their untamed hair or their slightly smudged makeup. Some were in complete denial, buried deep in grief but never has he encountered someone who completely didn’t care, answering like they were watching paint dry and their middle school teacher was quizzing them on the alphabet.

Jimin can bet his entire life that you’re a liar.

“Well…” He smiles cutely. “What we offer are care packages which have food, cosmetics like bath bombs, features to encourage physical activity and just care items. In order to modify your care package, I’m just going to ask you a few questions.”

“Alright.” You answer, feeling a bit of excitement over the idea of having a special package for you every morning.

“Do you have any hobbies? Is there anything you like to do?” He waits for your answer, pen on paper.

“I like spa days.” You grin and he hopes you don’t notice how he’s stopped breathing temporarily. “I like watching movies and I’m….a big fan of fancy restaurants.” There’s a slight pause and you tip your head to the side. “Um...Jimin?”

He snaps out of it with an ‘oh’. “Sorry about that.” He quickly scribbles down the things you’ve said. He asks a few more questions and finds it exceptionally difficult to not give away what he knows about you through his stalking - like the bagel you ate yesterday or how you’ve recently been promoted thanks to your friends’ congratulation posts.

“Great.” He nods his head. “And it looks like you qualify for three weeks of paid time off. Therapy sessions will be twice a week for five weeks.” He smiles.

“Wait.” You shoot your hand out, grabbing onto his arm so he doesn’t get up and leave. Jimin’s eyes immediately drop to the place where you’re holding him. “How much paid time off do I get?”

“Th-three weeks.” He stutters.

“Three weeks..” You murmur and he’s let go. You try to suppress your grin as the both of you make your way to the door. “Great!”

“Yes. I’ll be talking to you again very soon to check up on your condition.” He lifts his hand and takes yours, holding onto it as you give it a good shake.

“Great. I’ll see you again Jimin.”

“Oh...you definitely will.” He mutters and you tilt your head, not being able to hear but it doesn’t matter when you’re trying your best to hold in your excitement.

The both of you look down to where you’re still shaking hands while wondering when the other person will pull away. To outsiders, it looks like an awkward handshake but to Jimin, he just hopes you won’t notice how his cheeks are heating up bright pink. It especially doesn’t help when a sudden giggle bubbles through your lips, half from the awkwardness and half from the exhilaration running through your veins.

Jimin pulls away with a soft smile and you’re still grinning from ear to ear. “Bye.”

“Bye.”

And the two of you part ways.

//

Jimin’s set up his cubicle to perfection, a second home of sorts. He has two pictures in frames, one of his family and one of his friends, seven guys in total jumping up at the same time. He has two pen holders, filled with different pencils and highlighters, pens and even a few markers. His two drawers are neatly organized with files and he has a row of sticky note reminders lining his monitor screen. He has the heartbreak symptom rubric on one side of the wall with a poster of the logo and motto. Everything’s precisely organized to his liking, cozy like his dream paradise. Other than that, he has a small fake plant in the corner given to him by his mother.

Jimin laughs hysterically at his desk.

Some coworkers shoot him an odd look before returning, realizing that it’s just his daily hysterical burst. “You really need a break dude.” Yuri mumbles with a coffee in her hand, quickly walking back to her desk before Jimin can retort.

“Fancy restaurant? Spa days? Movies?” He scoffs to his cubicle walls. “What hobbies.” He laughs again before he scoffs again. “This is not a vacation package!”

He hates how he’s only realized it now, sitting at his desk undisturbed. He hates even more that when meeting you face to face, he’s completely captured under your spell.

But you’re still a terrible liar.

Unfortunately for him, he can’t investigate you further when his cover has been completely blown and he’s already promised your care package. He has absolutely no choice but to follow through with the insurance plan.

Nonetheless, Jimin refuses to accept defeat.

//

It’s incredible.

The care package arrived at your doorstep in the morning, a cute packaged box with a handwritten note from Jimin saying ‘take care of yourself’. It was wrapped in a cute bow and you couldn’t help but wonder if he did it himself. You took your time unraveling the brown parchment wrap and when you finally managed to open it, it was full of restaurant coupons and vouchers, theater tickets, a hiking pamphlet, a gift card to a spa retreat and bath bombs.

You treat yourself to a home treatment spay day, sitting in one of the nicest and hottest baths you’ve had your entire life, a scented candle by your side, a face mask and your bath bomb fizzing in the water but most importantly, a bottle of wine in your hand that came with the package; drinking straight from it without a glass. You are truly living the luxurious life.

You fall victim to your guilty pleasures, watching an entire season of reality television before you finish the wine bottle and crash out on your couch. It’s past noon by the time you wake up. You end up rolling around your house in your pajamas the entire day, living out your dreams of being a complete couch potato. But not for long.

Knock. Knock.

The moment you crack the door open, a bright grin greets you. “Jimin?”

“Good evening, Miss Y/N.” He smiles and you widen the door.

“Good evening. Is there something wrong?”

“I just came to check up on you! See if everything’s been going well and we’re meeting all your needs. It’s a sort of check-up to see if there are any problems.” Jimin lies with a bright beam. It isn’t part of his job description at all. It’s not like you know that though. “Can I come in?”

“Sure.” You step back and he slips off his shoes. “And everything’s been going well. Really the packages have helped a lot.”

“That’s good.” Jimin takes a good look at your surroundings, noticing the sprawled out blankets and pillows, the finished wine bottle on the table and the television still on. You don’t notice his suspicious scrutiny but you’re rather a bit flustered at how he’s suddenly standing in your living room and you’re a mess in your pajamas. You hadn’t even combed your hair.

“Sorry. I’m a mess, aren’t I?”

“No.” When Jimin turns to face you again, he can’t help but think it’s adorable that your hair is literally sticking upwards as if you got electrocuted. “It’s cute.” After a second of staring at your baffled expression, he quickly snaps out of it. He clears his throat awkwardly, catching the restaurant tickets discarded on the kitchen counter. “Ahem...I mean...um...have you eaten yet, Miss Y/N?”

You follow his line of sight. “Oh. No.” Some nervous laughter bubbles through your lips. “I think it’s kind of strange to go to a restaurant by yourself. I already called them up and they don’t do take out.”

“Right.” He narrows his eyes, lifting a brow. “You can’t really reach out to anyone in your circumstances. However, it’s not really healthy to be cooped up alone inside your apartment when you’re going through heartbreak.”

“Uh huh.”

Jimin spots an opportunity and grabs it without thinking much. There’s a slight pause before he jumps. “Do you want to go together then?”

“What?” You frown, exasperated at his odd proposition. You wonder if you misheard or you’re losing your mind. “I mean, pardon?”

He grins perfectly, eyes crinkling and he clears his throat, speaking in the professional tone that you heard over the phone. “A typical reaction to heartbreak is isolation and a part of the fundamental beliefs of our Heartbreak Insurance company is that our clients be part of our family. We are committed to helping you move forward from this difficult time and be there when you need it most. It is only natural that I would love to have dinner with you, Miss Y/N - especially since you have no one else to assist you during this time.”

“Of course, if you’re too uncomfortable with the idea, you can refuse me or…” He leans in and you wonder if it’s a smirk that you see but after a blink, it’s gone. “..you’re not actually going through a heartbreak at all.”

“N-no. That sounds great.” You stiffly laugh, stuttering slightly. His words are swirling around your head, making you dizzy.

“Great.” He grins. “Then you should go get ready. Don’t worry and take your time. Dress up a little and pamper yourself. I’ll be here if you need me.”

“Great.”

“Great.”

He nods and waves you off while you slowly walk backwards before swiveling on your heel and making your way into your room. Jimin smirks to himself as you disappear, knowing he’s got you right in the palm of his hand.

//

Or not.

Because with you in that knee-length, red cocktail dress and black heels, a beige trench coat with your hair up, Jimin’s sure he’s been casted under your spell again. He’s just thankful that he’s still in his white dress shirt and work pants, so it doesn’t look like he’s your chauffeur.

“Is everything okay?” You frown, leaning in to whisper and sweeping a strand of hair away from your face. You wonder if you got too dressed up but Jimin told you to and he was strongly adamant about it. Was it too weird? What were you even doing having dinner with your insurance agent?

“No. It’s not weird at all.” Jimin sits back, forcefully peeling his eyes away from you to stick onto the menu. “Whoever broke your heart would be so regretful if they saw you right now.”

A pink flush blooms across your cheeks and you mumble a quiet ‘thanks’. Jimin’s eyes flicker upwards and he manages to catch your appearance. He nibbles on his bottom lip to stop his lips spreading into a grin and he forces a nonchalant expression as he flips the menu.

Jimin shakes his head as the both of you wait for the food to arrive, realizing that he’s not on a date with you and needs to get down to the bottom of things as soon as possible. “It might be difficult for you to speak about it but it’s good to get things off of your chest once and for all. If you’re not uncomfortable Miss Y/N, can you tell me about him?”

“Him? Oh, right. Well….” You anxiously laugh, taking a sip of your drink to quench your dry throat and buy some time. He waits patiently for you to answer. “Um. We’ve been friends for five years and I liked him alot but now he’s getting married.”

“But that can’t be just it.” He presses on. “Don’t you feel like you’re physically hurt? Doesn’t your mind feel numb?”

You shrug while nodding thoughtfully, not really knowing what to say. “I guess.” You laugh again before quickly switching the subject. “But if you don’t mind me asking, if it’s too much of a personal question, have you ever been heartbroken?”

Jimin sighs, leaning back on his chair. “Honestly...never.”

“Oh.” His answer piques your curiosity. “Then what got you working at the insurance company?”

There’s a flicker in his eyes as if you’ve touched his deepest passion and Jimin tries his best to not explode off on a tangent. It’s not everyday that he gets to share what he loves doing most. “I just really love being able to help people. I don’t even need to do much, just sitting at my desk and talking to people on the phone but to know how many people I do help in a day, it’s really fulfilling.”

You nod, smiling as he continues going off about his work. Usually you would’ve gotten bored, someone going off on their job but unlike the others, Jimin has no complaints and instead his gestures are erratic as he tells you stories that make your stomach ache with laughter. He’s so earnest and sweet that you can’t help but melt a little in your seat.

“Would you like the dessert menu?” The waitress swings by, interrupting your story of the time the tires of your car came off on the highway.

“Sure.” Jimin flashes his soft smile and the waitress clears the table, promising to come back a moment later.

You frown. “Wait. I don’t think the voucher includes dessert.”

“Don’t worry, it’s on me.” He reassures you, thanking the waitress as she approaches and hands the smaller menu. “Is there anything you would like...Miss Y/N?” Jimin realizes he might’ve overstepped his boundaries, getting too comfortable with you. This isn’t a date. But somehow he’s completely forgotten about investigating your heartbreak further.

You giggle and Jimin blinks twice. “You really don’t need to call me Miss. And I’ll have whatever.”

“Okay..” He nods, still gazing at you and you wonder if anything’s wrong. “Great.”

“Great.” You laugh at the awkward tension and he looks down again at the menu.

Cute.

The both of you think together.

//

With your stomach full, tongue sweet with the dessert you shared with Jimin and the drive back to your house calm and smooth with the soft radio swirling in the background, you can’t help but get lulled to sleep. When Jimin stops at a red light, wondering why you’re so quiet and turning to you, he grins. Your head is bobbing up and down with closed eyes, out cold and completely unconscious.

A quick glance at the street lights and noting it’s still bright red, he carefully shifts over to you and gently moves your head to rest comfortably against the window. You take a soft sigh of relief, shifting a bit more and he smiles.

As he pulls up in the parking lot to your apartment complex, he’s hit with the dilemma of waking you up. “Y/N?” He calls out your name softly but you don’t stir. With any of his friends, he would have the pleasure of screaming out suddenly and scaring them awake or he would mischievously honk the horn, making them jump. But with you, he doesn’t even have the nerve to nudge you. He doesn’t know why.

So instead, Jimin sits in his car and every so often, glances at your sleeping face. He finally steals the chance to marvel in all your features and he can’t help the smile that takes his lips.

It’s only when there’s ambulance sirens in the distance that disturbs your dreams do you finally open your eyes. “Oh my god. What time is it?” You look around, stretching and a bit confused. “Why didn’t you wake me up? How long were you waiting?”

Jimin smiles. “It’s fine. Rise and shine, Y/N.” He gets out of his car and you rub your eyes once before stumbling after him.

“You don’t need to bring me up.”

“I don’t mind.” He steals another glance at your sleepy form. “Trust me.”

Your head is downcasted, standing outside your apartment door with Jimin in front of you and his hands in his pockets. “I had a really great night tonight.” You purse your lips, trying to hide your smile but ultimately failing. You’re still embarrassed about falling asleep in his car but more so at the way he’s staring at you with softened eyes.

“I’m glad.” He murmurs out before clearing his throat, scratching the back of his neck nervously. There’s a slight silence that fills the air but not an awkward or a tense one. Jimin drops his arm and his eyes slowly travel down to your rose stained lips. Naturally, your own eyes move to his and you wonder what it feels like to have his lips pressed on yours. And for one moment, as he leans closer, you really think he’s going to kis-

“I mean- of course! At Heartbreak Insurance, our clients should be able to reach out to us at any time.”

“Oh. Yeah. I mean great!” You can’t help but feel a bit hurt at how he called you his client. “That’s a great policy you guys have.”

“Yeah. It’s great.” He laughs stiffly. “I’ll see you around Y/N. Have a good night.”

//

Jimin screams, spinning around in his chair and this time his co-workers don’t even glance at him. He doesn’t understand why every time he’s with you, he always gets carried away. He’s suppose to be doing his job! He’s suppose to catch you in your lies and make you admit that you’re committing fraud.

He grabs his coat and stomps out of the building before anyone can even realize.

Knock. Knock.

“Jimin?” You widen the door, scanning him from top to bottom in his athletic attire. “What are you doing here?” He’s in a gray short sleeved hoodie with knee-length black shorts and sneakers but you can’t help but ogle at his muscles. You wonder where they came from and if he’s had them this entire time, just hidden underneath all the clothing.  

“Exercise is a great method to start moving onto a new path.” He smiles sweetly despite the disgusting word of ‘exercise’ that leaves his mouth. You blink hard at his attractive appearance, trying to say something.

But all you manage with your dropped jaw is “what?”.

“C’mon, let’s go exercise.”

“I...I don’t exercise.” You laugh quietly but he makes no change in his expression.

“It’s part of your therapy and the care package!” It really isn’t. “It’s not good for you to mope around in your house when you’re heartbroken…...unless-”

“Nope. Alright. Fine!” You feel like smashing your head against the wall but then he might think you’ve gone insane. It’s not like that would be a lie though. You really do feel like you’re going crazy.

A soft sigh leaves your lips before you perk up with a stiff smile. “Exercise sounds great!”

//

Exercise is the worst.

You’re in leggings, sneakers and a tracksuit jacket with your hair pulled in a ponytail but you’re sure you look like a mess. Huffing and puffing with sweat dripping down the sides of your face, you’re barely managing to run alongside Jimin who’s still smiling and staring up at the bright sky.

“Isn’t it such a nice day today?”

“How are you so fuc- athletic?” You’re too tired to filter out the curse words. If you didn’t try so hard, you would’ve already collapsed onto the ground and sworn at him using your entire extensive vocabulary.

“I like to work out in my spare time.” Jimin grins, turning to you and the kid has the audacity to start running backwards in front of you. “Tired already, Y/N?” He teases mockingly.

He’s jogging at this point, still grinning and when you try to speak, you break out into a huge cough, lungs squeezing. “I-I...I don’t fucking exercise, okay?”  

Jimin laughs, a bell like sound that makes you roll your eyes and you notice an elderly couple passing the both of you. The embarrassment and shame makes you push a bit harder. “But exercise is so great for a broken heart.” Jimin says, returning back to his position beside you as the both of you continue. “Tell me, are you feeling better these days?”

“I feel the same.” You spit out at him, too exhausted to think.

“Oh?” He lifts a brow. “Are you still having trouble sleeping at night? Can’t eat? Having headaches? Lack of concentration?” Jimin grins. “You can’t use the toilet?”

“I..I..” You slow down and he matches your pace. “I feel better, okay? Better.”

“Have you contacted him recently?”

“Who?” You frown, wiping away your sweat as you speed up.

“The guy who made you heartbroken.”

“Oh. Umm..” You break out into another wheeze as you pound your chest. “Ca-can we not- not talk about this...here?!”

“Why not?” He smiles sweetly and you give him a look of horror, unable to speak when you’re gasping for air.

WHY NOT? WHY NOT?! IS HE SERIOUSLY ASKING YOU WHY NOT?!

You halt all together, bending downwards to catch your breath with hands on your knees. Jimin stops too with a small giggle but the break only lasts a good ten seconds before he takes your hand and pulls you along. “C’mon Y/N. Exercise is great!”

It’s right then and there with Jimin holding your hand, your heart rate suddenly shooting up ten folds and your eyes transfixed on the gesture that you accidentally trip on the crack of the pavement. But as you begin to tumble forward and a soft gasp leaves your lips, Jimin pulls you towards him. Instead of the ground, you land straight into his arms in an embrace.

��Are you okay?” He says in a half breathless laugh.

You peer up through your eyelashes, still startled but surprised at how effortless it was for him to save you. “Yeah. I’m okay.” You cough out, standing on your feet.

Jimin blinks, wondering how you’re so much prettier up close.

“Do you need me to carry you?” He teases and you scoff. Trying to hide your burning cheeks, you start running again. “Hey! Wait up!” Jimin giggles out as he catches up to you. He returns by your side, stealing a quick glance and grinning from ear to ear at your embarrassment.

//

It’s going all wrong. You’re suppose to have a relaxing time with your paid-time off and your delicious care packages. You’re suppose to catch up on reality TV and live life as the bum you’ve always wanted to. But low and behold, Jimin makes you go on a run every single morning with him. Sometimes he asks you a bunch of questions, sometimes he just laughs at your lack of athleticism and sometimes it’s just silent as you enjoy the fresh morning air.

You’ll only admit that it’s sort of nice.

There are even days where the both of you go out to dinner together and day by day, he asks you less and less questions about your ‘previous relationship’.

“Hey.” You turn to him, the both of you in line at a coffee shop after your morning run. After a week, you’re sweating much less but your endurance is still lacking compared to Jimin’s.

“There’s a wedding rehearsal dinner coming up in a few days.” You shift uncomfortably on your feet. “Do you want to be my plus one?”

A month ago, you would’ve never had the audacity to ask Jimin, especially since he’s your insurance agent. But somewhere along the way, you became well acquainted with him and even friends. You didn’t have anyone coming with you either and if Jimin came along, he might finally lay his questions to rest.

It’s killing two birds with one stone.  

Jimin blinks at you before he erupts in a sweet smile that still makes him look handsome even if he’s sweaty. You’re a bit jealous. “I’d love to.”

“Great.”

“Great.” He answers back with a whisper before the both order your drinks. From the corner of your eye, you think you see him glance and grin at you. But then again, it might be your eyes playing tricks.

//

“You’ve been leaving your cubicle a lot these days, huh?” Yuri looks over his cubicle wall, leaning on it while sipping on her coffee. “Did you get a girlfriend?”

“No.” Jimin scoffs. “I’m working.”

“Uh huh.” She lifts her brow. “I see you smiling a lot these days.”

“I’m investigating a client.” He states, flipping through a file folder.

Yuri sighs. “Are you actually? When was the last time you even caught a break?”

“I love my job.”

“Doesn’t mean you don’t need time off.” She peers over, looking at the paperwork. “But who’s the client? You can transfer them over to our department if you need investigating. We’re not so busy anymor-”

“No.” He answers quickly, cutting her off of her sentence. Jimin clears his throat and tucks it all away in his drawer. “I got it handled. Thanks though.”

“Well alright-”

The conversation is cut short when the phone rings again.

Ring Ring-

Jimin beams as he picks up the handset. “Thank you for calling Heartbreak Insurance. My name is Jimin! How may I help you today?”

Yuri rolls her eyes and waves, making her way back to the desk. As she leaves, her words whirl around his mind. It takes less than a second for him to realize that he’s been with you for weeks and he’s completely forgotten about making you admit your fraud. Unbeknownst to him, he begins smiling as he remembers you in your cow pajamas looking sleepy and frightened at the same time when he mentions ‘exercise’. Now when he knocks at your door, you’re already dressed and grumbling under your breath as you lock up the door.

Jimin wonders if he should head over to catch dinner with you, maybe bring over some coffee too. He suddenly wants to see you again, so badly that he thinks he might die if he doesn’t. It’s an odd feeling and he can’t exactly pinpoint why-

“Hello?” The shaking voice over the phone repeats. “Is anyone there?”

“I am so sorry!” Jimin apologizes profusely, bowing his head to the cubicle walls. “Can you please repeat everything you just said?”

//

You might pass out.

“Are you okay?” He leans in close, his cologne traveling up your nose and making you even more dizzy. “You’re really pale Y/N.”

“I’m fine.” You manage, taking your water and downing the whole entire glass as Jimin watches in amusement.

His hair is swept up, styled in a way that reveals his forehead just a bit. He’s in dress shoes, linen pants and a cotton button-down blue shirt, rolled all the way up to his elbows and hugging his arms just right. He smiles softly at your bewildered expression but the moment you turn away, his smile becomes a smirk.

He takes the opportunity to gawk at you from head to toe, curled hair pulled in an updo and the tea-length dress in a fresh mint hue. He dares say that you’re even more beautiful than the bride.

“So is that him?” Jimin takes the opportunity to lean in close to you, gazing at your instant flustered appearance. When you turn to him, your face and his are a mere few centimeters away. His eyes flicker to your pink tinted lips before he glances up at the groom, sitting up at the front table.

“Oh. Um. Yeah.” You swallow hard, trying to listen to the toasts going around.

“You had feelings for that guy?” He says out of disbelief.

You frown. “Why?”

Jimin scoffs quietly. “Well obviously because you’re so much better than he is. You’re gorgeous, smart and pretty amazing.”  

You can’t help but grin, rolling your eyes at the same time. Was he trying to flirt with you?

“Then who do you think I’m good for?” You ask him with the raise of your eyebrows.

Me?

Jimin can’t manage the words so instead he points to the elderly man sitting at the bride’s family table. You follow his finger before you bust out in a giggle, some people turning around to look at you. After you quiet down, you lightly punch his arm and he gives you a sheepish grin.

“You liked him for five years?” Jimin asks you after the toasts are finished and the dinner is served, the both of you whispering really quietly.

“Something like that.”

“Oh~ I see.” He nods thoughtfully. “And your friend is marrying him and she didn’t know about your unrequited love? Did she meet him after you met him or before?”

You fidget nervously, wondering why he keeps interrogating you. “Can we not talk about this?”

He sighs, aware that you’re always avoiding the topic. He’s had enough of your evasiveness and needs to get down to his job. He and his feelings have been too carried away lately.

“No. Let’s talk about it.” He smiles but this time you can’t find anything cute about it. “How did you feel when they announced their wedding?”

You sigh, shooting him a sharp look but he raises his brows. “Well?”

“Why do you keep asking me these questions?”

“I need to know.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s obvious that you’re-”

“Y/N?” The bride interrupts your conversation, her happy beam making both you and Jimin smile. “And who is this?” She looks at Jimin and you laugh nervously. It’s not like you can say he’s your insurance provider and he’s definitely not your boyfriend.

“He’s...he’s….a friend.” You settle for that, nodding to yourself.

“Oh. Nice to meet you.” She shakes hands with Jimin. “Will you be attending the wedding?”

“Umm..”

“He might.” You answer for him with a stiff smile. Just then the groom approaches and Jimin takes note of how your eyes don’t shake and your voice doesn’t tremble when you talk to him. You’re completely normal to him, nothing out of the ordinary and definitely not like you loved him or had a five year unrequited crush.

“Well I’ll see you around Jimin.” The bride smiles and the groom nods his head in agreeance. You blush when your friend winks at you before sauntering off to greet the next table.

When you turn to Jimin, he grabs your arm. “What?”

“You never loved him.” He states in a deadpan.

You freeze.

There’s not even a twinge of nervousness and anxiety that swirls in your stomach, like you imagined there would be. All you can wonder is- “Is that the only thing that’s concerned you this entire time?” It feels like a punch to the gut.

He didn’t come with you today because he wanted to but because he wanted to know the truth. You can’t believe you let yourself forget that and let your feelings get involved. You grit your teeth together as his expression is unchanged, the both of your eyes probing each others in a cold battle.

You release a short exhale and a scoff. “We are not talking about this here.”

//

The rest of the rehearsal dinner is full of two fake smiles, yours and Jimin’s. Between the both of you, there is nothing but silence and the drive home is dead. He stares straight ahead at the road and you force your eyes shut while facing the window. The radio doesn’t even play.

The door of your apartment slams shut and you turn around to face him. He’s the one that speaks first. “You lied and committed fraud.”

“That’s right.” You say in a mocking tone. “Congratulations on figuring it out. Would you like an award?”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

“You’re a terrible person.” You want to curse him in much worse ways but you can’t bring yourself to. You’re already trying to hold back your tears. “You only got close to me to fucking figure it out!”

“It’s my job.” He frowns, voice trembling unwillingly.

“Your job to have dinner with me multiple times a week?! Your job to go running with me every morning?! Your job to follow me around?!” You shout at him, throwing the empty care package box at him. “That’s right, I’ve never been heartbroken in my life! And I was fucking sick and tired of working! I was just looking for some paid time off! Is that what you want to hear?!”

“Y/N.”

“Get out.” You point to the door. “Get me fired or throw me in jail, I don’t even give a damn! Just get out of my face. Don’t come back.”

He grabs your wrist when you try to push him out the door. “Listen to me. I-.I...those things that I did aren’t part of my job description. You could get me fired, Y/N.”

“I don’t care! Just GO AWAY.” You struggle against his strength and he finally lets go.

“I care about you.” He confesses. “A lot.”

“Just go away.” You finally push him out the door, slamming it shut in his face.

“I want to be with you.” He murmurs to the wood and he’s met with complete silence.

Jimin stands there lost for minutes before he finally turns on his heels and walks away.

He feels a tightness in his throat, utterly exhausted as he drags his legs around to Chad’s office. Jimin barely peeks his head in through the door. “You were right, by the way.”

“What?” He looks up from his computer. “Oh. Dude. You look awful, did something happen?”

“Nothing.” Jimin brushes him off with a sigh. “The client I told you about a few weeks back. She’s not committing fraud. Just continue with her paid time off and insurance packages.”

“Well alright.” He smiles, typing away on his keyboard. “That’s good. Hey Jimin, if-”

When he lifts his head up, Jimin’s gone.

//

Ring Ring. Ring Ring. Ring Ring-

“Thank you for calling Heartbreak Insurance.” He sighs, finding it utterly difficult to sound chirpy. “My name is Jimin…....how may I help you today?”

“I’m sorry...what was that? Can you repeat it one more time?” He rubs the side of his forehead, finding it exceptionally difficult to concentrate. He wonders if it’s because he skipped out on his exercise and his breakfast. He just couldn’t get out of bed or take a jog alone. Food doesn’t seem that appealing either.

“Are you alright?” Yuri frowns as Jimin hangs up the phone. As she takes a sip of her coffee, she scans his odd disheveled appearance. It looks like he didn’t get any sleep last night.

“I feel….terrible.”

“Wow.” She hums. “I think this is the first ever for Park Jimin on a work day. What’s wrong? Shoot.”

“I don’t really want to talk about it.” He pounds his chest, trying to alleviate the pressure.

Yuri sighs, hanging her head to one side. “We both know that things are better when you talk about them.” Just then her eyes catch the piece of paper tacked onto his wall and she casually takes another sip of her brew. “Did you sleep last night?”

“Not really. I just couldn’t fall asleep.” Jimin sighs. “I tried drinking warm milk and flipping my pillow and all that jazz but I couldn’t. I only managed to pass out for an hour.”

She points to him. “Did you eat anything yet?”

“Don’t really feel like it.” He frowns in pain. “My stomach kind of hurts.”

“It seems like you’re exhausted and can’t concentrate either.” She hums. “Do you have any pain anywhere else?”

“I have a headache right now. And my chest and throat feel kind of tight, like there’s something heavy on it.” Jimin wearily looks over at her. “I think I’m just having a bad day.”

Yuri smiles, finally peeling her eyes away from the symptom rubric. “Dude. Either you’re heartbroken or you came down with a nasty case of lovesickness.”

“What?” Jimin laughs. “That’s impossible. No.”

She shakes her head and sets down her coffee, grabbing his coat and pulling his chair back. “I’ve been waiting to do this ever since I joined the company. Park Jimin, you need to go home. With your strong work ethic in the past few years of working in this company, you’ll get five paid weeks off. We’ll be sending you care packages and we’ll be able to modify them since we already know your hobbies. Therapy sessions are twice a week. Please reach out to people around you to help during this time.”

“Wait. Wait.” Jimin protests as he’s being yanked upwards, his jacket shoved in his arms and hauled off to the elevators.

“I’ll notify Chad.” Yuri smiles. “And if any of us sees you at work, we’ll kick you out. Heartbreak is real pain too and you need time to heal.” She presses the elevator button and the doors open. “Don’t be such a lovesick puppy. See you in five weeks, Jimin.”

Yuri shoves him in and the doors close. “Wait! No! That’s impossible!”

But by then, he’s talking to the steel doors and his precious cubicle walls are far from his reach.

//

Jimin is utterly sad and lost. It’s almost comical how he’s dealt with heartbreak so closely and listed the symptoms hundreds of times but he couldn’t detect it within himself. But he still refuses to believe it’s true.

He flips through channels on his television and wanders around his apartment like a haunting ghost, wondering what to do with himself. When the telephone rings, he races like a trained dog to pick it up. “Thank you for calling Heartbre-” Wait.

Then the world comes crashing down when he realizes he’s not at work. And the only person that answers back is an automated message, a scam call on winning plane tickets.

Jimin ends up waiting by the door everyday for his care package, opening it up with enthusiasm. He marvels at how great the company really is and how authentic and how careful they are. It’s almost like Christmas morning; he reads the details of all the coupons, tickets and vouchers. He reads the pamphlets like they’re novels and stares at the gift cards until they’re imprinted in his mind. It’s only on the third day does Jimin realize how pathetic he’s living.

He’s still moping around, unable to eat or sleep well without thinking about you. But the push he needs is when he receives a piece of paper with your phone number and Yuri’s handwriting on the back, reading ‘call her already!’.

Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Jimin?!” You scowl at him before the tension between your brows loosen, scanning him from head to toe. “What are you doing here and why are you in your pajamas?! Have you even slept?!”

He doesn’t respond, simply gazing at you while he holds up a piece of paper. You squint, trying to read the text. “Eyewitness testimony?”

“It’s for my insurance. If possible, filing witness papers makes the jobs easier. I know.”

“What are you even talking about?” You ask more out of concern than anger.

“I need your signature at the bottom.” He tilts his lips up in a lifeless smile. “Since you’re my only witness.”

“Witness to what?” You sigh, letting go of the door and no longer frowning.

“My heartbreak.” He whimpers out.

“Your heartbreak? What?” You peek your head out the door, looking to see if there was a camera crew or if this was some sort of prank. After realizing that Jimin is practically sulking outside your apartment door in his pajamas, dark circles under his eyes and chaotic hair, you let him inside. “You need to tell me what’s going on.”

“Everything I did for you...it’s not part of my job description.” He admits, looking exasperated and going off on a quick tangent in one breath. “Insurance fraud isn’t even that big of a deal. I just…I went through all that shit because I like you. And this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“What?” You’re smiling at this point, watching his rather calm outburst.

“You.” He scratches his hair, losing his mind. “I know one of the worst things that you can do is go back to the one that broke their heart and continue your interaction with them. But I can’t eat or sleep or do anything without thinking about you. And it hurts me so bad because-”

“Because?” You egg him on, smirking and raising your eyebrow.

He scoffs, finally breathing normally. “Are you seriously teasing me right now when I’m pouring my heart and soul out to you?!”

You grin. “Just tell me.”

“I like you. And I miss you and I want to be with you.” He rambles on. “And I have no idea what I’m going to do when you reject me and they kicked me out from work and I have nowhere to go-”

“Who said I was going to reject you?”

“Wait...you’re not?”

You can’t hide your smile, blushing bright pink from embarrassment. “No. Are you kidding me?”

You laugh and he slowly starts smiling. “I’ll admit, you’re a bit of a workaholic but you’re the sweetest and cutest and handsomest person I’ve ever met. You kind of drive me insane.” With your teeth sunk in your bottom lip nervously, you take a step forward to wrap your arms around his abdomen, giving him a tight squeeze. “And I missed you too.”  

He takes a sigh of relief while laughing and returning your embrace. “Oh thank god. You’re making me go crazy! I think I’m going to get a heart attack.”

You giggle, pressing your ear to his chest and listening to his heartbeat sporadically pumping. “I hate that you make me exercise.” You murmur after a moment of silence.

“Girl, we’re gonna be doing that a lot more.” He whispers.

You groan and he laughs again. You try to pull away from him but his hands are clasped behind your back, keeping you still. “Hey…” He hums. “Can I kiss-”

Before he can finish, you’ve already pressed your lips to his soft ones in a sweet kiss. He pouts as you pull away. “You didn’t even let me finish!” With your mischievous smile, this time he’s the one that kisses you again and again. After several, he frowns and murmurs against your lips. “Wait...does this mean I’m committing fraud too since I’m not heartbro- ow! What was that for?”

“Are you seriously going to talk about work right now?”

Jimin grins before clearing his throat, speaking in a professional tone that you remember listening to the first time over the phone. He grins, greasy words rolling off his tongue and this time no cubicle wall has to witness it when you’re standing in front of him.

“Welcome to Heartbreak Insurance. My name is Jimin and Miss Y/N just healed my heart.”

[elizabethcariasa]

Feeling the tax filing crunch? Get an extension

The time left until Tax Day is tick, tick, ticking away.

If you're feeling like silent movie legend Harold Lloyd (pictured above), hanging on by your fingernails as you try to get your tax filing act together, I have some good news and some bad news.

The bad news is that there's no way to stop the tax deadline clock.

The good news is you can get an extension to file your 1040.

By filing for an extension, the Internal Revenue Service will give you six more months, up to Oct. 15, to submit your return.

You still have to pay: It's not hard to get the added time. In fact, it's much easier to file for an extension than it is to fill out the new Form 1040 and any (or all) of its six related schedules.

But note that an extension to file is precisely what its name says. It's an extension to file a tax return.

It is not an extension to pay what you owe.

You still must pay any tax due you owe by April 15 (or April 17 if you live in Maine or Massachusetts) when you make your extension request. If you don't, the IRS' penalty and interest calculator will start running on the unpaid amount.

OK. Got it. Gotta pay, but do get more time to fill out the forms. That's at least something.

So how do you ask for an extension? There are three ways to do so.

1. File Form 4868 electronically. Form 4868 is the official document that will get you the automatic filing extension. You can file it electronically, which is great since most of us now use tax software programs to fill out and e-file our returns.

Just check out your chosen tax software's options to e-file for an extension. It also will give you ways to e-pay, as noted above, any tax you think you'll owe when you do finish up your 1040.

Be sure to have a copy of your 2017 tax return handy. You'll be asked to provide information from that return for taxpayer verification.

If you are so far behind in filing that you've yet to get any tax software, don't despair. You can use Free File, the IRS-tax software companies' online tax filing option, to electronically get the extra filing time even if you don't qualify to use the free service because you made too much money.

Nine companies offer free electronic extension and payment.  

And if you use a tax preparer, simply give him or her a call and have your extension request and payment sent electronically by that office. This is one call they'll be happy to get.

2. E-pay your guesstimated tax due. Sticking with computer payments, you can get your six-month form filing reprieve by simply paying what you expect you'll ultimately owe Uncle Sam.

Just go directly to one of the IRS-approved e-pay options. They are:

Direct Pay, which as the name says, directly transfers the amount from your bank account;

Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, or EFTPS, which is what I used earlier this week to get our extension; or

Credit or debit card.

More on each of these e-pay options can be found in my ways to pay taxes post and at IRS.gov's Paying Your Taxes page.

You'll receive a confirmation number when you pay online or, if you prefer, by phone. Note that number and keep it for your records.

If you're like me and like paper verification to back up your digital transactions, print out Form 4868 and enter your extension payment confirmation number on page 3 of that form.

The neat thing about this e-pay extension option, if you can call paying the IRS neat, is that you don't have to send in a 4868 form. Your extension will be automatically processed when you pay part or all of your estimated income tax electronically.

3. File a paper Form 4868. Finally, if you're part of the dwindling group that still snail mails paper tax returns in April, you need to fill out Form 4868 and mail it to the IRS.

Click image for full IRS Form 4868

As the form above shows, you'll have to enter:

Your name (and spouse's name if filing jointly) and address,

Your Social Security number (and spouse's nine ID digits if filing jointly),

An estimate of your total tax liability for 2018,

Total of what you have already paid for the 2018 tax year (including withholding and estimated payments), and the biggie

How much you're paying with your extension (if any).

Once that's filled out, send it via the United States Postal Service to the appropriate IRS processing center shown in the table below.

Click for a larger image

Make sure you get to your local post office on time. Your envelope must be postmarked April 15 or the IRS will consider you a late filer and start the interest and penalty clock ticking. Sending it

If you feel more comfortable sending your tax material via a private delivery service (PDS), the IRS accepts returns from these carriers, too. The approved PDS companies are:

Federal Express (FedEx): FedEx First Overnight, FedEx Priority Overnight, FedEx Standard Overnight, FedEx 2 Day, FedEx International Next Flight Out, FedEx International Priority, FedEx International First and FedEx International Economy;

DHL Express: DHL Express 9:00, DHL Express 10:30, DHL Express 12:00, DHL Express Worldwide, DHL Express Envelope, DHL Import Express 10:30, DHL Import Express 12:00 and DHL Import Express Worldwide; and

United Parcel Service (UPS): UPS Next Day Air Early AM, UPS Next Day Air, UPS Next Day Air Saver, UPS 2nd Day Air, UPS 2nd Day Air A.M., UPS Worldwide Express Plus and UPS Worldwide Express.

If you do use a PDS, note that they can't deliver items to P.O. boxes, as shown in the USPS address table above. You must use the actual street address of the IRS campus to which your return should be sent.

Those addresses for PDS delivery are:

Austin Internal Revenue Submission Processing Center 3651 S IH35, Austin TX 78741

Cincinnati Internal Revenue Submission Processing Center  201 West Rivercenter Blvd., Covington, KY 41011

Fresno Internal Revenue Submission Processing Center 5045 East Butler Avenue, Fresno, CA 93727

Kansas City Internal Revenue Submission Processing Center 333 W. Pershing, Kansas City, MO 64108

Ogden Internal Revenue Submission Processing Center 1973 Rulon White Blvd. Ogden, UT 84201

Also, be sure to get written proof from the PDS of the mailing date for your records.

Better correct later than wrong in April: There you go. Those are your extension options. Take advantage of the extra time if you need it.

Even the IRS says so, noting that tax haste can make tax waste when filers in a rush to meet the April deadline make costly mistakes (like these 10 common filing errors) on their returns.

It's always better, for both you and the IRS, when you get an extension and then later file a correct, complete tax return instead of a faulty form just to meet the April deadline.

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[christophergill8]

What to do if your tax refund is wrong

Tax law change confusion and paycheck withholding miscalculations have led to a lot of grumbling by many filers about the size of their tax refund checks. But there are other reasons why refunds sometimes are not what filers expect. Here's what to do if you think your tax refund is wrong.

The many changes of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) have thrown a wrench into the 2019 tax filing season. Many folks who were expecting refunds are finding they are smaller than they anticipated or nonexistent.

In a lot of cases, that's because of changes in withholding by employers, based on Internal Revenue Service revisions, as well as miscalculations by workers as to how much in taxes should be taken out of their paychecks.

Sometimes, though, even when you've carefully calibrated your withholding, your eventual refund arrives with what you believe is a wrong amount.

It happens. It's happened to me.

If it happens to you, here are some steps you should take.

Question all unusual refund amounts: It's human nature to react when we thing we've been wronged. That's certainly the correct reaction if you believe the Internal Revenue Service has shorted you of some refund money.

But you also should look a gift horse in the mouth and follow up with Uncle Sam if he sands you a refund that's much larger than what you entered on your tax return.

Ramon Christopher Blanchett of Tampa, Florida, encountered that seemingly good result. He got a $980,000 refund in connection with his 2017 tax filing. Just one problem. Blanchett's income that year was only $18,497.

Eventually, as you've already surmised, the IRS caught up with Blanchett and is in the process of trying to recover what it says was an erroneous refund.

Why refunds are wrong: In the Tampa almost-million-dollar refund case, the problem reportedly was with a wrong W-2.

That's why it's critical to double check your annual tax earnings statement as well as all other tax-related documents as soon as you receive them. If you something seems out of whack, you can contact the sender and get things cleared up in plenty of time to file your return by the April deadline.

Other common reasons why your refund amount might be different than what you expected include:

Math errors were made in computing your tax bill.

Incorrect credit or deductions were claimed.

Estimated tax payments were not credited properly.

Other federal debts, such as a student loan, were collected.

Math and other numerical mistakes: Math errors are the most common mistakes folks make on their returns every single tax season.

Even if you use tax software, the old adage garbage in, garbage out applies. And when it comes to taxes, numerical errors often are compounded as wrong amounts are transferred from one form to another.

So if your refund amount is not what you expected, pull out your copy of your return and double check your entries and math. Better yet, double check the entries on your 1040 before you drop it in the snail mail box or hit send if you e-file.

Other numbers that can cause refund problems are those nine Social Security digits. When any of those are wrong (such as transposed numbers, or they don't match other records, perhaps involving name changes after marriage or adoption), problems with your tax return — and refund — appear.

Refund issues also crop up when names of dependents don't match Social Security numbers. Husbands and wives have different names, as do their children.

Estimated tax payments also are a common culprit in divergent refund amounts. The amount of tax on the return is calculated correctly, but the filer and IRS come up with a difference on the amount of tax paid.

Other debts collected from refunds: Your tax refund also might be a direct path to other money you owe.

Government agencies, at both federal and state levels, can use offsets to get money they say you owe from your federal tax refund.

The most common cases involve court-ordered financial payments associated with a former marriage (e.g., delinquent child or spousal support payments) or unpaid student loans.

And, of course, the IRS will even make sure it gets prior federal tax debts that you didn't clear.

Even taxpayers who have a payment arrangement in place with the IRS could encounter refund issues. The installment agreement with the IRS says it can apply any refund you have against what you owe.

Explanation forthcoming: Whatever the reason your refund is different from what you entered on your tax return, the IRS should let you know.

Be on the lookout for an explanation via U.S. Postal Service mailed notice from the IRS as to why there's a difference in your calculated refund amount.

The big problem here is that the notice typically comes separately from the check or direct deposit amount, so you have to wait.

If you don't want to wait for the written explanation, you can always call the IRS with questions about your refund amount. The main IRS toll-free number is (800) 829-1040 or (800) 829-4059 (TDD) for the hearing impaired. Note, however, that at this time of year, you could be on hold for a while.

A better help option might be a call or visit to your local Taxpayer Assistance Center.

What to do with a wrong refund: If you discover that the IRS is correct and your refund is not what you expected, your initial reaction — OK, your second reaction after "Yeeeessss!" or "WTF" — is "What should I do?"

If the amount is less than you expected, it's usually OK to go ahead and cash the check or spend the direct deposit.

If you disagree with the IRS rationale for the reduction and can show that you deserved the larger expected amount, the agency will make up the difference. It will come in a separate refund, so you can spend or save the one you already have in hand.

However, if the IRS' math was right, then you've got all you're getting. It's up to you to tell the family that the planned vacation is on hold.

When a tax refund is larger than you expected — yes, it happens; that was the case in an unexpected $4,000+ refund the hubby and I got one filing season because of an error on my part — you might want to hold off spending the money until you get a satisfactory explanation.

That way if the IRS was too generous and you do happen to have to pay some or all of it back (like the IRS wants that Florida man to do), then you've got that cash in hand.

The IRS' has a special online page detailing the steps you must take to return an erroneous refund. It covers what to do if the wrong refund was directly deposited or snail mailed as a paper check and how to handle the situation when you've spent the wrong refund amount.

Whatever the reason, if the refund was wrong, take care of the matter as soon as possible, since you could, by law, end up owing interest on any mistaken tax payment overage you received.

You also might find these items of interest:

The many ways a refund can go astray

Reasons to file your taxes early or to wait a while to file

44% of Americans pay no income tax. Refunds remain focus for many of the rest

Advertisements // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

  from Tax News By Christopher https://www.dontmesswithtaxes.com/2019/02/what-to-do-if-your-tax-refund-is-wrong.html

[victoriazoey26]

Government Liability and Immunity in Utah

In its infancy, the United States had sovereign immunity for federal and state governments and their employees. It wasn’t until the mid-1900s that a trend developed that held the government accountable for any cases, including wrongful death or other legal actions.

Today the State Tort Claims Act provides a waiver of immunity with expectations that apply to certain claims against the government. This probably seems like a mouthful, but having the right lawyer on your side that knows government laws can help you with a case in Salt Lake City, Utah or elsewhere. Because I’m a West Jordan injury lawyer, I’ve seen all sorts of injuries and accidents and ones against the State of Utah can be difficult.

State Claims Act

This act limits immunity to the state, and sets up a procedure for claims against the state. The board or commission will determine whether the claims are valid, and may also limit damages for certain liability. At least 33 state acts — including Utah’s — limit the damages that are recovered from judgments against the state. This is why it’s important for residents of Salt Lake City to have a lawyer that knows what actions to pursue against the state. If you plan to pursue a claim against the state, there are certain facts and assertions that need to be sent in. The government then has 60 days to inform the claimant if the claim has been approved or denied.

If immunity is waived against the government, then the department or entity will be considered as if it were a private person. This would be the case if a wrongful death occurred on government property, but again this can be a tough call against the government. According to Utah Code Ann. 63-30d-301 (5)(a), “immunity is not waived if the injury resulted from an exercise of discretionary function.” This case would determine whether a lawyer could successfully sue the Salt Lake City or Utah government for negligent acts.

There are different parts of the government that function outside the Act, including 911 emergency medical services, government volunteers and hazardous materials. All of these could lead to a wrongful death case, in which you might require a wrongful death lawyer.

Make sure you hire a lawyer that knows the law well, and what they can do to help your case against government officials in Salt Lake City or elsewhere throughout the state of Utah.

PROPERLY PREPARING FOR NATIONAL BIKE MONTH

There are many great reasons to ride bikes. Bicycling saves money and helps preserve your health and the environment. If you are going to ride your bike to celebrate National Bike Month, make sure you and your children wear a helmet. Many people think helmets are just for children, but most cyclist casualties are adults (88 percent) as opposed to children (12 percent). In 2014, 21,827 cyclists were injured in reported accidents. This can often be grounds for an auto accident lawsuit. Consider speaking to a lawyer today if you are a victim.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, each year two percent of car accident crash deaths are cyclists. Driver/rider error is the most frequent reason for car accidents with cyclists involving 73% of cases. The most serious injuries are to the head and neck. Helmet use has been estimated to reduce the odds of head injury by 50 percent, and the odds of head, face, or neck injury by 33 percent.

Although the accident might not be your fault, getting hit by a car will always be worse for the cyclist than the vehicle. Just this last month, a cyclist was killed in a hit-and-run accident in West Valley City. This death could have been prevented if the driver would have been paying attention and seen the victim. There are some things that you can do to make your chances being seen and avoiding a car accident less likely. In the unlikely event that you are involved in an accident, make sure you see an attorney or a lawyer for help.

The first is to get a headlight. If you are going to ride at night, you drastically reduce your likelihood of being involved in an auto accident when you use a headlight.

The next step is to wave or make eye contact with the drivers. Being noticed is one of the best ways you can avoid an accident.

Finally, slow down. It may be inconvenient, but it is better than getting hit. Slowing your speed allows you to have more time to stop if the driver does not see you.

Enjoy the fresh air this May and join in the celebration of National Bike Month. Just remember to take precautions and if something happens to you, seek a lawyer that can fight to get you the care you need.

Free Initial Consultation with an accident and injury Lawyer

When you need legal help, call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite CWest Jordan, Utah 84088 United StatesTelephone: (801) 676-5506

Ascent Law LLC

4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

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Source: http://www.ascentlawfirm.com/government-liability-and-immunity-in-utah/

from Securities Lawyer In Utah https://securitieslawyerinutah.wordpress.com/2018/03/15/government-liability-and-immunity-in-utah/

[asafeatherwould]

Litigation Law Firms

In today’s litigious society, it is an almost certainty that everyone knows someone who has battled through some legal obstacle. We are a litigation law firm that helps people just like you recover from loss or exercise your rights under the law. Another almost certainty is that, with tens of thousands of civil lawsuits filed every day, chances are your turn is coming, if it hasn’t already happened.

Why is this so? Why has litigation increased so dramatically in just 50 years or so? Is it because Americans are injuring each other more than we did two generations ago? Hardly. The root problem, unfortunately for America, lies elsewhere.

A more likely scenario is that, as America grew rich beyond the wildest dreams of our Founding Fathers, the meritocracy that had been “The American Way” for more than 200 years gave way to something else.

It may be that life had become increasingly easy for most Americans. Even as early as 1960, President John Kennedy saw something corrosive happening to the character of America and Americans, when in his Presidential Inaugural Speech he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”

So affluent has America become that Americans have come to believe increasingly that every problem can be solved with money. Ignored is the real tragedy of modern America. As it has grown rich and richer, our country has become more and more removed from the ethos of personal responsibility and accountability that made America strong, powerful and respected. No longer self-reliant, Americans have begun seeing themselves as victims of every mishap and misfortune that comes their way. They have come to believe that they have the right to sue for every right they think they have. Forgotten or ignored is the fact that with every right – every freedom, if you will – comes a corresponding responsibility, and that the two are inseparable.

Americans have come to believe that nothing is their fault; that someone else is always to blame. They also have a growing sense of entitlement to compensation from anyone and everyone or any entity or entities that may have contributed in any way, direct or otherwise, to any injury, real or not, regardless of personal fault.

Seizing on society’s growing sense of victimization and entitlement, predator-attorneys helped convince much of the public that it has a “right” to sue neighbors, friends, even family members and employers, doctors, businesses and industries for whatever “wrongs” may occur.

Through advertising, media hype and the actions of lawyers and courts, much of society has been convinced that victimization and entitlement are normal, acceptable forms of behavior. Accordingly, we have been taught that harsh, aggressive, and vengeful pursuit of cash compensation for real or imagined “wrongs” is the new “American Way.” And it is as American as baseball and apple pie.

Trial Lawyers in Utah

Worse yet, when victimization is rewarded, it becomes legitimized and reinforced in ways that ultimately are destructive to the so-called “victims” and to society as a whole.

Fifty years ago, most of our parents or grandparents wouldn’t know how to find a lawyer let alone engage one. You just didn’t sue anyone. It wasn’t done. If you got injured, insurance would cover the claim or the offending party would pay the cost of the injury, if you were lucky. Everyone involved chalked up such experiences to the school of hard knocks and went on with their lives. We used to think, accidents happen! No one thought about punitive damages or compensation for trauma, mental anguish, or emotional distress. No one even knew what those terms meant. Not so today.

Confronted by the overwhelming litigation that surrounds us all and the disdain society feels toward lawyers, it is no wonder a poll by Harris Interactive concluded that 54% of those surveyed do not trust the legal system in America, while 83% believe the system makes it too easy to file frivolous lawsuits. In another Harris survey, only about 11% of the public said they had confidence in America’s law firms, which is only slightly higher than confidence the public has in the two lowest rated institutions surveyed – Wall Street and Congress. Even more revealing than the public’s negative attitude toward law firms is a Gallup poll that ranked lawyers next to last in honesty and ethics – just a hair above used car dealers. My, how far the mighty have fallen!

Despite these deep-felt negative apprehensions about the law and lawyers, an American Bar Association survey of its members incongruously indicates that 80% of the respondents think that, “In spite of its problems, the American justice system is still the best in the world.” Now that’s denial. “Of course, these poll results were reported by the news media, so they could be wrong,” says Dave Barry, the popular American satirist. “There might not actually have been any polls; it’s possible that some reporter just made the whole thing up. But I don’t think so.”

Despite such broad-based and growing public distrust of the civil justice system and disdain for lawyers, the public nonetheless appears undeterred in its headlong rush to get whatever it can from whomever it can.

Free Initial Consultation with a Litigation Lawyer

When you need a litigation law firm to help you with a lawsuit, call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite CWest Jordan, Utah 84088 United StatesTelephone: (801) 676-5506

Ascent Law LLC

4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

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Source: http://www.ascentlawfirm.com/litigation-law-firms/

[bestutahattorneys1]

Litigation Law Firms

In today’s litigious society, it is an almost certainty that everyone knows someone who has battled through some legal obstacle. We are a litigation law firm that helps people just like you recover from loss or exercise your rights under the law. Another almost certainty is that, with tens of thousands of civil lawsuits filed every day, chances are your turn is coming, if it hasn’t already happened.

Why is this so? Why has litigation increased so dramatically in just 50 years or so? Is it because Americans are injuring each other more than we did two generations ago? Hardly. The root problem, unfortunately for America, lies elsewhere.

A more likely scenario is that, as America grew rich beyond the wildest dreams of our Founding Fathers, the meritocracy that had been “The American Way” for more than 200 years gave way to something else.

It may be that life had become increasingly easy for most Americans. Even as early as 1960, President John Kennedy saw something corrosive happening to the character of America and Americans, when in his Presidential Inaugural Speech he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”

So affluent has America become that Americans have come to believe increasingly that every problem can be solved with money. Ignored is the real tragedy of modern America. As it has grown rich and richer, our country has become more and more removed from the ethos of personal responsibility and accountability that made America strong, powerful and respected. No longer self-reliant, Americans have begun seeing themselves as victims of every mishap and misfortune that comes their way. They have come to believe that they have the right to sue for every right they think they have. Forgotten or ignored is the fact that with every right – every freedom, if you will – comes a corresponding responsibility, and that the two are inseparable.

Americans have come to believe that nothing is their fault; that someone else is always to blame. They also have a growing sense of entitlement to compensation from anyone and everyone or any entity or entities that may have contributed in any way, direct or otherwise, to any injury, real or not, regardless of personal fault.

Seizing on society’s growing sense of victimization and entitlement, predator-attorneys helped convince much of the public that it has a “right” to sue neighbors, friends, even family members and employers, doctors, businesses and industries for whatever “wrongs” may occur.

Through advertising, media hype and the actions of lawyers and courts, much of society has been convinced that victimization and entitlement are normal, acceptable forms of behavior. Accordingly, we have been taught that harsh, aggressive, and vengeful pursuit of cash compensation for real or imagined “wrongs” is the new “American Way.” And it is as American as baseball and apple pie.

Trial Lawyers in Utah

Worse yet, when victimization is rewarded, it becomes legitimized and reinforced in ways that ultimately are destructive to the so-called “victims” and to society as a whole.

Fifty years ago, most of our parents or grandparents wouldn’t know how to find a lawyer let alone engage one. You just didn’t sue anyone. It wasn’t done. If you got injured, insurance would cover the claim or the offending party would pay the cost of the injury, if you were lucky. Everyone involved chalked up such experiences to the school of hard knocks and went on with their lives. We used to think, accidents happen! No one thought about punitive damages or compensation for trauma, mental anguish, or emotional distress. No one even knew what those terms meant. Not so today.

Confronted by the overwhelming litigation that surrounds us all and the disdain society feels toward lawyers, it is no wonder a poll by Harris Interactive concluded that 54% of those surveyed do not trust the legal system in America, while 83% believe the system makes it too easy to file frivolous lawsuits. In another Harris survey, only about 11% of the public said they had confidence in America’s law firms, which is only slightly higher than confidence the public has in the two lowest rated institutions surveyed – Wall Street and Congress. Even more revealing than the public’s negative attitude toward law firms is a Gallup poll that ranked lawyers next to last in honesty and ethics – just a hair above used car dealers. My, how far the mighty have fallen!

Despite these deep-felt negative apprehensions about the law and lawyers, an American Bar Association survey of its members incongruously indicates that 80% of the respondents think that, “In spite of its problems, the American justice system is still the best in the world.” Now that’s denial. “Of course, these poll results were reported by the news media, so they could be wrong,” says Dave Barry, the popular American satirist. “There might not actually have been any polls; it’s possible that some reporter just made the whole thing up. But I don’t think so.”

Despite such broad-based and growing public distrust of the civil justice system and disdain for lawyers, the public nonetheless appears undeterred in its headlong rush to get whatever it can from whomever it can.

Free Initial Consultation with a Litigation Lawyer

When you need a litigation law firm to help you with a lawsuit, call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite CWest Jordan, Utah 84088 United StatesTelephone: (801) 676-5506

Ascent Law LLC

4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

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from Michael Anderson http://www.ascentlawfirm.com/litigation-law-firms/

from Best Utah Attorneys https://bestutahattorneys.wordpress.com/2018/02/25/litigation-law-firms/

[michaeljames1221]

Litigation Law Firms

In today’s litigious society, it is an almost certainty that everyone knows someone who has battled through some legal obstacle. We are a litigation law firm that helps people just like you recover from loss or exercise your rights under the law. Another almost certainty is that, with tens of thousands of civil lawsuits filed every day, chances are your turn is coming, if it hasn’t already happened.

Why is this so? Why has litigation increased so dramatically in just 50 years or so? Is it because Americans are injuring each other more than we did two generations ago? Hardly. The root problem, unfortunately for America, lies elsewhere.

A more likely scenario is that, as America grew rich beyond the wildest dreams of our Founding Fathers, the meritocracy that had been “The American Way” for more than 200 years gave way to something else.

It may be that life had become increasingly easy for most Americans. Even as early as 1960, President John Kennedy saw something corrosive happening to the character of America and Americans, when in his Presidential Inaugural Speech he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”

So affluent has America become that Americans have come to believe increasingly that every problem can be solved with money. Ignored is the real tragedy of modern America. As it has grown rich and richer, our country has become more and more removed from the ethos of personal responsibility and accountability that made America strong, powerful and respected. No longer self-reliant, Americans have begun seeing themselves as victims of every mishap and misfortune that comes their way. They have come to believe that they have the right to sue for every right they think they have. Forgotten or ignored is the fact that with every right – every freedom, if you will – comes a corresponding responsibility, and that the two are inseparable.

Americans have come to believe that nothing is their fault; that someone else is always to blame. They also have a growing sense of entitlement to compensation from anyone and everyone or any entity or entities that may have contributed in any way, direct or otherwise, to any injury, real or not, regardless of personal fault.

Seizing on society’s growing sense of victimization and entitlement, predator-attorneys helped convince much of the public that it has a “right” to sue neighbors, friends, even family members and employers, doctors, businesses and industries for whatever “wrongs” may occur.

Through advertising, media hype and the actions of lawyers and courts, much of society has been convinced that victimization and entitlement are normal, acceptable forms of behavior. Accordingly, we have been taught that harsh, aggressive, and vengeful pursuit of cash compensation for real or imagined “wrongs” is the new “American Way.” And it is as American as baseball and apple pie.

Trial Lawyers in Utah

Worse yet, when victimization is rewarded, it becomes legitimized and reinforced in ways that ultimately are destructive to the so-called “victims” and to society as a whole.

Fifty years ago, most of our parents or grandparents wouldn’t know how to find a lawyer let alone engage one. You just didn’t sue anyone. It wasn’t done. If you got injured, insurance would cover the claim or the offending party would pay the cost of the injury, if you were lucky. Everyone involved chalked up such experiences to the school of hard knocks and went on with their lives. We used to think, accidents happen! No one thought about punitive damages or compensation for trauma, mental anguish, or emotional distress. No one even knew what those terms meant. Not so today.

Confronted by the overwhelming litigation that surrounds us all and the disdain society feels toward lawyers, it is no wonder a poll by Harris Interactive concluded that 54% of those surveyed do not trust the legal system in America, while 83% believe the system makes it too easy to file frivolous lawsuits. In another Harris survey, only about 11% of the public said they had confidence in America’s law firms, which is only slightly higher than confidence the public has in the two lowest rated institutions surveyed – Wall Street and Congress. Even more revealing than the public’s negative attitude toward law firms is a Gallup poll that ranked lawyers next to last in honesty and ethics – just a hair above used car dealers. My, how far the mighty have fallen!

Despite these deep-felt negative apprehensions about the law and lawyers, an American Bar Association survey of its members incongruously indicates that 80% of the respondents think that, “In spite of its problems, the American justice system is still the best in the world.” Now that’s denial. “Of course, these poll results were reported by the news media, so they could be wrong,” says Dave Barry, the popular American satirist. “There might not actually have been any polls; it’s possible that some reporter just made the whole thing up. But I don’t think so.”

Despite such broad-based and growing public distrust of the civil justice system and disdain for lawyers, the public nonetheless appears undeterred in its headlong rush to get whatever it can from whomever it can.

Free Initial Consultation with a Litigation Lawyer

When you need a litigation law firm to help you with a lawsuit, call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite CWest Jordan, Utah 84088 United StatesTelephone: (801) 676-5506

Ascent Law LLC

4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

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from Michael Anderson http://www.ascentlawfirm.com/litigation-law-firms/

from Criminal Defense Lawyer West Jordan Utah https://criminaldefenselawyerwestjordanutah.wordpress.com/2018/02/25/litigation-law-firms/

[educationrickshaw]

When I began writing this blog post, I planned to list examples of ways that we can get students explaining their thinking in the classroom, whether that is through writing, drawing or oral expression. I jotted down a few ideas I’ve used in my own class, and then decided to do a little research. I wanted to find what kinds of self-explanation activities promote deeper understandings and longer lasting remembering of the content.

However, as I began to read articles, I was struck by research that indicates that when students explain their thinking and they’re wrong, they can further deepen their own misunderstanding. Just as explaining correct thinking can deepen sound reasoning, explaining incorrect thinking will likely only deepen misconceptions.

Self-explanation of ones own ideas can be effective under some circumstances. However, self-explaining ones’ own ideas can focus learners’ attention on their preexisting idea; if those ideas are frequently incorrect, this can fail to improve learning or even reduce learning and transfer of new information. To optimize the effectiveness of self-explanation, we recommend explaining correct information rather than ones own, potentially incorrect, ideas (Loehr & Riddle-Johnson, 2017).

As teachers, we are constantly trying to get kids to explain their thinking, but it is often in our instincts to allow wrong answers to be gently passed over so as to avoid hurting that student’s feelings. If I’m reading the research right, this is not a good approach. It’s great to get kids explaining their reasoning, but it is also essential that we teachers are making sure that their explanations are correct, and that they are going back and correcting themselves if their logic is incorrect.

In this post, I thought I would go ahead and list a few strategies and tools that I use to prompt students to correct errors that they don’t catch. Many of these techniques have the built-in advantage of being useful for getting students to catch their own mistakes before I have a chance to. The important thing is that I do not stop short by merely collecting data on student misconceptions; I use this information to create opportunities for students to correct their mistakes before they become even more deeply ingrained in their learning.

1. Explain Incorrect Answers to Students

While it may feel cruel or detrimental to life-long learning to tell a student that their thinking is wrong, this type of corrective feedback is extremely productive to the learning process when done correctly (It’s Wrong Not to Tell Students When They’re Wrong – Ehrlich, Zoltek, 2006). Modeling correct thinking – without shaming – and then having students apply the newly acquired knowledge to novel situations is a key responsibility for teachers across disciplines. 

In addition to providing this kind of corrective feedback frequently, and in a timely manner, research shows that “explaining why incorrect information is incorrect can also improve learning” (Loehr & Riddle-Johnson, 2017). I like to do this by posting my incorrect work on my LMS and have my students record themselves explaining what I did wrong and then doing it correctly themselves.

2. Have Students Catch Their Own Mistakes Through Comparison of Strategies

It’s important in math to teach students multiple strategies so that they can make the comparison about how and why the math works. Teaching multiple strategies is also great to use as a way for students to catch their own mistakes. If they solve the same problem in two different ways and come up with the same answer, chances are their thinking is right. If the answers are different, they can go back and see where the error was made. It can be really difficult to instill the will in many kids to do this independently when they want to finish problems as quickly as possible and move on, but I have found that my growth mindset lessons have really helped to motivate.

Having students show multiple strategies for one problem is as easy as dividing a piece of paper into four and having students show their working out in four different ways. In this example for multiplication the student shows repeated addition, array, count-by, and drawing for 5 x 9.

3. Conference-away Incorrect Thinking Caught in Journals

Journaling is a great way for students to reflect on their ideas. It’s also a place where  pre-existing misconceptions can come out. What I do is have students go back and reread their journals as a unit progresses. They then actively look for how their ideas have expanded or changed. This can be done with paper or online journals. It is important that I check the journals from frequently. If I see a misconception, I can then point it out to the individual student during an immediate 1-on-1 conference, or, if multiple students share the same pre-existing ideas, I can use it as a learning opportunity to explain correct thinking to the whole group.

Even something as personal as journaling requires intervention when there are indications of incorrect thinking.

4. Record and Edit Mistakes Away in an Explain App

There are many apps where kids can draw and record their voices at the same time. Examples I have used include Explain Everything, ScreenChomp, and Seesaw. This is great for classrooms, because everyone can have the opportunity to be the “teacher” at the same time. Once again, maybe the most important part of this activity is that the teacher is watching the resulting videos and using them to provide feedback. When students solve a problem/explain a concept incorrectly, I have them look for their mistake and redo the video. If they solve the problem correctly, but their logic is off, I show them correct thinking, and then ask them to re-explain their thinking.

The point is, using “explain apps” simply as a repository for pre-existing student ideas and misconceptions may do more harm than good. We teachers have to maximize these learning opportunities by intervening and reteaching when answers and thinking are wrong, and providing additional opportunities for students to explain things the correct way.

5. Make Thinking Visible, Shared, and Celebrated… And Then Give Corrective Feedback. 

Many teachers are inspired by the website and class project, MathTrain.tv, which has Mr. Marcos’s students creating math tutorials for other students to use to learn math. Similar to Khan Academy, these students and their videos have become enormously popular and successful.

A YouTube channel is a great place to display student thinking. But what do you do when a student has submitted a video that explains the math incorrectly?

Zach’s class has a YouTube channel that aims to do the same thing. Students create videos that are safely shared with the public (See: How Can 13+ Social Media be Leveraged for Elementary Students?), and they have built up a small library so far. The trouble is, what do you do when a student has submitted a video that explains the math incorrectly? At this point in the post, I might be sounding like a broken record, but the answer is that you intervene by correcting the student. Build a culture in your class that values confidence, risk-taking and a growth mindset. Reteach this student the right way or ways to do the math. Model several problems and guide the student towards mastery of the problem-type. Celebrate with the student as their persistence leads to the action of deleting the original video and posting a new one with the correct answer and thinking.

What do you think? How do you get your students to rethink their thinking? Please comment below, and come join our Facebook group, Over-posting Educators!

By @SGroshell

    References

Rittle-Johnson, B. & Loehr, A.M. Psychon Bull Rev (2017) 24: 1501. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-016-1079-5

Ehrlich, Robert, Zoltek, Stanley, Journal of College Science Teaching; Jan/Feb 2006; 35, 4; ProQuest Central. It’s Wrong Not to Tell Students When They’re Wrong pg. 8

  Stop Letting Students Think They’re Right When They’re Wrong! When I began writing this blog post, I planned to list examples of ways that we can get students explaining their thinking in the classroom, whether that is through writing, drawing or oral expression.

[christophergill8]

Feeling the tax filing crunch? Get an extension

The time left until Tax Day is tick, tick, ticking away.

If you're feeling like silent movie legend Harold Lloyd (pictured above), hanging on by your fingernails as you try to get your tax filing act together, I have some good news and some bad news.

The bad news is that there's no way to stop the tax deadline clock.

The good news is you can get an extension to file your 1040.

By filing for an extension, the Internal Revenue Service will give you six more months, up to Oct. 15, to submit your return.

You still have to pay: It's not hard to get the added time. In fact, it's much easier to file for an extension than it is to fill out the new Form 1040 and any (or all) of its six related schedules.

But note that an extension to file is precisely what its name says. It's an extension to file a tax return.

It is not an extension to pay what you owe.

You still must pay any tax due you owe by April 15 (or April 17 if you live in Maine or Massachusetts) when you make your extension request. If you don't, the IRS' penalty and interest calculator will start running on the unpaid amount.

OK. Got it. Gotta pay, but do get more time to fill out the forms. That's at least something.

So how do you ask for an extension? There are three ways to do so.

1. File Form 4868 electronically. Form 4868 is the official document that will get you the automatic filing extension. You can file it electronically, which is great since most of us now use tax software programs to fill out and e-file our returns.

Just check out your chosen tax software's options to e-file for an extension. It also will give you ways to e-pay, as noted above, any tax you think you'll owe when you do finish up your 1040.

Be sure to have a copy of your 2017 tax return handy. You'll be asked to provide information from that return for taxpayer verification.

If you are so far behind in filing that you've yet to get any tax software, don't despair. You can use Free File, the IRS-tax software companies' online tax filing option, to electronically get the extra filing time even if you don't qualify to use the free service because you made too much money.

Nine companies offer free electronic extension and payment.  

And if you use a tax preparer, simply give him or her a call and have your extension request and payment sent electronically by that office. This is one call they'll be happy to get.

2. E-pay your guesstimated tax due. Sticking with computer payments, you can get your six-month form filing reprieve by simply paying what you expect you'll ultimately owe Uncle Sam.

Just go directly to one of the IRS-approved e-pay options. They are:

Direct Pay, which as the name says, directly transfers the amount from your bank account;

Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, or EFTPS, which is what I used earlier this week to get our extension; or

Credit or debit card.

More on each of these e-pay options can be found in my ways to pay taxes post and at IRS.gov's Paying Your Taxes page.

You'll receive a confirmation number when you pay online or, if you prefer, by phone. Note that number and keep it for your records.

If you're like me and like paper verification to back up your digital transactions, print out Form 4868 and enter your extension payment confirmation number on page 3 of that form.

The neat thing about this e-pay extension option, if you can call paying the IRS neat, is that you don't have to send in a 4868 form. Your extension will be automatically processed when you pay part or all of your estimated income tax electronically.

3. File a paper Form 4868. Finally, if you're part of the dwindling group that still snail mails paper tax returns in April, you need to fill out Form 4868 and mail it to the IRS.

Click image for full IRS Form 4868

As the form above shows, you'll have to enter:

Your name (and spouse's name if filing jointly) and address,

Your Social Security number (and spouse's nine ID digits if filing jointly),

An estimate of your total tax liability for 2018,

Total of what you have already paid for the 2018 tax year (including withholding and estimated payments), and the biggie

How much you're paying with your extension (if any).

Once that's filled out, send it via the United States Postal Service to the appropriate IRS processing center shown in the table below.

Click for a larger image

Make sure you get to your local post office on time. Your envelope must be postmarked April 15 or the IRS will consider you a late filer and start the interest and penalty clock ticking. Sending it

If you feel more comfortable sending your tax material via a private delivery service (PDS), the IRS accepts returns from these carriers, too. The approved PDS companies are:

Federal Express (FedEx): FedEx First Overnight, FedEx Priority Overnight, FedEx Standard Overnight, FedEx 2 Day, FedEx International Next Flight Out, FedEx International Priority, FedEx International First and FedEx International Economy;

DHL Express: DHL Express 9:00, DHL Express 10:30, DHL Express 12:00, DHL Express Worldwide, DHL Express Envelope, DHL Import Express 10:30, DHL Import Express 12:00 and DHL Import Express Worldwide; and

United Parcel Service (UPS): UPS Next Day Air Early AM, UPS Next Day Air, UPS Next Day Air Saver, UPS 2nd Day Air, UPS 2nd Day Air A.M., UPS Worldwide Express Plus and UPS Worldwide Express.

If you do use a PDS, note that they can't deliver items to P.O. boxes, as shown in the USPS address table above. You must use the actual street address of the IRS campus to which your return should be sent.

Those addresses for PDS delivery are:

Austin Internal Revenue Submission Processing Center 3651 S IH35, Austin TX 78741

Cincinnati Internal Revenue Submission Processing Center  201 West Rivercenter Blvd., Covington, KY 41011

Fresno Internal Revenue Submission Processing Center 5045 East Butler Avenue, Fresno, CA 93727

Kansas City Internal Revenue Submission Processing Center 333 W. Pershing, Kansas City, MO 64108

Ogden Internal Revenue Submission Processing Center 1973 Rulon White Blvd. Ogden, UT 84201

Also, be sure to get written proof from the PDS of the mailing date for your records.

Better correct later than wrong in April: There you go. Those are your extension options. Take advantage of the extra time if you need it.

Even the IRS says so, noting that tax haste can make tax waste when filers in a rush to meet the April deadline make costly mistakes (like these 10 common filing errors) on their returns.

It's always better, for both you and the IRS, when you get an extension and then later file a correct, complete tax return instead of a faulty form just to meet the April deadline.

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from Tax News By Christopher https://www.dontmesswithtaxes.com/2019/04/how-to-get-an-extension-to-file-your-tax-return.html

[elizabethcariasa]

What to do if your tax refund is wrong

Tax law change confusion and paycheck withholding miscalculations have led to a lot of grumbling by many filers about the size of their tax refund checks. But there are other reasons why refunds sometimes are not what filers expect. Here's what to do if you think your tax refund is wrong.

The many changes of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) have thrown a wrench into the 2019 tax filing season. Many folks who were expecting refunds are finding they are smaller than they anticipated or nonexistent.

In a lot of cases, that's because of changes in withholding by employers, based on Internal Revenue Service revisions, as well as miscalculations by workers as to how much in taxes should be taken out of their paychecks.

Sometimes, though, even when you've carefully calibrated your withholding, your eventual refund arrives with what you believe is a wrong amount.

It happens. It's happened to me.

If it happens to you, here are some steps you should take.

Question all unusual refund amounts: It's human nature to react when we thing we've been wronged. That's certainly the correct reaction if you believe the Internal Revenue Service has shorted you of some refund money.

But you also should look a gift horse in the mouth and follow up with Uncle Sam if he sands you a refund that's much larger than what you entered on your tax return.

Ramon Christopher Blanchett of Tampa, Florida, encountered that seemingly good result. He got a $980,000 refund in connection with his 2017 tax filing. Just one problem. Blanchett's income that year was only $18,497.

Eventually, as you've already surmised, the IRS caught up with Blanchett and is in the process of trying to recover what it says was an erroneous refund.

Why refunds are wrong: In the Tampa almost-million-dollar refund case, the problem reportedly was with a wrong W-2.

That's why it's critical to double check your annual tax earnings statement as well as all other tax-related documents as soon as you receive them. If you something seems out of whack, you can contact the sender and get things cleared up in plenty of time to file your return by the April deadline.

Other common reasons why your refund amount might be different than what you expected include:

Math errors were made in computing your tax bill.

Incorrect credit or deductions were claimed.

Estimated tax payments were not credited properly.

Other federal debts, such as a student loan, were collected.

Math and other numerical mistakes: Math errors are the most common mistakes folks make on their returns every single tax season.

Even if you use tax software, the old adage garbage in, garbage out applies. And when it comes to taxes, numerical errors often are compounded as wrong amounts are transferred from one form to another.

So if your refund amount is not what you expected, pull out your copy of your return and double check your entries and math. Better yet, double check the entries on your 1040 before you drop it in the snail mail box or hit send if you e-file.

Other numbers that can cause refund problems are those nine Social Security digits. When any of those are wrong (such as transposed numbers, or they don't match other records, perhaps involving name changes after marriage or adoption), problems with your tax return — and refund — appear.

Refund issues also crop up when names of dependents don't match Social Security numbers. Husbands and wives have different names, as do their children.

Estimated tax payments also are a common culprit in divergent refund amounts. The amount of tax on the return is calculated correctly, but the filer and IRS come up with a difference on the amount of tax paid.

Other debts collected from refunds: Your tax refund also might be a direct path to other money you owe.

Government agencies, at both federal and state levels, can use offsets to get money they say you owe from your federal tax refund.

The most common cases involve court-ordered financial payments associated with a former marriage (e.g., delinquent child or spousal support payments) or unpaid student loans.

And, of course, the IRS will even make sure it gets prior federal tax debts that you didn't clear.

Even taxpayers who have a payment arrangement in place with the IRS could encounter refund issues. The installment agreement with the IRS says it can apply any refund you have against what you owe.

Explanation forthcoming: Whatever the reason your refund is different from what you entered on your tax return, the IRS should let you know.

Be on the lookout for an explanation via U.S. Postal Service mailed notice from the IRS as to why there's a difference in your calculated refund amount.

The big problem here is that the notice typically comes separately from the check or direct deposit amount, so you have to wait.

If you don't want to wait for the written explanation, you can always call the IRS with questions about your refund amount. The main IRS toll-free number is (800) 829-1040 or (800) 829-4059 (TDD) for the hearing impaired. Note, however, that at this time of year, you could be on hold for a while.

A better help option might be a call or visit to your local Taxpayer Assistance Center.

What to do with a wrong refund: If you discover that the IRS is correct and your refund is not what you expected, your initial reaction — OK, your second reaction after "Yeeeessss!" or "WTF" — is "What should I do?"

If the amount is less than you expected, it's usually OK to go ahead and cash the check or spend the direct deposit.

If you disagree with the IRS rationale for the reduction and can show that you deserved the larger expected amount, the agency will make up the difference. It will come in a separate refund, so you can spend or save the one you already have in hand.

However, if the IRS' math was right, then you've got all you're getting. It's up to you to tell the family that the planned vacation is on hold.

When a tax refund is larger than you expected — yes, it happens; that was the case in an unexpected $4,000+ refund the hubby and I got one filing season because of an error on my part — you might want to hold off spending the money until you get a satisfactory explanation.

That way if the IRS was too generous and you do happen to have to pay some or all of it back (like the IRS wants that Florida man to do), then you've got that cash in hand.

The IRS' has a special online page detailing the steps you must take to return an erroneous refund. It covers what to do if the wrong refund was directly deposited or snail mailed as a paper check and how to handle the situation when you've spent the wrong refund amount.

Whatever the reason, if the refund was wrong, take care of the matter as soon as possible, since you could, by law, end up owing interest on any mistaken tax payment overage you received.

You also might find these items of interest:

The many ways a refund can go astray

Reasons to file your taxes early or to wait a while to file

44% of Americans pay no income tax. Refunds remain focus for many of the rest

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