I Won't Let You Wilt

There has to be anger for there to be happiness

Maybe she's finally decided to reply.

Sunny alt-tabbed over to his inbox and held his breath, his heart rate rising. But to his disappointment, the email he'd received was yet another rejection letter from an employer he had just applied to.

He'd been mass sending applications to retail companies in the area in the hopes of landing a job. Over the past month he had gotten a few interviews, but unfortunately no offers. His latest rejection came from Othermart, and like all rejection emails, it informed him that he lacked the qualities of a successful applicant and wished him luck on his job search.

Just what am I missing?

They probably want someone with a high school degree...

This troubling email added to Sunny's increasing desperation to land a job. He was already spending hours each day applying to jobs and having to take high school courses didn't help. Trying to write his novel on top of all that filled his daily life with stress.

Realizing how behind he was on everything, he resolved to quit all distractions.

No more cat videos.

No more flash games, unless Basil wants to play with me.

No forum browsing. Erhh...make that minimal forum browsing.

With those distractions out of his mind, Sunny felt a surge of renewed confidence pushing him to read that book and write his essay. Just like Mari once said, he could do anything as long as he set his mind to it.

I will finish this essay, ace all my courses, and find a job!

Minutes later the sound of familiar footsteps arriving at his apartment door managed to snap Sunny out of the trance of watching a cat loafing on a store shelf among her wheat-filled brethren—a perfect disguise.

Basil collapsed through the front door, his face the epitome of math-induced suffering and defeat.

"How was the calculus quiz?" Sunny asked.

"Awful," Basil replied. "My head's still swimming in all those chain rules..."

"I'm sure you passed."

"I'm not. The quiz was so much harder than I thought it would be!"

Sunny knew Basil was dead tired from studying last night and probably needed some food and rest right now.

"I made some soup," Sunny said, gesturing at the kitchen counter.

"Thanks, Sunny."

When Basil took a sip of Sunny's beef carrot soup, the widening terror in his eyes spoke clearly of Sunny's cooking skills. It could not be more obvious that he would rather spit the soup back out.

"Umm...Sunny...this soup tastes raw."

Sunny raised his right eye. "I'm sure I boiled it long enough."

"It's definitely raw. I don't think it's healthy to eat this..."

"My bad, sorry."

Basil glanced at the cat video playing on Sunny's screen. "I thought you had an essay to do?"

"Well, I got started on it..."

"Can I take a look? You promised you'd let me see it yesterday..."

Sunny almost tried to cover the laptop screen with his body but that would simply be an admission of guilt. With a sigh of resignation, he alt-tabbed over to his essay.