Double Take (Seolbo)

Of Countless Stares

July, 2020

Jiyeon ducked in both shame and shock. She knows that their manager never really interacted with her in the past, that’s why it shocked her that she was staring at her so intensely, and it did not help that Kim Hyunjung was so darn pretty that even her straight ass would start panicking. 

That’s just Kim Hyunjung’s effect, not just to her, but maybe to anybody else at work, it was pretty apparent, since she knew that everybody avoided Kim Hyunjung like plague (mostly due to her intimidating gait, but also with how you'd feel inferior if you ever talked to the embodiment of perfection herself).

After calming herself down, Jiyeon finally took notice of her surroundings. She was in the same cubicle in Stellar, her previous company that she left three years before going back in time. The atmosphere in this company is far from lax, but at some point of her life, it felt like home, because this was the place that accepted the fresh graduate her, who knew nothing of the world, the place that treated her warmly. She could say that she missed this place, even though she was never close with anyone here (that's due to her rather introverted personality and because she was always stuck like glue with Yongmin and Yeeun - people who were always in charge of the talking).

She glanced at her computer to check the date, it was the July of 2020.

“So, 6 years” she whispered to herself, scared that someone may hear her. “To think that I went back to the year that bastard proposed.” Jiyeon took the calendar by her desk and opened it to September, encircling a day in bright red ink. “I have two months to break it off with him” she reminded herself. "Two months, I'll make it count"

Jiyeon had a lot to think of, but surely she could not do that right now when she’s at work, or else her boss would have her neck. She knows that Hyunjung has quite a bit of a temper, and that she wants people to work flawlessly without any distractions. The good thing was that Jiyeon was familiar with the work she was currently doing as she was praised for it even in her past timeline, so she could relax a little, unlike the nervous Jiyeon from before she regressed, always prone to mistakes.

Due to her focusing, she did not realize that someone had passed by and left something at her table. She jumped a bit when she felt a cold liquid by her elbows and glanced at what it was. 

An iced Americano was placed by her desk and the cold sensation from before was due to the moisture from its coldness (the ice melted due to it already being there for around five minutes).

Jiyeon looked around to see who left the drink, but no one seemed suspicious, and all the looking around brought her to was the stare of Kim Hyunjung, so she evaded her gaze, again.

“Why do I always meet her eyes?!” Jiyeon scolded herself and adjusted her glasses. “Oh, right, I wear glasses” she has somehow forgotten about them because when she became a wandering soul, she did not need one. “Maybe this is the reason why I look so plain” she took them off and examined its black frame. “I think it’s time to change” she mumbled to herself. “Right. I need to change” she reminded herself and took a post-it note to write down her thoughts. “Change for the better, change for yourself” she smiled in satisfaction and pasted it on her desk, as if to always remind herself of her newfound resolve.

_____

“Jiyeon, let’s have lunch!” Jiyeon crumpled the papers in her hand when she heard that voice. She looked up to see Yongmin smiling at him, looking so carefree in life, and Jiyeon took everything in her to not scoff and punch his face. She was amazed at how she could manage her temper that well, when the image of Yongmin and Yeeun was still fresh in her mind, playing over and over again, as if mocking her.