Smart Heart

Chapter 1

The day started off like any other. She was busy working on trial lesson plans for the oncoming ESL trainees. All of the lesson plans had been tried out before, Lizzy had used them before when she was an ESL teacher in Korea. It was part of the reason the agency had offered her a permanent position in the county, helping out new recruits among other office things. She liked the warm office, Lizzy hated the cold outside air. I made her miss the east coast too much.

"Lizzy! I need you to bring me the folder of all the people we're interviewing next week," said Nari, one of the higher ups in the recruiting department. Lizzy nodded before grabbing the folder off the desk in the farthest corner of the building and dropping it off with Nari. "Thank you. Is there anything else you need to run by me?"

"No. I've got all the lesson plans done. I just need a few of the other things to put the demonstration up. That's all at home with my notecards. I took them with me after the last seminar."

"All right, bring them with you tomorrow."

"Gotcha," Lizzy said, looking through her lesson plans once more. She wanted to make sure that they were picture perfect. They were going to be demonstration pieces for a yet another future seminar that the department was holding. "Anything else?"

"No, you can go home for now," Nari said. Lizzy grinned before grabbing her stuff and bundling up, bracing herself for the cold. She was a hot blooded east coast native. It didn't matter how long she'd been living in Korea, it was still hard for her to live with the cold that hurt her. Her hands, regardless of being inside warm, wooly gloves, her fingers would still curl trying to keep warm. She decided to stop by the coffee shop on her way home, grab a hot chocolate. Lizzy had never developed a coffee habit, perhaps due to all the sugar she would intake in her downtime. Once in the shop, the gloves came off for a moment as she placed her order, eager to hold the hot cup in her hands to warm up a little.

While she waited for her drink, Lizzy pulled out her phone from the bag she was carrying, checking up on her family through instant messaging apps. The last thing she'd heard from her baby sister was that she was planning on adopting a dog to help her cope with being away from home. Lizzy had thought about the exact same thing, take a dog from a local shelter to have something to come home to aside from her gaming console. She tucked the device in her back pocket as soon as she heard her name, grabbing her drink and relishing the warmth. Piping hot drink in her hands, she could almost feel the burn making it onto the skin. The drink was placed aside after for a brief moment so she could slip on her gloves again. Lizzy started out of the coffee shop, bumping into someone well on their way in, distracted with their own device. His phone fell out of his hands, much like hers fell out of her pocket.

"I'm sorry," she said in her best Korean, reaching down and grabbing what she was sure was her device. Without even looking at it, she just stuffed in her bag. She just wanted to get home. This cold was making her lips dry out.

"It's all right, I should've paid more attention too," the male said, following suit and putting his device away. "I'm sorry..." he said. He just wanted his drink. The day had gone on for far too long and he still had meetings to go to. 

"Forgiven, bye," Lizzy said, leaving the shop and starting home with that hot chocolate. It was still too hot for her to drink regardless of the crisp air but the warmth was nice. The female finally arrived at her apartment building, checking her mailbox before reaching the elevator. Lizzy hummed a little song to herself as she finally arrived at her floor, walking for her door while fumbling with her right hand to find her keys. Once the apartment's lock clicked open, Lizzy stepped in, taking off her shoes right at the entrance. "Xbox on," she said aloud as her gaming console powered up. The hot chocolate cup was set to rest on the coffee table as the purse rested on the counter.

Her apartment was cozy, albeit a bit empty. She didn't want to turn the heater on yet but it felt extremely tempting since the cold was deep. Lizzy finally removed her heavy coat and hung it up, gloves being tucked away into its pockets. She took a deep breath and kept her socks on, though she preferred being barefoot. That came with being from the east coast. Pools and beaches were some of her most frequent stops back in the day. That's why when Caribbean Bay would open in the summer she would make sure to make at least two stops.

Lizzy settled onto her couch and pulled a blanket over herself, reaching behind her to grab the controller from the last place she'd left it. It was time to unwind and play some games, it'd been a long while before her last gaming binge. With all the work that had been piled up for the past few weeks, gaming had taken most of a backseat. Not tonight though, nothing was going to stop her from shooting a couple of heads off in game.