The next day, I woke up to the sound of my mom screaming on my ears, reminding how much a failure am I if I keep living my life how I wanted it to be. It has become my personalized alarm ever since I got into the university and kept on having bad grades. For my mom, B+ is an instant call for constant disciplining. Of course, I was the only one who went through it. My brothers never have grades below A, once Chin-Hwa got an A- and he cried for days. Just imagine that.
"YA EUN AE! wake up or you'll be late for your part-time job!" My mom shouted. I buried my head with my pillow to muffled her voice. I hate it that my mom couldn't accept the fact that being a journalist is my full-time job. There wasn't much of a difference between being a journalist and an electrical engineer in some company. I still got the money that I needed in order to live.
"Eomma, stop screaming, you're in my room already." I protested as I get up from my bed.
"And you're in my house, so you better obey the rules." She sassed back. "You should be grateful that I let you get that job when you could do a lot better than that."
I rolled my eyes when she walked out of my room. I remembered back in Australia, I had a friend come over to play and she had to hear the quarrel between me and mom. She thought my mom was actually this mean stepmom people read in Cinderella's story. Well, I told her that's just my mom being a normal mom. A few days after that, I got called by the guidance counselor and the woman told me that one of my friends reported about my situation in my house. I just laughed at her and told her the truth. Then I told Felix about it and it became our inside joke.
I took my towel and went straight to the bathroom. Ever since my brothers moved out of my parents' house, the second-floor bathroom became my second bedroom. Other than taking showers and do whatever other people do in a bathroom, I could spend almost two hours a day inside my bathroom just to find some inspirations. But when the whole family gathered up in this house, I couldn't even spend thirty minutes to take a shower.
After I took a brisk shower, I went back into my room to change my clothes. The thing I like the most about working as a journalist in a magazine company was the attire flexibility. I don't have to wear skirts and shirts every day. Today I picked to wear a pair of blue mom jeans with a white shirt that got the Kia Tigers logo on it. I took an old Adidas jacket that my dad gave me, in case it will be cold in the office. That jacket was black which was my favorite color and it was so comfortable.
I took my tablet with me instead of my laptop since it will be much lighter and it fitted for my sling bag. I packed my notebook and a few pens too. I snatched my phone from the bedside table and went downstairs.
I opened the fridge and took a bottle of yogurt. "Eomma! I'll be going now." I shouted to the air. She was probably outside watering the plants.
I walked towards the wooden shoe rack and took my white sneakers out. I slipped in it before I made my way out of the house. I could see my mom talking to the neighbor as she watered the plants. I tried to make no sound so she won't stop me and force me to eat breakfast first.
After a few minutes of walking, I reached the nearest subway station. I waited for the train for my usual route to the office. Even though I had my driver's license already, I still preferred on taking public transportation. Another reason was my parents won't buy me a car, they wanted me to save up and buy it myself.
I arrived at the office ten minutes earlier than I supposed to. It made me more relaxed knowing that I don't have to run for the morning meeting. Every two days in a week every division has to do morning meetings to talk about the tasks we'll be working on or an evaluation meeting. Today happened to be the evaluation meeting for my division. I know for sure my manager or the head division will evaluate me to death because of my report from the Olympic.
"Everybody gathered up!" I heard Mr. Jeong said to the individual sports division. "Today, we're going to evaluate our works throughout this week."
"First of all, I would like to congratulate those who had been reporting the Olympic events to us. You guys made such a great report and it increased the subscription number." The sound of the whole team clapping filled up the room.
Then the evaluation began. Everyone got evaluated one by one and most of them got great feedbacks from Mr. Jeong. I was confused when he dismissed the meeting without evaluating me.
"Ms. Park, follow me." Mr. Jeong said as we exited the glassed meeting room.
I followed him and earned some curious stares from my colleagues. Soon we approached the elevator. That's when I knew something even worse will happen. Mr. Jeong will be taking me up to Ms. Nam's office. I started to feel more anxious each second passed. I felt my hands produce sweats more than usual.
The elevator door opened as we reached the 11th floor. I could see the black wooden door of Ms. Nam's office right from I stood in the elevator. I felt like a student ushered by her teacher towards the principal room because she made a scene in the class.
Mr. Jeong talked to Ms. Nam's assistant before she took the two of us to Ms. Nam's office. "Come on in, come on in."
"Ms. Park, the youngest journalist of Infield to ever report the Olympic, and I must admit your report was outstanding. Wouldn't it be nice if such a skill used to report something that the public long to know." Ms. Nam said as she signed some papers on her desk. "I'll give you a week to interview him. If you can't do it, I'll be handing it to the senior journalist in your division, Mr. Jeong."
"Who will it be, Ms. Nam?" Mr. Jeong asked.
"Hand it to Ms. Ryu." Ms. Nam said. My jaw dropped as the word left her mouth. What did I expect? Of course, she will choose Ms. Ryu.
Ms. Ryu has always been known as someone who gets what she wants. She will use everything that she got to be on top of the competition although there wasn't really a competition. When she heard about Ms. Nam's decision to sent me to Paris, she was fuming. She tried to talk to Ms. Nam and Mr. Jeong how unsuitable am I to be sent there because of my lack of experience. But they didn't listen to Ms. Ryu.
I thought it will be a sudden roast show inside Ms. Nam's office, turns out she just gave me a warning and she even complimented me on my last report. After she dismissed us, Mr. Jeong and I walked back to our desks.
The time passed as fast as cheetah ran for its prey. The whole day I tried to make the questions for the interview. Then at lunch, I met up with Chris because the Korean drama he starred at was shooting in the same building as Infield Magazine office. It was a brief lunch, we didn't talk much since he had to go back for the shoot and I had to go back doing my work.
I was about to finish my work when I felt vibration on the desk. It came from my phone. I took a glance at the notification.
Hwang Hyunjin: Should we meet at the mall?
I didn't reply to the text right away and wrapped up my work for today first instead. Then I said goodbye to my colleagues and finally text him back. I told him to meet me at COEX Mall. It was closer to the office. Hopefully, no one will see me walking with him. It almost felt like we had a secret relationship that we don't want people to know when we were just acquaintances. Was it count as acquaintances when the other person doesn't know your name? I guess the best term was still strangers.
I took a walk there since it wasn't that far. I put my mask on and a pair of sunglasses before I go. After a ten minutes walk, I finally reach the front lobby of the mall. I looked around for any sign of him but there wasn't anyone that looked like him. I probably looked like a lost puppy here. I tried to call him and after three rings he finally picked up.
"Hey, where are you?" I asked him.
"I'm at the lobby, what about you?" He asked back. I looked around for someone who's on their phone but it seemed everyone was on their phone. Ugh, digital era.
"I'm here too. What are you wearing?" I asked as if I was looking for some clues to solve a puzzle.
"I'm wearing a white Nike sweatshirt, black jeans, and a white cap."
I can't seem to spot him anywhere and my eyes were everywhere making it hard for me to focus on what's coming in front of me. And just like that, I crashed into someone.
"Gosh, I'm sorry." It was an all too familiar voice speaking out the same phrase. I looked up and saw the person's face. Even though he got a mask on and a cap on, I somehow could figure out it was him through his eyes."Wow, second time crashing into you, is this some kind of drama?" I said as a chuckle escaped from his mouth.
"I don't know, maybe." He said playfully. "How did you know it was me? I thought people will hardly recognize me with these disguises."
"I just knew," I said simply, trying to hide the fact that I knew it by looking at his eyes and hear his voice. I could feel my cheeks getting hotter. Was I blushing? What the hell is going on with me?
"It's weird that we've been contacting each other but I still don't know your name." He said as we walked side by side to the phone store.
"Well, my name is Park Eun Ae." I glanced at him.
"You got a nice name." He looked at me. He took a deep sigh before he said "It's weird that you remind me of someone." He mumbled as he looked up at the ceiling.
We arrived at the store, he talked up to the employee there about the cracked screen of my phone. I looked around the store, and something caught my eyes. It was the newest product of this popular phone brand, a buttonless smartphone. The volume button and the power button were part of the LCD. It looked simple but luxurious. If I want to save up to buy my own car, I can't splurge my money for this.
"It looked suitable for you." I heard Hyunjin's voice from behind me, making me jumped a little. I put down the phone back to the display table.
"So what happened to my phone?" I asked him, trying to change the subject.
"The LCD needs to be fixed, it will take about two weeks? I forgot. And I already paid for it so, don't worry about it." He said as he scratched the back of his neck. Ugh, my plan was ruined. I was going to sneak and pay for it myself. I don't like it when I owe something to someone else, especially someone I just met.
"How should I pay you back? It must be expensive." I asked him, feeling a sudden wave of guilt.
"You don't have to, it was my fault, anyway." He refused politely. "Do you want to go somewhere? Or are you going straight home?"
"I don't know, I don't have any plan for tonight," I told him.
"Great then." He chimed. Then he offered his hand and said, "C'mon I want to show you something."
I hesitated. My eyes averted from his palm to his eyes. This felt weird to me honestly, I've never gone somewhere with someone I just knew, just the two of us. I was afraid something bad will happen if I do that. And usually the person gave off such a strange vibe that made it harder for me to trust them.
But he seemed different. I felt warm just being around him for the past minutes. I admitted that I still have doubts. Should I accept it? What could possibly happen if I agree to go with him?
Remember, if you can't make the interview, you'll probably lose your job. Just imagine what your parents will do if that happen. The nagging voice in my head spoke up.
I slowly put my hands in my jeans pocket and said, "Let's go." He was taken aback and for a few seconds keep glancing at his extended arm and back to me before he shrugged it off and lead the way to wherever he was planning to go.
I just hope it won't be somewhere strange.
*******
let me know what you guys thin about this chapter on the comment section and dont forget to vote! Stay safe and stay healthy yall! x