Soft music plays in the background mixing with the humdrum of regular office chatter. The studio-turned-office is awash with natural light from the huge industrial windows which lined one side.

 

Their CEO liked the working environment like that - open, relaxed, light and airy.

 

Rosie sets her Cintiq pen down on the desk, beside the tablet she was just drawing on. She stretches her arms up over her head and wags her hand around then rotates the joint at the wrist. Then she bends down and crosses her arms over her desk as a pillow and lays her head down. She expels a sigh, heavy with exhaustion.

 

She hasn't been drawing for long that day, but she already feels knots in the muscles in her neck and back and a discomfort in her wrist.

 

She works at a small creative company - one that provides services of animators, illustrators, graphic designers, photographers and all digital creative needs anyone might have under the sun. It was a small company - only a few years old - but they’ve been known among marketing and creative circles for providing quality art on time and treating their artists well in terms of pay and benefits.

 

Rosie looks at the time on her tablet. It’s still less than an hour until lunch break and it’s already been a long day.

 

There was a short client meeting at 8 am that lasted til 8:30 but all they did was suffer through their client’s ranting and hollering about how the deadline for the short animated clip were a week away and they were only 25% done. Then she had to suffer through having to calm their CEO down from a panic attack because of all the deadlines that they had to meet before the end of the month.

 

That lasted til 9:30.

 

Then she went down and bought a bagel and a cup of coffee from the food truck across the street but a rollerblader zoomed past her and she dropped her food. The coffee stained her favorite black Pulp Fiction shirt and her white stan smiths.

 

Now it’s 11:10 and Rosie has had nothing to eat but her pride and frustration. She's barely made progress on her work and she's looking at another late night at the office just to make up for this morning and to make significant progress so they would be able to meet the deadline.

 

She closes her eyes for a moment. She pushes aside her worries, kicking pressure and stress to the curb momentarily and thinks of what to order for lunch.

 

Pho, maybe?

 

She hears the roll of an office chair's wheels against wooden floors. She counts down the seconds - 3, 2, 1 - until she feels the bump of a back rest shake her desk. The vibrations crawl up the skin of her arms and against her cheek. She hears a hum.

 

She counts down again... 3, 2, 1, until-

 

"Bad day?"

 

Rosie sighs heavily again, exhale laced with annoyance. She knows if she looks up, she'll be met with an easy, confident smirk and flirtatious eyes. She wonders when her officemate would take the hint that she's not interested.

 

Lisa leans over, upper body invading Rosie's personal space.

 

"11:11, make a wish," her co-worker whispers.

 

Rosie doesn't even open her eyes when she replies.

 

"I wish for you to go away."

 

Lisa just chuckles and leans back and leans away.

 

"Okay, but 11:11 again tomorrow, though."

 

The smirk was audible from the statement. Rosie thinks of plucking Lisa's eyelashes out in annoyance. And then Rosie feels the presence beside her disappear and she feels the peace and order of her world slowly weave themselves together.

 

Finally left alone.

 

After a few seconds, Rosie straightens up and picks her cintiq pen again and goes back to work. She doesn't spare her deskmate a glace and Lisa doesn't bother her for the rest of the day.

 

~

 

The next day doesn't start out as bad. Rosie grabs her usual bagel and coffee from the food truck - this time before going into the office - and makes her way to her desk.

 

Their office has an open space design and a strictly "no cubicles; no partitions" rule. To encourage employees to foster good relations with each other, their young CEO said.

 

So, the first thing she sees is Lisa.

 

Rosie would foster good relations with anyone and everyone, except this one.

 

Rosie sees that Lisa is wearing round metal frames too big for her head and small face, a gray beanie, a loose white shirt and baggy jeans. Lisa was also sporting a wide grin and waving at her.

 

Rosie pushes down the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose and fights the headache that's threatening to form. She ignores Lisa and goes straight to her desk, setting her things down.

 

Lisa's eyes follow her, still smiling like the sun. If Rosie had sunglasses, she probably would've put them on to repel the brightness.

 

It was hurting her eyes.

 

When Rosie settles down, she switches from her airpods to the high quality bluetooth headphones she bought especially to help her concentrate and for the awesome sound quality.

 

She's also trying to send one message: "I'm busy; no one bother me." And she can only hope everyone takes the hint.

 

But a few hours later and right on the dot as always, a yellow post it note finds its way stuck above her drawing tablet. It pulls her eyes away from her work to the scribbled text on it.

 

"11:11 - make a wish :P"

 

Rosie huffs air out of her nostrils, like a cartoon bull. She takes the post it and sets her Cintiq pen down. She searches her desk for a pen or pencil - any writing tool - and finds a sharpie. She grabs and uncaps it, quickly writing down a reply.

 

She gets up and tacks it near Lisa's computer.

 

"I wish you would leave me alone," was the hastily scrawled reply.

 

Rosie doesn't hear nor see Lisa's cute giggle in response. She's back to being too immersed in her music and her drawing and deadline - back yo pretending Lisa doesn't exist, again.

 

Lisa just looks at her, adoration and affection on her face. She sighs dreamily and goes back to her own work.

 

She doesn't bother Rosie for the rest of the day.

 

~

 

Rosie doesn't even remember why and when the 11:11 thing started. All she knows is that it's been going on for a few weeks.

 

Lisa probably laid eyes on her one day and decided to make her a target - probably because she looks too sweet and pure and innocent and nice.

 

She uses the word 'target' because she feels like Lisa has made it her mission to annoy Rosie at every turn.

 

Rosie liked being in her own little world, quietly finishing her work without interruptions. She liked going out to eat with the other illustrators and animators too - Seulgi and Chaeyoung. The three of them used to share one long desk and draw quietly together.

 

That all changed when their CEO announced one monday that he was going to integrate all departments together so they can all be "one big, happy family". He mixed all the creatives together on one side and the human resource, accounting and logistics (which consist of less than 5 people) on the other side. The photographers, graphic designers, layout artists, and animators/illustrators sat together in desks.

 

Rosie was all for that - they were a small creative company after all, they should be a tight-knit family of artists who can support each other and all lament together over the deadlines and demanding clients. All creatives shared the same struggle after all and understood each other best. She looked forward to being good friends with her new deskmate.

 

Until Lisa got hired as a third photographer and was assigned to share her desk.

 

Ever since then, Rosie felt like she hasn't known peace.

 

It was alright at first. Lisa was friendly - immediately introduced herself and shared her food.

 

Until she was too friendly - so overtly in her face that Rosie got annoyed. Lisa would often bump their desk to get her attention and bother her for the most inconsequential things or go to extreme measures to spook her or pull pranks on her.

 

They were harmless, little pranks, though, like poking her side while she's working or blowing air in her ear when she's a little too concentrated on her work.

 

But it threw Rosie off her game and she hates being interrupted when she's busy.

 

Seulgi and Chaeyoung about it, one day.

 

"Rosie, it seems like your photographer deskmate is into you."

 

Seulgi wiggled her eyebrows and smirked over a half-eaten burger and a large soda. Chaeyoung - chewing with full of pizza - nodded violently with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.

 

They were having lunch at the nearby 24 hour diner which smelled like greasy fries and cheap pizza.

 

It was one of their usual joints.

 

Rosie responded with a snort and an eyeroll. She was the weirdo at their table eating a salad (which probably wasn't really all that healthy since it also came from there).

 

"Ugh." Rosie groaned, stabbing a piece of lettuce with a fork. "She's so annoying. She wouldn't leave me alone."

 

"That's because she likes you, dummy." Chaeyoung spoke up, finally, after she swallowed her food. "She wants to get your attention because you're either always off in your own world and busy or you're too boneheaded to notice. She had to go in bulldozer style - y'know, like little boys with crushes on little girls in preschool - pick at the cracks, annoy you until you give in."

 

"Pfft." Rosie blew air out of her lips. "If she wanted my attention in a positive light, then the first thing she should do is to stop being annoying. Besides," a lettuce crunch and some chewing, "crushes aren't an excuse to be annoying. Those little boys are wrong and should be taught better by her parents. So should she." She takes a loud sip from her lemon juice to punctuate her statement.

 

Seulgi just shrugs.

 

"Why not just give her the attention she wants? It won't hurt to make conversation."

 

Rosie shook her head.

 

"Why should I give her what she wants? I-"

 

"She's cute." Chaeyoung interrupted with a shrug. "She doesn't look creepy or anything. No serial killer vibes." Chaeyoung puts a finger to her chin and looks up. "Maybe a little bit of a boy vibe, but, why not?"

 

Rosie threw her a glare. She huffed a breath out of her nose. Whose side were her friends on, anyway?

 

"So, just because someone is cute we can excuse their- their-" Rosie sputtered, "harassment!"

 

"Yes - that's what you call 'pretty privilege'." Seulgi winked.

 

Chaeyoung laughed and high-fived Seulgi.

Rosie gaped at them. She considered flinging a tomato at Seulgi. 

 

"You two are supposed to be my friends!" Rosie whined.

 

"We are. And we want you to get laid." Chaeyoung answered.

 

"Oh, ew." Rosie made a face of disgust. "Please. With that boy?" She crossed her hands one over the other, the sides of her palms facing her friends - forming an ex. "No way. I mean, do you see how she dresses herself?! And the selfies she uploads on facebook? Last week she uploaded a photo where she was lifting her shirt up and showing off her abs. Like, how obvious can you be?! And the comments? All those thirsty girls! God, she's as bad as a straight white male."

 

Chaeyoung raised an eyebrow.

 

"You stalk her facebook and check the comments?"

 

Seulgi almost snorted her soda through her nose. Rosie almost choked on a lettuce leaf.

 

"What?" Rosie exclaimed as if insulted. "No, I do not. I was scrolling through my feed and it popped up."

 

"Sure, Roseanne." Chaeyoung sipped her iced tea and looked up at Rosie, obviously disbelieving her friend. "Suuuure."

 

Rosie glared at her friend who just smiled and shrugged.

 

"Okay, we need to stop talking about this or else I will hurl what I just ate." Rosie said around a mouthful of salad. She placed the fork on her empty plate and grabbed her lemon juice. "And I can't afford to be sick because I have a ton of deadlines."

 

~

 

Because Lisa was a photographer, she had to do outside shoots on some days. Usually, she just goes to the room next to their office which their CEO rents and converted into a photography studio simple fashion shoots, profile shots, or product placements. But some clients require locations and Lisa has to rent an uber for herself and an assistant and all the equipment.

 

Rosie thought she could look forward to those days because Lisa won't be able to bother her as she worked.

 

She was wrong though.

 

Right on time, her phone dings. She stops working to check the notification, thinking it was probably Alice on something about her work.

 

It was a facebook message. She swipes to open it.

 

Lisa Manoban [11:11] : Hey daily 11:11 make a wish reminder 😉💕

 

Rosie closes her eyes and huffs. She types a quick reply.

 

Rosie Park [11:11] : I wish you would take a hint and leave me alone.

 

Her phone dings again, Lisa sending a quick reply.

 

Lisa Manoban [11:11] : Have a good day. Or that's my wish for you at least. 😊✨

 

Rosie rolls her eyes and ignores the message. She goes back to work. Lisa doesn't bother her again for the rest of the day.

 

~

 

The Friday at the end of the week started out rough again. The same client called again via skype and demanded for updates on their progress. Seulgi, Chaeyoung and her were at their limits - drawing from 8 am to nearly 10 pm with only toilet breaks because they've resorted to eating food at their desks and having working lunches.

 

Rosie almost spilled dressing on her wacom cintiq once.

 

The three animator friends presented what they had finished so far. But even if they finally caught up and were on time, the client asked for revisions and kept complaining about everything.

 

Rosie wanted to stab the client in his ugly face. It didn't help that his voice was grating and tinny.

 

She's lost track of time until a yellow post it makes its way into her peripheral.

 

"11:11 make a wish ♡"

 

She squeezes her eyes tight and breathes in and out three times. She hopes the note will magically disappear when she opens her eyes again.

 

It doesn't. The note was still there.

 

She pulls it off her desk and makes an exaggerated show of crumpling it and throwing it into her trash bin.

 

Lisa watches her with a soft smile. The photographer gets her pad of sticky notes and doodles on a new one. This time she sticks it to the back of her computer instead of bothering her co-worker with it.

 

Rosie doesn't look up from her desk anymore and disappears into her work and into her music.

 

Lisa leaves the office for a shoot in the attached studio at 2pm. Rosie finally looks up to see her disappearing back to smile in satisfaction. Lisa was wearing a plaid shirt, jeans, and chunky sneakers today.

 

And then the note catches her eye.

 

"You're cute when you scrunch your nose while drawing. Drink water and don't stress out too much. You'll meet the deadline like you always do. Rooting for you. - L ♡"

 

The corners of Rosie's lips quirk upwards involuntarily.

 

And then her brain registers the movement of her facial muscles a split second later. She catches her lip corners with a thumb and forefinger.

 

Oh, no. Did she just smile?

 

Rosie shakes her head.

 

No, that annoying boy isn't going to get a smile from her.

 

Rosie looks back down at her work on her drawing tablet, starts scratching lines again with her pen. But the note remains in her thoughts. After 3 repeated over the same line, she looks up at the note again.

 

She lets a small smile slip.

 

Okay, maybe this was cute and smile-worthy.

 

~

 

Rosie comes to work on a Saturday since the clip was due on Monday. Chaeyoung and Seulgi would be there, too, but Rosie arrived earlier than their agreed time of 9 am.

 

She walks into the office with her bagel and coffee and finds Lisa standing in front of their desk, fiddling with her camera, bags of tripods and lighting equipment on her seat.

 

Rosie is so surprised that the words slip out of before she realizes she's supposed to be ignoring Lisa because so the latter would leave her alone..

 

"What are you doing here so early?"

 

Lisa looks up in surprise.

 

Rosie sees that she's wearing a tight white shirt, a bucket hat, baggy jeans and what appeared to be her favorite chunky white sneakers. She's suddenly reminded of the selfies where Lisa was showing off her abs and regrets starting a conversation.

 

But a soft smile spreads on Lisa's face and Rosie feels a fluttering in her chest.

 

"Oh, good morning!" Lisa greets. "There's an emergency reshoot for one of the products because they had to change something with their packaging. Something to do with not meeting government regulations or whatever. Now we have to reshoot and edit everything by Monday. So, here I am." Lisa gestures to herself and her stuff then shrugs.

 

Rosie just nods quietly and goes to her desk, avoiding eye contact with Lisa. She sets her bag, her coffee and bagel in a paper bag down on her desk. She pulls her seat and plops herself on it, all the while hoping Lisa wouldn't try to talk to her again.

 

Her hopes were dashed when she feels Lisa standing behind her. She slips her headphones on over her head quickly to keep Lisa from trying to talk to her.

 

But Lisa was resourceful. The photographer reaches over their desk and grabs her post its and pen.

 

Rosie closes her eyes and waits for Lisa to disappear.

 

Thirty seconds later, the equipment on the chair across her is gone and there is a yellow note on her side of the desk.

 

"Not yet 11:11 but the shoot might go on til then so this is an advance reminder to make a wish :) also, hope you have a good Saturday, even if it's a busy one."

 

Rosie takes the note and runs the pad of her thumb over the letters. She feels the indents where the pen made the impression on the paper.

 

Then she places it on the spot above her tablet.

 

She looks at it over again, re-reading the words and tracing the neat scrawl.

 

Nice handwriting, she thinks. Very cute and girly.

 

Lisa might be annoying but it wouldn't hurt to look up and see a message wishing her to have a good day whenever she took breaks from drawing.

 

~

 

Monday came and their client came in for the presentation of the finished clip. Rosie, Seulgi, and Chaeyoung were all nervous.

 

But at the end of it, it seemed like they had nothing to worry about at all. Their client loved the whole thing, even shook the hands of all three of them gleefully - almost to the point where Rosie thought her arm would get dislocated from its socket.

 

She tried to smile but it looked more like a wince. Seulgi and Chaeyoung looked equally uncomfortable, too.

 

By 10 am, the CEO was in such a good mood after hearing all the praises and getting signed again for another animation clip - this time longer and for a higher price - that he offered to buy everyone in the office some lunch from the diner.

 

Rosie was all smiles then.

 

And right on schedule-

 

“11:11, make a wish, Rosie.”

 

Lisa leans forward, close to Rosie who was accomplishing the digital forms for her work hours and overtime compensation for the last project.

 

Rosie actually shifts from the computer and looks at Lisa. To Lisa’s surprise she actually answers.

 

“I wish the next project won’t be as stressful as the last one.” Rosie punctuates the statement with a sigh, then goes back to what she was doing.

 

Lisa gapes at her. She couldn’t believe that the illustrator actually replied and noticed her this time. She opens and closes like a fish.

 

Rosie notices Lisa malfunctioning in front of her. She raises an eyebrow and leans to the side to get a better view. She snorts.

 

“What’s happening to you?”

 

“I- d’uh, I,” Lisa stutters. She clears and looks down, taking a moment to compose herself.

 

When she looks up, she’s met with quirked lip corners and a raised eyebrow - it wasn’t a smile yet, but it looked half-way to one and Lisa felt her heart soar and her cheeks flush.

 

“Nothing.” Lisa says. She looks down again, puts a hand on the back of her neck. When she looks up, Rosie realizes how shy and small and endearing the photographer has suddenly become. “I’m just surprised you’re not ignoring me, is all.” Lisa explains.

 

Rosie purses her lips, hums, and nods. She shrugs and faces her computer again.

 

“I guess I’m in a good mood.” She says.

 

Lisa smiles.

 

“That’s good,” the photographer responds. “I guess my 11:11 wish for today has already come true.”

 

Rosie’s heart flutters the moment she hears the reply. She hides her face behind the computer screen, aware that her cheeks are burning.

 

Why was she blushing?! Lisa annoys her! An annoyed person doesn’t blush!

 

Her lips threaten to form a smile but she tries to swallow it by her lips in between her teeth.

 

No. No smiles for Lisa that she might misinterpret, her brain insisted.

 

She draws intermittently for the rest of the day - starts the lineart for a few projects that aren’t due for a little while longer. During breaks, she finds her eyes shifting to the photographer across her, who seemed to be engrossed in her own work.

 

She watches how Lisa’s brow furrows in concentration - how Lisa squints sometimes when she’s probably struggling to see little details she needs to edit. She notices, too, how Lisa has a habit of randomly pouting or pursing her lips or biting them while working.

 

Rosie realizes Chaeyoung was right.

 

Lisa is cute.

 

Suddenly, Lisa looks up and meets her eyes. Rosie jumps in her seat from surprise, the eye contact jolts her in surprise.

 

She pretends to busy herself, doodling scribbles on a blank file. She pretends to be moving her head to the beat of a song, too, but her bluetooth headphones were off and weren’t connected.

 

Lisa smiles and then snorts. She grabs a post it and writes something quick then sticks it right on the space about Rosie’s tablet.

 

Rosie instinctively looks up and reads what was written.

 

“I know you’re not drawing anything (I see the scribbles from here) and not listening to anything (you haven’t turned the bluetooth on your headphones on) and I caught you staring. ;)”

 

Rosie feels her cheeks heat up like mad and her pale face burns red as a tomato. She takes Lisa’s post it, crumples it, and flings it with a little too much force into their shared trash bin.

 

Then she looks at Lisa and does the most childish thing.

 

She sticks her tongue out with a “ppbbbt”.

 

Lisa’s eyes widen and then she laughs. Rosie feels embarrassment and annoyance intersect in her chest over and over.

 

“I was not staring at you.” Rosie harrumphs. “Please. Don’t flatter yourself.”

 

Lisa just looks her in the smile - an unspoken challenge behind brown eyes.

 

And then the photographer winks at Rosie.

 

Rosie feels butterflies erupt in her stomach but she rolls her eyes and betrays them. She has too much pride to ever show Lisa the way she affects her.

 

Never, Rosie swears in her head. I will never feed that boy’s ego.

 

Lisa laughs and Rosie spares her a glare before going back to work.

 

Lisa doesn’t bother her for the rest of the day.

 

But the photographer wishes her a ‘goodbye’ and ‘take care on your way home’ before leaving the office with a smile.

 

Rosie would never admit it, but she leaves with a light heart and a smile, too.

 

~

 

The CEO loves halloween. It happens to coincide with his birthday, too.

 

So every October 31st, he holds an office Halloween party where he pays for half of the cost of the food and drinks and the other half comes from the company funds.

 

Everybody in the office looks forward to it. Because who doesn’t love dressing up and acting like their character?

 

Rosie dressed up as a generic witch the year before. She put on a black long-sleeved dress and a black pointed hat and carried around a broom. She tried copying the high-pitched witch’s laugh in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs but she failed so hard that Seulgi spit out her beer and fell to the floor laughing.

 

This year she decided to go as a female rockstar, using old photos of Avril Lavigne from 2004 as reference. She wore a fitted black shirt that’s probably a size too small and tight black jean shorts that’s held up by a studded belt. A silver of skin peeked under the hem of her shirt, her belly button showing. She drew her eyeliner thick and dark, styled her hair in messy waves, and brought a toy electric guitar as a prop.

 

She almost brought her own Fender electric guitar but thought twice and decided not to because it was too heavy.

 

She immediately got complimented by Seulgi and Chaeyoung when her friends saw her.

 

“Girl, you look HOT.”

 

“Damn, who are you and where did you hide Miss Goody-Two-Shoes’ body?”

 

Rosie blushed and rolled her eyes, swatting both her friends away.

 

“Oh, shut up, you two.”

 

Lisa was pouring herself a drink a few feet away. She showed up in a cat onesie as a joke and a play on the usual y kitten Halloween costume girls wore. This was her first Halloween party at the office and she wanted to just have fun comfortably and not try too hard.

 

When Lisa heard Rosie’s voice, she immediately looked up with a smile. But when she saw what  the artist was wearing and how she looked, her cup slipped from her hands and her jaw went slack.

 

For a few milliseconds, Lisa’s brain completely shut down.

 

Then the cup hit the floor and its contents splashed all over, staining her shoes. Lisa jumps - consciousness pulled back to the mortal plane - as the people around her exclaiming in surprise from the fallen cup.

 

She catches Rosie’s attention, too, who only looks at her for a moment with a raised eyebrow and a 'what the hell is wrong with her' expression before going back to talking to Seulgi and Chaeyoung.

 

Rosie looked amazing and Lisa was struck dumb.

 

Lisa finds herself unable to breathe nor act normal whenever her eyes landed on Rosie. So she tried to avoid the other girl as much as she could.

 

It was so obvious that even Rosie noticed Lisa’s attempts of not meeting her eyes or always staying at the other side of the room from wherever Rosie was.

 

At 11pm, Lisa couldn't take it anymore and went out to the balcony for a quick smoke.

 

It was a filthy habit she picked up in college and she's never been able to quit since. She doesn't really do it to look cool, but more to give her hands and mouth something to do to keep herself calm in stressful situations. The nicotine boost was definitely helpful for quieting her brain, too.

 

She pulls out the blue carton pack of menthol slims from her pocket - it was a particular Korean brand of cigarettes that she enjoyed because it didn't make her dizzy nor smell too awful.

 

She pops the little blue ball hidden in the filter for added flavor and feels it burst under her fingertips. She rolls the filter between her thumb and forefinger while she searches her pocket for her small lighter with little music notes on it.

 

She tucks the filtered end of the cig under her lip and flicks the sparkwheel of her lighter. She sticks the tobacco end to the flame and inhales.

 

The rolling paper and leaves catch fire and Lisa guides the smoke from to her lungs and holds it there for a second before she blows it out of in a sigh.

 

Lisa takes a few more hits by herself, quietly. She nods acknowledgement to the another smoker who went out (a guy from accounting), and then ignores him.

 

She wasn't really in the mood for conversation.

 

Until she wasn't given any choice.

 

"I didn't know you smoked."

 

Lisa jumped from surprise - a very in character reaction considering she was dressed as a cat. Rosie chuckles.

 

"Sorry for surprising you. I didn't know you scared easily."

 

Lisa looks at her and shoots her a quick and shy smile. Then the photographer looks down, puts the cigarette to her lips and takes a long drag. She blows it in the direction away from Rosie, but the air pushes it towards the artist's direction anyway.

 

Rosie covers her nose and Lisa notices.

 

"Oh, you should-" Lisa starts but she decides it would be easier to achieve without explanation.

 

The photographer reaches out and holds her by the shoulder, moving her to a spot on the other side where the wind was blowing from, so that the smoke wouldn't be blown towards her by the breeze.

 

"There." Lisa looks up at her and smiles. But she gets shy right away from the few seconds of eye contact they make and she looks away. "The smoke was going to you… I just made you stand against the wind…" She explains.

 

Rosie nods. Lisa thinks of how she was so unbelievably hot with the winged eyeliner. The photographer clears .

 

And then, to Lisa's surprise for the second time-

 

"11:11, make a wish." Rosie says it while looking at Lisa with gentle eyes and the softest smile.

 

There was something so dreamy and unreal about rockstar Rosie half illuminated by the yellow office lights and the other half illuminated by the moon.

 

Lisa gulps, feeling her heart stutter and trip over itself as if it just put on the biggest clown shoes and decided to run a marathon.

 

If Lisa wasn't already smitten with her, she would have been.

 

Rosie turns away from her and looks up at the moon after not getting an answer.

 

"I wish…" Rosie starts. "I wish that you had a good first Halloween party with us." The artist looks at Lisa again, eyebrow raised in a question. "It is your first, right?"

 

Lisa feels dry. She closes when she realizes it had been hanging open since Rosie showed up. She doesn't know which to process first - the fact that Rosie is actually talking to her instead of telling her to go away, or the fact that Rosie wants her to have a good time.

 

Somehow her mind finally realizes Rosie asked a question.

 

The photographer nods and answers, finally finding her voice.

 

"Yeah. It is. I joined you guys in January."

 

Rosie hums and nods. She asks a question she's been wanting to for a while now.

 

"So, what does 11:11 even mean? Why do I always have to make a wish when the clock strikes 11:11?"

 

"Oh," Lisa chuckles. "It's a thing my mom did for me, way back in college. I left Thailand to study here and live here and whenever I'd be homesick before lunch when I'd be missing my mom's cooking or before midnight when I struggle to sleep, she texts or calls at 11:11 to make me feel better." Lisa shrugs. "And it always worked for me. So one day, I saw you having a bad one and I thought maybe I could do that with you and make your day better or something."

 

"Oh." Rosie is speechless.

 

"Yeah." Lisa laughs off the awkwardness she feels and the sudden vulnerability. "I think it's been working, so…" She lets the statement dangle in the air and smiles.

 

Rosie smiles, too, and nods. She lets Lisa know the truth.

 

"Yeah, it's been working." She scrunches her nose, feeling her cheeks heat up. "Thank you." She says, every letter of the statement loaded with gratefulness. There is a fluttering in her heart and a flip-flopping in her stomach. She switches the topic to dispel the butterflies. "So… how is the Halloween party so far? You don't seem to be enjoying much."

 

Lisa takes another hit off of her cigarette. She shrugs.

 

"I love the party. I'm actually having a really amazing time." She answers honestly and gives Rosie a sincere smile.

 

The photographer meant every word, actually. She was having fun… she was just distracted by the person talking to her right now.

 

"Then why doesn't it seem like it? Is something bothering you? Is it work?" Rosie asks, genuine concern audible in her voice.

 

The question warms Lisa's heart. It gives her enough confidence to not be a bumbling, stuttering loser in front of her biggest crush.

 

"No, actually." Lisa chuckles, shaking her head. "If you want me to be completely honest with you, you're the one bothering me."

 

"ME?!" Rosie exclaims in shock, palm flying up to press flat against her chest, gesturing to herself.

 

Lisa laughs.

 

"No, no! That came out wrong. Let me explain." The photographer giggles. She realizes her cigarette has burnt out and she flicks the flying into the trash can. "I meant to say; you're the one who's distracting me with how you look."

 

Rosie puts her hands on her hips. The compliment flies over her head and she misses the implications completely.

 

"What's wrong with how I look?!" Her tone sounded like she was ready to fight.

 

Lisa held her hands up in surrender, trying to placate and calm the artist down.

 

"Nothing. Nothing at all. It's sickening, actually." Lisa looks down and toes the ground shyly.

 

Well, it's now or never. It's a good thing Lisa never found any difficulty confessing her feelings to women.

 

She looks up and sees Rosie waiting for an answer. So Lisa smiles and says-

 

"You actually look so hot that it's distracting. I've been trying to control myself and keep away so I don't end up acting goofy and foolish just to get your attention." Lisa bites her lip. "I kind of tend to do that with people I like. I know I kind of pushed you to your limit."

 

And Rosie is left speechless. She just blinks at Lisa, going through the statement over and over in her head - turning it around on itself and feeling inside the spaces between the words in case there was something to be read between the lines.

 

But it was plain and simple and direct - Lisa liked her and didn't want to annoy her.

 

And Chaeyoung's words come rushing back to her.

 

"She wants to get your attention because you're either always off in your own world and busy or you're too boneheaded to notice. She had to go in bulldozer style - y'know, like little boys with crushes on little girls in preschool."

 

"Oh." Rosie says.

 

"Yeah." Lisa looks away, worried that she made a mistake in confessing.

 

The seconds tick by until Lisa couldn't take it anymore.

 

"Hey," she calls Rosie's attention. "Sorry if the sudden confession weirded you out. You don't have to do anything about it, really. Let's just forget that happened, okay?" Lisa tries to say it with a laugh as if pushing her feelings away as silly. "Look, I'll just stop annoying you totally and we can both work in peace every day. Deal?"

 

Lisa sticks her hand out - out of habit - for Rosie to shake. Rosie looks down and looks at the offered hand and she doesn't take it.

 

"No deal," the artist says and she shakes her head.

 

Lisa drops her hand back to her side.

 

"Um, okay." She says awkwardly.

 

Rosie closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She exhales it slowly and opens her eyes at the same time.

 

"To be honest, your make a wish reminders have been making my days better." Rosie admits shyly. She holds her hands behind her back and twiddles her thumbs.

 

Lisa looks at her. Rosie blushes.

 

"Oh wow."

 

"Yeah."

 

Suddenly, the doors to the balcony slides open and the noise of the party spills out and disturbs their peace.

 

It was Seulgi - drunk and flushed red - screaming for her.

 

"Rosie! Holy !" She was too drunk she doesn't even notice and acknowledge Lisa. "Rosie, girl, we've been looking for you for an hour! You won as Best Look tonight! Whoo!"

 

Seulgi tries to step outside further but wobbles on her knees and spills the alcohol from her red cup. Rosie and Lisa catch her on either side.

 

"Okay, Seulbear," Rosie takes the red cup and holds it far away from her friend. "No more alcohol for you."

 

"Hey!" Seulgi protests, but was in no shape to fight.

 

Lisa and Rosie bring her inside. Once inside, everyone congratulates Rosie for her award and she dutifully smiles and makes small talk and tells jokes where appropriate.

 

Lisa and Rosie don't talk again for the rest of the night.

 

~

 

Rosie mulls over her conversation with Lisa over the weekend. She overthinks it so much that she ended up with several different interpretations of it. She even managed to rank which one is the best and which were the craziest and most impossible.

 

The craziest ones she had so far was that Lisa is the sister of her one psycho ex boyfriend who still has her blocked on all social media accounts and is out to get her and break her heart.

 

Rosie immediately had to snap herself out of it after her brain cooked that one up. That made her realize she's gone nuts thinking about it.

 

The most probable one is that Lisa does just have a crush on her and wants to be noticed by her.

 

That one made tickled Rosie's insides and made her feel warm. It explained the little love notes and the sunshine and support despite Rosie being rude and telling her to go away.

 

Come to think of it, Lisa was never rude to Rosie, she realizes. Lisa never said one bad word to her.

 

Rosie just saw her selfies and her outfits and filed, sorted, and labeled Lisa away as a boy in her mind.

 

That was unfair of her.

 

Rosie frowns, feeling guilt sit uneasily at her chest.

 

But it brings her to another possible scenario in her head: that she could just be another conquest and that this was all an act. Lisa did have a bunch of girls drooling over her in the comments section of all her posts.

 

Rosie sighs and rubs her temples.

 

She's not going to get anywhere overthinking this.

 

So she decides to just do the easiest thing - she'd confront Lisa during lunch on Monday.

 

And come Monday, she does exactly that.

 

She's early at work - as she always is - and starts coloring in some of the lineart she finished the Friday before. When Lisa walks into the office, she's already bopping her head to The 1975 and as unapproachable and cold as ever.

 

Lisa just throws a small smile her way and gets to work herself.

 

But unknown to her, Rosie was hyper aware and her heart did a little somersault when Lisa walked in.

 

Rosie had to breathe through her nose and calm herself down because - Rosie gulps - Lisa looked incredibly cute in a huge teal hoodie and skinny jeans and round metal framed glasses.

 

Rosie wanted to slap herself out of it. She was acting like a little high school girl crushing on the popular girl.

 

The popular girl who was secretly sweet and kind and-- Rosie shakes her head.

 

She needs to focus.

 

Lisa starts looking at the clock when it ticked 11. She starts getting anxious of whether or not she should greet Rosie as usual by 11:11 or just leave the girl alone.

 

Lisa isn't sure how Rosie reacted to her little confession that Friday before and she didn't have the guts to text Rosie over the weekend either. She agonized over it for two days, coming up with different imagined scenarios in her head.

 

But what she's worried about the most was that Rosie now dislikes her even more.

 

Lisa bites a nail.

 

It's 11:10.

 

Rosie is bent over her tablet, working. Her Eyes shift to the digital clock on the top right of the screen. She stops drawing and waits for it.

 

The minute turns and it's 11:11.

 

Rosie straightens up and holds up a finger, moving lightning fast. Lisa is slightly taken aback.

 

"11:11 and I'll make a wish," Rosie says. "And I wish that you'd have lunch outside with me."

 

Lisa isn't sure if she heard it right. But her heart skips a beat like a giddy little kid hopping to the playground and her cheeks heat up.

 

She stares dumbly at Rosie.

 

Rosie smiles.

 

A few seconds go by. Rosie feels her confidence wane and waver. She wonders if Lisa understood what she was implying.

 

Lisa was still gawking at her - frozen in disbelief, not knowing how to respond.

 

"So…" Rosie starts, awkwardly. She musters up the courage she has left as the tiniest last push.

 

Here goes nothing and everything.

 

"Would you go out for lunch with me today, or do I have to try again tomorrow at 11:11?"

 

Lisa starts nodding her head vigorously.

 

"Yes." She squeaks and then she clears . Lisa finally finds her voice and answers. "Yeah, okay, let's go out for lunch."

 

"Okay."

 

Rosie nods and leaves it at that. She goes back to her work, trying to finish as much as she can before noon but she draws slowly and unfocused - she's thinking of how lunch would go, worries that she'll say something mean or Lisa would do something that would piss her off and it'll end up badly.

 

12nn comes quickly.

 

Rosie didn't even get to do much progress and Lisa didn't do any work at all. The photographer kept airbrushing and undoing and airbrushing and undoing. Lisa would do a few and clicks on her mouse then would press undo and start over again, her own work not pleasing her today.

 

Rosie takes her head phones off and brushes her hair with fingers. Lisa looks up at her.

 

Rosie catches her eyes and for a moment they just look at each other and into each other. Lisa finds the brown of Rosie's eyes warm like hot chocolate on an unforgiving cold day. Rosie finds that Lisa's eyes have a sparkle in them - that somehow they always carry a smile.

 

Maybe lunch would go well.

 

"Let's go?" Rosie asks.

 

"Mhmm." Lisa nods, a tight-lipped smile making her cheeks bunch up cutely on the sides of her face. "Let's."

 

They go down the building and fill the air with conversation on where to eat.

 

The diner?

 

No, I'm kind of sick of that place. Food truck?

 

Do they have lunch offerings?

 

Yeah, they do. Sandwiches, I think.

 

Hmm. How about we try the new hotdog stall across the street?

 

Ooh, that's a good idea. Let's.

 

Alright, hot dog stand it is.

 

The air is cold when the soles of their shoes touch pavement. The air is crisp. The sun shines unabashedly, not seeing the need to hide behind clouds.

 

It was a good fall day. Lisa smiles. Rosie smiles, too, beside her, thinking the same thoughts.

 

They cross the street when the street light for pedestrians signal green. The smell of oil and hotdogs greet them halfway, as if to welcome them.

 

Rosie smiles and hops a little, the thought of food making her giddy. Lisa laughs at her and then starts hopping with her, matching her bouncing.

 

Rosie is laughing when she gets to the stall, leaning her head against Lisa's shoulders before straightening up.

 

Lisa feels butterflies in her stomach.

 

"Welcome to HAHA! Hotdogs! What can I get you two girls?" The woman at the counter with a hairnet and spatula greets warmly.

 

Rosie loos at the menu, a finger to her chin.

 

"I think I'll have one Classic New York Dog, potato wedges and an extra large lemon juice, please." Rosie says politely.

 

The lady smiles and nods and gets to preparing her order. She puts a hotdog on the griddle and grabs the pack of hotdog buns from above her.

 

"One classic with potato wedges, coming up!" She announces and then turns back to Rosie and Lisa. "And what would the girlfriend have?"

 

"The-" Lisa stops reciting the order she's picked out and she blushes, realizing what the woman just said. She shakes her head. "Oh, no, we're not-"

 

"Yeah, we're not-"

 

"We're just co-workers."

 

"Yeah, we work together."

 

Beside her, Rosie is blushing too, but waving her hands around to deny it.

 

The hotdog lady just flicks her eyes from Lisa to Rosie to Lisa and back to Rosie. Her expression screams unconvinced.

 

"Oops! My bad." The lady chuckles. "You guys just make a nice looking young couple. I thought you were dating."

 

"No."

 

"We're really not."

 

"Yeah."

 

The lady holds her hands up in surrender.

 

"Okay, girls, my apologies. Honest mistake." She chuckles again. "So, what'll be your order?" She turns to Lisa.

 

"I, um," Lisa feels her brain tripping over words. She's forgotten what she wanted to have. She her lips. "I'll have the same, I guess."

 

"Coming right up!"

 

The co-workers then settle themselves on the stools at the side of the stall. There's a blanket of an awkward silence between them.

 

Rosie's plan of talking to Lisa over food has kind of been derailed by the hotdog lady's comment. Now she's too shy to bring it up.

 

But Lisa saves her the trouble.

 

"Rosie," Lisa starts. Her name sends tingles up her spine.

 

"Hmm?" Rosie turns to Lisa.

 

Lisa exhales a breath. She tells herself she doesn't get shy talking to the girls she liked and that there's no reason to start getting shy now.

 

"I really did mean what I said at the party, though. I truly like you and I've had this dumb crush on you since my first day at work and I had to sit in front of you."

 

Rosie blushes and she feels her heart do flips. Lisa continues.

 

"I'm sorry I annoyed you, though." The photographer chuckles. "I hope you don't hate me for it. I wanted you to notice me and I just forgot how to act."

 

Rosie stares at her, dumbfounded.

 

Their hotdogs come and they each take a bite.

 

They moan at the taste at the same time.

 

"Oh my god." Rosie says around a mouthful. "This is so good." She addresses the compliment to the hotdog lady who moves her wrist in circles and bows.

 

Lisa takes another huge bite and nods her head in agreement. She gives the hotdog lady a thumbs up. The hotdog lady claps and smiles and then goes on to serve the other customers who come.

 

Rosie and Lisa eat in silence, each enjoying their food.

 

Rosie sips on her lemon juice when she finishes. Lisa drinks her cola.

 

Lisa sighs and places a hand on her belly.

 

"Oh my god, that was good."

 

"Right?!" Rosie exclaims. "We should go back here again."

 

The statement slips out of Rosie's mouth without her realizing its implications. Lisa looks at her with a smirk.

 

"We? You wanna have lunch with me again?"

 

Rosie looks at Lisa. She's quiet for a bit, going over what she said and why she said it in her head.

 

Did she just say that accidentally? Or did she mean it?

 

After a few seconds, she tells the truth.

 

"Yeah. I want to have lunch with you again."

 

A smile breaks out on Lisa's face, the kind that wouldn't be wiped off no matter what else happened next.

 

"Okay. I would like to have lunch with you, again, too." Lisa says.

 

"Okay."

 

Rosie sips her lemon juice and munches on her potato wedges. Lisa watches her. Then Rosie suddenly turns to her co-worker.

 

"I'm sorry I was mean to you." She sincerely apologizes. "I mean, I was annoyed at you for bothering me while I worked, but I had also judged you without knowing you."

 

Lisa looks bashful and guilty at Rosie being annoyed at her. But Rosie continues.

 

"I thought you were - um, I don't know how else to put it - just a boy who flirted with all the girls and I just decided I wouldn't ever want to be friends with you."

 

Lisa her head.

 

"What would make you think that?"

 

Rosie shrugs.

 

"The way you dress at work, the baggy jeans and sometimes skinny jeans, the chunky sneakers, the tight shirts and the cool glasses. Plus your instagram posts where you were lifting your shirt up and showing your abs and there were girls flocking in the comments drooling at you and you replied to them with winky face emojis and hearts."

 

Lisa throws her head back in laughter. Rosie joins in with a giggle.

 

"Okay, fair enough. Those do sound like boy things."

 

Rosie laughs.

 

"Well, thank you for validating my feelings."

 

"No problem." Lisa shrugs and sips on her cola. "But to clarify, I don't break girls' hearts for sport. Although, admittedly, I've never shied away from telling anyone that I liked them."

 

Rosie plays with the straw of her drink.

 

"Yeah, I can tell that."

 

Lisa chuckles. They stay silent for a while, Rosie just thinking and Lisa just waiting for her to talk.

 

"So, what now?" Rosie asks.

 

"What do you mean, 'what now'?" Lisa asks her back.

 

"Like," Rosie her lips, "what do you do after you tell someone you like them?"

 

Lisa smiles.

 

"I usually ask them to go out with me but you already told me you want to have lunch again, together, so…"

 

Rosie laughs.

 

"Well, after that, what do you do?"

 

"Well," Lisa starts, "I see how well it goes, see if we have chemistry, see if she likes me too and if we click."

 

Rosie nods.

 

"Okay."

 

"Okay, what?" Lisa asks.

 

Rosie shrugs.

 

"Let's see how well it goes, then, if we have chemistry."

 

Lisa blinks.

 

"Are you serious?"

 

Rosie nods.

 

"Mhmm. I am." Rosie chuckles. She looks down, shyly, before meeting Lisa's eyes again. "Because I think I like you, too, and I would also like to see where this goes."

 

Lisa breaks out into the biggest smile - the kind that literally nothing would be able to wipe it off her face for the rest of the week.

 

~

 

Epilogue:

 

Three months later.

 

Rosie sets her Cintiq pen down on the desk, beside the tablet she was just drawing on. She stretches her arms up over her head and wags her hand around then rotates the joint at the wrist. Then she bends down and crosses her arms over her desk as a pillow and lays her head down. She expels a sigh, heavy with exhaustion.

 

It's been a rough day once again. She has three deadlines coming up and she hasn't had time to breathe from having her nose stuck to the screen of her tablet.

 

And right on time, she hears the roll of an office chair's wheels against wooden floors. She counts down the seconds - 3, 2, 1 - until she feels the bump of a back rest shake her desk. The vibrations crawl up the skin of her arms and against her cheek. She hears a hum.

 

She counts down again... 3, 2, 1, until-

 

"Bad day?"

 

Lisa leans over, upper body invading Rosie's personal space.

 

"11:11, make a wish," Lisa whispers.

 

"I wish my girlfriend would take me out for hotdogs for lunch." Rosie answers.

 

Lisa feels a metal pan slap her in the face.

 

"You have a girlfriend? You were seeing someone besides me?"

 

Rosie straightens up and laughs.

 

"No I don't have a girlfriend."

 

"Oh." Lisa exhales relief. "Phew. I was panicking already."

 

"Would you like to be my girlfriend?" Rosie asks.

 

"What?"

 

"Would you… like to be… my girlfriend?"

 

"Oh." Lisa is dumbfounded. "Yes."

 

"Great!" Rosie claps, as if nothing changed in the past few seconds. "Now, take me out for hotdogs later."