KWONs

“What do we do now?”

My mind is scattered all over the place already. We told Railey about the job and she turned us down which we understand for we know so well that her priorities have changed. After all, we just took our chance on her, though we’re half-expecting that she’s going to consider.

Daryl is as messed as I am. As much as we don’t want to say that we’re on a crisis, thinking about it, we really are, because one of the highest positions in the brand is vacant, meaning, work will be much harder.

“Urgh!” Daryl groans “Why is this happening now when we’re on a roll? To be very honest…I’m a little disappointed at Railey for turning us down...but I fully understand that her life is now revolving around her family already because Sis..” she looks straight into my eyes “I want to be like her…I want to just stay in the house…take care of the kids…serve Youngbae with whatever he wants and be there whenever they need me”

I feel for Daryl. All her married life, her work sometimes is top priority than her family to the point that she wasn’t able to witness her kids’ first steps and hear their first words. Not that she’s good with it, but she’s so much like me who cannot drop our jobs and forget our careers, all because we’re so dedicated to it. Railey is on the same boat as ours before, but after going through Cancer, her views changed, realizing that life is really so short, that if we commit ourselves to just one thing when there are more important things we have to focus on, we’ll not be able to enjoy what life has for us.

“Sis” I walk to her and give her a hug for comfort “Don’t be disappointed at her…we know her stand on things and honestly…we really should follow her footsteps because we’re running out of time…our kids are growing way too fast and learning how to live without us and needing us less…our husbands and us are not getting any younger…we should freshen up our marriages by fixing what needs to be fixed…cleaning the mess that we’ve forgotten and straighten the issues”

“But…” she stares at me and sighs “Do you think we can just retire fully? Sis…” she grips my arms “You turned your back on your career years ago and come back…you know how empty it feels”

This my friends, is the perk of being extremely committed to something. Back when we’re still young, we always say that we’re not going to rot in a magazine company, that we’ll continue to learn different things to have different skills, but here we are, eating all that we’ve said.

“You know what?” I close my eyes that is starting to fill with tears already then exhale heavily “This is just a phase…let’s not be dramatic because it won’t solve our problem…yes…we have to think things through and consider retirement…but…there are still a lot of time for that…what we have to do now is to focus on the upcoming issue”

“All right” Daryl’s face lightens as she wipe her tears away. “Do you want me to lead the “search for the next YG RUNWAY Creative Director”?”

Hard. This one’s hard.

Can we even find a replacement in such a short notice? Where in hell are we going to find another Railey or Brady who can do the job as good as them even when he/she is just new? This is going to be one tough month for all of us. Help us dear God.

Working with so much stress is really challenging. My mind is in total mess, digging deep for ideas on how to overcome our sudden loss. Maybe some people will think that I’m exaggerating and I’m taking Brady’s resignation too seriously, but I swear, it really is serious.

“OH!”

Railey is calling.

“WAAAAAAAA!” I scream on top of my lungs.

“Madam?” Cho hee comes dashing in, looking so worried.

This is CRAZY! I’M GOING CRAZY!

“Call Daryl...NOW!” my voice sounds so jumpy.

Spell excited in bold letters? CLARA! Thank God! After the heavy rain that nearly flooded our minds, here comes the sun with a rainbow on the side.

“What’s the matter with you?” Daryl shows up in my office after a while. She must’ve been taking our sudden hiring seriously that she can’t leave her stuff right away.

Still on cloud nine, I throw myself at her and make her join me in my awkward celebratory dance. In all fairness to her, she’s letting me be crazy for reasons she’s so clueless about.

“Sis…” she flops herself on the chair in front of my desk and sighs “This is not the time to be weird…just to remind you…we’re on a crisis...as a matter of fact…I’m going to call for an emergency meeting later this afternoon where you” she points at me “Will tell us what to do and how to move around without the other arm of the brand”

A wide smile is plastered on my face. There’s really nothing to talk about in that meeting but to introduce our not-so-new staff.

“So…why did you call me here?” Daryl asks impatiently.

I sit on the chair beside her and faces it fully to her “hmmm…I know that we’re totally doomed by Brady’s sudden resignation and all but I’ve realized that…we really shouldn’t be”

She look at me in disbelief. “Can you ing hear yourself…huh? For your information BOSS…Brady plays a huge role in this brand…he’s our assistant editor…WHO….handles all the before you do…without him…it’ll be so hard to move because WE…the people under you….are going to have a hard time…WHY? Because it only means that we have to go through so much stress before you even approve our work when with Brady…we can get approved with only just a few revisions”

Guilty!

Ever since the brand started, I’m already the “monster” boss and I’ve actually toned down, it’s just that, they’re not seeing the difference. You can’t blame me. I’m given the position to man everything and everyone in the brand and if I’m going to be easy, our final output will not be as good as they are.

“Seriously Sis…calm down now” I’m itching to defend myself but chose not to because I know that it will not matter much anyway.

“I’ll only calm down once we have a Railey in our team again”

Daryl still cannot take Railey’s first decision of not accepting the job even if she fully understands her.

“Cho hee” I call her through intercom and she walks in right away. “Kindly ask Chin ho to buy bottles of Rose wine…enough for all of us here…what else?” I tap my chin while thinking then turn to Daryl. “What fits Rose wine the most?”

She raises an eyebrow in curiosity. “What the! Are you planning a hot night for Jiyong when our problem is still a problem that doesn’t have any solutions yet?”

It crack me up. “No silly!” I take a deep breath and exhale heavily. “Actually…we will have a celebration later”

“But…as far as I know…there’s nothing to celebrate about…unless you’re happy because of Brady’s resignation…no one’s celebrating his or her birthday too cause I checked our bulletin a while ago and there’s no kiddy birthday greeting poster on it…is one of our staffs engaged or having a baby?” she asks Cho hee and they both look at me.

Gosh! How far can Daryl’s mind reach? Seriously, she’s thinking too much and it’s hilarious!

I burst out laughing and compose myself after a while. “Sis…I’m really sad for Brady…the man is really wonderful and he’s a big loss…and yeah…you’re right…none from our staffs are celebrating a birthday…and as far as I know…no one has announced an engagement nor a baby news”

“Then what are we celebrating for?”

My heart beats fast and my innards flip all of a sudden, making me really excited. “RAILEY’S COMING BACK! SHE’S GOING TO BE PART OF OUR TEAM ONCE AGAIN!”

“What?” Daryl is flabbergasted. Cho hee squeals.

“She called me minutes ago saying that she’s ready to work again!” my excitement is truly coming out of me.

“OH MY! OH MY!” Daryl looks like she’s hyperventilating.

With the good news said, we were able to breathe normally already and freshen our ed up