"Omma, omma I didn't get through again." Dara ruefully plops herself at the couch nearest, dropping her duffel bag on the floor. 

Her mom momentarily looks away from the laptop and throws Dara a sympathetic look. "Sweetie it's alright, its their loss and anyway there's still a bunch of law firms here in New York." 

"Uh huh. Rigggght."

Is that supposed to make her feel better? She doesn't know which makes her more upset, the fact that she didn't get the job and will disappoint her parents once more or the harsh words from that HR person telling her she's got no direction or drive or whatsoever in life. 

"Cheer up, you know me and your appa can always help you out right, just let us know sweetie." 

"Mommmmm, ani. I'm okay, No biggie. I'll just go change, i need to head out to meet unnie. You know, her usual stuff." She rushes to grab her bag before her mom can start with her usual string of cheer-up lines. 

The last thing on earth you'd catch her do is ask her dad for help. 

No. No can do.

Nah uh. Highly improbable. 

"Alright but can't I get a quick hug? I'm getting too worked up with all these paperworks so I need you to boost me up, come here you babyyy." Dara scoots over to give her omma her favorite bear hug.

She gotta admit though, nothing can lift her spirits up better than her mom.

Oh the wonders of life. 

Sometimes she wonders why she can't be as beautiful and charming and smart annnnd optimistic like her mom and unnie. 

Dara has always admired her mom for the passion and dedication she has for their family despite the crazy demand from work. Both her parents are very successful lawyers. Very hardworking and her mom is like literally the best she could ever ask for.

Her dad, however, is a different story. For as long as she can remember, he's barely home. And when he is, he never fails to make her life miserable. He makes her feel as though she's not part of this family. And boy was he good at that, because through the years, Dara never really DID feel like she belongs with them. 

Somehow, there's always this nagging feeling in her chest that she was meant to be someplace else or be someone else. Like nothing she does ever makes sense. 

Regardless of how much her unnie and omma dote on her, she can't be completely happy and she's still trying to figure out if it was for the reason that she hopes her appa will someday approve of her or it's just the way things are.

Everyday she wakes up and and just stare blankly at nothing for a good hour or two and be so absorbed only with the crippling obsession on how wrong her life is. She wonders why everybody else seems to be doing fine with whatever they have chosen in life while she sits there, still thinking what to do better with her life. 

At 25, clearly she's having some major dilemmas.

Dara has always exceled academically. She aces on everything from the moment she learnt writing her name. But her dad will always make it a point to compare her with her unnie. Her unnie followed their parents' careerpath and is quite popular, what with being the prettiest and most fashionable lawyer in town. You get the gist.

And Dara is one proud sister. She is.

But sometimes she feels as though she's just gonna be forever hidden in the shadows. Their appa won't let her be. And this is something she never understood. 

So yeah, now that she got another failed job application, oh she