Spit it on her voice mail. A little slurred and sounding like the shot of whiskey you downed to get courage…

Sung hyun stared at his Gatorade, sweating in its nervous condensation. He loosens his tie and stretches his neck. Ugh. He hates this, goddamit. The day afters always made him feel so old. He used to not have to deal with hangovers. Drinking used to be so much fun. But now, a year before he turns thirty… well, his body is telling him, Oh no, you didn’t. God!

And why was he drinking? It was Jiyong’s dumb bachelor’ s party and he was all sulky and stupid. One of the girls (who were paid for their entertainment… in which way, he never really found out… they didn’t strip, or . Or did they?) said he looked rather sad. Was he sad? He ruffled the back of his head. Why would he be sad?

That was when Sandara came in, and in an instant it floods back to him. Some flash images of downing whiskey shots, after whiskey shots like he was trying to flush out something in his throat…

He had been rather familiar with the girl last night. Her name was Sunshine, or Starlight, or Moonlit, or Heaven… one of those referencing to the heavenly bodies… Wait, was that girl a hooker?

But that aside, he was really familiar with said heavenly named girl. He remembers. His arm around her shoulder after, what? The 10th shot or something?

He said, “well there is this girl I like…”

Seung hyun stares at Sandara who is this girl he works with for two years. They were interns together. They were the S-duo, the seniors called them. Sandara was always bailing him out when he was in a pinch. Sandara was always the “S” in super capable. He was always clumsily thanking her or apologizing for his deficiencies. When he got promoted before her, he nearly kicked their boss’s . Sandara deserved his managerial role! Sandara was even more popular to a larger number of their clients, but there he was… now her boss.

“Good morning, Supervisor.” She greeted him in this dreary monotonous tone. She resented him after the promotion, never called him his name again. She called him Supervisor like it’s his super villain name.

“Oh, hey.” He responds. God, why is he this… this… stupid?

Last night, he had told a girl… a scantily clad girl in his bestfriend’s bachelor’s party, “There is this girl I like… and she hates my guts.”

Of course he knew more than anyone else, Sandara deserved the promotion more than he did, but he was a dud. He couldn’t turn down the promotion, not because he liked her. That would be stupid.

Sure, he did a lot of overtime, got a lot of work development certificates, and everything, he did just to catch up with her… so she wouldn’t leave him behind. That was his intention. They were colleagues. The only time he could really say they hang out were in those dumb team building retreats. She was way to good for him.

So he told that girl, “she hates me. She hates me. There is nothing to like about me. I am this… this dud. You know. I’m a dud. And she is Dara, Dara bright Dara…”

The girl laughs, “well, ahjussi, I think you are quite a looker. I think you’re face is enough to like.” Ahjussi? Girl called him ahjussi? What?

Well… he was turning thirty after all.

Dara settles in her cubicle and puts away her things: water bottle on her desk, her lunch under her table, her phone… Seung hyun makes a wild grab at her phone.

“What? What are you doing?” Sandara gasped.

“Uhh… New policy. I mean, you shouldn’t use your phone at work. It decreases productivity…” What? What the is he saying?

His face was hot. He was sweating cold beads around his temples. THIS. He is never drinking again.

Sandara snatches her phone back. “Fine, boss. Fine. I am not going to use my phone! You don’t need to soil your bossy shorts” She sits back down w