No One’s POV

At the corner of the bedroom stood Sooyoung, 25, busy flipping through some paper-works which she brought from her office. She frowns at the thought of finishing it tonight. Work has been hectic for her. She’s tired both physically and mentally.

She placed those paper-works down before slumping onto her swivel chair. Taking a deep breath and letting it out with a sigh. She turned her head to the left and saw three picture frames on her table. She took one of them and stared at it, admiring the person in the photo with a smile. It was a picture of Sooyoung with her girlfriend, Jessica, 26, when the picture was taken.

“Jessica…”

Sighing deeply, she placed the picture back to where she got it. Standing up, she made her way towards her bed and sat at the edge of it. Taking her laptop that was placed on the bed side, she switched it on and a smile crept on her face as the photo of Sooyoung with Jessica is her wallpaper.

She waited for a short while for some computer updates before clicking the Skype application. She scrolled through few names until it reached ‘Jessica’ and called her in.

“Hey there!” Sooyoung started

“Hey you! How’s work going?” Jessica smiled

“Same old, same old. What about you?”

“Still the same. Nothing’s changed apart from last week.” Jessica replied

“I hope you’re doing fine there. I really miss you, you know” Sooyoung said

“I miss you too, Sooyoungie”

Sooyoung sighs.

“I just wished that… That you’re here, beside me”

“I’m always here, Sooyoung”

“I… don’t know, Jess…”

Sooyoung starts to tear up.

“I can’t do this anymore…”

“Sooyoung, don’t say that. You can do this. You’re a strong person” Jessica told her

“Jessica…”

At the midst of her talking to Jessica, a squeaking sound of an opening door was heard indicating that someone is entering her room. It was Sooyoung’s cousin, Yoona, 21, a college student staying with Sooyoung for the semester break.

“Yoong? What, um, what are you doing here?” Sooyoung asked

“I heard you talking. I was just checking up on you” Yoona said

“I was talking to Jessica…”

Sooyoung gazed back on her laptop with a tiny smile. Yoona, on the other hand, was staring at her cousin with somehow a pitiful look.

“Unnie…”

Sooyoung looks at her

“Are you really okay?” Yoona asked

“I am now because I’m talking to Jessica. She told me to be strong”

Sooyoung let out a sad smile

“Yeah unnie… you must…”

Sooyoung nodded her head and gave her cousin an encouraging smile, telling the latter that everything’s fine. Her cousin could only let out a sigh. And so, Yoona left Sooyoung’s room. Sooyoung proceeded to talk with her girlfriend.

“Yoong is worried about me” Sooyoung told Jessica

“She’s your cousin, of course she’s worried. Everyone is…”

“It’s just that, something feels wrong”

“Don’t think too much about it. You need to sleep, you have work tomorrow” Jessica replied

“I still want to talk to you, but okay. Talk to you soon?”

“Will do, Sooyoungie” Jessica chuckles

“I love you”

Jessica smiles

“I love you too”

And then the line disconnect. A smile then crept on Sooyoung’s face after the interaction between her and Jessica. She is content. Talking to her girlfriend cheered her up and she is always the source of Sooyoung’s happiness.

~Next day in the office~

Slam! The noise rings loudly in Sooyoung’s ears. As if woken abruptly from a deep slumber, Sooyoung proceeds to turn her attention to the source and finds that it was none other than the result of her supervisor, Changmin, 34, slamming heaps of undone paper-works on Sooyoung’s desk.

“Here’s everything for today. You’ve screwed around for far too long. How ‘bout you earn your keeps for once, huh” Changmin smugly spoke

Sooyoung looks at the paperwork with utter defeat. Just as Changmin is about ready to leave, Sooyoung retorted.

“Are you kidding me..?”

“What was that?!” Changmin exclaimed

Sooyoung panicked

“Nothing…”

“Yeah, I thought so. Now, instead of doing nothing, why don’t you do something, like… Let’s say… Your work!”

With Changmin leaving, Sooyoung slumps on her chair and starts to stare into space. She then stands up, leaves her cubicle and proceed to look around the office.

On the water cooler area, Sooyoung saw two of her co-workers, Donghae, 26 and Siwon, 27 chatting about something.

Although Sooyoung had worked here for years, just thinking of such circumstances was enough to make her sick to her stomach. She decided to get some downtime on the office kitchen.

Sooyoung stands up to proceed to her destination.

Sooyoung slams the door open and gets to the nearest bathroom stall she can find. She did not need to use the toilet but just being there, sitting alone and away from the hustle and bustle of the office was enough to calm her down. However, her respite did not last long.

From the stall, Sam hears the sound of the kitchen’s door opening, followed by footsteps and loud chatter.

“--Such a screw-up!”

“After last week, I’d like to think that there is a god, hahaha!”

It was none other than Donghae and Siwon on their way to heat up their lunch pack or some sort. Considering that Sooyoung is in the bathroom which is in the office kitchen.

As if the loud chatter was not enough to disturb Sooyoung’s peace, they both start smoking after washing their hands which angers Sooyoung even further as she could not stand the smell of the smoke. The breaking point was the continuing conversation between them about Sooyoung and Jessica.

“You know what? I’m glad Sooyoung’s having such a hard time now. Thinks her don’t smell, looking down on us all high-and- mighty-like” she heard Donghae spoke

“Yeah, Jessicaa was probably only with Sooyoung ‘cause-- ”

Sooyoung was fuming. Siwon did not even finish his sentence when Sooyoung promptly opens the bathroom door, rushes to where they are at.

Sooyoung throws a right hook squarely on Donghae’s jaw which was effective enough to make him lose consciousness and falls to the floor, where he remains motionless. Siwon was stunned and is having trouble processing the ev