It seemed like an eternity, but Felipe finally replied after ten minutes of waiting. By then, we were all on edge and wondered what he could have possibly said.

 

    “He replied,” Jang Mi quietly said as she just stared at her phone. It lit up for a few seconds before turning back off. As she stared at the black screen, we all just looked at each other before Yu Gyeong took the phone away. This time though, Jang Mi didn’t retaliate.

 

    “What do you mean you got the job? Didn’t I tell you that you couldn’t go to Korea? What about us? Do you even care? What’s so great about Korea? I don’t understand why you have this urge to go to Korea so badly. I guess you just never cared about how I felt and just whatever you wanted,” Yu Gyeong read out loud.

 

    “He’s such an asswhole,” A Yeong said as she shook her head.

 

    “Break up with him now,”

 

    “Yes,”

 

    “Do it,”

 

    “He’s not worth it,”

 

    By then we were all staring at Jang Mi waiting for her to say something. She seemed a little out of it, but who wouldn’t.

 

    “Alright. I’m not going to let him hold me back from my dreams,” she said.

 

    “Did you want me to do it? Cause I will,” Yu Gyeong said as she smirked evilly.

 

    “No, no I’ll do it,” Jang Mi sighed as she took her phone back from Yu Gyeong.

 

    “Are you sure?”

 

    “Yeah,”

 

    Yu Gyeong shrugged as she let Jang Mi take over and text Felipe a piece of her mind. We all watched her type away on her phone as she furiously tapped the phone screen and probably wrote an entire paper to send to Felipe and probably told him 13 reasons why she was going to go Korea.

 

    After a few minutes of typing and then erasing a lot of things, she finally sent the message. She let go a huge sigh as she looked at all of us.

 

    “I think that should do it,” she smiled happily.

 

    We all had questionable expressions but we didn’t say anything. We just supported whatever Jang Mi could have possibly said to her, now ex-boyfriend.

 

    Five minutes later Felipe replied.

 

    We tried our best to stay positive and I think Yu Gyeong and Hyun Ok were more than likely ready to him up if he said anything to hurt Jang Mi.

 

    Jang Mi unlocked her phone and read through the message that Felipe sent her. We were all waiting for her to read it out loud or say something. We were all on edge and anyone could sense the tension building up in the living room.

 

    “Well I’m now single!” she smiled happily at us. We all breathed a sigh of relief.

 

    “So Korea here we come!” I chimed happily.

 

    Yu Gyeong rolled her eyes as everyone else cheered happily.

 

    “But what did you say to him? And what did he say?” Mi Na asked curiously.

 

    “All I said was that I was going to go to Korea no matter what because this was the best job opportunity that has been offered to me since graduation and that if he didn’t like it then we should break up. I even told him that he should just stop texting me. Then he replied that I’m just too dedicated to Korea and my favorite idols that I never put my all my attention towards him. That he feels like he’s being pushed aside, but that he will grant my wish of breaking up and going to Korea,” she shrugged.

 

    “Oh, it wasn’t as dramatic as I thought it was going to be,” Hyun Ok commented.

 

    Jang Mi glared at her as Hyun Ok stuck her tongue out at her.

 

    “Well good riddance,” A Yeong nodded her head.

 

    “Time to get packing!” Mi Na cheered as she stood up and headed to her room.

 

    “Wait for me!” Hyun Ok jumped up and ran after her.

 

    “So this is really happening?” Yu Gyeong sighed as she stood up and crossed her arms.

 

    “Yes,” Jang Mi said.

 

    “Alright,” with heavy footsteps Yu Gyeong went back to her room. A Yeong put two thumbs up before going after Yu Gyeong.

 

    “Start packing?” I asked towards Jang Mi.

 

    “Yeah,” She smiled even though I knew that she was slightly hurting but I didn’t say anything as we both went back to our room.

 

 

A Week Later

 

    I don’t know about everyone else, but telling my boss and co-workers that I was moving was probably one of the hardest things I ever had to do. I’ve known everyone there for about 3 years now and of course, we all grew close. Honestly, I think we all had good work relationships. We barely ever got on each other nerves and helped each other the best we could.

 

    “You’re seriously leaving?” Anna said as she came into my now empty office. I had just about everything packed up now and was putting the last of my paperwork into the boxes.

    

    “Yeah, I am,” I smiled weakly. Anna was the first person to welcome to Xerox when I joined, so of course, we’re even closer. Sometimes, we even went out to eat or hung out during the weekends.

 

    “I wish you weren’t. Who’s going to eat with me at 2 am when I’m down? Who’s going to tell me to go back to work after a good laugh?” she sniffled as she tried to hold back her tears.

 

    “Stop it. You’re going to make me cry,” I tried to hold back the urge to cry as Anna just stared at me with teary eyes. Before I knew it, I was being bomb rushed by her as she came over to me and hugged me tightly.

 

    “Make sure to text me when you get to Korea and then video chat as much as possible okay?” she said as she sniffled even more.

 

    “Okay, don’t worry,” I said as I hugged her back.

    

    After making sure I had everything from my office, I took once last look at it before turning off the lights and closed the door. Luckily some of the guys helped me bring the rest of my stuff to the car so I didn’t have to haul everything down.

 

    “I guess this is goodbye,” I said as I approached the rest of my co-workers that were seated at their desks.

 

    Some of them looked over with sad expressions while others didn’t even want to look.

 

    “Don’t go,” one said as he looked over.

 

    “This is really hard for me, but I don’t want to let go of this opportunity. I really hope all of you understand,” I sighed. As much as I wanted to go to Korea, I couldn’t bare this.

 

    “We know. Have fun over there and make sure to keep in contact. Don’t be a stranger just because you get hired at a bigger company,” another said.

 

    “Don’t worry. I’ll keep in contact and treat whoever gets my position with the same respect that you all had for me,”

 

    “We will. We’re not children,”

 

    “You kind of were,” I laughed. It felt weird because this would probably be the last laugh we would share as a group.

 

    “You better go, or else we’re not letting you leave,” Anna said as she pushed me towards the exit.

 

    “Alright alright. Bye guys! I really hope to see you all again,” I waved as Anna pulled me towards the elevator. I knew she was doing it because she wanted her final moments with me.

 

    She pushed the elevator button to go down. As we waited she gripped my shirt sleeve tightly as tears rolled down her cheeks.

 

    “Anna-“

 

    “No, let me be,” she sniffled. The elevator dinged as the doors rolled open. We both got on and she pushed the button for the 1st floor.

 

    Once we got to the parking lot, she walked me all the way to my car.

 

    “We’ll see each other again right?”

 

    “Of course! I can always come and visit or you can go to Korea,” I laughed. She slightly smiled even though she seemed really heartbroken, but who wouldn’t be when your boss/co-worker/best friend, was leaving.

 

    “Alright. Well bye,” she pulled me into a hug before pulling away to look at me, then she let go and walked away. With a heavy sigh, I unlocked my car and got in. Turning on my car, I put it into drive and drove off into the busy Austin streets to head back to the apartment to pack everything else before the movers got there in a few days.

 

 

3 Days Later

 

 

    "WAKE UP!" Mi Na screamed as she hurled herself onto my make-shift bed "Come on Today's the day! We are actually going to Korea!!!" 

 

    I could barely open my eyes as I reached to check the time on my phone: it was 2 am. Mi Na was definitely not a morning person but when she was excited time didn't exist. Don't get me wrong I was excited, but I at least needed some coffee before I could even begin to process what was going on.

 

    I heard Jang Mi groaning as Mi Na got up and went over to shake her awake. We were all sleeping in the living room since all of our furniture was taken by the movers. We had laid out some blankets on the floor and tried to sleep.

 

    “Come on! Get up!” she yelled.

 

    “Could you not?” I rasped as I tried to open my eyes but my pillow was pulling me back to sleep.

 

    “We need to put what’s left in our suitcases and head out because our flight is at 6 am! We need to call for two ubers!” she urged as she shook me back awake. Hyun Ok groaned next to me as she hit me in the face with her hand as she moved around.

 

    “Watch it!” I whined as I shifted away from her.

 

    “Come on. Up!” Mi Na pulled on my arm but I wasn’t about to budge.  “Wake up! You can sleep on the plane! It’s a 19-hour flight anyway!”

    

   “Yeah okay,” I yawned as my head sank deeper into my pillow.

 

    We all agreed that we would get a flight with the least amount of layovers. We all wanted to have a direct flight but we were just being cheap even though we had the money to get a direct flight