It wasn’t like Joohyun despised being lonely. It took her some time, but she found that there was some satisfaction to be gleaned from being by yourself all the time. Sometimes the company was stifling, like she was standing in a room with no windows and the walls were slowly advancing on her. However, if she closed her eyes, the sound of dead silence became the sound of peace. The walls would fall like chopped trees and suddenly she was in a forest by herself, with only the sound of the wind through the leaves and the chirping of the birds around her.

               Joohyun had been by herself for almost ten years now, the quintessential “me, myself, and I”. She maintained a strong relationship with no one else but her own mother, maybe acquaintances here and there, but anyone she truly considered a friend – or more – left her nine years ago. Just like he did.

               Things were routine for Joohyun at this point in her life. Wake up, wash her face, brush her teeth, prepare breakfast, and ruminate about what she could be doing to fill up this next chapter in her life. Today was different though.

               She stared at herself in the mirror. Her blouse would suffice, she thought to herself, as she straightened out her collar, the light gray fabric smooth against the pad of her fingers. Her gently curled hair would have to do for today as well – Joohyun was to meet her new employer today, not go on a date. (She hasn’t gone out on a date in over three years; the last guy she went out on a date with had a fascination with fried chicken and tried to make her pay for their entire meal.) Her eyes drifted over to the clock: 7:34am. She’d needed to get on the road now if she wanted to make it to the office building before eight. The wood floors of her empty apartment clacked with the sound of her heels, shortly before her door shut closed with a soft click.

               Despite her relatively lonesome existence, there was only one person aside from her mother that she still trusted. It was near the end of her college career that she met Seungwan, a chipper, bubbly girl with a penchant for singing and never running out of things to smile about. Out in public, before classes started, walking alongside Joohyun to the campus cafeteria, Seungwan was quite the chatterbox and never ceased to run out of subjects to talk about. She was the first friend Joohyun had made in quite a long time, in a new place where hopefully no one’s pasts ever caught up to them. Seungwan was all smiles and kept Joohyun’s thoughts ablaze, keeping her distracted from the memories that have haunted her since she graduated from high school.

               Seungwan was…alright.

               “Joohyun, you never smile in pictures but you’re so pretty? How come?”

               “I just don’t have a reason to smile.”

               Seungwan understood; she never questioned. Joohyun was at least thankful that she never got fed up with her and left like the others did; she was truly thankful even if she was too shy to show it in person.

               She and Seungwan went separate ways after college even though they were in the same major, but they stayed in contact. After all, Seoul was only so big. Seungwan was more ambitious than Joohyun was, she had to admit, and therefore had many plans after college, but all Joohyun ever wanted was some peace of mind and an apartment to call her own, aside from sending money to her mother every now and then. It just so happened that Seungwan was in town and wanted to hang out; get some drinks and have a fun time, and Joohyun wasn’t at all opposed to letting loose every now and then. God knows she needed to. God didn’t tell her that she needed to keep shut as well.

               All she remembered that evening was inviting Seungwan over, with the aforementioned young woman showing up at her door with a giant bottle of soju and a dvd for Train to Busan, and everything went downhill from there. Shots were taken, screams were made, and then the last thing she remembered was screeching about him in excruciating detail (“You know what would make MY day? If he were on that train instead and they fed him to the zombies. He’s such a ing I don’t even – I DON’T EVER WANNA HNNNGH – “) before making a dash for her bathroom and bruising her knees trying to vomit into her toilet. The worried look on Seungwan’s face the next morning when she awoke to her friend busily cooking breakfast in her kitchen already told Joohyun that she may have said too much that previous night.

               “What..what was his name?”

               Joohyun shook her head, already digging the palms of her hands into her eyes to keep them from spilling any more tears. “…No. I’m not going to say it ever again.”

               And just like that, Seungwan didn’t ask anything else. She understood, and that’s all Joohyun ever asked for. It’s not like everyone in her hometown already knew her story. One more person who knew wasn’t going to make her situation any better than it already has been. Someday, she’ll have the courage to tell her story again; that she cried, she screamed, she fought, and she survived. Without him. But as for when that day would be? Certainly not today, or anytime soon.

               “Seungwan, are you going to be waiting in front of the building? You know I get lost really easily.” Joohyun stared at the screen of her smartphone, where a pixelated Seungwan just smiled at her.

               “Don’t you worry; I’m already on the way there. But I can’t promise that I’ll be outside for long! This rain is going to get me soaked!”

               Joohyun pursed her lips and looked out past the balcony in front of her apartment. The rain came down pelting, water slapping on the asphalt like tiny little men falling to their deaths. Spring was always going to be bringing showers, but on her first day of work? This could not have been more unfortunate.

               She rolled her eyes and huffed. “Okay, okay, fine. I won’t make you wait outside. I’m sure I’ll find the building somehow. I’ll talk to you later.”

               “See ya!”

               She watched as the brunette on the screen grinned at her again and waved hurriedly, before the connection cut through and she was back to her home screen. Joohyun sighed and pulled up her compact umbrella, shaking it open and letting the pink floral-on-black fabric expand in front of her before making her way out.

               It was only going to be a brief train ride downtown, but the real challenge was maneuvering the streets, especially in this weather.

               Seungwan was already working at the same job before she was, and was always keen on suggesting she apply for a job there since Joohyun was still balancing between being a part-timer at her local minimart as well as babysitting. However, her stubborn self never let anybody else do her any favors, and she was definitely adamant about making her own decisions, getting a job included. Despite Joohyun’s hardiness, it was fruitless to keep balancing part-time jobs and thinking that she could support herself and her own mother, and eventually relented to letting Seungwan organize a job interview at her place. All that she had to go off of was that the job was “high-paying with lots of a benefits” and that “it was made for someone with her talents”. Joohyun wasn’t a bragger, but she’d be damned if someone as honest and earnest as Seungwan would fib about as good a job as whatever she was describing.

               To satisfy her own stubbornness, Joohyun never even bothered researching any further about the company that Seungwan worked for, aside from its name and what they made. It was a telecommunications company, and that already screamed rich and important to her. The job was as good as her’s (provided she gave a good interview).

               And she did. Joohyun regretted letting drop open when Seungwan led her into the office that day, just a single floor in a high-rise building in the center of metropolitan Seoul. The interview didn’t take that long, but Seungwan forgot to mention that she was interviewing to be the CEO’s personal assistant. And while it was difficult to argue with her about why she dropped that tidbit, Joohyun was relieved to know she had gotten the job after all. (Apparently, the CEO was having some issues handling his workload recently and had finally relented to having a hiring for a personal assistant.)

               She wasn’t going to let this minor victory get to her head. It was just a job, after all. A pretty damn good one, but Joohyun wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

               She certainly didn’t know what to expect when she walked back inside that office building, with the tinted glass windows overlooking the spacious lobby and its derelict, polished ha