Every day was the same; he would always work hard and even harder at his job, again and again. The ones in his office would always tell him he was working too hard that he needed a break from his job and enjoy himself. He stared at them with confusion, childish confusion that he never seemed to grasp. 

"Work isn't fun?" he asked as the ones in the office started to chuckle at him. They all shook their heads to say 'yeah, it's fun alright.' He found it hard to reason with the others as they drank their wretched alcohol during business hours and the girl who he admired would smile softly at him in pity. He never understood why the beauty would stare at him like that, he didn't need or want anyone's pity. He stared at the jolly fellows with slight pity before heading back to his desk, wasting away at the numbers and documents that were scattered on his table. The girl would smile at him again and go back to drinking the rich wine, laughing along with the others and gamble her paycheck saying that the ant would work all day. 

(She won seventy thousand won that night.) 

He didn't like being the outcast of his peers, he didn't like how he wouldn't let a drip of alcohol touch his lips and he didn't like silently sitting in his cubicle doing work while the others would do half the work and get just enough money, but in the end he'd like to say he earned his money. Earned his money. That's all that mattered. 

"I'm Yoona, it's nice to meet you," the new one said with a smile.

He stared at her, she was unusual. She wore bright red pumps, colorful dresses that complimented her eyes and that smile that was smothered with a light pink lip gloss. She laughed at his blank look and asked, "You never met a girl like me?" His blank look turned bright as he realized that she was talking to him and not someone else.

He managed to sputter two words, "I'm Donghae." Which made the girl laugh and shake his hand that was awkwardly hanging in the air, waiting for her to slide her hand into his and greet back. She laughed gleefully before slapping his outstretched hand and let him stare in confusion like always.

"I know all about you, Mr. Ant," she said. Donghae blinked again, the colorful lady in front of him had called him the nickname that he couldn't understand, his wide eyes became squinted as he tried to figure out the why they all called him that. "It's okay, I was known as the Grasshopper. We'll get along just fine," she continued. 

Her desk was right next to his and she smiled that smile again as he stared at her with sudden interest. Donghae found Yoona interesting, the way she nonchalantly tell the supervisor that she would get to it as soon as possible, but would lay it off until she saw Donghae stare at her and half-heartedly ask if she needed help. The beauty always seemed to watch him when Donghae was around Yoona, he looked happy and she liked that smile. 

"So what's up with you and Jessica?" Yoona questioned her brows furrowing together to find some answers. His eyes turned wide and childlike again as she asked the delicate question. 

"I love her," Donghae said. Yoona smirked, it was obvious that he liked her; it was obvious that Jessica had a thing for Donghae. "Mr. Ant to win a girl's heart is by talking to her, not by being a workaholic, show your romantic side for once. Give her flowers or something!' She exclaimed in a fantasylike tone, her head starting head towards the cloud. 

"You know how to make girls fall for you?" he asked. 

A sly grin appeared on her face and said, "es love that stuff." She didn't say anything else until the day was over and he was planning to work overtime as usual. She appeared at his desk, her hands skimming through the papers that were neatly placed and threw them on the floor.

"What are you doing?!" he shouted. The smile fell as she saw the frown on the face of the Ant, but she disguised it with a wink, grabbing on his wrist. "You finished all this earlier. Let's have a little fun," she stated. The Grasshopper laughed cheerfully, dragging him to join the others who were on their way to the nearest club. The others looked at her in surprise as she pushed the innocent man into the reality of clubs. The music was loud, the club reeked of sweat and alcohol, and the woman nearest to him seemed to be showing interest in him. 

"It's like you've never been in a club before," the Grasshopper shouted over the blaring music, the Ant nodded his innocent little head as the woman whistled for a vital of pink liquid. "Well, it's time for you to play!" she shouted again as she passed the vital to the Ant who declined politely, the Grasshopper nodded, drinking all of its content and throwing the glass against a wall. She didn’t want to force him to drink. Someone else would and it wouldn’t be long for him to go home drunk. The Grasshopper flung herself onto the nearest dance floor, grinding on the man nearest to her.

It was awkward for him to stand there with a fake smile watching her dance with other men. She was letting herself go. The way his mother had done when he was younger. He didn’t like seeing his mother play with other men for money it wasn’t the diligent way to earn it.

“Donghae!” someone shouted at him. The beauty with the dark hair smiled and said, “I can’t believe Yoona could get you to come to a place like this!” Donghae grinned, his hand suddenly making its way towards her.

“Well, she did.” Jessica enlaced her hands with his, dragging him onto the dance floor. It was exhilarating, the way she let her hands slide onto his neck, their faces only a few centimeters away, interested, he put his lips on hers.

They became a couple after it. It was as simple as that.

Time seemed to past quickly when they were going out, they were always together in the office and for a long time he’d go drinking, clubbing with the others whenever they brought up the topic. He was different now; the Ant wasn’t the ant anymore. He was someone else. Someone who could enjoy his life to the fullest. He didn’t work as hard as he did in the past, he had become lazy and seemed to always be around Jessica. He left his Ant lifestyle and followed the ways of the Grasshopper.

Why didn’t he throw that lifestyle away when he was younger? Why was it now that he decided to live life to the fullest? Why was it when he was the Ant he didn’t try?

The Grasshopper would be at her desk with a slight smile diligently doing her paperwork as the Ant finally slept after hard nights of partying. She sighed, the sound of her pumps against the ground waking the man from his slumber. “I heard you passed out last night,” she said as the young man held his head in pain, bags under his eyes became more apparent, his eyes bloodshot from last night and his smile seemed less like a child, but more of a man.

“Yeah, Eunhyuk threw the biggest staff party. I didn’t see you there,” he replied, looking around in his bag for some medicine. She sat in her chair, staring at him, confused at what was happening. Wasn’t she the one who was supposed to be the Grasshopper, not him? She felt a stab of pain as she watched the Ant disintegrate. The innocent smile that was always plastered on his face when she was around disappeared and in replacement gave her a sight to watch in terror. “It was fun, Jessica and I had our third month anniversary there.”

The smile on her face was fake, the fakest he had ever seen her fake. “I had to type up some things before going home. There’s always a next time,” she said cautiously, trying to make herself believe that there would always be a next time. “Congratulations on your relationship though,” she stated, the words full of emptiness that he couldn’t quite understand.

“Maybe next time?” he asked. Yoona shrugged her shoulders; her eyes that seemed to be so vivacious seemed to morph into a more serious, but content look. “I’ll see you later, Ant,” she added before taking her bag and heading out of the office, leaving him alone. More alone than he ever been before.

He was used to it. He believed that he was used to it. He knew he was used to being alone. Everyone seemed to be stepping out of his life as he entered it. His mother, his best friend, Yoona. He didn’t want to be an outcast anymore that was why he stepped out of that lifestyle. The Ant lifestyle, being a workaholic, having no friends.

He drank himself drunk that night.

“You drank a lot last night,” Yoona stated.

“Yeah.”

“Did you have fun?” she asked as she piled the rest of her files into the inbox, her eyes lingered on the shell of a man she used to know. She took off her pumps as he continued to stare at his own inbox. Nothing.

“Not really, Jessica broke up with me,” he turned to the Grasshopper and faked a smile as well. “She meant well,” she added nonchalantly like she was with one of the supervisors. He didn’t want to be someone like that around her. He watched as she took out one of her pills. When did she take these pills? He stared at her oddly as she swallowed the pill.

“You sick?” he asked, his eyes darting back and forth. Yoona laughed lightly like she did in the past and said, “I can’t drink anymore.” He didn’t understand what that meant. “But yeah, I got sick awhile ago.” Yoona shrugged her shoulders, turning away from the Ant. Donghae glanced at the Grasshopper who was now coughing. She didn’t seem okay, but he took her word for it and went back to sleeping.

Yoona glanced at the Ant and sighed regretfully, she missed Donghae. Not this man who was someone else, she missed the conversations they had that weren’t about drinking or parties or his girlfriend. She missed the guy who wouldn’t pay attention and glance at the ceiling forgetting what they were talking about. She missed the nonalcoholic Donghae, the one who she looked up to when it came to working. Diligently, but having fun as he did his work.

Yoona quit a week later. Donghae felt another stab of pain. She didn’t tell him or anyone why she left. She just left. The words he never got to utter to her, gone. It was all because of his drunken stupor, sleeping in on the job, waking up to see her do all his work and without even saying thank you he headed for the clubs, Jessica holding his hand.

The Ant was supposed to let the Grasshopper starve. The Grasshopper was supposed to starve. So why was it that the Ant was starving while the Grasshopper let him in?

Yoona looked at the man standing at her door. He had a friendly smile on his face, his eyes lacked bags when she last saw him. The Ant looked like the Ant, not some Grasshopper.

He pulled her into a hug and laughed lightly. After realizing that she hadn’t let go of him, he let go. Yoona stared at him oddly. The Ant turned Grasshopper turned back into an Ant.

“Thank you.”

Yoona smiled lightly. He smiled back. In the months that she was gone, he realized something. Life was to be lived at the fullest, carpe diem. But one couldn’t live it to the fullest all the time; one had to find balance between always playing and always working. It was something he couldn’t have figured out without her help, without this stupid Grasshopper he wouldn’t be in this spot, learning more. Because life had lessons to learn and he had more to learn.

“Donghae, hurry up! It’s getting cold out there!” she exclaimed.

It was the very first time she called him Donghae, Lee Donghae. He wasn’t the Ant or the Grasshopper, he was Donghae. Donghae entered the apartment with a smile. He was happy.

Happy of the story in which the Grasshopper had already learned its lesson and the Ant finally learned it.