Broken. 

The mug that was previously in Irene's hands was now shattered on the floor. It was a very busy Friday afternoon in their office as they were all rushing to finish their remaining tickets. It is once again the end of another sprint for one of their company's main projects. Sprint 11, Irene counts. The end of a sprint marks the start of another deployment, another version release of the application they were developing.

Irene has only one ticket left. One more task to go before she can take her leave and finally get some much needed rest. As one of the Senior Front End Developers for their digital marketing company, she isn't really required to stay with the infrastructure team and the team leads for deployments. She wouldn't really want to stay either even if you asked her. She has been worked to the bone for the past two weeks. For this sprint, she has picked up the most tickets among all the team members. Not by her choice though, there were just a lot of unfortunate personal matters as of late that had caused most of her teammates to miss work. This left her with the huge responsibility of filling the gap.

She initially got some coffee to take a break in one of the bean bags in their lounge. But before she could even take a sip from her steaming mug of coffee, she lost her grip on the mug and dropped it on the cold, hard floor.

"Irene! Are you alright?" Joy rushed to her friend. She immediately got some paper towels to help Irene dry off.

"Yeah, I'm just.. tired." Irene assured her friend.

Joy knows that the girl is indeed tired. But after knowing Irene for two years, she knows that there's more that the girl doesn't want to discuss at the moment.

"Why don't you just go home for now? There's just one ticket left on your plate right?" Irene nods absentmindedly, turning her attention to the shattered mug on the floor. 

"Great, I'll go talk to your teammates. Wait for me at home, okay?" Joy ordered her friend to which Irene nodded weakly. Irene starts to pick up the broken remains of her mug silently. A hand stops her midway through picking up the shards.

"Joohyun, please." Joy pleads.

"Sooyoung, I need this. This is my favorite." Irene smiles weakly, tears forming in her eyes.

"I'll have the pieces boxed for you and take it home later. Go home." If Joy notices the way Irene desperately fuzzes over the plain-looking, orange mug, she decides not to pry further.

Park Sooyoung or Joy is Irene's work mate and closest friend in their company. They have also been roommates for the last two years, ever since Irene joined their company as a Junior Developer. 

Joy is part of the HR team and was the one in charge of Irene's onboarding to the company when she first arrived. They immediately hit it off during introductions. This prompted Joy to ask Irene to have lunch with her since she's the first friend the brunette has made in the company. During lunch, Joy discovers that Irene was currently staying in a cheap motel as she explains that she was kicked out of her apartment for not being able to pay rent. Joy notices that Irene certainly doesn't look like someone who can't afford her monthly dues, judging from her neatly pressed suit, signature watch and expensive leather bag, but she doesn't comment on it. She concludes that she doesn't know enough about the girl to jump to any conclusions.

"What? That sounds unsafe and dirty, Irene." Joy grimaces. 

"Well, I don't really have a choice at the moment. I just got kicked out and I haven't had the time to look for a new apartment." Irene sighs.

"You know what? I have an extra room in the apartment! Why don't you just stay with me? Rent's just cheap since we'll have to split it between the two of us so you won't have a problem with that." Joy offers enthusiastically.

"Are you sure?" Irene hesitates.

"Of course! It's been too lonely living alone anyways! It's about time I get a new roommate. Come on, Irene Let's be roomies!" Joy reaches for both of Irene's hands as she beams at the girl.

"Thanks, Joy. Y-you can call me Joohyun." Irene smiles shyly.

Irene makes her way down their building though the elevator. The security guard greets her a goodbye as she passes through the exit. She replies with a slight smile and a small nod of her head. She continues to walk over to the bus stop about 5 blocks away from their building. While waiting for the 4:30PM bus, which arrives in roughly fifteen minutes as she calculates, she contemplates on leaving her spot and grabbing some takeaway at the fast casual Chinese restaurant near the bus stop. Despite realizing that she has not eaten since breakfast and fearing the possibility of getting an earful from Joy for skipping her meals, she decides against moving from her spot. I don't have an appetite anyway. Irene thinks. 

While waiting for the time to pass, she pulls out her phone to check for any important messages she might have missed. As her phone lights up at the press of the home button, the first thing her eyes land on is the date today. 

February 10, 2018. It's her birthday today. Irene notes for the nth time that day.

1 missed call: Mom

1 text message: Joy

Irene first checks the message she received from Joy and replies to it immediately, not wanting to cause more stress to her caring friend.

Bae Joohyun! You better eat! When I come home at 6PM I better find some traces of food in our apartment. >:( 

Yes, mom. See you later! I'll also buy some wine! So be sure to get your home! ;) 

"Now, I really gotta eat. I guess I'll just stop by the grocery later." Irene mutters. 

She was honestly really grateful for Joy. Admittedly, she owes Joy a lot of explanations. She has always been a shy and private per