It was three in the morning when Sojung’s text came in. She had saved her own name as ‘Sojung eonni’ and Eunbi smiled at that and she kept smiling when the curt, but gentle messaged flared on the screen. “Have you eaten?” it said and Eunbi looked at it for a while before sending a lower-case “ye”.

            Eunbi had eaten. She had prepared another omelet, hiding the eggs when she was finished with them. The hundred-dollar bill was in her room, underneath a stash of art books.

            Eunbi’s roommate hadn’t returned to the apartment in a while, but who knows? Maybe the girl would come back and there was nothing to guarantee she wouldn’t take the money had she seen it. Maybe Eunbi was doing the other wrong by assuming she’d steal from her, but the fact was that Eunbi wouldn’t let anyone get close to that bill, regardless of who they were.

            Except her landlord, of course. It was going to him, after all. Which reminded her that she needed to contact him as soon as possible. The quicker she got that done with, the better she’d sleep at night.

            Eunbi looked at her phone, glancing away from her sketchbook a couple of times as she waited for Sojung’s answer. It came a few minutes later, written in a perfect grammar, that it was all good then, but she needed to go to bed, since it was late. Eunbi wanted to do just as Sojung said, but that wasn’t possible, having way too many things to be done until morning.

            She did, however, indulged the older by saying she’d be in bed as soon as she could.

            The strange giddiness when Sojung’s “good” came in was successfully ignored by Eunbi.

            Drawing silently—she had turned the music off as it started to distract her rather than help her concentrate—Eunbi allowed herself to think about the day she’d had. It had started normal enough albeit she was more airheaded than usual.

            Yewon had met her at lunch break and they talked a little about trivial things. Eunbi wanted to tell her friend about what had happened at the bar, but somehow the words didn’t come.

            It was as if her heart wanted to keep that little encounter to herself, even if it made her feel guilty. Yewon wouldn’t really mind it, she reasoned at some point, Yewon was too nice to be angry at her because of that. Still, Eunbi couldn’t help but worry about it.

            She didn’t know Kim Sojung, she didn’t know Jung Yerin, and regardless of how nice the two of them seemed, she had no idea who they were or even if they really worked as… company heroes. They could be axe murderers for all she knew. But still, Eunbi felt inexplicably both soft and anxious at the thought of the two women. Especially Kim Sojung.

            Kim Sojung, Kim Sojung, Kim Sojung… Eunbi didn’t know why or even if she could understand it, but the older caused something weird in her.

            Maybe it’s because she looks really rich, yeah, it must be the money vibes, she swallowed and took a look at her drawing. The humanoid figure was starting to resemble a woman and Eunbi frowned. She meant to draw a man. Getting her eraser, Eunbi thought that maybe she could go for a woman in that sketch. She just needed to fix some anatomy here and there.

            Eunbi thought that her mom would like how that was turning out. The older woman always liked her drawings.

            It had been a few weeks since she last talked to her family and she was missing them so much. She wondered if her brother had finally made up with his girlfriend and if her dad managed to get that promotion. Eunbi wanted to talk to them.

             I can’t videocall yet though, she bitterly thought as she drew the outline of the character’s body, mom must be worried about me, but I can’t look in her eyes and lie again.

            A hundred bucks helped a lot and prevented her from being evicted, but there was still the tuition money. Dollars and more dollars accumulated in her debt account. Things weren’t looking up and that scared Eunbi.

            The thought of nothing getting better scared her.

            Eunbi shook her head, trying to drive those thoughts away. That drawing wasn’t going to get done by itself and she needed to show something to her teachers or who knows what could happen. Rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, Eunbi yawned.

            Maybe she could ask Yewon to help her out with this.

            Kim Yewon was a really nice girl. They met a few weeks after Eunbi got to Maryland and the similarity of their personalities really helped their friendship bloom. There were many differences between them, of course, but the truth was that they didn’t have any problem with working them out. Yewon was sweet, caring and liked to from time to time. It made Eunbi feel a little bit better while she was surrounded by a completely foreign place and culture.

            When her life started to burn down, Yewon was the person she turned to, confiding to the girl her fears and worries. But, as time passed, and nothing began to get better, Eunbi felt more and more hesitant to rely her troubles on Yewon who was obviously struggling with her own assignments and projects.

            Eunbi hadn’t known Yewon for long, but she felt this weird need to protect the younger. Sure, she didn’t like to lie or pretend that she was alright, but Eunbi felt like she had to do it.

            She was the youngest in her family and being taken care of was something that she enjoyed, but problems upon problems started to pile up in her life and suddenly she just couldn’t feel comfortable with that anymore.

            She was weak, Eunbi often thought, and she needed to get stronger. Disappointment was something that she should avoid at all costs, too. Eunbi wasn’t sure she could take how awful the clawing inside her heart felt and if anything happened that her family got to know about her situation… she really didn’t know what she would do.

            White-knuckling her pencil, Eunbi closed her eyes for a second. She just had to work a little harder. It was almost December, almost Winter break. Eunbi would get a good job to work on and catch up with her expenses, maybe start saving to pay for her tuition. Yes, she could do it. Couldn’t she?

            Eunbi sluggishly exhaled.  “You’re okay, Jung Eunbi,” she muttered, “just a little bit more.”

            She just needed to do a little bit more.

            Standing up from her desk, she went to the kitchen to make some coffee. There was a tiny nagging voice behind her mind saying that she had promised Sojung she would sleep soon, but Eunbi pushed it away. This wasn’t something she could control—she had to get everything done no matter what self-care dictated.

            Eunbi grimaced at the mug and the dark liquid. She liked her coffee sweet and not that concentrated, but this wasn’t for pleasure, so she left it like that: strong and bitter. Taking a tentative sip, she bit back the groan inside and swallowed down the rest of the drink in long, arduous gulps.

            If caffeine was the only thing that could keep her awake then she’d swallow it down until things were done. She didn’t have the luxury of taking care of herself in the current situation.

            “Alright, let’s get this done,” Eunbi put the mug in the sink and filled it with water. She’d wash it in the morning.

            Her apartment was not that messy, she thought. Eunbi didn’t have much time to clean it up, but the dishes were something she liked to be clear of. On Sundays, she usually swept the apartment and washed her clothes, but that was pretty much it. Her room, however, constantly looked as if a hurricane passed there. Old sketches and failures were scattered across the floor, pencils and pens sometimes disappeared between her sheets, and rented books often went unread. It was a mess and she wasn’t exactly proud of it.

            But, hell, it wasn’t like she had the energy to be bothered by it.

            Sitting down again, Eunbi stared at her drawing. What else could she do it with it?

            For one long minute, she remained still.

            Eunbi sighed. That was going to be a long night.

            Sojung woke up with a headache.

            Yerin had called her as soon as she got to the hotel and, saying that she was in a club and needed to speak fast, told Sojung how things went back at the company. It wasn’t anything surprising and even if it sounded like Yerin was skipping some stuff, Sojung didn’t press on it.

            If her friend said things were taken care of, then she believed it. However, this didn’t change the fact that she had even more emails and messages to answer. Sojung basically drowned herself in the dull task of opening her inbox and checking everything before allowing her fingers to find her phone.

            Texting Eunbi felt amazing, weirdly so, actually.

            It was a short exchange of messages and it hadn’t had anything special about it, but Sojung couldn’t wipe the smile off her face when she put the mobile down on the bed. A tingling feeling of concern itched on her mind, because it sounded like Eunbi wouldn’t go to bed anytime soon, but Sojung reasoned that she had nothing to do with it in the end.

            It hadn’t even been three days and she shouldn’t be this eager to talk to a stranger. Jung Eunbi was definitely a good girl, but still a stranger. Sojung should be acting like it.

            As she woke up and gulped down a couple of aspirins, Sojung texted Yerin to see if the younger woman was already ready to go to the company. They had found the problem and taken care of it as quickly as they could, but now damage control came into place. And Sojung knew how long that could take.

            There were a couple of times in which she had to stay for more than a week fixing balances, doing meetings and even training employees before she could go home. Whenever that happened, her mood soured and discussions with Yerin were definitely more prone to occur. Long story short, Sojung dreaded these cases.

            But, somehow, she wasn’t that worried about it happening in Baltimore.

            Quickly getting ready, Sojung was fully dressed in her tailored cream suit and about to send Yerin another text when there was a light rapping on her door. She sighed, tying the straps of her black heels, and stood up from the bed. “Who is it?”

            Yerin giggled from the other side. “Room service, ma’am.”

            Sojung rolled her eyes, unlocking the door and swinging it open. “Why didn’t you answer my text? It’s been forty minutes,” she took a step back for Yerin to enter the room. The younger girl was dressed in a black dress and white heels, carefully matching her purse. With her hair tied up and bangs framing her face, she smiled to Sojung and shrugged.

            “I might’ve woken up a little late and when I got ready I thought it’d be more practical to come up to your room,” Yerin nonchalantly answered and sat on the bed. Sojung squinted her eyes, sensing something off about her phrase, but didn’t press on it. Sometimes it was better to remain blissfully unaware of what Yerin does. “Anyway,” she giggled again, “are you ready?”

            “Yes, almost,” Sojung stuff her tablet into her purse. “I just need to finish my make up and we can go.”

            Yerin hummed and observed Sojung grab her make up necessaire. The older woman went to the bathroom, back turned to Yerin and started to apply eyeliner. She could hear some shuffling behind her and she couldn’t help assuming that Yerin was out and about snooping around her room.

            Sojung sighed.

            “What are you doing?”

            “Trying to find out what girl you had here last night.”

            Whipping her head around and almost stabbing herself in the eye, Sojung gaped. She looked at Yerin who just couldn’t bite back her amusement. “What the hell?! There was no one here!”

            “You can’t lie to the scammer, eonni,” Yerin sang and looked around. “I can feel it. You were with a girl last night, weren’t you?”

            It wasn’t like that, Sojung wanted to say, but she didn’t know if that would make things any better. The woman huffed and turned around, trying to act as unbothered as possible. “There was no one here, Yerin.”

            Sojung could feel Yerin’s gaze burning on her back.

            “That’s not what I asked, though.”

            “What do you mean, of course it was—”

            “No, it wasn’t. I can see that nobody was here last night, I just checked it out, eonni. But this doesn’t mean you were alone all night.”

            Sometimes, Sojung got serious chills about Yerin. She finished her eyeliner and leisurely put on a light lipstick. She couldn’t lie to Yerin, no. Omitting was one thing, but lying? Lying was really not okay.

            “Eonni?”

            There was a softer tone in the call and Sojung hated when Yerin got like that. She really couldn’t resist the girl if she pulled the wise and understanding act.

            “Let me explain.”

            “Oh my God, I knew it!”

            Sojung groaned and turned around. Yerin had that eating grin on her face that made her squirm because, oh boy, now she was really not hearing the end of it. Sojung wondered if she should’ve started it differently.

            “It’s really not like that. You see, it was all a coincidence and…”

            “Eonni, you’re really not helping yourself talking like that.”

            Her shoulders slumped. “It’s just that nothing happened and that’s it.”

            “Is that so,” Yerin quirked an eyebrow. “Now, I’m just way too curious to know who got you sounding this disappointed.”

            “I’m not disappointed! It’s just that you are insufferable when it comes to things like this! And I don’t want you thinking that something happened between me and Eunbi—”

            “Eunbi?”

            “Oh, God.”

            Yerin barked out a laugh. “Tiny Eunbi? The Eunbi we met at the bar? Wow, eonni, I thought you really hadn’t gotten her number, but it looks like you were quicker than I realized.”

            “See! This is what I’m talking about! Can you please let me explain?”

            Looking like she was having the time of her life, Yerin nodded. “Of course, my dear eonni. Tell me everything.”

            “Goddammit—fine, here’s what happened. I went to MICA, got to one of the galleries and met Eunbi there. She was cleaning the place and then I went to talk to her. Apparently, she’s a student there—General Fine Arts, she said—and she looked, you know, like she did at the bar. Pale and, and really tired. So, I just offered to buy her a coffee and, seriously, that wasn’t an easy task. You have no idea of how hard it was, but, anyway, I managed to convince her. We went to a coffee shop near her college, talked for a while and then I drove her to her apartment.”

            Sojung took a deep breath.

            “That was it.”

            Yerin’s eyebrows were almost touching her hairline. “I don’t think I ever heard you talk so fast in my life, eonni.”

            Letting out an exasperated sigh, Sojung shook her head and walked to her purse. “Let’s go to work, Yerin.”

            “No, really. You were spitting fire. Have you ever considered being a rapper, eonni?”

            Sojung wouldn’t give Yerin the satisfaction of saying that she maybe had had. In a distant past. “It doesn’t matter. That was pretty much what happened. Now, come on, I’ll drive us to the company.”

            “Alright,” Yerin followed her out of the room. “How did she look, though?”

            Sojung pressed the elevator button. “What do you mean?”

            “Did she really look as bad as the other day?”

            She scrunched her nose and looked at Yerin. “I wouldn’t say as bad… but she did look exhausted. Eunbi actually told me she was here on a scholarship and she lost it because of… reasons, I think? Anyways, she’s working in several places now to get money for living costs and everything,” Sojung sighed as they entered the lift. “Actually, Yerin…”

            “What?” Yerin’s brow slightly furrowed.

            “I think that Eunbi’s barely sleeping,” Sojung exhaled, “she has a lot of part-time jobs and she’s studying during the night, but that’s clearly wearing her out. It was displayed on her face how tired she was.”

            Her friend thoughtfully hummed. “I get what you mean. To be honest, she looked so weak that night at the bar. I was really getting worried that she’d drop a glass and hurt herself or something.”

            “Yes,” they walked out of the elevator and Sojung asked for her car at the reception. “I got her number and I texted her around three am because I was caught up on work and all… and she answered it like she wasn’t going to sleep any time soon. This is… really unhealthy.”

            At those words, Yerin halted by the hotel’s open door. Sojung turned to look at her and was greeted by a quirked eyebrow.

            “What is it?” Sojung asked.

            “Uh…” there was the ghost of a smile on Yerin’s face. “Nothing,” she resumed her tracks. “I just don’t know if I’m impressed that you actually got Eunbi’s number or if I’m proud that you texted her at three in the morning.”

            Sojung didn’t want to think about the warmth spreading on her cheeks as she grumpily answered, “there’s nothing to be impressed nor proud about. I was just worried.”

            “Yeah, sure, eonni. Anything you say,” Yerin patted her back with a knowing smirk.

            Sojung opted to not retort and focus on the car parking right in front of them. She waited for Yerin to open the passenger’s door and enter the vehicle. It was a nice car, a black Honda Insight she had rented as soon as she got to Baltimore. Sojung liked to drive on her own instead of relying on cabs and private drivers. Yerin said she didn’t care about it, but she sure liked to have Sojung drive her around.

            “Did you talk with the CEO about what she’s going to do?” Sojung started the car and felt its soft vibrations. “She looked beyond lost yesterday.”

            “She sure did,” Yerin chuckled. “But she got herself together pretty quickly. She talked about a fancy dinner in a hotel near ours that will get investors and other companies together as an opportunity to get support in this crisis.”

            “Alright, I think that’s okay.”

            “And she wants us to come,” Yerin quietly added.

            Sojung had to hold herself back from groaning. “Does she now?”

            “Yes… and I said we’d go. It’ll be good, eonni. I know you don’t like these events, but… sacrifices, right?”

            Feeling Yerin’s sympathetic gaze, Sojung sighed. “Don’t worry, I’m used to them. It’s part of the job after all. Unfortunately, socializing and networking are important in this line of the business.”

            “Thank you, boss,” Yerin smiled and grabbed her phone. “I’ll get the details right away.”

            “Yeah, I sure hope you do,” Sojung snorted, “that’s kind of why I’m paying you.”

            Yerin gasped. “Seriously? I thought you just liked having me around.”

            “Of course, as if I’d ever pay someone to be around me,” Sojung shook her head.

            “Don’t be so sure, eonni,” her friend giggled. “Remember there was a time you said you’d never work with me? Look how that turned out.”

            Sojung scoffed and let the subject drop.

            The day was going to be long and she had to be mentally prepared to handle it.

            Oh, right. She could text Eunbi ‘good morning’, couldn’t she?