She's all laid up in bed with a broken heart

While I'm drinking Jack all alone in my local bar

And we don't know how we got into this mad situation

Only doing things out of frustration

It’s her own fault, really. Sana wouldn't say that she was proud of herself.

Beep.

She heard the text alert coming from her phone on the table. She gave a quick glance at her bedside clock and told her it was 6:30 AM. There was only one person who would text her this early. And it was not because that person was an early riser. No, it was quite the opposite. Momo had probably stayed up all night last night working on one of her pharmaceutical projects, now high on caffeine and adrenaline and needing attention and interaction. Either that, or she needed to be picked up from the microbiology lab after it was shut down due to an accidental slip while moving a dozen vials of raccoon virus to the fridge, just because she didn’t make two trips. Sana chose to assume the former, because she really, really wanted to sleep in a little bit more this morning.

Her phone stopped beeping for the next ten minutes, as the silence covered the room, she allowed herself to gently doze off again, before suddenly beeping a few times, making her awake again. She let out a heavy groan, blinking rapidly, as she turned over in her bed, grabbed the phone from her side table and looked at the screen as her eyes adjusted to the new found brightness. 

Momo

6:42 am

Satangg.

Momo

6:42 am

Satang, wake up, it's me, Momo <3

Sana rolled her eyes. I have your number, Momo. She scrolled down.

Momo

6:43 am

I made a breakthrough in my project and I need to share it with someone.

Momo

6:43 am

The drug I’ve been working on for the last 2 years just got approved by the FDA!

Momo

6:44 am

Come pick me up. I’ll buy you breakfast and tell you all about it.

Momo

6:44 am

You might as well. If you’re reading this, you’re up already.

Sana

6:45 am

You do know it is illegal to text someone before 7 AM, right?

Momo

6:46 am

Well, shibasana, not if you love them very much and want to share your happiness with them.

Sana

6:47 am

I am definitely not coming if you’re going to call me that.

She fought a weak internal battle with herself, already knowing she would lose, before typing again.

Sana

6:50 am

I’ll be there in 30 minutes.

She threw off her soft, warm covers, silently cursing Momo as the cold air hit her body, hauled her legs over the bed, and painstakingly pushed herself up. She wasn’t a morning person ever. Just before she made her way to the bathroom, she stopped and picked up her phone again.

Sana

6:53 am

Also. No more coffee for you.

Sana arrived 30 minutes later at JYP Pharma Inc. where Momo’s lab was located after. She had visited there frequently enough for the security guard at the front desk to let her in without needing her to be signed in. She pushed open the door to the microbiology lab, stepping into a large room filled with small clusters of metal tables distributed unevenly throughout the room. The room was filled with medical equipment and supplies on the side. The chemicals are safely secured in the glass cabinet by the wall. It has a wide room of safety area where Momo washes herself in case she accidentally spilled her chemicals to herself. Fitting, Sana thought, she doesn’t recognize what equipment is for and where they are used. But being in that lab makes her feel uncomfortable and claustrophobic. 

She saw Momo hunched over her table in the corner fiddling with some complicated heater spinner equipment that’s used for getting the vials to their right mixtures. She also noticed the multiple overturned coffee cups scattered around the table as well.

“Knock, knock,” Sana said, rapping on the nearest table to get Momo’s attention as she made her way over.

“Sana! You’re here!” Momo stood up to give her a bear hug. “You chose me over sleep. I’m so touched.”

“It’s not like you gave me much choice,” Sana grumbled.

“You know you love me. Just admit it.”

Sana rolled her eyes, lightly bumping Momo’s shoulder with her own, smiling in the process. “Yeah, yeah.” She glanced over at what Momo was working on. “Now what’s this amazing discovery that you couldn’t wait until a more human hour to show me? Was this the decongestant you developed?”

“No, no, we had to rebrand that as a solvent for mining equipment.” Momo began excitedly. As Sana let a bark laughed at her best friend. 

“Let me have another guess, this is about the anti-itch cream you were testing on grad students?” Sana said while still giggling, not sure if any of the stuff she sees is safe for anyone, anymore. 

“It’s not, but it’s a really funny story which I’m legally prevented from telling you.” As Sana let another bark of laughter at Momo, that caused her to reciprocate a wide grin. 

“It’s my anti-inflammatory drug! Let me walk you through it. So this is what my team and I have been working on for the past two years and three months. ” Momo scoffed. “Two years of testing and no reported side effects!” 

“So, it works?” Sana asked giving Momo a shocked face

“Eh.” She gave her friend a hand gesture of a half-half kind of thing. 

“Who needs sleep? Anyway, make sure you pay close attention and follow along. Sana-yah, maybe you should take notes.” She started glancing around her messy table for a notepad and sign pen. “Sana, do you need to take notes?”

“No, Momo. No.”

Sana listened and watched Momo describe and demonstrate her drug enthusiastically for about 45 minutes before she decided that she could not go on much longer without some caffeine herself. Truth be told, she had really only been paying attention to about 50% of what her friend was saying, and then only understanding about 20% of that. 

“And the absence of side effects means ‘Inflaminex’ can be taken in conjunction with other medications. As opposed to the leading nonsteroida