New York, USA – 8:00 a.m. 12/31/20

“Dahyun, for the love of God, the day has barely started. You’ve been crying since you woke up at the break of dawn. What happened?”

Wendy turned the gas stove off to direct her attention to the very much disheveled girl sitting on one of the tables in their common room. Dahyun, the said teary-eyed girl, couldn’t even begin to speak as her lips trembled and her body shook. It was a rare sight to see the piano prodigy huddled up in her red checkered pants and oversized sweater bawling her eyes out and not astounding both the student and faculty body of Julliard.

The older girl, Wendy, sighed before plating their breakfast for today. “I’ve never seen you this upset, you got a B last semester and you didn’t even bat an eye. Now you’re giving the Niagara Falls a run for its money.”

Still the pale skinned girl couldn’t formulate a word to come out of . Dahyun instead avoided Wendy’s stare by gazing out of the window to her left. What she saw alarmed and confused her. A woman stood on top of the building right across from them, right on the ledge. One wrong move, or the wind knocking too strong could send the person diving into her own demise.

Dahyun hurriedly urged Wendy to look out the window as well, nearly toppling her bowl of porridge. “Hey what – “

“Look!”

Wendy peeled her eyes off of Dahyun and took a look at what the younger is pointing at. “What am I supposed to see?”

Dahyun, more confused, blinked and rubbed at her eyes only to see that the woman no longer stood where she’s sure she saw her. “I swear there was someone there.”

“You’ve lost so much bodily fluids you’re start to see things. Eat up, you have a performance to prepare for.”

*********

Barcelona, Spain – 2:00 p.m. 12/31/20

“Welcome to Barcelona!”

“Thank you for flying Singapore Airlines!”

“Have a nice stay!”

The cabin crew greeted out the passengers as they got off the plane. Each steward wore their best and friendliest smiles as they stood near the exits. Tzuyu, the youngest member of the team, began to walk the expanse of the Airbus A350-900 that they used on this flight from Singapore.

Tzuyu checked every row for any belongings left behind from the farthest seat in economy to the seats closer to the cockpit in business. Once she was sure that the cabin was clean, Tzuyu walked to the back of the plane again to where they kept their own things. Humming along to a random tune, the young flight attendant’s attention was caught by a woman crouched down between a middle row in economy.

“Excuse me, Ma’am, did you leave anything?” Tzuyu slowly approached the woman who seemed to have ignored her presence. “Ma’am?”

“Tzuyu!” The brunette quickly spun around from hearing her friend, Joy’s voice, echoing through the empty plane. “There’s a lady wanting to speak with you.”

“Hold on, there’s a passenger left he-,” Facing back to the woman in question, there was no one there. Tzuyu looked around to see whether she had walked away or the constant flying on long hauls for 6 days has got to her head. “I don’t see anyone, Tzuyu,”

“Yeah, sorry, I’m probably just tired.”

Joy took the young woman’s hand and led her back to the front of the plane where another woman dressed in a neatly pressed, navy blue pantsuit waited for her.

“You must be Ms. Chou Tzuyu, glad to meet you. My name is Bae Joohyun.”

*********

Clark Quay, Singapore – 8:00 p.m. 12/31/20

“Yoooooooooooooow! We are about to turn up! Last day of the year baby! I will make 2021 my . No cap”

Music boomed all around. The smell of food wafted through the air. People didn’t care who they bumped into. The energy is high and alcohol flows fast. Everyone is excited to welcome the new year and there’s no better way to do it than to get faced at a countdown party with a bunch of strangers; and your friends of course.

Chaeyoung should be out there, dancing with said strangers (and friends) and drowning herself in booze, but instead she’s sat at a table outside the bar they frequent in nursing her untouched, first glass of margarita. (on a normal day, by this hour, it would’ve been her 4th already)

“Son! Come on, stop mopping! You’ll see it in the lost and found when we get back. Let loose honey!”

Our little artist, Chaeyoung here, has been down in the dumps since she lost her painting project 3 days ago. She’s sure that it’s somewhere in campus, so at least there’s some form of reassurance there, but still, that thing costs more than a half of her grade this semester. Never getting it back would mean she’d either do the piece over again or repeat that particular subject altogether. Both equally doesn’t sound better than the other.

Two of Chaeyoung’s closest friends dragged her out to the core of nightlife in Singapore against her protest (pleas) that she didn’t have the energy or the mood to step out of her apartment. They were persistent, and annoying, so the blonde Picasso-esque girl grumbled curse words under breath the whole time they travelled from her humble abode to the noisy riverside hot spot.

Sighing, Chaeyoung downed her drink in one gulp, instantly feeling different once the alcohol hit her tongue. Nearly slamming the glass down on her table, Chaeyoung’s two friends cheered on as she finally decided to  it. what? Well there’s a lot around here.

Chaeyoung’s eyes scanned the people walking by, a lady wearing a lab coat stood out from the half- people strutting the street like it’s a runway. A chill ran down Chaeyoung’s spine as she caught the eyes of the lady, she could feel it staring into her soul. A large group of people passed and the lady was lost in the crowd.

“Could you grab me something harder than this”

*********

Taguig, Philippines – 9:00 p.m. 12/31/20

Im Nayeon is sociable, she makes herself stand out there, she’s supposed to be in the center of the room, all eyes on her. So why is she all alone in her apartment, dressed ready for bed, scrolling through Netflix while eating ice cream right out from the tub.

She could faintly hear the music from the clubs and bars nearby hosting New Year’s Eve parties, and to be honest, she’d like nothing more than to get up, don her iest dress and walk in there like she owns the place. That’s not happening though, because no matter how much she wants to, she just can’t. Something in the back of her head tells her to stay put, eat her ice cream, and keep scrolling.

Nayeon didn’t particularly have a movie in mind to w