The room was eerily quiet except for the sound of pouring rain and constant steps of Hyewon as she paced around. She was now in her rented room back in the inn, and she received a text from their CEO a while ago regarding an online meeting. Hyewon was freaking out because first of all, their CEO hates online calls or meetings, or anything online for that matter, secondly, their CEO despises sudden meetings out of nowhere, and lastly, their CEO would NEVER text her as he firmly believes phone messages are plainly disrespectful. To top all of it, their CEO barely interacts with other staff directly, only passing his words through their editor-in-chief. Heck, they do not even see him in his own office, as if he was invisible. So when Hyewon received a text from the CEO saying that they'll have an online meeting at exactly 10 am, one can just imagine the reporter's distress. Fortunately, she received the text when they were already in the inn, and with ample time to prepare herself. After a quick shower and a little organizing of her stuff, Hyewon found herself pacing back and forth across the room. Her anxiety even growing as Yuri was there on her bed, sleeping soundly as if she had not experienced a distressful event. Finally, she stopped and looked at the girl on her bed. A sigh escaped her lips and all she could do was sit on the edge of the bed, wondering how everything ended up this way. But who could she blame? She was the one who acted on it; the moment she left her live reporting she knew everything would be a mess. But she did not dwell on it. Why would she when she just saved a person's life? That in itself was fulfilling her oath to serve the people. And somehow it felt right, that thought made her feel at ease at the sense of fulfillment of her profession.

Because that's what she had always wanted to do, right? To do something worthy, to be someone worthy.

Amid her pondering, the ringing sound coming from her laptop pulled her out of these thoughts. Hyewon immediately scrambled towards the desk at the corner of the room, chanting a quick pep talk to herself before answering the call. Properly facing the laptop screen, Hyewon accepted the video call and was met by the CEO with the view of the skyline in the background, inferring that he was in his office room. And that meant he was alone.

Unlike their editor-in-chief, the CEO was neat and nice. Compared to the grungy conference where they often had meetings, seeing the CEO's view was quite a change. The sun was out and the sky was clear, the whole ambiance of her CEO's view was a sight she certainly missed, almost mocking her with all its glory. But contrary to the bright look behind was the CEO's unreadable face. Hyewon had never interacted with the man in any way ever, except maybe when she had the interview to this job, but other than that, this was the second time they are going to talk. She had heard a lot of things about him, but knowing how it was to be the of rumors, she decided not to believe any of it. Until now. She now believed that he was a scary, ruthless man with no mercy at all because-

"My golly, Miss Kang! I never thought that you can make this much traction to our company. Imagine having that kind of impact just by a single clip is just, wow! I need to know a few things though, where is that person now? What happened and all? Because, you know what, with the noise it made in social media, we need to make it bigger and make use of this situation. By heavens, we can make this an exclusive coverage and we'll make a special documentary just for this. You got the sympathy of the public, and now you're a hero! We just need to interview that person you saved, was it a girl? I could barely see the face but anyway, we will just focus on you more after a heartfelt interview with her, oho! Imagine the reaction of the public, just imagine. I can see the future, aha! This will make our name big, might even come close to the big league. My, oh my. I don't know what you did but you're more than a reporter now, you're a celebrity. And with your pretty face, I assure you, you'll never be forgotten by the public."

The man laughed out loud after spitting a rap-like monologue, and it baffled Hyewon so much. She tried to process everything she has heard but it just does not make sense to her. After the CEO's laughter died down, Hyewon raised a question.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hong, I don't quite follow. What exactly do you want me to do?" she asked timidly, confusion written all over her face. Her hands were once again cold due to nervousness, and she was not liking the progression of their meeting so far. She heard Mr. Hong chuckle, almost maniacally in her opinion.

"As expected of reporters, always straight to the point. Same as us businessmen, but honestly media changed me to be this ambiguous. Anyway, what I meant was you need to stay there and report your stay in that god-forsaken place, as much as possible get everything on cam, and by the love of god! Interview whoever that person was, god, an insane person I must say. Nutcrack, absolutely," the CEO explained, clicking his tongue every few often. "So as I was saying, you're there covering the goddamn rain for a day, yeah? Make it two, or three. Well, you can't go back anyway since the bridge's all gone. Now I need you to take good clips to be used for your documentary, okay? I am serious about making a special documentary for whatever the hell you did. This is a win-win for us.  Alright?"

Hyewon just stared straight at her CEO, not a muscle moving, not even batting her eye. Sensing that the reporter would not budge any second now, Mr. Hong bid his farewell, of course without failing to reiterate what he had been saying from the start of their meeting. Hyewon could only nod apologetically and offer a practiced smile, something she has mastered for quite a while now. Once the online meeting ended, Hyewon could not help but bang her head against the desk. She had completely forgotten that the bridge connecting their city and this province was now long gone, and she does not know whether there were other ways to get into the city. So, she was stuck. In the middle of a storm. In some inn in the province. With a total stranger.

Feeling all her energy being from her body, Hyewon decided to cook something. She looked at the contents of the fridge as she dragged herself towards it -- ranging from pasta to vegetables to meat -- but ended up picking the ingredients for porridge. As the foodie she was, Hyewon could not even believe herself that she is turning back on all those much tastier food, but her will to eat left her earthly body making her cook up something she once said as a sick man's food. 

But even if her mind detested the thought of cooking and eating porridge or anything for that matter, she still cooked it anyway. As she was stirring the contents of the pot, she remembered that she told Yena that she'll call her back, so she decided she'll call them later while eating the food she prepared. Gathering a bowl of porridge after some minutes of cooking it, she went back to the desk and started eating there, setting up her laptop to video call her friends. After giving it a few rings, her call attempt was answered by a fuming Yena and an annoyed Sakura, on separate screens. Hyewon reckoned the two were at their workplaces now. She smiled awkwardly at the two and decided to say a word first.

"Porridge guys? You look like you haven't had breakfast yet..." she said, dragging her words while mentally banging her head on the wall for the gawky statement. Of course, the two were not impressed. Hyewon sighed, "I'm sorry for making you guys worry. But I'm fine now."

"You look like ," Sakura deadpanned, looking very much unimpressed with what Hyewon said, and it earned an approving nod and a pout from Yena. It irked Hyewon, the thought that she could not hide anything from her friends -- best friends. Even though miles apart, a single slip from her lips could already be deduced by the two as something. It irked her, but at the same time, it amazed her. Knowing how her friends would not let this one go, she decided to tell them what happened with her online meeting with Mr. Hong. The two attentively listened as if their lives depended on it, carefully intaking all the information given to them. And after explaining everything, the two deeply sighed too, the way Hyewon did after hearing the shenanigans of her CEO. The three just let the silence sank. Sakura had her hands behind her head as she leaned on her chair while Yena tapped on her desk repeatedly, which would have been irritating if not for the situation they learned just now. And Hyewon was just quietly eating her porridge, eating it clean, and even after taking it to the sink, the atmosphere of their video call was still the same. Until Yena dropped her thoughts.

"So, let me get this straight. You are tasked to interview the total stranger you saved from the storm and ask about why they did what they did, the very same stranger sleeping now on your own bed?" To which Hyewon just nodded. "But I don't see any problem with that though? I mean, you're just interviewing her. It's not that bad. Why are you so conflicted?"

Why are you so conflicted? Even Hyewon could not think of an answer to that, but thankfully Sakura shared a piece of her mind.

"Well, first off, the aim of their CEO is exploitative, even if we put it that way, that she's just interviewing her, it still kinda is, I don't know, shady? But well, you did it out of goodwill, right? You know, the whole saving her thing," Sakura rationalized. "Why did you do that anyway? Saving her? I mean, I'd be pretty scared if I were in your position, and I'd rather call the authorities than risk my life like that."

Why did you do that anyway? Saving her? Now, these questions were starting to annoy the wits out of her because she has no answer. And perhaps her friends saw how distraught her face looked because Yena opened up a new topic.

"Anyway, have you heard from the states?"

Ah right. She had long forgotten about that. Hyewon just shook her head, not wanting to talk to it seemingly. "I'll deal with it later."

And the three proceeded to talk like they have not seen each other just last night, even if the two were supposed to be working at that hour until both were summoned by their bosses to do their jobs. It was then that they decided to end the call.

A long sigh escaped her lips as she leaned back on the chair, but a scream startled her. Hyewon turned around to see Yuri up already and confusion and wariness were written all over her face. "What happened? Why am I here? Who are you?!"

The girl said those words at once but after a while realization sunk into her. She scrambled out of the bed, and frantically searched for her sling bag, to which Hyewon pointed out, and fished out her phone only to see that has no battery left. Hyewon noticed that Yuri was starting to panic once again so she decided to speak.

"You already called Chaewon? I think it's Chaewon, and you talked to your mom. Calm down, Yuri. Take deep breaths," Hyewon calmly said in an imposing tone yet soft one. This caught Yuri's attention, and she just stared at Hyewon with her watery eyes after hearing the word 'mom'. As if all energy left her limbs, she slumped down on the floor and started sobbing uncontrollably.

"I need to...go home..." Yuri said in between sobs. "I need to be home."

"Do you remember how you got here? Or even a clue of what happened earlier?" Hyewon asked cautiously, afraid to hurt her further, but Yuri just shook her head. Hyewon took a deep breath to calm herself, she never thought she needed it too. She squatted in front of Yuri's tiny frame and reached out for her hand, and when she felt no resistance, she also held her other hand. She did it because she knew what she was about to say might devastate the poor girl even more, or maybe she did it just because.

"Actually," Hyewon started, and Yuri ceased crying to focus on the other girl. "You were trying to cross the old bridge but then the bridge started to crumble, it just so happened that I was also there so I helped you. But the bridge is gone now so..."

Yuri let go of Hyewon's hands, disbelief painted painfully across her face. Before the girl could burst into tears again, Hyewon consoled her once more."But I heard that the authorities are working on it already, so it will take around 2-3 days to create a temporary bridge, so don't worry."

Yuri stared at her with horror, unable to say a word, and ended up crying once more. This time, Hyewon offered a hug to comfort the crying girl, albeit awkwardly, but it was the best she could offer. They stayed like that for a few minutes, with Yuri shedding tears on Hyewon's chest as Hyewon pat Yuri's back, as the rain continued to terrorize the province. And in the midst of this, Hyewon thought that maybe her fate was tied down with this stranger, a stranger who turned into an acquaintance of some sort, despite the said stranger not knowing who she was hugging. Hyewon chuckled at that thought, which made Yuri stiffen and pull away from the latter, putting a quizzical and wary glare at Hyewon.

"I'm sorry for laughing. I just find it amusing that here you borrowed my phone, slept on my bed, and cried on my shoulders without knowing my name," Hyewon said in a lighthearted manner, but upon seeing how apologetic Yuri looked suddenly, she added, "I'm joking. I'm just trying to make the atmosphere light, you know..."

"I'm Hyewon, by the way. Nice to meet you, Yuri." Hyewon offered a hand that was reciprocated by a hug, surprising her but warmly welcomed it.

And as Hyewon was being hugged by the other girl, giving all her might, she heard a whisper, almost inaudible, but loud enough to knock at doors of her heart. "Thank you..."

"...Hyewon."