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'Life is a mystery, Love...sweet as cherry.'

The song sung in that weird, not-manly-yet-not-feminine-enough-voice-to-be-man-or-woman caught my ears' attention, as I dabbed the angry tears off my cheeks, hoping it wasn't caught by the taxi driver who looked like he's just a few years older than myself, probably someone who could pass off as a sunbae, if I was in school.

"Aish...this stupid song again." He spoke out, as if reading my mind.

"Can you just...change the channel?"

"Sure. You don't like Cherryish though? Many women I've met love Cherryish. Even my wife and my daughter."

"No." I kept my answer simple, not wishing to have the conversation prolonged. Not after having a bad day.

No, not even bad, but possibly the worst yet...at least in these few years. Even worse than getting into accident. And even worse than getting dissed by my relatives or getting into fight with Mother, or I don't know...well, I'm trying to not include Juliet in the equation, because I'm sure she's happier now, and I wouldn't want that happiness of hers to be associated with anything as bad as this.

The thing I feared the most had just happened.

And now I knew why they kept trying to distract me whenever I talked about wanting to go back to work. They probably knew this was coming. No wonder nobody from the office even bothered to come visit me even once.

I was sacked. I lost my job, the only thing that gave me the tiny bit of self worth I owned. And now, no...since some thirty minutes ago(maybe longer, but since I just learnt about it...), I'm nothing but just a middle aged woman with not a single value - no husband and children of my own, no job, no more car after the accident and I couldn't drive now with my condition, no friend, nothing I can call my own, and I've never been as scared to face the world than now.

Scared to even step down from this taxi.

I lost everything just like that. Thanks to the accident, no...thanks to Cherryish. If it wasn't for the task to persuade that prick, I wouldn't have gone to the mansion. I wouldn't have met that river guy again. And I'd have never known Jerry as Cherryish's manager or caretaker...whatever he or she is. I would've never went back to that place just because of Cherryish scandal with some random woman that caused that Chichi idol girl to make stupid demand I had to work to fulfill on her behalf. I wouldn't have gotten into that accident and be hospitalized for a month. I wouldn't have to return to the office, only to learn that my position had been taken over by the sweet faced intern, Eunhee, and only to be humiliated by that woman I've never met before, who seemed to have been appointed as the higher authority by Madam Hwang, and was all too happy to humiliate people she doesn't even know with such ease, with her eyes that could devour anyone she's targetting.

"So you should be allowed to get back to work here because of accident? It's your own fault that you got into an accident. If you couldn't take care of yourself, how do you expect to take care of the company? The clients? Besides, image is important for this company. Don't you think that you look like a laundry shop ahjumma?" She said everything with a very calm, regal smile, that probably belonged to a demon.

Her low pitched voice sounded like it filled the entire space, and that everyone heard everything, even without her having to shout at all, as if she purposely used inner strength to make her voice audible for everyone to pick on me. What is she? Apart from looking so young, yet so elegant, glamorous even in her simple white dress shirt and khaki pants, and with her reddish brown tousled hair let down unstyled, and having the eyes, face, body and poise that probably could make the world(especially men) bow down to her, and that creepy smile of hers, I couldn't see what's so great about her.

The smile that made me couldn't utter a single word to fight back for my own dignity, even w