CALIFORNIA, 01 AUGUST 2019

HWANG ENTERPRISE

“There is a meeting with Centennial Holdings at two p.m, private gathering with your parents at five p.m and you're free after, Ms. Hwang.”

“Alright. You're dismissed for the day.”

“Thank you, Ms. Hwang.”

Tiffany sighed the umpteen times for the day and buried into her hands, after closing the communication window on her desktop. Endless meetings with clients whom her parents deemed important assets for the company, a pile of files queued to get signed approvals, the third or fourth cup of coffee for the day, and it's not even passed noon time.

Despite these being a daily routine, she was still trying to get accustomed to it. Did she actually wish for all these? No. Because after all these years, she's still led on the nose by her parents. Not like she did not try to escape this predicament but the risky threat of  her lover's life at stake had her crawling back, resigning to her fate.

Another year gone by, how long had it been, she had lost count. Birthdays celebrated with her were meaningful, unlike what's it like to spend the day with her parents. It was just a convenient occasion for them to make it into another business event, a slap to her face when she once again felt like she was born for only business purposes.

Shaking the negative thoughts off, her eyes took a glimpse of the time and noted that it was lunchtime. She swiftly grabbed her belongings and the meeting file, and left her office. Before heading to the Centennial Holdings building, she decided to make a stop at a café near the building.

“Good afternoon, Miss. What would you like to order?”

Glancing at the menu above, she decided to settle for their avocado frappe and a fresh-baked blueberry muffin.

“One avocado frappe and one blueberry muffin. Having here or takeaway, Miss?” Seeing the café packed with crowd, she decided on the latter.

“Your name, Miss?”

“Tiffany.”

“Alright, please wait a moment for your order. We will call you once it's ready.”

Either she was hallucinating or she was high on caffeine, but the staff was staring at her throughout, with an awfully familiar coldness. Do I know her?

Her name was called shortly after and when she was about to take her order, the staff refused to let go.

“You kept my sister waiting.”

Dang. She got her answer.

Before she could come up with a reply,

“You could have tried reaching out to her and not just leave her hanging.”

“It’s not that simple-”

“If she meant anything to you at all, nothing is difficult, isn't it?”

“I-”

Her words were cut off again, this time by a customer.

“Look, if you ever change your mind, here's my number.”

A string of numbers were scribbled at the back of the receipt, passed to her, and Krystal was behind the cashier again. Leaving the café and back inside her car, she stared on the piece of paper. Fishing out her phone, she saved the numbers in her contact before driving to the building, flood of questions on her mind.

Tiffany had two hours spare ahe