Slowly stirring awake, Yizhuo places her arm over her eyes, trying to avoid the sunlight.

 

Her consciousness slowly returns to her, she's finally able to feel the cold breeze of the room, the warmth of the bed, especially on one side of her body; the left.

 

There's a foreign warmth coming from her left, she turns her head over to look at the source of heat; it's a man. 
 

Right... He wasn't fun at all.

 

Well to be fair, it hasn't been fun with anyone in a long while...

 

, am I getting bored of ? 
 

 

A glance at the man beside her, he's handsome, well built, better than average.

 

So yeah, she gets her answer.

 

I'm...ed.

 

Deciding to leave early in fear of the man wanting a second round or something of the sort, Ning quickly gets ready; putting her clothes back on, picking up her phone. 25%. 
 

She practically runs out of the apartment, calling for a cab as she panics, having seen the date on her screen.

 

"WHY IS IT A MONDAYYYYYY!!!!!" So Yizhuo comes to realise that paying attention to the time as you fall asleep was in fact important.

 

Afterall, you could end up falling asleep on Sunday, WHILE STILL THINKING IT'S SATURDAY!

 

Ending up having to rush to work right after a one night stand with one of your colleagues from another department; which was... not very fun.

 

Jumping into the cab, Yizhuo quickly tells the man her home address as she pulls out an exact time clock on her phone, counting down the seconds before she gets home. Luckily for her, she did fall asleep on a colleague's bed, meaning that his apartment, too, was close to the office.

 

She arrives within 4 Minutes, giving the driver a $50 dollar note before running away, skipping the elevator in favour of the stairs, having confidence in her speed and endurance.

 

Only, she seems to have forgotten one crucial detail.

 

Oh! That she was in fact, in...heels.

 

A blister starts to form.

 

CAN THIS DAY GET ANY WORSEE!?!?!?

 

Well apparently it can, because in her ruffled, musty, sweaty, panting state; she runs into her neighbour.

 

Who also just happens to be her superior by like- 4 levels. Aka the Head of the design department; Aeri Uchinaga, Korean name Kim Ae-ri, often called Giselle.

 

"Good morning...Miss Yizhuo?" Aeri is well dressed, as per usual.

 

A beautiful skin hugging button up, a navy blazer that covered up her curves in a way that accentuates her face, makeup that brings out the hot girl image she always carried; dress pants, slightly baggy, along with white leather shoes. Clearly the look of someone who had their life together...unlike; well- 

 

"Good morning Miss Kim." The raven chuckles slightly into her fist, Yizhuo finally fully getting up the steps before tilting her head, wondering what the older woman was laughing at.

She's not laughing at the state I'm in...right? Ahhh this is embarrassing...

 

"Miss Kim is a familiar name, it's Karina's girlfriend's surname too." Yizhuo's jaw drops open at the mention of their CEO's personal life.

 

I mean, it's Karina! My boss's boss! And she's GAY!?!? THAT'S TEA!

 

Aeri walks past Ning Ning, pressing the lift button.

 

"I'll see you at work then, have a nice day Miss Yizhuo." Right; the reminder of work. She 

 

Ning Yizhuo has about 45 minutes to bathe, change, do her make up, AND reach work.

 

This is ed.

 

She practically rips the clothes off herself, jumping into the shower and not even waiting for the water to be fully heated before running under the shower head, pouring the shampoo directly on her head before scrubbing away, closing her eyes as she counts down the seconds it takes before the shampoo clears her hair of any dirt, running back into the water the next.

 

Body soap, rubbed everywhere in quick succession; Ning Ning quickly washes her hands before picking up a toothbrush and squeezing a dot of toothpaste on the bristles, brushing her teeth as the water washes the soap off her body, she slides her hand over her skin with the water, further cleaning her body.

 

Face wash, foamed up and roughly patted all over, Yizhuo scrubbing her face, washing it off. A towel is wrapped under her arms as she runs to the closet, throwing out a set of clothes; A simple long brown skirt, and a white singlet underneath a yellow cardigan.

 

The cloth is thrown on before Ning starts doing her makeup as she walks out of her front door, left hand placing on some foundation, right hand putting on the same pair of heels; it stings the back of her feet, the blister on her achilles heel being rubbed accidentally.

 

"Ah- ." Contouring.

 

Walking out the elevator, Yizhuo sees a nice black car parked right at the drop off point.

 

Ah, I'll have to stand in the sun to wait for my taxi??? Nooo~~~ 

 

 

A foolish worry; the passenger seat window rolls down.

 

"Let's go Miss Ning~ Any longer and we might be late." Uchinaga Aeri sits on the driver's seat, smiling at her through the gap.

 

Yizhuo walks over slowly, gently grabbing the door handle, sitting down on the passenger's seat right next to Aeri.

 

"Thanks for waiting for me." Shy, Yizhuo smiles softly at the older woman, brushing her hair to the back of her ears; Aeri only laughs.

 

"Don't worry, I'd rather not get there early too, and I'd definitely rather me being a little later than usual compared to you being late completely." There's a pause in the car before the older woman reaches over, pulling the seat belt past Yizhuo's shoulder into the buckle.

 

The raven's eyes do a once over the younger woman, smiling before driving off.

 

There's a million thoughts running through Yizhuo's mind; the first being whether this sensation of a racing heart was real.

 

Don't get her wrong; Ning is by no means a beginner to love. Just- for a woman? That was new; it doesn't feel too bad, Ning Ning thinks she can get used to this.

 

"You look cool when you drive." It's a shameless attempt at flirting, and by the smile on Aeri's face she clearly doesn't get the hint.

 

"Hehe, I always do." The older woman's voice is confident, matter of fact; Ning likes it.

 

"You're so right.."  A moment of silence, Aeri glances at her before looking back onto the road.

 

"Uhm...can I ask- wait never mind." Despite the hesitance and the lack of any form of hint about the question, Yizhuo already knows exactly what the older woman wanted to ask.

 

About me sleeping around; as per usual.

 

"You want to ask about the rumors, right?" Aeri only rolls her lips in, chewing on her bottom lip.

 

"It used to be fun, used to feel nice." Brown eyes gaze out the tinted windows, watching, recognising the landmarks that pass by; they were nearing the company now.

 

"Made me forget about how horrid life was." A gulp, the Chinese woman remembering what it was like, college, university, even at the beginning of work.

 

"Now that I'm more fulfilled in life it's gotten boring, but not doing it feels lonely...so I continue." She's tried to stop, but being alone at night, cold, alone with her thoughts; it's not fun, it's overwhelming.

 

She starts needing something to drown it out.

 

"It's like a routine, when I don't follow that routine it just- feels weird." They round the corner, Aeri driving down into the employee carpark.

 

"Have you tried other alternatives to not feeling alone?" Ah...it's this route.

 

"No, not really... reading doesn't really get rid of the loneliness; if anything it makes it worse." Is she really like this? If anything, I thought she would be... different.

 

"Why don't you try texting someone?" She's pretty, well off, smart, talented; funny...why is she doing something so... cliche? Wouldn't just flaunting that face and asking work?

 

"Have no one to talk to to be honest, I don't make many friends." The wine haired passenger runs her fingers through her hair, having an idea exactly how this would go.

 

"Ah- here, gimme your phone." The car is parked perfectly in one try; Yizhuo would have already alighted, if it wasn't for the Japanese woman holding her phone in her hands, tapping away at its screen.

 

A moment passes and she finally looks back up from the screen, smiling.

 

Text me anytime you're bored.

 

"Text me anytime you feel lonely or bored, or just- anything. I'll set up a push notification for you." The action is sweet, the push notification promise even sweeter.

 

"Even at work?" Yizhuo tries to push the boundaries a little; wondering just how much she could get away with with the raven. Wondering just how much Aeri was willing to do; she is after all, Ning Yizhuo.

 

"Uhm...not during meetings, you're not supposed to use your phone then and probably not before important work; I tend to talk a lot. But other than that? Yeah sure, if I'm not working or in the washroom; I'll reply." The boundaries are clear, just how Yizhuo likes them.

 

"Sure thanks Miss Kim!" 
 

"Aeri. Just call me Aeri, Yizhuo." 
 

"Got it."

 

 

Lunch time comes and suddenly Yizhuo finds herself boiling with hatred for heels.

The blister stings even when she simply tries to stand up off her desk, she clicks her tongue before removing her heels completely; plopping back down onto the desk.

 

"Oh, Ning! Would you like to go for lunch with me?" It's the same man from the previous night; Yizhuo clicks her tongue as she looks down onto her feet.

 

His eyes follow hers and he finally sees the blisters.

 

"Oh- hold on, let me get some food for the both of us then-" He scratches