What have I done to deserve this?
Lamenting my existence, I tried to kick out a drunk guy from the convenience store where I currently work at. My day had started so well that I almost thought the universe had had it by making my life a living hell. But no, not yet.
"Baby, I only need your number," The guy reeked of alcohol and cigarette smoke, it took all my self-control to not kick him (literally) out of the store, where is my security guard when I need him? I wondered as I kept the straightest face I could put on, while politely asking the guy to step out. After asking him to step out one last time, I decided to ignore him and kept on attending to the other customers. And then, the guy signed his death sentence.
"Hey, are you a virgin?" His voice trailed off as he continued wiggling in front of me after the other customer stepped backwards a bit. I froze in place, a bottle of soju in one hand, I was mid-scanning. I looked at the guy and to my own surprise, I smiled.
"Come closer, I'll tell you," I said in a cheerful voice, the drunk idiot leaned a bit closer.
"Asking that out of the blue is rude, you idiot." My smile didn't fade as I looked him straight in the eye.
SMACK!
I grabbed a few paper towels to clean up the mess of the spilled liquid. The guy was now unconscious on the floor, a few customers looked at me frightened. I smiled at them and called for the next one in a cheerful voice. A few of the men who were regular customers chuckled and smiled at me. I gave them a pleading look, and they understood right away, about three of them grabbed the unconscious guy and took him out of the store, while one of the older ones threatened a guy who had recorded the whole incident.
Later that day, I gave them free drinks as thanks, they refused in the beginning, but I told them it was fine. They had been playing on the gambling machines while the commotion was happening, when they came to cash out their tickets they witnessed how I had smacked the bottle on the guy's head. They knew I must've had my reasons, and chuckled as they remembered how they had left the unfortunate guy in the middle of nowhere. They weren't heartless, and neither was I, so I gave them a few band-aids for the guy, and they cleaned his wound before throwing him out of the truck into the grass.
As I walked into my apartment that night, I couldn't help but feel like trash, and part of me wondered if my boss had seen the whole incident and decided, too, that I could handle it myself. The problem was, I was tired of "handling things" by myself. School, work, life in general. I wanted a break, no, I needed a break.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
My alarm sounded, and I was reminded that I was to get ready for my first day of college as a sophomore.
5:00 am
I came home about 2 hours ago and got less than one whole hour of sleep. As I got up, I stumbled to the bathroom to take a cold shower. Thank God it is hot outside, otherwise, I'll freeze to death. My head pondered over what I was going to do today. My to-do list slowly began to form in my head.
-Get books from the bookstore inside campus before the beginning of class (7:00)
-Attempt to eat breakfast (7:30)
-Find my department building (7:45 to 8:30)
- Find a printer to print out my syllabus and other important papers (8:55)
- Get to class (9:00)
That was as far as I got before letting out a scream when the icy water hit my face. About an hour later I was done with my whole morning routine, the fact that my life was crap, didn't mean I had to look like actual crap. My whole outfit consisted of a pleated gray, and white skirt, as well as a button-up black blouse. I was in the middle of putting the books I had bought a few weeks before inside my backpack, one of my professors had changed the author at the last minute, and now I had to go and get the new book. It was irritating, but I needed to stay on top of my game, my scholarship covered most of my expenses, it was not enough to cover room and board, but it was enough to cover for everything else. Books were granted to me, and I was grateful because there is no way in hell I could afford such expensive dead tree products.
6:00 am
I was on my way to the train station, the trip took around 45 minutes, which gave me time for a quick nap. The train was deserted this early in the morning, I loved it. Peace for a few minutes was all I yearned for. I closed my eyes and rested my head against the window, sleep took over me and I quickly became still in the lonely train wagon.
-On the other side of town.-
6:00 am
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
I swung my arm across my bed to slam it against my irritating alarm. After getting rid of the annoying technological nuisance, I rubbed my eyes and got out of bed. Today, students came back to college, great, now I have to deal with pretentious know-it-all dwarfs. As I walked to the bathroom I stumbled across a backpack, I stared at it for a second before grabbing it and hanging it up on the right side of my bed. Better forget about those plans, they're ruined. I tried to convince myself of that thought, yet a nostalgic feeling flowed over me as I turned on the shower and started undressing, it felt familiar. The first day of college, getting ready. The cold water splashing on my face brought me back to reality. Cruel, miserable, and cold reality.
I emerged from the bathroom and grabbed a simple white t-shirt, some sweatpants, and a pair of black converses. Looking around my room, I decided to pick up the little mess I had, some clothes here and there, and a bowl with the leftovers of my dinner from last night. I brought them to the small kitchen in my apartment. I'll wash them when I return. About an hour later, after getting my list for the day, and realizing my only clean uniform happened to be in the closet at school, I was ready to confront the outside world.
I started my walk towards school, some good 20 minutes went by while I made my way to my daily job in the local college, a college to which just two years ago I've been a freshman of. It was pathetic, one who had once been a student was now a janitor.
7:30 am
I entered the school, it was quiet and peaceful, just how it had been all summer long, but today will be different, soon the hallways and campus would be crowded with students, and all my peace will go down the drain. I needed to get to the other side of the building and get my uniform, change in the men's restroom, and then start my day. I was hoping to not bump into any "over-achiever" who decided to be an early bird and get to school all excited in the morning, I had no energy to pretend to be polite.
7:45 am
-With our miserable girl-
"Oh God, Oh God" I kept mumbling to myself as I sprinted across campus, forget breakfast! I needed to find the building of my department, I had overslept on the train and missed my stop, having to walk from one station to the other had taken the fifteen minutes I had planned to use to buy something from a nearby vending machine. Why fifteen minutes to buy just one thing? Well, you see, I've regretted almost every decision I've made during my lifetime, so to me, even choosing the right snack can be a catastrophe.
Like right now, the decision of sprinting across the building, frantically turning my head to the sides without a clear view of what was in front of me, yes, this is by most, one of the worst decisions of my lifetime. I was sure I was going to get yelled at if a faculty member saw me. I was not expecting to have the light knocked out of me as I bumped into something, no, someone.
-With our boy-
I was walking to the closet where I kept my uniform. It had been a peaceful morning, nothing to worry about, no overachiever insight. Today, deemed to be good d-
WHAM!
I stumbled backwards as some idiot came running towards me. I had no time to react, this is what I get for walking and looking down at my phone. I was just checking the time! Why doesn't the universe entertain itself by making someone else's life miserable?!
"Ow," I heard a small groan from the person, now on top of me. I got up quickly, I was rather annoyed by such inconvenience. I didn't even attempt to look at whoever stumbled upon me, the janitor closet was right in front of me, hopefully, whoever did such an idiotic thing would be embarrassed enough and leave me alone.
But no.
"Hey! Hold up!" I heard the voice and didn't even attempt to look back, by the sound of it, it was a girl. I took the keys out of my pocket and tried to remember which key was the one for this closet.
"I'm sorry I bumped into you, I shouldn't have been running" I just nodded and didn't turn to face her. I was honestly more concerned with the fact that it looked like I might have grabbed the wrong set of keys.
"Uh...so, do you forgive me?" I ignored the question, I wanted her to leave, so I could panic in peace.
"Hello? Are you muted?" She asked, waving a hand in front of me. I ignored her gesture, I think this only angered her a little more.
"Well! Look! I get you're mad, but we are going to see each other in the hallways, we might even share some classes, I don't want to have problems with another student this early in the year" She explained, my ears shot up at the word student. I finally turned to face her.
"Student?" I asked, facing her for the first time since the incident. She was dainty, just like the other dwarfs here at school, but there was something almost familiar about her.
"Well yeah, that's the word they use for "financially and emotionally struggling person," She said, making a disdainful gesture with her hand. I almost wanted to chuckle, but I had turned my head away from her and kept with my diligent task, still looking indifferent to her apology. She went on again.
"Well? Are you going to accept my apology or not? I don't have time for a pretentious prick, we're in the same department, I guess you also want to get this over with. Hey! Would you stop ignoring me?!" She was getting angrier by the minute, it was almost amusing. I finally found the key and opened the door, I opened and entered the small walk-in closet. She stood right in front of the door and kept yelling at me.
"LISTEN YOU ASSHOLE! ACCEPT MY DAMN APOLOGY! YOU'RE ALSO A STUDENT, STOP ACTING SO HIGH AND-"
She stared blankly at me as I unfolded my uniform, it had a tag with the title of "Janitor" on it.
"What?" I asked as I started unbuttoning the shirt to put it over my white shirt, aware of the wetness in it. She blinked a few times to let go of the shock, I thought of this as an overreaction. What? Had she never seen a janitor?
"You...work here?" She asked in almost a whisper. For some reason, her tone angered me. Was she one of those who would start lecturing me about my failure and why I'm where I'm now? I was ready to argue back and pull out my best comebacks, I wasn't planning on being polite today anyway.
She smirked, and I felt my blood boil.
"I'll take that as a yes, well, Mr. Janitor. Help me pick up the mess you and I made" She gestured to where part of my morning coffee cup had spilled and about two papers that looked like schedules, or maybe even a map of the campus, were all over the floor. Hands placed on her hips and a smug expression, such posture, was ironic coming from someone who just a few minutes ago had been begging to be forgiven.
Screw being polite, this brat was being way too irritating.
"Well, listen here, Miss-it's-suddenly-not-my-fault-so let-me-make-him-help-me-too," I looked at her as I finished buttoning up my shirt. I grabbed my pants and my slip-resistant shoes. I took a step forward and towered above her smaller frame. She took a step back.
"I'm not cleaning YOUR mess, my shift hasn't even started, I need to go change. And unless you want to help me, I'll take my leave now," I smirked as I saw the sudden blood rush to her cheeks. She averted her eyes and hid her flushed face as best as she could, and I proceeded to walk away.
Of course, there was no denying it, she found me attractive, I mean I don't blame her, I know I'm decent-looking. So just to mess with her, I looked back and gave her a wink just so I could piss her off.
-With our girl-
I couldn't believe what had just happened. Had this prick just flirted with me while he told me off? I was just told off by a guy, and not just any guy, one who works as a janitor at that.
As I saw him walk away, my mind went crazy with insults, I was so ready to jab him with every single one of them. Then I see he looks back, that smug expression of his made the desire of hitting him even greater. Who in the hell does he think he is? I felt another wave of anger flow through me as I witnessed the idiot winking at me. "UGH! You bastard!" I shouted as I stormed away. He let out a chuckle and continued walking.
"Wait till I get my hands on you, you-" I murmured, the sound of students coming in the building brought me back to reality. I quickly picked up my phone from the ground and left the paper as they were covered in coffee. I checked my phone, 8:30 am, I didn't have time to go find the printer, and most importantly I missed my chance to get breakfast.
As I made my way to my classes, I saw many students starting to pull up, and some even making their way to class. My stomach began to make growling noises.
"Damn, stupid janitor, making me starve and be late on my first day, oh if I ever see him again- OOF!" Great, as my morning couldn't get any better, I suddenly bumped into another person. I began rubbing my forehead as I contemplated whether to get pissed at life or the person.
"I'm so sorry, noona! I wasn't paying attention, please forgive me!" Said a boy who appeared to have a small frame as he bowed on his knees to show his regret. I was startled by this sudden action, as it was out of nowhere. Public humiliation wasn't good for nobody's social life, and this guy was basically kneeling in front of me.
"What the hell is wrong with you?! Are you trying to embarrass me?!" I said nervously as people began to stare. Truth be told, I was a bit more concern with his social life, mine was already shit. However, I hesitated on what to do. As I saw him grab his glasses, which, not to be rude, looked nerdy, off the ground. I pulled him up and grabbed him by the arm and without thinking began to speed walk away farther into the building.
"Alright, buddy, what's your deal, making a scene out there?!" I said slamming him against the wall of an empty stairwell trying my best not to scream, or end up in jail for harming him.
"First… OUCH! Second of all, I was just apologizing for bumping into you." He explained as he put on his glasses and fixed his sleeve. I crossed my arms, let out a sigh, and rolled my eyes. He must've thought I was threatening him as he stood there awkwardly, only looking at the floor. "Fine," I said reassuring him that everything was resolved, come on you too would feel bad for this tiny frail-looking boy.
"Really…?" He looked up at me in confusion. "Yes, now go before I change my mind." I pointed to the stairs, signaling him to leave. He hesitated as he was still unsure, I could perceive the slight nervousness in his gaze. "Ugh! I don't have time for this, I'm going to be late." I walked out of the stairwell heading to class, as I checked my phone the halls began to fill up with students as only 5 minutes were left before class started. As I made my way to the door, I felt like I was being followed. I looked back and saw the small, frail boy, he looked down after our eyes met and continued walking. He tried his best to walk past me, but my petty self put my hand out to stop him.
"Why are you following me?" I questioned him with an eyebrow raised. He looked at his watch and realized that time was running out before class started. He pushed his glasses up, tensed his grip on the straps of his bookbag, insinuating that he was nervous, probably even scared. Yet something in his look appeared determined, a bit confident even.
RING!
The school bell rang. I had no time and just bolted to the door and made it in time before the teacher closed it. The teacher welcomed me in with a bow, then I heard a "Good morning" come from behind me, and it was the same boy greeting the teacher. UGH! Why, out of all classes in this school, he happens to be in this one?
As I walked to look for a seat, many of the other students were either switching or still looking for seats. I finally found a seat, and next to it was an empty one, so I hoped no annoying, loud-ass person sits next to me. But life decided to test me, and by that, I mean this most nicely ever, a four-eyed freak of an embarrassment sat in the empty seat next to me. Oh, life couldn't get any better, am I right? I- I was being sarcastic if you didn't get that. Please life no more testing me, I need a break.
I decided to not open my mouth, I had learned a long time ago the universe took my complaints as a challenge, and I had no intention of seeing what was in today's menu of " Miyeon's Miserable Life, the sequel" I chuckled at myself, I was pathetic, wasn't I? I felt the depressing feeling crippling up as my self-esteem dropped to dangerous levels. I shook my head slightly, "Come on, Miyeon, you are not even halfway into the semester, can't have a breakdown now"
I glared at the board for the rest of the class, and as soon as the bell rang, I sprinted across the room and dashed towards the café. A cinnamon bun and some coffee would be a delight right now. As I arrived at the coffee shop I noticed two baristas, a boy, and a girl, identical twins nonetheless.
"Hello!" Greeted the female twin, an inviting smile on her face. Her brother waved at me from behind the counter.
"Hello!" I reciprocated the energy, I made my order and contemplated the shop while I waited. It was quiet, peaceful, and everything I was looking for. I made a decision. I would use this café as my hiding place from my life problems. The aesthetic also made me feel like my life was together, even if I had to use duct tape to keep the image up long enough until I got home. I took out my books and started studying. I had one hour before my next class, and the café happened to be next to the building where the latter would be held, it was perfect. My day had started horribly, but now things seem to be going my way, there is nothing to worry about, this year, this year was going to be the year for change, change for the better. THIS IS SO GOING TO BE MY YEAR!
(Outside the coffee shop, you can see customers staring at the girl raising her fist in the air while semi-shouting what appears to be a motivational speech. The baristas chuckled at the girl, they were starting to like her already.)