Lucy woke up after the alarm almost killed her, with itchy eyelids and her upper lip was feeling dry. And she knew exactly what was going on. Fearing the worst, she went to the toilet and looked in the mirror. And she saw herself in the worst state again.
Her mascara she forgot to remove in the morning, was smudged under her eyes, making nice black circles in addition to the already existing ones from exhaustion.
But what was worse was eczema she developed. Usually, her skin was okay, but under the stress, exhaustion, and her period her skin was so sensitive that even leaving her make-up on would cause a breakout. And that was what happened now.
Her upper lip was red, flaky, dry, and painful. The same happened to her eyelids. And when Lucy lowered her gaze to her neck, she noticed red patches of dry skin and a string around her neck looking like someone strangled her.
"Fuck, I'm not going anywhere," she muttered under her breath and run for her face cream. She washed her face and put on the cream, but Lucy regretted it as soon as she touched her skin. It started burning and itching, and she had to wash it away once more.
"So now, you hate the cream you loved?" Lucy stupidly talked to her skin, pissed at it. Why was she so flawed? Not that she had freckles, she even had to have atopic eczema from childhood to her adulthood. Her hair was a disaster and her weight would rise every time she didn't exercise for a longer period of time. And her periods were talk by itself, usually really painful.
Her phone alarm went off once more, indicating she should be getting ready for the lessons, but now she wanted to call in sick. And that actually wasn't a bad idea. She had to go to the hospital and get some cream because her left eye was now swelling and it took her a great deal of self-control not to scratch it.
Suddenly, a thought formed in her mind, and it developed into action when she called Jacob.
"Jake, hey, are you at work?" Lucy found out he was free today and that made her plan flawless. She discussed it with him and thankfully he agreed, getting a bit more money than she got from it. That wasn't something Lucy minded. He needed it more than her.
So then she called the Man CEO and surprisingly got green. Ever since their exchange, she knew he didn't like her at all. And the less she thought he would agree to her having a break.
Lucy put on her glasses, bucket hat, and mask that she found and went to the hospital. Now, the car she borrowed from her father's friends, who by the way had four more rich people, had come in handy, because in this state it was scary to go on public transport.
Thankfully, her swollen and tense eye wasn't obstructing her sight, otherwise, she would have had to go by bus. And that would be a nightmare because of all the stares she would get.
Usually, Lucy was quite confident, but there were instances her self-esteem couldn't take any stares or talks. When her eczema broke out and when her mother commented on her weight. That was a nicely made cocktail of blows to her confidence and on those days, she would just usually go to her room, ignoring everything, or calling in sick. Just like she did today.
When she got to the hospital, it was hard for her to formulate her thoughts. Her lips were dry and painful when she widened them too much for some words, she could feel her skin tearing.
The itch to scratch herself was so impossible to ignore that Lucy had to sit on her own hands when waiting for her turn. Just trying to ignore it. There weren't many more people there with her, so Lucy took down all the things, even the mask.
"Look how red she is. Be careful not to touch her…" Lucy heard the mother talk to her child. She was actually quite thankful for that. If he accidentally touched her it would hurt.
"...so you don't catch it. I wonder what she is doing here?" the mom finished and Lucy shook her head. Nevermind. It didn't take a bright light bulb to guess why she was in the hospital dermatologist with her red face…
They called her in, and with an initial misunderstanding of the words, because Lucy really wasn't good with medical terms in Korean, she got allergy pills and corticosteroid ointment. And injection so her eyes' swelling would go down.
At home, Lucy plunged into the bed and closed her eyes. She took the ointment and put it in the places that were red, careful around her eyes.
Yet, some of the ointment got in. Thankfully, it was safe for eyes, so her sight was only blurry. Someone rang the bell. For Lucy, it was pointless to look through the peephole because she wouldn't see anything, so with the pepper spray in her hand that she always had on the nearby closet, she opened the door.
"Oh my god, this is what happened to you?" The voice of manager Baek sounded and Lucy placed the pepper spray back down.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I can't see much now. Come in and give me a few seconds to get the ointment out of my eyes," she said and turned around, the door open behind her while she went into the bathroom.
With the help of water and cotton swabs, she carefully and successfully got the ointment out of her eyes and went back to the room.
"Why are you here?" she asked and smiled. But then she looked up and repeated the question once again, now without the smile and more hostile tone.
"I was curious why you ditched the only work you had here." Hwa was staring at her with squinted eyes, but a hint of a smile could be seen on his face.
"And you let him?" Lucy pouted, confused about the way his manager was sitting weirdly on the couch. Her flat was small, with just one room and a bathroom. She was sleeping on a couch that could be made into a bed. Usually, she wouldn't do it though, because it was too much work. Eating was done on the floor by the coffee table. That was it. No television, kitchen almost without utensils, fridge almost empty.
"Do you want an energy drink or water? Those are the only things I can offer you," she said, and opened the fridge. They could see inside and the manager Baek, actually whistled.
"Why so empty?" he asked curiously. Lucy just shrugged.
"I can't cook, And I mostly drink water when I don't work. If I do, I drink energy drinks to keep my brain operating." Hwa actually looked dissatisfied.
"Nothing, thank you," the manager said, and Seonghwa got up from the couch.
"Can I use your toilet?" he asked. Lucy showed to the only door there was, and he disappeared there.
"Why did you visit?" she asked once more. The manager raised his hands and with his head, he gestured towards the bathroom door. Then his focus shifted back to her again.
"I thought you are the daughter of a politician… Why do you live like this?" He asked a pretty personal question, but Lucy was used to it.
"But I'm not a politician. I have to pay for my flat back at home every month, just like you do. This one my father is paying for, just because it's a personal request of his." Hwa got out of the room and nodded at manager Baek.
"We can go," he said and then he looked at Lucy.
"I ordered some meals for you. They shouldn't be spicy, no allergens, and with some herbs and food, that's good for the skin." He said and walked out of the door, immediately after he put on his shoes.
Lucy was too stunned by his suspicious behavior. Why was he so nice?