Chapter Text
♡EST♡
I stared at the completed design displayed on my screen before glancing at the time in the corner of my monitor.
1:25 PM.
The deadline had been met.
The client had approved the final draft.
I should have felt relieved.
Satisfied, even.
Instead, my gaze drifted to the date displayed beneath the clock.
June 14th.
Tomorrow was my mother's death anniversary.
The excitement I should have felt vanished instantly.
With a quiet sigh, I reached for my phone and sent Fern a text.
"Don't forget what tomorrow is."
A few minutes later, my phone buzzed.
"I'll try and get a day off or half a day off tomorrow."
"Ok."
After sending the reply, I dropped my phone onto the desk and rubbed a hand across my face.
The apartment was quiet.
Too quiet.
Pushing the thought away, I got up and headed toward the bathroom.
A cold shower helped clear my head a little.
When I finished, I got dressed and called a cemetery service, arranging for fresh white chrysanthemums and incense to be delivered to my mother's grave the following morning.
Once that was done, there was nothing left to distract myself with.
So I settled onto the couch and started a new series.
One episode became two.
Two became three.
Before I realized it, the sky outside had darkened and evening had arrived.
The front door opened with a soft click.
"P'Est, I missed you."
Fern's voice echoed through the apartment as she stepped inside.
She looked exhausted, but the familiar smile on her face hadn't disappeared.
"What do you want?" I asked, barely glancing away from the television.
"Nothing. I'm just really tired."
Dropping her bag near the couch, she walked straight to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water.
Half of it disappeared within seconds.
"Okay, go have your bath and then we can order takeout and watch a movie together."
"Hmmm."
She placed the nearly empty bottle on the counter before dragging herself toward her room.
A few minutes later, she returned wearing comfortable clothes and immediately dropped down beside me on the couch.
"What do you say to fried chicken and beer?"
"Sounds nice. What do you want to watch?"
"Okay, let's watch Red, White & Royal Blue."
She spoke while completing the order on her phone.
I immediately frowned.
"Don't tell me it's romance."
"Ooh, it is and you are going to love it."
She squealed before putting her phone aside.
Before I could protest further, she snatched the remote from my hand and searched for the movie.
A few minutes into the movie, the doorbell rang.
Fern immediately paused the movie and got up from the couch.
"Food's here."
She hurried toward the door while I remained comfortably sprawled across the couch with my legs on the coffee table.
A few moments later, she returned carrying a paper bag that smelled strongly of fried chicken.
"Move."
"I'm already comfortable."
"Move."
With a dramatic sigh, I sat up and moved my legs so Fern could place the food on the coffee table.
Fern rolled her eyes and began unpacking the food.
Soon, boxes of fried chicken and four cans of beer sat between us.
The movie resumed shortly afterward.
For a while, the only sounds in the apartment were the television, the occasional crunch of chicken, and Fern's constant reactions to every scene.
"This is delicious," I said with a mouthful of chicken.
"Of course it is, I know all the best food places," she answered, beaming with pride.
"Show off."
"I'm not a showoff."
"Sure, whatever floats your boat."
"P," she whined dramatically and threw a napkin at me.
I caught it easily.
"I just said whatever floats your boat."
"Exactly. I can't deal with your sarcasm."
She crossed her arms with a slight pout before immediately reaching for another piece of chicken.
"But here you are watching a movie with me."
"And here I am, but at least I'm enjoying the movie. What about you?"
"Hmm. It's not bad."
Fern immediately brightened.
"Of course. I have great taste in everything and I love how Alex knows how to comfort Henry."
"Hmmm, let's focus on your boring movie."
"It's not boring, but let's focus and see what Henry's grandfather has to say about their relationship."
"Hmmm."
Despite my complaints, I never once asked her to change the movie.
And Fern noticed.
She just chose not to mention it.
♧♧♧♧♧
The movie was over.
Somehow, I had managed to stay awake until the end.
Barely.
Fern, on the other hand, was sniffling beside me.
I turned toward her and stared.
She was clutching a throw pillow to her chest while stubbornly wiping at the tears gathered in her eyes.
"It's not that emotional. Stop with the fake tears."
"It was such a beautiful ending and I can't stop the tears, don't you feel it?"
"Feel what? "
"The love from the main characters."
"No."
"Where's your heart?"
I rolled my eyes and stood up, gathering the empty takeout containers scattered across the coffee table.
"I'm serious, I won't always be here with you."
"Are you getting married?"
"Not that."
"Are you dying?"
"I'm trying to be serious."
"Did I insinuate otherwise?"
"That's by the way, the point is you have to open up your heart, you can't keep hiding behind your walls forever."
"I don't have walls."
I tossed the empty beer cans into a trash bag and carried it toward the kitchen.
"Yes, you do, and you've built them so high that you can't even escape them."
She followed after me and planted herself directly in the doorway, crossing her arms stubbornly.
"Okay, you've made your point. Now leave the doorway. I need to sleep."
A yawn escaped me halfway through the sentence.
"I'm serious."
"I know you are."
"Then let's talk about it."
"Not today. I'm tired."
"Fine. Tomorrow."
She finally stepped aside.
"You know what tomorrow is."
The stubborn expression on her face immediately softened.
"Oh."
She nodded slowly in realization.
"Ohh," I repeated in a mocking tone.
She scoffed and narrowed her eyes.
"We'll talk the day after tomorrow then."
"Sure."
I turned and headed toward my room.
"Oh, and goodnight."
I didn't wait for her response before opening the door to my room.
♤♤♤♤♤♤♤
The next day I woke up before my alarm went off and immediately went to the bathroom and started brushing my teeth, and took a shower.
I got dressed in black cargo trousers, a black hoodie with a white t-shirt underneath and I put on a pair of black Nike sneakers.
I applied some lip balm to my lips and used a cologne lightly. I picked my phone from my bed and walked out of my room and met Fern sitting in the living wearing a similar outfit but in white.
"Let's go " I said heading for the door
"Uhh we are matching"
"I noticed "
"You are the devil version and I'm the angel version "
"Too many movies " I chuckled
"But it's true "
"Hmmm can we go now"
"Yes of course " she rushed to open the door and bowed dramatically
♧♧♧♧♧
We arrived at the cemetery around 8:30 or so
When we reached our mother's grave there were fresh flowers and some incense.
Me and Fern lit them.
We crouched down to talk to her
Fern spoke first
"I miss you as always but you're doing fine right, and Est has become more closed off, please do something "
I rolled my eyes "Ma how've you been, okay right, and Fern has become more annoying"
"I'm doing fine and I'm going to try and do alot of fun things, live alot and definitely stop babysitting Fern, she's grown up now and even has a Job in a big company" my eyes stung with unshed tears
Fern started crying a little "I'm all grown up, I have a job and new friends and I love it, keep watching over us as always."
A lone tear slid down my cheek as I whispered "I love you Ma"
We talked about our lives for a while before leaving.
♧♧♧♧♧
After leaving the cemetery, we decided to eat breakfast at a restaurant nearby.
The atmosphere was quiet and comforting, exactly what we needed.
We ordered jok, pa tong go, and warm soy milk.
A few minutes later, our table was filled with steaming bowls of rice porridge, a plate of freshly fried dough sticks, and two glasses of warm soy milk.
Fern immediately reached for a piece of fried dough.
"This is delicious."
"Hmmm."
"What should we do next since we have the whole day off?"
I looked up from my food.
"We?"
"Well I'm off work for the day and you clearly don't have anything to do so yeah we."
"Hmm."
Fern narrowed her eyes.
"Hmm?"
I took a sip of soy milk.
"What do you want to do?"
A mischievous grin immediately spread across her face.
"Set you up on a blind date."
"What?"
The milk went down the wrong way and I started coughing.
"Are you okay?"
She quickly handed me a napkin which I accepted.
"I'm fine and I'm definitely not going on any blind date."
"How would you find love if you don't?"
"Why don't you go on those dates and find love?"
"You need to find someone before I can, I can't just leave you alone."
I stared at her.
"You are acting like an older sister."
"P'Est, I'm serious."
"I'm not interested."
"You're hopeless, I hope someone who cherishes you so much would come along."
"Hmmm, finish your food."
Fern let out an exaggerated sigh
She wasn't done yet.
We soon finished our meal and left the restaurant.
♧♧♧♧♧♧♧
The afternoon sun hung high in the sky while Fern scrolled through Instagram beside me.
"Ooh, look at this."
I barely glanced at the phone.
"What?"
"My coworker just got engaged."
"Hmm."
Fern swiped to another photo.
"And this is P'Nina from HR."
"Hmm."
Another swipe.
"And that's the accounting department."
"Hmm."
She stopped walking and stared at me.
"You aren't even looking."
"I am."
"No, you're not."
With an annoyed huff, she shoved the phone closer to my face.
I sighed dramatically before giving the screen a proper glance.
For the next few minutes, Fern continued showing me random photos while providing unnecessary commentary on every single person.
Then she suddenly brightened.
"Oh! This was from the company dinner last week."
She turned the phone around again.
This time, it was a group photo.
Several employees stood together smiling at the camera. Some were seated while others stood behind them.
My gaze swept across the picture absentmindedly.
Then paused.
Standing near the center of the group was William.
Unlike everyone else, he wasn't smiling broadly. Instead, there was the faintest curve to his lips, subtle enough that most people probably wouldn't notice.
For some reason, I looked at the photo a second time.
Only for a moment.
Then I looked away.
"My boss is there," Fern said proudly, tapping the screen.
"See him?"
"Hmm."
"He's ridiculously popular at work."
"Why?"
Fern looked genuinely offended by the question.
"Have you seen his face?"
I rolled my eyes.
"Half the company has a crush on him."
"Including you"
"I'm not answering that"
"Hmm."
"And he's actually nice."
"Hmm."
"You know how most CEOs are scary?"
"Hmm."
"He's not. Last month one of the interns spilled coffee all over a report right before a meeting and instead of getting angry he told her to calm down and helped fix the situation."
"Hmm."
"And he's competent."
"Hmm."
"Very competent."
"Hmm."
"Half of Zaven Group already reports to him."
"Hmm."
"And he's rich."
"Hmm."
"Like, ridiculously rich."
"Hmm."
"He also remembers everyone's names."
"Hmm."
"And he bought lunch for the entire department after they finished a project."
"Hmm."
Fern sighed dramatically.
"Do you ever react to anything?"
"I am reacting."
"No, you're not."
"I said 'hmm.'"
"That isn't a reaction."
"Hmm."
Fern glared me.
Then she added casually,
"And he's single."
I shot her a look.
Fern immediately tried to look innocent.
For a moment, I simply stared at her.
Then realization dawned.
My eyes narrowed slightly.
"Are you trying to matchmake with your boss?"
"What?" Fern gasped dramatically. "No."
"You're doing a terrible job hiding it."
"I am not."
"You've spent the last five minutes talking about how handsome, nice, competent, rich and single he is."
Fern immediately pointed an accusing finger at me.
"So you were listening."
I regretted speaking instantly.
"Hmm."
Fern's grin widened.
"You were listening."
"You talk too much."
She laughed and slipped her phone back into her pocket before continuing down the street.
Beside her, I remained silent.
Yet for some reason, the image of a certain brown-eyed Alpha lingered in the back of my mind far longer than it should have.