Chapter 3.2: Beers and Late Night Calls
And then she got hired in Japan.
But the place that she admired, all glamour and light, every Otaku and introvert's paradise, turned out to be a whole lot different from all her expectations. Louise is aware that Japan has a long, dark history with gaijins, but now, with the country's modernization, they're finally opening up to the world. Racism is still rampant in some parts of the place, and the fact that she's a Chicana and how she was treated unfairly at work made sense to her, but there's a deeper story behind that.
When she started working in their studio, people were so nice, until some of her senior male colleagues started to show interest in her, including those who were already taken. Of course, she turned down all the advancements, but her female seniors began to act nasty, and that's when all the hell started.
So, when they said that beauty is a curse, she thinks, "Damn right, it is!" And it's happening again now that a famous guy she barely knows is hitting on her.
She hopes that it's not like what Martha and Jackson think. She has already learned her lesson.
Her phone suddenly dings.
Both Louise and Martha's heads turn to it like hawks eyeing their prey. They look each other in the eye, then, like a flash of lightning, scramble up their seats, and race to get the phone first.
Martha easily defeats Louise. When it comes to the latest gossip, even Louise's Mexican power has no match.
"Oh..." she gasps, her eye widening as she reads the message. "Ice rink dude said 'Hi'."
Louise grabs her phone and glares at her screen. The message comes with a droplet emoji.
Ugh, what the hell does that even mean?
She doesn't know, but she's pretty sure it was something nasty. She rolls her head back and groans, 'here we go again'. She shoots Martha a 'help me', look.
"What? A single reply won't hurt!" She points out. Louise is pretty sure she's just pushing her for her own amusement. "Remember, he's still the boss you forced into drinking alcohol early in the morning."
"Right," she mumbled. Louise can be very obedient when it comes to work.
Oh, hi Korishima-san!
Sorry for that. It's supposed to be (waving hand emoji).
Who cares? Now what do you want? She gripes in her mind.
Yeah, I know. It's alright! (Smile emoji)
Of course, it's not okay! Like, who the hell would use a droplet emoji in their texts?
That interview was fun. I hope we can talk again about the show's production.
Leave me alone, goddamn it.
Yeah, I had fun too!
As if I enjoyed that at all, you traitor...Okay, maybe a little. It's a good thing you're cute.
I just hope we introduced ourselves properly.
Louise bites her lip. She regrets sending that text instantly.
Ay! Someone should know how to introduce themselves, right? I already embarrassed myself there enough.
She feels her phone vibrate again, startling her. Someone is calling, and Ojiro's number appears on the screen. Louise quickly turns to Martha, whose face was only an inch away, to read the text conversation with Ojiro.
"H-he's calling, what do I do?" She shakes her hands.
"Oh, just answer the phone." Martha tilts her head, lazily.
"W-what the hell does he want?"
"Just answer the goddamn phone!" She pushes her more.
Still not sure what to do, Louise cleared her throat, channeling one of her skills.
"Hi!" she greets Ojiro on the phone, her voice shifted into sweet, angelic tone just like what she had learned from Japanese women she worked with.
"Hi," he greeted back.
She almost fell down from where she's standing, sweet baby Jesus, his voice is so sexy!
Martha squirms like crazy beside her, slapping her so hard in the shoulder.
"Ah...ano, am I interrupting? Are you busy?"
"Oh, no. I... just had dinner."
If you want to know that. A frown pulls on her lips.
She kicks Martha, who easily dodges it. She is jumping up and down, clapping her hands in silence.
"So, what's up?" she asks, silently mouthing for Martha to calm the fuck down.
"I felt like I need to apologize for not introducing myself back there, in the vending machine."
She kind of feels like he is flinching at the memory. As much as she wants him to say sorry, she also wants to erase that thing from her mind.
The extreme embarrassment.
"Gomenasai."
"Oh, no. Just forget it." She waves off. Damn right, you should apologize.
"There's no kicking and screaming that happened. No, nothing." Her voice sounds too energetic.
"Right," he responds. He seems to understand what she wants to happen, so she uses that to take advantage of the situation.
"You mentioned talking about the production, right?"
"H-hai!"
Ooh, that's fast.
"Please never mention to my seniors what I told you and what I did back there. You know what I mean? About the beer, and the nasty words."
"Oh, that." His tone suddenly shifts.
Don't tell me you're changing your mind? I'll fucking do whatever you want. Send me those fucking droplet emojis. I don't care!
"Y-yeah...Yeah, of course," he assures.
"And also...I'm sorry about the kendama too." At least that part is sincere from the bottom of her dirty heart. Does she still have a heart? She still feels guilty for hitting him in the eye, so maybe? It was an accident. Or not. She did lie to him about knowing some kendama tricks.
But his response doesn't come. She looks at the screen of her phone.
He must be angry. Oh, I'm certain of it. Now I'm dead.
His name appears on the screen again.
This time he was requesting for a motherfucking video call.
She threw her phone on the table.
Video call, goddamn it.
If a phone is even enough to scare her ass, this is far worse. But it's her boss, so she needs to consider and use up all her shitty adult extroverted powers, right?
He's still your boss! A tiny, innocent soul from the back of her mind reasons.
Callate! Shut up! The devil in her shouts back.
Martha picks up her phone from the table.
"Get that thing away from me. Don't answer it. Throw it to the North Pole!" Louise steps back in fear.
Martha doesn't listen and taps on the green button.
"Hi Ojiro! I'm Martha. And this is Jackson." She showed their friend behind her, who barely looked up from his food.
Louise dives under a blanket, curling in a heap on the couch.
"We're this dumb ass's friends." She tilts the camera to show Louise wrapped up in a blanket.
"What happened to her?" Ojiro slightly chuckles.
"I'm sorry if she can't pick up the call herself. If you didn't know, this idiot is so damn alcoholic. She's so drunk right now, she can barely lift up a finger."
Louise sticks out her foot, kicking Martha on the butt. Ojiro's laugh can be heard the phone's speaker.
"Oh, that's so bad." He is still giggling. "I hope she has a good night's sleep. Tell her that she doesn't need to worry about the kendama. I'm not mad about that. Just be careful next time. Also, please tell her: gambare!"
The call ended after that, and Louise bursts out of her blanket. She tries to hide her face with her hands, which probably was too red.
Martha is shaking her like crazy, all the while screaming and squealing and laughing with all the excitement. "Type ka niya girl! Girl, you're his type!"
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