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SONG OF THE DAY :
streets - doja cat

. . . . . .

"hey, chialove."

an uncontrollable smile played with her glossed lips while walking to the convenience store beside her workplace with his voice uttering such a term of endearment heard.

"did you memorize my breaks? how come you always call at the exact minute?" she asked.

as cliché as ever, he replied, "fate."

"nah, i'm thinking stalker shit."

"it's destiny."

"it's stalk-y."

the man sighed loudly enough for her to hear in defeat. another thing audible was the clanking of keys on his end.

"i'm actually home alr—"

there was an abrupt pause.

chia first thought it was connection problems. she looked at her screen, then put the phone back near her ear. "hello?"

under his breath, he muttered, "shit."

"youngho?"

saying nothing more, he ended the call. she stared at the device for a good five seconds, confused.

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the uneasy feeling in her stomach never left.

what could be the reason for his shock? was her place trashed? did the landlord chase him with a knife again? is he in danger?

that was the only thing running through her mind. she was desperate to know the truth. the remaining five hours of her shift seemed to be an insufferable amount of time before she could do so. she'd probably die of unfulfilled curiosity halfway through.

she tapped her best friend, whose head was drooping, on the shoulder.

"can you cover for my shift?"

he yawned. "what's in it for me?"

bribery was not her strong suit. but luckily, she had one ready for any given situation involving jace. she pulled out her dad wallet, searching for the particular bribe.

this excited the man in his early 20s.

"i was supposed to give this on your 25th birthday, but here's the original korean version of sicheng's old japanese lit project i helped translate because . . . well, i'm the only japanese person he knows. title is 'in liu of saltwater.' really winning pun there." she opened his palm to place a folded piece of paper above it. "it's a fictional love poem about you two having beach sex as mermaids turned into humans. raunchy eric and ariel shit. 18 stanzas. in his handwriting too. have 100 won as a freebie too."

never in his life has jace been in a negotiation as good as this. he knew he had to agree with no hesitation the moment he heard 'love poem written by sicheng.'

sparks in his eyes lit up when he began unfolding it. it was like all his sleepiness was washed away.

"you— i'll cover for your whole week."

chia chuckled. "love you, bestie."

her best friend was too focused smiling like an idiot over the poem to even notice her waving goodbye. or even leaving.

the woman ran for it, the word success printed inside her mind in bold text.

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