The Wishing Journal

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Using the last bit of energy she had, Y/N unlocked her front door and dragged her work duffle into her apartment. She barely made it to her couch before she crumpled onto the soft cushions, glad that her day was finally coming to an end.

It was a rough day for sure.

First, there were the needy customers. The ones who complained about small details, which she really couldn't do anything about. Like their room temperatures being too cold, or not being able to enter certain areas of the hotel because they weren't VIP members. Then her manager yelled at her for absolutely no reason, she couldn't even remember what she did wrong. She suspected it was another rage fit after getting reprimanded by their superiors and she just happened to be the closest thing her manager could take it out on. That didn't mean she enjoyed that experience though. And to add the icing to the top of the cake of disasters for the day, having to work overtime because one of her coworkers called out due to "plans" they so conveniently forgot about until the last minute.

She was so glad she had tomorrow off of work.

Her eyes were just about shut when thoughts of her pending assignments popped into her head. Y/N groaned. Her professors just had to assign so many assignments on the weekend she was most busy. Her phone began lighting up and vibrating on the table. She glanced over at the device to check the caller ID and wished hadn't. She debated for a moment, if she should even answer, but she knew the consequences would be worse if she didn't. 

Begrudgingly, she answered. "Hello?"

There was no echo of greeting before her mother's proud voice filled her ears. "Did you hear about your brother?"

Y/N hummed in response. She did, obviously. It was all she heard throughout the day. She was bombarded with congratulations from almost every person she made contact with on her brother's accomplishment of making the biggest deal between hotels in history.

"What have you been up to lately?" 

"Nothing much, mother."

Of course that wasn't true but her mother never wanted to hear it. She was always one step behind her brother in their parents' eyes. While he was the big CEO of a hotel, she was stuck as a concierge in a hotel. She never quite understood how he even got the job since he was an incompetent fool half of the time. She was pretty sure the big "deal" he just made with that other hotel company wasn't even his doing, he probably just turned up to sign the papers and look good in pictures.

With all the bragging her mother was doing, one would think she was talking to one of her friends trying to show off. Instead of talking to her beloved only daughter. "... Your brother even has plans to marry his longtime girlfriend." This particular sentence had Y/N tuned back into the conversation at hand.

Good for him, she thought sarcastically, though she didn't dare voice that opinion out loud. She did feel a little bad for the poor girl though, she had no idea the mess she was getting into. She glanced at the time on her clock in her kitchen, it read 12:00 AM. She really didn't have enough energy for this. 

"Hey mom, I've got to go," she interrupted her mother's seemingly endless babbling. "I have work tomorrow," she lied.

"Ok, I'll call again later," her mother replied. Although to Y/N that just meant she would only call again when there was another update about her brother or some family event was coming up and she'd be forced to show up.

A swift beep and then her mother's voice was gone from her room. She sighed as she looked at the blank phone screen. At least one good thing came out of the phone call, now she wasn't as tired anymore. She got up and decided to freshen up. She showered and did her quick skincare routine. It felt good to finally be rid of her work stink and draped in her comfortable pajamas. By the time she finished getting ready for bed the clock next to her TV read 1:30 AM.

Well, she thought, since she wasn't tired anymore she might as well do homework until she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore.

She sat in front of her coffee table, and leaned back on the couch allowing her tired back some rest as she pulled out her books from her school bag. She had just set up all of her assignments and supplies when her rose gold iPhone dinged on the table next to her. There's my best friend, right on time, she thought. At least she could count on someone to make her feel special on her birthday. Opening the phone, she felt her heart sink.

Yuna:  Hey! Sorry I have to cancel our plans today

Y/N stared at the text, although it felt like her world was already starting to shake, and began to type back a response when the phone pinged again.

Yuna : My boyfriend surprised me. He came back early!

Her mood soured even further. Deleting the message she already had, Y/N sat for a moment debating how she should reply.

Y/N: No problem. There's always next time.

Yuna : Thanks! Ur the best! :))

She closed her eyes and rubbed her temple. Maybe she should just forego the homework and go to sleep. Y/N was about to put the phone down when another ping sounded from the rose gold box of doom. Maybe she didn't forget after all, Y/N thought.

Yuna : Oh & congrats! I heard about ur brother!

That was the last straw, she turned the phone completely off and threw it as far as she could on the couch behind her. She didn't know whether to feel sad and disappointed for putting too much faith in other people or angry at being forgotten. Probably both.

Yuna was Y/N's only friend and while sometimes that was nice, she just couldn't shake the feeling of annoyance. How could her only friend forget her birthday?

Y/N could understand Yuna wanting to be with her boyfriend since he had hardly been home in the last year and a half due to him being in the military. But even though she was aware of that fact, Y/N still couldn't help but feel like it was a betrayal. Yuna had even remembered her brother but hadn't sent her so much as a birthday text. Was it selfish to want someone all to herself on a day like today? She thought.

"I guess it's another birthday alone, isn't that right Mr. Fluffy?" Y/N said, looking at her stuffed animal puppy.

Staring into the lifeless eyes of her stuffed animal soured Y/N's already spoiled mood. Maybe she should get a real pet. She shook her head, the landlord would never allow such a thing in the apartment. He was so stingy about those things.

She sighed again and looked at her work on the table. She didn't really feel up to doing it anymore. She pushed herself up onto the couch and laid down. She would only close her eyes for a minute she promised herself, slowly slipping off into dreamland.

Next thing she knew it was 9:30AM and the alarm in her room was going off. She groaned and flipped over hoping it would just turn off by itself. Unfortunately, she wasn't a wizard or someone with telekinesis so the alarm kept blaring. She rolled herself off the couch and crawled across the carpeted floor all the way to her room, bumping into a few walls and furniture on the way. Reaching the night stand by her bed, she got up and turned off the alarm.

Now that she was slightly more awake than before, she was tempted to fall back on her bed and sleep the day away. It's not like she had any plans anymore anyway. If no one was going to remember her birthday, then she was going to treat herself instead. At least that's what Y/N tried to convince herself to try and not to let her day be completely spoiled.

A/N

So here it is, this is the first chapter! What did you think??

I'm not gonna lie, I initially struggled for a long time to write this story. But, in the past moth I was taking a writing class and now I feel like I've finally made a breakthrough in my writer's block!

Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you can look forward to the rest of the story!

Also, please don't be afraid to give constructive criticism. I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing! :)