December 28. 2021 - January 10. 2022
Song recommendation: Yuuri - Dried flowers (English ver)
"Babe, wake up. We have a meeting." Shine tries to wake Alex.
The Asian guy moans and turns over to look at his girlfriend. "5 more minutes." Alex said and closed his eyes.
"What do you mean? We're gonna be late!" Shine said in disbelief and smacked his back but his boyfriend doesn't respond. "Fine, I'll go first." She added and left the room while feeling frustrated.
Minutes later, Alex decided to get up and do his morning routine before going to the office. Alex Cha got accepted into the company he's workings as a janitor before and now he's one of the programmers, specifically, a head programmer. He's already working there as a programmer for months and he quickly rose up to his position from being a meer programmer.
An hour later, Alex arrived at the office while holding a coffee. Mary sees him and she's about to greet him casually when Alex just passed him but he walked back to her.
"Can you throw this out for me, Mary?" Alex asked then hands her his almost empty coffee. "Thank you." He added and walked towards the meeting room while Mary watches him in disbelief.
Mary was about to go when Roy arrived. "I didn't know that you love black coffee." Roy said.
"I don't. It's Alex's." Mary clarified.
"Then why-"
"Whatever." Mary cuts him off and threw the coffee on a trashcan. "I'm not an intern." She complained while walking away.
Alex proudly opens the door of the meeting room and everybody looks at him. He stops walking and looks at everybody.
"Don't mind me. Continue." Alex said and sat on his chair.
The presenter continues his presentation.
"Why are you so late?" Shine whispered but Alex ignored her.
~~~~~~
Alex is in his office doing some paper works. He's feeling so stressed because of so much work that was piled up, the consequence of not managing his schedule right these past few weeks. Suddenly, a knock can be heard from his door.
"Sir, the design report that Mr Larey gave you last Sunday, he said he needs it by today." Alex's secretary, Anna, said without entering the office.
Alex removes his glasses and ruffles his hair. "Don't you see I'm working on it and the other papers?" He asked out of stress and Anna said sorry then left.
A week have passed and Alex was not doing great because of late deadlines and work. Shine goes inside his office with an expression that is obviously not going to bring good vibes.
"Babe, the papers the Chairman asked you. It's been two days since the deadline." Shine said while watching the man, busy typing and writing in his messy table.
"I'm sorry, it's not done yet." Alex said and ran through his hair.
"Babe, come on! What's happening to you? You used to be so productive and diligent." Shine asked as she takes steps closer to his desk.
"I-I don't know!" Alex yelled and immediately stood up from his seat. He walks back and forth while ruffling his hair.
"I just... I don't like anything about this and I'm already having a mental breakdown so stop nagging me! If you're not going to say any good news or good words, get out." Alex said out of frustration.
Shine is offended by what he said. She has been there ever since he began working here and they planned their life already. She loves him because of how passionate a man he was but now, he doesn't recognize him anymore.
A knock broke the heavy silence.
"Mr Cha. The CEO is looking for you." Anna said and left the room.
After complaining about his life, he went to the top office.
"Mr Cha. I hired you because I saw how passionate and hard-working you were. But now, seeing your stats made me double-check your name because you're not this uncompetitive before." The CEO said while standing beside his table as he scans the a folder.
The CEO throws the folder on his table. "I'm sorry but we have to let you go now." He added and sat on his seat.
"Sir, it's not-"
"Go." The CEO cuts him off.
Alex went to his office and sat on his chair when he saw the ring on his table. It's the gift he gave to Shine last month for their monthsary. After some minutes, he starts packing his things while regretting the things he done.
Hours later, Alex gets out of his office with a box in his arms. Everyone is staring at him and they know what happened to him. He saw Mary and Roy, he expects them to comfort him but instead, they avoided him.
Alex goes to a park to calm his brain from all the stress. He's looking at the people while having fun, most of them are families. He miss it when he can just play without worrying about anything. He looks up and closes his eyes.
~~~~~
Alex wakes up and looks around to see that he's in his old room before he moved to his apartment. He feels odd because he can't remember when did he came back but then he realised that they are all just a dream.
He massages his temple due to odd feelings because the dream feels so real. After having a reality crisis, he decided to get going. He catches on the train when suddenly a girl spills her coffee on him.
"Shine?" Alex asked out surprised.
Shine looks at him strangely.
"Do you know me?" She asked while pointing to herself.
"Yeah! I'm your-" Alex didn't finish his sentence because he realised that he only met her in his dream.
After the incident on the train, Alex saw Mary carrying a huge pile of papers. He feels like it's a deja vu. He immediately helps her and since he feels like everything is repeating itself, he expects that Roy will appear so he stops Mary from entering the building then Roy did appeared in a rush.
"Mary! Where have you been? Let's go!" Roy said and dragged her inside.
As Alex expected, a problem appeared in his company's server. He immediately fixed it like what he did in his dream then the CEO met him and asked to go to his office.
Alex arrives at the office and carefully approaches the CEO who is sitting in his chair.
"How did you know what to do earlier?" The CEO asked.
"I was a programming student before but I stopped, Sir." Alex answered. He tries to remember what happened to this day based on his dream.
"There are 20 programmers downstairs but none of them can solve the error but you!" As he points to Alex. "You solved it in less than an hour against 20 people." He added.
"Just trying to help, Sir." Alex said as he tries to prevent himself to smile because of the acknowledgement he received.
"Bring your resume tomorrow." He said and flipped some pages on his table.
Someone knocked at the door and it was Mary. "Sir, the first applicant is ready." She announced.
She lets her in and Alex is astonished by what he sees. She smiles at Alex after making some eye contact then she approaches the CEO.
She put her resume on the table. "Hello, I'm Shine Greene." She introduced.
Alex is still amazed by her beauty, her golden hair and her green eyes.
"Oh, you're the guy on the train!" Shine exclaimed while pointing at Alex.
Alex smiles as he finally confirms that everything is happening just like in his dream. It feels like the world is giving him another chance to change his future.
Alex's gaze shifts from Shine to the window behind her because he saw the blue cat that he fed the other day. For some reason, he feels like there's something magical from the animal. He smiles and internally thanks the cat for giving him an important lesson. Never take anything for granted.
