"I'm exhausted! I'm stressed! I feel like I'm at war!" I half shouted with a pretty reedy voice. After reading an email from Daniel asking me to make some changes to the article I wrote for him, I felt like I was about to lose my mind.
I was at Dr Love, selecting photos for the upcoming Relax column when I received the email. Right after the meeting for the next issue of Hey ended, we all went our separate ways to tackle our own tasks, as usual. These ten days were the busiest, with everyone working their hardest to meet the deadline. It was also a period full of surprises, as Daniel would often call impromptu meetings and require us to present our latest works or findings. While we had gotten used to it, Daniel's habit of making last-minute changes to our work was a different story. It sometimes caused us to lose our minds. Just the day before, he almost got into a brawl with Dee. To be honest, I understood exactly how Dee felt when Daniel asked him to change his article yet again—for the seventh time! I would have taken off my earrings too!
"What's up with her, Gina?" Michelle asked as they both happened to be at Dr Love's office.
"Go ask her yourself," Gina replied.
Without wasting any time, I began explaining everything from start to finish, after Michelle asked me what had really happened. All the drama in Hey magazine, including Daniel's frustrating work habits, spilt out onto the table.
"Daniel changes his mind more often than a girl changes her clothes! He keeps rejecting all my work - the articles, the topics, the photo selections. Everything! For the first time, I have no idea what he wants! He keeps changing everything!" I exclaimed.
"Hold on... Daniel is her boss, right?" Michelle whispered to Gina.
"Mmmm... hmmmmm..." Gina nodded.
"And guess what!? We only have less than two weeks before printing! I wasn't even close to being finished," I continued, emphasizing my frustration with dramatic gestures. Michelle patiently listened, not missing any details that were also no secret to Gina and Ally. I rambled on about my struggles to sleep at night and the nightmares involving Daniel, among other things. Of course, I didn't forget to mention what happened between me and Daniel before and after Asia Café.
"So, Marina, what's your plan now? What are you going to do?" Michelle asked.
"Plan?" I replied, confused.
"Yes. Aren't you going to do something about it?" Michelle smiled.
I just stared at her, not answering the question. But it did trigger something in my head.
******************
That night, I suddenly woke up from my sleep. I had this really awful dream about the situation at Hey. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down and went back to sleep. I kept tossing and turning, hoping it would help me fall asleep faster. But it was all in vain. I was just too anxious about what was going to happen tomorrow at the office.
Ugh! When is this going to end? I sighed to myself. Maybe I should just run away!
As I thought about running away, it brought back memories from the past. Specifically, something I did back in school. There was this one time when all the students had to go on a mandatory camping trip and guess what I did to avoid it? I faked a stomach ache. And I must say, I did a pretty convincing job because I ended up being hospitalized for a few days! So, I started considering the possibility of doing something similar. Pretending to have a stomach ache, collapsing right in front of the emergency section at the hospital, and then getting admitted for a few days.
"Or maybe I should go to Susan, who is currently in quarantine, and intentionally get infected by her?" I said to myself, sounding like a complete lunatic. "No!!! That's like committing suicide! H1N1 is no joke! Or, or, maybe I should go to Gina, who has the flu right now? And then get quarantined as a suspected H1N1 case? That's just ridiculous!" I quickly dismissed all of my own stupid ideas. But then, in a moment of reconsideration, I realized that one of them wasn't actually such a terrible idea after all.
YOU ARE READING
The Sphere
ChickLitMarina was trying to search for herself and began to question her life and her passion after what had happened to her love life and career. Many things to think about. How to choose? And how to make sure she was not left feeling bitter? It was time...
