Fantasia

9

Eddy -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Chen, you're late again. I'm sorry to say this, but you're fired. I'm sad to see you leave, but you have tested my patience."

He hands me my notice, and I nod my head and walk out of the sliding doors. I look back at my dull concrete office building one last time, seeing countless workers with their fingers moving frantically across keyboards, hunched figures lit up by computer screen light. I smile. A great weight has been lifted off my chest. My briefcase is no longer as heavy as I thought it was.

I get back to the city centre on one of the buses. It's pretty empty, with just a guy behind me reading a newspaper. Reclining on the red plastic seats and watching the trees go by, I decide to drown my sorrows in bubble tea.

I stride down the high street, once more filled with purpose. Half sugar, less ice, the golden ratio. Soon the delicious aroma of roasting brown sugar curls through the air, drawing me in to the small shop like an invisible hand. But as I wait in the queue, my breath hitches in my throat.

There's someone a few people in front of me. And they have a violin case.