in my dreams, you love me back || PURINZ

002

KIM CHAEWON

I go the job, and with how padded that resume was, it would have been a crying shame if I hadn't. I was set to start immediately, which was perfect since I had started pondering how bad it would be to pick up a teeny tiny life of crime-just enough to get us through the next few months. I pictured getting picked for a team where all I had to do was watch some random video feed of a robbery or something. Low impact, low risk...high payout. Thankfully I had my kids to bring perspective and the propensity to always go incognito when I browsed Google for such things.

Graphic design was where my heart beat the hardest. I had started on earning my degree back when I was in Washington but dropped out my junior year for personal reasons. I finally finished obtaining my bachelor's degree a few years later. I was working through online courses while nursing my babies, running back and forth between making dinners and working shitty part-time jobs, but I did it. Design was handy because it allowed me to work from home as often as I wanted, but it helped to have clients, and since Jaehyun had left...well, things hadn't exactly been easy.

Finding a flow or any kind of rhythm was nearly impossible with two kids who needed my attention and extra love after their father left. They were so young; I hated that they were going through something as painful as a parental separation. Sometimes I'd forget that I was still going through it too...Jaehyun and I had fought so much after Bella was born, but we suffered through our relationship for three more years before we decided to finally pull the plug.

He showed up on a random Tuesday afternoon with boxes and Dana, his pregnant girlfriend. He moved to Portland, transferred his job, his life...and that was that. We established a custody agreement, one he barely stuck to, but at least he hadn't abandoned them entirely.

I was finishing up the final touches on a design project I was creating for a local company when a knock sounded on the front door. I had one hour before my shift started at the resort, which meant the person banging on my door was probably my best friend.

Dipping my eyebrows in confusion, I swung the door open, and sure enough, there in all her glossy-lipped glory was my best friend.

"Why did you knock?"

Sakura popped her gum, pushing past me. "I didn't want to assume you were decent."

I closed the door behind her, moving through my small entryway. "Why on earth wouldn't I be? It's three in the afternoon."

She tossed her massive purse on the coffee table and sank into my couch. "Remember that date I set you up on? The one with Rob?" She sat forward, waiting for me to respond.

Rob...why wasn't that ringing a bell? Rob...as in Robert? Robby... Robinson? I sorted through all the Robs I knew and thought back to the last time Sakura had set me up, not remembering anything until it hit me.

"Dammit! That Rob...skinny guy with the skinny tie Rob!" I groaned, throwing myself on the sofa. I remembered that setup and knew why I'd likely subconsciously forgotten it.

"Not again, Chae!"

"It's not like I purposely stand these guys up-I just forget!" I replied defensively, slashing my hand toward the ceiling.

Lie.

I hadn't even entered it into my phone.

"I am going to get a reputation. You know how I feel about reputations," she argued, getting to her feet. Her brown eyes were lined with black liner, her lips a deep purple and her cheeks perfectly contoured. She was a pediatric nurse at the hospital one town over, but when she wasn't on shift, she was the star in every backwoods country song that'd ever existed.