Gifts Of Love

Rose Colored Putt-Putt

"True friends are the lens that help you see life's joy and humor, even during the most stressful times."

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Word Count: 1962

Rose was in the zone, furiously typing away at her laptop in the dimly lit corner of the coffeeshop. Her latest fantasy novel manuscript was due to her editor in a week and she was determined to get these final revisions done on time.

So focused was she on weaving descriptions of her protagonist's battle with the evil sorcerer that she didn't notice the tall figure approaching until he plopped down directly across from her.

"Writing again, I see?" a familiar deep voice rang out, startling Rose from her trance.

She looked up to see her husband Jimin grinning at her over his Americano. Rose huffed out a sigh. "You know I have a deadline, babe. What are you doing here?"

"Just checking in on my workaholic wife," Jimin replied breezily. He took a long sip of his coffee. "Making sure you're still among the living."

Rose couldn't fight the fond smile tugging at her lips, though she tried to seem stern. "I would be making better progress if a certain someone didn't keep distracting me."

Jimin simply batted his ridiculously long lashes at her. "You love my distractions."

Before Rose could protest further, her phone buzzed with a new text from Lisa: "911, need girl time ASAP! My boss is a demon and Tae is being an unhelpful brat."

Rose winced in sympathy, knowing her marketing professional bestie had been putting in some intense hours recently. She quickly typed back, "Come to the cafe? Jiminie's already here bothering me too."

"What's that look for, dear wife?" Jimin asked, zeroing in on Rose's furrowed brow.

"Lisa needs to vent about work stuff," Rose replied. She closed her laptop decisively. "I'm clocking out for now. This is an emergency friend session."

Fifteen minutes later, a visibly frazzled Lisa burst through the cafe's doors, catching sight of Rose and Jimin immediately. Her husband Taehyung trailed behind, hands shoved in his pockets as Lisa marched over and collapsed into the chair beside Rose.

"Thank god you guys are here," Lisa groaned, raking a hand through her disheveled hair. "I can't even look at Taehyung right now without wanting to scream."

Taehyung heaved a melodramatic sigh as he pulled up a chair beside his wife. "See what I have to deal with? I'm an innocent victim here."

"Can it, you useless lump," Lisa shot back without any real bite. Jimin snickered knowingly.

"Okay, what's the latest saga in the high stakes world of corporate marketing?" Rose asked in a calming tone, sensing her friend just needed to vent her frustrations out.

Lisa immediately launched into a detailed account of her nightmarish boss piling more and more work on her despite missed deadlines and budget cuts. How said boss refused to give her team more resources yet expected top-notch, high-quality work to be pumped out nonstop.

"...and so she has the audacity to criticize my proposal in the meeting today, in front of the whole team and all the higher-ups! Like I have the time or budget to completely rework that entire thing right now!" Lisa threw her hands up in exasperation.