For two weeks, Mikha tried to bury herself in work, but the harder she tried, the more Aiah's words echoed in her head.
"Boss mode gets tiring, di ba?"
"You should let loose sometimes."
"Anytime you want to leave boss mode for a night, just let me know."
Even when she wasn't thinking about Aiah—and she definitely wasn't thinking about Aiah, or at least that's what she told herself—her friends weren't making it any easier.
"Alam mo, Mikha," Jho said one afternoon as they sat in the office, going over supplier quotes for the next event. "Ikaw lang yata ang kilala kong tao na parang allergic sa fun. How do you even survive without a little downtime?"
"I have fun," Mikha replied curtly, not looking up from her laptop.
Jho raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? When's the last time you did something for yourself? As in, hindi connected sa trabaho?"
Mikha paused, her fingers hovering over the keyboard. "I went for a run yesterday," she said defensively.
"Hindi yan counts," Gwen chimed in from the other side of the room, lounging with her legs up on a chair. "That's just you burning off stress. Ang tanong ni Jho, kailan ka huling nag-enjoy? Like, legit enjoy?"
"I enjoy work," Mikha said flatly.
"See? Allergic nga," Jho said, throwing her hands up.
Even Colet, who normally delighted in teasing her, had taken a more direct approach during their weekly brunch.
"Mikha," Colet said as she forked a piece of waffle, her tone unusually serious. "Alam mo, you're amazing at what you do, but you're also so uptight sometimes it physically hurts me. Alam mo bang pwede kang magpahinga without feeling guilty? Revolutionary concept, I know."
"I don't have time to slack off," Mikha muttered, poking at her food.
"Hindi ka naman mag-saslack off," Colet countered. "You're just being human. Work will still be there when you get back. But if you keep acting like the world will fall apart if you stop working for one second, edi ikaw rin ang unang bumagsak."
Mikha glared at her, but Colet just shrugged, shoving a forkful of waffle into her mouth.
The words from her friends, combined with Aiah's teasing suggestion, had begun to weigh on Mikha. She hated to admit it, but they were right. She was tired—not just physically, but in a way that felt like she hadn't allowed herself to breathe in months.
Late one night, as she sat at her desk scrolling through her phone, she opened her text thread with Aiah. Her finger hovered over the keyboard, hesitation gnawing at her. Was she really going to do this?
She stared at the screen for a full five minutes before finally typing:
Mikha: Hey.
She hit send, her heart racing. The typing bubbles appeared almost immediately.
Aiah: Boss. Long time no text. What's up?
Mikha stared at the screen, her mind scrambling for how to phrase it. Finally, she typed:
Mikha: You said before that if I ever wanted to take a break from boss mode, I could let you know.
Aiah: ...Are you saying what I think you're saying?
Mikha rolled her eyes, even though she was smiling.
Mikha: Don't make this a big deal.
Aiah: Oh, but it is a big deal. The Mikha Lim is finally stepping out of boss mode? This is historic.
