Annie is a charming Korean American girl who just graduated from college. It was her dream to work in Wall Street all her life. She gets into Lehman Brothers with the help of her best friend, Daniel, but work is demanding and tough. Senior Bankers...
The words appeared again on the LED signage of the Lehman headquarters. The next scene was the bird's-eye view of the mountains drenched in the shades of autumn. The screen wrapped around the building like a gaudy belt. The images seemed to play slower than usual as if to capture its last glory. Other than a few tourists taking pictures, and the NBC News van parked on the west side of 49th street, nothing was out of ordinary. In less than twenty-four hours, Lehman Brothers was scheduled to announce bankruptcy changing the global financial landscape forever. But at that moment, it was another quiet Sunday afternoon. Annie watched in awe as soon-to-be-former employees of Lehman Brothers, uncharacteristically dressed in jeans and sneakers, carried boxes out of the building. She guessed they wanted to pack and move their things on Sunday rather than Monday before the reporters got there. "Do you want to go?" said Daniel in an impatient tone. He was moving up and down, trying to keep himself warm. The cold September breeze had turned his cheeks to ripened persimmons.
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"How can you say you want to leave? Aren't you feeling sad? You worked there too," Annie said.
"I'm over it, " Daniel said, rubbing his hands together, " It was a job, Annie. We are all victims, and we need to move on," Daniel continued, "come on, don't look so sad. I'm going to get some coffee. You can reminisce all you want here, but it's not like it will come back." Daniel rushed to find a Starbucks.
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Was she wrong to feel this attached? Her throat was burning from suppressing the sadness she felt inside. She longed to move on but also wanted to hold on to this moment. She had worked for the worst possible department of the worst possible bank on Wall Street cranking out toxic securities. She was working her ass off trying to pursue the American dream like everyone else. She was trying to take some pictures with her phone when a familiar face appeared on the phone screen. In front of the building's giant mouth stood Jon Herman, the head of Conduit Loan Group. His tall silhouette no longer resembling the pillars of skyscrapers he had financed. He was a mere human, after all. Annie thought. Without his Brioni suit as his armor, he looked almost fragile — the cashmere sweater exposed his slightly hunched shoulders, so different from how she remembered him. She prayed that he didn't see me. This was a memory she wanted to keep, not re-live it. The power, greed, and vanity were all behind her now.
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