mango boba | unOrdinary

01

storybook endings & apple pie

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one
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FOUR YEARS AGO, William Doe wrote a book about a man who lived amongst a world of cripples. This man used his ability only for others. He helped the weak, saved lives, and spread wealth. Spoiler alert: he dies. But it's okay, because this man brought peace and prosperity to the world even after his death.

One year ago, John Doe wrote his own book. It was about a man who became powerful, popular, and kind despite coming from a tortured background. Spoiler alert: he doesn't die. And another spoiler alert: John wished he was his protagonist so that he could get his own happy ending.

Though, that was unfair of him to wish for as he didn't exactly deserve a happy ending. He made far too many mistakes and had far too many regrets to deserve a happily ever after. Regret, especially, was far too familiar to John. He regretted learning about his ability, he regretted using that ability, he regretted hurting his friends. But he knew he didn't regret writing that book. It served as a necessary reminder of what he could've been and why he deserved to still be living with his father as a grown adult with no friends, no job, stale powers, and the heavy weight of the memories of everything that went wrong.

However, regardless of how shitty of a person John was, that didn't mean his poor dad had to suffer and work twice as much to pay for the both of them. He wasn't that awful, and besides, his father had always been good to him.

So that's why John was here. In Woaba Boba. A block and a half away from Wellston. And he was busy mopping someone's piss off of the bathroom floor.

"Ugh, it smells terrible in here," his coworker and (only) friend Corinna said as she walked into the room. She made an exaggerated face at him.

"Yeah, and I stepped in some water earlier on accident and I still don't know if it was mop water or pee water," John replied, frowning.

Corinna grinned at his expense as she picked up a spare mop and began cleaning the other half of the room.

"Well, how about we ditch the bathrooms, lock up, get some sandwiches from Shayne's, and go home?"

John looked up from the area he was mopping to shoot her a look.

"How about we don't get fired for slacking on the job?"

"You're no fun." Corinna met John's gaze with a teasing half smile, tucking a lock of dark blue hair behind her ear. "Seriously, let's just spray some Febreeze or something and get this over with." She grabbed two bottles of air freshener off of the cleaning cart and held them as if she were in a commercial. "Sea Breeze or Apple Pie?"

John sighed, rolling his eyes. "Fine." He paused. "And Apple Pie, obviously."

"Good choice."

"You have to lock up the building, though." He playfully shoved Corinna's shoulder then said, "I'll be waiting in the car."

Corinna whacked him with a mop handle in protest, but she was smiling. "You make me do that every time."

"Hey, I chose the air freshener scent, that was hard work."

"Sure it was."

A small smile played on John's lips as he left the room, untied his apron, and slipped it onto a hook in the staff room.

Corinna had been his first friend when he began working at Woaba Boba around a year ago, mostly because she was also his roommate in the small two-bedroom apartment they shared. To be frank, they didn't really know each other all that well, and their relationship as a whole was pretty shallow, mostly consisting of mild teasing, driving and eating together, and annoying their manager, Donna. John didn't even know her ability or her level, nor did she know his. Neither of them ever brought it up. John assumed she had her fair share of secrets and he believed that Corinna assumed the same of him, so they had seemingly come to an unspoken understanding to keep things light with each other.