"Thank you very much, Sir; if you hadn't seen me here, I might have gotten really lost," Yumi chased after the sympathetic man who had followed her to the parking lot. The man she was following turned around right away.
"My name is Lawrence, and my boss saw you earlier; you took the wrong elevator, so he sent me to help you," the man explained.
Yumi inquired, "In that case, your boss is a pretty rude man, right? That one wearing shades and a hat?"
Lawrence gave a nod. "And that one is terrifying."
"He doesn't appear to be a boss," Yumi remarked.
Lawrence agreed, "Yup, it's not really obvious."
"By the way, are you a candidate for the job or a newly hired employee? You're foreign to me," he said as he chased Yumi down.
"Actually, I sent a short piece of writing which could be used in the music video that Fiery will produce, but—" Yumi scratched her head as she cut off what she was about to say to Lawrence.
"What happened?" asked the man, his voice full of curiosity.
"It didn't pass. I didn't write well, but it was okay, and at least I got honest feedback from the interviewer," Yumi admitted, making her feel heavy once more and adding to her resentment today.
"What's the title? Can I read it? Maybe I can refer to another company, it's a shame that you did that. I believe that there is no ugly story, even if it is cliché or superficial for others. And don't genuinely think it's bad, because you won't pass it on if you haven't analyzed your own work. It's only natural that we will have failures, but don't let it beat you. Okay?"
Yumi's heavy burden had been lightened as a result of Luke's rejection earlier. Her smile broadened, and she fixed her gaze on Lawrence. The compliment is certainly enough to motivate the person to pursue their dreams. Perhaps Lawrence's teammate's workstation is becoming lighter as a result of this behavior.
"Thank you, sir, for the motivation; I will treasure it as I continue to dream," Yumi said gratefully.
"The title of the short story I wrote is 'Firefly'," she continued.
"You can count on me reading that, and be careful when you come home," Lawrence added before turning his back on her.
Yumi inhaled deeply. She felt even better when she exited the building. Lawrence's persona reflected her optimism. She was just hoping that he will do his promise to read her story so that she can re-establish his contact attempt with Luke. But then her light faded. She took out her phone and added his name to her contact list.
"Because Lawrence is Luke's closest employee, he must also be followed," she reminded herself.
****
"Luke, come here. I cooked this your favorite pancake. It's still warm," Mother Lingling offered to Luke who was currently focused on his laptop.
"Thank you," Luke said kindly and quickly picked up the tray the lady was carrying. "You know very well that I'm still awake at times like this."
"What are you reading? Poems or scripts?" Mother Lingling inquired before sitting in the vacant seat near Luke's seat.
"Short stories, for a music video related to love but I wish the protagonist wasn't a cheesy romantic couple. It's just that it's hard for me to explain right now," Luke replied without even glancing at Mother Lingling.
"Can you leave it to those directors? You don't cover that anymore, the employee might get even angrier because you're robbing them of their jobs," the lady suggested. Then Luke turned to Mother Lingling and looked at her seriously. "No way, didn't I say I want to change Fiery? Now that Dante is no longer on the scene, the quality of Fiery's art needs to improve, everything related to his rotten management needs to be erased."
Mother Lingling just nodded. "I understand Luke, I know what Sir Dante did to you and your mother was painful, I don't blame you. I'm not holding you back from feeling that way, but isn't he dead? You've already handled justice, haven't you? You can only be really calm if anger always exists in your heart—"
"It's not just anger. It's so disgusting that even after his death, I can't quell the fire that's burning in my heart right now. He's a dagger that left a deep mark on my whole being. He stole my youth and the chance to be happy, it's his fault why until now, mama is still comatose," Luke insisted.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have bothered with that thing, I understand you," Mother Lingling replied calmly. "I'm going to sleep, just call me when you need something," she added before finally closing the door.
He had crumpled the paper he was holding. Luke simply rested his head on the chair's headrest. He couldn't help but think of Yumi at this point. How could he possibly forget the girl who saved him from drowning in grief? Yumi was with him from childhood to adulthood, even when their relationship faltered.
"Yumi changed a lot; it feels like she has a new personality now; even though she still looked frail, I can sense that she became tougher than she was before," he pondered before taking Yumi's resume and placing it in a folder on his table. He made a smile with his lips.
"Until now, Yumi has remembered the story of a firefly; she is still attached to it; how could she not erase this thing from her heart? We have already separated."
He was still under the impression that Yumi was still interested in him. And perhaps the main reason she passed her work despite the possibility of rejection was to get closer to him. Yumi, he remembered, worked as a wench in a high-end nightclub after they broke up. Despite their previous relationship, Luke's foster mother, Nelia, warned him that Yumi has been in the rough trade business since she was a teenager. That was also the reason Nelia despised Yumi's relationship with Luke.
Despite his mother's prejudice, Luke was able to defend Yumi, but their relationship ended when he discovered evidence that Yumi was really a courtesan.