= Sarah POV =

The day went by uneventfully, and as I finished my lunch at my desk, an alert on my phone reminded me to complete a part of last week’s report. I also had a 2 PM dance studio inspection that I had to attend, so I quickly settled what I could with the report, and at about 1:50 PM, I gathered my clipboard and pen and conducted the dance studio inspection.

The dance studio was frequented by a few instructors and dance groups that used the space for training purposes, so someone needed to go in after a session and inspect it to make sure nothing important was left behind and no damages were made to the property.

So far, nothing serious had happened, and the place always looked spick and span despite all the people who came in and out of the room regularly.

To protect the privacy of the dancers, no CCTV cameras were set up inside the studio. We wanted to give the people who used the space privacy as it was used by women’s groups or children’s dance rehearsals. There were always staff on-site to monitor live, so there was a level of security. However, we didn’t want any actual surveillance to provide a safe workout environment.

A few permanent features, such as the sound system, yoga mats, towel rack and dumbbells, needed to be accounted for. My clipboard had a print-out checklist of everything I had to check off, including all the lights and the air conditioners, to ensure everything was working smoothly.

After 30 minutes, I completed my equipment checks and inspected the yoga mats when the door to the dance studio swung open.

Ms Ms. Jun strode in looking quite haggard, running a hand through her hair as she walked across the room to look out at the street below through the full-length windows.

“Hi, Ms Ms Jun. Is everything ok?” I asked, wondering what brought her here at this hour.

Ms. Jun jumped and spun around, looking surprised to see me there.

“Sorry to startle you, I’m just making my rounds for the department,” I explained, raising my clipboard, which had the checklist on it.

Ms Jun immediately relaxed and smiled. “Ah, sorry, I forgot that around this time, Heather gets someone to inspect the place. I’m sorry to have interrupted your work”.

“Ah, no, it’s ok; I was just wondering if I had missed a booking or something since you suddenly came in,” I replied, feeling a bit sheepish to be pressing the subject. Clearly, Ms. Jun was stressed about something and walked into the most empty-looking room to relax.

“Maybe I’ll just take a step outside for a bit if you want the room to yourself,” I said and left.

A hand grabbed my wrist, and I turned to find Ms. Jun holding onto me and looking at her feet.

“I-I….could I borrow you for a bit? I need to let something off my chest,” Ms Jun said, her voice wavering slightly.

“Sure, do you want to take a seat? There are the exercise balls over there, which are quite nice to sit on,” I suggested, motioning to the vast grey elastic balls at the far corner of the room.

Ms Jun looked up, beaming. “Thank you, yeah, that would be great”, she replied.