With the business trip coming up I hadn’t had time to meet up with my friends at all and I felt bad about it. The night before the trip I finally felt I couldn’t avoid seeing them any longer, and I had prepared all I could prepare, there really wasn’t anything more I could do before the trip, so I agreed to meet up with my best friends, Austin and Leo. 

I had basically been neglecting them completely as I had been so busy and stressed about work, what with the promotion looming over me, as well as this whole mess with me confessing to Hana. 

A chill hang out with friends should help me relax and wind down, right? And it did, for a bit. We met up and chatted, it felt good to catch up with friends and to think about something other than work. But I couldn’t completely keep the thoughts at bay, with the business trip starting tomorrow, thoughts about work and Hana kept creeping in. Distracting me.

“Hey, sorry to leave so early, but I’ve gotta go.” Austin said as he texted someone on his phone, a frown on his face. 

“Why? What’s up?” asked Leo, curious as he took in Austin’s frowning face. 

“Sorry, it’s just that Ella needs me…” he replied apologetically. Leo and I gave each other a look, knowing full well that he wasn’t sorry. We both knew Austin would choose Ella over us anytime. He claimed she was his best friend, but we knew he was in love with her. He was basically at her beck and call, and had been for a long time. He only ever had eyes for her and it was honestly insane that she hadn’t noticed. If she had noticed she was an incredible actress, because she seemed completely oblivious to his feelings. There was some pity in Leo’s gaze as we waved him off. 

“Ella needs me!” Leo did an overly dramatic impression of Austin after he left. Then rolled his eyes and muttered “of course she does.”

“Leave him alone!” I protested half-heartedly, but I couldn’t really defend Austin, he really did sound like that to us most of the time. 

After Austin left, Leo and I chatted some more, but I was getting more distracted by the minute. All my anxiety for the trip was piling up. 

“What’s wrong with you? You seem distracted.” Leo asked me. And I couldn’t blame him for asking as I was being bad company, all zoned out and letting him keep the conversation afloat. 

“Sorry, it’s just work…” I hesitated sharing anything more, but when Leo gave me a look that said ‘come on, really?’, I sighed and rubbed my face in my hands. Where should I even start?

“Okay, okay… so you remember Tia? From middle school?” When Leo nodded yes, I continued. “You know she and I were really close, she was like my best friend back then…” I took a deep breath and continued as Leo gestured for me to keep going, impatient, clearly wondering where this was going. 

“I met up with her for lunch not long ago. At work.”

“...and?” 

“And… she brought up the pact.”

“What pact? Where is this going?” 

“The marriage pact!”

“The what? You had a marriage pact with Tia?”

“Yes, well, I had basically forgotten it and I was never serious about it, thought it was just a silly thing we… or rather, she… came up with it in middle school. You know sort of a contract saying we would get married if we were both still single at a certain age.” 

“And it wasn’t? Silly, I mean.” Leo guessed. 

“Apparanly not, because well… she basically said she liked me.” there I do a full stop, forcefully stopping my blabbering mouth. Leo is frowning, which I didn’t expect as I thought he would be laughing at the absurdity. 

“And you don’t like her back?” Leo prompted. 

“No! I never liked her like that.” I said. Leo seemed to relax a bit at the sound of that. 

“So what’s the problem? Did she take the rejection badly?”

“No, well…” I avoided eye contact, suddenly my finger nails were more interesting than the conversation.

“You did reject her, right?” Leo asked, as if to make sure as my answer was kind of mumbled. 

“Well… yeah, but…” 

“But what?” Leo demanded. “But what, Jake?”

“But… I kind of panicked and said I liked someone else.”

“And do you like someone else?” 

“No! Not really… but you know how Tia is… she wouldn’t give up until she got a name…” 

“And you didn’t just make up a name? What’s the problem here? What name did you say Jake?” Leo, was sounding more exasperated by the minute, as if sensing I had done something stupid. “What. Name. Did. You. Say?” Leo repeats slowly as I struggle to form words. “Oh my god, what did you do?” 

“Hana. I said, Hana.” I blurt out. 

“Hana? Hana who?” Leo, now confused and losing patience. 

“My coworker Hana.” 

“Okay…? And what’s so bad about that? Tia doesn’t know her, right?” 

“Well…” 

Leo gives me a scathing look as if to say, ‘just spit it out!’

“Hana overheard me telling Tia I liked her and then she confessed that she likes me too and I panicked and so I’ve been avoiding talking about it with her and tomorrow we’re going on a business trip, alone, together, so I feel like I have to come clean and tell her that I don’t actually have feelings for her, that I just said her name to avoid Tia’s confession. But that’s rude… And with the promotion coming up this could screw that up…And hurt her feelings as she really likes me… And I lied and so she thinks I also like her… And I don’t know… I - I don’t know what to do…” A million thoughts raced through my head at the same time. 

“Woah! Calm down! Let me get this straight… Somehow avoiding one confession got you another one and now it could really mess with your work…” 

“Exactly. But I have to come clean, right?” 

“Well… it would be the right thing to do… but it could get really messy. Tell me about this Hana, what is she like? How do you think she would react to finding out you lied about liking her? What do you know about her in general? What’s her vibe?” Leo’s asked some relevant questions, going into problem solving mode. Having a game plan would be good. And sorting out what one knows is a good place to start. 

“Not much to be honest… Her name is Hana Lee and I think she’s around my age. She recently transferred to my department and I think she’s vying for the same promotion I’ve been working towards. She made kind of a clumsy first impression, but she’s proven to be really hardworking, ambitious and good at her job. Even when she was a mess she somehow looked - I don’t know - elegant? Beautiful? I don’t know. She possesses this air of confidence and competence, always goes the extra mile for any assignment and is always ready to help everyone on the team. She’s outgoing and well-liked, helpful and caring and thoughtful, it’s like she can sense what everyone needs, but sometimes forgets what she herself needs… Like she’ll get everyone a coffee, but forget to get one for herself.” I said as I smiled a little, and shook my head lightly. My smile dropped immediately as my thoughts shifted forward and I continued. “All of this kind of makes this all so much worse because I really do admire that she was brave enough to confess that she has feelings for me, that really takes courage, you know? And so I feel really guilty for having caused this and I really don’t want to hurt her feelings. Honestly, though it surprised me that she would have feelings for me as I didn’t - at least at first -  get the feeling that she liked me much, more so assumed she saw me as a rival. One thing I do know is that she is very serious about work and seems to be well connected, so I’m not sure who all would hear about me having lied if I did come clean to her. She doesn’t seem like the gossipy kind, but I would completely understand if she told her friends at work and they spread it forward…” My head hurt, I was starting to stray from talking about what I knew of Hana to spiraling into scenarios of what would happen if I came clean. 

“Oh. Okay. That was a lot. Did you say her name was Hana Lee?”

“Yes, why?” 

“Sounds familiar… Hana Lee… Lee is a common name, but isn’t Ella’s sister’s name Hana… I feel like I know more about Ella than I should, considering we don’t meet that often, but I definitely remember she has a sister from what Austin’s told me. Austin talks about Ella a lot though, so I could be wrong, as I usually try to tune it out when he really gets going about her…” Leo looks thoughtful, as if there’s something important he’s trying to remember. And then his eyes go wide as he connects the dots in his head. 

“And if this Hana really is Ella’s sister, then that would mean… that she’s the daughter of- “ Leo doesn’t need to finish as the realization hits me. Ella’s parents own SOAP, so if Hana is her sister then that means they are also her parents.  

“Maybe, don’t come clean quite yet? Get to know her a little, talk to her on the trip, but maybe avoid the relationship talk as much as possible? Get a vibe of if she would tell people and if so, who would she tell and what kind of people they are… I feel like it’s too risky to come clean, even if she sounds like a decent person, if she’s that serious about work, you never know how far she’ll go for that promotion. Stuff like that spreads fast and a good reputation is important at work. Besides, if we are right and she is the heiress of SOAP - which we don’t know for sure!- , then messing with her could do damage to more than your reputation. It could be the end of your career, dude. But let’s not go there, just take it one step at a time and just try to confirm her identity and her vibe, okay?” Leo looks apologetic and concerned for my well-being for having made the possible connection between Hana and SOAP as he tries to convince me to take it slow. 

Holy shit. I’m screwed. More than I thought possible. Why did I lie? Her name should never have crossed my lips. This further complicates things and the chill night with friends that was supposed to help me unwind before the trip suddenly made everything so much worse. I doubt I’ll get any sleep tonight…