= SARAH POV =

I was up bright and early the next day.

Nothing could stop me that day.

I even managed to catch the door slam shut as Chris dashed out while I left the bedroom stretching and yawning. 

Today was the day that the guest room officially became my bedroom, and there was nothing Chris could do about it~! 

Hmph~!

I had breakfast and bathed, all the while daydreaming about lying on new sheets and rolling around on the soft plush carpet that I had picked out for the center of my room. 

I texted Ms. Takahashi that they could come any time after 10 am.

 It seemed that they were excited as I was to get stuck in as I got a knock on the door at 10:05 am, the whole team ready behind Ms. Takahashi on the dot.

As everyone filed in and started work on my room, Ms. Takahashi gave me a gold card and said it was a complimentary hotel card, which had hotel loyalty points that guests could use to pay for items at nearby partnering cafés and restaurants in the area.

I thanked her and as we talked, things began to get really noisy as the team began to work on my room, so I grabbed Chris’ laptop and my spare apartment keys and made my way to one of the cafés listed on the webpage linked at the back of the card, that detailed all the partner hotels and cafés in the area.

The café I chose was a quaint little café that served soft bread and coffee. 

I settled in at a window seat and busied myself checking my emails and sending out applications to new job postings.

I had ordered a café latte and as it arrived with my croissant, I received an email from one of the jobs I had applied for.

I opened it as the waitress set down the latte on the table and my face fell immediately as I realized it was another rejection.

“Ah crap,” I said out loud as I reached for the latte.

“Oh sorry, is there something wrong with it?” The waitress asked, concerned.

I looked up, not really registering what went wrong, and then the penny dropped.

“Oh no, it’s not the latte, the latte looks amazing, it’s me…I got another job rejection email,” I explained, sighing. I took a sip of the latte and smiled “ This latte on the other hand is perfect, thank you”

The waitress smiled and nodded. “ Thank you so much for saying that; I wish you the best of luck in your job search,” she said and carried on with her work.

As I sipped on my latte I reflected back on the jobs I had done. 

Waitressing had been one of them; however, getting fired came hand and hand with it, as I was always dropping things and serving out the wrong orders.

 Then there was food delivery, which was a nightmare for me as I had no sense of direction…

I could apply to work at a call center. However, I could never remember the full product description, and no one was going to hire someone as dense as me for technical support work…

Across the road I saw that there was a children’s activity center.

 From where I sat, I could see teachers handing out pieces of paper to children seated at round tables. It looked like they were going to start an arts and craft activity.

 It was so heartwarming to see. It made me nostalgic for my first internship, which was at a small art center where I had conducted similar activities.

However, after the discrimination I had received from my colleagues after it was leaked that I was bisexual, I gave up on my dream of being a teacher and focused on contract work and other side hustles to make my money.

“It’s not like I even had a chance to try out being bisexual in the first place, why did they have to get so defensive about it?” I said out loud to myself, stirring the long tea spoon in my latte as I propped my head in my hand, staring out the window. 

I sighed as I dipped the croissant into the latte foam. At least I had Chris.

Chris was always there when I needed a shoulder to cry on or when I needed a listening ear. 

Chris was the smart, reliable tree I could seek shelter under when everyone else around me was falling apart, and I don’t know why, but I always felt like dating a girl would probably be unfair to them because I would end up comparing them to Chris. 

I had always hoped that I would find aChris 2.0; however, as the years have gone by, it seems like there wasn’t another Chris out there to be found.

So that’s why I was in this mess now; I tried to change the bubble instead of bursting it, and it burst all the same. 

“Umm, excuse me, Ma’am,” A voice cut through my thoughts.

I jumped and turned to find myself looking into the darkest eyes I had seen in a long time. 

A tall, lanky woman stood before me. Their dark brown hair tied back in a short man-bun, flowing tendrils falling forward to frame their face. 

Dressed in a black vest and white shirt, with pin-striped black pants, the name tag said “Jun” on the front pocket suggesting that she worked there.

“Hi…yes? Can I help you? I-I paid for the latte and croissant with the gold card… did it not go through?” I said, apologizing, figuring that this person had come to tell me the card had bounced.

“Oh, no…no problem with the payment, actually, the barista mentioned that you are looking for a job. We do have an opening for a cashier if you need something on short notice. If you have the time, please look over our job description and see if you would like to apply” she said and handed me an application form with a job description information sheet.

 “My name is Ruby Jun. Do look for me if you would like to submit the form” she said and smiled, bowing slightly before walking off, leaving me to stare at the pieces of paper in my hand.

How amazing was today? Seriously? 

A job offer AND my room getting a complete do-over?

 This was amazing. 

Today was amazing!