Nobody Like You

Work Sucks, I Know

Yeju

What is the point of going to work?

No, seriously, I have been here for three hours. I did so much, and at the same time, I did nothing at all.

First, I stepped into the lab to see the mass spectrometry beeping in error. A group of younger graduate students stood around it, discussing among themselves frantically. I've seen the same problem multiple times before, so I spent thirty minutes helping them get the instrument up and running again.

Then, the ultracentrifuge broke on me as I was using it. I needed it to spin down the bacteria samples I had grown in liquid last week; instead, the machine cracked the bottles, causing all the samples to leak out. I had to toss the bottles, clean up the mess, and contact the company to report this issue. That would have been the end of the ultracentrifuge saga if not for a random researcher insisting that I fix the machine so he could use it afterward—resulting in another hour and a half wasted.

Last but not least, the bacteria I had grown in a Petri dish two weeks ago was contaminated; some green fuzzy thing grew over the bacteria cells and killed them. Great. Not only did I lose my liquid bacteria samples, but I also lose the bacteria that was used to grow the liquid samples. Thankfully, I have more stored in the freezer, but frozen cells take a while to thaw. And because of this contamination, I spent yet another hour cleaning out the storage with ethanol and bleach.

What the fuck is the point of going to work when things keep falling apart like this and ruining my experiment? After three hours of work, all I have done is set myself back by at least two weeks. I desperately need to wrap up my project and graduate, and the universe is making me suffer through it as much as possible.

I escape to the office space and slump onto my desk. Five minutes. I'll give myself five minutes to wallow in self-pity. Then I'll get back to work.

Nothing is working out in my life. Not my scientific endeavors, not my love life, not my family—and now, not even the safe space of my apartment. Whenever I go home, I have to see the person who was part of the cause of my parents' breakup.

Well, at least Lia is kinda cute. That's the only redeeming part of this situation. And the fact that she talks like a Disney Princess.

Whatever, I still refuse to forgive her for what she and her friends did.

There's a knock on the door. I lift my head to see Yuna leaning against the door frame and scowling at me. Her pink hair is tied up into a messy bun—her typical lab day hairdo.

"Fancy taking time from your mice surgeries to talk to me," I mumble.

"I already did the surgeries last week. I'm not doing anything with the mice except to feed and weigh them now," she explains as if I cared to hear the specifics of her experiments. "Anyway, I'm not here to talk to you about science. I'm here to talk about you, Yeju. What did you do to poor Lia last night? She sounded traumatized."

"Nothing much. I don't like her, and I want her to know that."

"You're being very unfair to her, Yeju. She seems like a nice person and does not deserve whatever you're doing to her."

"I don't fucking care if she's nice or not. She can be Mother Teresa and I'll still want her out. You know what it was like at home for me."

"But it's not Lia's fault and you know that too. It's not even that other girl's fault—your half-sister, I mean. It's your dad's. You can't take it out on him so you're taking out all your anger on Lia, and that's not fair to her."