HERSHE || BBANGSAZ ||

42. Offline

Hanni sat at her table after getting tea from the pantry. She opened their company IM to check if a certain person is already in.

'Kim Minji is offline.'

Her brows furrowed. Minji is never late for work.

It has become Hanni's habit to check on Minji daily thru their IM. And without her complete awareness, Hanni's not just doing it every morning, but every hour of the entire shift.

She checked her phone too to see if there were messages. Apparently, none.

The status didn't change the entire day, making Hanni feel weary. If it wasn't for the thought that Heeseung would find it weird for her to ask about Minji, she might have already asked him.

In fact, she was so close to doing that.

When the clock struck five, Hanni glanced at Mr. Bbang and petted him.

—

"Something bothering you?"

Hanni turned to Jake with a confused face, barely heard what he said.

"Are you all right? You're spacing out again," he said.

Hanni propped her elbows against the car door and gazed out the window. "I'm just thinking of something."

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"Mmm. It's mostly about work."

"Work? That work has certainly been bothering you for days now, huh?"

Hanni looked at Jake.

"You were not yourself over the weekend, you know." Jake smiled as he focuses on the road while driving. "In fact, you were not in yourself since I picked you up from work last Friday. Something wrong?"

Hanni turned back to the window. That Friday conversation had surely disturbed her entire weekend. Everything was boring for her. Everything was lifeless.

As much as she wanted to stay and talk to Minji that night, she couldn't. Jake needed to pick her up to have dinner with her mom somewhere in the city.

And as much as Hanni wanted to tell Minji the truth that night, she couldn't. She was not prepared for that kind of talk yet. Somehow it scared her.

All the troubles from the past few days sunk into her that night; her mom, Jake, Minji—Hanni can't sort them out.

In the end, Hanni knows she said things she didn't mean. She avoided the questions. But she never thought running away that night would hurt her the way she's hurting now.

During Minji's interrogation, questions started popping out of Hanni's head: are her feelings for Minji enough reason to be in a relationship with her? And how serious is Minji about this too? Will it be worth it to risk everything now to be with her?

While Minji was cornering her with questions, Hanni felt the need to escape because she doesn't want to make impulsive decisions she'll regret in the end.

And now she's hella worried about Minji's whereabouts. After what happened last Friday all she wanted is to talk to her, at least explain to her the reasons for her confusion. Hanni still wants to let Minji know that no matter how confused she is it is Minji whom she wants to be by her side by the end of each day.

"I'm just probably stressed," said Hanni instead. It was followed by a sigh.

"I'm all ears, just in case you need someone to talk to," said Jake.

Hanni nodded and turned back to the window.

—

"Home sweet home." Jake pulled the car over in front of Hanni's house. He turned to his passenger who's struggling to unbuckle her seatbelt. "Let me help you with that."