Chapter 1

"Hahaha… *hic*"

At this unfortunate moment, I was spending the day before New Year's Eve with my direct superior. Her image that constantly nagged and ruthlessly dragged me to work overtime was a huge contrast with the way she was acting now.

"Ivannnn~" she drawled my name lazily, holding her shot glass to me.

I sighed and obliged, pouring another cup. My hands displayed the respect of a subordinate.

This was a scene that I had gotten used to already from the countless times that I'd seen her drunk.

As of this moment, she hasn't drunk too much yet… at least in comparison to past drinking sessions— so I wasn't too worried.

For some reason, she becomes like this with just a few drinks. It's not that she has a low tolerance, rather she can outdrink some of the most alcoholics, but her mental state will degrade very rapidly.

She'll quickly go from a very upright person to a scum.

She slammed her shot glass on the table and grabbed the metal tongs to move around the meat that was cooking on the barbeque grill.

"Don't touch the meat, you have to let it cook," I ordered.

She laughed, "Hihi, eat up Ivan," she tossed a piece of meat onto my plate.

My eyebrow twitched.

"Manager, we might get food poisoning by the end if you insist on being responsible for the cooking…" I tossed the piece of meat back with my fork.

She did not hide her laughs, "It's just medium rare…" She laughed again as if she had made a very good joke. "Look, if we get food poisoning we can just miss work… it's New Year's Eve's Eve anyway… we don't work tomorrow, do we?"

I sighed and massaged my eyebrows.

"That's right… tomorrow's a free day."

"Yayyy!" she happily swung her arms around with a blissful expression. She sighed with relief, "We can just drink until we pass out, then."

"Manager, not a good idea," I instantly rejected the notion.

"C'mon don't be a freakin' virgin…" she spoke lazily with a frown.

My eye twitched.

Arguing with this drunk piece of shit would not be good for my mental health.

"Heh~," her eyes folded into crescents, "...virgin…" Suddenly, she erupted, "What's the deal dude… why are you so tight and formal with me," she snaked an arm around me.

I guess I'll start counting my days. "Manager, you'd be pissed with me the next day."

"Hmm… that's not true."

I looked at her with exasperation, "Woman, you cut my salary the other day when you remembered the dance moves you pulled while you were drunk."

"Hehe, that's your fault for not stopping me from dancing in the middle of the street."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, threatening me that if I stopped your good time you'd cut my salary… You ended up cutting it either way…"

"Okay okay, I'll just give you a big bonus."

My eyes squinted. To be honest, my living conditions were excellent. The salary cut that I mention frequently matters very little when talking about my earnings from working in the company.

We often banter about her cutting my salary and me complaining about it when her bonuses always outweigh those salary cuts.

"And a big kiss too," she added to the big bonus.

"Please don't give me a kiss," my voice sounded disgusted.

"Why not?"

"I'd rather kiss a bag of garbage on the street and eat the garbage inside than be touched by you."

"Hah?~ You wanna fucking die? You fucken' asshole."

"Kill me then, bitch. I'll haunt you for the rest of your life."

"Did your balls just get bigger or something? I'll cut your throat you piece of shit."

"You told me to get loose so I got loose, wanna cry about it? I won't lend you my shoulder, you witch."

"I'll fake-cry at the interrogation when they ask me where your body is and laugh at their pity, knowing your body is rotting in my basement. Count your days, bastard."

"I'll make you miserable, you think I'm scared of you? Old bitch."

"I'll fuck your mom."

"You think she'd like a woman as shitty as you? My mom has standards."

"Yeah, shitty ass standards. Wonder how she could love such a moron like you. Only she can tolerate you."

"Don't talk shit about my mom, I'll fuck your dad."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"My dad?"

"..."

"???"

She held out her glass again. I poured into her glass and she made a big childish smile. "Thank youuu."

"Are you actually planning on passing out tonight?"

"No, not really. For my New Year's Resolutions, I have heard your shitty concerns and I will now abandon drinking."

"Good luck with the withdrawal symptoms, you degenerate."

She slammed her cup back onto the table, "More, peasant."

"Don't call me peasant," I poured into her cup.

"Thank youuu," she hugged my arm happily. She looked up at me, "Thanks for spending time with me, by the way…" Her vulnerability came out.

Used to her getting emotional after drinking, I just patted her head. "I'm having a good time."

She smiled and grabbed the tongs again.

"What're you doing tomorrow?"

"Spending time with my family. Probably going to watch a Disney Movie with lots of cousins and family friends and then sing some karaoke… Same stuff from Christmas… and you?"

"Same things. Family is coming to visit so we're probably going to do similar things…"

Yeah, this boss didn't really like opening too much about her family.

"You know what would be a good idea? Doing karaoke with all the others." By others, I meant the other co-workers.

One time in her drunken stupors, she confessed to me that she'd had lots of issues growing up with a lack of attention from her parents and other things.

"Hehe… I'd love to hear them all sing."

That led her to have crippling expectations of herself to stand out from the rest and to try and receive praise from her parents.

"You're definitely going to sing too," I said after she put a piece of meat on my plate.

Her problems were never solved and she never feels happy with her family.

"I don't wanna sing…"

Of course, it led to her getting some impressive accomplishments like rising up incredibly in positions in just three years of working in this prestigious corporation.

"Why?"

She was immediately contracted after an internship at the company and it looks like she's on the trajectory to being part of the Director's Board.

"I'm bad at singingggggg…~"

As for me, I graduated later two years after her, but I am also being developed as a talent.

"It doesn't matter… no one's there to criticize other's singing but to have fun…"

"I don't careeee~"

I smiled.

"By the way, we should finish up soon. I think they're starting to close."

She looked sad, "Awww…", her eyes then brightened, "How about we hop places? Let's go to a bar now."

I patted her shoulder, "What about your New Year's Resolution?"

"You tryna get rid of me?" she bared her teeth at me.

I deadpanned, "I need to wake up tomorrow early to help set everything up at my parent's house. You don't want your co-worker to die rather than resting on their holiday, right?"

"You can take a nap after you're done."

"The little kids are going to be drawing mustaches on my face."

"That's not such a big deal."

"I'll draw a mustache on your face, then."

"Okay, whatever…" She ate broccoli in displeasure.

"You're like a child… how old are you again?"

"Asking a woman's age? Seems like you wanna die."

"You look older than 30."

"I am 25. Didn't you say I was like a child? But now you're saying I look old. Make up your damn mind."

"How about you make up your damn mind if you want to keep being an alcoholic or not? Everyone at work has been saying you smell like cigarettes and alcohol."

"That's not true, you fucking liar."

"Marlboro red."

"I'll kill you. I don't smoke you lunatic."

"Must be the fumes of your shitty cooking then."

"Bastard…"

…

…

…

We finally reached the apartments after taking a cab.

One of the reasons we got along well was because we lived in the same building.

My floor was on one of the lower floors, at just the 3rd floor.

I'd never really liked being very high up in the air so I was very happy when I could live a little closer to the ground.

She was all the way up to the 11th floor.

In the elevator, as we watched our height increase over the city, I yawned.

As the doors opened, to my floor, I noticed that she hadn't clicked the button for the 11th floor.

"You forgot to click your floor," I pointed out.

"Don't wanna. Let's drink tea."

I didn't respond and thought about her silence.

"You feeling lonely?" The words awkwardly rasped off my tongue, but I firmly looked at her vulnerable eyes.

Her hesitation was apparent. It seemed she was going to say something that would normally be difficult, though eased by the influence of alcohol.

She shook her head and hesitated, "Well… I don't know. I guess I just get a little jealous of others who can have happy holidays. To be honest, I get a little sad whenever this time of the year comes around…"

I merely nodded and we stepped out into the floor lobby. The sound of the keys jingling as I looked for them in my pocket was strangely comforting.

I entered after her and delicately shut the door.

She sat on the couch lazily as I prepared tea in the kitchen.

She clicked through the TV channels as my hands traversed through the kitchen, "Ivan."

"Manage—, Alice."

"It's 11:11, make a wish."

I chuckled, "Okay."

"Done?"

"Give me 10 seconds… I'm trying to think of a good wish."

"..." she sat in silence allowing me to think. "Just tell me when you've got it and we can wish together."

I smiled at her, though my eyes were closed.

…

…

…

My consciousness slowly settled in from nothing, and my eyelids slowly opened, as if welcoming a newborn into the world.

Blinking once, twice, and thrice, I covered my nose which strangely itched.

Hadn't had one of these winter itches since years back… Am I getting resistant to the allergy pills?

A ray of sun was shattered by my window blinds, the fragments leaking in through the gaps between the blinds as if a prism of light.

I stretched my arms and legs, feeling less tightness in my muscles than yesterday.

Suddenly, a dull throbbing slammed me out of myself.

Ah, did I drink too much last night? I rubbed my throbbing head which was afflicted with a headache.

The tea from last night should've soothed it…

I sighed and rubbed my eyes gingerly.

Stepping out of bed, I put on my slippers that were on my bedside. I headed into the bathroom and splashed my face after peeing.

"Ah… when'd my hair get so long? I should make an appointment with the hairdresser…"

I slapped my hair that reached my eyes and was dripping wet.

I dried my hair and face with a towel and sighed in comfort.

The comfort did not last long, interrupted by a sudden thought. Ah… what time is it?

I hung my head in regret.

Did I not put an alarm?

I glanced at my phone, not wanting to check the time.

If I'm going to be late anyway, better to not stress… Stress is never good.

I'll just tell mother I needed sleep…

Hmm… why does my phone look a little weird? It looks like one of the older designs…

I looked around my room and realized that my apartment seemed a little too much like my house in the suburbs where I lived with my parents.

Did I somehow get so drunk that I drove over to my parent's house?

I scratched my head.

I opened my phone and saw that the time was 7:30.

Hmm… it's pretty early so why does it look a little late? Winter mornings, especially in New Year's should look a little blue in the skies right now…

Hey, the date on the phone is kinda off…

August 15…

Hmm.

Right.

I did the calculations in my head.

August is summer. The sun rises sooner during Summer where I live… so the evidence says it should be Summer.

In North America, New Year's should be in winter…

Yup. I have figured it out. I slammed my fist down my palm.

This is a problem for future me.

I jumped onto the bed. I guess I'll just have to go back to sleep. I immediately turned the covers over onto myself.

The bullshit levels are intense today. I'll deal with this when I wake up.

Like a newborn, I fell back to slumber.