Eun-Sun made her way to the manager’s office and gently knocked on the door with her head down. If one should see her right now, they’d dive in and hug the sad little puppy.

“Come in and take a seat,” The manager said when he saw who was at the door.

​​

Eun-sun slowly walked into the office, taking a seat in front of the manager, who sat behind his office desk.

“Sir, I’m sorry, it wasn’t intentional. Please forgive me. I promise not to make such mistakes again.” She hastily apologized with her eyes, sincerely pleading to be pardoned.

“Eun-sun, I can’t help you anymore. You keep making mistakes every time. And that temper of yours is becoming unbearable. I don’t want to do this…but you have to leave,” He said sadly. 

“What? Leave?” Eun-sun asked as her eyes widened in shock and slowly turned red. Although this wasn’t her dream job, she loved the fact that she had a job. Now she was going to lose it for what? That over pampered brat?

“Yes, today will be your last day to work here.” He said ruly.

“Wh..what? But why?” She asked in shock-surprise. Was she getting fired? She wasn’t indeed at fault. The incident wasn’t her fault at all! That useless customer had moved the table cloth causing the wine to slip, and she had apologized because she has learnt that the customer was always right.

“I’m sorry”, The manager apologized again. He didn’t want to do this to her, but he had to.

Eun-Sun was beginning to get mad, but she also needed to keep her job, so she decided to compromise and apologize.

“Sir, please don’t fire me…this job is all I have. I promise to be more careful, sir, please,” She pleaded earnestly. But what she really wanted to say was, ‘it wasn’t my fault. How dare you fire me when I did nothing wrong but defend myself?’ but she also knew her fierce temper was partly at fault. She should have remembered these words “The customer is always right”, and probably she should have taken everything with a pinch of salt if she truly valued her job.

“I’m sorry, Eun-sun, but this is as far as I can go. You have to stop working here immediately.” The manager said with an apologetic look.

“S…sir, please help me. I can’t lose this job; it’s all I have,” She begged earnestly. If not for the fact that she really needed this job, she’d probably have flipped her boss over her shoulder for being a damn weakling. She had been slapped for no just cause, and here she was being fired again?.

This was her third place of work in the past few months, and of all the places, she had worked longer here. She had worked as a waitress in her last three jobs, and just when things are taking a new turn, something terrible happens, almost as if she was jinxed.

“Please, you must leave now. I still have other things to attend to.” He said, staring at the door while avoiding her gaze.

Eun-Sun stood up and glared at him; she was fuming with anger. She wasn’t going to beg this idiot again. She pulled off her apron and threw it on the table before storming out of the office. The last thing she’d take was to let anyone trod on her.

Stepping out of the restaurant, Eun-sun turned to look at the place where she had worked for months. God, she had grown to love this place and the people working in it. Even that manager who had just taken her job from her, she had also admired.

“I thought I might get to work here a little more, but it seems the devil is at it again. When will it stop?” she asked herself softly.

She had a lot of things running through her mind. She remembered how her life had been since her dad left without saying goodbye. Her tears began to pool in her eyes, but she blinked them back in.

How long would she keep up this facade of being strong when she was all but miserable?

“I just have to start all over again; I can’t let life beat me down,” she said to herself as she made her way home.

…..

About half an hour later, Eun-sun finally arrived home. Walking into the living room, she saw her mother half-naked, lying on the couch with her boyfriend completely stoned.

“Good evening, mother.” she greeted her mom as she stepped into the house.

“Why are you back so soon? I thought you’ve decided to leave for good; how relieved I will be.” Song-Hee said, shooting a disgusting look at her daughter.

“There’s no food at home, and I hope you have some money on you cause we are famished. Hurry up and get us something to eat; that’s the least you can do, as you are such a useless daughter.”

“Yes, Mother,” she replied with a sullen expression as she made her way to the grocery shop just across the road. She had no choice but to do as she was instructed. When will her mother ever look at her and ask how her day went? Or notice she had a bad day. Well, never. This sort of treatment has become a norm in her life.

Eun-sun kept thinking about the incident that took place at the restaurant and how to get a new job to take care of her mother as she walked to the grocery shop. She absentmindedly stepped off the sidewalk and walked towards the road without looking. The screeching sound of a tire and the angry blaring of the horn was the last thing she heard before hitting her head on the ground.

~~~~

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