"How was your day, Jen?" The lady from across the table asks while picking on her salad.

Jeno shrugs his shoulders as he picks out his utensils, "it was alright, not that much paperwork to do, so I had time to relax for a bit."

"Hmm, lucky." Humming before taking a bite of her salad, she chews for a quick moment and then continues after she has swallowed.

"Were you late again?"

Sighing, Jeno looks up from his plate and nods curtly. "Yeah..."

Hearing his mumbled answer, the pretty raven haired woman snickers. "You should really manage your time and sort things out, it's been months."

"And I'm going to be brutally honest with you right now, like– take this as an advice either way." She warns ahead of time and gives Jeno a pity look.

"But if you were in a different company and had a different boss, you would've been fired by now. No offense."

"No offense taken, I understand what you're saying." Jeno reassures her. "It's unprofessional of me to be late majority of the time, and there shouldn't be many excuses for that."

"Despite how much work I put into, I could still be fired." He points out matter-of-a-factly to which the raven haired woman hums as she drinks her blue lemonade

"And I won't be too surprised if Mr. Na finally fires me when he can't take it anymore, it's been months, I shouldn't be like that anymore."

Clicking his tongue, he shakes his head. "It's like I'm a messed up student, who doesn't have his shit together. I'm a grown adult, I should at least have a few things right."

The raven haired lady hums in understanding, feeling bad for her colleague who's currently facing struggles on a daily basis.

"Do you wake up early? Like what time do you actually go to sleep and wake up?" She begins to ask him to get to the bottom of this.

Jeno doesn't hesitate to answer in a second, "that really depends, Lia." He says a little breathlessly.

The said lady frowns, "why? Is it all the work? Does Mr. Na give you too much paperwork and you have to stay up just to finish them?" Assuming quickly.

"If so, I can–"

"No, it is not that, Lia." Jeno stops her, waving a hand of dismissal.

"Then what is it?" Curious and worried for her colleague who she has already considered as a close friend, Lia cannot sit still.

"Just a few things at home, personal life in short."

"Oh my– then I'm really sorry if I bothered you, Jen." His friend starts to feel guilty, apologizing very genuinely.

"No it's okay, I know you didn't mean to and you are just looking out for me."

"Indeed I am," Lia was quick to agree. "Speaking of, if you ever have anything else to say, even if it is a complaint. Just come to me, okay?"

"Thank you, Lia. I will surely keep that in mind for future circumstances ." Jeno smiles kindly at her.

"Even if it is outside of the office, I'm your actual friend. Not just an office friend." Lia states.

The brunet boy couldn't help but laugh at her words, "alright then, I will let you know at any time."

Suddenly giving a flat look that almost seems too exaggerated for Jeno to take it seriously, Lia wipes her mouth with a tissue.

"Now back to the main topic," perching her chin on her interlocked fingers, she squints her eyes to seem more serious.

Even though they both know how ridiculous it actually looks for Jeno's perspective.

"Why don't you set an alarm? Let Mr. Na know your reasons as to why you're late and stuff like that."

"I do have a few alarms that are set up very early in the morning." Jeno replies.

"A few?"

"To make sure, obviously."

"Right," Lia chuckles. "Anyways, if so..." Trailing off, she then huffs in the end. " Hold on, I'm trying to guess the possibilities of why you are usually late."

"Goodness," Jeno shakes his head at her, cleaning his mouth with a tissue as he arranges his dirty dishes.

Although they are currently at a restaurant, he still has his morals and does not want to be disrespectful by making a mess and relying on the workers to clean it all up by themselves.

He was raised better than that, so he stacks their plates to the side and organizing the others with the utensils on top of the plate.

"Do you still not have a car?" Lia asks him later on.

"Nope, I don't even know how to drive."

"Jen, why don't you learn how and then get a car, it's pretty useful. I can teach you, I consider myself a pro at this anyway." She giggles.

The brunet boy could only sigh, "I'm not allowed to drive because of my scoliosis." He responds.

Lia pouts and reaches to pat his hand, "I'm sorry for that... Do you get therapy at least?"

When she gets a nod from her friend, she doesn't ask further more and goes back to suggesting ideas for Jeno to hopefully help him.

"Then what transport do you take to get to work and go home?" She asks before letting out a gasp.

"Oh God– please, do not tell me you are actually walking over there back and forth every day!" She exclaims.

Jeno rolls his eyes at her and weakly kicks her foot from under the table, "of course not. Why would you think that?"

"Duh, you sometimes arrive sweating." She snickers before gasping once again, and at this point, Jeno knows it's another joke of hers.

"That's because I'm in a hurry. It's difficult to catch a cab or a bus around where I live. And then I'm rushing up to the top floor last minute."

Hearing Jeno's reason, Lia nods along as she finishes her lemonade. Then making a face as she covers her open mouth.

"Wait– what if you're actually spending your time smooching someone outside of work every day before you enter!"

"I don't!"

"I'm just saying, what if." She shrugs her shoulders, "piece of advice though, back of the building is not that good. It reeks sometimes."

Chuckling, Jeno then receives a phone call. Gesturing to excuse himself; Lia signaling back that he's allowed. He answers the call and mumbles his words as if he is in a meeting.

"Really? Oh... Okay I'll be there in a moment. Can you wait for me? Alright, just stay by the–" Lia couldn't help but catch a few words.

Once Jeno was done with the phone call, he packs up his stuff as Lia does the same, taking it as their cue to leave.

"Hey, Lia, thanks for the meal. But I need to excuse myself early, I hope it isn't a bother to you."

"Of course not, Jen. I hope you ate well, see you tomorrow?" She smiles sweetly at him.

Jeno shares a hug with her as he replies, "yeah, I will try not to be late."

"Let's see about that, I'll time it." She teased with a little wink.

𖢻

Thoughts for chapter two?

Who do you think called Jeno?

Was Lia's guess correct?