Hooked ◇ L.Jeno

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Tw: mentions of smoking

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[8.09am]

Eyes opening, Damhee flinched at the bright sunlight streaming into the room despite having curtains.

Adjusting to the brightness, she relaxed into the bed, planning on going back to sleep.

The only problem was, she slept in.

Almost getting a whiplash, Damhee jolted to a sitting position. She looked at the clock on her bedside table, trying to turn back time in her mind because she already knew she was late for work.

How she managed to sleep for an extra two hours even with an alarm was the question playing through her mind the whole time she was getting ready.

Not bothering to shower, she threw on the first pair of jeans her eyes landed on, and a hoodie.

Tying her hair in her usual ponytail, she pushed her feet into her worn out shoes and grabbed her keys on the way out of the house, making sure the door was locked.

She dashed down the set of stairs, almost tripping on each one of them and made her way to the bus stop and reached the grocery store in under 20 minutes.

God, let the place be empty please. I can't deal with that manager.

The bell sound ringing through the store as she pushed her way in, Damhee couldn't help but rush to the counter and pretend to be working.

Footsteps heard, she looked up to see the manager stomping his way towards the counter.

"Excuse me, Where have you been? "
Internally cursing at her failed attempt at acting, she tried her best to explain her situation.

"Sir, I couldn't get a bus in time, I'm very sorry. It will never happen again."
Secretly rolling her eyes, she went back to clearing the counter and waiting till the customers came.

I was only 15 mins late, what's his problem.

Going on with her job, she spent another hour just billing people's items and being done with life.

As she scrolled through her phone looking at random things, she heard footsteps approaching her counter and looked up.

"Um mom what are you doing here? "
"I just wanted to see my daughter, is that such a bad thing? "
"Really? After all that, you think you can just walk in here and act all normal"

Giving a glance to the time and noticing it was almost the end of her shift as the hour hand neared 3, she grabbed her things and walked out of the store, not looking back at her excuse of a mother.

She felt the weight of the world on her shoulders, and found comfort in not very healthy methods.

Moving her hand to the back pocket of her jeans, she pulled out a box with death sticks inside. Placing a cigarette in her mouth, she lit it with the lighter that she always carried.

Yes, she knew it wasn't healthy and people call it cancer on a stick. She wasn't a chain smoker, just used it as a way to calm down.

Feeling the burn of the smoke pushing down her airways, she coughed a few times to get used to it.

She played with the lighter, watching the flame dance in the slow wind blowing through the corner. She was at the dimly lit smoking area behind the grocery store.

Not being able to finish the entire stick as she wasn't really in the mood to burn her lungs away, she crushed it on the ground with her feet.

What was the reason for all this you ask? Things weren't exactly the best when Damhee moved out. And the surprise visit by her so called mother triggered some memories she wasn't particularly fond of.