Once Upon Online

chapter 1

"Dana, can you please take care of Eva. I have to work" I beg.

"I'm busy Yeji! I have to shoot a video with Jared!"

"Dana, please! You can reschedule your shoot. I have to work!"

"Fine!"

Sometimes I just feel like I want to die. I don't know how my life ended up like this. A 22 year old with 1 year old daughter and in a loveless relationship. He says he loves me and he even asked me to marry him when I told him I was pregnant. I said no though because I thought he was only doing it for the baby.

I'm currently in the basement working. I work as a customer service agent for a phone company. I've been doing this job for about 3 years now.

I just got off the phone with a customer who was extremely rude and I just want to cry. I can hear Eva upstairs crying so I call Dana to take care of her because the customers might hear her. Again, we fight about it and I feel exhausted.

It's a slow night so I decided to post something on this app called 'Whisper' about the rude customer. (Whisper is an app where people can post stuff anonymously and people can send you chat anonymously)

One thing to know about this app. It seems like a lot of people are always looking for sexting partners or whatever. I get so many messages asking 'ASL?' and it's so annoying. (ASL= age, sex, location)

Then I see a message where it's not asking me about my age or sex or anything so I decide to open it.

Anon: Hey I'm sorry that customer was mean to you. I can never understand why people feel so entitled and treat others like crap.

Me: thank you. I really appreciate you saying that. It's been a tough day.

Anon: I understand. Customer service is a tough job. How long have you been at the job?

Me: 3 years. I work from home.

Anon: that's so cool!

Me: what do you do?

Anon: I'm an engineering intern:)

Me: you must be really smart.

Anon: nah. Just luck I supposed.

Me: oh come on don't discredit yourself.

I get another phone call and this time it's quick. We would message each other throughout my shift and I actually enjoy talking to this person. They're interesting.

Anon: I don't wanna be one of those people but can I at least know your age?

Me: it's fine :) I'm 22.

Anon: cool! I'm 19 graduated high school last year.

Me: what?! You're an engineering intern in your first year of college?

Anon: currently not attending college actually.

Me: how?

Anon: lol told you. Just lucky. While in high school, I attended this alternative tech school and there was this program called reverse job fair where the employers would go to the students tables and talk to them and if they like you they can offer you a job right there and then or wait until you graduate.

Me: again you must be really smart lol

Anon: hey I gotta go. I have to go to bed early. Gotta be at work at 6 am 😵

Me: okay good night. Thank you for chatting with me.

When work was done, I go upstairs to check on Eva. It's 10 pm so she should be asleep but she isn't. Dana left her alone crying while he played video games with his friends. It's always like this to the point that I feel like I don't have a partner.

I put Eva to sleep then I go to talk to Dana.

"Dana, why didn't you to put Eva to sleep? Did you not hear her crying?" I ask completely annoyed.

"She eventually would have fallen asleep. You baby her too much" he says still playing his game.

"She's 1, Dana. Act like a dad once in a while will you?" I say to piss him off.

Dana puts down his controller, "What do you want from me Yeji? I work all day. I want to go home and relax. I provide her food, shelter, clothes and toys. Something you could never do without me!"

"Fuck you! I never asked you to be a part of our lives but you insisted! I just thought you had the right to know as her father!" I yell at him.

"I'm not even sure if she's mine. You were always high back then and would sleep around" Dana argues.

I've had enough since he always brings this up, "If you actually look at her, Dana, she's the spitting image of you! And if you really wanna know for sure then take a fucking paternity test! I'm tired of you bringing up that part of my life!"

"Sleep in the guest room tonight. I don't want to see you" I say before walking away.

"No! I have work tomorrow. You sleep in the guest room!" He yells at me.

I take a deep breath and continue walking away. I don't bother arguing with him so I just go into to our room and grab my pajamas and head to the guest room.

I guess the guest room is practically my room when we fight. We're always at each other's throat. I've tried to break up with him before but he knows I have no where to go so I end up coming back. I have no family near the area. If I was by myself then I wouldn't come back but I have Eva that I need to think about.

Without realizing it, I start crying. I'm so stressed and unhappy. The only thing that cheers me up is Eva. I love her so much and it sucks that Dana doesn't seem to love her as much as I do. It's always video games with him.

After I finished crying, my mind suddenly thinks about the person I talked to earlier. They were actually fun to talk to. It's been a while since I enjoyed talking to someone. I don't really have friends here. I left home to prove I'm independent. Instead, I got myself into this kind of life. I was a troublesome person who did drugs and drank a lot.