sleepless cinderella ☆ q.k | ✔

00

"Y/N!" Your roommate Xuanyi called out your name, snapping your attention to your bedroom doorway. She was standing there with her arms crossed over her chest, leaning against your doorframe with a judgmental look on her face.

"Yeah, Yi?" You replied absentmindedly, turning back to your computer screen where you had an empty word document open.

It had been taunting you for the past few weeks, your unfinished—or rather, not even started—final project for your grad school journalism program. And not only was it your final project, but your professor would choose one piece to publish in the rather popular journal she was editor-in-chief for, and offer an internship with her as well, meaning that it could be your ticket to breaking into the business.

"Have you eaten breakfast?"

You gave a noncommittal response, fingers hesitantly typing out half a word before furiously deleting it. Suddenly the top of your laptop was slammed shut, and a short string of expletives came from your mouth. Xuanyi was looking down at you with that same look, and you glared back up at her.

"You could've broken my damn fingers, Yi," you spat out, to which she rolled her eyes.

"Have. You. Eaten. Breakfast?"

"No."

Xuanyi yanked you up from your desk, unceremoniously dragging you out to your small kitchen where your other roommate already was. Chengxiao looked up at you with mild amusement as the other girl forced you down into a chair.

"When did you go to sleep last night, Y/N?" Chengxiao questioned, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Two? Three maybe."

"And how much have you written?"

"Nothing," you mumbled, rubbing the sleep from your eyes.

"Do you even have a topic for your piece?" Xuanyi asked from where her head was in the fridge momentarily.

"No."

Chengxiao shook her head, "You need to take a break, staring at your computer screen isn't going to force the words to come, you know."

Xuanyi set a plate down in front of you before plopping herself down at the table as well. She picked up a magazine sitting on the table, skimming through the contents. Chengxiao perked up, snatching the magazine from your friend's hands.

Ignoring her protests, the other girl continued on excitedly, thrusting the cover into your face, "Maybe you could do it on him!"

On the cover was Dong Sicheng, a young actor who had recently shot up into stardom, being dubbed the Nation's Heartthrob by many. Despite his immense popularity and nearly rabid following, there were very few interviews with him. Even this magazine could only boast that they might have discovered his favorite dish. There was nothing substantial about him anywhere. This only made him even more elusive and made every little piece of information about him explode across the nation.

You had to hold your tongue as you calmly shot down your excitable friend's idea, "Xiao, thank you, but there's no way I could get an interview with him. Besides, I'm trying to do a really hard-hitting and meaningful piece, not sensationalize somebody even more than they already are."

She relented, pouting as she handed the magazine back to Xuanyi. The three of you continued your breakfast in silence, with you nearly falling asleep in your food as Xuanyi skimmed the magazine and Chengxiao scrolled through her phone. You had just lifted another bite to your mouth when the magazine was thrown down in front of you. Right on top of your food.

Annoyed, you went to move it off your food when you saw that it had been flipped open to a specific page. Eyeing Xuanyi, you gave a brief once-over, "'Qian Enterprises is unveiling a new building... first three-hundred people... open invitation to the party... raffle to win a pass... exclusive VIP lounge.' Why did you throw this at me?"