[Anna Beecher and Lee Burkholder]

"You're fired."

This can't be true. Not in the middle of a fucking pandemic, when losing your job is literally a tragedy. Not now, because that asshole knows better than everyone that it's nearly impossible to find a new one in such hard times.

"You can't be serious, Leanne. You literally told me yesterday that I'd keep my job!" I yell at my now ex boss, Leanne Betts. Let's say this woman isn't really known for keeping promises. Especially with COVID-19 lurking into our lives and threatening to wreck havoc more than anything else that has ever happened, at least to me.

The way she treats former employees is proof that she didn't see them as an asset but as a liability. Daisy Farlow, for example, was sacked last week because "a cut on salaries was necessary" due to increasing costs. Alice Avery was promised a spot when she came back as she entered maternity, only to be dismissed three weeks later.

"I never said so." The way she denies accountability for her action makes my face turn red and veins burst like a volcano that is minutes away from causing a disaster.

"But-"

"That's not my problem anymore, Anna. Collect your stuff and get the fuck out of here, okay?" She dismisses me in such a cold tone to the point that ice is hot in comparison. But, no, this time I'm not going to shut my mouth again and keep my head low in front of her degrading insults to the staff.

She needs a lesson. She can't treat her employees like puppets. She needs to realize that we have lives, as well.

When she literally throws what's left of my stuff on the floor as if it was trash, I pick it up, flip her off and leave the shop without giving her the satisfaction of grinning at my disgrace.

"Fuck off, Leanne Betts!" are my last words to her. I'm pretty confident I'm never going to cross paths with her anymore.

***

"Anna, can you calm down, please?"

Lee is sitting at the kitchen table, lazily sipping his coffee between a swear and an insult, all while glued in front of the TV watching the ump-teenth NBA game.

I pace back and forth around him. "No, Lee, I can't calm down! I've just lost my fucking job! Bills don't pay by themselves!" I angrily snatch the remote control from him and turn the TV off. "I wish you would listen of me instead of focusing on your stupid game!"

He sighs. "Anna, seriously, take it easy. And please don't go all 'Don't tell me to take it easy, there's a fucking pandemic, I'll never find another job!' I've had enough of your defeatist attitude lately, you know?" His attempt to imitate my panic speech is quite lame, yet he still has the audacity to laugh. He knows I'm going through hard times.

"Lee, I'm sick and tired of seeing you putting little effort while I have to make money because of your laziness!" As I scold him, he stays still, impassible, not showing a sign of interest. So, I go on. "And the worst part is that you probably don't even care about me and my sacrifices!"

He explodes. "I, I, I! Can you stop it, Anna? You're a broken record now! You're being such a pain in the ass just because you got fired! Do you know how many times I was dismissed? Yet I didn't come back home crying out loud like you right now!"

He has a point. I'm overreacting and, what's worse, I'm not even realizing that he, as well, has made a lot of sacrifices lately.

"I need some fresh air right now. I... I just can't bear this pressure anymore." I stutter, trying hard to refrain from crying. I don't want Lee to see me as weak or unable to handle such a difficult situation. The problem is, things have already got out of hand.

I'm about to put my mask on and leave the house again when someone knocks loudly the door. I ask, "Who is it?"

Lee just shrugs. "I don't know. It could be anyone." His answer doesn't convince me. I believe he's hiding something from me. That's weird. He always tells me everything.

Before he tries to convince me not to ask him any questions, I rush to open the door, only to regret it. The last person I need to see, apart from that snake of my former boss, is Sim Daejung. Can't he just mind his fucking business?

"Anna."

I glare at him. "What the fuck do you want? Seriously, I don't have any time to waste with you." I'm about to slam the door on his face when he stops me.

"You can't leave me out like that, Anna. We need to talk," he insists. The point is, I don't want to talk to him. I'm sure Lee invited him round behind my back only to make me try seeing that he's not a bad person. It doesn't work. Sim Daejung is a prick who acts all high and mighty but can't even show a single bit of respect for other people.

Every time we argue, he never takes accountability for his words or his action, which only pisses me off further. I don't know why Lee and other people here in Haute Heights admire him. The only feeling I have for him is hatred. I don't want to waste my time bickering with him. I want him out.

"Just go away. I don't have time for you."

"Stop lying, Anna." He hisses, ignoring my pointed glare and my crossed arms, and putting his left hand on the threshold, as if he were threatening to plant himself inside until I accept to talk to him. "Just tell me you don't want to talk to me. I don't give a damn. We're talking. Now."

His threat is making me question his motives even further. Who does he think he is?

Things get even worse when Lee, noticing the commotion, reaches me and, instead of checking how I am, decides that greeting Daejung is much better. Well, not that I have any say in their acquaintance, since Lee never listened to him when I told him his new "friend" is a bad influence for him.

"Hi! How are you?"

"Quite well, until your girlfriend decided to bitch around," is Daejung's reply, much to my disbelief. He blatantly ignores me and goes on. "Okay, Lee, since she doesn't want to listen to me, are you okay with playing a game at my place? I also invited some of the other inmates. What do you think?"

"I'm in. I'm sure Anna will also accept. She loves games!" I can't believe what Lee has just said. He's trying to make me go and play a game at that brat's house?

"Over my dead body!" I exclaim, earning nothing but frowns from the two men. "I'm not going."

"That's not a request," points out Daejung. "You're supposed to come, whether you want or not. See you!" He bolts out of the house, overjoyed that he literally forced me to spend time with him.

I'm seething out of anger. I'm pretty sure Lee is getting close to Mr. Moped more than in a friendly way. The fact that he spends more time with him than with me, especially with a pandemic in the middle, is just proof that he stopped caring about me.

I'm considering breaking up with him, but, for now, I'll see if he has the courage to admit it. If not, then he's nothing but a lazy coward.