Chapter One: Unspoken Fates
Freen tapped the edge of her cracked tablet, watching the job listing reload again. The screen flickered, dim like the café she’d been sitting in for hours. Outside, Bangkok buzzed motorbikes whined, taxis honked in the heat haze. But inside, her coffee had gone cold, and so had her luck.
She stared at the screen, at the latest rejection email.
Polite.
Professional.
Empty.
She had degrees. She had a shiny resume. She even had a handful of awards. But none of that paid the bills. Not anymore.
Freen’s fingers hovered over her sketchbook lying beside her tablet. Smudges of graphite stained the page — half-finished drawings she’d hoped to sell online. In between, she wrote short stories for a local magazine. Barely enough to survive. Every month felt tighter. Every day a little heavier.
Across town, the hum of luxury treadmills filled a boutique gym designed more for ego than exercise. Nam stretched against a padded wall, sweat clinging to her tank top. She grabbed her water bottle as Heng landed a few lazy punches into the heavy bag beside her.
“Deadlines are choking me,” he muttered, breathless. “And my boss? She’s married to her Google calendar. Doesn’t sleep. Barely blinks.”
Nam smirked. “She sounds fun.”
Heng pulled off his gloves. “Sapphire Systems. Ever heard of it?”
Nam’s brow lifted. “Yeah. Big tech consultancy, right?”
“Yup. Security systems, UI upgrades, top-secret contracts. Our CEO’s the youngest in the industry. All bite. No small talk.”
“She sounds like someone who’d fire you for breathing too loud.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me.” Heng laughed. “Anyway, they’re hiring a new intern. Personal assistant to the dragon herself. If the intern survives the week, they might even land a full-time gig.”
Nam paused, water halfway to her lips. “An internship?”
Heng nodded. “Calendar cleanup, inbox babysitting, basic project management. Just don’t piss her off.”
That’s when Nam thought of Freen.
Her best friend. Her roommate. The girl who built a new life out of nothing after walking away from everything she was born into. Quiet. Brilliant. Stubborn. Too proud to ask for help, too tired to keep treading water.
“She’s smarter than half your board,” Nam said, serious now. “But no one gives her a shot because she doesn’t play dress-up.”
Heng shrugged. “Send her the link anyway. Can’t hurt.”
That night, Freen sat cross-legged on her mattress, the tablet screen dim in her lap. She stared at the job listing in silence.
Sapphire Systems.
A name that carried weight.
A company built on cold precision.
A place that didn’t make space for softness.
Still, something in her stirred. Maybe desperation. Maybe defiance.
She ran her thumb across the screen and whispered, mostly to herself,
“Why not?”
And hit Apply.
