Enemies by Fate, Lovers by Choice

Luna followed Liva out of the company and met with other newcomers and some regular workers. Everyone turned their heads when they heard footsteps coming, just in time to see Liva and Luna. Luna noticed the gazes of people, but she didn't bother to even look at them. She chatted with Liva as she felt uncomfortable. Their group didn't wait long when their supervisor came with a few more people. Luna secretly breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that their senior manager was also coming, as she at least trusted their senior manager.

 

The supervisor, a woman named Film Rachanun, led everyone to a famous restaurant where she had made a reservation. She secretly glanced at their senior manager with a smile, only to see the senior manager looking at Luna. Film tried to get the senior manager's attention by introducing everyone. Luna tried to remember all the names, but it was hard. There were so many people. She kept glancing at her phone, hoping she wouldn't be forgotten by Prima. Film's smile felt a little forced, and Luna noticed her eyes linger on her with a hint of something... unfriendly.

 

Film led them to a big room filled with tables and snacks. It was a welcome party for all the new employees. Luna felt a little lost. Everyone seemed to know each other, laughing and chatting. Although Luna felt uncomfortable, she still would say a few words. Her coworkers noticed that she wasn't that indifferent, so they tried to take an initiative to talk to her, which helped Luna interact smoothly.

 

While Luna was interacting, she didn't notice that their senior manager was observing her, but Film was different. She noticed from the moment they gathered that their senior manager had been watching Luna, which made her really uncomfortable and annoyed.

 

Luna smoothly interacted with people around her but wouldn't answer every time the question was about her private life. Until she received a message from Prima asking if she was doing fine. Luna replied that everything was okay so far, the party had already started.

 

Suddenly, a warm voice broke through the noise. "Luna, it's so nice to finally meet you," said a woman with kind eyes and a friendly smile. It was Tiana Namtan, the senior manager.

 

Luna felt a wave of relief. Namtan had always been kind to her during the interview process, and Luna felt she could trust her.

 

"I'm glad to finally meet you too, Ms. Namtan," Luna said, feeling a little more at ease.

 

Namtan chatted with Luna for a few minutes, asking about her experience at the company so far. Luna felt a genuine interest in her, unlike Film's forced smiles.

 

"I think I'm going to get some air," Luna mumbled, although she didn't understand what was going on but Film's look at her was more scary when Namtan started talking to her.

 

"I'll come with you," Namtan said

 

Luna looked at her, then she looked at Film, not far away. She was about to talk when a phone call came. She didn't even look at it and just quickly answered it. She excused herself first apologetically to Namtan before walking away.

 

"Haaa... Thank goodness you called just in time," Luna sighed after getting away from the crowd and Namtan.

 

"What's wrong?"

 

Luna heard a familiar voice come, but it wasn't Prima. "Ha?" Then she looked at the caller. "Mira?"

 

"Yeah, what happened? Are you in trouble?"

 

"Ah, no, it's nothing,"

 

Mira frowned as she could hear that there were a lot of people around Luna. She looked at the time and calculated the time there. "It's already passed midnight, you're still not at home?"

 

Luna became nervous when Mira asked her so she quickly told what happened, afraid that Mira might misunderstand her. "Not yet, but I'm about to leave. Our supervisor prepared a welcome party, and our senior manager also came, so I just can't leave quickly."

 

"I see, don't drink too much."

 

"I'm not drinking, I just drank a glass of wine earlier."

 

"That's good... be careful when you go home."

 

Luna knew that Mira was about to hang up, but she still wanted to talk to Mira. "Can we talk a little longer?"

 

Mira took a few seconds before she answered. "Sure."

 

"Are you busy?"

 

"No."

 

"Then why did you pause before you answered?"

 

"I just thought you were going back to talk to your workmates, and I'm the one disturbing you."

 

"No, I want to talk to you."

 

Mira was speechless. 'She just said that she only drank a glass of wine, why is she talking like a drunk person?'

 

"Okay."

 

Luna glanced at the crowd. "Why did you call suddenly?" she asked.

 

"..."

 

"Mira."

 

"Well... I'm just bored," Mira actually didn't know why she called Luna.

 

"So... I'm your pastime?" Luna asked without any other meaning.

 

"What? No!" Mira quickly answered, feeling offended. She heard from her workmates what "pastime" means, and when she found out the meaning of it, she felt like only scumbags would make a woman a pastime.

 

Luna got flustered by Mira's sudden raise of voice. She didn't know what she said wrong, but she knew Mira got angry. "W-what did I say wrong?"

 

Mira calmed herself first and realized that she raised her voice to Luna, she panic inside and felt bad,"Luna, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to raise my voice... it's just... don't say you're my pastime. You're not a pastime.. I just called you because I thought of you."

 

"Thought of me?"

 

"I'm going out first. Be careful on your way home. Bye."

 

Mira quickly shut the phone and buried her face in her pillow while holding back her scream. 'Why did I say that?! Mira, you're such an idiot! Ahhh, it's embarrassing. But.. I raised my voice to Luna, will she get mad at me? What should I do? '

 

Luna, on the other hand, froze when she realized what Mira said. Of everything Mira said, what she understood the most was that Mira was thinking about her. Luna blushed, and what Mira said got stuck in her head. Everything became nothing to her. She couldn't hear the noise around her anymore, even when Prima came. She just looked at Prima, but she was still thinking of what Mira said. She blushed even more.

 

When Prima came, she thought everything was okay, but when she saw Luna in a daze with a red face, she got worried. Even the senior manager and supervisor got worried about Luna because Luna would only look at them then ignore them.

 

"I'm sorry about this. I only know she drank a glass of wine," Namtan said to Prima.

 

"Yeah, I saw it too. She still managed to talk to someone on the phone earl

ier," Film said then added, "Maybe... a boyfriend." Then she glanced at Namtan's reaction