You | Chaelisa

1. Here

Lisa thinks she can finally pin point it.

The day from which the tragic downwards spiral in her life had begun, resulting in here. Here where she was sat on the floor of her apartment, the cold floorboards making contact with her long legs. Here where she sat crying, thinking about just how much her life has changed in the last 6 months.

How much she has changed.

It was like any other day really, nothing out of the ordinary occurred that day. Nothing to warn her that she would go on to change completely after that day.

She woke up like any other person when their alarm blared at 6:30 am - with a groan. She did her morning stretch and made her way to the bathroom where she brushed her teeth and showered. As she got dressed she looked into the mirror and winked at herself - feeling herself as usual.

She brushed her hair and then made her way to the kitchen where she fixed up herself some breakfast. Just the usual cereal and coffee.

She grabbed her coat and keys and made her way to her car. She sat in the car and remembers vividly, tuning the radio trying to connect to a good radio station but, ultimately giving up and throwing in one of her favourite albums into the stereo; Arctic Monkeys.

The ride to work was like any other day; singing in the car like she was performing at a concert. Along the way to work she stopped at her friends house to drop off the clothes she had borrowed from her a few days before for a party she went to.

She gets to work and does her usual mundane activities. Writing a report, styling some magazine covers, editing some photographs of models and then finally, attending meetings.

Throughout the day, she didn't notice anything strange. Everything seemed so painfully normal that it angers her now how that one day, that one day led to all of this.

Even if she wanted, she would have never been able to see it. It just happened and then, continued to happen.

Just before Lisa was about to wrap up her day at work - to her joy, her boss and her bosses boss called for everyones attention.

Lisa stopped and turned her attention towards them. Listening intently to what they wanted to share all of a sudden.

"We want to announce a new position we want to offer to one of our employees for the spectacular and extraordinary work they've done for this company"

Lisa remembers looking around, wondering who they were talking about.

"Lalisa Manoban, we want to offer you the position of 'grand editor' this means every page to go into our magazines will go through you. ELLE would be nothing without you"

Lisa remembers with great accuracy how she felt hearing those words: elated, grateful, extremely happy, beyond excited but, sadly, none of those feelings lasted for long.

She remembers walking up to where her bosses stood and bowed multiple times thanking them so much for this immense opportunity.

After conversing with them for a few minutes they left to call it a day since the working day had already ended by then.

Lisa wasn't sure what she wanted to do but, she knew she had to celebrate this amazing day. So, she walked back to her desk to grab her phone and text her best friend Lauren. But thats when she heard it for the very first time.

"She doesn't even come from here. Why does she get the new opportunities?"

"Yeah. She should just be happy to be in this country. Why is she trying to steal our jobs?"

"She doesn't even deserve it"

Lisa snapped her head up as soon as she heard the first statement but she didn't get the chance to see who it was. She looked around trying to find the mouths that uttered those words but, she was too late.

She felt this crushing feeling in her chest. The type you get when you ask your parents to get takeout but they say theres already food at home or, the type of feeling you get when you've been dieting really hard and check to see if you've lost any weight but, haven't.

She brushed it off however because thats how Lisa was. She didn't like to gloom over things. She always believed life was too short to be a serious person.

After finally getting out of work she went to the bar where she agreed to meet Lauren for a few cocktails - on her of course.

"My baby!" Lauren greeted her standing up from her seat with her hands out.

Lisa squealed in response running over to her, hugging her tight. She smelled like liqour and flowers, the best combination Lisa thought. It was that smell that reminded her of home. Lauren was home.

"I can't believe it" Lisa says in response to Laurens greeting.

"Well, I can! I knew it was only a matter of time till you were recognised for your exemplary work girl!" Lauren told Lisa causing the latter to gush.

"Okay okay! Lets get the drinks in huh?" Lisa asks with a laugh as she signals to the bartender for drinks.

The night came to a close as the girls wrapped up their drinks a few hours later and decided to call it a night as they both had to go to work tomorrow.

Lisa remembers stepping out the bar, the bar she's not returned to in a good mood since. She stepped out and blew out a breath of air, creating a circle of smoke because the air outside was quite cold. She then broke into a smile. She was immensely proud of herself for making everything work out for herself. She recalls how she came to this country only knowing one word in Korean and now, now she was a grand editor for a well known company.

She remembers walking back to her car smiling like a fool before she was stopped by a homeless man asking for some money and took out her wallet to give him a $100 bill. She didn't give that much usually but today, she felt on top of the world. Like she was on cloud nine and nothing could stop her from becoming the best person she could be.

After driving herself home she headed straight into bed getting enough sleep for the next day.

The next day, it was the same morning routine. That day she thought she'd apply some lipstick since, well, since she knew she looked good in it.

She went into work that day expecting her colleagues to be happy for her but, there was nothing.

None of them even looked at her. Maybe one or two who she came to know well enough to grab lunch with during their work breaks but, otherwise, it was like no one recognised her.

She thought that was quite unusual. She looked around once again to see if she could catch a smile from someone but, nothing. She gave up and went to her booth where she saw a post-it note attached to her computer.

She peeled it off and it read:

Go back to your own country. You don't even belong here.

And that, that is how it all began. How her life spiralled out of control exactly 6 months ago.

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🪐Eeek!! What do you guys think? I'm super excited about this fic🤪

So the next few chapters will set the scene just before Lisa begins her new job. Rosie won't be appearing till chapter 4 (which i know is long ☹️) but its so that when she does come in you can see how much of an effect she has on Lisa's life.🪐