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“Okay, but he’s a tall toothpick. This one’s a mountain.”

“Hey!” Kana barked, interrupting. “Who gives a shit if you could have won. We have other things to focus on here!” She tapped Jun’s shoulder, whose head was still down. “You have it, right?”

It took Jun a while to understand what she was saying. Then he pulled the device out of his pocket. He realized it was the latest iPhone with a large crack webbed across the surface. He placed it in Kana’s hands.

Jun turned to watch. Kana held down the home button, tapped the screen a few times, and tried the side button. She frowned. “It’s broken.”

“Can you even turn it on with a cracked screen like that?” Hal asked.

“My phone looks like shit, and it’s fine,” said Alex, holding up his beaten-up brick of a phone.

Hal let out a frustrated sigh. “Aight, maybe Matt can figure it out.”

Exasperated, Kana put the phone in her jacket pocket and frowned at Alex. “Nobody won, right? So we even?”

Alex snorted a laugh as he leaned back on the headrest, looking at the ceiling. “We haven’t even started yet, princess. Don’t get too ahead of yourself.”

6

In Memoriam

Alex straightened the collar of his only nice suit to avoid the gaze of an expensive-looking old couple, chatting and fanning the memorial pamphlets with their wrinkly hands. He nervously smoothed his pink hair tied into a low bun as he made his way across the main conference room.

People in the fanciest and drabbest black clothing scattered across the area. Some were in small clusters, while others found their seats amongst the dozen rows of velvet banquet chairs.

The small stage at the other end of the room held Ayase’s smiling portrait. Bouquets of white flowers flanked either side, filling the air with a heavy sweetness. Whoever chose Ayase’s high school senior photo as the main centerpiece must have been in a rush. There was no way they didn’t have a newer photo of him.

At the back of the chairs, towering TV cameras pointing at the memorial’s altar broke the bittersweet illusion of a solemn event. It was disgusting that cameras were here to turn a dead man’s memorial into content. Alex walked a little closer to the camera crew when a bald guy with oversized headphones signaled to a glum-looking reporter with a yellow foam microphone.

“That’s right, Chris. We are gathered here today at Paragon, which has been transformed into a heartfelt memorial for one of the company’s highly esteemed research scientists, Ritsuki Ayase. He had a promising career ahead of him, as he was the leading developer of Nixzin, a new medication that could have potentially revolutionized our mental health care system. However, the production had to be discontinued in 2012 due to the terrorist attack on the company.

“We will never know what kind of potential he may have given to the world, but we can only extend that gratitude in honor of his memory. He was only twenty-three years old when he tragically committed suicide last month.”

Alex timed his walk behind the camera and let out a loud, obnoxious cough—“Go fuck yourself”—and kept walking. He snickered at the frustrated glare from the reporter as the crew scrambled for another take.

A hand clasped on his shoulder. A voice sneered in his ear, “Come with me.”

Alex turned to a face he once knew so well. Her bobbed black hair was immaculate, pearl earrings catching the light beneath it. After all this time, Alex still thought she was the cutest woman in the world, even in her ridiculous frown.

“Alex Garza.” Yoona’s grip loosened the moment she recognized him. Her frown deepened.

Alex flashed a cheeky grin and stuffed his hands in his suit pockets, trying to play it casual. “Hey Yoona,” he cooed. Even in a modest black dress, she made it impossible not to look. Alex forced his eyes to stay on her cute, grumpy face. “Or should I call you, Officer Han?”

Yoona rolled her eyes. He had never seen her wear an ounce of makeup. He preferred her without it, but he wasn’t mad she wore some today.

“Alex, this is a memorial for goodness sake!” She pointed at the camera crew behind him. “If you’re about to make a fool of yourself on television, then yes, I will have to take drastic measures while off duty.”

Alex scoffed, watching them finishing up their last take.

“Relax, they weren’t live.” He turned back at Yoona, but her attention was elsewhere. Either she was staring into the distance or trying to ignore Alex’s presence. He still hadn’t accepted that she’d walked away from him. Probably never would. “Looks like you came here alone.”

“And you didn’t?” Yoona snapped.

“Why would I?”

“You’re here with Jun, aren’t you?”

How had she come to that conclusion? They hadn’t brought him up since the mall incident. Alex furrowed his brow. “Why the fuck would I be with Jun? He disappeared.”