Matcha Tales Vol.1 Episode 1.

Episode 1: Koi

09:55 AM. She was late. 

It took 25 minutes by train to reach SF24, another 10 give or take for the shuttle bus to arrive and it would be well past 10:45 AM by the time she logged into her machine, Pauline would have her head for this. 

As soon as the sliding doors gave way, she waded through the crowd and stepped onto the platform. SF24 was a dull station, a few years back it had been the last stop for the new intracity subway Line, now it went all the way till SF35. A vending machine at the corner, the official on the other side of the glass, lazily engrossed in her morning ritual of candy crush as her cup lay by the side, a bag of Lipton soaking in the lukewarm water, the news stand opposite to it, still closed. It was standard affair, and she had seen the same scene repeating itself at all the smaller stations but these details she never missed. 

She briskly walked across the pavement crossing over to the bus stop, just as the Beige and Blue bus parked itself into the shade.

‘Lucky!’ She thought. 

Smiling profusely at the young man, who had so timely arrived as if for her, she climbed into the vehicle as the doors opened with the periodic beeping. 

10:35 AM. The elevator stopped itself at the second floor. And she strolled into the glass cabin where her teammates sat, all diligently starring at their mails. She didn’t see her supervisor anywhere. Gently pulling herself a chair from the conference table she eased into her cubicle, resting her Thinkpad onto it and waiting for it to boot. 

“You are late, and its the second time this week, Miss Koi”

Her office had recently introduced Smart Casuals on all days. Promoting a more relaxed and engaging environment as the kind folks at the Human Resources department called it. But everyone took it as an open letter to wear whatever they want. Hence Joggers became mainstream, and some of the more daring ones even risked shorts to work. Of course there were exceptions. 

Strutting along in a business suit on a Thursday - Pauline, her supervisor walked into the cubicle near the door. She liked to believe that her relation to Pauline as a mentor and mentee was sound. Pauline would regularly review her work and offer pointers but at the same she would take it upon herself to monitor her diligence. 

The problem though was her lack of general interest. This wasn’t what she wanted when she took those classes in University. To be fair, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to be when she started. But as she was handed the offer letter, and thought when she started working and got busy it would make up for her general lack of interest. Almost a year later, things weren’t working out. Sure there was routine, lunch at 12 get back to work at 2 and leave at 6 sharp. From a corporate viewpoint, working conditions were very good. But a part of her told her that early 20s and being relaxed wasn’t the best combination. But there was no general direction, that she wanted to work towards. Somehow time passed, and there was less and less that actually demanded any exuberant emotional reaction it seemed.

As work and interaction with her clients increased her poker face reached a level of significant perfection. And she just happened to apply it everywhere else now. 

As Koi, silently typed away, listing down the minutes of the meeting that had completely ruined her mood for the morning, her phone buzzed. She looked at the time, 16 minutes past twelve. She picked up the phone and pulled down the notification pane. The first one was from the office group, asking where to go for lunch. She realised that she didn’t finish her breakfast in the hurry. Just as she decided that noodles it was, the device buzzed again, Instagram this time.

“Photo” it read. 

Quickly replaced by a laughing emoji. Username - Dan_boy117. 

Few months back she went on a date with this guy, her friends said that she should try having behaving like a human her age and explore actual relationships. She personally found it quite the chore, her own life had enough shit going on and she couldn’t quite understand why she should pick up another additional burden. Nevertheless she went ahead, perhaps she had something in mind then. It was months back, and she couldn’t quite remember. 

Now how she ended up going out with Dan_boy117 is something she couldn’t fathom. He was boring, predictible, but she went anyways. She told him, that she was comfortable, and yes maybe thats what she wanted that right now. She wasn’t sure. 

She expanded the notification and started typing the reply. Just then, she saw Pauline get up and leave with her lunch box. Jeremy, from Accounts, across the room gestured to her immediately after.

“Let’s go, its Noodles today”.

“Be right there”, she said. She stopped typing, swiped the notification close and nodded her head once, thinking she was too tired to talk right now. She slid her phone into her jeans back pocket and got up to to meet the guys waiting on her for lunch. 

Noodles it was, then.  

And maybe a Matcha Green Tea with Pearls after. 




Next: Episode 2 - Daniel