Holiday Blackout #2
Yoona had never seen him like this. She rushed over and sat down next to him. “Hey, hey, it’s all right. Let’s just both call it a night and get out of here. We can use our phones to direct us.” She rubbed her hand along his arm, trying to soothe him.
He nodded, then lifted his head and turned to look at her, as if just now realizing it was Yoona in the room with him. She stood up and offered him her free hand. He took it, palm clammy, and rose to standing. He looked over his shoulder out the window. “Shit, you’re right, it’s off everywhere.”
“Where’s your phone? It’ll be brighter with both of our flashlights on. I don’t have a lot of juice left, though.” Yoona’s phone battery only had twelve percent charge remaining.
Ian felt around all the papers and coffee mugs cluttering his desk. He found his phone and with a couple taps illuminated his light. “Got it,” he said, releasing a sigh. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Okay, let me go get my stuff…”
“No.” Ian grabbed Yoona’s arm. “I mean, I’ll come with you. In case, um, your phone dies.” Yoona looked down to where he held her. The touch, the pressure, the heat familiar.
She should have forgotten about it by now. She’d wanted to. But sometimes, in the privacy of her own room, when the voices in her head quieted and all she wanted to do was feel, Yoona would think back to the night, two years ago almost to the day, when she had sex with Ian Young.
Ian didn’t tell anyone about his night terrors and how in the black of night he’d often wake up in a cold sweat, praying to go back to sleep, to forget the fear.
He didn’t even know the origin of the terrors or why he was so afraid of the dark.
There was just the random panic of an existential void of light.
He had various night-lights plugged in around his apartment.
His alarm clock was one of the digital ones with huge LED numbers.
He even had battery-operated candles he could turn on if all else failed, like the electricity.
He should have brought some of those candles to work to keep in his desk.
But he never thought he’d get stuck in his office during a blackout, here only with Yoona no less.
He followed her eyes’ focus down to where his hand closed almost entirely around her thin arm.
It was the first time in two years since he’d touched her.
But he remembered, and he thought about it more often than he cared to admit—how soft her skin had been, and how incredible she’d smelled.
How her body had formed to his so perfectly.
The gasp she’d made when he kissed just below her ear played on repeat in his head.
He loosened his grip now, dropped his hand, and let her go.
“Okay, yeah, we’ll go to my office together on the way to the elevator,” she said calmly.
Of course she’d be calm in a situation like this.
Yoona did everything well. She probably wasn’t afraid of anything at all.
Not like Ian. It felt like he was scared of almost everything—the dark, rats, pimple-popping videos… failure.
She led the way, and he followed closely, maybe too closely, behind her.
CHAPTER THREE
The elevators, of course, did not work. The call buttons did not light up, and the display screens were black. Even so, Yoona watched as Ian pressed the button again and again, as if he could will it to work.
She put her hand over his and pushed it away. “Let’s take the stairs. It won’t be too bad.” They were sixteen floors up. They’d have to move carefully with their limited lighting, but they’d be fine.
Except when they got to the stairwell door marked Emergency Exit, it wouldn’t open. The locks were supposed to release automatically in an emergency. That should have included a power outage.
“What the heck?” Yoona asked aloud, pulling on the handle one more time. “How come the locks didn’t disarm?”
“Old building and new systems don’t always work well together. Same reason the air-conditioning always turns off on the hottest day of the summer. Or why the sprinklers randomly spewed water on the finance team last month.”
Yoona had forgotten about that. She let out a laugh, remembering their controller in his completely soaked dress shirt, surprising everyone who had seen them—nipple piercings.
“Did you just snort?” Ian asked, a laugh in his own voice, as if remembering the exact same thing.
“This building has always had its own sense of humor, I guess,” Yoona said.
Being stuck in the dark notwithstanding.
Ian looked around the hallway searching for another option. “Shit, how long do you think the power will be out?” he asked.
“If we’re lucky, there’s a fellow workaholic at the power company who handles issues during a weather emergency on Christmas Eve,” Yoona said. “But if it’s out all over, who knows when they’ll get to our block or our building.”
The odds seemed stacked against them.
“Yeah, that doesn’t sound too likely.” Ian sighed. “Looks like we’re stuck.” He let out a nervous laugh. “No power, no way out, no cell service, even.”
“My parents are going to freak out,” Yoona said.
It all hit her at once, their impossible situation and the ripple effect it would cause.
She could imagine the look of panic on her mom’s face.
The worry in the lines between her dad’s eyes.
“I have no way of letting them know I’m not coming.
What if they go out into the storm to come looking for me?
What if they try to drive in these conditions to find me somehow?
What if they think the worst happened? What if… ”
Ian reached his arm out to Yoona and pulled her into him, wrapping his other around her. He laid his chin on her head and held her close. She felt his breath release into her hair.
She froze for a second before melting into his embrace. It should have felt weird. But she couldn’t help but let herself go and receive comfort from him.
“Shhhh… don’t worry,” he soothed. “They might freak out for a bit, but they likely have access to more information than we do, and they’ll assume you’re stuck somewhere safe to ride out the storm. They know you wouldn’t take unnecessary risks, so they won’t either.”
Ian had no idea what her parents would or would not do. And yet his words comforted her. She rested her head against his chest and listened, letting his strong heartbeat calm her own. When she felt more herself and the panic had subsided, she finally pulled away. His arms fell to his sides.
“What about you? Do you have family waiting? Any holiday plans?”
The silence lasted a little too long, and Yoona regretted asking, worried that she’d overstepped.
“We should wait it out in your office,” he said.
The abrupt change of subject did not go unnoticed.
“We’ll close the door, try to save as much heat as possible, just in case.
I noticed you have a throw blanket on your sofa, which could come in handy.
We should also save what little battery power we have left in our phones.
” His voice shook a little, and Yoona could tell the suggestion had cost him.
He was nervous about being back in the dark.
Yoona hadn’t even thought about the heat cutting off without the power. Or what a dead phone battery might do to Ian’s fears, for that matter. “I think there’s an extra flashlight under the sink in the kitchen too. Should we stop there on the way?” she suggested.
“That’s a good idea. We can grab some waters and see if there are any snacks left. There also should be an emergency kit under the sink just in case we need it,” Ian said.
Ian had moved into manager mode, making plans and giving direction.
His voice stronger in this role, more certain.
It was incredibly attractive, and Yoona remembered what it was that had drawn her to him in the first place.
This Ian, who was both vulnerable with his fear of the dark but competent and capable in a difficult situation despite it.
“Yeah, a kitchen raid sounds like a great plan,” she said.
Ian looked down into Yoona’s eyes, searching for what, she couldn’t tell. She smiled and nodded, letting him know she was ready. He grabbed her hand and led her down the hallway to the kitchen to grab the supplies.
It may not have been entirely necessary, but holding Yoona’s hand seemed to steady Ian. They had a plan, and that helped him stop freaking out from the dark. He’d just have to face his fears while in the presence of someone he did not want seeing him at his weakest.
He opened the refrigerator and shined his phone inside. The company regularly stocked drinks and snacks for its employees. He grabbed two water bottles and some juice boxes. He also grabbed the last apple in the bin. He heard Yoona rustle through the snack drawer.
“I’m grabbing this tin of leftover holiday cookies and whatever this is.” She looked at the package closer in the limited light. “Goldfish, I think.”
“Sounds good,” Ian said. “I haven’t had those in forever.”
“Yeah, you look like you only eat protein and leafy greens,” Yoona joked.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ian couldn’t tell if that was a judgment or a jab or both.
“Just that it’s obvious you take really good care of your body.”
So, she’d noticed his body. He shouldn’t like that as much as he did.
Ian had clocked Yoona immediately on their first day of work.
Her smile lit up the room, and everyone seemed drawn to her.
They’d danced around each other that year, both always the last to leave the office, working long hours and being singularly committed to success.
In the beginning, Yoona would often ask if he wanted to order anything for dinner when she was having something delivered.
She’d stop by his cubicle on her way out and ask if he was staying much longer.
She would bring him coffee from the cart downstairs first thing in the morning.