Holiday Blackout
Susan Lee
CHAPTER ONE
“Tell me you’re not still at work.”
“Are you asking me to lie to you, Mom?”
Yoona could hear the concern and exasperation in her mom’s voice. It was no secret to her family she was a workaholic, usually the first to come into the office and the last to leave. Which often meant she’d show up late to family events, if at all.
But this was Christmas Eve and she had used up her can’t-make-it hall pass on Thanksgiving when her boss called her with an emergency that required Yoona in the office to run some data analysis.
That night, she settled for eating a turkey dinner plate, delivered from the local diner, alone at her desk.
“Yoona, need I remind you that there is an extreme weather warning? The snow is already really coming down over here. What’s it like in the city?”
“It’s fine. I’m fine. I only have a little left to do and then I’ll be on my way.
Don’t worry,” Yoona said. “I’ll call you when I get to the station.
And don’t send Dad to pick me up. I’ll grab a taxi.
” If the snow was already coming down in Jersey, she did not want her parents driving on slicked roads. “Love you, see you soon.”
Yoona had been so consumed with work she hadn’t bothered to check the updated weather forecast. She’d heard on the morning news as she was getting ready for the day that “The Big One” was going to hit the tristate area.
But morning weather reporters always overreacted.
And it sounded like they didn’t think it would hit until after the evening commute anyway.
She looked at her phone. 8:22 p.m. Okay, so, everyone was likely gone already.
Yoona, however, had a mountain of work to do before year-end reports were published. If she didn’t do it now, she’d be stressing about it every day, likely ruining not only her own, but everyone else’s holidays too.
She took out her earphones and turned her desk chair around to look out the window.
It was dark other than the streetlights and a few warmly lit apartments of those who stayed in town.
How had she not noticed the sky turning to black?
And the streets—they were blanketed in snow.
When did that happen? Yoona looked down the road to the left and then to the right.
The snow was falling hard and fast, and she could see the wind blowing the flakes every which direction from the rays of the streetlights.
It would have felt idyllically peaceful, a scene from a painting, if it weren’t so eerie.
Something was off about its stillness. It was completely empty.
No one was walking. No one was driving. The streets were void of people, cars, taxis, or plows.
The snow on the ground untouched on both the sidewalks and roads.
She’d never seen the absence of life and movement in all the years she’d lived in New York.
It was either the zombie apocalypse, or everyone except Yoona had heeded the warning and gotten out of town to hunker down somewhere before it was too late.
Maybe she should pack up and go just to be safe.
She just needed to check one thing.
She walked to the door of her office and opened it, peeking her head out. No one. The lights were all off, except for one.
He was still here. And that settled it.
If Ian Young was staying, so was Yoona.
Of course he was working late. Nights that Yoona stayed until she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer, he’d still be around. She wouldn’t say it was a competition. But she wouldn’t not say it either.
She’d met Ian during the new hire orientation at Wire One Technology, Yoona’s first job out of grad school.
She clocked him right away despite being the most nervous she’d been in her whole life starting a new job.
Tall, lean, dressed in a slightly ill-fitted navy suit, which, at the time to Yoona, seemed like overkill for their first day.
He was stone-faced, serious, furiously taking notes, and she could see that he was angling to be the most successful of them all.
She was intrigued, endeared even, and if she was being honest with herself, smitten.
Yes, he was handsome. But he was also a challenge.
Because Yoona, herself, had determined to be the most likely to succeed.
But Ian didn’t show any interest in Yoona. In fact, he seemed to have no interest in anything other than work. He quickly became one of the hardest and smartest workers at the company.
It had been three years since, and both Yoona’s and Ian’s careers were on the rise.
Each had been awarded multiple promotions, led their own respective teams, and moved from the land of cubicles into coveted private offices.
She barely spoke to him other than the occasional awkward greeting when getting into the same elevator or simultaneously reaching for a mug in the employee kitchen.
Except for that one time.
But Yoona tried very hard to forget that particular night.
For a brief moment, Yoona wondered if she should go to his office and warn him about the weather. Instead, she crept back to her desk and dove back into the mountain of data in front of her, promising herself she’d stay for just one more hour. Ian Young be damned.
Ian rubbed his eyes trying to clear away the blur.
He’d been staring at this same report on his screen for hours now, examining and reexamining every line of data to find any errors.
If he had known managing a team of direct reports basically meant his job would become checking and fixing their work, he might have considered passing up the role.
But being promoted to management after just three years with the company was a big deal.
If only he hadn’t had to share that moment with Yoona Cho.
In fact, every win he’d had professionally in his short career since moving to New York from Korea seemed to be alongside her.
He wouldn’t call her a nemesis, or a competitor either. More just a nuisance.
One he’d tried hard to forget—especially after that night.
Ian set his glasses down and looked out the window. The snow was coming down hard, and the streets were quieter than he’d ever seen. People with lives outside of work, holiday traditions and families and friends to celebrate with, were likely all tucked in their homes enjoying Christmas Eve.
Ian didn’t have any of that waiting for him.
His whole family lived on the other side of the world, and he’d only gone back once since he moved here by himself ten years ago for school.
So, no, he was not in a rush to leave the office.
In fact, holidays were the perfect time for Ian to get a head start on his colleagues who took time off.
It’s how he got ahead—no rest, no distractions. Just work.
If only Yoona would get the memo and finally go home. How long did she plan to be here?
It didn’t matter. Because however late she stayed at work, he would stay later.
CHAPTER TWO
It was well after 9 p.m. when Yoona decided to finally give in, finish for the night, and make the trek across the bridge to visit her family, excuses and apologies at the ready.
She pressed save on all her work and started to pack up her things.
She stood up, her back protesting after being hunched at her desk for hours.
Just as she stretched her arms in the air to relieve some of the tension, the harsh overhead lighting flickered once, then twice, and suddenly everything shut off, the echo of a loud electrical zap ringing in her ears.
Yoona was enveloped in complete darkness.
Shit.
She reached for her phone and turned on the flashlight.
Yoona heard another loud sound, like something heavy dropping, from somewhere outside her office. She knew it was likely Ian. They were the only two here, weren’t they? But what if they weren’t?
Nope, she would not let her imagination run wild. She would just go and investigate.
She pointed her phone in front of her, hand shaking slightly, and followed the beam of light out into the open space, slowly moving toward Ian’s office. She knocked on the door.
“Ian?” she called out. It came out louder than she expected. The darkness seemed to amplify everything—the sound of her voice, the beating of her heart, the echo of silence in the empty office.
She heard a curse and what sounded like the scrape of a chair from the other side of the door. Well, that was confirmation he was in there.
Yoona turned the knob and peeked her head in. “Ian, are you okay? I heard something fall.” She didn’t know why she thought she’d be able to see anything, it was so dark.
“You scared the shit out of me,” he said. “I’m okay. I knocked the paperweight off my desk when I was looking for my phone.”
A paperweight? What was he, sixty?
She couldn’t place Ian’s voice. She scanned his office and found him sitting on the floor next to his desk, back to the window. He squinted at the bright light of her phone and lifted his hand to shield his eyes.
“Sorry,” Yoona said, moving the beam off to the side. “You’re not hurt or anything, are you? Why are you sitting down there?” Even in shadow, she could see his face looked piqued, scared. His hands were balled in fists by his sides.
“I’m…” He hesitated. “Fuck, I just don’t do well in the dark.”
The admission surprised her. Ian Young was an imposing figure, bigger than most of the other men in the office. He had a take-no-prisoners aura about him. She never would have guessed he was afraid of the dark.
“Okay, well, it looks like the power is out on this entire part of the grid. There’s nothing on outside either. I doubt you can get any more work done. Maybe we should leave?”
Ian lowered his head between his knees, wrapping his arms around them, trying to make himself as small as possible.