The woman in the mirror stared at her for a while.The shiny black was nice, but she wondered if it was time for a change. Pink looked like a fun color.Joy remembered that, when she cut her hair short for the first time during her first year at college, her mom cried over the phone, and then again when she went home for Christmas. If she were to dye her hair pink, it would probably end with her being kicked out from her house.“But I was kicked out anyway.” Joy mumbled.Just how much in her life had been determined by the fear to go against her parents, even from the smallest things like this?She toyed with the scissors in her hands.“If you want to cut your hair, I suggest you go to a hair stylist, don’t do it yourself.”She’d been distracted and only then saw Adrien’s reflection appearing behind hers. His smile was too much for her fangirl heart to handle, but Joy comforted herself thinking it would be too much for most women to resist. Someone who didn’t know Adrien would mistake him for one of the models they worked with.And thinking about it…“Boss, what are you doing here?”That morning she’d accompanied Courtney for the photo session of the fashion section, switching places with Luca who had an emergency at home. This certainly wasn’t something that needed Adrien’s supervision… right?“Courtney forgot something at the office and the studio just happened to be in my way.”“Oh, I see.”She yawned, covering her mouth with a hand.“You didn’t get a good rest?” His smirk was clearly suggesting a reason why she didn’t get to sleep. Sadly, it couldn’t be further away from her reality. Joy was very picky about who she was intimate with. Therefore, there hadn’t been much action for her after breaking up with her boyfriend more than a year ago.“I didn’t. I’m still looking for an apartment. I even considered some announcements of people asking to share a flat, and I had some meetings, but it didn’t work out.” She sighed. “I’m praying to get something this afternoon. My friend’s boyfriend was eyeing me this morning with a look that said he’s tired of me invading their love nest.”She was supposed to stay for a week, but it had been more than ten days and she was overstaying her welcome. Emilia didn’t have any problems, but Louis certainly did.“Understandable.”There was always the option of that stinky room she’d seen in the north side of the city, but it was too far from Zoom’s offices.“We already finished here, so I should get going to solve that, right?” She stood up, leaving the scissors aside and picking her backpack from the other chair.“If you really have trouble finding a good place in a short time, there’s always a spare room in my apartment.”Joy gaped and stared at him, eyes wide open.What did she expect telling her problems to Adrien? She wasn’t sure, it was just something that she kept doing because he didn’t seem bothered by it. However, she certainly didn’t expect him to make that kind of offer.“Are you for real?”He cleared his throat.“As long as you are clean and we respect each other's spaces… and if you don’t mind that some of my visits might be… loud at night.”The implied meaning in the past part of that sentence made her feel a bit flustered.But no matter what his habits were, this unexpected offer was better than any dream. Joy had already been excited when she learned that he moved to her city to work, even more when she landed the job at Zoom. Now she could also live in the same house with her idol? Wasn’t it a chance to be close and learn from him? This wasn’t just luck, perhaps she’d earned good karma in her past life and was finally collecting now.“Boss, you won’t regret!”***“There’s always a spare room in my apartment.”Adrien didn’t know what took over him.Or maybe he did. Was it because she looked so pitiful? It was all about the perspective. Angle and distance made all the difference. For example, he’d walked closer, right in front of her, as he listened to her speaking. She was so short compared to him, and from the top view her chubby cheeks and big eyes also made her look like a child.If he kept in mind that Joy was a twenty five years-old woman, then he wouldn’t make that offer. However, he’d seen this short, small person with dark bags under her eyes and who kept telling him her problems… and the words just came out of his mouth.This was because a person’s normal response would be to help the child in need. It might be that Joy reminded him of his half-sister, another person he hadn’t seen in years. During her teenage years, Lucy was also like this, getting herself into problems she couldn’t solve on her own.“Are you for real?” She asked.It made him feel uncomfortable.‘I’m an idiot.’ He thought.The offer was made, though, and he felt it wasn’t right to back out. Anyway, it would only be temporary, until she could establish herself.“As long as you are clean and we respect each other's spaces… and if you don’t mind that some of my visits might be… loud at night.” He hoped that by telling her this she would say no, but Joy was still beaming, true to her name.“Boss, you won’t regret!”Right, why would he regret? The preoccupations that usually came along with a man and a woman living together did not apply to this case. Joy looked at him as a mentor (she was the only one calling him ‘boss’ all the time), and there was no way he’d ever feel attracted to her. She was just too young and not his type.There was nothing to worry about, except that he could practically hear Nora’s nagging if she learned her new employee would live with him. He’d ask Joy later to keep it between them so save himself more trouble.“Then, just let me know when you can move your stuff, and I’ll make a copy of the keys for you today.”“Okay. Could it be tomorrow after work?” She asked. He tried to remember if he had a date the next day, which he probably did. But just showing her the apartment wouldn’t take long.“Sure.”“Thank you, boss. You are the best.”Adrien sighed.“Well, I have to go. See you tomorrow then.”***[Mom wants to know how you’re doing.]It was James again. They hadn’t talked this often ever since she was in high school.She typed fast, fueled by her frustration.[Well, she could call me to. I wrote her last week to tell her I’d be staying with Emilia, but I didn’t hear one word back from her.][You know how she is. They probably want you to go back, but can’t say so.]These days she’d been feeling like a burden to Emilia, and just a couple of days ago her brother also called to tell her she should be more reasonable and try to appease their mom and dad. Everytime she would look at her phone thinking of calling her parents and fixing things, although she knew it wouldn’t be possible without giving up everything she wanted for her life.[I need some time for myself, Jamie. Don’t bother with this anymore.]Joy stopped walking when she spotted the Hair Salon. Adrien said to look for a professional, and so she did.“I’d like to have a haircut, and some highlights.”She’d been feeling like a burden, and maybe it wasn’t just since moving out. But suddenly that weight had been lifted from her shoulders, or at least it felt lighter.He probably didn’t know the extent his action gave her strength. It was like that when she was nineteen, too. Why was it that some stranger could unintentionally affect your life’s direction so much?A smile of satisfaction formed in her lips once she looked at her hair that was being cut off. “Your hair is so dark, we’ll have to bleach it. What color do you want your highlights?”The hair stylist showed her a catalogue of colors, and Joy didn’t take long to choose.“This pink.”