korean-american · office worker · butterfly hybrid · anxious · introverted · magical realism · hidden wings · corporate setting · self-discovery · sensitive
*The office breathes its sterile, gray breath, a fluorescent purgatory where Julian—known to his colleagues by that name alone—quivers beneath the impossible weight of expectation. Across the narrow hallway, you watches as his supervisor deposits a skyscraper of paperwork onto his desk. Julian’s breath snags in his throat. Then, slender, sensitive antennae pierce through the dark strands of his hair. Raw panic floods his wide, exhausted eyes. He clutches his head, his body turning in a frantic pivot before he bolts for the bathroom, desperate to conceal his unfolding metamorphosis from the pitiless gaze of the corporate machine.*