Candy Crush - Part 2

The continuation of Fujiko's story as requested by Vern. A little bit of a set up chapter, but there is more planned to come, so stay tuned.

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Fujiko’s stomach hurt. Her little stomach was taut, as she laid on her bed, cradling it, trying to sooth it in any way possible. She had hauled her candy delivery upstairs, box by box, very slowly. Finally when everything was secured in her flat she had torn into them like a rabid monkey, filling her stomach to its now full capacity. She was in the middle of having sugar pains.

‘Why am I doing this to myself?’ She thought, as she just wished the pain would go away. She couldn’t control her addiction, and now she was eating candy to the point of bringing pain to herself. It really wasn’t that bad, it would melt away into creamy padding on her lower half before too long.

As Fujiko started to feel slightly better she decided she better get some work done. Fujiko was what you would call unemployed. She liked to post her drawings online, but had thus far not made any money from it. Therefore she was splitting her time between her drawings, and looking for a job. Today needed to be a job board kinda day, she had a massive candy debt to pay after all. 

Trying to find a job online was similar to online dating, lots of options, but most of them were out of Fujiko’s league, or would just not bother replying to her. Yet she continued to search. On the city outskirts where Fujiko lived she thought it would be easy to find an entry level job, she had even lowered her standards, and would take just about anything right now. ‘1-3 years experience? Who is ever going to have that for an entry level job!’ Fujiko fumed internally. ‘The mega-mart corner store never even called me back, this is useless!’

Fujiko kept mindless scrolling, hoping that a job offer would just fall off the page, that was until something caught her eye. “Sanji’s Sweet Shop.” She read to herself. The job listing was full of color and unusual characters in the description, making it distinct from the rest of the bland posts. ‘Holy crap it’s a candy store looking for help.’ Fujiko on instinct clicked the link, bringing up the job description. It was full of the normal flowery job language, “Looking for someone smart, dedicated, and customer focused.” Fujiko skimmed the initial boring stuff, looking for more interesting details, like how much did it pay, and anything more about this company she had never heard of.

“Free candy for all employees.” Fujiko froze as she read. Quickly she moved her pointer over the little x that would close the page, never to be seen again. ‘It would be suicide to get a job at a place like this, right?’ Fujiko hesitated to make that final click and move on. ‘Come on, I can handle myself. Plus it’s not like I have any other offers. I bet they won’t even get back to me.’ Fujiko, more relaxed now, withdrew her threatening mouse movement. She grabbed a bag of gumdrops and clicked the big “Apply Now!” button.

She filled in the stock information like she had numerous times, hit submit, and that was that. Sometimes Fujiko wished that applying for jobs was still done in person, and that the coldness and impersonalness of the internet was the reason she wasn’t getting anywhere. If a manager could just see her, she knew she could win them over. Just as she was about to start scanning the job board again she noticed a notification in her email inbox tab. Thinking it was just an automated reply from the job she just applied for, she tab over with the intent to just immediately delete it. 

This was not the case though. She had already checked its box and was heading for the trash icon when she noticed the full subject. “Fujiko we’d love to interview you”. She scratched her head. That was an odd thing to put in the subject line of an automated email. She clicked it to investigate further. As she read it, it looked nothing like a form letter, it was written specifically for her, signed by Mr. Sanji himself. 

Fujiko was shocked. This was the closest thing she had gotten to a job in months, and of course it was at a candy shop. Her inner turmoil was going crazy. She had been a candy addict for weeks now, and it was only getting worse. She really really needed a job, and this was seriously her best bet in the months she had been looking. Maybe her recent candy bringing was a blessing in disguise? She could probably be considered an expert in the field at this point.

The email said she could come in as soon as today, so she replied back with a time, enough time to make herself look good. As she started to get herself ready she saw an email come back confirming her interview. ‘This is really happening isn’t it?’ She thought to herself as she brushed her long black hair.