1 Chappie 1: Don’t be mad, be hoppy!

The lift stopped with a sudden thrust causing the lights to flicker and die. Gripping the edge of her shirt in the tight clutch of her sweaty palms, Addy tried to control her erratic heart that had already ran a mile up her throat. Her gaze shifted to the side, her attention solely on the other occupant on the opposite corner of the lift.

He might have been any other character living his own life but now that he had found himself enclosed in a small space with her, his fate has been sealed. He was no longer just any character. He was now her male lead.

And this was their meet-cute!

She stood still, abiding her time- any moment now, he should be delivering his dialogue.

A minute passed by.

Another minute passed by.

Another followed.

A couple more minutes ran away as Addy stood in anticipation.

Just like that, fifteen minutes were stolen from her and all she had been doing was basking in the glory of darkness and silence.

She clenched her teeth in disappointment. Guess she needed to take matters into her own hand.

With a brisk move of her body, she bend down on her legs in front of her silent companion and tugged his right leg, causing him to tumble down in front of her and before he could utter a word of surprise, she pulled open his flimsy flip-flop revealing the bare sole of his right foot.

She immediately noticed the dark outlines of a familiar tattoo on the bottom, just like hers. "I knew it," she said in triumph, "I found you!"

.

.

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12 hours ago

Addy's soul was leaving her body.

At least it felt so as cold water slapped her face and she vigorously scrubbed the navy blue t-shirt. Suds coated her stinging crimson hands while small beads of perspiration slid down her temple.

Leaning against the bathroom door, Celine let out a whistle. "Whoa! Slow down, woman."

"I can't take this anymore," Addy gritted through her teeth. "I feel so betrayed. How could you do this to me?"

Heaving a dramatic sigh, Celine walked away from her seething roommate while the latter added some more detergent to the wet clothing with much vigour.

"I just brought in a rabbit, no point in acting like I sold your kidneys!"

Cradling a black bunny in her arms, Celine appeared once again to the front of the bathroom. "Look at him! Look at those cute eyes. They clearly say- don't be mad, be hoppy! " She said in a rather theatrical tone as she lifted the rabbit higher up causing its tiny paws to dangle mid-air.

Addy paused her incessant scrubbing to take a good look at the creature in her roommate's arms. "You know how I feel about sharing a roof with animals and looking at it won't turn my soiled shirt squeaky clean," she answered with a hint of a mocking smile, "I don't have time for this. Work starts in twenty minutes."

"Come on!" Celine whined completely ignoring her words. "I had to bring him-he was malnourished and would have been lying dead on the side of the road if I hadn't taken him in an-and he didn't intentionally pee on your uniform…"

Squeezing the excess water out of the now well-washed shirt, Addy placed it over the lonely plastic stool in the corner before making a beeline for the mini fridge next to the bed. "Celine, if we were really going to judge everything based on cuteness, you wouldn't have been stuck in this sh*tty place with me in the first place."

Addy wasn't lying. Although five years older than her, Celine was the cutest girl she had encountered in the entirety of her existence. From her dainty facial features to her silly girl-next-door personality, everything screamed cute. She was the type of person who was never short of a bubbly spirit and often offered the world more kindness than she received. That was why she had brought a wild rabbit in their quarters the previous night despite knowing how much of a nuisance it might turn out to be and it did. That little rascal peed on Addy's uniform half an hour before her shift was about to start.

"That's flattering of you to say but damn am I scared of you! Half the time you are glaring at the animals and the other half mumbling about poisoning them. In fact, I don't think you are above poisoning my cute face!"

Addy paused and smiled brightly. "My roommate knows me so well! Don't worry, I can assure you that your cute face did save you. I tried twice already."

"Seriously? Why don't you quit? You are miserable here."

"You think I didn't try? You know? Let's just not talk about this." Addy gulped down a can of cold juice allowing the piercing chill to slice down her throat while Celine watched her with dejected eyes knowing Addy's words clearly indicated how mad she was. The whole bringing a wild animal in their quarters, it then merrily going around wetting every fabric on sight and general struggles with her messed up sleeping cycle had turned Addy crankier than usual.

It's been six months since she had started living this life of toiling for animals and for six months she hadn't slept well.

Setting the wriggling rabbit free from her arms, Celine walked over to sit next to her grumpy friend on the bed. "Fine. I won't bring it up," she pouted, "but did you accept the overtime to escape from me?"

"Stop overthinking." Addy sighed It's not like I didn't do night duties before."

"Then don't leave! I might overthink but you definitely overwork. I don't get why you do overtimes when you hate this job so much. It's okay to take breaks once in a while." She smacked her lips in dissent. "I have an idea! Call in sick and we could binge watch the new season of 'Rose is Trash at Love'!"

Addy opened her mouth to decline but Celine didn't let her.

"I won't take no for an answer. Plus, my bunny peeing on your uniform is a sign from the universe for you to skip work!" She continued, her eyes twinkling with excitement.

"Right…" Addy's skepticism could be detected from Mars. "'Rose is Trash at Love' is really tempting but nope. I have some plans at work today."

"Addy!" Her whining voice spun back on. "It's not even your usual work. Just skip it, nah!"

Tying her hair up in a ponytail, Addy whipped around to pat her roommates head. "Like I said, I really do have to do something at work today." She paused as if to think. "But next time for sure."

"Hmm…"

Smiling at Celine, she headed to the stool in the corner. Her uniform must have dried off enough to be worn by that time. However, as soon as the scene unfolded in front of her, the last restraint she had over her anger snapped.

Snuggled up over her uniform was none other than Celine's 'cute' bunny. It seemed to have smeared something brown on the same spot she had just wasted fifteen minutes to scrub the pee stain off. Addy could bet her kidneys those round brown stuff on her uniform was not chocolate which meant…

"Celine!"

Addy's shriek echoed throughout the room.