Chapter 52: Have a Nice Day

A morning in early November was the very embodiment of romance within the year.

Autumn dew hung heavily, and the fragrant grass grew lush; the oncoming breeze ruffled the girl’s carefully styled bangs.

Her sneakers crunched softly as they stepped upon a solitary maple leaf.

Standing on tiptoe, she counted the floors of his building one by one. In the girl’s narrowed eyes gleamed a confidence that belonged uniquely to her.

"Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen... twenty-nine!"

While counting, the girl’s thoughts inevitably drifted back to roughly an hour ago.

"Cosmetics?"

Mina Myoui frowned slightly, taking out a small pouch specifically for portable touch-ups from the handbag hanging in the entryway. "This is all I have."

"Thank you, sunbae. I just need a light touch of makeup. My makeup skills are terrible, so I don't need anything fancy..."

"Are you going to see someone?" Mina crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the junior who was washing up in the bathroom. "You're in such a rush to put on makeup. The person you're going to see wouldn't happen to live nearby, would they?"

Busted by her senior, the girl shyly pursed her lips and lightly applied a layer of lip balm. "They do live nearby, actually."

A flush of red swept across her pale, hangover-tinged face, instantly bringing her back to life. Her tied-up ponytail matched her black baseball jacket well, making her look like a senior student from a university sports club.

Because there was no time to wash her hair or take a shower, she had to pay extra close attention to every single detail.

Even though it was just a spur-of-the-moment meeting, she couldn't afford to be sloppy at all.

By the time Seolyoon finished applying her makeup after ten minutes or so and walked out of the bathroom, her senior had just hung up the phone.

"Thank you for the cosmetics, sunbae."

She returned to the living room, hurriedly grabbed her phone and bag, and prepared to head toward the door.

"Wait," Mina called out, as if suddenly remembering something. She stopped Seolyoon and led her into the dressing room. "Do you smell a bit like alcohol? It might not be very good if you go see someone like this."

"Eh? Do I?"

"Since you haven't showered, of course you can't smell it on yourself."

Reminded of this crucial point by the observant senior, the girl let out an "oh," then helplessly scratched the back of her head. "Then what should I do?"

"What else can you do? Take a quick shower before you go. It won't even take you ten minutes."

"Just wear my clothes this time."

Without a second thought, Seolyoon took the towel handed to her by her senior, draped it over the rack in the guest bedroom's bathroom, and turned on the lights.

The sound of rushing water drifted out, and the originally transparent glass blurred from the rising, steamy mist.

"Your towel dropped on the floor; I'll go get you a clean one. There's a small tub inside, you can sit and soak in it for a bit."

Mina's voice came muffled and indistinct through the glass door.

Seolyoon pondered for a moment and roughly understood what she meant.

True... besides, Haxing's place was right next door anyway. Since she intended to dress up to see him, she might as well clean up properly.

And when she finally emerged from the bathroom after her shower, Mina had already picked out a similar outfit for her.

After changing into the clothes, Seolyoon accepted the hairdryer handed over by Mina. The gentle senior motioned for her to sit in front of the vanity mirror and meticulously helped untangle and style her hair.

"You don't need a fancy hairstyle, but at least it has to be dried, and then you can do a quick touch-up."

By the time everything was ready, nearly an hour had passed since the time Seolyoon had originally planned to leave.

Mina thoughtfully escorted her to the elevator. Just as the doors were about to close, Seolyoon suddenly thought of something and waved at her senior:

"Mina sunbae! If there's a chance next time, I'd still like to go drinking with you!"

What she didn't know was that, the exact moment the elevator doors closed, that same senior softly replied to her, "Have a wonderful day."

"Seolyoon? What a coincidence, running into you here again."

A slightly breathless voice rang out, pulling Seolyoon's thoughts back from her memories.

The girl looked up in surprise toward the tall woman in athletic wear not far away: "Yuna sunbae, why are you here?"

Standing in front of the full-length mirror, Shin Yuna had been hesitating over which outfit to wear out for the day when she received a phone call from Mina at eight o'clock in the morning.

The voice on the other end was soft and quiet, perfectly matching Mina's usual gentle demeanor.

However, Mina didn't seem like the type of person who enjoyed making phone calls out of the blue, so Yuna's confusion outweighed her surprise.

"I want to ask you about some gossip."

"Eh? Me?" Yuna frowned slightly. "Mina sunbae, let me tell you in advance—I don't actually know that much gossip."

"It's about General Manager Ha."

Her freshly blown-out hair was slightly frizzy. Taken aback, Yuna put down the clothes she had been picking through and sat down on the sofa.

Having already consulted the unnis in her group, Yuna naturally had no intention of deliberately hiding her relationship with Haxing.

Even so, having her romantic relationship discovered by an unfamiliar senior so early on felt rather strange to her.

"I went to Peninsula Food for a meeting yesterday, and I happened to see your photo displayed on his desk."

Yuna had never imagined that the small gift she left behind would come back like a boomerang to hit her in this way.

So she gently bit her lip and stammered:

"Oh... um... maybe..."

"Maybe Haxing is a fan of mine? Or perhaps... he might like me a little bit?"

The senior on the other end fell silent for a moment before letting out what sounded like a sigh:

"I wasn't trying to pry into your relationship, I just thought the two of you were pretty good friends."

Hearing those words from her senior, the stone hanging in Yuna's heart finally dropped a little, though another question immediately arose in her mind:

"Mina sunbae, then why did you call?"

"I was simply curious—how is Seolyoon's relationship with him? Seeing that you and Haxing get along well, I thought I'd ask you."

Being suddenly hit with another name by her senior made Yuna's already bewildered mind spin even faster.

"Sunbae... why did you suddenly bring up Seolyoon?"

"I just happened to see her here in Yeouido again. It looks like she came to visit my neighbor."

Yuna suddenly remembered bumping into Seolyoon at Han River Park the other day, and this junior, who was only a year younger than her, apparently had indeed wandered over to Haxing's building by coincidence before.

She had already harbored some lingering reservations about the gaming relationship between Seolyoon and Haxing, keeping it bottled up inside without saying anything.

And now Mina was saying she saw Seolyoon coming to see Haxing...

With no time to dwell on the complicated dynamic between Mina, Seolyoon, and Haxing, Yuna's heart suddenly sank, leaving only one thought in her mind—

She needed to go check on Haxing's place herself.