“Jie, did you hear?”

Huang Zitao, the Head of Security Department, pipes up to a silent Chinese woman. She’s busy scribbling important notes from her laptop on her thick planner. “Jie?” Zitao calls for her once again after sipping his mochaccino. The woman, her burgundy chest-length hair tied into a loose ponytail with an enough volume of fringe almost covering half of her face, doesn’t spare him a single glance as she completely has her focus on her work.

“Zhang Yixin!”

Zhang Yixin, the Head of Administrative, blinks at the grumpy-faced Zitao before letting out an innocent smile, “Yes, Tao? Did you say anything?” Zitao grunts before rolling his eyes with sass, taking another sip of his drink before he informs straight to the point, “Zhongda ge asked Buo jie out for dinner.” Yixin’s smiley face slowly changes into pensive, Zitao notes. She then continues observing the document in the laptop.

But she can’t seem to concentrate very well because of extreme curiosity so she questions, maintaining a neutral face, “Who told you?” Zitao snorts, “The man himself. He annoyed me earlier so that’s why I decided to join you for lunch.” Yixin sends him a small smile before she sees Zitao scowling at her. “Aren’t you sad, jie?” The woman uses her impassive expression as a façade before she unhurriedly avoids his gaze, “Why should I be sad, Tao?”

His reply is put to halt once his ordered cheese cake arrives. He digs in and moans in delight after taking a bite, savoring the taste in his tongue for a second before he replies, “I know you like him, jie.” Yixin lets out a small snort this time before shaking her head with a smile, back to scanning the document. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep this a secret,” Zitao grins before urging her to have a taste of the delicious cheese cake, already having the spoon near to .

A worn out sigh leaves her before she eventually accepts Zitao’s offer. She hums in delight by the superb taste. “Canlie ge’s desserts are wonderful, jie. I’m worried I might gain weight if I keep eating the food he makes…” Yixin giggles softly by his whine. Deep down, Zitao can’t help but to worry for her. He knows she has something for Jongdae. He wonders why the woman seems to deny it every time he tells the truth.

“Guys, have you seen Jongdae by any chance?”

Both of them turn their heads and spots a short male who has exhaustion plastered all over his youthful face. “Hi, Minseok hyung,” Zitao switches to fluent Korean as he sends the latter a drowsy smile. Lunch break is his weakness. He becomes talkative so that he won’t give in to the sleep. “I just ran away from him earlier. I’m sure he’s with Ms Byun right now,” He wiggles his brow knowingly towards the general manager.

“Not again,” Minseok stomps off hurriedly with a short sigh, most probably to Byun Baekri’s office. “He could’ve just called him to make things easier,” Zitao shakes his head at the fading back of Minseok’s before resuming pestering Yixin again as the lady doesn’t respond anything. Yixin knows he’s trying to fight his sleep. So she ends up playing along to Zitao’s whines of the wonderful cake as he praises the good-looking chef.

“I’ve heard a fight going on earlier in the morning,” One of the cleaners who are cleansing a suite, whispers to her friend who’s busy sweeping off the dust on the sheets. “Really?” Her friend’s face fills up with enthusiasm. Besides, ever since the new Director was appointed, they weren’t able to talk (read: gossip) freely as their schedule became really tight and very strict. So here they are, doing their work while tattling.

“Ms Kim who recently got married to the Director, they fought. I heard them while cleaning the VIP section,” She begins, “I don’t think they’re going to last long, Dahyun. What do you think?” Dahyun, who’s making the other bed, hums thoughtfully before she replies, “I don’t know… What did they fight about, Chaeyoung? Did you hear them?” Chaeyoung tells her everything but she stops when an unfriendly cough interrupts them.

Once they twirl behind, both freeze as the Head of Housekeeping Department, Luhua, throws pointed glares towards their way, her hands resting on her hips steadily. “What have I told you both before?” Her tone has anger yet it still can be considered as soft as she cares for everyone. “We’re terribly sorry,” Both of the ladies declare at the same time before bowing ninety degrees towards her.

“Up,” Luhua orders. She gives them a stern look once they meet her eyes, “No talking during work, understood?” Chaeyoung and Dahyun nod aggressively without uttering a single word. “If I catch you both spreading rumors about anyone, I’ve no choice but to terminate both of you. Is that clear?” Even though the elder woman has very soft and elegant features who almost resembles to an angel, she can be very deadly.

Imagine their shock when she introduced herself the day she took over the housekeeping domain. The Chinese woman is near to her thirties but she doesn’t even look like one. She’s similarly slim as their deputy, having a hazelnut ombre bob cut with highlighted curls at the end and is baby-faced. Luhua dismisses them after they’re done with their work. She closes the door and hears it locking from the inside.

Just after she wants to head to the other room for a check-up, she bumps onto someone. That someone is no other than Minseok. Said man catches her before she can fall backwards. “Thanks,” Luhua sends the other a rather small bashful smile, avoiding Minseok’s soft gaze. “No problem,” Minseok replies modestly. Since the corridor is quite small, they almost collided onto each other once again.

Luhua hides her smile as she ducks her head down before walking forward but Minseok is blocking her way. Both end up chuckling as they finally pass by each other. Minseok can feel his heart thumping fast. He tries to ignore it as he has something important to do. “Can I help you?” Minseok expects a harsh or a snappy greeting by Byun Baekri. He’s surprised but he manages to contain it to himself as he bows slightly to the other before breaking it, “Do you want to switch places?”

Baekri blinks fast at the man’s question until she blurts out a baffled, “What?” Minseok stands in front of her desk, tracing his fingers at the edge, “I asked whether you would like to switch places with me.” Baekri furrows her brows before continuing her work, want to know where this is heading, “What for?” Minseok fixes a sharp gaze on her before deciding it’s the best if he tells her rather than creating a fight, “I heard what happened.” Baekri snaps her gaze towards him.

“Look, I don’t know exactly what happened in detail but I’m offering you something nice here. I’m used to do the reports and being a general manager is very new to me,” He pauses to study her expressions. Baekri doesn’t seem to be very convinced. Minseok then sighs before he states, “The Director doesn’t have to know about this. This will be only between us.” The woman agrees without missing a beat.

Yifan is awakened by soft pats on his back. He whines in his sleep because he doesn’t want to wake up yet. He feels like it’s too early to get up right now. “Yifan, wake up. We need to go home. Wake up, Yifan.” Slowly, he lifts his head from the pillow to the person who has interrupted his sleep. It’s his wife. A warm and an apologetic smile is sent to him before Junhee repeats in a very soft tone, “We need to go home.”

Yifan snaps out from the memory as the pen in his hold falls on the desk with a loud thud. He rests a hand over his beating organ which is beating a little too fast. A heavy breath escapes his mouth as he recalls what happened in the morning. He avoided Junhee for the whole day today, feeling accomplished because he doesn’t have to meet her. The day turns a shade darker outside Peach Hotel’s. The lights illuminates the hotel mightily, causing the building’s beige-themed color to shine bright. 

He feels kind of foolish right now because in the end, they’re eventually going to head home together. Yifan is still upset on what she said, there’s no doubt about that. He thought his wife will be considerate and will understand him but no, she had to spat back. He can’t believe they pulled their argument this far. Their previous misunderstanding isn’t even solved yet. Even though he’s terribly upset, he kind of feels bad for shouting at her.

He feels like he should do something about it. Dinner at home should be nice, Yifan assumes after looking at his wristwatch. He exits his office and heads down to wait for his wife. These past weeks, he’s been waiting for Junhee at the entrance of the hotel. She will come by after a few minutes and after that, they will head out for dinner before going home. So he waits by the huge entry, checking his phone.

Yifan stares back into the hotel occasionally as the minutes tick. He’s been waiting for more than five minutes. There’s no sight of his wife. Assuming she’s still working, he waits at the lobby. He sends a text that he’s here waiting for her. After half an hour, Yifan is feeling distressed because she’s still nowhere on his sight. So he heads to the receptionist, the lady greeting him with a bow before she surprises him, “I thought your wife went home with you, Director Wu?”

Yifan can’t control the shock on his face. Junhee driving? At night? Alone? He’s just about to run off to his car but not until he hears someone calling out for him. “What is it?” Jongdae instantly notes the other’s distraught state so he doesn’t delay a second as he mentions about the air conditioners which should be purchased, adding that the old ones have gas leaks and the list goes on. Yifan listens to everything very carefully.

“Sure but before you do that, please do inform to the Finance Department. Tell Mr Im to calculate the budget. Discuss the brands with him and make sure it’ll last long than the previous ones.”

“Will do,” Jongdae bows his head after getting his approval, “I’ll send in the financial report to you after we’ve discussed.” Yifan nearly trips as he sprints with haste to the reserved lot. He literally jumps into his car before calling Junhee straightaway, panicking at the thought of his and Junhee’s parents if they find out that she drove all alone at night. He doesn’t know the actual reason but it’s obvious that Junhee must have met in an accident before.

Baekri has changed her mind after getting dozens of text messages from Jongdae from the afternoon. She doesn’t want to know how the man have gotten her number. She’s currently waiting for him at the lobby. She wishes to move on from Chanyeol. With that hope, she continues waiting, playing with her phone to kill time. Baekri doesn’t know how much minutes have passed after she catches Jongdae’s happy tone calling out her name.

“Let’s go?”

Baekri becomes startled. She thought he will for accepting his invitation. She notes Jongdae’s tiredness on his face but he manages to cover it with a wide grin, his face shining. It seems like the man is really interested in her. So she sends him a genuine smile, her visage completely brightening as she nods, “Let’s go.” A lone figure of a certain chef has moved away from his hiding spot after the pair has exited the premise.

“How are you doing?”

Jongin glances upwards to his sister before down to the table top of the aisle, checking out his wounded hand blankly, “M’ good.” He then wheels his head slightly to watch the man sitting there at the lounge of his home, doing nothing but staring at his phone. “How’s your hand?” Jongin fists and un-fists his injured hand, sending a brief smile to his sister before staring down at it once again, “It’s fine.” He stays silent as she takes his hand into her hold.

“Jongin,” Junhee watches her younger brother with worry, “You know you can file for a divorce, right?” Jongin snatches his hand away almost instantly, startling Junhee a little. She frowns when he doesn’t seem to give any replies, “Jongin—” “I don’t want to,” He mumbles, picking at his bandage as if it’s an interesting thing to do, “I don’t want to.” A temporary silence passes in the air once the maid serves them drinks.

After she’s gone to the living area, Junhee resumes, “What about Soojung, then? What are you going to tell her?” Jongin slumps onto the aisle, burying his face into his arms, “I don’t know.” She sighs quietly at her brother’s state. “I’m so hopeless…” She hears him mumbling to himself. Her phone vibrates for the umpteenth time in her handbag. She pays no attention to it as she calls Jongin softly.

The young man peers up to her, his vision blurred with water. “It’ll be alright,” She pats his hair comfortingly. It’s the best if she leaves it to her brother’s decision this time. She can’t help him but she will be there for him. “Don’t cry. Just keep thinking on what you’re about to do now and please,” She fluffs his hair before leaning away with a smile after catching his annoyed grunt, “Don’t drink, okay?”

“Yeah, will not. My head ing hurt this morning,” He ruffles his own hair before pushing them to the back, “Why are you here with him though?” Junhee follows his sharp gaze to the lounge and spots Jisoo conversing with the maid. “Ah, I kind of owe him for dropping me here,” She gives him a cheeky smile. Jongin raises a brow as he curiously questions, “Where’s your husband?” The smile drops drastically before she states, “He’s busy.”

“You could’ve waited for him— Wait a minute. You didn’t tell him that you’re going to come here?”

Junhee totally avoids her brother’s stare as she checks inside her bag for her phone on purpose. “How many times Mom and Dad told you to stay away from him, noona?” She turns to meet his questioning gaze before she replies lowly, “Don’t tell me what to do, Jongin. He’s my friend.” Jongin becomes serious as he takes her wrist to take her attention, “Noona, I don’t trust him. Believe me—”

“Hey guys!”

Jisoo rudely intrudes their conversation as he gradually takes his seat on one of the stools next to Jongin. Said man frees his sister before moving away a little. Jisoo only heads closer and he even shoulder-hugs Jongin who’s throwing curses at him internally. Junhee lets out an awkward smile as she glances on her younger brother before to the very smiley-looking Jisoo, “Jongin isn’t feeling well, Jisoo.”

In an instant, the man leaves his arm around Jongin before he coos while he checks his forehead, “Aww, lil Jongin is having a fever? Do you want me to buy any meds?” off, Jongin almost spats that but thankfully, he doesn’t as he shakes his head. Instead, he diverts his anger to his sister after taking a glance on Jisoo, “I’m surprised you’re still stubborn, noona.” Junhee isn’t an idiot. She knows what Jongin is referring too.

Her brows pinches together on her forehead as she replies, “I’m surprised you’re still the same playboy who likes to break women’s hearts.” Jongin is blown away by his sister’s response. He acknowledges what she’s referring to. Feeling hurt and upset as she mentioned how he was in the past, he doesn’t even excuse himself as he leaves them with haste. Jisoo awkwardly glances between the brother and sister before he sees Junhee going after him.

“Wait, Jongin, I’m sorry—”

“I thought you understood me,” Jongin sniffles as he looks at her, glaring at her with all his might, “I— I never thought you’ll actually say that, noona…” Junhee feels her chest tightening at the sight of teary-eyed Jongin, “I’m so sorry, Jongin. I wasn’t thinking when I said that. I’m—” “Forget it,” Jongin faces away from her, wiping his fallen tears hastily, “You don’t have to apologize if you’re going to hurt me again.”

Junhee watches her younger brother heading upstairs. She sighs heavily as she smacks her forehead, shaking her head at her own unchanged behavior of being direct/defensive when she senses people provoking an argument. “You okay?” She doesn’t turn around to Jisoo as she feels his hand resting on her shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. Junhee brings her palm down to cover her eyes, suppressing herself from crying.

The gaze from Jongin earlier is seriously doing things to her. She shouldn’t have said that. He must be really hurt right now. “I didn’t mean to say that,” She murmurs weakly, tears prickling her eyes, “I really didn’