The sun was bright and shining the next day. Birds were chirping merrily everywhere, the colourful flowers gracing the air with their lovely scent while bees hummed as they collected pollen from them.

Donghae chewed nervously and anxiously on his lips as he waited in the employee locker room, fearing what was about to happen. No amount of comforting from Ryeowook, Yesung or the other employees could make him calm down. There was a permanent frown etched on Eunhyuk’s face, and the whole salon was drowned in a solemn mood. Everyone paced about, some with concern or pity written on their expressions whenever they saw Donghae fidgeting in the room. Perhaps he hadn’t been a customers’ favourite, but still, he had been part of them for a few months now, and the very thought of the same thing probably and possibly happening to them brought the other employees to the harsh reality. Someone was getting the pink slip today.

At eight a.m. sharp, a black limo pulled up in front of Metamorphosis. Victoria descended from the limo with the grace of a swan, the very sight making Eunhyuk’s insides boil and churn with anger. Briskly walking into the salon where everyone had scrambled to take their places and greet her, Donghae at the very end, her eyes zoomed in on the trembling employee and beckoned for him to step up, a menacing curl on her lips.

“So, boy, did you complete your challenge?”

Donghae shook his head in regret, eyes trailed on his feet. “No, ma’am. I’m sorry. I failed.”

“Not a single customer at all?”

“No, ma’am.”

“As expected,” she scoffed, smiling smugly. “Do you know what this means, boy?”

Donghae squeezed his eyes shut. “Y-yes, ma’am. I’m… I’m fired.”

“Not only that,” Victoria gloated. “You have also proven to me and everyone else here that Eunhyuk is incapable of reading people accurately and hence puts this very salon in great danger. Who knows which other vermin he picked off the street with little to no training at all?” she smirked, challenging Eunhyuk with a stare. She then looked back at Donghae, who was trembling with his fists clutched tightly beside his body. “Boy, I give you five minutes to leave this place. If you’re not gone after that, I will have my chauffeur personally you away, and let me inform you that he does not handle people gently at all.” Her eyes hardened. “Now scram.”

Eunhyuk was tight-lipped the entire time. He watched helplessly from the side as his step-mother humiliate and kick Donghae out of the salon. Victoria then turned around to face him with a victorious smirk, which he reciprocated with a scowl. She didn’t seem affected at all and made her way to the VIP waiting room.

As the clicking of her heels gradually disappeared, everyone heaved a sigh of relief and began to disperse after being dismissed by Eunhyuk, each to their own station. Eunhyuk sighed and made Zhoumi bring some tea up to the VIP room, knowing that Victoria would want to talk to him again, and perhaps even persuade him to let her take over the salon entirely.

Eunhyuk entered the room just as Zhoumi was pouring Victoria her tea. The television suddenly flipped on by itself, startling everybody in the room. Zhoumi let out a curse under his breath and apologised for the shock, saying that there was a tennis tournament he wanted to watch and he had programmed the TV to auto-playback after recording the tournament.

Zhoumi made to the TV to switch it off but was suddenly pulled back by Eunhyuk. Eunhyuk pressed a finger to his lips. “Shh, listen.”

Victoria seemed undisturbed, casting the recorded footage a few glances before something caught her interest.

“… and right here we have the champion of the women’s singles, Jessica Jung, who has won the championship title for the fourth year in a row! Congratulations on winning, Jessica-sshi! You look extremely radiant today! Hmm, is it me or di