You know there are those days in your life when you are on cloud 9 and nothing can bring you down. Then there are those days when literally every single thing goes wrong and you feel like jumping off a cliff. Well... today was the latter.

Not only did you have to see your ex-boyfriend with his new, apparently flawless girlfriend but you also failed your most important exam, so if you wanted to succeed, you had to study for two more weeks until you could retake the exam. You wish you had just stayed at home and buried your face into your pillow, wailing why you ever started dating that douchebag and why you had to study Medicine aka the hardest field of all.

Nevertheless, you had an appointment with your dentist at 3PM and you had previously checked in with your nail technician for 4PM, so you couldn't do as you wished. You had to be a responsible adult who doesn’t care about stupid things that wouldn’t matter a week later anyway.

Your unlucky strike went off for the rest of the afternoon. At first, you had to listen to your dentist giving a 20-minute long presentation on the importance of using mouthwash while you wanted nothing more than to strain him right then and there. Not to mention that the bus you were supposed to take wasn't in service because there has been an accident in the city centre. To keep the long story short, you walked to the nail studio while it was raining cats and dogs (without an umbrella of course) and almost crushed into another customer when you wanted to sit down in the waiting room.

The receptionist gave you a pitiful look and asked for your name in the most annoying tone that a human could possible use. You replied with the same sarcasm and waited for your turn, impatiently sitting on one of the chairs in the waiting room. Approximately five minutes later, your name was called out and you could finally walk into the room where the manicurists were working.

Every employee had its own desk with tools and the necessary equipment but they still worked pretty close to each other. Therefore, you couldn't really keep anything a secret when you were talking to your nail technician because everything you said could be heard. You usually had a different nail technician each time and today was no exception.

When you saw that all the seats were taken except for one in front of an unfamiliar young man, you knew he would be your manicurist this time.

Upon hearing your footsteps, the young man looked up from his desk and after furrowing his eyebrows seeing your drenched hair and devastated expression, his lips turned into a gentle yet reserved smile.

"Hello! I'm Lim Changkyun and I'll make sure to turn your nails into the prettiest ones today." He greeted joyfully with a quick bow and pointed to the chair in front of his desk. "Please, have a seat!" He motioned and you almost threw yourself onto the chair because you were so physically and emotionally exhausted that sitting down and letting someone do your nails instead of you seemed like a dream coming true.

"Well, thank you.” You sighed thankfully. “I'm Y/N, by the way." You introduced yourself with a weak smile just in case he was the type who liked to call his customers by their own names.

"Nice to meet you Y/N. How was your day?" He inquired with a genuinely curious smile as he started cleaning your nails. His touch was soft yet confident, that's why you assumed that he wasn't a newbie like you initially thought he was. Maybe he was transferred or maybe you were never there when it was his shift. Whatever, you didn’t mind that it was a guy who took care of your nails. Even though it was your first time with a male manicurist, you were eager to see the outcome of his efforts.

You didn't want him to be the one on whom you would let out all that was kept inside yet you couldn't fake a smile.

"Not too good." You summarised in the end and it wasn't a lie after all. It was merely a euphemism.

"Would you like to tell me what happened?"

His question was simple and sweet though you were quite dumbfounded upon hearing his question. You weren't used to pouring your heart out to anyone, let alone your nail technician. Maybe Changsub was the only one who knew everything about you and was familiar with all your ups and downs but Changsub was your dog, he had that privilege. When you got home, you didn't have anyone to talk to, so Changsub had to listen to everything you said.

At first, you didn't know whether or not you should answer him. However, his soft touches, diligent moves and otherworldly smile proved that he was actually curious, not only courteous.

"Well, if you are really curious..."

"I am." He replied in an instant. "I would be bored to death if I didn't have anyone to talk to here, so feel free to roast your annoying co-worker who always steals your food, diss your neighbour whose dog can't stop barking for 4 hours after midnight or tell me everything about your childhood best friend with whom you are in love since the day he shared his chocolate bar with you but you are too afraid to confess, plus he has a girlfriend now." He babbled gleefully and your jaw dropped while listening to him. It seemed that he really did pay attention to everyone he worked with.

"Are all these stories from people who've been here?" You gasped in bewilderment but Changkyun merely laughed it off. His laugh was so soothing that you immediately forgot about your drenched hair and awful ex-boyfriend.

"Yep." He nodded as he started putting some nail gel on your left hand's nails. "You would be surprised if I told you what kind of stories people share with me. If you haven't already noticed, besides being a nail technician, I function as a psychologist and as a one-man hype squad as well." He looked up from his work just to give you the most mesmerizing smirk ever. Oh boy, you blew it!

You couldn't help but laugh at his words.

"Thank you. I guess I'll take advantage of that." You giggled to yourself, those dark clouds from that day already leaving your sight.

"Go on then! I'm all ears." Changkyun wiggled his eyebrows as he was looking at different colours of nail paint. "Do you have anything in mind regarding your nails or you let me come up with something just for you?" He asked before he would start working against your wish. You didn’t have to think twice.

"I'll let you do it." You shrugged as if it didn't matter at all but that day it really didn't matter. Nothing could be worse than what had already happened.

Glad that he could do whatever he wanted to do with your nails, he started painting them and prompted you to start talking about your day. You let out an aghast smile as you recalled those moments from earlier that day.

"The worst is that I failed my exam. I studied so hard yet the pictures were all unfamiliar and indecipherable and I didn't even understand the questions." You confessed, feeling the frustration building up inside of you all over again. You knew that you didn't do well but seeing that you failed felt like a stab in the heart. You were one of the top students and you studied your off for that particular exam but this the result was truly saddening.

Fantastic, you said to yourself ironically. Failing the last exam of the year was the worst that could happen. Okay, maybe not the worst because you had the opportunity to retake it two weeks later in order to avoid repeating the same semester. Nevertheless, it meant that you couldn’t get rid of all those useless numbers and names for two more weeks.

“I’m sure everyone felt this way.” Changkyun added as he was painting your pinkie finger with a lovely blue nail polish. He didn’t look up from his work – aka your hands – but you could tell that he paid attention to what you were saying and didn’t blurt out stupid things just to say something.

“Well, it’s true that no one has passed the exam.” You nodded along and the worrying thoughts that were racing in your head suddenly pacified. Why were you so mad if no one has passed the exam? You weren’t the only one who needed to retake it. Just saying the words out loud made you feel a lot better. The manicurist’s encouraging smile also added to that.

“Then it’s really not your fault. It’s your professor who messed it up.” He reassured as he started shaping one of your nails while he was waiting for the paint to dry on your pinkie finger. He was chatting so casually and coolly ‒ like you were one of his old costumers, not a total stranger. He didn’t act like it was your first ever visit to him even though it was.