“You know not to drink cheap stuff, right? Go to a cafe that makes good coffee and buy some.”

So where exactly is that…

Seeming to read Ji Hyun’s bewildered expression, Seung Ho added with a slight smile.

“Surely you’re not asking me to tell you where a cafe is? You should figure that out yourself. I’ll keep ordering until I’m satisfied, so you’d better buy carefully.”

Ji Hyun shivered as she went outside in the temperature that had dropped since the daytime. In her hand, she limply clutched a single card that Seung Ho had given her. The words Manager Kim had said before she left the door jumbled in Ji Hyun’s mind.

“A cafe? I don’t know much about that. Aish, of all people, what’s the young master Seung Ho up to… He’s hardly a picky person…”

‘No. Shin Seung Ho is originally a bad guy.’

Ji Hyun pressed her lips tightly together to keep from voicing her strongly opposing true feelings.

One thing was certain. While he wasn’t fussy at all with others, he was acting prickly and uncomfortable like broken glass shards towards her alone.

“Ah, it does feel nice to be out though.”

The chilly air of the autumn evening rushing into her lungs made her mind feel clearer. Ji Hyun buttoned up her cardigan tightly and began walking to find a cafe.

[This is the timeline separator]

Click.

Seung Ho turned on the desk lamp as he entered the small room. The room illuminated by the yellow light had no particular distinguishing features other than the neatly hung gray school uniform.

On the desk that showed signs of many past users, lay the workbook that had made his mood infinitely fouler earlier in the day.

Seung Ho picked up the object that had been carelessly caught on the tip of white fingers and had been so irritating, and impassively flipped through its pages.

He carefully searched between the pages several times, making rustling sounds, but nothing special turned up.

When no name of the workbook’s real owner or any notes appeared, his feeling of wading through mud improved somewhat. But he had no intention whatsoever of putting it back neatly in its place.

“This doesn’t suit you at all.”

Muttering as if crushing it, Seung Ho firmly gripped the workbook, crumpling it.

Holding the workbook in his hand, Seung Ho turned around and his gaze fell upon the school uniform.

On the left side of the neat jacket hung a small white plastic name tag.

‘Choi Ji Hyun’

Seung Ho tapped the glossy name tag once with his finger. Min Woo’s voice replayed in his head.

“Is that her?”

“Some idiot must have given it to her.”

Though Ji Hyun seemed completely oblivious, putting together what Min Woo had said, there was no doubt she was a topic of conversation at school in many ways.

For a moment, an inexplicable displeasure heavily weighed down his chest. The feeling like a child who had candy snatched away was too unfamiliar and bewildering.

Therefore it was Ji Hyun’s fault. Catching Min Woo’s eye, bringing the workbook, his foul mood – everything was her fault.

Tap, tap, Seung Ho flicked the letters spelling Choi Ji Hyun with his finger, then gripped the name tag tightly as if about to tear it off before quietly letting go.

“Well, it’s none of my business.”

Something like a sigh escaped his red lips as he brushed back his fallen bangs. His dark eyes sank even deeper as he recalled the uniform’s owner.

[This is the timeline separator]

“One hot Americano, please.”

In the end, the place Ji Hyun chose was a cafe full of students wearing Seomun High School uniforms, where Shin Seung Ho attended.

“We’re backed up with orders due to the dinner rush. Please wait a moment.”

Ji Hyun nodded at the part-timer’s words as they struggled with the flood of orders, and sat down at an empty seat.

Since most customers at this hour seemed to be students taking classes at nearby academies, the cafe was bustling like a school. Ji Hyun observed with curiosity as they focused intently on conversations with friends.

She had thought this before, but somehow the Seomun High uniform felt different from other schools’ uniforms. The boys’ uniforms were fine too, but especially the girls’ uniforms were noticeably pretty.

The white vest inside Seomun High’s distinctive black jacket and the red and black striped silk ribbon reminded her of private school uniforms she had seen in foreign dramas. The content of conversations she overheard was also completely different from her world.

They were passionately discussing some unknown brand exclusively imported to Korea.

Ji Hyun imagined herself eagerly conversing among them, attending academy classes with Mi Ri, and the moment of brightly smiling while returning home…

“Your Americano order is ready. Please be careful, it’s hot.”

Ji Hyun quietly looked down at the coffee sloshing in the paper cup handed to her by the part-timer, steaming hot. The black coffee reflected nothing. It was time to wake up from the dream.

Though she had brought it back as quickly as possible at a trot, by the time she arrived the coffee Ji Hyun carried had cooled somewhat.

Unlike Ji Hyun who handed over the paper cup worrying what if he told her to go buy it again, Seung Ho gave it a passing grade without even tasting it.

“You managed to buy exactly what suits my taste. You can go now.”

Though she felt somewhat uneasy seeing him in an inexplicably good mood, Ji Hyun quickly left, thinking it was better than his capriciousness starting again.

[This is the timeline separator]

“What did you lose?”

Hyun Sook looked at Ji Hyun, who was on the verge of tears, as she chewed on squid legs secretly brought from the kitchen.

“My English workbook.”

She had clearly put it on the desk, but when she returned from buying coffee, it had vanished without a trace. Ji Hyun was burning up inside.

“No one would have taken it, so look carefully. It’s not like the workbook grew legs.”

“I definitely put it here…”

She had looked in her bag several times wondering if she had put it there by chance, and now even wondered if she had actually brought the workbook at all.

“Is it very important?”

“My friend told me a lot of exam questions come from there.”

Ji Hyun recalled the workbook she hadn’t even looked at the contents of. The design slightly different from regular workbooks sold in bookstores nagged at her.

“Can’t you explain the situation to your friend and make a copy?”

“Ah…”

Ji Hyun bit her lip.

How could she tell Ha Jun she had lost it…

As a household helper, there was no way she could say she lost the workbook while running errands for her employers.

“Or should I look around for it?”

As Hyun Sook got up, unable to just watch Ji Hyun turn pale, she hurriedly grabbed her arm.

“No, aunt. It’s okay. Please don’t.”

“How is it okay? Look at your face right now.”

“I think I forgot and left it at school.”

“You? No way.”

“I received it at school. It’s probably in my desk drawer or locker. I’ll look for it when I go to school tomorrow.”

Ji Hyun tried hard to make excuses to calm Hyun Sook. She hated herself for causing worry to someone who came home exhausted from working all day.

‘If it’s gone, I’ll just study without it. When did I ever have such a thing anyway…’

Come to think of it, Seung Ho’s face looking pleased flashed by, but Ji Hyun shook her head.

‘No way… It couldn’t be.’

No matter how much Shin Seung Ho disliked and tormented her, he had no reason to come all the way here and mess with her belongings.

[This is the timeline separator]

Autumn was short.

The mansion’s garden dyed crimson under the piercingly blue sky was beautiful.

The garden as vast as the huge house showed well the passing of seasons, which they said was because Chairman Shin had a great interest in landscaping. Thanks to this, Ji Hyun fully savored the fleeting autumn.

She would sit in a big tree to read books, or help the gardener carry and burn fallen leaves.

Though she occasionally coughed from the acrid smoke, it didn’t matter. As time passed, even the servants came to view her favorably as she worked diligently and silently.

Manager Kim, who had squinted his eyes at her for a while, thinking she was latched onto Hyun Sook, now worriedly chided Ji Hyun that as a student, she should start focusing on studying soon, not just work.

“Try not to stay at the mansion on weekends.”

Hyun Sook handed Ji Hyun a few bills as she returned from burning leaves. Ji Hyun looked back and forth between the money and Hyun Sook in surprise.

“You don’t have to work on weekends, but you keep hanging around and end up doing unnecessary errands.”

Hyun Sook clicked her tongue, seemingly displeased that she was working, no doubt bothered by the task Seung Ho had her do last weekend.

Seung Ho, who had gone out saying he had a gathering with friends after a long time, had made up an excuse that he forgot to bring something and called Ji Hyun to his hideout. Even without seeing it, Hyun Sook could clearly picture Ji Hyun awkwardly fidgeting among peers who were more than well-off.

Everyone whispered, wondering why the usually gentle second young master had been acting prickly lately.

And the tip of that arrow was always aimed at Ji Hyun.

Hyun Sook was displeased that people were paying attention to Ji Hyun, who was Seung Ho’s age. Even an ordinary-looking life would be difficult, but Ji Hyun was too pretty for what she had. So she worried. The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.

“It’s okay…”

As Ji Hyun hesitated, unable to accept it, Hyun Sook crumpled the bills into her pocket and pushed her back.

“Go out and meet friends. Or you can go to the library. Don’t stay here and end up doing work unnecessarily.”

Finally forced out of the house, Ji Hyun walked slowly wherever her feet took her, not knowing where to go. At eighteen, she had never gone out to play with friends. Whenever Mi Ri and Ha Jun occasionally asked what she did on weekends, she vaguely smiled it off.

Ji Hyun, who couldn’t work much on weekdays when she went to school, did most of her work on weekends. Even if she had free time, she wouldn’t have had the economic means to play with them.

Ji Hyun let out a shallow sigh. Though Hyun Sook had made a big decision to send her out, she had nowhere she particularly wanted to go, nor anywhere to go.

‘If I’d known it would be like this, maybe I should have gone along a few times when they asked me to hang out.’

How long had she been walking…

As she walked aimlessly, a somewhat familiar place appeared. It was the cafe she had come to on an errand Seung Ho sent her on recently.

The inside was still bustling with customers. After peering inside through the glass window for a while, Ji Hyun walked towards the cafe entrance, fingering the bills Hyun Sook had given her in her pocket.