Peninsula: Please, I only want to talk about ordinary people.

Chapter 38

Chapter 38 Women of Osaka Keep Their Word (10000)

(This chapter is from yesterday; there will be another 8k words later.)

Mina was carrying a bag of Chinese medicine when she pushed open the dormitory door. She heard her teammates' "harmonious and loving" voices coming from the living room.

Lim Na-yeon was sitting cross-legged on the sofa, applying a face mask, arguing with Hirai Momo about whether to order plain or seasoned fried chicken.

Hirai Momo, clutching a cushion, insisted that "seasoned fried chicken is the true meaning of human invention."

Kim Da-hyun casually interjected, "If you keep eating, Mina unnie's main dancer position will be hers this comeback," only to be met with a pillow thrown at her by Hirai Momo.

Mina smiled and prepared to sneak back to her room while the people in the living room weren't looking. She tiptoed a few steps toward the corridor.

"Stop right there!"

Hearing the familiar voice, Mina paused, turned around, hid the Chinese medicine behind her back, and asked in confusion, "Sana, what's wrong?"

Sana Minatozaki stood up from the sofa at some point, stood behind her with her arms crossed, and had a mischievous smile on her face.

"Minari, why are you back so late?"

"I practice at the company."

Mina tilted her head and lied with a straight face.

Sana Minato glanced at the members who were still engrossed in their argument, and under Mina's surprised gaze, grabbed her wrist, pushed her into the room, closed the door behind her, and squinted at her.

"Minari, I just called my manager, who's still at the company, and she said the practice room is empty."

She noticed Mina's somewhat unnatural expression when she left the practice room, and shortly after returning to her dorm, she made a phone call back to the company.

Mina swallowed hard. Sana had even made a phone call; she was clearly well-prepared for this.

She decided to stop hiding it, took out the medicine bag behind her, and put on a weak expression, saying, "Actually—I went to see a doctor."

Sana Minato frowned, fooled by her appearance, and looked at her nervously.

"Is it anxiety disorder? — No, how could anxiety disorder cause this?"

Mina shook her head. "No, it's the knee."

Sana Minato was taken aback. As her best friend of so many years, she knew that Mina had a chronic knee injury.

She pulled Mina to sit on the edge of the bed, looked down at her legs, and asked worriedly, "Are you alright? I told you not to practice so much, but you never listened!"

Her voice lowered, her hand hovering over Mina's knee, wanting to confirm but not daring to let go.

Mina chuckled softly, "It's alright, I just had acupuncture, I'll be more careful in the future~"

"You better be right, I'll have to keep an eye on you from now on!"

Sana Minatozaki took the medicine packet from her hand, examined it from all angles, brought it to her nose to smell it, and frowned.

"What's this for?"

"The doctor said it's for soaking your feet."

"This is traditional Chinese medicine, right? Why are you going to see a traditional Chinese medicine doctor?"

Sana Minato frowned again. As far as she knew, Mina Mina was completely unfamiliar with traditional Chinese medicine.

"————Uh." Mina's expression suddenly became somewhat awkward.

A friend took me there.

1

"friend----"

Sana Minatosaki caught a fleeting moment of hesitation on her face, and the name she had mentioned during their conversation that afternoon popped into her mind.

She looked up at Mina and slowly said, "The friend Minari was talking about, is it Kang Young-tae? —"

When Mina saw that she had guessed correctly, she could only nod and give an exaggerated smile.

"Sana is amazing, she guessed it right away~"

Sana Minato sneered as she shoved the medicine packet into her arms.

"Don't flatter me. You'd rather tell him than me, Mina. I'm very disappointed in you!"

"No, I didn't tell him. He figured it out himself—"

Minami pouted, looking aggrieved.

Sana Minato raised an eyebrow, her tone carrying a hint of sourness she herself was unaware of.

"Oh, he suddenly had a stroke of luck with you, right? That's quite a good friend!"

Mina could naturally sense the unease in her words, and nodded reluctantly.

"—I think so."

She didn't dare tell Sana Minato about the moment when Kang Young-tae suddenly looked at her seriously at the clinic and said, "You're my favorite member of Twice too."

She immediately realized that he had read her thoughts and that was why he had explained it to her.

Sana Minatozaki didn't press the matter further. Suddenly, she grabbed Sana's hand and held it tightly in her palm. All the playfulness on her face vanished, leaving only a pair of eyes filled with worry.

"Mina, from now on, if you feel unwell, please tell me first, okay?"

Looking into her earnest eyes, Mina felt a surge of guilt that wasn't entirely for hurting her feelings.

"————Okay, I understand."

Sana Minatozaki shook off her hand, wrinkled her nose, and changed her tone, "Why should Kang Young-tae take better care of you than me? I'm your closest friend!"

Mina paused for a moment, then chuckled, "So that's what Sana cares about more?"

"Of course not, I care more about the Minari!"

Sana Minatozaki instantly transformed back into a clingy puppy, snuggling up to her and taking her arm, rubbing her face against her shoulder.

Mina was a little overwhelmed by her rapid switching of phrases, and said somewhat awkwardly, "Oh, I see, thank you~"

"Mina ah————"

"What's wrong?"

"You said he took you to get acupuncture?" Minatozaki Sana looked down at her knees, her eyes full of curiosity.

"Yes, it was a little scary at first, but it felt pretty good afterward."

"Yeah?"

Sana Minato released her arm, her hand already gripping her trouser leg, as if to pull it up.

"let me see!"

"Hey, what are you doing?" Mina slapped her hand away.

"Let me see~ I've never seen acupuncture before. Are there many holes on your knees now?"

"----No."

"Let me see then~"

Sana Minatosaki continued to act coquettishly, and her hand touched him again.

"————Okay, okay. I'll show you."

Seeing that she didn't ask any more questions about Jiang Yongtai, Mina secretly breathed a sigh of relief and took off her pants to satisfy the curious little dog.

Sana Minato bent down, her gaze falling on her knees.

The needle marks left by acupuncture are almost invisible, but the redness and swelling have not completely subsided.

She reached out and paused above Mina's knee for a moment, then simply placed her palm on it without saying a word.

Looking at Sana Minato's profile, which was full of heartache, Mina felt a faint sense of guilt and remorse.

She remembered the fall she had taken when she came out of the clinic.

One of the paving stones on the sidewalk was warped at the edge, and her toes got caught on it, causing her to fall forward.

Jiang Yongtai stood to the side, watching her sit on the ground rubbing her bottom. He didn't reach out, but just lowered his eyes and said helplessly.

"Nan-chan, when did you become so naughty? Get up yourself, I told you I wouldn't help you."

Mina rubbed her sore tailbone, tears welling in her eyes from the hard fall. Hearing his words, she swallowed her grievances and stubbornly looked up at him.

"I can do it myself, I don't need Yongtai-san's help!"

She tried to stand up by supporting herself with her hands, but her knee, which had just been treated with acupuncture, aggravated her old injury when she fell, causing her legs to buckle and making it impossible for her to exert any strength.

When Jiang Yongtai saw the pain flash across her face, his joking expression vanished instantly, and his brows furrowed.

He took a step forward, bent down, and said softly, "Excuse me, Nan-chan."

Before she could even process what it meant, her body was lifted into the air.

Without giving her any room to refuse, he picked her up horizontally, one arm around her shoulder and the other supporting her legs.

Minami subconsciously raised her arms to wrap around his neck, her face burning under the mask, a blush spreading from her ears all the way to the edge of her collar.

"Hey, Yongtai-san, put me down!"

She lowered her voice and began to struggle.

Jiang Yongtai ignored her, sighed, raised the hand that was supporting her knees, and patted her buttocks. The force was not strong, but the place where it landed made Mina freeze.

He looked down into her eyes, his gaze devoid of a smile, filled only with warning and seriousness.

"Don't move, doesn't your leg hurt? It's just a short walk."

Mina stared blankly into his eyes, the strange sensation from her buttocks still faintly burning on her skin, mingling with the pain in her knees, and a feeling she couldn't quite describe welled up inside her.

She didn't struggle anymore, but simply turned her face to the side, her voice muffled as it leaked from under her mask.

"Can't I just carry it on my back?"

Jiang Yongtai heard this time, chuckled, and didn't answer. He simply lifted her up a little higher, holding her more securely, and strode towards the gray Hyundai car not far away.

She swayed gently in his arms, smelling the lingering scent of Chinese medicine and a faint fragrance of laundry detergent on his collar.

The streetlights shone smoothly across her face. She closed her eyes, shutting out her heartbeat through her mask.

Jiang Yongtai stood in a corner of the recording studio, watching the busy staff in front of him.

The stagehands were pushing a mobile light stand to find a spot, two FDs were squatting on the ground applying fluorescent tape to mark the movement positions, and the props team had cleaned the refrigerator very thoroughly, even checking each shelf inside the refrigerator door.

Next to the monitor, the audio PD was making final adjustments to the recording equipment, headphones hanging around his neck, muttering to himself—

He held the microphone up to test the sound.

Kim Sung-woo walked around from behind the light stand and stood next to him, holding a schedule in his hand, on which the shooting order for tomorrow was already marked with a highlighter.

"Brother, we'll be done in another hour."

Jiang Yongtai nodded. "Okay."

Although TVING values ​​this project, online variety shows are still online variety shows, and each episode is less than half an hour long, so it's impossible to give them an entire recording studio for their exclusive use.

The station put them in the same studio as another indoor talk show. Before each recording, they had to take down the set of the previous show and replace it with theirs. After filming, they would restore it to its original state for the next production team.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out and saw it was Saka.

She called yesterday to change the originally agreed time because she had to record a song for her comeback album at the last minute. So Jiang Yongtai simply asked her to come to the recording studio today to familiarize herself with the venue.

"Hello, Sana i."

Sana Minatozaki, who hadn't gotten out of the car yet, rolled her eyes on the other end of the phone, but when she heard him call her that, she figured there were other people around, so she adopted a work-like tone.

"Yes, PDnim, I've arrived. I'm in the parking lot."

"Okay, I'll come down to pick you up." Jiang Yongtai hung up the phone.

Kim Sung-woo looked up from the schedule. "Hyung, is Sanai here?"

Jiang Yongtai nodded. "I'll go downstairs to pick her up. You prepare her script."

"Isn't the recording supposed to start tomorrow at noon?" Kim Sung-woo asked, somewhat confused.

Jiang Yongtai had already walked towards the door, replying without turning his head, "She reads the script very slowly, so let her familiarize herself with it a day in advance."

Kim Sung-woo watched his retreating figure, his brows furrowing slightly.

A few days ago, when he went to JYP with senior Park Soo-bin to go over the process with Minatozaki Sana, he never heard her mention that she was slow at reading scripts.

Moreover, the first draft of the script that they brought over that day was flipped through by Sana Minatosaki on the spot, and she even made several suggestions for revision. She didn't seem like someone who needed to review it a day in advance.

How did Jiang Yongtai find out?

He stood there for a moment, then shrugged and decided to stop worrying about it.

She turned and ran to find Park Soo-bin, who was still by the monitor discussing details with the sound crew, calling out, "Soo-bin noona, where's Sanai's script? PD-nim said he'd give it to her in advance."

Jiang Yongtai arrived at the parking lot and looked around for Minatozaki Sana's car.

A short horn blare came from the right. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw Minatozaki Sana get out of the car.

The temperature rose slightly today, and she was wearing a black long-sleeved dress with pink floral patterns. The neckline was slightly open, and her collarbone was faintly visible.

Her skirt just reached her thighs, and she wore khaki knee-high boots. Her orange curly hair was draped over her shoulders, and she wore the camel-colored leather jacket he had seen before. Against the backdrop of the gray cement wall in the parking lot, she looked both retro and gentle.

Jiang Yongtai raised an eyebrow slightly, walked over, smiled, and said, "Luckily, it's not cold today."

Sana Minato rolled her eyes at him again, remembering his words when she left last time, "It would be better to change your stockings into pants." The anger she had been holding in hadn't completely subsided, so she retorted directly.

"Would it kill you to say one less word?"

Jiang Yongtai didn't pay attention and turned to walk towards the elevator.

"Let's go, the recording studio is almost set up, you can familiarize yourself with it first."

When Sana Minatozaki heard him mention work, she nodded and followed him into the elevator.

The elevator was too quiet. Jiang Yongtai turned his head to look at her and spoke.

"You came here by yourself today? Where's Kibum?"

Sana Minatozaki didn't look at him. She lowered her head, adjusted the buttons on her collar, and replied indifferently.

"Kibum oppa is very busy, I can come by myself."

Jiang Yongtai nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

The elevator arrived, and he led her down the corridor, stopping at the entrance of the recording studio. He held the doorknob, turned around to look at her, and smiled slightly.

"Are you ready, Sana? This is your show."

Sana Minatozaki was stunned for a moment. JYP had suppressed Twice for so many years in order to prevent them from becoming popular. Whether it was individual resources or sub-unit projects, they were always ranked last in the company's priorities.

When she heard the words "permanent MC" in the conference room, she was so excited she almost shouted it out.

And now, behind this door is the recording site of her first solo variety show.

She looked up at Jiang Yongtai intently and whispered something under her mask.

"Yes, thank you."

Jiang Yongtai looked into her suddenly serious eyes and knew how difficult it had been for her all these years, and smiled.

"You got it yourself, it has nothing to do with me."

He pushed open the door and stepped aside to let her go in first.

Sana Minatozaki walked into the recording studio and stopped at the door.

At the very center of the recording set was a double-door refrigerator, with the word "Sana" spelled out on the doors using colorful letter tiles.

The letter "e".

A beige tablecloth was laid on the counter next to the refrigerator, on which were placed several small potted plants and a ceramic tube filled with wooden spatulas.

The background wall was painted a light cream color and hung with several hand-painted watercolor paintings of fruits.

The entire space is like an open kitchen cut out of a home decor magazine—warm and bright.

What captivated her most were the Twice-themed elements specially created by the production team for the first episode.

One side of the backdrop is covered with their album covers since their debut, from "LikeOoh-Ahh" to their last comeback. Each one is a miniaturized version of the original cover that has been reprinted, creating a whole wall of memories.

Next to the sofa area stands an archway formed by interlaced balloons in the support colors.

Two beach chairs were placed next to the archway, with thin blankets draped over their backs. A small coffee table was placed in the middle, with a pair of mugs bearing the Twice logo on it.

Sana Minatozaki walked up to the wall of album covers, tilted her head back, and slid her gaze from the first album cover to the last, her eyelashes fluttering slightly.

Kim Sung-woo walked over from the side and handed a script made of several cards to Minatozaki Sana.

"Sanai, this is tomorrow's script."

Sana Minatozaki snapped out of her daze, took the package, and whispered a thank you.

Kim Sung-woo smiled and nodded, not forgetting to casually praise his own PD.

"Sanai, this album wall was proposed by Kang PDnim."

He said this year is your fifth anniversary, and he'd like to do a retrospective with Jeongyeon fans at the beginning of the show. He added that it would be very moving for the fans, and that would be effective.

Sana Minato paused for a moment, her gaze involuntarily shifting from the wall to Kang Young-tae, who was confirming the light positions with FD.

"—Nice, Kangsahamida~"

Kim Sung-woo bowed slightly and turned to attend to other matters.

Sana Minato turned around and looked at Kang Young-tae, who had finished giving instructions and was walking over. Her expression under her mask was somewhat complicated.

"----Thank you."

Jiang Yongtai smiled slightly, "It's nothing, it's all thanks to the production team, I just mentioned it."

"Nei~"

Sana Minatozaki raised her hand, took off her mask, looked up at him, and gave him an extremely bright smile.

Jiang Yongtai was stunned for a moment; he had forgotten how long it had been since he had seen her smile like that.

"Sana, you've come."

Park Soo-bin walked over from beside the monitor with a smile, breaking the slight tension between the two.

Sana Minatozaki turned her head and raised her voice, "Soobin unnie~"

Park Soo-bin clutched his chest, pretending to be hit. After several previous encounters with Minatozaki Sana, the two were already quite familiar with each other.

"Sana's smile is so captivating, I'm always mesmerized when I see it."

Sana Minatozaki wasn't shy at all; instead, she smiled even more brightly and reached out to brush her long hair, which was hanging over her shoulder, aside.

"I'm Sana, unnie, are you going to become my solo fan?"

"Yes, I'll buy your solo cover for your next comeback," Park Soo-bin replied with a smile.

"I'll just buy the group cover then. If you come to the fan signing event, I'll treat you well~"

Sana Minatozaki stepped forward and took her arm.

"Oh my god, am I really that old to still have to queue up for autograph sessions? I might as well let Yongtai go for me."

Park Soo-bin smiled and looked at Kang Young-tae.

Jiang Yongtai smiled but didn't continue the conversation.

If he really goes to the autograph session, it will only be for Mina, right?

Sana Minato glanced at him, the thought flashing through her mind, and the smile on her lips faded for a moment.

However, she quickly regained her composure because Jiang Yongtai had already turned his gaze to her.

"Soobin noona, Sanai, let's go over the process first. We'll start recording tomorrow morning, so we need to finalize the script details today."

When Sana Minatozaki saw him bring up work, she suppressed the slight sourness she had felt earlier, let go of Park Soo-bin's arm, and walked towards the rest area with Kang Young-tae.

The three of them found a folding table and sat down. Kang Young-tae opened the process sheet, and Park Soo-bin took out another script and compared it with the one in Minatozaki Sana's hand.

The lighting rigs in the recording studio were still being tested, and FD by the backdrop wall had put on the last bit of decoration. Meanwhile, the small meeting here had already begun to go over every step of tomorrow's recording.

Sana Minatozaki sat on a bench in the outdoor courtyard on the sixth floor, leaning against the wicker back, her gaze fixed on the sky surrounded by office buildings in front of her.

The afternoon sun poured down on her, making her long, orange-red hair look like a cloud ignited by the sunlight.

The hem of her floral dress swayed gently in the breeze, and she squinted her eyes slightly, like a cat basking in the sun on a windowsill.

The meeting we just had didn't end until after noon.

Park Soo-bin smiled and invited her to lunch, but she declined, saying she needed to diet because she was about to return to work. She asked where she could get some fresh air, as she wanted to rest before going back to the company.

After Park Soo-bin recommended this place to her, she and the others went to the cafeteria downstairs for dinner.

Suddenly, a box of sliced ​​seaweed rice rolls was handed to me.

-

Here, have some.

She opened her eyes, paused for a moment, and looked up.

Jiang Yongtai stood in front of her, his back to the light, so his expression was not clear. In his other hand, he held a seaweed rice roll that was exactly the same as hers.

Sana Minatozaki turned her head back and didn't answer.

"Thanks, but didn't I already say I was going on a diet?"

Jiang Yongtai ignored her, sat down next to her, and placed the box of seaweed rice rolls on her lap.

"Eat something. I heard your stomach growling during the meeting."

Sana Minato blushed slightly, and turned her head to glare at him in embarrassment and annoyance.

"No, you said it hadn't worked for me anymore, how could I possibly know!"

Jiang Yongtai, biting into a piece of seaweed rice roll, nodded and mumbled, "It didn't work, but your stomach really was growling. Xiubin heard it too, otherwise why would she have called you to eat?"

Sana Minatozaki paused for a moment, her brows furrowing slightly.

She didn't eat anything after 6 p.m. last night, and this morning she only ate two boiled eggs before driving over.

The meeting lasted for almost three hours when, unfortunately, her stomach rumbled loudly. She thought no one had noticed, but it turned out they had all heard it.

She turned her face away and pouted.

"So what! This is a female celebrity's self-discipline. Take it away, I'm not eating it!"

Jiang Yongtai smiled at her puffed-up profile, said nothing more, and reached out to take the box of seaweed rice rolls back from her lap.

Sana Minatozaki secretly followed his hand out of the corner of her eye, and pursed her lips.

What?! She only said one thing and then stopped trying to persuade her? Before, I would have kept trying until she ate!

She recalled two years ago when she still had a lot of baby fat on her face, sitting in front of the mirror in her apartment, pinching the soft flesh on her cheeks, and looking back at Jiang Yongtai standing behind her with a resentful expression.

"PDnim~ I told you I'm going on a diet, don't tempt me!"

Jiang Yongtai stood there innocently, holding a bowl of teriyaki chicken legs in his hand.

"But I made you teriyaki chicken legs, with Osaka sauce, are you really not going to eat them?"

Sana Minato looked down at the drumstick covered in sauce, the air filled with the sweet aroma of crispy pastry and soy sauce.

Her throat bobbed, but she still forced her head back.

"I won't eat it! I'm a woman from Osaka, and I keep my word!"

Jiang Yongtai sighed softly, walked over to her, squatted down, picked up the chicken leg from the bowl, and held it to her mouth.

"Women in Osaka also need to eat when they're hungry, and besides, your chubby cheeks are cute~ Open your mouth, ah————"

"----ah."

Sana Minatozaki instinctively bit into it, chewing twice before suddenly realizing what she had done. She turned her head and glared at him, her mouth stuffed full.

Jiang Yongtai slowly withdrew his finger, a playful smile on his lips, holding the seaweed rice roll that was originally meant for her.

"Hey, you're cheating!"

Sana Minatozaki covered her mouth with one hand, protesting indistinctly.

Jiang Yongtai blinked innocently. "Really? Didn't you come over and eat it yourself?"

He handed her the seaweed rice roll that she had already eaten a piece of, saying, "Okay, you can eat it yourself. There's no one here now. They'll come over to rest after they finish eating, so it's not convenient for me to feed you."

Sana Minatozaki was startled and quickly turned around to look around. The courtyard was empty, with only the corner of the sunshade above her head swaying gently in the wind.

Once she confirmed that it was just the two of them, she breathed a sigh of relief and swallowed the food in her mouth.

"Oh no, what if someone saw that!"

"Didn't I tell you, there's nobody here right now?"

Jiang Yongtai didn't look at her, calmly picked up his own seaweed rice roll and took a bite.

Sana Minato glared at him angrily, but what angered her even more was her own reflexive action of opening her mouth just now. She bit her lip, snorted, and turned her head away.

She picked up a bamboo skewer, poked a piece of seaweed rice roll into her mouth, and only when the familiar sesame oil flavor spread on her tongue did she realize that she was actually very hungry.

The two of them quietly finished their simple lunch.

Sana Minatosaki swallowed the last mouthful, and just as she felt a little choked, a bottle of green tea with the cap already unscrewed was handed to her. It was her favorite brand.

She paused for a moment, took it, whispered "thank you," and took a sip.

Jiang Yongtai took the empty lunchbox from her hand, put it into the convenience store's plastic bag along with his own, and leaned back in his chair.

The sunlight shone directly on his face, and he squinted, looking as if he really intended to take a nap there.

Sana Minatozaki placed the green tea on the armrest of the chair, glanced at him sideways, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "The day before yesterday—thank you for taking Mina to see the doctor."

"She told you? You two really can talk about anything."

Jiang Yongtai did not open his eyes, and his voice was very faint.

Sana Minatozaki raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? We're best friends, what's there to hide from each other?"

Jiang Yongtai opened his eyes, glanced at her, and then closed them again.

"Yes, you're welcome. Nan-chan is also my friend."

Nan-chan? Is that what he calls Mina?

Sana Minatozaki silently absorbed the name into her mind and took a deep breath.

"Anyway, thank you. It's fine for you and Mina to be friends; I won't object."

Jiang Yongtai opened his eyes with a slight chuckle and looked at her.

"Yes, thank you for your permission."

"But you can't bully her, understand? Otherwise, I'll make you regret it!"

Sana Minatozaki's tone turned serious; she wasn't joking.

Jiang Yongtai blinked, somewhat speechless.

Why would I bully her? I'm already being kind by not bullying her.

Sana Minatosaki snorted, remained silent for a moment, then changed her tone, revealing a hint of barely suppressed curiosity.

"Mina told me that your performance with her wasn't very effective. What happened?"

"She even told you this?"

Jiang Yongtai raised an eyebrow slightly, looking at her with some surprise. Minatozaki Sana showed an "of course" expression on her face, and he sighed.

"Yeah, I don't know why either, maybe it's because Nan-chan is too smart."

"And what about me? When did you start to become ineffective against me?"

Sana Minato blurted out the question that had been on her mind, only realizing afterward that it sounded like she was bringing up old grievances.

She turned her face away awkwardly, her fingers fidgeting with the edge of the green tea bottle cap, pretending it was just a casual question.

"Say it if you want to, or don't if you don't."

Jiang Yongtai silently watched her profile. The sunlight slowly moved across her orange-red hair, making the strands appear translucent.

Sana Minatosaki felt uncomfortable under his gaze and turned to glare at him.

"What! Didn't I say you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to?"

"From the moment you started practicing your smile in front of me."

Sana Minatozaki was stunned, her lips slightly parted, the phrase "practice your smile" struck a chord in her heart.

"It started as just a little bit."

Jiang Yongtai's voice was calm, with a hint of reminiscence.

"After you finished laughing in front of the camera, you kept smiling when we were video chatting."

Later, the hanging time became longer and longer, five minutes, ten minutes, and even the whole night.

Your smile was so beautiful when you looked at me, so beautiful that I couldn't read anything in it. At that moment, I didn't know what to do, so I could only pretend to be the same as usual.

Sana Minatozaki lowered her eyes and remained silent.

She recalled that she had indeed been practicing during that time, practicing how to keep a smile in front of Jiang Yongtai, and practicing how not to let him see her fatigue.

She knew he could see through everything, so she kept laughing, laughing until he could assume she was alright without her having to read her words.

"Back then—" Sana Minatozaki's voice was so soft it seemed to drift from afar, "I just didn't want you to worry—"

"I know."

Jiang Yongtai stood up, threw the plastic bag containing the empty lunchbox into the trash can next to him, and turned to her.

"Go back, you can come and record with Jeongyeon tomorrow."

Sana Minato didn't move. She looked up at his back and suddenly smiled softly.

"So you didn't know what to do either~"

"----yes."

Jiang Yongtai kept his hands in his coat pockets without turning around, and his voice was slightly muffled by the wind.

"Even now, I can't understand everything, especially when it comes to you."

Sana Minatozaki was silent for a moment, and when she saw that he was really about to push open the glass door and leave, she suddenly spoke.

"Jiang Yongtai!"

"Hmm? What's wrong?" Jiang Yongtai turned around, his hand still on the doorknob.

Sana Minatozaki remained seated on the bench, her hands resting on the seat, her head tilted slightly, and gave him a bright smile.

Her lips curved into a smile, and her eyes followed suit, curving into two crescent moons as sunlight streamed across her face.

"Thank you for lunch~"

Jiang Yongtai paused, looking at her smile, and didn't say anything for a moment. Then he nodded, turned around, pushed open the glass door, and went inside.

Sana Minato leaned back in her chair, a lingering smile on her lips, and squinted at the sky above.

The weather was exceptionally sunny today, and the warm sunshine felt wonderful on her skin. She took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled.

She stood up, picked up her bag from beside the chair, and walked towards the glass door.

Jiang Yongtai bowed slightly to say goodbye to the production team, his face showing apology.

"Soobin noona, the rest of today is up to you."

Park Soo-bin smiled and waved his hand, "Don't worry, you can go ahead if you have something to do. There's nothing else left anyway."

Jiang Yongtai nodded and looked at Jin Chengyu, who was secretly taking half a step toward the door.

"Sungwoo, you stay with Soobin noona. You can leave work after she leaves."

"----ah."

Kim Sung-woo pulled back the half step he had just taken, and glanced at Park Soo-bin with a sullen face.

Park Soo-bin crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow slightly.

"What's wrong, maknae? You don't think you can leave work early too, do you?"

"No, no, how could I leave if my senior doesn't leave? Loyalty!"

Kim Sung-woo immediately straightened his back and saluted her.

Park Soo-bin was amused by his appearance and laughed. "I'm not in the military, you don't have to treat me like this."

Kim Sung-woo chuckled and put his hand down.

Jiang Yongtai looked at them with a smile. This team, which was temporarily put together from Jeju Island, was becoming more and more like a cohesive unit.

He nodded. "Then I'll be going now." He bowed slightly, picked up his bag, and left the recording studio.

As soon as I reached the parking lot, my phone rang, and the screen lit up with "Jiang Huiyuan," the timing so precise it was as if a tracking device had been pre-installed on him.

He swiped to answer the call, and Jiang Huiyuan's voice came crashing down on him.

"Oppa, Oppa, are you off work yet?!"

"I'm logging off. Send me the address, I'll be there now."

The background noise on the other end was a bit loud. Jiang Huiyuan hurriedly said, "Remember to dress smartly," and hung up before he could reply.

Jiang Yongtai looked at the "Call Ended" message on his phone screen and shook his head helplessly.

"Dress smartly," she said again. What is she up to?

Despite complaining, she had already opened the car door, put her bag on the passenger seat, taken off the slightly wrinkled jacket she had worn all day, and picked up a dark gray casual suit jacket from the back seat to put on.

In his opinion, wearing a suit always looks good, and his physique certainly suits it.

He flipped down the mirror on the sun visor, tidied his hair which was a bit messy from the wind, and glanced at the address Kang Hye-won had sent him—a Western restaurant, not too far from tvN.

He set up his phone, started the car, and drove off in the direction indicated by the navigation.

Kwon Eunbi sat at the back of the dining table, glancing for the umpteenth time at the scented candles and the lone red rose in the vase, before finally speaking.

"Hye-won, is this where your oppa treated us to dinner?"

She looked around. The restaurant was dimly lit, with small candles flickering on each table, black and white couple photos hanging on the walls, and someone playing an old piano in the corner.

The air was filled with the aroma of roasting meat, mixed with a sweet scent from some kind of incense, creating an atmosphere more suitable for couples holding hands and feeding each other desserts.

Not far away, a man and a woman were sharing a piece of tiramisu. When their spoons clinked together, the woman laughed, which made Kwon Eunbi quietly look away.

Jiang Huiyuan raised an eyebrow inwardly with a smug look as he looked at her slightly embarrassed expression.

This place was certainly not chosen by her clueless oppa; it was a restaurant she had searched through for days before finally deciding on, but how could she possibly tell the truth?

"Unnie, just treat it as having a meal with me, the ambiance doesn't matter!"

She picked up the kettle, poured Kwon Eunbi a glass of water, patted the back of her hand, and casually gave her a thorough once-over of today's masterpiece.

Today, Kwon Eun-bi wore a black fitted dress with a neckline that just revealed her cleavage, a cinched waist, and a skirt that was a few centimeters above her knees, clearly and elegantly outlining her great figure honed through years of dance training.

Her long hair wasn't styled much; she simply wore a pearl hair clip behind her ear and matching pearl earrings on her earlobes.

The person sitting here looks like they stepped right out of a magazine.

Jiang Huiyuan silently repeated the phrase "nicebody" that Miyawaki Sakura had used to praise him, feeling that he had already succeeded halfway in his plan for today.

She went to great lengths to persuade Kwon Eun-bi to wear this outfit, even sacrificing her own efforts.

She looked down at herself, wearing a beige knitted crop top with an off-the-shoulder neckline that revealed her straight shoulder lines.

She wore dark skinny jeans with a high waistline, showing off her curves, but they were several sizes smaller than the woman opposite her.

However, today she positioned herself as "pure and cute," aiming for differentiated competition!

She breathed a sigh of relief; thankfully, she wasn't completely out of stock.

Quan Enfei looked at her helplessly. This week, Jiang Huiyuan had been mentioning this matter to her from time to time, bringing it up during rehearsal breaks and on the way back to the dormitory, as if she was afraid that she would break the contract and run away.

Today, he even brought clothes over to help her choose, and his enthusiasm made her feel too embarrassed to refuse.

She glanced down at the dress she was wearing, then looked at Jiang Huiyuan across from her who was secretly pleased with herself, her gaze unconsciously sweeping over the small curve below the neckline of Huiyuan's shirt.

Would life be easier if someone as young as Huiyuan were born?

She started to drift off.

Jiang Huiyuan was completely unaware of Quan Enbi's gaze. Her eyes were fixed on the restaurant entrance until Jiang Yongtai finally appeared there. At that moment, she was instantly energized and stood up from her seat, waving vigorously.

"Oppa! Over here!"

Jiang Yongtai felt something was off the moment he stepped into the restaurant; the atmosphere made him frown slightly.

Upon hearing Jiang Huiyuan's voice, he looked in the direction of the sound and raised his eyebrows slightly.

It was supposed to be a celebration of her debut day, and I thought today would be a lively meal with her and her close friends from IZ*ONE, but it turned out there were only two of them.

Another girl had her back to him; she had long hair and beautiful shoulders, but he couldn't see who she was yet.

Anyway, it's not that duck who follows Hye-won around calling himself "Yong-tae Oppa".

Kwon Eunbi paused for a moment, snapping out of her reverie and turning her head in the direction Kang Hye-won pointed.

Hmm? Is this the oppa that Kang Hye-won talks about all the time? He seems... kind of handsome.