Nocturnal Sunshine - Lee Donghyuck

✧22✧

*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

Jiyoung

"You're Jiyoung, right?" A girl approached me, her prominent SM lanyard deeply contrasted her loose ripped jeans and fitted blue t-shirt. She smiled at me as she spoke. "Ten asked me to bring you this."

She handed me a disposable takeaway cup, with steam escaping from the top, bringing it closer to my nose, I inhaled the calming scent of chamomile. 

"Thank you." I accepted and wrapped both hands around the warmth.

"I'm Ahn Hyeri. Trainee makeup artist." She stuck her hand out for me to shake. I took, unsure whether I could trust her after Minhee's entire tornado.

"Lee Jiyoung, concierge and creator of your timetable." 

Hyeri was the youngest person I had met so far, being only eighteen years old, and interning as part of her training.

"No way! You really made the timetable?" She gasped, shocked by my revelation, "That's incredible!"

"It's my area of expertise." I shrugged with a slight smile at her compliment, "Unlike you, I suck at any makeup past the bare minimum."

Despite my protests, she was unable to let go of the fact that I had managed to organise the schedule for these two weeks.

In return, I was unable to get over her prowess over makeup, making us equal.

What made her good company though was the way she didn't pass any visible judgement, although I was sure she had heard rumours about me.

"Is it true that your uncle owns the hotel?" Her eyes seemed to be constantly wide in awe or perhaps surprise.

I winced a little at the question, "Yeah. He does. But please don't think I get any special treatment."

"Oh no, I was going to ask if you've ever seen the fancy top floor suites." She giggled, blushing, "I've always wanted to know what they look like."

I nodded, making her squeal in delight. "Once I visited them when I was really little. Me and my cousin sneaked in during a stay in Los Angeles."

"What was it like?" At this point, I wasn't sure whether her eyes could get any rounder.

"It was huge, and so luxurious, it was one of the most beautiful rooms I've seen to date."

Hyeri was easily impressed by our whole conversation and kept a bright eager smile on her face the whole time. Her constant and light-hearted chatter kept my mind off anything else, and instantly uplifted me. Her company didn't require much energy and was actually quite delightful.

I hadn't expected her to stay, but after handing me my tea, she had asked me question after question, from her unexhaustive mental list, eventually taking a seat next to me, to continue.

She had barely left room in the conversation for me to ask her anything, though I had managed to scrounge a few details from her, such as her age, the fact that she was from Ulsan and in her excitement would occasionally slip into a slightly accented Korean, which I struggled to understand from time to time. She lived with her friend and her three dogs in Seoul where she had been studying for the past six months.

Another assistant stuck their head into the room, calling Hyeri back to her job. 

We both frowned in disappointment. 

"I'll see you around, Jiyoung!"  She called, leaving the room, allowing a quiet to fall over the room again.

The two other people in the room, who checked up on me every so often, were the only others in the room and were having a quiet conversation in their corner.