The first thing Sana noticed wasn't the unfamiliar ceiling above her or the faint ache lingering behind her temples. It was the silence.
Real silence.
Not the carefully controlled quiet of a dressing room before a concert. Not the silence inside a luxury van while her staff reviewed schedules. This silence was different—peaceful, almost foreign, interrupted only by the distant hum of the city beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Slowly, she opened her eyes.
Sunlight spilled across an elegant bedroom furnished in shades of ivory and walnut. Everything looked expensive yet understated, from the neatly arranged books on the shelves to the fresh lilies resting on a side table. It didn't resemble a hotel suite or any place she had ever visited for work.
Her heartbeat quickened.
"...Where am I?"
As she pushed herself upright, the blanket slipped slightly from her shoulder. She glanced down and froze.
Instead of the navy evening gown she had worn to last night's charity gala, she was dressed in an oversized white button-up shirt. The sleeves hung past her fingertips, carrying the faint scent of cedarwood and expensive perfume.
It definitely wasn't hers.
Memories returned in scattered fragments.
The gala.
A room filled with politicians, investors, celebrities, and cameras flashing every few seconds.
Smiling until her cheeks hurt.
Answering the same interview questions.
Feeling suffocated despite standing among hundreds of people.
Then...
A quiet balcony overlooking the Han River.
Someone standing alone, equally eager to escape the crowd.
A woman in a tailored black suit.
Calm.
Elegant.
Mysterious.
Kim Dahyun.
The youngest CEO of D&C Group.
Sana remembered recognizing her almost immediately—not because they had ever met, but because magazines constantly referred to Dahyun as the country's "ice queen of business." Yet the woman she'd spoken to over a glass of wine hadn't felt cold at all.
They had talked for hours.
About expectations.
About loneliness.
About dreams they quietly abandoned for careers they never truly chose.
For the first time in years, Sana spoke without worrying someone would record her words or twist them into headlines.
Somewhere between laughter and midnight...
They had stopped feeling like strangers.
A gentle knock interrupted her thoughts.
Before Sana could answer, the bedroom door opened.
Kim Dahyun stepped inside carrying a silver tray with two cups of coffee and breakfast neatly arranged beside them. She had already changed into another impeccably tailored charcoal suit, looking every bit the composed executive the business world admired.
Except...
There was something different in her expression.
She looked nervous.
