Iril's eyes widened the moment she saw the name flashing on her best friend's phone screen.
"Why is he calling all of a sudden?"
Iril asked, slightly panicked.
A sense of guilt crept in—not because she felt special or knew people liked her (because honestly, she never noticed)—but because she had just talked about Frau with Serena. And it didn't feel like the right time or place.
"It's obvious—he's jea...lous..."
Serena answered casually, as if she knew everything.
"Huh? What?"
Iril frowned, confused. She had no idea why Frau would be jealous.
Seeing Iril's puzzled face only strengthened Serena's belief—her best friend really had no clue how many people were now paying attention to her. Without another word, Serena accepted the call from Frau.
"Hello?" she greeted.
"Can you please take Iril away from that place?!"
Frau's voice was firm, nearly trembling with suppressed anger. He didn't even respond to Serena's greeting.
Serena nearly burst out laughing, but she held it in.
"Hmm... I'll ask her. She's right here."
She turned to Iril, who was watching her with wide-eyed curiosity.
"Ril, Frau said you need to leave this place. Now,"
Serena said flatly.
"Serena!"
Frau scolded from the other end, clearly not pleased with how she conveyed the message.
"Huh? Why?"
Iril grew even more confused, narrowing her eyes with suspicion.
Serena only shrugged and handed over the phone.
"Ask him yourself," she said.
With a bit of hesitation and a racing heart, Iril took the phone. Her heartbeat quickened. She wasn't sure if it was from guilt or simply because it was Frau—the person who had been making her nervous lately without fail.
"Hi..." she greeted softly.
"Hey,"
Frau replied gently, warmly—his tone a complete contrast to the one he'd used with Serena. Still seated across from her, Serena raised an eyebrow, both amused and intrigued by the drastic shift in tone.
"He's seriously falling for Iril,"
Serena muttered under her breath, then went back to her half-finished lunch.
"Why were you pouting earlier?"
Frau asked on the line.
"Pouting? Me?"
Iril still couldn't follow where the conversation was going. Guilt from earlier was still clouding her thoughts.
"Serena sent me a picture of you pouting," Frau clarified.
"WHAT?!"
Iril's voice nearly burst Serena's eardrums. Serena jumped and turned toward Iril, who was now staring at her, horrified.
Serena blinked several times, trying to grasp the situation.
"You sent my photo to Frau?!"
Iril half-yelled in protest.
"Ah... yeah," Serena finally admitted, only now realizing why Iril was reacting like that.
"Why would you do that?! You..."
Iril looked frustrated, disappointed.
She never expected Serena to send her photo—especially one taken at such an unflattering moment.
Serena stayed quiet. She never meant to hurt Iril's feelings.
"Hey, I'm sorry,"
she said softly, admitting her mistake. "There was nothing weird about it. I just wanted to show Frau that you're cute, attractive, and sweet."
"What?"
Iril was stunned. She thought she'd misheard.
"But you sent the one where I was pouting! Even Frau mentioned it!"
Serena let out a long sigh, trying to remain patient with her friend whose emotional intelligence seemed to crash whenever it came to romance.
"Ask him directly if he liked the photo I sent," Serena said before returning to her meal.
She was too tired to deal with Iril's cluelessness when it came to love.
Iril fell silent.
She felt too shy to ask. But before she could even think of how to form the question, Frau answered first.
"I liked the photo. You looked adorable," Frau said sincerely.
Iril's face turned bright red, a warm blush spreading across her cheeks. A shy smile slowly bloomed, impossible to hide. Serena, who had been pretending to focus on her food, stole a glance. Seeing that expression on Iril's face, Serena smiled to herself.
"Seriously, why don't they just start dating already..." she muttered under her breath.
---
That afternoon, Serena returned to the hospital to visit her mother, Elena, and take care of her.
Darian couldn't make it that night due to an important assignment, and with a heavy heart, he had asked Serena to step in. Leaving Elena in the hospital was never easy for Darian, but he trusted Serena.
When she entered the room, Serena found her mother fast asleep. A nurse stood beside the bed, checking the monitors and patient records.
"How is my mother doing, Nurse?"
Serena asked softly, careful not to wake Elena.
"She's much better now. If she doesn't experience any more headaches tonight, there's a good chance she can be discharged tomorrow,"
the nurse replied kindly.
Serena nodded in relief. Finally, her mother could rest at home again. Nothing brought her more peace than seeing her mother well.
After the nurse left, Serena pulled out her laptop from her bag. She still had some assignments to finish from her professor. Even at her age, academia didn't cut her any slack—it demanded as much as it did from a freshman.
"This is seriously annoying,"
she muttered while turning on the device. But no matter how annoyed she felt, the work still had to be done.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed. A message from Ren.
__Ren: Lydia is in City A. Most likely to meet Tom Hard.___
Reading that message, Serena's expression changed in an instant. Her previously calm demeanor turned cold. Her eyes sharpened, filled with restrained fury. Emotions she had kept buried now surfaced.
Her blood felt like it was boiling.
If Lydia really came back to see that man, Serena was glad—it would prove that Tom was indeed Lydia's right-hand man.
But if Lydia came back to see her mother, Serena wouldn't sit still.
Serena stared blankly at her laptop screen, her mind drifting far away. She was already thinking of a plan.
A plan to catch Lydia and Tom Hard red-handed.
---