Chapter 58: Just Liking a Post?

Her finger pressed tightly against the screen, leaving a clearly visible print on the screen protector.

The account marked as a close friend on Instagram had uploaded a photo just five minutes ago.

The centerpiece of the photo was a self-portrait of a handsome boy wearing a brown Gyeonggi High School uniform with a white shirt underneath, sitting on a bench somewhere on campus.

In the corner, a forehead with light brown long hair playfully peeked out, resting against the boy's left profile.

Although she couldn't see the full face, Sullyoon could conclude with certainty that this female voice with light brown long hair was none other than Shin Yuna, whom she had met that morning.

"Fake couple, fake couple, fake couple..."

"You look awfully happy, though."

Muttering bitterly under her breath, her finger poked fiercely at the shyly smiling cheek of Xia Xing on the screen, filled with grievance.

"Unnie, why are your eyes all red?"

Chang Kyujin, sharing the same room, noticed Sullyoon's abnormality and spoke up with timely concern.

"What do you mean, my eyes are red?"

Completely unaware of her own composure slipping, it wasn't until she followed the voice and looked toward the youngest member lying on the other bed that she felt the unstoppable warmth and moisture in her eye sockets.

"Did something unhappy happen? Tell me about it, maybe I can give you some advice?"

Chang Kyujin deftly made her way over to Sullyoon's bed, slipped under her blanket, and handed over a tissue she had prepared.

Before Sullyoon even had to say anything, the sharp-witted youngest member had already noticed the teenage-boy-dressed figure right in the center of the phone screen.

The image of Representative Xia speaking eloquently in the meeting room gradually overlapped with the handsome high school senior before her, and combined with the "be in love" comment left by another account beneath the post, the girl seemed to understand everything in an instant.

Completely unprepared for such a turn of events, Chang Kyujin parted her lips slightly, yet struggled to cobble together a single word of comfort.

For some reason, fragments of memories from drinking with senior Myoui Mina last night began to surface one by one in front of Sullyoon.

She vaguely remembered that senior Myoui Mina seemed to have given her some advice.

"If you're going to live selfishly, who cares if it's a real couple or a fake couple—just pester them relentlessly and tear them apart..."

Mina seemed to understand Sullyoon better than Sullyoon understood herself. That piece of advice acted like a key, unlocking the possessiveness that had originally been deeply sealed within her heart.

This feeling felt so strange...

When she was roommates with Bae Jinseol, Sullyoon would silently clean up the trash for the girl who didn't quite like tidying up.

When she was an MC on Music Bank, she would also find out the preferences of Yoo Jimin and Kim Minjeong in advance and gift them homemade cookies.

In front of others, she had always prided herself on being a gentle and soft-tempered girl, but why...

Whenever it came to matters concerning Xia Xing, she would display a possessiveness and selfishness completely different from before?

In fact, senior Myoui Mina was right. If she couldn't even make a promise to him, letting go early instead of keeping him on a string was the better choice for both parties.

Yet Xia Xing was to Sullyoon like a private sanctuary she reserved exclusively for herself.

Whether she was happy, dejected, nervous, displeased, or experiencing any other emotion, she could release them all without reservation in front of Xia Xing. It was as if only in his presence could she cast aside her gentle persona and briefly return to her true self.

As for why it had to be him, why it definitely had to be him... perhaps because what Sullyoon held for this private sanctuary was no longer just simple fondness.

It was a kind of persistence toward herself, and she harbored a faint feeling that this persistence might eventually evolve into obsession in the future.

Or, to put it in senior Myoui Mina's words, it would turn into "relentless pestering."

Making a silent decision in her heart, Sullyoon took the tissue handed over by the youngest member, wiped her slightly damp eyes, and found a bit more firmness in her gaze.

She lowered her head, silently liked the Instagram post, and then said softly:

"Kyujin-ah, it's nothing. I just suddenly realized that being a bad person isn't so bad after all..."

"Why did you suddenly think of having me post on Instagram?"

Xia Xing drove his McLaren Artura, speeding along the highway toward Seoul.

"And it's one thing that you dared to get in the frame, though only your forehead showed. You even dared to comment with your finsta—weren't you afraid someone would find out?"

At that moment, the girl in the passenger seat was looking down intently at her phone. After refreshing it countless times, a like notification finally made her raise the corners of her lips in satisfaction.

"Don't worry, our company has a dedicated personal privacy protection course, and I took that class with flying colors."

"As for why I wanted you to post pictures of our date... that's a girl's little secret, so don't try to guess."

The girl put down her phone, a sense of victorious triumph spreading through her heart.

Earlier that morning, she had briefly thought that Xia Xing and Sullyoon were merely ordinary gaming friends.

However, after following Xia Xing's Instagram with her second account, she discovered that among his meager list of just over a dozen follows—excluding news outlets and company accounts—there was a particularly striking personal account.

And it was obviously a young girl.

This made it hard for her not to associate it with the girl she had encountered that morning.

The girl who had appeared right outside her boyfriend's building.

Shin Yuna rested her chin in her hand, looking at the greenery flashing backward outside the window. Suddenly, she felt a sense of seizing the offensive, so the girl tentatively asked her boyfriend:

"Do you usually like playing video games?"

"Why suddenly ask that?"

Although Shin Yuna had never mentioned the name Sullyoon in front of him, Xia Xing immediately thought of the girl who was always dragging him along to play games.

In fact, had it not been for her companionship with Xia Xing over the past year, he might still be unable to open up his heart to anyone else today.

If Shin Yuna had met him as he was a year ago, Xia Xing might have subconsciously chosen to avoid a girl as blazing-hot as a small stove.

So... was she worried about the relationship between him and Sullyoon?

"I don't particularly like playing games. If I had to name a hobby..."

"I like accompanying you to do things."

"Or rather, my hobby is you."

Faced with his girlfriend's sudden heartfelt confession, the girl realized her little secret had been completely guessed by him.

"Hey... you don't have to give up your own hobbies just to accommodate my feelings."

"If you like playing games, then play games. Who doesn't have a few gaming friends?"

"I'm not the jealous type, definitely not."

"Though if you want to play games next time, you can ask me to accompany you."

Meanwhile, about a hundred kilometers away, another pair of fair hands skillfully typed a certain account ID into the Instagram app.

Then she tapped the search key.

The image that caught her eye, updated just a short while ago, caused the young woman in front of the screen to frown slightly.

With a tone blending composure and a hint of disappointment, she muttered:

"I thought you were great at pestering people—how come you just left a like?"