“Their writing styles are different from Ashley’s.”

“Still, that person is the only one helping me…”

Debbie began having lunch with Ashley every day, gradually reviewing her manuscripts bit by bit.

“Why don’t you ask the editor-in-chief for help?”

“He feels too intimidating to me…”

Ashley scratched her head and laughed.

“It would help if there were a good teacher who could review your writing…”

Though Debbie felt sorry for her, it was difficult to recommend any novelist on the spot.

“More importantly, how is our collaborative project coming along?”

Debbie showed Ashley the manuscript she had written.

“…Libby stared at her lace mesh gloves with a hardened expression. These were precious gloves that had always been with her even in despair. Sunlight cast rippling shadows across the silver lace. A killer whale glided gracefully over them. She would feel no guilt, for she had gained freedom instead…”

“Oh, it actually looks quite convincing when you piece it together like this!”

Ashley giggled as she traced vertically down only the first character of each sentence with her fingertip.

“Right? I deliberately packed in those ‘incomprehensible yet seemingly profound’ sentences that judges particularly love.”

Debbie smiled brightly. Ailey had always loved Debbie’s poetic expressions tremendously. At the time, Debbie thought her friend was simply appreciating her talent, never imagining that Ailey wanted to suck it dry for her own benefit.

However, knowing her taste made Debbie confident this bait would work.

“Let’s polish it a bit more before sending it.”

“Do you really think they’ll take the bait?”

“If they don’t, it’ll be frustrating, but we’ll have to wait for the next opportunity. But I think they will. They’re too busy acting high and mighty to even glance at our magazine, when our magazine has so many beautiful sentences too.”

Ashley clapped her hands and burst into laughter at Debbie’s words.

“I’m so happy.”

Ashley stopped laughing mid-way and wiped the tears that had gathered in her eyes.

“This is the first time anyone has stepped up for my work like this.”

Suddenly Ashley began sobbing and bent over deeply, tears flowing.

“Oh! What’s wrong!”

“I’m just… grateful. Silly, isn’t it?”

Ashley quickly wiped her tears and stuck out her tongue.

“If you’re grateful, don’t cry, succeed spectacularly instead.”

Debbie handed her a handkerchief.

“Alright, lunch break is over, everyone back to your places.”

At Gray’s words, the afternoon work resumed.

“Debbie, which color looks better, this one or that one?”

Benjamin from the neighboring desk brought over product samples to ask.

“Well, rather than looking at it this way, who’s the model for the product shots?”

“Obviously Helena, who else?”

“Helena has pale skin, so cool tones suit her well. But these are soft tones, so how about adding another model or choosing colors that match Helena’s skin tone?”

“Is that so? Is there anyone who could model the soft tones?”

“Didn’t you say Bianca was good last time? She has beautiful ankle lines too.”

“Ah!”

While Debbie was helping Benjamin, Gray had approached without notice.

“Debbie, you’re quite popular. Must have energy to spare.”

“Haha, Editor-in-Chief. Doesn’t Debbie have good taste?”

Benjamin quickly took the product samples and returned to his seat before getting scolded by Gray.

Gray approached Debbie and whispered in a low voice.

“I’ve processed it as field work per the president’s instructions.”

This made Debbie a bit nervous, since it was the day Blake had suggested they attend a performance and have dinner together, asking her to leave work early.

After giving various instructions, Gray left work first. Since he came and went as he pleased, his working hours were irregular.

“Well then, I’ll head out for field work and go straight home.”

Debbie also stood up after reading the room.

“Lucky you. The brand-new employee gets to go out.”

Benjamin grumbled. Though Debbie felt a pang of guilt, she didn’t want her colleagues to catch her dating the president, so she kept her expression neutral.

Debbie entered a hair salon near the publishing house, had her hair done simply, changed clothes, and touched up her makeup.

Blake had proposed a wholesome date, and Debbie didn’t want to go through all three dates with him.

‘How can I get him to act less than wholesome?’

Debbie looked in the mirror and chuckled.

‘I should be grateful if I don’t get seduced instead. He’s a master with lots of experience with women.’

To avoid losing to him, Debbie posed in various ways in front of the mirror like the models she had seen at the studio. She laughed at herself in the mirror, where a strange woman stood. She even felt like a spy making secret contacts in a novel.

‘At this level, he won’t recognize me.’

To prevent the misfortune of being featured in gossip magazines while dating the empire’s trash, Debbie did her best to disguise herself.

Though her reflection looked unfamiliar, Debbie gazed intently at this strange version of herself, thinking it might make good material for writing.

Beauty that would disappear with a chime at midnight like Cinderella’s magic. The painful truth that one could never fall in love if they met in rags from the beginning.

When Debbie emerged from the hair salon, a car was waiting in front.

“Oh, Mr. Fret?”

At Debbie’s voice, Fret looked at her with widening eyes.

“Huh?”

Recognizing Debbie belatedly, Fret smiled subtly and opened the passenger door for her.

“You look beautiful.”

When his eyes curved brightly, Debbie’s heart pounded even more violently. That brief moment felt like eternity.

This was the first time she had stood so close to him under bright sunlight. He looked even more dazzling outside. Fret was a man with delicate, pretty features for a male.

Though he wasn’t wearing anything like the black feather stole from their first meeting, he had a choker around his neck and multiple leather bracelets on his arms, making him stand out to anyone who looked. Even passersby turned back to look at his face before continuing on.

“I came to pick you up on the president’s orders, but I almost didn’t recognize you.”

Everything in the world seemed to fade away, leaving only Fret’s face visible.

“Please get in.”

Debbie had been staring blankly and came to her senses at his voice, then sat in the passenger seat.

She hadn’t anticipated sitting so close to him alone like this.

Though he came with a tired face and slightly disheveled clothes, he smiled kindly when their eyes met.

Debbie couldn’t calm her heart as memories of the white-gloved phantom thief and what happened at the publishing house came flooding back.

The fact that she had spent a night with him and Blake’s wholesome date proposal felt paradoxical. Of course, Fret seemed indifferent, like that night meant nothing to him.

‘Am I the only one feeling excited?’

Debbie’s body trembled slightly from the strange tension. She placed her hands on her knees to hide the trembling. He was so close, within arm’s reach.

How wonderful it would be to date Mr. Fret instead?

Even his slightly frowning face from the dazzling slanted evening sunlight while driving was beautiful.

When she encountered the white-gloved phantom thief, he always appeared perfectly neat without a wrinkle, but today’s free-spirited appearance with slightly wrinkled clothes gave her a different feeling.

His scent carried on the breeze was also slightly different from her memory. Fret had a faint ocean scent.

Were his hands like this?

When Debbie stared intently at his arm while he drove, Fret, sensing her gaze, glanced at her too.

“Is there something on my arm?”

He casually rolled up his sleeve.

“No, last time your arm was wrapped in bandages, so I was wondering if it had healed.”

“Oh, that’s almost completely healed. No problem.”

He smiled brightly. The more he did, the more Debbie’s trembling increased. His face was more alluring and beautiful than hers, despite being fully dressed up from head to toe.

“That’s a relief. Your expression looks much brighter too.”

“Thank you for caring about someone like me.”

He bowed his head with a joking laugh. At his words, Debbie shook her head.

“Someone like you! Don’t say such hurtful things!”

“I’m just an insignificant errand boy.”

“But Mr. Fret is so popular!”

When Debbie became serious, he laughed loudly, finding something amusing.

“Haha, me? No. I don’t know where you heard that wrong.”

“The publishing house employees said so at the welcome party before, and the Voluptas dancers all agreed you were a good person!”

“The publishing house employees rarely see me, but the Voluptas dancers would say the opposite. I’d be lucky if they didn’t curse me as a wicked manager.”

“That’s really not true!”

“Is that so? I thought you hated me and gave me licorice candy on purpose.”

He smiled with narrowed eyes.

“What?”

“That black candy. It tasted like it came from hell.”

“Ah… I didn’t know what flavor you’d like, so I bought a variety pack and licorice got mixed in. But that candy grows on you once you acquire the taste.”

“You have unique tastes.”

Fret shuddered, apparently having really disliked the licorice candy. Debbie then rummaged through her handbag and pulled out another candy box.

“As an apology for the licorice, let me give you lemon candy instead.”

“Oh, that’s fine. I don’t like sweets.”

Fret shook his head when a candy box followed his casual joke.

“That’s not true. I asked Meryl, and she said you’re always eating sweets.”

“You asked about such things? Why on earth…”

To the flustered Fret, Debbie said:

“Mr. Fret is always busy, right? And then you frantically look for sweets.”

Debbie slipped the lemon candy box into Fret’s pocket while he held the steering wheel.

“That’s why I wanted to give you some.”

Fret’s eyes widened.

“This is bewildering. Kindness without reason makes me uncomfortable.”

At his words, Debbie’s face reddened. He was being wary of her.

“Just…”

Though she wasn’t certain, she believed he was the phantom thief, so his clear distancing felt a bit disappointing.

“I’m sorry. It is rather sudden, isn’t it? But hearing about Mr. Fret so often from people around me, I guess I got the illusion that we were close even though we’re not. Out of desire to become friends.”

A brief but awkward silence lingered. Fret swept his wind-tousled hair back.

“This is trouble. If there’s any fault, I can only blame my excessively handsome face.”

“What?”

Debbie’s eyes widened at his following words.

“Well, it can’t be helped. Most women fall for me after looking at my face for just 3 seconds. How could you, Debbie, resist my charm?”

Fret shrugged.

“Sigh. Why am I so handsome that I cause trouble everywhere? God should have made my nose just a little lower. I think He made a mistake.”

Fret smiled slyly, his graceful eyes curving into crescents. His exposed white teeth were perfectly aligned, and his slight dimples made his eye-smile almost mesmerizing.

“But accidentally seducing someone going on a date with the president, this is serious. The president would be furious if he knew.”

Fret pretended to worry.

Having never been close to him in open spaces or talked much with him before, sitting in the passenger seat revealed his personality was quite different from what she had thought, which was somewhat bewildering.

Wasn’t he serious about everything?

“I don’t want to make an enemy of the president. Please spare me.”

Fret exaggerated and winked.

“If you want to date me, go deal with the president yourself first.”

Something felt strange.

“But I don’t hand out waiting number tickets. Get in line on your own. I’m public property for everyone, I don’t stop women from coming or hold back those who leave.”

She felt an odd sense of disconnect. No matter how much one could modulate their voice, the white-gloved phantom thief she met at the publishing house didn’t have such a frivolous way of speaking.

He had never talked like everyone naturally liking him was a given.

“Haven’t we met at the publishing house at night before?”

Debbie tentatively asked, hoping against hope.

“When?”

“That night when I was wearing clothes from the props room…”

“I rarely have occasion to go to the publishing house.”

Fret seemed completely unaware.

Gulp.

Debbie tensed up and straightened her back.

“By any chance, weren’t you the freelance writer AB?”

“Me?”