After the breakup, I was taken in by a group of trendy young women.

The next morning, Lin Ye was awakened by the sound of steam from the coffee machine.

He lay on Wang Xiaoying's sofa for a while before slowly sitting up.

The sisters Shen Qing and Shen Na were already busy behind the scenes at the central island.

The aroma of citrus from Yirgacheffe permeated the entire open kitchen.

"Good morning, brother."

Shen Qing brought the freshly made latte to Lin Ye, the swan latte art swaying gently on the milk foam.

Her lips were curved in a smile, and there was not a trace of sleepiness in her eyes, a stark contrast to her usual groggy appearance in the mornings when she was woken up by being pressed down on in her shared apartment.

With the coffee machine, this girl was like a completely different person.

He sat cross-legged on the living room carpet with his tattooed arms, flipping through Wang Xiaoying's pay channels with the remote control, a cigarette dangling from his mouth.

The blond-haired man sauntered out of the bedroom, a tuft of his honey-brown hair sticking up from sleep, the straps of his Lolita dress slipping down to his elbows, and he yawned.

Following behind, Hua Tui had already changed into the new floral dress she bought yesterday and was checking her slightly curly hair in a small mirror under the light.

Green Hair and Pink Hair squeezed together at the door of the guest room, their earrings intertwined in their sleep.

Qi Liuhai sat on the sofa holding Wangcai, and the cat peeked out from under her elbow, its ear perked up warily at the unfamiliar upscale apartment.

Wang Xiaoying stood at the door of the master bedroom.

She was wearing a wrinkled silk nightgown, her hair was a mess as if it had been blown up by firecrackers, there were two obvious bruises under her eyes, and the signature mauve lipstick had long since been rubbed off, revealing the dry lip color underneath.

She was holding onto the door frame with one hand and rubbing her temples with the other, looking as if she had been run over by a truck and then crawled out from under it.

She definitely didn't sleep well last night.

I couldn't sleep all night.

She tossed and turned in bed, her mind filled with the image of Lin Ye holding her hand for the last time.

In her twenty-eight years of life, this was the first time she had ever gotten up at two in the morning to take three cold showers, but she still couldn't suppress the burning heat that was seeping from her very bones.

"Good morning...good morning."

Her voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping against a wooden board, completely lacking the authority of Manager Wang who could scold people into submission in the office.

She looked at the eight girls already busy in the living room, then at Lin Ye sitting on the sofa with a latte in hand, looking very energetic. Her expression was extremely complicated.

Then she did something that no one expected—she turned around and went back to the dressing table in the master bedroom to touch up her makeup.

Foundation, concealer, loose powder, eyebrow pencil, eyeshadow palette, eyelash curler, blush brush—all lined up in a row, making it look like they were about to perform on stage.

She applied three layers of concealer under her eyes to barely cover the two dark circles, cursing herself inwardly as she did so—what was she thinking last night?

Why did you squat down next to the sofa?

Why did you say "You're so big"?

This person is my subordinate!

They are my subordinates!

In the living room, the man with the tattooed arm placed the remote control on the coffee table, glanced at the slightly ajar door to the master bedroom, and asked in a low voice, "Where did she go?"

"Touch up your makeup."

Shen Na stood behind the island counter, holding a coffee cup, and spoke.

The blond-haired man pulled the straps of his Lolita dress back onto his shoulders, tilted his head, and thought for a moment.

Then he plopped down on the sofa, rested his chin on his hands, and said something in an extremely sincere tone of confusion that silenced the entire living room for a full two seconds:

"Why is she touching up her makeup? We don't wear makeup. Who is she trying to compete with in terms of beauty?"

The woman with the flowery legs looked up from the small mirror, glanced at the blond-haired man, then looked towards the master bedroom, and said something even more cutting:

"There are eight of us. The oldest, Shen Na, is nineteen, and the youngest is eighteen. She's twenty-eight. Does it make a difference whether she wears makeup or not?"

Green Hair and Pink Hair peeked out from the guest room door at the same time, each adding a sentence.

Green Hair: "No makeup is the best look."

Pink-haired girl: "Youth is my capital."

Qi Liuhai, holding Wangcai, rarely spoke up, his voice soft but every word hitting the nail on the head:

"Did she not sleep well last night...? There are so many dark circles under her eyes."

Lin Ye leaned back on the sofa, holding the latte Shen Qing had made for him. He didn't say anything, but he couldn't suppress the smile on his lips.

These young women, their thought processes are definitely different from ordinary people.

They weren't mocking Wang Xiaoying; they genuinely didn't understand—at eighteen or nineteen, her face was full of collagen even without makeup. They simply didn't understand what foundation and concealer were.

Their confusion is genuine, but it is precisely this sincerity that is most damaging.

The tattooed man took the cigarette out of his mouth, tilted his head to look at Lin Ye, and his tongue flashed between his lips:

"Brother, aren't you going to do anything about this? Your boss is inside touching up her makeup, and these girls are talking bad about her outside."

"That's the truth, what's it to you?"

Lin Ye picked up his latte and took a sip. The rich bitterness of the coffee and the creamy texture of the milk foam melted on his tongue. He squinted and thought that Shen Qing's latte art skills were indeed better than yesterday.

The door to the master bedroom opened.

When Wang Xiaoying came out, she looked like she had a completely different person.

Her makeup was so exquisite that every single eyebrow was combed to the perfect angle—she was completely different from the haggard woman with dark circles under her eyes and chapped lips just moments before.

She walked to the island counter, picked up the latte Shen Na had left for her, took a sip, and was about to say something to regain her authority as a leader when the tattooed man spoke up.

"Manager Wang, did you not sleep well last night? You applied too much foundation under your eyes, and it's caked up."

"Sis, did you choose the wrong shade of foundation? It's a shade lighter than your neck."

Hua Tui leaned over, held up a small mirror to her face, and spoke as if she were pointing out flaws in her best friend's cosmetics.

"I think I applied too much blush; the left side is redder than the right," Green Hair said.

"It's not blush, it's natural red—look, her right side is red too now," Pink Hair corrected her.

Wang Xiaoying stood in front of the island counter, her fingers gripping the handle of the coffee cup so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

She spent a full forty minutes transforming herself from a "woman run over by a truck" into a "sophisticated career woman."

As a result, these girls each said something, precisely dismantling all her efforts into pieces.

She wanted to lash out, but she found herself completely lacking the confidence to do so, because the tattooed arm said the powder was indeed cakey, and the tattooed leg said the shade was wrong.

She lowered her head and remained silent for a while, then picked up her coffee cup and took a big gulp.

She carried her coffee cup to the sofa and sat down next to Lin Ye.

After sitting down, she moved half an inch closer to him, lowered her voice, and asked him in a tone that was completely different from her usual tone in the office, with a hint of hoarseness and grievance.

"You're not allowed to tell anyone about what happened last night—especially not to your colleagues at work, understand?"

Lin Ye turned to look at her.

Her eyes were still a little red, and the foundation covered the dark circles but couldn't hide the bloodshot streaks in the whites of her eyes. The freshly applied mauve lipstick was flawless.

The way she scolds her subordinates in public can silence everyone in the department.

The way she sits next to him now, so humble and submissive, is like a kitten begging for forgiveness after doing something wrong.

"It depends on my mood," he said.

Wang Xiaoying's lips twitched, as if she wanted to say something.

Suddenly, the blond-haired man crawled over from the other end of the sofa, his honey-brown head squeezing between Lin Ye and Wang Xiaoying. He looked up at Lin Ye, his deep brown eyes full of mischievous light.

"Brother, where are we going to play today?"

"Still playing? It's the last day of the May Day holiday, I have to go back to work tomorrow."

Lin Ye reached out and flicked her forehead.

"What's wrong with going to work! You've already won over Manager Wang, what are you afraid of going to work for?"

The blond-haired man covered his forehead, speaking with righteous indignation.

Wang Xiaoying's hand holding the coffee cup trembled slightly, and the coffee almost spilled onto her silk nightgown.

She opened her mouth to refute, but found that she couldn't say anything in response.

She was a manager, and after being scolded by her subordinates to their faces, she not only didn't make things difficult for them, but also invited them to stay in her home, let the two girls make coffee in the kitchen, and squatted by his sofa in the middle of the night saying some inexplicable things—how could she possibly refute that?

The man with the tattooed arm was laughing so hard he was slapping the coffee table, while the man with the tattooed leg was shrugging his shoulders while hiding his face in a small mirror.

The green-haired and pink-haired girls were already laughing so hard they were screaming at the top of their lungs.

Qi Liuhai buried her face in Wangcai's cat fur, and the cat meowed in dissatisfaction in her arms.

The two sisters, Shen Qing and Shen Na, exchanged a glance behind the central island.

"Brother, are you taking us out to play today? If not, Sister Shen Qing and I will continue practicing latte art. Manager Wang has enough milk in the fridge for three days."

Huang Mao, unwilling to give up, flipped over from the sofa armrest and hung next to Lin Ye, shaking his arm.

Lin Ye put the coffee cup on the coffee table, stood up and stretched.

Morning light streamed in through the French windows, illuminating his newly cut short hair and highlighting the sharp angles of his jawline.

"Have fun. On the last day of the holiday, I'll take you to a decent place."