Chapter 192
Chapter 192
Ah,
maybe I just put myself through hell for nothing.
It seemed like a brilliant idea at first, but now, watching everything unfold in real time, it felt like it had gone a little off course.
I mean... how do I put this.
I started wondering if the color really had to be red.
Truthfully, I hadn't put that much thought into the choice. Blue was what Choi Na-kyung usually wore, so I ruled it out immediately—seeing it all the time would only make me think of her.
Green was never my taste, and yellow felt too loud. More than anything, yellow just doesn't suit Sara. If I wanted people to notice us right away, I'd have to use a vivid yellow, and that shade would clash with Sara's striking ruby eyes.
So I chose red. Sara's eyes leave such a vivid impression that I wanted other people to take one look and think, "Ah, that person is on Ye Sa-ra's side."
The problem was... once I actually had everyone dressed like that, I couldn't shake the feeling that it was all a bit too flashy.
The girls still looked fine.
Hwayeong had always been a school for the wealthy, so plenty of students poured money into their looks. In this arena, appearance was as much a weapon as money was.
Apparently, a Cinderella story where you succeed by landing a rich man isn't completely impossible after all.
So even the kids without family fortunes, if they didn't want to be compared and ostracized, they mostly watched their weight and paid attention to how they looked. Get singled out for anything, and school life turns exhausting.
That was why, dressed in expensive fabric, they all looked the part. Especially since nearly everyone who stayed up almost the whole night with us was a reasonably well-known tailor, or someone who worked under one.
Even in reddish tones, most people can pull it off.
The problem was the handful of male students.
No matter how you looked at it, making men's clothes bright red would just seem like I was tormenting them. So I told them to design around deep crimson, and...
Honestly? I'd started to think I should just put them in black suits with red neckties instead.
...Too late for that now.
Anyway, seeing those twenty-odd students all gathered in one place was... how do I put it. A little blood-chilling.
Maybe it was the red clothes. Maybe it was the thought that every last one of them was there to support me alone. In any case, it was only now that I was starting to think this might've been a bit much.
"......"
Well, what can you do?
It's spilled milk.
I let out a small breath.
It wasn't quite an all-nighter—more like I barely slept. Still, maybe seeing me go this far made them realize this wasn't just "attending a party." All twenty-odd attendees wore tense expressions.
Well, tense looked better than exhausted and dead on their feet.
I glanced at my wristwatch.
Fortunately, the birthday fell on a Saturday, so there was no need to send these people back to school.
That said, as with most parties, the scheduled time was evening.
Even more fortunately, this mansion had space for twenty-odd people to sleep. I had dismissed all the servants, after all.
They could at least rest for a few hours.
"We have some time until the party. If anyone's tired, please follow Ms. Yang Hye-in. There are guest rooms, so get some rest there, and we'll gather again an hour before."
The one-hour gathering spot wouldn't be the lobby, of course. Various preparations were scheduled for the lobby in the meantime.
If we were holding the party here, we at least had to dress the place up enough to host one, didn't we?
Though that job was supposed to be handled by the people my "uncle" sent.
Only then did the attendees' faces relax a little.
Fair enough. I was barely suppressing the urge to collapse from drowsiness myself.
"I'm counting on you."
"Understood, my lady."
At my words, Yang Hye-in bowed deeply.
"Let's go rest, too."
"Yeah......"
Obviously, my hastily thrown-together plan included us as well. We were the ones who'd had to get fitted for red dresses on short notice, too.
The ones who'd basically stayed up the whole night were me, Ha-neul, Su-a, and So-hee, all of us.
We shuffled off, unsteady on our feet, toward the room we always used.
*
"You worked hard."
Given that I saw Sara's face the moment I lay down, I must have passed out cold, literally.
"...And whose fault is all this?"
I shot Sara a glare, and she hurriedly waved both hands.
"Ah, uh, sorry. I didn't mean to put you through this much......"
She genuinely looked sorry.
...Then again, the idea itself was mine. Sara never intended to start any of this in the first place.
So, strictly speaking, I brought the trouble on myself.
Though you couldn't say Sara was exactly zero percent to blame, since she'd insisted she wouldn't attend her own birthday party.
Still, I was glad that being here in our consciousness helped my body recover from the fatigue.
"......Hoo."
I let out a long breath and, as always, perched on the edge of the bed.
"Hey, I really am sorry......"
Sara spoke as she sat down next to me.
"No. It happened because I threw out a rushed idea. The others are the ones who did the hard work."
Yang Hye-in, who rounded everyone up in a single day. The tailors who stayed up nearly all night fitting our clothes. Even if they worked by altering ready-made pieces, pulling that off in one night couldn't have been easy.
Truly, a lot of money makes it possible. Impressive. Money really does make the world go round.
"So, about that......"
"Hm?"
Sara had the air of someone about to ask a favor, so I tilted my head.
Sara almost never asked for things this way. Usually she just followed wherever I went, grumbling sometimes, enjoying herself other times.
"You've worked so hard getting everything ready. I think it'd be better if I handled the party itself."
"Really?"
At those words, my face lit up instantly.
I was the one who'd done all this, yet I couldn't shake the nagging feeling, like everyone else was showing up in casual clothes while we were the only ones in uniform. When I came up with the idea, I thought it was perfect. But now, looking back, I wasn't so sure it would land as well as I'd hoped.
So hearing Sara say she'd take responsibility for what came next... I was tempted.
"Ah, but there's no guarantee this will go perfectly. I came up with it in a rush, too... It sounded plausible when I thought of it, but in practice, who knows."
"I know."
Sara nodded.
"Nobody can ever know what the future holds."
...Hm.
Sara was saying things she didn't normally say.
I know I shouldn't think this, but honestly, it made me suspicious. Like she had an ulterior motive she wasn't telling me about.
Well, thinking back, Sara had stepped up before, declaring she'd handle things herself. The problem was, that had ended with Choi Na-kyung going berserk.
But still, I really was grateful she was stepping forward this time.
I was exhausted, after all.
You know what? Having someone else live your life for you is an incredibly comfortable thing.
"You sure I can really leave it to you? You won't regret it?"
I asked with a slightly dubious expression, and Sara quickly shook her head.
"No, really. It's my birthday, isn't it? And I don't want to watch you struggle because of my birthday. That's all."
"......"
When she puts it like that, it really leaves me with no reason to say no.
...Is this really okay?
I tilted my head again, and Sara's face took on a slightly indignant look.
"Ah, seriously! You kept complaining, so now I'm telling you I'll do it myself! Why are you so suspicious all of a sudden?!"
Yikes.
"Ah, no, no. I'm just worried. The people you'll meet tonight are all new to you."
"That's true for you, too. And strictly speaking, most of them won't be complete strangers to me—they'll be people I've met before but can't remember. In that sense, I have the advantage. You never know. I might recognize a face."
"I suppose that's true......"
I closed my eyes and thought for a moment, then opened my mouth.
"Then I'll leave it to you."
"Good!"
At that, Sara grinned.
"I'll handle it properly, so you rest well here!"
"Mhm......"
Well, sure.
I'm grateful she's saying that, but...
Watching Sara naturally climb onto my lap and loop her arms around my neck, I thought to myself.
Is this really going to be okay?
...Is thinking like this just me being overly protective of Sara again?
Gazing at Sara's face drawing closer, I wondered.
*
Opening my eyes on the bed for the first time in a while, I had one thought.
...Even so, shouldn't I be the one getting the birthday presents? My dear friends?
If I had my way, I wanted to monopolize that person's first birthday party all to myself.