Mina rembered the difficult yet happy days of relying on her brother as they grew up.
Their parents had passed away early, forcing her brother to drop out of school and work to support Mina’s education. He worked tirelessly.
Her brother had been brilliant. If he hadn’t quit school, he would’ve been a top student. Though he never took the college entrance exam, he was self-taught and highly skilled. By the ti Mina was old enough for school, her brother had already beco a well-known entrepreneur in their hotown.
Later, when Mina was admitted to a university in Savannah, her brother took her to the big city to seek their fortune. During that ti, Mina t her brother’s friend—the current CEO of Shigella, Yana.
Back then, her brother seed to have a remarkable talent for costics, creating several hit products that took the market by storm.
But fate was cruel. Just as her brother launched a new product, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. The doctors said it was due to years of irregular eating habits.
Yes, her brother had always put Mina first. Combined with his habit of skipping als while imrsed in product developnt, it had taken a toll on his health.
That was why he died so young.
Her brother had always worried about Mina, so he asked his friend to look after her—Sister Yana.
Fortunately, Mina was also highly intelligent. Though she knew nothing about costics, she had a natural talent for sales, quickly rising to beco the head of Shigella’s sales departnt at a young age.
She had watched Shigella grow step by step, gradually absorbing smaller competitors until it beca the most renowned company in Savannah.
Of course, this was inseparable from the financial backing of Sister Yana’s husband.
"Gulp..." Another glass of liquor went down.
Although Manager Mina had asked Jake to accompany her, she ended up drinking alone.
It was at this mont that Manager Mina’s long-suppressed "inner voices" began to stir, and waves of low spirits flooded Jake’s
mind.
Was it an attachnt to a certain family mber?
Or admiration for a certain mber of the opposite sex?
Jake could only vaguely sense Manager Mina’s emotions.
The more she drank, the redder Manager Mina’s pretty face beca. Without the embellishnt of makeup, she actually looked younger, with a faint sense of purity radiating from her.
Seeing Manager Mina silent, Jake followed suit.
One glass after another, soon the first bottle of EXO was empty.
Jake wanted to stop Manager Mina from opening the second bottle, but she beat him to it.
"Keep going," Manager Mina murmured.
Jake had no choice but to continue accompanying her.
Manager Mina’s emotions sank deeper, and Jake could now clearly feel the alternating waves of loss, regret, and the lingering pain of love that had slipped away.
He had originally thought Manager Mina was a pampered girl, born into privilege and given top-tier education.
Never did he expect that one of these emotions would resonate so strongly with Jake’s own experiences during his destitute days.
Only now did Jake realize that all the glamour and brilliance were rely superficial envy from those who hadn’t lived through the hardships.
The truest experiences were rarely known to others.
And Manager Mina was such a woman.
Jake had always admired Manager Mina deeply.
Seeing her drowning her sorrows in alcohol, he couldn’t help but feel upset.
It was like being trapped in a prolonged state of negativity—even if you tried to cheer up, the gloom would swallow you whole.
Jake wished Manager Mina could forget that despair and sorrow, to face life with happiness and positivity.
Soon, the second bottle of EXO was also empty.
The scent of alcohol clung to Manager Mina, yet her natural fragrance was oddly pleasant.
As if purified by the alcohol, the innate scent of a beautiful mature woman had fernted on its own.
The rich, alluring aroma made Jake, already half-drunk, lose himself in wild fantasies.
"Sister Mina... stop drinking... any more... and you’ll be drunk..."
Jake rarely drank foreign liquor and hadn’t expected its potency to be this strong. Compared to the homade rice wine or fruit wine he’d had before, this seed sweet and smooth at first, not burning the throat, but after a few rounds, his head was spinning, his vision blurring.
This damn liquor’s aftereffect was brutal.
Bombarded by Manager Mina’s relentless low spirits, Jake found himself similarly affected, recalling his own miserable childhood.
He still rembered the first ti he beca self-aware—he had always lived at Sunshine Orphanage. The director was a kind man who not only took Jake in but also adopted many other holess children abandoned by their parents.
Jake had long believed that Sunshine Orphanage was a governnt-run institution, only to later discover that the director had been funding it entirely out of his own pocket.
It was only after a small-ti reporter published the director’s story that it gained social attention. During that period, the director had found Jake in a trash bin and adopted him.
Jake took the director’s surna, and because of his handso features and delicate skin, he was nad Jake.
From then on, with the director’s help, Jake learned to read and write, eventually entering school where he quickly stood out.
Though many children from the orphanage attended school, few were as bright as Jake. The director sotis joked, "Jake’s birth parents must have been very intelligent, otherwise they wouldn’t have had such a clever boy."
But Jake didn’t care, holding nothing but resentnt toward the parents who had abandoned him.
If they hadn’t wanted him, why had they brought him into this world?
Perhaps Jake was born lucky, eting a kind soul like the director, which allowed him to survive.
Mina and Jake drank glass after glass, each lost in their own mories.
Jake had it worse, enduring double the negative emotions.
Long-suppressed frustrations erupted, and he began slurring harsh, reckless curses.
In her daze, Mina could faintly hear Jake’s swearing, which only deepened her sympathy for him.
Unconsciously, her delicate face inched closer to Jake, her eyes filled with tenderness. But Jake hadn’t yet shaken off the gloom.
Thinking of his tragic childhood, Jake’s heart ached more and more.
But as he grew older, he t an angelic girl nad Mia, then unexpectedly gained the ability to hear inner voices, followed by eting Teacher Yana and even winning her affection.
Gradually, the overwhelming negativity began to recede, replaced by uplifting, joyful emotions.
At that very mont, Manager Mina’s curious and slightly affectionate gaze t Jake’s intense, clear eyes.
For a mont, they stared at each other, though with a hint of unspoken tension between them.
The emotions radiating from Manager Mina were amplified to their peak in that instant.
"Sister Mina, you..." Jake was still sowhat disoriented, only aware that Manager Mina was right in front of him—her stunningly beautiful face and intoxicating mature fragrance breaking down his defenses.
"Could it be... Sister Mina really likes ?"
The thought flashed through his mind, but Jake, too drunk, collapsed onto the table, fast asleep.
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