Viona simply let out a soft exhale. A faint smile remained perched on her face—light, almost translucent—while her expression seemed to say that she accepted the situation just as clouds accept the direction of the wind.
"Ah… alright then. If that's what you wish, I won't force you."
"Besides, it's no trouble for me at all. To be honest, I'm actually glad to have someone keeping me company here."
"I can spend the time chatting with the daughter of such a great doctor. I imagine our conversation will be far more interesting than just staring at my phone until I'm bored to tears, don't you think?"
A small chuckle escaped her lips, a spontaneous reaction to a habit far too familiar not to be laughed at.
However, the sound quickly faded, hanging suspended in the air as a sudden memory brushed against the corners of her mind. She then looked at Margaret, her eyes gleaming with a faint, sharp spark of recollection.
"Ah, right, Margaret!"
"Weren't you asking about CHASEMINE earlier? I mean, about Chase, right?"
The awkward smile that had briefly resurfaced—that thin, bitter yet forcedly gentle smile—bloomed for a moment when the words "the daughter of a great doctor" left Viona's lips, only to vanish instantly from Margaret's face.
It was replaced by her eyes widening slightly at the sound of Chase's name being uttered by Viona.
"If you're not comfortable talking about it, that's perfectly fine. You don't have to tell me anything, Miss Viona."
"Just consider my earlier question unimportant. You can forget all about it."
"We can talk about something else while we wait for your husband."
Margaret's attempt to retreat was met with a dismissive wave of Viona's hand—a sign that she had no intention of changing the subject, allowing no room for distractions or irrelevant detours.
"No… no… it's not like that, Margaret."
"As their former manager… well, I say that because I'm currently on leave to prepare for the birth of my child. I can't exactly call myself their manager right now, since my position has been taken over by a temporary one."
"I can't just go around answering private questions about the members, but… since you were kind enough to choose staying with me over going back to your angry father, the least I can do is return the favor."
"Even if I can't give you a direct, blatant answer, just think of this as me sharing a few secrets with a friend, okay?"
Margaret hesitated at first.
A small pang of regret crept in, a sense of self-reproach for the question about Chase that had escaped her lips back in the elevator—a question that had caused a flush of embarrassment to soak into her cheeks in that moment.
However, when her gaze locked with Viona's—eyes that were shimmering with a mix of wistful longing and newfound excitement—Margaret finally gave a slow, gentle nod.
"If it makes you feel more comfortable, then I have no reason to refuse."
A radiant beam spread across Viona's face—not just an ordinary smile, but one that revealed a row of neat, pearly white teeth, as if greeting the world with genuine cheer.
Viona let out a soft, steady breath, taking a brief pause before she continued,
"To be honest, Margaret..."
"I'm quite surprised you don't know them."
"I mean, CHASEMINE is arguably the most famous and popular group right now. Even after they renewed their contracts and I returned as their manager, their popularity hasn't faded at all. If anything, it's only grown more intense. Collaboration offers are pouring in so fast that I have to meticulously check each member's schedule over and over again."
"So, hearing that you have absolutely no idea who they are... it caught me off guard. Granted, even though their faces are everywhere, not everyone knows them deeply. But most people certainly know the name, or at least have caught a glimpse of them on digital platforms."
She paused for a moment, deliberately allowing a gap in her sentences because the baby in her womb had suddenly delivered a soft, fluttering kick.
Her fingers instinctively stroked her stomach—a calming, rhythmic motion—while she occasionally let out a faint murmur, a tender sound full of affection as if she were speaking directly to the child.
Finally, she turned her gaze back to Margaret.
"Since you mentioned Chase's name earlier, I suppose you've probably only heard of him through rumors and gossip, right?"
"You told me yourself that you don't really follow the world of idols. In fact, I'm certain you haven't even heard of CATYOURS—the rookie group from ASpire Entertainment. For the past week, everyone's been convinced they'll rival CHASEMINE's popularity, since they've been trending at the top of every digital platform you open."
Margaret's grip on the tote bag tightened instantly—the pressure so intense it nearly elicited a distinctive, sharp crinkle from the material. The sound of 'CATYOURS' leaving Viona's lips seemed to strike a hidden nerve.
"That's true."
"I'm not really interested in those kinds of things."
"But since many of my friends talk about them, I got curious. Even so, for some reason, despite trying to look them up myself and having my friends explain it to me, I still don't understand any of it at all… Perhaps… well… since this is my first time being introduced to the world of idols, I'm just not used to it yet."
Viona let out a soft, amused chuckle upon hearing Margaret's response—it sounded so timid, innocent, and incredibly polite.
However, what Viona did not know was that beneath that tone of voice lay something else—a small, deliberate secret being kept in the shadows. Margaret was lying, masking feelings and facts she was not yet ready to share with the world.
"If Doctor Frankestein knew his daughter was learning to become a fan, he'd probably be even more protective of you, Margaret… or perhaps… his jealousy might make it difficult for you to even enjoy the world of those handsome idols."
This time, a crisp, playful laugh bubbled from Viona's lips—a sound filled with harmless teasing that forced another awkward smile onto Margaret's face. Eventually, Margaret joined in, letting out a faint, hollow chuckle of her own.
"So… what is it you want to know about Chase, Margaret?"
"Or… perhaps I could tell you that the five of them actually have no parents, and they arrived in tattered, ragged clothes when they first signed up to be trainees at Adamas Entertainment?"
"Which one do you want to hear, Margaret… hm? I suspect… you want to know both, don't you?"
Margaret's breath hitched instantly, as if the air around her had suddenly thickened, becoming heavy and impossible to inhale.
The muscles in her face tensed without her realizing it, holding back a tidal wave of emotion that had just surged within her. Her mind was abruptly flooded with a chaotic blur of images, jumping from one thought to another without pause.
Every word Viona uttered sounded light, casual, and utterly effortless—a stark, haunting contrast to the turmoil erupting in Margaret's chest.
"They... they have no parents?"