OPEN YOUR EYES (BLIND I) - MUSIQ SERIES PART 2

50. FAMILY REUNION

By the time Heejin and Minji arrived at the apartment building Mika was already waiting for them with the keys in her hand. No one seemed to be around, so they did not have to worry about anything else and both girls got off the car and approached the CEO.

"Long time no see, Minji," Mika greeted her. "How have you been?"

"I have been doing all right, I guess," she awkwardly answered as it had been years since she had last seen her. "Congratulations on the company's success. It already was successful when I left, but no one can deny you have only been going up since."

The way she said that confused Heejin as she could almost sense some regret in her words, as if she regretted leaving to IYouI instead of staying at MusiQ. Still, she felt that question was too personal no matter if they had just had a more heartfelt conversation and pretended to be clueless.

"Mika, one thing." Heejin took out the unicorn plushie. "I got this for Hana, so I was wondering if you could give it to her."

"Oh, the unicorn! Chan told me about it," she chuckled. "Keep it, though. You should give it to her yourself."

"Is she going to the company any time soon?"

"No, but you can come over tomorrow to my house. All of the ResQ families are celebrating Christmas at mine, so you can drop by."

"I do not want to-"

"Just come! I've already invited you, so I expect you to at least come for a while tomorrow morning." Mika smiled. "Now, the apartment. It's the one right beside C1K's, but I brought the key card since it doesn't yet have a code. We can just make up one now, but you need this to open it first."

"There was no need to do this, seriously. I could have just stayed anywhere," Heejin told her.

"I know, but this is also anywhere. A more comfortable anywhere."

Without another word, Mika went inside the building, and Heejin and Minji followed them inside, where they were greeted by the doorman before going upstairs.

"Code?" Mika asked her. "You choose."

As she said that, Minji turned around to give them privacy to choose something, and Heejin did not hesitate for a second and quickly put the first day of the Breakthrough program on the keypad: 1201.

"Okay, then. No need for the card anymore. As with C1K's we'll keep it just in case, but don't worry. We won't come here unless there is an emergency or something along those lines," Mika told her and opened the door.

Almost as expected, the dorm was furnished very similarly to C1K's one in terms of layout but in white, lilac and light wood colours instead of the pastel and mint green colours of the boys' one. While Heejin was not that impressed, however, Minji was in complete awe as she had not seen a dorm like that ever.

"Not even Key To Atlantis has a dorm like this, and they are the most famous group in IYouI," she admitted.

"That's because the profit distribution of IYouI focuses on the company and the one in MusiQ focuses on the artists," Mika quickly explained. "Just think about how Axel was able to afford a car just a few months after debut while, for example, I could not even send money to my parents when ResQ first started. Royalties also help, but if you don't have a company that cares about your wellbeing you will be stuck in a rathole dorm until you can afford to get your own house."

Although the CEOs had always talked about Minji's departure as unfortunate but inevitable, her harsh words made it clear that at least Mika was still hurt about it. She had only told her the truth, but it was obvious that in a sense she was telling her about the life she could have had if she had stayed.