the penthouse

18 | made with passion.

yuta approached the reception with a smile on his face. as it was the time yuta finished all of his morning interviews and events, it was the perfect moment to show up and greet his dear friend ten.

however, when he stopped in front of the reception, he realised that the person standing at the counter was not ten. instead, it was a girl who he had never seen before. could this be the trainee that was recently hired ?

" hello, and welcome to aurora palace ! my name is ningning, and i am glad to see you here. could i help you with anything ? " ningning asked, a smile plastered on her face. yuta smiled back, nodding a few times.

" i actually came to see your colleague. me and him are friends, so could you let me know where he is ? " yuta asked. ningning raised her eyebrow, before walking in the back. " i hope it is not a weird request ! " he yelled.

after a few minutes, ningning returned with ten. he was wearing his uniform, but his sleeves were rolled up and yuta could swear he saw a hot sauce stain on his pants. judging by that, he could tell that ten was enjoying lunch.

" well, i did not expect you to come up at the reception and ask for me, but i am here. i just left the reception, because my trainee took over. " ten explained to yuta, pointing over to ningning. she was counting some files with an uninterested expression on her face.

" that sounds lovely. you are finally able to spend some time away from this place. you have been working here for a long time. " yuta replied to ten, patting his shoulder. ten replied by laughing, until he saw that ningning was looking at them.

ten walked up to ningning. he helped her organize the files, carefully placing them in one of ten's older binders. yuta watched them, before letting out a yawn. he was quite tired, because of how busy he was with work that morning.

was it that hard to attend events and sign people's posters ? to a man like yuta, who used to spend his whole week at the football field, it probably was, because of how attached he had gotten to his sports career.

he still needed to get used to it. it was a long process, but he was trying his best. all it mattered is that people still supported him, and remembered him for what he had done up until then. yuta loved it whenever people told him they were inspired by him.

" anything interesting happening around the lobby ? i was busy this morning, so i could not do my daily spying session. " yuta asked, as ten around. he nodded a few times, making his way closer to yuta. " i want to hear it. "

" well, you did not really hear this one from me, but jaehyun sent sooyoung flowers. can you believe that ? we both know how mr. jeong jaehyun is about dating. " ten told yuta, who's eyes widened. from behind the two men, ningning was also shocked.

there was absolutely no way the men were gossiping about the residents of the aurora palace. from the rules of the palace, ones she had to memorize, ningning could remember the fact that they were not allowed to speak about other residents.

so, why was ten doing it ? was he allowed, because of how long he had been working at the palace ? ningning wanted to go up and ask him about it, but she had a hard time trying to realise who the man that ten was talking to was.

then, it clicked in her mind. of course, it was nakamoto yuta, the famous retired football player ! ningning could also recall the fact that a lot of well-known and respectable people lived there. well, only such people could afford living at the palace.

" mr. ten, i am having a difficult time trying to understand what this file means. can you help me out ? " ningning asked, making ten and yuta look towards her. yuta let out a loud laugh, as ningning could hear that ten sighed.