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Shen Yue repeatedly splashed cold water on her face.
Inhale.
Exhale.
She held on to the edges of the sink for balance.
"Pull yourself together, damn it." she reprimanded the tense woman starting back at her from the mirror.
After a few seconds, she stood up straight to smooth out her ponytail and surveyed herself again from head to toe. She could barely recognize her reflection right now. Her cheeks were pink, as was the bridge of her nose. Her bare shoulders were starting to show a bit of a tan. She was wearing a daring yellow maillot under a long lace cover-up that barely covered anything up. It was an absolutely mind boggling version of herself, something she thought she'd never see.
It was just yesterday when her best friend Wang ZiWei was up in her ear complaining about how much of a buzz kill she was being. Yue could remember how hard her friends had tried to drag her out of their room.
"Shen Yue, can you get out of that ratty old sweater and come out with us to the shore? The sun is calling us!!!"
"We didn't come all the way here to lock ourselves up in the room, crazy woman!"
"You need sunlight, Ms. Shen and you haven't had a good vacation IN AGES."
Yue was never really a fan of summer. All her life she gave excuses to everyone, even her family, to anyone would invite her for a trip to any tropical destination. She liked to call herself a winter person—sweaters, loose parts, Uggs, long coats, thermal wear. She preferred that kind of warmth.
This summer though, try as she could, she couldn't say no.
Wang ZiWei had used her most precious "best friend card" on Yue. ZiWei will be migrating with her family after the summer ends and this may be the last weekend of fun they would be having together in a while. So as a treat to her friends, ZiWei booked a trip for a few days at one of her family's luxurious resorts.
JiaQi and XiaoWen of course didn't need any persuading. They even spent weeks helping ZiWei convince Yue to lighten up and just have fun with them for once.
As the most hardworking one among them, who hardly ever takes a break, this was a much much much needed break from Yue's hectic schedule. They argued that Yue was at the prime of her adult life after all— 27, newly promoted (again) at the company she has worked for for 6 years and according to her friends, she was ready to find and fall in love (again) after her 5 year relationship crumbled.
That's why they took the liberty of packing her clothes for this trip—or the strips of cloth on her body right now that hardly covered anything, thinking it would also be a good opportunity to attract attention.
