The elevator doors slid open with a metallic sigh, and the faintest trace of jasmine and cedarwood drifted into the air.
Yoon Ha-rin froze.
That scent.
It was the same one she'd once breathed in while running across a rain-soaked hill, a lifetime ago - a scent that shouldn't even exist in this glass-and-chrome tower called Luma Group.
She blinked hard, pushing away the sudden rush of warmth that crept into her chest.
Not today.
Not on her first day at the company she had fought tooth and nail to join.
"Are you going to stand there all day, or are you planning to get to work?"
The voice was cool, deep, and painfully familiar - the kind that could slice through silence like crystal shattering.
Ha-rin turned.
There he was. Kang Jae-hyun - the man whose name dominated every industry headline, whose family owned half the skyline of Nova City, and whose eyes looked exactly like the storm she had been trying to outrun since college.
Her new boss.
---
"Director Kang," she managed, her tone polite but clipped. "I didn't realize you'd be personally supervising the new project."
He leaned against the elevator wall, sleeves rolled up just enough to reveal the watch she could never afford in three lifetimes. His lips curved into a smirk that wasn't quite amusement, wasn't quite hostility.
"Apparently, HR likes making my mornings interesting," he said. "Welcome to Luma Group, Miss Yoon. Try not to spill coffee on me this time."
Ha-rin stiffened.
That was six years ago - their final semester at Eunseong University, when she'd accidentally splashed coffee all over his pristine white shirt during a heated debate competition.
He still remembered.
"Don't worry, Director," she replied sweetly. "I only spill on people I actually like."
The assistant at the corner choked on her latte.
Jae-hyun's smirk faltered for half a heartbeat, then deepened. "You haven't changed."
"And you still think the world revolves around you."
He stepped closer - too close - the faint woody scent tightening around her like an invisible thread.
"Maybe it does," he murmured, "if you keep walking into my orbit."
Her pulse betrayed her.
For a split second, she saw not the man in the tailored suit but a little boy running beside her through the wildflower fields of Aureum-ri, laughing under mint-blue skies.
She didn't know why that image came, or why it hurt.
But his eyes - dark, sharp, and impossibly gentle - made her forget how to breathe.
---
The elevator chimed.
They stepped out into the panoramic view of Nova City's skyline, sunlight spilling like liquid gold across the floor.
Jae-hyun turned slightly, his voice quieter now.
"Let's see if you can keep up, Miss Yoon."
"Oh, I don't plan to keep up," Ha-rin said, brushing past him. "I plan to win."
And as she walked away, that same trace of jasmine and cedar followed her - lingering, like the scent of yesterday refusing to fade.