I can't decide whether to make this a SaeranxMC or a ZenxMC story anymore, so please leave me comments on whether I who should choose.
Saeran has become my favourite but Zen holds the special place in being the first mm character I played.
Her 6th RFA party comes up. This time, the amount of guests that come makes the number of guest in her first party look completely insignificant.
The other are equally excited with the outcome.
She greets the guests with Jaehee while the others mingle and socialize with the guest who've already arrived.
She gets glimpses of Zen and the other RFA members as they walk by.
As the last of the guests come, Jaehee tells her to go mingle. She does so, knowing that Jaehee is more than capable of handling it alone.
As soon as she enters, the matchmaker guest seems to instantly zone in on her.
She stifles a little groan but it turns into a little smile when she sees Saeran and Saeyoung laughing at her.
An idea pops into mind as she leads the matchmaker towards the Choi brothers, making them suffer along with her as the matchmaker continuously tries to set the 3 of them up with her clients.
"Although he does sound amazing, I do have someone I'm interested in." She admits, half because she wants the matchmaker to stop, half because it's the truth.
Seven exchanges a look with her over the matchmaker's head, a smirk etched on his face. "Does he happen to have long, luxurious white hair?"
The matchmaker's eyes widen with glee, her earlier attempts forgotten. "Is it Zen?"
She groans. When did the RFA party become a gossip column?
She tries to excuse herself but Seven continues to prod at her while the matchmaker continues to question her.
"I feel like a girl who compliments Seven's humor would fit him best." As a last ditch effort to get the attention off her, she throws Seven under the bus. It's not as if he didn't deserve it though.
"That's very true." The matchmaker hums in agreement. "Or maybe someone serious would also help reign in those tendencies of his."
Seven makes a face at her and she sticks her tongue out at him when the matchmaker isn't looking.
"I see the matchmaker had her sights set on you as soon as you entered." Zen comments lightly as he takes a seat beside her.
She gives him a noncommittal grunt. "She's Seven's problem now."
He laughs, a warm, throaty sound coming from him.
"Talking about matchmaking," he begins and she feels dread creep up her spine. She forces herself to stay and let him finish. It could be that she was misunderstanding him. "Jung Wook wanted to see if you were interested in going out with him."
She thought they were getting closer. She thought that he returned the feelings she had when he shared about his past, when he confided to her about his negative thoughts, when he talked about his weaknesses.
All those endearments, those shared moments, the touches.
Maybe she was the only one who thought that way.
He makes that pretty clear when he offers to set her up on a date with his co-star.
"I know Jung Wook isn't as good looking as I am, obviously, but he's a good guy." Zen says with a small smile on his lips. "I know I pushed this on you too quickly, so you don't have to reply yet."
She forces the corner of her lips into a semblance of a smile. "Thank you for the offer, Zen, but I'm not really up for dating at the moment."
Especially when the man right beside her just broke her heart.
She sees Saeran give her a look across the table. The look of sympathy doesn't go unseen.
She gathers her clutch and quickly hurries towards Jaehee, mumbling an excuse about one of the guests needing her before practically running off.
She'd pick up the pieces of her heart later, when she was alone.
The party ends, seemingly just as quickly as it began. Wanting to forget about Zen's words, just for a moment, she makes it a personal mission to busy herself with anything and everything.
"MC, you do realize we've hired professionals to do clean up, right?" Jumin comments, a tinge of confusion in his voice.
"I do, I just wanted to make their job a little easier with anything I can do to help." She makes excuses. Busy hands leave no space for wandering thoughts.
"That's sweet MC," Jaehee says. "But you really don't have to."
"Let's go celebrate!" Yoosung skips into the room. "Our 6th successful party with MC!"
They discuss taking their impromptu party to Jaehee's cafe. During the entire discussion, she makes sure she stays as far away from Zen as she can.
As they all head towards Jaehee's cafe, Saeran tugs at her arm until they lag slightly behind the group.
"Are you okay?" She can hear the concern laced into his tone and she feels bad for worrying him.
"I…" She fights keeping from worrying him or spilling everything. She chooses the latter because Saeran was family. "I don't know. It hurt so much when Zen said those words. I kept hoping he was just joking. I wanted him to say he was just testing my feelings for him but he didn't. It was like he wouldn't care at all if I started dating someone, someone who wasn't him."
Saeran awkwardly pressed her face against his chest. "You can cry if you want."
That makes her giggle a little until she feels the tears gather in her eyes. She clutches at his suit jacket as the tears trail down her cheeks.
Saeran doesn't say a word as he continues to stroke the back of her head.
She hears voices calling for her and Saeran a while later, more precisely, Seven and Zen's voice.
She freezes.
"Whatcha up to brother?" This undoubtedly comes from Seven. "Everyone is in the cafe already."
"Saeran! What did you do to MC?" Zen's voice is a lot closer than she expects it to be.
"Do you feel up to facing them right now?" Saeran asks her quietly, only loud enough so she can hear him.
She shakes her head, still unwilling to lift her face from its spot on his chest.
"MC feels a little sick, I'll take her back to my place. Tell the others." Saeran says gruffly to the other two men.
"No!" Zen cries. "You can't go home with him, MC. All men are wolves! What if he tries to take advantage of you while you're sick and groggy from medicine?"
She wants to scoff and laugh. Just a while ago, he'd been eagerly trying to pawn her off to his co-star.
"Really, Zen?" Saeran's tone is dry and unamused.
"Sorry." Zen's response is muttered. "I was just worried about MC. Maybe I should take care of her and you two go party."
She involuntarily tightens her hold on Saeran's jacket.
"Nah." Saeran rejects the idea. "I got her."
It's quiet for a while before Seven speaks up. "Lets leave MC to Saeran. My brother dear is probably tired from the party. It's best he takes MC home so the both of them can rest up."
After a little more prodding from Seven, she hears two pairs of footsteps fade away.
"They're gone."
She pulls away and covers her face with her clutch. Without looking in the mirror, judging from Saeran's previously white shirt, she knows her makeup is probably a mess.
"Thank you for helping me out Saeran," she says quietly as they wait for a taxi. "I don't know what I would've done without you."
"I didn't do anything." He shrugs.
"Sorry about your shirt." She offers him an apologetic smile. "I'll buy you a new one."
"It's not a big deal." He opens the door to the cab and gestures for her to get in first.
She makes a face when she sees the result of her little cry fest from her little compact. She attempts to wipe away the remnants of her makeup.
The two of them fall into a comfortable silence on the way to the Choi's house.
They both head off to their rooms, hers being the guest room she'd spent many of her nights in, to slip off their fancy clothes.
When her makeup is washed off and her face bare, she sees Saeran on the sofa with ice cream and two spoons. She takes that as a clue and settles down beside him. "What are we watching?"
He gestures to a stack of DVDs on the table and she notices how the ones with Zen are nowhere to be seen.
He grunts as she picks one of her favourite rom-coms. "Again?"
"You let me choose," she retorts simply.
He doesn't argue any further but sticks the movie into the player.
She plucks a spoon from his hand and takes a spoonful of his beloved ice cream.
He doesn't complain like he usually does but just tells her that she's buying him a new carton.
She tucks her feet under his lap and they stay like that for the rest of the night.
There's a crick in her neck from falling sleeping on the sofa. She blinks against the light and sits up.
She rubs away the sleep from her eyes and covers Saeran with the blankets before she heads towards the bathroom.
She finds a note from Seven stuck to the mirror, telling her he'd taken one of his babies on a drive.
When she finally checks her phone, it's blown up with texts and calls from Zen and the others.
She's not in the mood to talk to Zen yet so she goes to the chat room instead.
It doesn't take her long to find out the reason for Zen's actions.
Staring back at her was a photo of her lying on Saeran's chest, both of them deep asleep.
Seven's caption had wrote: 'Are my 2 favourite people heading towards the world of romance without me?'
No wonder Seven was out. She could imagine Saeran's wrath when he found out.
She giggles.
Hurriedly telling the others she felt a lot better and reassuring Jumin that she didn't need his doctor to be sent over, she quickly logs off before Zen had the chance to appear.
She gets breakfast ready before waking a reluctant Saeran up.
Saeran grumpily runs a hand through his hair and plods towards the toilet, only brightening up when she mentions restocking his supply ice cream.
Breakfast is finished and they head towards the mall.
"I really don't need another button up," Saeran grumbles. "I have another one at home."
"No." She insists stubbornly. "I ruined your other one, so I'm going to buy you a new one."
He complains all the way to the shop, complains as she looks for a style that would fit him and complains as she forces him to try them on.
Even though he complains, he does what she wants him to do.
Her search ends when her eyes land on a plain black button up. Saeran's little nod of agreement encourages her excitement and she quickly pushes him back into the changing room.
It fits him perfectly, accentuating his frame and subtle muscular build.
She sneaks a photo of him before Saeran can see.
She's tempted to send it to the group but she decides to keep the photo to herself.
With the shirt bought, they go to Saeran's favourite ice cream parlor and enjoy a little reprieve.
"What are you going to do about Zen?" Saeran's question catches her off guard but she had expected it sooner or later just not so soon.
She let's the ice cream melt in her mouth, savoring the sweetness and taking the time to think over her answer before responding. "I'm not sure yet, maybe I'll try to distance myself in hopes he or I forgets or maybe I can just tell him I love him."
Saeran gives a noncommittal grunt that tells her that he's not particularly in agreement with either of her ideas but she doesn't know what else to do.
She's not fond of her options either but what else could she really do?
To be perfectly honest, she feels like if she does the latter, she'd be instantly rejected and reduced to a mere fan who fell him instead of a close, supportive friend she had been for the past year.
"Have you been avoiding me, MC?" Zen asks as soon as she picks up the phone. It's been the first time she's answered his call since the party and that had been almost 3 weeks ago.
"I haven't." Well not exactly. "Work for Jumin has taken up a huge chunk of my time, seeing as wine for cats seem to be a pretty popular concept. Plus, Seven has been getting more work recently, so I hang around with them making sure both 'Ran and 'Young are eating properly."
"MC…" 'He trails off. It feels as if neither of them really know what he wants to say. It's the first time, in a long time, that she feels she doesn't understand him anymore.
Maybe she never really did in the first place, seeing how she easily misunderstood his feelings for her.
"I'm sorry I've become so out of touch. How about we meet up for lunch tomorrow?" She suggests lunch because it has time limit, they have an hour, no more, no less.
Zen easily agrees and she wonders if she did the right thing as soon as she hangs up.