A/N Disclaimer: I do not own Mystic Messenger.
Here's the epilogue a little earlier than I thought! I've kept some of the dialogue from the DLC, but some has been changed or added to. I have really enjoyed writing this story, and I hope everyone has enjoyed reading it. There will be one more Zen one-shot posted next week, but it isn't related to this one.
It's Valentine's Day, and Zen and Mun-Hee are sitting on the couch in his apartment watching TV when his new commercial comes on. Mun-Hee smiles and turns up the volume to catch the last sentence: "If you want, I can teach you. Slowly, so that it never melts in your mouth..."
She glances over at him to find his cheeks slightly flushed, and she can't stop herself from giggling a little bit. "So...you gonna teach me about the taste of maturity?"
He groans at her teasing. "Don't act all innocent with me, princess. We both know that you know exactly what I was thinking about when I did that commercial."
"I suppose," she allows.
"Can't we change the channel? I've seen this commercial so many times now."
"Sure," she agrees and flips to another channel.
A celebrity news program comes on the screen, and the anchors are discussing Zen's new role as a chef. "Oh yeah! I remember them coming by to film that. I guess it's being aired now."
"How is it that you end up on TV, but I'm the one that taught you to cook?" Mun-Hee asks with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm sure if they saw how pretty you are, they'd want you on the show too. But I don't want other people to see how beautiful my lady is. I want to just keep you all to myself," Zen declares, pulling her closer into his side.
The anchors continue talking about Zen's other role with his co-star Jocelyn. When they start remarking on how great their chemistry is together and how well they get along and what a cute couple they make, etc., Mun-Hee starts grumbling to herself.
"What?" Zen asks. The other anchor agrees, and they bring up photos of Zen picking up a water bottle for his co-star. When they mention the "scandal" the two were involved in, Zen's mouth actually drops open. "I was involved in a scandal? Since when? We can't even talk to each other properly with the language barrier!"
Mun-Hee looks at the picture. She doesn't see anything particularly wrong with the photo. Why wouldn't he pick up something the girl dropped? "She is really pretty," Mun-Hee points out, silently thinking that she matches Zen much better than Mun-Hee does. But if Zen wanted someone else, he would've been with someone else by now.
"She's normal for a celebrity. You're the prettiest to me, babe," Zen assures. "Let's not worry about anything these people say and just focus on each other." But then he seems to get a little nervous. "You do trust me, right? The only thing she and I talk about is acting."
Mun-Hee just smiles. Zen couldn't lie if he tried, and she has to find comfort in that. "Of course, Zen. I trust you completely."
"You're my everything," he whispers against her hair.
Unfortunately, the anchors keep going with their gossip on Zen and ruin the sweet moment between the couple. They begin a commentary on the water bottle photo and talk about how tender Zen looks during the interaction. Mun-Hee is annoyed internally, but she knows she's being a little ridiculous. Still, she thinks it might be funny to poke at him a little. "You know, you do look awfully nice giving her that drink."
"Oh, come on!" Zen protests with a little whine. "That's nothing at all! I was just trying to be helpful. I would've helped anyone. Do they want me to be a stand-offish jerk?" His face contorts in a scowl. "And why can't they think of what it does to my girlfriend to talk about stuff like that? We went public at the party, and I've even gone to America to meet your parents! Why don't they have anything about that?"
"We were careful on the trip. They probably just didn't get any photos of us," Mun-Hee offers. She can't deny his assertion that this kind of talk from the media hurts her feelings, but there's really nothing they can do about it.
When the anchors finally mention his girlfriend and the fact that she's been on sets with him before, they remark that the relationship probably wasn't serious if they aren't married yet and that it was probably fake. Mun-Hee's mouth drops open and stays open, fury swiftly building in her body.
"What! No!" Zen shouts. "It's just the contract with the agency and that I didn't want you to be subjected to all the media scrutiny. This is crazy!" The TV keeps going with speculation about their relationship and how scandals like the ones they are reporting on must be straining their relationship. "Well, you'd think they'd stop reporting on it if they thought it would hurt you."
"The media are vultures," Mun-Hee says. "They wouldn't care about me if it got them ratings. Ratings are all that matter; the truth is irrelevant."
When she hears them keep going on and on about how devoted they seemed at the press conference and then the apparent absence of public interaction, Mun-Hee has had enough. She stands abruptly. "Babe? Where are you going?" Mun-Hee grabs the chair sitting next to the couch in the living room and struggles to lift it up, preparing to use it to destroy the TV. "Why are you holding up that chair?" Realization dawns on Zen's face. "Oh my gosh, no! Wait!" He stands up and wraps his arms around her middle, pulling her back from using the chair on the TV.
"If I destroy the TV, then I won't have to worry about any of these scandals!" The laugh that comes out of her sounds a little manic, and Zen begins to worry about the effect these reports have on his girlfriend.
"Babe, let's just shut it off."
"No! I have to destroy it! I can't take their stupid lies anymore!"
"But honey, don't you want to celebrate Valentine's Day? You already gave me chocolate, but I'd like to do something for you too. Let's go out somewhere."
"But people will see us," she argues, going limp in his arms and letting the chair resume its place on the ground.
"It'll be okay. I have a place in mind."
"Zen, where are we going?" Mun-Hee demands.
"We're almost there!" he says brightly, a skip in his step as he drags her down the sidewalk.
She feels a little silly for how upset she got at the news report now that she's had some time to cool down. She knows that Zen would never do anything to hurt her. Over the last six months, they've grown impossibly closer. They spend every night together at one of their apartments, and her family adored him when they met. His family hasn't come around just yet, but things will work out somehow. Overall, they're both very fortunate, and she scolds herself for not being grateful for what they've been able to share. Thinking of what they share brings back other more intimate memories, which makes her think of the chocolate commercial that was on before. Zen covered in chocolate...her mind wanders as they walk.
"Here we are!" Zen exclaims, and she shakes herself out of the fantasy and swears she feels some drool at the corner of her mouth. When she looks up, she raises an eyebrow. "What?" he asks.
"Isn't this Rika's apartment building?"
"Yep!" he replies happily.
He leads her inside and up to the apartment. She expects to see the regular, boring room but finds it decorated with streamers and heart confetti and balloons. She gasps at the sight. "Oh my goodness," she sighs. "You did all this for me?"
"Since we can't really go out a bunch because of my contract, I thought I would give you a celebration here," he reveals, grasping her hands in his. "This apartment is responsible for us meeting. It's where you came from when my ankle was hurt. It's where I helped you with Seven's brother. Without it, you and I wouldn't be where we are now, so I thought it was fitting."
Mun-Hee vehemently agrees and reaches to open the little chocolate box on the bed. Instead of a solid piece of chocolate, though, she finds it melted in the box. "Uh, Zen?"
"Oh no!" he laments. "I turned on the heat earlier, and it must've melted."
"That's okay," she quickly soothes, remembering her thoughts on the way there. She dips her finger in the chocolate and brings it to his lips. "I'm sure we can find a use for it."
He moans a little bit and licks the chocolate off of her finger. "Before any of that…I have to ask you something." His cheeks color, and he turns his head to the side.
"What is it?" she asks, curious as to what he would need to ask her that he couldn't have earlier.
He fumbles in his pocket and reveals a small, velvet box. Her hand comes up and covers the gasp that wants to leave her throat. It might be a necklace or earrings. Don't get your hopes up, she scolds.
Zen takes a steadying breath. "Babe, I love you more than anything in the world. I know that my parents aren't talking to us regularly yet, but I don't know when they will, and I don't want to waste one more second of our time together. I talked to your dad while we were visiting, and he said it was okay, so," he opens the box to reveal a white gold ring with a small diamond solitaire on the top, "it's not the kind of ring I wanted to buy for you, but I hope you'll like it anyway. Marry me?"
Tears form in her eyes. How could he think that she would be upset with the ring he chose? It's beautiful! "Yes, Zen. I will marry you," she agrees, throwing herself at him and nearly knocking him to the floor. He wraps his arms around her and buries his face in her hair. "And for the record, I love the ring. It's perfect."
After their embrace, Zen slides the ring on her finger, and she can finally admire it. It's sweet and understated; she loves it.
"I love you, Zen," she says, sliding into his arms again.
"Love you too, princess." He clutches her more tightly to him.
"Now…about that chocolate…" she trails off, looking up at him with a mischievous smile.
I don't like that you don't even get engaged to Zen in his route when you marry all the other guys. While I understand why (I couldn't believe how mad people were when they found out one of the stars in South Korea was married a while back...like these people are real people with lives too), I still think Zen would be able to do it and keep it quiet.