Night-Owl Romance

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Note: Part Two of the emotional sobfest and chaos started by Seven~!

Unrelated to story news: I've created a tumblr page (Woooooooooah~~~~! *cough* Exciting, I know) - u can find me by searching PearlCrysta; currently, it's got nothing much to it than an intro post, since i've just started the account. If you want to share the Zen love with me, you're free to do so there ^o^ ~~!

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Chapter 22: Misunderstandings

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Resting was not going according to plan and the same could be said for the girl's life.

There was always some type of disturbance happening, either due to a ringing phone that Mina would try to ignore or a sheer racket outside the apartment. A powerful 'thud'drove away any semblance of sleep, the cardboard boxes pressed against the door falling from the intensity. The coordinator jumped from the couch swiftly – yes, no more coffee table bed! – and tip-toed closer to the entrance, listening for anything out of the ordinary.

Mina could see nothing through the peephole but an empty hallway.

Not feeling entirely secure, she grabbed a heavy dossier found inside the nearest cabinet and quickly swung the door open, ready to use the weapon if necess- "AHHHH!", the girl yelped, dropping the documents, which narrowly avoided her bare toes.

"What the-", she hurried to support the destabilized boxes, counting about three... no, four differently present-wrapped ones, nearly identical in size. Thankfully, they weren't too heavy to pick up and bring into the apartment, unlike the previous present.

Seven.

It was his doing for sure, the cutesy hand writing and adorned R.F.A. stickers something only he would think to pull off. Perhaps it was Seven's signature style? ^^;;;; He was a rather unique fella...

'Ah well.'

Mina slipped through the remaining narrow space, running down the corridor in her long, crummy sleeping gear with the hopes of spotting the particular flaming red mane. When she reached the elevator area of the compound, the girl realized it had already stopped at ground floor level, same for the other two.

She had just missed Seven by a thin thread.

Clicking her tongue, she returned to Rika's immediately, jumping over the obstacle course made of cardboard packages *thud* a bit too clumsily as she aimed for the window. Gently cupping her right, aching knee, the girl leaned over the window sill and surveyed the main path for any signs of the hacker. She waited and waited, but nobody came out of the building, not one soul, believing she must have missed him outside too –

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*VROOOOOOOOOM*

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"WHOA!", a bright silver car sped out of the building instead, engine roaring horrifyingly loud as it vanished behind the neighboring buildings, turns purring like a scratching kitty – everything took mere seconds to register. Even the windows resonated with the vibrations that monster on wheels was emitting and Rika's apartment was on the 14th floor!

Mina's skin was covered in goosebumps, brushing her clothed arms against her hands. "Is that Seven?!", she gasped out loud, searching the phone with the intent of calling him which proved to be a bad idea. Were her suspicions right and Seven turned out to be that reckless driver, distracting him on the phone might become potentially deadly. ^^;;; She did not want him in an accident or be responsible were he in one – although the red head was doing a fine job avoiding danger by following the speed limits, sarcasm very much included.

The girl worried about his safety...

Nonetheless, these anxious thoughts soon faded entirely from her mind, replaced by deeper concerns which affected her mood directly. Zen was the culprit behind the constant ringing, quite eagerly trying to contact her from the looks of it. Her cheeks reddened from today's events were still fresh in her mind. Mina remembered the voice message she had sent the actor with extreme clarity.

That sobbing piece of nightmare...

"Could it have been merely a dream~?", the young planer hoped, a pair of shiny eyes glancing at the screen. Alas, Mina's shoulders sagged into a drooping mess, leaning her knees onto the plush couch and falling right on top of it.

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*bad idea* *in pain* *deepest groan possible*

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"He probably sees me as a silly crybaby... if not worse.", Mina chewed onto her bottom lip, eyebrows knitting together while imagining the actor's perplexed reaction to her odd message. She both wanted to know what his reaction had been and not know, however, her overflowing curiosity won the match. So, the party planner sneaked into the messenger and skimmed through any piece of information she might have missed while resting.

The conversations did not spark anything of actual interest.

However, Zen did appear less talkative, leaving the chat room after a couple of scarce messages – which were not the friendly type either. He was heavily disapproving Jumin's attitude when talking with Yoosung, angry by how he was pressuring the blonde into accepting the internship at his company. Of course, the rich heir was not interested in Zen's unwelcomed interference he cataloged as noise, focusing on the kid who had taken the mediator role, trying to ease the tension.

Those two did not get along one bit... ;;;;;;

"Like a cat and mouse."

Still, the actor felt like he was in a foul mood and it made her hesitate to reach him. Mina could have ignored the calls for the time being. She truly should have, but was ultimately unable to. The party planner needed to hear Zen out, otherwise she would toss and turn on the couch, stressing over the matter and say bye-bye to any kind of rest until morning.

She cocooned underneath the blanket and, after final considerations, she pressed the caller button.

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The ringing was unbearable and frustrating, taking too long.

"Yes?"

Her heart quickened its pace at the sound of the actor's velvety voice, "Yo, aren't you done already?", which seemed unreasonably harsh, unlike what she had previously heard. Mina was slow to react and remained inaudible, severely unprepared for the verbal hurricane that was to come.

"Do you want to further waste my time and irritate me?!"

"Why do you keep sending me all these weird things?! I am not interested!"

'W-What...?!', she was profoundly speechless, pain shooting through her body from the direct critical blow she took.

"I have better things to do, which require a lot of attention, focus, energy – you name it! Can't you take your annoying self elsewhere and sit home quietly, at least for a day?!"

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"IS IT THAT DIFFICULT TO GET IT THROUGH THAT HEAD OF YOURS?!"

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Mina's mouth hung open, eyes glossing over dangerously with accelerated breathing. This was beyond harsh, the party planner wondering what wrongdoings had she recently done to Zen in order to receive such ill fitted words. Was his foul mood from the messenger linked to her latest message she'd left him?

Was it even possible?!

Sure, the girl did share a handful of unnecessary details in that voice mail, sobbing her emotions out stupidly and uncontrollably. But, the silver haired male always appeared to listen to her with genuine interest and concern even though it wasn't an obligation for him to do so. Mina had never forced Zen to sacrifice his precious time and she wouldn't have minded if he were too busy to pander to her needs. He could have brushed her off lightly.

Mina liked to believe that she was an understanding person who wouldn't get upset over such issues...

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She was confused!

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Zen had never dismissed Mina before but indulged in the coordinator's presence, giving her constant assurances and pouring confidence in her, telling her how it was alright to voice her problems out loud even if she'd think of them as minuscule.

He would pay attention to every word she'd tell him.

Until now, that is.

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'Was I really that difficult?'

'Did I actually bother him in awkward moments?'

'He kept dismissing my silly thoughts and concerns whenever I'd be

too scared to impose on him trivialities and other unimportant issues...'

'He seemed to really want to help me...'

'...'

'Was he just polite and not expecting me to go through with his requests...?'

'Zen should have been straightforward then.'

'Heh...'

'I should have seen it coming, though...'

'I am amazed it lasted this long ^^~!'

'...'

'This happy feeling in my heart is vanishing...'

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Mina did not want to trouble the actor with her problems any longer. She had received the message loudly and clearly. It was wrong for the coordinator to assume they were anything close to friends, regardless of the constant assurances she had been receiving from previous conversations. They were still strangers in each other's worlds, forced to interact because of a hindrance caused by Unknown; plus, it was realistically impossible to create tight human bonds in such a short amount of time. He was probably acting nice and welcoming, doing his best to accommodate her but Mina's reckless and troublesome attitude had him at his wit's end by now.

She probably kept disturbing his work flow, the girl personally hating whenever she would be interrupted midway through an artistic spree as she couldn't recreate those passionate moments and continue where she'd left off as if nothing had changed in her mindset.

Yeah...

This was the most plausible explanation for his outbursts and foul mood. She had been careless and inconsiderate of his time ^^ ~!

"Ashi, I can't get a break from you.", he growled heavily. "It's pissing me off!"

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'Heh... it's strange.'

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Zen kept referring to Mina as a cold girl, albeit in a playful manner whenever it was brought up. He was surpassing those levels tenfold, his iciness borderline cruel and stinging the youth with so many painful revelations that tears were streaming down her flushed cheeks in unstoppable waves. 'Z-Zen, why a-are you l-like this –', her hitched breathing was the only thing the silver haired could hear for a while, followed by loud gulping sounds.

"What is it?! Say what you need and leave me be already!"

"I'm sorry...", Mina answered faintly, forming a fist with her wounded hand, wishing the physical pain would mask the choke hold inside her body.

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It hurt.

It hurt so badly.

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"HUH?!", Zen's tone immediately shifted, initially very confused and pondering whether Seven's maid was around the guy. To his horror, that wasn't the case – his skin, though pale and close to the perfection of a chiseled alabaster statue was void of any other color after picking up the girl's words with deeper clarity.

"I'm s-serious! Don't worry, I promise won't t-trouble you with my problems ever again, so you can c-calm down, okay~?!"

"..."

It was amazing how stable and cheerful Mina's phrasing was while feeling so emotionally devastated. Moreover, the actor was oddly quiet. Perhaps the girl should have kept her apology short and – "AAAAH, IT'S YOU!"

That vocal explosion involuntarily caused an array of English words to pour out, of dubious meaning for Zen as she was cupping her ringing ear. It was pulsating uncomfortably from the decibel stroke.

"J-Jagi! I-Is this a dream?!"

"Is it really you on the phone?!"

"Are you awake already?!"

"ARE YOU SERIOUSLY ASKING ME THIS RIGHT NOW?!"

She was frustrated by the actor's sudden shift in persona, her own sanity at its limit. Mina was allowing her angry explosive side to shine out more than she would have liked. "Of course it's me! Were you expecting another person from this number?!", she hissed the question, all the stress, shock, sadness and hurt mixing into a furious melting pot, beyond imagination.

Her sobbing could no longer remain hidden, Zen's panic enhancing and enabling his stuttering.

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"I-I-IT'S A C-COMPLETE M-MISUNDERSTANDING!"

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Seven had been nothing short of a pain in the ass this entire afternoon, deep into an obnoxious trolling mode and mercilessly picking on the poor, defenseless silver haired beauty, for hours and hours. The hacker had been trying to grab Zen's attention by spamming his phone with infuriating crap and information. What's more, the crazy male had successfully hacked into his electronic device, deleting all instances of music and ring tones – apart from one. The actor had it specifically set for the newest R.F.A. member and because of the high level of spamming, Zen stopped checking the caller ID before picking up, believing it was Seven.

Again.

"Jagiya~~a!", the silver haired male cooed sweetly, trying to dissipate this awful air. "I did not know it was you~~!"

"Seven! That bastard Seven is the one I was complaining about!"

"His pranks weren't stopping!"

Mina was unsure how trusting she should be of Zen's excuses, her cheeks continuing to be drenched. She did not buy the story initially and her reservations to do so were fueling his dread. The actor was a fool, his blunder unforgivable as he kept apologizing to the maximum for his rudeness and unkind, ungentlemanly-like words.

If she wanted him to kneel in front of her figure for forgiveness, he shall do so in a heartbeat were it possible!

"So... you aren't truly fed up with me...?", the coordinator hesitatingly asked, sniffing out loud, and Zen did not spare an extra second to formulate his reply, sharing every truth he felt within his own being regarding the party planner –

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"I could never get mad at you!"

"Out of all the members, I prefer talking to you the most than the likes of the trust fund kid or

even that bastard Seven!"

"Assssssshi! Just thinking about them both is making me want to smoke an entire pack!"

"..."

"Jagi~~~!"

"You're special to the group, special to me~!"

"I would never dare intentionally hurt you in any way!"

"Please trust me, Mina!"

"..."

"Sh..."

"Trust in the truth of my words, jagi~~~!"

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– and these rapid phrases went on and on, his brain unable to monitor everything coming out of his own damn mouth. Zen slapped a hand over his head, mentally cursing the on-going idiocy. He had blurted it out by accident!

"W-Well, w-when you say it in s-such a convincing manner –"

"I mean every single word~!", the young actor rushed to interject, wanting to kiss the floor in bliss. His mistake had not been noticed!

"T-Then I will..."

"..."

"You will?!"

"Hang on...", her depressed mood changed mid-answer, finally registering the oddity. "You'd just called me Mina right about now, haven't you?"

"A-ha,ha,ha~! H-Have I now?!", Zen's stuttering was all the confirmation she needed, Mina narrowing her glistening eyes in the process. The party coordinator was certain she had never exposed this information online, both Seven and Jisoo having learnt of her offline name through unique circumstances. Both had promised not to reveal her name to the others. The guard was highly unlikely to have encountered Zen or have any previous interaction with the actor which left Seven as the only viable option for this slip of information.

"Seven promised me he'd keep it a secret... I can't believe it."

"N-No! You're misunderstanding again. Listen to me, please!", Zen countered agitated, noting how she was indeed unaware of her whereabouts earlier today.

"What do you mean by that?", Mina's right brow rose, while the other lowered suspiciously.

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"I recognized you at the theatre."

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"What. The theatre today? Wait - H... H-HOW?!", Zen's shoulders jerked slightly from her sharpness, but eventually complied to her demands, if only to have the girl calm down.

At the end of his story, she was smiling.

Bitterly.

"Heh, what a small world indeed.", she admitted heavily, the actor attempting to bring out positives out of this interesting coincidence. At least he wasn't in the dark about MC anymore~! Up until today, she'd been blessed with Zen's handsome visage from his endless selfies while all he had were bits and pieces from his imagination.

He basically laughed it all off, saying how it was life's way to tease them together~! ^^

But,

Mina was not amused, wishing to bite the skin off her hand in order to stop this anxious trembling. Her identity had been exposed to Zen in the stupidest way possible and in the most inconvenient of times, absolutely frightened of the thoughts he may have had after realizing the one he had been chatting with was... was this ugly, gloomy, insomniac figure, who was sometimes too much of a klutz for her own wellbeing, knocking into people left and right.

Yesterday's near abduction did not fare well on her physique either...

In other words,

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Mina was an unappealing mess.

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She wasn't the pretty being Seven kept mentioning to them in the messaging app, constantly rolling her eyes whenever that notion popped up. The comments Mina had been receiving from outsiders held enough weight to shatter the lies and little confidence the girl had in her image. Normally, she'd give zero interest about it.

Normally.

It mattered a hell lot when the one's judging her were people she started to enjoy hanging around with even if it was happening inside an online setting. However, the boundaries between online and offline were thinning and it was frightening her a lot.

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What was Zen's first impression of her...?

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No matter how long she was staring in the mirror, there was no way the answer was a positive one.

No...

His impression of her was definitely not a positive one.

And this cruel thought sipped its way into her heart, Mina longer able to trust the actor's words fully or any of the others' as a matter of fact. The girl had no more patience, nor desire to listen to anything else coming from Zen's end, mumbling her farewells quickly before she'd burst into powerful sobs like an idiot.

She was busy.

"No, please, wait-"*END CALL* "MINA!", the silver haired male tried stopping her but it had been in vain. The coordinator had slipped away from his grasp yet again, Zen shaking his head upset at his massive blunder. He could blame Seven all he'd wished and he'd might – actually, surely – punch him before the upcoming party. Nevertheless, the abrupt rupture between him and the girl was the actor's entire fault, rummaging with both hands through his long silver locks, pulling hard and growling upset.

He had been so careless...

Zen was usually pretty good at socializing with people and girls were especially easy to interact with. He was in control of the subjects in most cases and could switch topics whenever he felt the direction turned iffy or uncomfortable. Harmony would prevail in the end,

No problem!

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So why,

Why was it so damn difficult when it came to MC?!

Every time he thought they were heading on the right track,

something pummeled everything to the ground.

T-T;;;;;;;

It was as if he were back at school, on the first day,

Unaware what human interaction meant besides his family members!

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This was all Seven's fault!

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~oOo~

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"No, no, no, no- SHIT!", the girl discarded the phone with a slam, walking in circles around the apartment from these latest revelations. The desire to sleep had been drained entirely – there would be no more rest, none whatsoever. Mina's mind was far too clouded with negativity and various concerns. Plus, the way she had handled the entire conversation with Zen was...

A complete disaster.

Which was another thing she would be stressing over for hours with no end. This misunderstanding which had taken place, it did not seem so far-fetched to be a lie. Mina noticed the hacker's habit of messing around with people, the coordinator also a victim of his scheming. Seven kept spamming her artwork in chat rooms to the point it enraged everyone present. ^^;;;;

It was a blow to her artistic ego. T-T

But,

These insecurities caused seeds of doubt to be rooted deeply, Mina unable to shrug off the feeling that Zen might have been trying to save face with his acting – sweetening her day with carefully placed words and masking insincere lies just to make her feel better.

He had the skills to do so.

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"Ngh..."

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'You're so paranoid, Mina...'

It was stupid to believe he would do so, right?

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However, how certain could Mina be of someone's true intentions when she had barely got acquainted with them? The party planner couldn't stop from picking on every tiny flaw she had, confident that the numerous amount she carried overwhelmed the qualities. What's more, hearing so many people dismiss her failing visuals while accompanied by Jisoo or the other guards... it was their job to be around her, their orders to protect Mina regardless of personal feelings.

Zen did not have the same job.

Being in the same vicinity, Mina would surely be bombarded with similar comments would they ever officially meet in public if it hadn't happened already at the theatre. She desperately wanted to avoid such a scenario, fearful that someone with Zen's reputation might give into these opinions, shifting his attitude towards her 180 just to save face.

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'It happened before with people,

And the past has a nasty tendency to repeat itself...'

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*BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ*

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Mina did not have the courage to interact with anybody, closing her eyes and praying for the ringing to stop. Zen should take the hint and give up trying – *THUD* The girl's attention was brought back to other subjects when her foot hit one of the boxes laying around, realizing Seven's packages had remained unopened.

If anything, they would prove to be a good distraction.

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Mina thought ever so wrongly.