Day 1 - 09:04 PM

If there was one word to sum up her feelings for the day, it was probably 'exhausted'. It was still relatively early, but while lying in bed and looking at her phone's screen, all she could feel was the urge to sleep. She was finally back in Rika's apartment and once again an official member of the RFA.

While absentmindedly scrolling through the previous chats she'd managed to participate in, Zai considered her current circumstances. If she was still following her plan, then she had the next four days to get as close to Zen as possible. The self-reminder made her grimace as she thought of the sweet, hardworking Jaehee.

Every time she had gotten closer to Zen, Jaehee was there protecting him and looking out for his best interests. While every time she had gotten closer to Jaehee, Zen was cheering them both on from the sidelines. Yet after each reset, she couldn't help but wonder why they all couldn't be happy together.

She knew Jaehee liked Zen. Heck, everyone knew Jaehee liked Zen except for Jaehee and Zen themselves. They'd gotten so wrapped up in the roles of 'star actor' and 'loyal fan' that they must have subconsciously blocked out the idea that the two of them could have something much more with each other. The idea caused Zai's cheeks to immediately flush, and she was suddenly thankful for the lack of camera presence in the bedroom.

Would Zen and Jaehee even accept that kind of relationship with her? Maybe the way to stop the resets was through getting the rest of the RFA members to hook up with each other instead of her.

"If only it were that easy," She mused. "Everyone is already half in love with each other anyway." Now that was an idea. She'd never tried playing matchmaker before, but if it helped?

Her contemplations were quickly blown away by the sound of her phone ringing. Who was calling at this hour?

"Hello?"

"Babe! You're still awake!" Well, think of the (incredibly handsome) devil and he shall appear. She giggled into her hand before raising the phone back up to her ear.

"Yes. My head was full of thoughts about you and I couldn't get to sleep."

"Agh! Saying things like that when we've only just met. Are you sure you're not my fan?" Whoops, maybe she was laying it on a bit thick. After all, to Zen, they'd only met this afternoon.

"No, I'm not your fan. But perhaps...you could convince me?" She tried to sound a little less smitten that time. Which was hard, considering the fact that even though she'd experienced these eleven days dozens of times, her feelings for him never wavered in the slightest.

"Is that a challenge? No? I wouldn't make jokes like that if I were you! I might actually get you to fall for me you know." Oh she knew, she definitely knew.

"It isn't a challenge, but I'm not quite joking either." Perhaps if she catered to his more possessive side.

"Oh, you're on! But actually, that isn't what I wanted to talk to you about." Well, that was new. She felt like this might take a while, so while carefully keeping the phone balanced between her cheek and shoulder, Zai tucked herself under the covers and turned up the volume.

"So what is it you wanted to tell me then, Lovely Zen?" She could hear him sighing with bliss at the praise in the background and smiled into her hand. He was so predictable but that never stopped her from liking him in the first place.

"Ah man, you know just what to say to get a guy's heart racing! Wait, agh, I'm getting sidetracked again! Are you distracting me on purpose?" She hummed against the phone, glad he couldn't see the widening grin on her face.

"I thought you had something to say?"

"Right! Yes! Sorry, sorry, I'm just all over the place today. I wanted to formally welcome you into the RFA! I know things went kind of fast and now you're stuck as our party planner in the meantime, but I hope that we get the chance to know each other better while you're with us. I want you to enjoy yourself while you're here." If she closed her eyes right now, she could see his excited smile in her mind. It made her heart ache. "You'll tell me if you get overwhelmed, right? I mean, I know it's a lot to have on your shoulders all of a sudden. But I wanted you to know that you've got me, us, supporting you too! So you don't have to do this all on your own." Memories of past parties, which once seemed so far away, leaped to the forefront of her mind. She wiped away the drops of liquid beginning to form in the corners of her eyes as she listened to Zen talk about how the rest of the RFA was behind her every step of the way.

"Thank you so much for saying that... You don't know how much that means to me." And she was being honest too, yet she still did her best to hold in the tears. She didn't want Zen to hear her crying.

"Well, it's just so you don't forget, ok? You're one of us now! Anyways, it's getting late and you need your rest if you want to be energized tomorrow! It was nice talking with you!" If she were being honest with herself, then his enthusiasm was quite contagious. Wiping away the remaining moisture from her eyes, Zai did her best to try and talk normally.

"It was good talking with you too, Zen. After hearing that soothing voice of yours, I think I can relax enough to get to sleep now, so thank you again." No matter how she tried, she always reverted to flirting whenever she was around him. Whoever came up with 'Old habits die hard' really knew what they were saying.

"Gah! I think if you say any more sweet things to me I'll combust! But I won't keep you up any longer. Have a good night, Zai, and sleep well." She heard the soft click of the line disconnecting and gave a slow sigh. If everything went according to plan then she had the next ten days plus her whole lifetime to get to know Zen better. She'd lived in this apartment for so long that she felt like she knew him for years, and in a way, that might be true.

After taking some time to reply to a couple of the potential guests the rest of the members had through to refer to her, she checked her texts to see that Zen had left her an additional good night message.

/ ZEN: I know this might sound crazy, but when I was talking to you on the phone just a while ago, I felt like I'd known you for much longer than just a couple hours. /

/ ZEN: That isn't weird to you, is it? /

Zai would have responded if she hadn't fallen asleep.