Day 2 - 07:10 AM
Honey you're so syrup sweet! Gimme' Gimme sugar trea-!
Never let it be said that Zai didn't have any natural grace, but not even she could stop herself from rolling out of bed after she was startled awake by the unfamiliar sound. After shutting off the abrupt alarm, she realized she'd forgotten that she had changed her ringtone with the latest reset.
Quickly standing up and divesting herself of her accidental blanket cocoon, she hoped that none of Seven's cameras had picked up the sound of her body colliding with the floor.
Normally she'd be preparing herself breakfast, but as she looked around the kitchen she had cooked so many meals in, alone, without company, Zai decided she would rather eat somewhere with more people. After all, she was supposed to be changing up how she normally did things during these eleven days.
While pulling on a soft jacket with one hand, she unlocked her phone and accessed the RFA app. Once she'd gotten the jacket on all the way, she took a moment to return back to her bedroom and slip her new phone into a pocket on the inside of the jacket. She knew if Seven saw her using it on the CCTV he'd ask her what it was for, and Zai was a terrible liar.
Stepping out of the apartment and locking it behind her, she walked what she considered to be a decent amount of distance from the building before using her new phone to look up directions to the nearest cafe. She wasn't very surprised when the closest one was a few miles away.
Zai thought about taking the car but then reconsidered. There was no harm in getting a bit of exercise.
Day 2 - 09:04 AM
Almost two hours later after leaving her house, Zai was beginning to regret this decision. She stumbled into the cafe, barely able to hold herself up.
Not eating before walking several miles was a bad idea, a stupidly bad, horrible idea. Why did she do this? She didn't understand.
Thankfully, it was past what most would have considered the breakfast rush, so the line was short and her order prepared with very little time. Zai dragged herself over to a somewhat secluded corner of the cafe with only a few patrons and sat down to savor her food as slowly as possible.
Day 2 - 09:52 AM
By the time she had finished eating, Zai found herself nodding off, and ordered a coffee to try and keep herself at least somewhat awake. She idly sipped at the beverage while looking out the window, but was startled from her daydreaming when she noticed a very familiar glasses-wearing brunette enter the establishment. What was Jaehee doing here of all places?
Zai watched Jaehee order something and nearly leave the building before she realized she was missing a chance to talk to one of her favorite people and shot up out of her seat, waving in Jaehee's direction and almost knocking over her coffee in the process.
"Jaehee! Jaehee Kang!" Okay so maybe she was being a bit loud but how could she just let the opportunity to speak with Jaehee alone slip through her fingers. "Hey! Jaehee, over here!"
To her credit, Jaehee didn't suddenly leap back and drop her drink when Zai started calling her name, but she did stop walking towards the door and turn towards her in confusion before hesitantly approaching her table. Zai couldn't keep the smile off her face even if she wanted to.
"Jaehee! I can't believe I get to speak to you in person like this! I'm a huge fan!" She might be overplaying it a bit but her enthusiasm was genuine. She loved getting to talk to Jaehee, and the sooner she started rebuilding their relationship together, the better.
"My...fan? I didn't know I was known well enough to have fans..." Jaehee started scanning the room after that statement. Did she think it was all a prank or something? Zai wasn't Seven!
"Oh I'm so sorry, are you busy...?"
"For once? No, not at the moment."
"Then please sit down! You should relax for a while." Now Jaehee just seemed bewildered. It was if no one had ever shown her this amount of kindness before. Zai grimaced internally.
"I, uh, probably should have introduced myself before being so forward with you." After the adrenaline rush from seeing Jaehee in person had passed, all that was left was a rush of embarrassment. What was she thinking just shouting her name in the cafe like that? "My name is Zai."
At that, Jaehee's eyes got almost impossibly wide. Zai was more than a little concerned for her health.
"Zai as in...member of the RFA, Zai? The girl who just joined our organization yesterday?" If she was confused before, she must have been stunned now. Zai mentally promised to send Jaehee a care package when she got the chance.
"The one and only! I'm so happy I got the chance to meet you like this!" Her enthusiasm simply could not be curbed.
"Oh, oh my! What a coincidence! Or is it perhaps, fate?" Zai let out a sigh of relief at the tentative smile on Jaehee's face. If she was calm enough to joke with her then she hadn't truly rattled her up like she thought.
"I could only be so lucky if fate brought me here to meet with you, oh legendary Jaehee Kang!" The two women giggled at this, for even though Zai had only (apparently) been with the RFA a short time, Jaehee's dislike for her boss's ethics was already incredibly obvious.
"It's not that I'm not happy to have the chance to meet you in person, but is there any reason why you're not at the apartment right now?" Jaehee gave her a questioning look while Zai sipped at her coffee.
"To be honest I didn't really want to eat breakfast alone in that apartment. It just doesn't feel very...home-like." That sentence must have been said with more emotion than she intended because after a few moments, she realized that Jaehee now had her hand pressed reassuringly against her arm while gazing at her with an understanding expression.
"I get it. Some places just don't feel very personal, do they?" Zai nodded along in agreement and absentmindedly took another sip of her drink before grimacing as she realized that it had become lukewarm. Jaehee noticed her reaction and piped up helpfully. "Ah, is your coffee bad? I can convince them to make you a new cup if you'd like. You know the flavor of coffee beans can change depending on how long you roast them? It can also be affected by the temperature that's used while the beans are being prepared..."
If Zai was sleepy before, then Jaehee's gentle voice, filled with underlying tones of passion was like a lullaby to her tired and blurry mind. Pillowing her arms under her chin, she focused on the words coming from the woman sitting across from her, and the warmth and weight of Jaehee's hand on her arm.
Day 2 - 10:27 AM
A while later, Zai felt herself being gently roused as someone shook her shoulder lightly.
"Zai? ...Zai? Please wake up..." Looking up, Zai was surprised to see Jaehee's face so close to hers. If she just leaned forward a little more...
Unfortunately, after realizing she'd successfully roused her table companion from her nap, Jaehee sat back down. Opportunity missed.
"I'm sorry...I seemed to have bored you to sleep. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again." What? As if Jaehee could ever be boring in any capacity.
"No, no, it's alright," Zai covered up a yawn with one hand while waving away Jaehee's concerns with the other. "You could never bore me, Jaehee." She tried to make an encouraging smile.
"To be honest I was just pretty tired, and you have such a nice voice that I couldn't help but fall asleep to it. Your words sound just like music." At that statement, Jaehee lit up bright red and brought up her (now empty) coffee mug to cover her blushing face.
"I...uh..if-if you say so, Zai."
The two continued to talk until it was afternoon. Jaehee ordered Zai another, fresh, cup of coffee to keep her awake while she told her of the different merits of Kona and Arabica beans and how to properly draw out the unique flavors of each. Though, eventually the two had to part ways; Jaehee to C&R International, and Zai to Rika's apartment.
After they stepped outside of the cafe together, Zai decided to pull out one last stop.
"I had a lot of fun today, Jaehee." At the bright look that took over her face after saying this, Zai decided that she definitely had to go on more outings with Jaehee.
"I'm glad, I had fun with you today too, Zai." The expression of pure happiness was so pure that Zai felt like she might actually start crying.
"Do you think we could possibly do this again sometime? When you're not busy with an unreasonable amount of work, anyways." Jaehee looked ecstatic.
"Yes! I mean, ah...I would enjoy going out with you again another time if you would like to." Zai grinned and pulled out her phone.
"Would you mind taking a picture with me before I go? I want to be able to remember this moment forever." Jaehee flushed red once more but nodded in agreement.
Zai excitedly brought her arm around Jaehee's shoulder and made a classic peace sign, while using her other hand to hold up the phone in front of them.
"Say, 'coffee'!"
"Coffee!"
The screen flashed for a moment and Zai immediately went to her gallery to look at it. The still image was punctuated by Zai's exuberant face, with a shyly smiling Jaehee gazing at her with a look of wonder.
"Awesome! Thanks so much Jaehee! I'll send this to you later, okay?"
"Of course, I'll see you soon."
"Definitely!"
With that, she was skipping her way back to the apartment, but not before shouting a final phrase.
"It's a date!"
Oh, what she would've given to be able to turn around and see the look on Jaehee's face.
Day 2 - 01:49 PM
When she finally arrived back at the apartment, Zai was exhausted, but completely giddy. She locked the door behind her before leaning back sliding down its surface, covering her face and giggling with excitement.
She breathlessly took out her phone and opened the RFA app. To no surprise of hers, she saw an open chat and a few lines of texts from both Zen and Jaehee. Scrolling up to the top, she started reading.
/ Jaehee Kang: I had a most extraordinary encounter today. /
/ ZEN: Oh, really? With what? Surely it can't be more extraordinary than me! /
The message was followed by a selfie of Zen in a black tank top, apparently lying on his back on top of a yoga mat. Zai subtly saved the image to her gallery.
/ Jaehee Kang: Ah, what a lovely photo. However, I do believe that you'll agree with me when I say that this encounter was quite special. /
At that, Zai formally signed in and sent the selfie that she had taken with Jaehee to the chat.
/ Zai: Guess who got to meet the famous Jaehee Kang for breakfast today! This girl! / If she were a lesser person, she might have ended that text with several winky faces.
/ ZEN: WHAT? No way! Jaehee, you got to meet with Zai before me? And she's so cute too! Aaaahhh ...I'm so jealous. / He sent one of his sad emojis right afterward and Zai laughed at his over dramatization of it all.
/ Jaehee Kang: Hello, Zai! I'm glad you made it back home safely. /
/ Zai: Hi Jaehee! I just got back. I think I overestimated how much walking I can do. My legs aren't working right now ;; /
/ ZEN: Hey princess! What's this about you meeting up with Jaehee before me? Maybe I could come over and massage your legs for you? / The very thought of Zen taking the time to lovingly massage her aching legs made her face heat up so quickly that she was worried Seven would see steam coming out of her ears on his cameras.
/ Zai: b-blushing... /
/ Jaehee Kang: Zen! You shouldn't tease Zai like that. Besides, what would your fans think? / Gatekeeper mode reactivated, and things were going so well too.
/ ZEN: Ah, you're right. But still! Invite me along next time too, will ya? /
/ Zai: So we'll make it a triple date then. Is that okay with you Jaehee? /
/ Jaehee Kang: aknabdhbajgasdh /
/ Jaehee Kang: kshjsagWDH /
/ Jaehee Kang: dkakhwbdgjwbd /
/ Zai: ...Jaehee? /
/ ZEN: I think she's having a meltdown. /
/ Jaehee Kang: I...thought that you were joking earlier when you said that... /
/ Zai: I'd never joke about that, Jaehee! Everyone knows it's wrong to lie to pretty ladies. /
/ Jaehee Kang: ... /
/ Jaehee Kang: I will consider it. /
Jaehee Kang has left the chat room.
/ Zai: Whoops...do you think I was too forward? /
/ ZEN: That was such a work of art. Almost as amazing as one of my selfies! /
/ ZEN: I think she was just a bit overwhelmed. She'll come around eventually. /
/ ZEN: Don't forget to tell me the time for our date, though! /
/ Zai: Wait...really? You're actually up for it? /
/ ZEN: Of course! What man wouldn't pass up the opportunity to spend some time with two lovelies such as yourselves? /
He sent a winking emoji right afterward.
/ ZEN: Besides, Jaehee needs as much time away from Jumin as she can get. / Zai thought back to all the times she had seen Jaehee worked to the bone, with never enough time off to completely bring that glow back to her eyes.
/ Zai: Yeah, she does. So I guess it's up to us to get her to relax as much as possible! /
/ ZEN: Shall we officially form the Jaehee Protection Squad? /
/ Zai: Yes! /
/ ZEN: Alright! Then from this day forth, I, Zen, and you, Zai, pledge to protect the incredible Jaehee Kang from the tyrannical Jumin Han! /
/ Zai: All for Jaehee and One for Jaehee! /
707 has joined the chat room.
/ 707: Ahhh! Can i join the Jaehee Protection Squad too? I can help out by looking after Elly! /
/ ZEN: ... /
/ Zai: ... /
ZEN has left the chat room.
Zai has left the chat room.
Closing her phone, Zai laughed quietly as she went to make herself lunch. The RFA might have been a mess, but she still wouldn't trade it for the world.