✧ Day 11 - 09:17 PM ✧
Zai awoke with a gasp which quickly turned into a half-aborted cough when she realized just where she was. Currently, she was half in Unknown's lap, half on the sofa. Her housemate was fast asleep somehow, and Zai winced inwardly when she realized just how badly his neck would be hurting when he woke up. When she looked up at the sky, it was dark. Darker than it normally was when in the middle of the forest, which meant it was night time. Grimacing, she slowly climbed off of the pale-haired man and got to work untying his arms and legs. She'd proven just a day ago that she could drag him across several blocks, so carrying him up to the house's guest bedroom should be a piece of cake.
Although it took more time than she'd have liked, she finally got him into bed. Pulling out her new phone, she set a reminder for herself to get him new clothes tomorrow. Even though she'd set the restraints on the sofa to make sure that untying himself would be impossible, Unknown had still managed to keep himself from strangling her in her sleep, so she counted that as a win. Moving back to clean up the disaster that was dinner off of the furniture and floor, she wondered if it was worth it to take a shower before waiting to see if all her efforts for the past eleven days were worth it.
She decided that she might as well indulge herself before then. It wouldn't matter after midnight anyways.
It was at least half past eleven when Zai was pulled out of her reverie by the sound of soft footfalls. She'd been purposely avoiding the clocks with her eyes, Jamming was lying across her abdomen while she was stretched out along the length of the sofa. She stopped the absentminded petting of her dog (prompting a quiet whine from said dog) as she craned her head upwards to see a confused and sleepy Unknown looking down at her.
"..You have a dog?" The innocuous question threw her for a loop, and it took her a second to respond.
"Yeah, his name is Jamming. You wanna pet him?" Instead of responding to her query, he pushed her legs further back against the cushions and sat down on the couch before resting his hand against Jamming's soft coat and giving the dog's back slow, methodic strokes.
The three of them sat in silence as the midnight hour approached. Zai tried not to think about what she'd do if the loop reset in the next few minutes. The past eleven days had been more emotionally charged than before, and Zai didn't know if she had it in her to repeat this cycle again.
Slowly, she directed her gaze over to Unknown, who hadn't stopped petting Jamming since he sat down. Focusing her thoughts back to a previous conversation, Zai considered the man next to her and decided to go out on a limb.
"So...do you think I'll have to do this again?" The hand stroking Jamming froze momentarily before returning to its steady rhythm, fingers gently combing through the dark curls of fur.
"I don't know..."
"Then you remember all the other times?" Even if this night continued onward, Zai still wanted to know more about the person currently inhabiting this space with her. After all, she'd never had an opportunity like this before.
"Bits and pieces...They're more like flashes if anything. Why does it matter?" His voice was devoid of all emotion, and Zai found herself somewhat craving the sweet, slightly scary tone that he normally spoke in whenever he was around her.
"Even if this attempt doesn't work, I still want to help everyone," Sighing, she folded her arms behind her head. "You included."
Unknown stared at her with stunned silence, and Zai wondered if she'd said something wrong.
"...Why would you want to save me? I don't need you. I already have a great Savior." There was that defensive voice again.
"I'm sure she's done a lot for you. That's why your only job is to manipulate me into doing all the dirty work, while you hang back in the sidelines waiting for your moment to strike. What a truly blissful existence that must be."
It seemed like she'd stumped him for words. Part of her was glad for it too, considering she really didn't want to deal with one of his rants about the greatness of Mint Eye when she was waiting to see whether or not she'd be reliving the previous eleven days once more.
"At least she's had an impact on my life! Nothing you've ever done has amounted to everything!" He'd removed his hand from Jamming's fur, causing the dog to let out a louder whine than before and crawl off of Zai's stomach to pad outside and away from the tense atmosphere. Raising herself up, Zai pulled her legs close to her chest and leveled an intense look at the boy sitting across from her.
"Listen, I don't care if I have to redo these same two weeks over and over for the rest of my life. I had a bunch of mistakes before and...and I regret them. A lot. I hurt Zen and Jaehee and Yoosung and Seven and even Jumin and it didn't feel good at all. " Balling her hands into fists, she tried to hold in the tears which were starting to rapidly form in her eyes. "But I love them all so much, okay? So if I can make them happy...even if it's just for eleven days, and even if they forget everything...forget me...I'll be glad, because, for that small amount of time, they were happy."
Wiping her face with the back of a fleece sleeve, she couldn't see the stunned expression on his face as his eyes locked onto the clock behind her.
"It's...it's past..."
"...What?"
Raising a shaky arm, he pointed at the time-telling mechanism on the wall. Zai spun to look and felt the air rush out of her lungs as she realized just was she was seeing.
Twelve O' One AM.
It didn't register immediately. She couldn't feel the warm tears making their way down her face as sobs wracked her body as her mind whirled in a constant circle of 'it's Over over overoverover'.
"I...I did it."
Clutching at her plush robe almost tight enough to tear the fabric, Zai whipped her head around to see Unknown's reaction. He looked like he was going to be sick, which was then punctuated by him jerking forward and pressing his hands over his mouth.
All but leaping off the sofa, she rushed to the kitchen and grabbed a bucket from under the sink just in time for him to empty the meager contents of his stomach into it. As she sat there, calmly massaging his back while he trembled through the aftershocks, there were two thoughts on her mind. The first was that finally, she'd never have to relive those eleven days again.
The second was, "Everything is going to get better from here on out."
Unknown heaved into the bucket once more and Zai grimaced.
"Well, maybe not immediately," Once it seemed like he'd ran out of material to expel, she tugged him upwards by the arm until he could lean on her.
"Come on tough guy, let's get you cleaned up."
She got a tired groan in response.