❤︎ Day 15 - 11:47 AM ❤︎

When Zai had gone to bed, it had been only one or two hours at most before Saeran came to join her. She'd stirred a little when the mattress and covers were moved but quickly settled back into restfulness once she could feel the warmth of another body beside her, and the weight of Saeran's arm from where he'd set it across her hip. Waking up was a different story. He was up and about when Zai was only just coherent enough to get out of bed and dress for the day. By the time she was finally walking down towards the living room Saeran was already sitting on the couch, wholly focused on her computer once more. Rolling her eyes amusedly, she called out to him as she entered the kitchen.

"I know it's a nice computer, but if you spend any more time on that thing, I'll be assuming that you've replaced me." She laughed at the indignant screech that drifted in from the adjacent room as she prepared breakfast. Now they were sitting at the kitchen island together. Saeran had the laptop open on the side, but was otherwise preoccupied with enthusiastically demolishing his plate of rice and eggs.

They had skipped dinner the previous night so Zai suggested going out and making a day of it. He'd said yes, but only when she'd confirmed that they would stop by a makeup store in order to get some concealer for his tattoo. Unlike his eyes, some marks from his past at Mint Eye weren't so easily removed, and he couldn't wear long sleeves forever. They were nearly finished with their meal when a familiar tone started echoing through the mostly empty house.

"...Isn't that your phone?" Zai thought about where she'd put it last, and realized that she must have left in on the couch when she went to bed. However, that didn't explain why it was ringing, considering she never gave anyone her new number. Hopping off the stool, she walked into the living room to see her dog with the phone in his mouth. Already thinking about how she was sure that warranties didn't cover puppy drool, she beckoned him over.

"Jamming! Come over here and give me my phone~" Kneeling down, she winced every time his teeth clicked against the screen. "Come on...be a good boy...!" It seemed her aunts hadn't trained Jamming very well in the fetch department at all because the black furry canine decided to run instead of delivering her phone back to her. "Wait- No! Drop it! Drop it!"

❤︎ Day 15 - 12:16 PM ❤︎

POV: Jaehee Mode

Jaehee was doing her very best to keep herself awake. Having already downed two cups of coffee that morning, she should have been alert. However, her phone had been ringing almost non-stop since she woke up, at 6 AM. She had even slept on the couch in order to avoid waking Zen, even though he'd said it was fine. Currently, she along with the rest of the RFA, or ZFA as Yoosung had dubbed them after the news of Zai's possible survival the other day, were situated in one of Jumin's empty meeting rooms to discuss their findings.

Apparently, they hadn't made as much headway as they'd liked, but thankfully, Jaehee's business was scheduled to open within the week thanks to Jumin's help, and Zen had gotten a new role with a rather prominent director. So things were going well on that front. Jaehee just wished that their efforts in finding her and Zen's girlfriend would be more fruitful soon. Every day she spent without knowing whether or not Zai was safe was an additional day that Jaehee had to endure with only half her heart in place. She knew this bothered Zen as well. The missing piece that neither of them could quite fill on their own.

Startled out of her reverie, Jaehee noticed her phone vibrating in her pocket and sighed with exhaustion. Probably another call from the landlord looking to confirm plans. Ignoring the rather loud discussion taking place amongst the men in the room, who had started debating on what their next move should be, she fished the device out and did her best to not sound half dead inside as she answered.

"Jaehee Kang speaking, how can I help y-" She stopped speaking as the noises from the other side of the line came through. Eyes widening, she waved her hand wildly over at the now-squabbling males (minus V, who had been mostly silent the whole time) and placed her phone on speaker before sliding it towards the middle of the table.

"Jaehee what-" Quickly shoving a finger against Seven's lips, she shushed him.

"Listen!" Whisper shouting wasn't something she often did, but at the moment, the circumstances warranted it. Everyone's attention was on the phone, which was silent until it burst back to life.

"Grab him!" The voice was familiar, but the mystery caller must not have been somewhere with a very good signal because the sound was grainy and only barely understandable.

"I'm trying!" That voice wasn't familiar to her, but when she glanced at over at Seven, his expression seemed tense.

"Try harder! Jam-ming! Give me back my phone you-" There was the sound of...panting? Was the caller's phone stolen by a dog? It would explain the unexpected call, but still. how had they gotten her number?

"Oof!" A light thud echoed through the receiver. "-ran are you okay!?" "Ow ow ow...mostly okay. He's too fast for me. Have you tried bribing him?" "No way! If I use food he might start drooling more! It's only water resistant to a point you know!" "So? Bribe him with something else!" "Like what!?"

The entire ZFA was now focused completely on this phone call which was centered around...two people and their dog? In which the dog had somehow taken the phone from one of them, resulting in a chase so they could get it back. In the back of her mind, Jaehee wondered what her life had become.

"I don't know...a walk?" The sound of panting increased. "Ugh...If I say yes to that we'll have to bring him along, and then we can't go out to eat!" Faint laughter echoed through the phone's speakers before the next words shattered Jaehee's world.

"At least you still have your priorities in line, Zai." The rest of the world fell into static for Jaehee.

Zai.

Zai was on the other side of this phone.

Zai was alive.

She was alive and safe!

Jaehee almost jumped out of her seat when Seven half-leaped half-slid over the table to grab her phone and plug it into his computer, immediately typing away at his keyboard while the rest of them watched in shock. After a few seconds, everyone had turned to where Seven sat, the stress in the room burning with intensity as they realized that this was their one-way ticket to learning of Zai's whereabouts. Jaehee could cry. Her girlfriend was alive, presumably with someone else and a dog.

The circumstances came at her like a tidal wave. The phone was currently in possession by a dog, which could break the device at any moment. She felt dizzy.

"Seven...Seven! Hurry! Please!" She was doing her best to keep her voice in check, but it was proving more difficult than expected.

"I'm trying! Don't rush me! " Even as he said that, it seemed like his fingers worked faster at the urging.

Suddenly there was a jumble of noises from the phone and her attention was once again focused on it in spite of herself.

"W-wait! Jamming! Bad boy! Don't bite i-" The call cut off and Jaehee nearly screamed. Zen was beside her in an instant, hands pulling her tightly curled fists apart and intertwining his fingers with hers so she couldn't make the red crescent welts on her palms worse.

"Jaehee calm down! It isn't over!" He moved over into her frame of vision and she could see the tears beginning to pool in his eyes. "She's alive for real, we know that now! Wherever she is, she's safe, so all we have to do is find her, okay?" For not the first time, she realized that Zen's acting training was most likely a blessing in situations like these. When the two of them were alone with each other later, he'd most likely come apart in her arms, but for not he was putting on a strong face for everyone else there. Zai was his girlfriend too, after all. "Seven, can you still trace the call?"

"Uhh...probably? The signal was pretty weak from the start. I probably should've started sooner, but!" He flashed them a confident grin. "Even if I can't pinpoint their exact location, I have the name of the closest city, so we can narrow our search down if we have to!" Yoosung, who had been raptly listening to his boyfriend speak, gave out a cheer.

"We're so much closer to getting her back! It won't be long now!" It was the best news Jaehee had all week.

❤︎ Day 15 - 12:33 PM ❤︎

Lifting up the smartphone, which had been roughly severed in half by doggy teeth, Zai frowned. All the photos she'd saved from her time in the RFA had been on it, and Saeran had confirmed that the memory chip had been shattered when Jamming had accidentally bit into the phone, ending its life for good. She was quite upset at her dog, but she couldn't fault him when he'd never been trained how to return goods he had taken. Fetch was never her favorite game anyway.

Pulling her knees up to her chest with a sigh, she tried not to lament the loss of the pictures too badly. It still hurt, knowing she wouldn't be able to get them back, but it wasn't like she could go and ask Zen or Jaehee for their copies now could she? Feeling the light dip of the couch cushion when Saeran slid in next to her, she let herself fall back against his legs, warm brown meeting gold as their eyes locked.

"Do you still wanna go out?" A nod from Saeran.

"Yeah, I still need the stuff to cover my tattoo." Until he could get it properly removed, he'd just have to settle for covering it up. Personally, Zai didn't mind how it looked, but it reminded Saeran of a not-so-good time in his life, so if he didn't want to see it, she'd support him.

"Well, now I have to stop by the phone store too, ugh." Slinging an arm over her eyes, she stuck her tongue out, which got a chuckle out of Saeran in turn. "Why do I have such a disobedient dog?" She felt fingers skim against her exposed midriff and she sucked in her giggles as smooth hands drifted over her waist.

"You know what they say...like owner like pet. Or something like that." The two of them collapsed into laughs and once they'd subsided, Zai looked up and realized that Saeran's face was unbearably close.

"...Hey, Saeran?" His eyes were blown wide as they gazed at each other and Zai tried not to let herself get too excited.

"Yes?" She was almost hyper aware of his hands on her sides and his breath mingling with hers.

"Can I...can I kiss you?" Zai almost held her breath. They'd been trading chaste kisses for a little more than a day now, but for once she wanted to experience the real thing. Saeran's expression hadn't changed after she'd asked her question, but he did shift her so she was kneeling over his lap instead of sprawled in it.

"Are you sure?" She didn't have it in her to speak anymore, so she nodded instead. Then he was tilting his head and pulling her forward and Zai sighed into the kiss while her heart felt like it might explode in her chest.

They stayed like that for a while, his arms around her hips while hers rested on his shoulders, lips pressed against each other, occasionally punctuated by a murmur or a small gasp. Eventually, they had to separate, which was echoed by a disappointed noise from Zai and a soft moan from Saeran.

"That was...wow..." Eyes still a little dazed, Zai watched as Saeran trembled slightly as he tightened his grip around her. "Can we do that again?" He laughed breathlessly and let his forehead rest against her shoulder.

"We still have to go out, though..." Groaning, she slowly made her way off the sofa so retrieve her jacket and keys.

"Fine, but once we get back, I'm expecting an encore performance." She didn't see him getting up, but she could hear his hum of approval.

"I'm looking forward to it." Forcing down her shivers of delight, Zai moved a little faster. Later couldn't come soon enough.

❤︎ Day 15 - 02:42 PM ❤︎

POV: ZEN Mode

At the moment, Zen was tense, which was understandable considering that he'd just received confirmation that his previously-thought-to-be-dead girlfriend was most definitely alive. Even if the phone call confirming that fact was due to a dog accidentally calling Jaehee's phone somehow after stealing another phone from it's owner. What would Zai be doing with a dog, though? In any case, that didn't matter at the moment. What mattered right now was finding Zai.

He'd been holding on to Jaehee like a lifeline for over an hour now. Zen wanted nothing more than to hop on his motorcycle and speed off to the city closest to the phone's location to start searching, but after her little outburst earlier, Jaehee had run out of reserve energy to keep her going and had dropped like a stone. He had caught her, thankfully, but he didn't trust Jumin to watch over his other sweetheart's health, so he would just have to stay until she'd recovered. He knew that she was stressed these past few days, but he didn't think she would have collapsed like that. Zen made himself a mental reminder to keep Jaehee from overworking herself until everything was resolved.

Seven had sent Yoosung off with Driver Kim in order to retrieve some of his equipment from his home a while ago. Apparently, the couldn't properly trace the call after the phone's assumed destruction, but he had managed to get a lock on the closed network it was connected to. Surprisingly, there were some protections on it, which meant he would need something more heavy duty than just the basic laptop he'd brought with him to Jumin's place.

Gently maneuvering Jaehee's head to rest against his shoulder, he set his arms back around her waist, trying not to squirm when her soft breaths hit his ear. Looking over to where V was sitting next to Jumin, who was engrossed in a phone call that was most likely related to their real-estate scouting project, Zen quietly called out.

"Hey, V." The teal haired man turned in his direction, the light reflecting off the side of his darkened lenses. "I just wanted you to know that Jaehee and I...we don't blame you for what happened. I know Jaehee was really upset a few days ago, and I know she really wanted to hold you accountable for everything, but that doesn't matter anymore. You aren't at fault, and as for the lying? We forgive you." Zen wasn't expecting a response, but he still couldn't miss the whispered 'Thank you' from across the table. Leaning back in his chair, he pulled Jaehee in a little closer and relaxed with a smile.

They were going to get her back. It was only a matter of time.