Chapter 10

"Hey do you mess with Choi Kyungju's work again now?"

Zen asked the watchful Jumin as some staff members replace the set décor. He took a distance from where Jumin and Elizabeth 3rd is.

"Who?"

"Choi Kyungju, Echo Girl!"

"Ah, why would I, do I look like I have a lot of free time in my hand?", asked Jumin.

Zen looked up and down at Jumin who is playing with Elizabeth 3rd, watching as the white cat purrs and rolls under Jumin's hand.

"Uhh, yes."

Jumin replied with an angry glare. Maybe if he didn't push all work to Jaehee, Zen would've said the otherwise.

"Besides, what does she has to say now? You defeated her once, you can defeat her again. Even though it's been months ago, the case is still an embarrassment for her.", said Jumin.

"I won't worry if she directed her anger towards me. But she saw Ha Eun a while ago."

"Ha Eun? Do you think your woman would flicker in front of her?"

"No, no, of course. I think she triumphed beautifully. But I'm just worried you know, I don't want her to get into problems because of me.", said Zen.

*ah-choo!*

Zen looked up, that sneeze was familiar. It's Ha Eun's. Is he dreaming?

*ah-choo!*

"Jumin, I think I heard Ha Eun.", said Zen.

"I know you missed her. It's your mind playing tricks."

*ah-choo!*

"Are you alright? You two even share the same allergy!", Jaehee said between small giggles.

Ha Eun took another piece of tissue to cover her nose.

"I didn't think it would be this bad."

"Well, we've been using this same studio for quite a while and there are a lot of other cats other than Elizabeth 3rd going in and out, so I didn't think the cleaning was done very thorough as well."

"Oh it's really you! My mind and my heart can already tell your presence even before I see you!"

The whole studio just shifted their gaze to the 2 new people coming in. Then to Zen that hurried over. Ha Eun felt like hiding her red face, that cringe-inducing boyfriend sometimes...

'Who is that?' 'Is it Zen's girlfriend?' 'For real?'

Ha Eun can already feel the murmurs as Zen jogged towards her. He looked as happy as a kid, she wanted to laugh at his face.

"Surprise, I come to visit....."

Before Ha Eun can finish her sentence, Zen pulled her into a tight embrace and place a deep kiss on her lips. He smiled his most charming smile when he pulled away.

"It's nice showing off, doesn't it?", he said.

"Hey, people are watching!", Ha Eun said in a low tone.

Jumin appeared carrying Elizabeth 3rd, looking displeased at the show of affection.

"Mind you, this is a public place.", said Jumin.

"Why, I just missed my girlfriend, that's it!"

*ah-choo!*

Ha Eun let out another allergic sneeze, Zen immediately moves between Jumin and Ha Eun, shielding her from Jumin.

"Jumin, get away! Ha Eun's allergic, you know.", exclaimed Zen.

Zen covered Ha Eun with his body again until Jumin let a staff take Elizabeth 3rd away.

Jaehee was frozen in her place. She felt like she had seen the replay of Zen's drama.

"No wonder I haven't seen Jaehee since morning. You've planned this.", said Zen.

Jaehee, with her face all red, snapped back into reality.

"Ah yes, I thought it'll cheer you even more."

"Thank you for being so thoughtful, Jaehee."

'It's really Zen's girlfriend.' 'She's quite pretty.' 'Of course, it's Zen we're talking about after all!'

The people were still stealing a glance of the girl beside Zen, Zen showing his possession by not letting his hand leave her body.

"Don't worry, they can't say anything outside this place.", said Jumin.

"Yes, unless they want to go against Mr. Han Jumin here.", continued Zen.

The shoot continues again and Zen was even more energetic than before.

Ha Eun had brought some snacks for the whole staff.

"Here are some snacks. Thank you for supporting Zen, please take good care him."

---

Turns out Zen had worried for nothing. Weeks went by and nothing happened. He got his stable offer of musicals and drama. Truthfully, Echo Girl hadn't appeared in any major production since she got herself some bad reputation among production staffs, she's usually just an eye candy to boost views and masses. It was her father's influence that kept her going on the industry.

"Hey, I got some prints and merchandises for my next play.", said Zen.

Ha Eun was busy with her laptop on her work desk, while Zen was taking out a big paper bag. It was a relaxing Sunday morning where they can do whatever they want and whenever they want. And the best thing for Zen, he got to stay home with Ha Eun all day.

"You send me selfies every day, so I think I've seen it.", replied Ha Eun.

"The prints turn out great, I really like it. I'm sure if it went up for sale, it'll sell like hot cakes. You sure you don't want to see?"

"I have the real thing in front of me."

Zen smirked, it's true after all. The closest thing Zen's fans has to touching Zen would be his prints and photos, Ha Eun on the other hand, has the real thing to touch and do as she pleases. Photos won't do justice to his real charm after all.

"Oh, did they retouch my body?"

"Oh, it's not, it's the lighting."

Ha Eun observed as Zen was busy commenting on his own photo prints. He and his narcissism is two inseparable things. Zen caught Ha Eun checking on him.

"You sure you don't want to see?"

"All right, just to keep you from bothering me again.", she said helplessly.

Ha Eun stood up and left her work desk. The living room table was filled with rolled-up posters and several photo prints.

"Why do you have this much?", asked Ha Eun.

"They gave each cast a set. You can take it if you want it before they went up for sale."

Ha Eun sat beside Zen as he looked excitedly for Ha Eun's response. Instead, she flicked through each print like nothing. Until one particular photo.

"So handsome...", a murmur came unexpectedly.

It was just a mumble, but Zen could hear it as clear as it can be. He immediately pushes his face to Ha Eun's.

"What did you say?"

Ha Eun's face turn bright red as she realized Zen had heard her. She backed and placed the print back at the table. Right then Zen pushes her to the ground and kept her there.

"What did you say~"

"I said nothing!"

"Oh, I'm sure I heard something."

Ha Eun covers her red blushing face with her two hands, while Zen's response was a laugh. He thought everything was just cute.

"You looked very handsome in the shoots!"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Zen yells in delight as if he had just won the lottery. His balled fists went high in the air. It is quite hard to obtain such confession from Ha Eun. He is lucky today.

He was just about the attack her, right there, right at that time.

*ping*

"Oh, I'm waiting for an email.", Ha Eun said.

She wriggled away from sighing Zen, back to her laptop again.

"Yes! This is good!"

This time it was Zen's turn to be curious of what Ha Eun is doing.

"What happened?"

"I saw a building under construction, nearly finished. And it was written that they are owned by a foreign research lab. So I emailed them asking if they are planning on opening a lab here, and they said yes. And they even invited me to join the interview for a position.", explained Ha Eun.

"So you are moving out from your current gloomy and futureless work?"

"If I get this job, yes. I don't know about the pay though. We might not be able to spend as much as now."

"Hey, who do you think you are talking to? I am the rising star Zen! It's your dream to do some real work, go for it!"

"You sure?"

Zen placed his hand on Ha Eun's shoulder, reassuring her. He wanted her to reach her dream just like how she had supported him in pursuing his.

"They have a 2 week long recruitment system. Not just interviews, group discussions, written test and all. They really wanted the best."

"You are the best. I know you can do it."

---

Seven looked at a section on the right side of his computer screen. He had filtered all things that mention 'Zen' 'girlfriend' in that section. He did for a certain someone of course. It has been inactive for quite some time, but recently Seven picked up a rise in activities.

Well, maybe it's worth checking.