. . .
If you could write your own story, what genre would it be?
For the unromantic Zeirenne Lynn, who always pictured her own biography falling under a melodramatic genre with a little bit of comedy and a little bit of action, that's exactly how she'd want to keep the pages turning. But romance? NO. Absolutely out of the picture.
But after some twisted turn of events, in the middle of the night, she found herself starring in an office romance—a passionate one to be specific...
"That was a good nap." She said when they finally boarded Jin's car.
While doing some stretches and yawns, something caught her eyes. A small box placed inside the compartment reminded her of something.
"Is that that one thing you paid half a billion for?"
Jin followed her gaze, stuffing the small box inside his suit in a rush. "N-no. This is not it."
"Hmm..." She squinted her eyes with obvious doubt, "Does it really contain some sneaky-sneaky THINGS?"—quoting the last word with her fingers.
"Sneaky things? What do you mean?"
"I've been told it contains some passionate...very passionate scenes...like the secret ones."
"Well it was indeed a passionate video. But it's not what you think," He opened a hidden compartment beside him, taking out a small box before handing it to her. "Here, why don't you see for yourself."
She opened it and found a red flash drive inside.
"Did you watch this already? Are you sure I'm not about to scar my innocence from watching this? If this is something way too underhanded then I'm gonna have to throw this down the deepest depths of the ocean."
He shook his head, "I'm sure. I already watched everything."
"Really?"
He nodded. "You know I never lie to you."
She nodded as well, a little bit convinced upon taking the box. "Well if you say so."
***
When she was finally inside her room, it took seconds to set everything up for a mini film-showing but the actual viewing came later than necessary. With her eyes closed like a child being told to do so, listening was her only way of making sure she was not about to trespass other people's boundaries until...
["It's nice to see you getting here earlier than I expected."] A voice boomed from the clip.
Her eyes opened in an instance and she watched in horror as a very familiar scene started unfolding. It was from her first meeting with Jin after a long time; when they honed their acting skills and resorted into using taps and turns to go behind the cameras scattered around her office.
["What are you doing here?"]
Jaw dropped, she watched speechless as her "debut in acting" flashed before her. Part of her screamed "Wow this mini skit costs half a billion?" but another one fretted over something more serious.
["He knows you need to hear something from me, and I need to hear something from you."]
["And what exactly is that?"]
"How is this romantic?!" She thought to herself, with the exclamation.
For so many times she had to play that clip, everything seemed crazy. Who categorized this clip? When did this become romantic? How can they name it into something so misleading and mischievously sounding?
"It's just a small get together for two long-lost friends. This is worse than a clickbait." She said before replaying the clip again—specifically going back to that second when Jin made his debut as a drama king. His very first tears.
"Pffft."
***
On the other side of the city, a man sat in front of his control room looking like a villain who monitors the whole city in big screens. But for this evening, only the replay button got murdered but for the hundredth time.
As he reviewed the footage from the dawn of the Annual Doomsday Gala, he watched two masked characters bring a fleeting cliche into life.
At the beginning of the video, an imaginary opening could roll in for all the editing work Zeirenne had to do. The footage from that night became more of film than an actual hidden camera footage.
Its final editing and touch-up came right after the party:
Zeirenne, who already connected her phone to the enemies' system, recalled sounding more like herself than her role during the party. She was supposed to be forgotten but because of Miura Takumi, she was remembered.
Both she and Mr. Argenti engaged themselves in a sensible conversation during the auction. And they were not supposed to make sense because it can put the enemies on their guards.
She scavenged for a specific scene among CHAOS Inc's files and found the conversation that revealed too much character:
"Passionate Office Romance? Is that a blockbuster movie or something?"
"It might be uhm... a surprising scandal."
"Huh? What scandal?"
"L-like a very passionate footage. You know...the inappropriate one."
"That's disgusting. Who'd want to watch that?"
"Well It might actually involve two prominent figures or something like that."
"That's low."
And so she had to do a little bit of tweaking. Film CGIs can be easily recognized, thus, going for the audio was the perfect option. She wrote a script that matched their mouths' movement and the final result was a blast. It even made it to someone's private cinema.
Here comes a man who took one of his obsessive flings to a masquerade ball:
Brought to you by Zelenne Asia Group of Companies and Silva International
With the special participation of CHAOS Incorporated
THE GIRL WITH THE DIAMOND-STUDDED MASK
~Starring Zeirenne Lynn~
["Passionate Office Romance? Is that a blockbuster movie or something?"]
~Introducing Nix Andrei Argenti~
["Well it might be uhm... a surprising scandal."]
~Edited by Zeirenne Lynn~
["Huh? What scandal?"]
~Produced by Zeirenne Lynn~
["Like a very passionate footage. You know... the inappropriate one."]
~Written by Zeirenne Lynn~
["That's interesting. D'you wanna watch that?"]
~Directed by Zeirenne Lynn~
["Right. We might actually enjoy true promising features on dumb things like that."]
["That's dope."]
~The End~
The movie's avid viewer slammed the replay button before the ending credits rolled out. Upon disclosure, he came out to be no other than Miura Takumi.
For the long hours of this "movie" marathon, something didn't fit for him. He could remember feeling a strong aura from these two masked figures during the party (slash movie premiere). But as he listened to their conversation, only two blockheads came into picture—a fruit of Zeirenne's success.
"Is this everything?"
"Y-yes Miura-dono." Willy answered as six other heads nodded behind him.
"Did you find out who these two are?"
"That man is one of our newest affiliates. He's Nix Andrei Argenti who owns Silva International and that woman...we believe she's one of his flings."
Miura-dono spun a lighter around his fingers—just like every insignificant life he'd taken.
"Dig deeper..." he commanded before lighting a cigarette.
***
Going back to our multi-talented heroine...
Zeirenne decided to go out for some breather as she tucked herself in her Nikes. Upon stepping out of the door, her dashing neighbor greeted her with questioning eyes.
"3AM meeting again?" Jin took his hands off his pockets before taking a step closer. The hallway was blessed with a subtle fragrance as he walked with his jet-black hair still fresh from the shower.
"No this time it's for real. I'm really going out for a run." She said with a smile.
Something behind her subconscious mind made her feel at ease from the familiar scent. But her conscious mind only had his crying face on replay and for her, it was enough reason to force a smile out.
He nodded "I'll go get changed" without even letting her breathe some complaints and after a few seconds, he came out wearing matching clothes. "Shall we?"
Upon stepping out, the streets were all for them to run into, with the moon enough to outshine the streetlights and the starts visible from the clear sky of dawn. There were no cars or anyone else and only the crickets filled the silence with their chorus before being interrupted by the two runners.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Yes and No. Both thanks to you."
They engaged in a thorough warm-up exercise before starting their run BUT Jin Yang, the shoe lace enthusiast, had to secure Zeirenne's shoes as usual.
"So I'm not getting scolded anymore?"
He playfully tightened the laces, making her flinch. "I don't really mind tying them for you besides... It's not like you can go out without me anyways."
"Right!" She exclaimed, as if remembering something that's been bothering her for life. "Do you ever sleep? You're always there whenever I'm about to step out."
"Incase you run off without telling me again."
Zeirenne pouted, "You know pinkie promises are the real deal. Only the worst of kind breaks them."
"Good to hear that from you and by the way," he made one final stretch before continuing, "I still have three days."
"What three?"
"You promised me three days but eventually... Mr. Argenti joined in. You even partnered with him. So they're not counted." With that, he ran off—leaving Zeirenne with furrowed eyebrows.
She sighed, "The heck is wrong with this guy?" before filling her lungs with air.
"I literally spent 6,264 days with you! How can 3 days even compare?!"
If someone was present, they would probably be mistaken as 'snatcher and snatchee' from the way they were running so fast in the early hours of morning.
"Did you watch it?" He asked when she finally caught up to him.
"Yeah."
"How did you find it?"
"Hmm... extremely disturbing...and funny." She said, reminding him of the first tears he ever cried his whole life.
He didn't even know he was capable of crying until that faithful day—their first meeting in a long time, inside her camera-infested office. (From Chapter 5: One Sleepless Night)
But he now could only smile from such a bittersweet memory. As long as she finds it funny then it's alright. Like he didn't feel the world crashing from the dilemma he had to face that day:
He literally kept his distance for six years and succeeded, despite suffering on his own. But when he saw her again, the rules he set crumbled in an instance. That's when he decided to follow his 'instincts.' To go after her no matter what.
That was the very moment he decided on staying instead of staying away.
But within those seconds of misunderstanding—thinking she was capable of harming herself because of him, everything shattered. Every piece of him, every hope there was. The tears welled up in his eyes because of pain and they streamed down his face from the absolute relief.
"Thank goodness, it was all a misunderstanding." His heart whispered. Or else its broken pieces are bound to be broken again.
"As long as she finds it funny then it's alright." He told himself, completely forgetting how much of great actress she was.
. . .