Chapter 26

Time, itself, seemed to be moving at a snail's pace. I didn't know how stressful it'd be not having Zai within view. I wonder what he's doing... he said he had business today so I didn't press but... I miss his stupid, beautiful face. I actually thought I would be okay alone but it's hard! I must have gotten addicted to his company because I'm already feeling withdrawals. Lisa and Richard were good to be around, though. I recorded the first song Richard and Lisa made for me, several times then Richard saved and worked with the audio files, pasting bits and pieces of the best versions together until he had a final project.

"We're going to upload this song first to help advertise your album," Richard informed me. "Also it seems you haven't been paying attention to your social media. Please log on, you need to stay somewhat active. You're new, people need a reason to be interested in you."

"I understand." I had been so distracted with life that I totally forgot about my cyber life! I worked hard so we could finish up early but that only made me make mistakes I wouldn't usually make, and I ended up wasting more time. We still wrapped up around 8 so I called Zai, "We just finished... are you nearby?" I asked.

"Of course I am." He responded snarkily,

"What's your problem?" I asked and he laughed,

"Nothing, I just wanted to annoy you... See you soon." With that, he hung up. I pouted at my phone but relaxed because it wasn't even a minute later when Zai showed up on foot.

"You walked here?" I asked.

"I left my car here and walked everywhere else." He corrected. I squinted at him.

"Where have you been?" He kissed my forehead, and I felt all the tension in my body dissolve then his silver eyes looked directly into mine and he said,

"Let's go home." My brain shut off at that moment, I don't even remember getting in the car or coming home. My consciousness only returned when Zai and I were sitting on his bed together. "Snowe..."

"Yes?!" I answered overly excited. He gently took my hand and asked,

"Do you work tomorrow?" I nodded, then he sighed and got up saying, "I'm going to take a shower." ... Once he left I was dumbfounded. Knowing him I felt like things were leading up to him touching me. I waited for him to return. His hair was still wet and he smelled faintly of pine when he sat beside me. This time he met my expectations and planted a kiss on my lips. our lips parted and reconnected many times, and several seconds passed before I realized I had been holding my breath, so I turned away panting heavily. Zai licked his lips and laughed at me. "You should shower too." He advised. I can't lie, I was disappointed that things ended there but it's okay because I'm sure things will go as I hope by the time I come back from my bath. I went to my room and grabbed a nightgown to change into then hurried to the bathroom and washed off. I finished up in 15 minutes so I could return to my husband, quickly. Disappointingly, he was asleep. Well... that's weird.

"Oh yeah," I said aloud once I remembered I needed to check my social media. My video's views were now close to 1 mil! I decided not to look at the comments. There was a notification that I was tagged in something when I tapped it, I saw it was the image of Zai and me together... We should take more pictures together... Richard had emailed me a link to the page that was created for me and I noticed what we recorded earlier was already there. So, I decided to make a post explaining that the last song was an original inspired by my "boyfriend". I mentioned the label I'm working with and a link to another piece that'll be on my album when it releases. That's 2 posts so far... I looked at Zai and took a picture of his sleeping face. I uploaded that as well with the caption. "So cute when he's sleeping! I'm in love ♥!" I don't know if that was a mistake or not... I just wanted to make some strangers on the internet jealous... After that, I lay down next to him and stared at his face until I eventually fell asleep.

Zai was acting strange the next day, very quiet and his expressions were blank, as if his mind was elsewhere.

"Thank you for driving me again," I said since my mind was drawing a blank on what else to say. Part of me wanted to ask him why he was keeping his distance from me, like now he's not even holding my hand.

"What is your favorite color?" Zai asked, ignoring my statement completely.

"I... I like Pastel Pink." I replied, then he smiled and added another question,

"What is your favorite flower?" Is he making small talk? This seems so random.

"I like... Geraniums." He nodded after I answered him then the car was parked outside the studio. It felt like our ride was shorter than usual,

"Call me when you're done," Zai instructed,

"Okay..." I replied reluctantly, but when my hand hit the door handle I turned to him and said, "No, stay! I missed you so much yesterday, I'm sorry... I didn't realize I'd feel this way when I asked to be alone." Oh God, I'm rambling, "I just wanted you to have some freedom. It seemed like your life was revolving around me and I... felt guilty because I take up so much of your time." I was panting and blushing severely after my confession, Zai gently lifted up my chin and leaned from his seat to kiss me.

"I'm going to miss you too... but I already have plans." He whispered. I felt my heart sink. Zai tilted his head and smiled at me mischievously, his eyes darting from my eyes back down to my lips. Though he, merely, moved away and sat back down in his seat.

"Th-then tomorrow?" I inquired.

"I'm busy tomorrow too... You should go before you're late." When I'm with Zai, I always feel like his mind is only on me, so the thought of him maybe seeing someone else hasn't crossed my mind. I've felt possessive and territorial but never suspicious until now.

"Before I go... can we take a picture together?" I asked, then before he could answer I laid my head on his shoulder and lifted my phone to get a good angle. Zai laughed and said,

"Just make sure to send it to me." Because of this his smile was very genuine in the photo. My heart felt warm just looking at it so I made it my lock screen picture,

"I love you," I made this statement because I wanted that to be on his mind when he left so that if he was looking at another woman, he'd feel bad. He didn't look affected negatively at all,

"I love you too... Let's go out after work today. I'll make it happen." Then he stroked my cheek and I finally felt calm enough to leave the car.

"I'd love that," I replied then I got out and closed the door behind me, waving him off. I was a minute late, but no one gave me a hard time. After listening to a new composition and going over the lyrics with Lisa for an hour we took a break. She brought me a bottle of water and sat beside me on the couch.

"Your boyfriend isn't here again, did you guys have a fight?" She seems to be a direct person.

"He's not my boyfriend and we didn't have a fight," I announced. She gasped and whispered.

"So... he's single?" I glared at her,

"Absolutely not! He's my fiancee!" I was shouting but she laughed off my reaction.

"I figured, with the way he looked at you. Well, I at least knew that if he wasn't with you yet he wanted to be." I kept glaring at her and she put her hands up defensively, "I'm just chatting to pass the time, not gonna mess with your man, I promise." After she said that I relaxed and said,

"So... how does he look at me?" I asked,

"Like... nothing else matters to him." That made me smile and I started drinking the water she gave me while checking my phone to see if anything new was on my page. There were new comments under the photo of Zai, the one with the most reactions was, "Did you have his consent to post this?!" "I'd never forgive you if I was him." "He still looks hot when he's sleeping, wow." "Wow he has tattoos, I've never seen his arms before!" After reading that comment I decided to private the photo. I completely forgot, Zai never shows his arms, or chest in any of his pictures, and he always has them covered in real life too... maybe he will be upset with me! My heart was in panic mode, but it already had 5K likes and 200+ shares so maybe I did it too late...