CHAPTER 45: CHAPTER 44: WORK FOR IT

A few hours later, everyone had gathered outside to bid farewell to the little master of the house. Hina used the farewell as a convenient excuse to emerge before the crowd wearing one of Zaen’s hoodies.

Through his mow further enhanced vision, Zaen saw Uncle Mack shooting him a glare. With their arms linked together, there was little left to state the obvious.

Aeron hugged Zaen’s leg, refusing to leave. It wasn’t until Zen whispered something to his little brother that Aeron put on a brave face, wiped his tears off, and jumped into the car without looking back.

"What did you tell him?" Hina asked once Uncle Mack left with Aeron.

"A brave man shouldn’t cry before beautiful girls," Zaen shrugged, lying on the spot.

Yet, Hina believed him, and her eyes sparkled, but then they dimmed just as quickly.

"Girls? Who else is beautiful here?" She said in a robotic voice.

Her eyes immediately fell on Ann, who was standing behind Zaen, as if ready to snatch him away. Her strange expression was the reason Hina was sticking close to Zaen as if staking her claim.

However, instead of coaxing her, Zaen pinched her cheek and brought her to her car. It seemed her family was already aware of their newly established relationship and sent a driver there to pick her up, along with a few gifts for his entire family.

Her entire family is full of crazies.

Hina sheepishly looked at him while Zaen was wondering about her family. The next second, she pulled him and kissed him, and also clicked a picture of them together.

"What are you doing?" Zaen asked.

"Leaving you with something to remember me," she whispered into his ear. "I would have liked to do more but—"

"This is enough," Zaen said and was about to walk away, but then pulled her back and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Take care of yourself..."

Before Hina could say or do anything, he shoved her inside, and the car sped away. But that didn’t stop her.

"Zaen, I love you!" she yelled, hanging out of the window. "Say it back!"

Zaen just broke into laughter and waved her off. By the time he walked back inside, the servants had already left to their service stations, leaving only Ann behind.

She stood there, watching him with what seemed to be excitement. Zaen felt a chill down his spine, then an idea appeared in his head.

"Do you want something?" he asked, stopping right before her.

"How did you know it was me?"

"No one here has that annoying scent, but you."

Zaen expected her to retort, instead, Ann smiled and turned away, hiding her flushed cheeks. The corner of his mouth twitched after seeing her behave like that.

How did he know she was blushing?

It was thanks to his increased perception. He could now sense ’feelings’. It was a weird thing to explain, but the line art of individuals took different colors around him based on their emotions.

He knew she was blushing because her silhouette was pink, just like Hina’s when he teased her. Unfortunately, that wasn’t his goal. He wanted to enrage her to see what color would signify it. Instead, his words hit her sweet spot.

...the hell is wrong with women these days? Can’t you agree like a sane woman would after a rude comment?

First, Hina turned out to be a psycho, and now the pre-assumed sadist doctor turned out to be a masochist?

Since his experiment failed, he would have to look for someone else to toy around with. However, as he was leaving, Ann suddenly grabbed his hand.

"Now that you’re done being lovey-dovey," she said. "Can we talk business?"

***

The two were back in the master bedroom when Ann told him some concerning news.

"The HQ? Why would they be after me?" Zaen asked.

Ann shrugged. Her goal was simple. Scare Zaen into submitting the sample by providing half-truths and fabrications.

It wasn’t a lie that the HQ was after him, but he was more like an afterthought for them. But he didn’t need to know that.

"If they force our hand, then we’d have no choice but to... hand you over to them," she sighed. "Unless..."

"I give you my ’sample’ and join you, right?"

Ann was taken aback, struggling to keep a straight face.

"...yes."

Zaen laughed, running his hand through his hair.

"And here I thought you’d come up with a grand plan to force my hand. The HQ is looking for me for something that happened in a country five thousand kilometers away? That’s just absurd."

Even though he sounded confident on the outside, he was shaken inside. The story of Bus 357 was true. He didn’t think there would be any witnesses to what happened, since he was trying to hide what little he could from others.

Thankfully, they didn’t know much about him. From Ann’s words, they just had a blurry photograph, which didn’t prove much.

I need to be careful while doing the missions. It’s the second time, and someone has found me both times.

While he was lost in his thoughts, Ann was worried about something else entirely. If she failed to get the sample, then the captain might use her skill on her.

Her eyes fell on her beloved assets she had cultivated over the years. She didn’t want to lose them and get turned into a loli. Just the thought darkened her face.

I have to convince him at all costs!

"Providing the sample would also help us cultivate your eyes and—"

"Fine, I’ll do it," Zaen said, snapping Ann out of her thoughts.

"What?"

"I said, I’ll do it," he repeated the words.

Ann was surprised, as it wasn’t the outcome she had expected after Zaen called out her stupid plan. She was still wondering what was happening when Zaen got up and locked the door.

"Naturally, I wouldn’t do it without conditions," he said, turning around to face her.

"C-Conditions?" Ann mumbled, gulping down her saliva.

Zaen smirked as her silhouette turned pink again. He walked up to her, standing right before her face.

"There’s a saying I have followed through my life," he said, tucking a stray strand of hair behind Ann’s ear. "If you want something, you gotta work for it."