Hinari was dumbstruck. She was utterly surprised at Zaki’s words that she didn’t even know how to react. The words he just said kept repeating in her head and she couldn’t help but look at him with a confused gaze.
"H-huh? What did you say?" She asked again as her hands that were still on his cheeks, froze.
"Don’t make me repeat myself. I can’t believe you won’t even spare your friend." Zaki said, flicking her forehead.
Hinari looked at him intently and the moment she saw that serious look in his eyes, she couldn’t help but laugh.
"Pfft! Hahaha!" Hinari chuckled like she was extremely amused, causing Zaki’s forehead to crease. She let go of Zaki’s cheeks and she began to caress the skin she just pinched as she continued chuckling.
"What’s this, my dear fiancé, are you actually serious? Pfft! Hahaha." She said.
"What did you think I was doing just now?" She continued and somehow, Zaki’s veins began to bulge.
"You thought I was flirting with my Davi?"
"Obviously."
"Pfft! Hahaha. You really think so?"
"You..." Zaki couldn’t even speak anymore. For some reason, he was having a bit of a hard time calming himself down at this moment and he didn’t know why. He just felt like he might burst if this continued.
This girl...
"My dear fiancé, is this really you?" She asked again, this time her tone was more mischievous. However, unlike her usual style, she didn’t touch nor look at him seductively. She just looked as though she was asking a normal question and then laughed again.
The next moment, the annoyed Zaki suddenly lifted his hands and pinched her cheeks.
"You... didn’t you just promise not to flirt with anyone?" Zaki said in a firm tone, reminding her about their deal and Hinari could only blink as her wide smile abruptly weakened.
"Ehh?! Hey, I’m not flirting okay? How could you call what I did, flirting?!" Hinari began to panic. Well, she knew she can’t possibly break their deal.
"Ohh, do you think I’m blind and deaf, my dear? If what you did wasn’t flirting, then what would you call it?" Zaki asked moving his face closer to hers.
"That... that... that was not flirting! It’s called, fangirling, you understand? Die-hard fans normally do that to their idols, you know?! And why do you have to be so strict? Does hugging my best friend now count as flirting?" Hinari finally burst, causing Zaki to be a bit taken aback and fall speechless.
When Zaki didn’t open his mouth again, Hinari was about to continue talking when suddenly, something popped in her head.
In a fleeting moment, her lips curved as she narrowed her eyes.
"What’s this, Mr. Chen? Are you perhaps jealous that I confessed and proposed to Davi?" She asked with a taunting voice.
"Is my dear fiancé actually jealous? I mean, seriously?" She continued asking as her eyes began to twinkle again and her lips began to curve into a wide smile.
"Hey, you are jealous, right? Right?"
"..."
"My dear, don’t just zip your mouth. Say something. Tell me, you are jealous, aren’t you?"
"..."
"C’mon, don’t be shy and admit it."
"..."
"You’re actually jealous of a g---"
Hinari who was enjoying herself couldn’t finish her words because all of a sudden, Zaki lifted her up and carried her like a sack of rice, over his shoulder in one swoop. Surprising her to the core.
"Hey, what are you doing? Put me down!" Hinari protested but Zaki was deaf to her pleas and continued quickly walking away from the shooting range.
Davi, on the other hand, had actually left the two of them a long time ago and was now heading towards the lab to find her mother with Little Shin.
By the time Zaki reached the car, he hastily opened the car’s door and upon putting down the beautiful sack on the backseat, he followed her in and slammed the car’s door closed. Hinari was still helping herself to sit up and was about to start nagging him when Zaki suddenly pinned her down.
He held her hands and put them above her head as he looked at her intensely, causing Hinari to look at him with a questioning gaze.
Hinari wasn’t allowed to flirt so she just shut her mouth and didn’t move at all to avoid breaking her promise. What if Zaki was just testing her limits?
However, a long time passed by and Zaki still hadn’t said a word. He simply stared at her with that unfathomable gaze of his that Hinari couldn’t read. She couldn’t even tell what kind of emotion he was feeling at the moment. Was he angry? What does that look mean?
Realizing the unfamiliar serious gaze he was throwing on her, Hinari was force to raise her white flag for the sake of their deal.
"Err... I was just kidding okay? There’s no way the mighty Zaki would get jealous, haha." She said. Well, this kind of situation was a torture to her anyway. There’s no way she can suppress herself for long when such a beauty was on top of her and gazing at her with those serious gaze so she had to do something before she will lost all her self control. After all, Hinari was actually just teasing him. She truly believed that this man would never get jealous when it came to her.
Years ago, Hinari once tried asking him to be her partner for a ball but he declined. Hinari couldn’t help but feel upset so she accepted the invitation to be a certain good looking celebrity’s partner out of frustration. The night of that ball, Hinari was holding on to her parner’s arm when she saw Zaki in the hotel’s lobby. He was with his men and looked like he was there for business. Hinari immediately understood that Zaki declined her because he had important business to attend to. However, the absence of any reaction from Zaki upon seeing her with another man was somehow a huge blow to her. Zaki simply glanced at her and he didn’t say a word before leaving.
Since then, even though she knew he really cared for her and always saved her when she needed help, she understood that it was all because of his promise to her; that he would always help her to live freely. She believed that he was like this towards her just because he felt responsible and nothing more.
"Hey, I already said I’m just kidding. Are you really trying to torture me? Seeing a beauty on top of me like this is my weakness, you know?" She then pleaded and the man’s expression somehow changed a bit.
"You really think I’m not jealous?" he asked and Hinari blinked again. She wasn’t used talking to this man like this. She was always teasing him before and throwing him off his rhythm every time he turn serious, so this kind of situation somehow felt awkward to her.
"Err... well, I really don’t think you are. You don’t even get jealous when I’m with another man so how could you even get jealous with a woman? I clearly know that you don’t get jealous over me," Hinari replied. She had already accepted this fact a long time ago but somehow, it was still a sharp blow to her heart, hearing it out loud.
However, the next words that came out of Zaki’s mouth widened her eyes as her lips slowly parted.
"Who told you that? Who told you I’m not jealous?"