Chapter 20

I received a text saying the music wasn't ready yet. I should've been disappointed, but honestly, I was just happy to have more time with Zai.

He helped me create a social media page on a site called SceneIt. For my profile picture, he took a photo of me that was so striking it actually shocked me. You'd think I'd be used to my own face by now, but Zai captured something... different. I wondered if this is how I look to him all the time.

I was wearing one of his shirts—my left shoulder exposed by the baggy collar. It looked fine since the photo only showed my upper half.

"Now follow me," Zai said, typing in his username for me.

I'd used social media before, but all my old accounts were gone, and the platforms I remembered had shut down. Zai's profile picture must've been taken by someone else. He was looking off to the side, wearing sunglasses just light enough that I could still see his eyes. His follower count? Over 100,000. And yet he only had five pictures uploaded and was following just ten people.

The pictures were incredible—almost surreal in quality. He was alone in all of them.

A notification popped up: Zaikel is now following you. I watched the number on his page tick from 10 to 11. For some reason, that made me blush.

Zai leaned over, pecked my cheek, and took a photo of us.

"It was time for an update," he said, immediately changing his profile picture to the one he'd just taken.

"Wait! Is that really okay?" I asked. "Won't your followers freak out about something like that?"

He didn't answer. "Now for the next step," he said, walking to his closet.

Did he just ignore me?

Zai pulled out a large camera and tripod.

"…Were you a p*rn star before?" I asked. That would explain a lot.

"What the hell, Snowe?!" he blurted, his face reddening.

Guess not.

To be fair, he did say he'd only been with three people. That'd be a short career. Besides, even his roommates thought he was asexual. Still, it was satisfying to make him blush for once.

"No, I wasn't," he said, flustered. "I got this for you."

He started setting up the camera. Then he left the room and returned with a deep red acoustic guitar.

"This is also for you."

"What?! When did you even have time to get this?!"

"I used the internet," he said flatly.

The strings were perfectly tuned, and there was a small engraving of a snowflake on the side.

He'd been thinking of me when he got this.

"Thank you."

"Stop thanking me all the time," Zai muttered, his cheeks still pink. "I didn't just do it for you. I like buying you things, so really, it's also for me."

He stood behind the camera. "Just tell me when you're ready, and I'll start recording."

I chuckled. Who knew thanking him was the easiest way to get him flustered?

"I'm ready," I said.

He counted down, hit record, and I played. The song I wrote for him—soft, intimate, and aching with affection—poured out of me:

Every day with you is too short.I cry 'cause I don't deserve you,but even so

I'll never let you go—so don't let me go.

I'll never let you go,so don't let me go.

I need you more than Earth needs the rain—'Cause when you're here, there is no pain.

AndI'll never let you go,so don't let me go.

Yeah, I'll never let you go,so don't let me go.

You are my light—my dark, dark light.You bring me joy; no end in sight.I can talk about anything,and do anything,as long as it's with you.Even small talk means the world—when it's with you.

My painful past has washed away.I'm glad I endured,I'm glad you stayed.I found you here,now and for all my days.

I cry 'cause I don't deserve you,but I'll never let you go—so don't let me go.Yeah…I'll never let you go,so don't let me go.

When the final note faded, I looked up. Zai ended the recording. His expression was unreadable.

I wasn't sure if I wanted him to realize what the song was about. But as he made his way toward me, I put the guitar aside.

He hugged me, and I instinctively threw my arms and legs around him. Zai gently pulled back and laid me out on the bed. Then he took my left hand and kissed along the inside of my thigh.

When his eyes met mine, I looked away, flustered.

"Look at me," he said.

I did, reluctantly. It was hard to keep my eyes open as he pleasured me. I writhed beneath him, struggling to stay quiet—but I failed. When I couldn't take it anymore, Zai muffled my moans with a kiss. His hands replaced his mouth, and I trembled.

"Now tell me," he whispered, his voice low and teasing, "what was that song about?"

I couldn't even think straight.

"Z-Zai…"

He tilted his head and smiled.

"Good answer."

Everything after that was a blur of tangled limbs, hushed moans, and heat. We didn't stop until the next evening.

That's when I noticed the video had already been uploaded to my SceneIt page.

I had 20,000 followers.

Over 3,000 reactions to my song.

I refreshed the page—and the view count jumped by another thousand. There were already 400+ comments.

Zai walked back into the room before I could read them all. He brought me a smoothie and kissed my forehead, holding the straw to my mouth since I was too sore to sit up.

"Scrolling through your phone and sucking on a straw? Impressive multitasking," he teased. "What's got you so excited? Ready to go again?"

I choked on the smoothie. He pulled the cup away and gently patted my back.

"I just saw the reaction to my video," I gasped. "I wasn't expecting this much attention, this fast."

"Maybe it helped that I shared it," Zai said thoughtfully.

I sat up just enough to kiss his lips. "I'm sure it did. Thank you."

I settled back into bed as Zai lay beside me. I started reading the comments:

"Beautiful.""I got chills.""Tagging my bestie for this!"

But others stung:

"This is the girl from Zaikel's profile!""She looks so fake. Zaikel likes her?""Am I the only one who hates this?""Princess sounds better.""She's copying Dite's style.""I'm not impressed."

I flipped my phone over. Maybe it was better not to read the comments.

To distract myself, I asked, "What business did you and RJ end up creating?"

Zai smiled. "We developed a communication system that connects globally without towers. Calls stay clear even from the other side of the world—or another planet. We sold the tech to multiple companies. Including the one that made your phone."

My eyes widened. "Wait—what?!"

"I didn't want to tell you at first," he said. "But yeah. We've made some investments too."

I flipped my phone back over and typed "Zaikel Walker" into the search bar.

A bio popped up. He'd grown up an orphan, then co-designed a revolutionary comms system with his brother, Raijian Walker.

Net worth: $50 billion.

There were dozens of pictures. News articles. A commercial for a phone I actually recognized. And then… a black-and-white photo of Zai—shirt unbuttoned, completely soaked, staring into the camera like he could see through the screen. It was an ad for cologne.

"You modeled?!" I asked in shock.

Zai sighed. "I'd rather not go into that. It's kind of embarrassing."

No wonder he had so many followers. Why didn't I look him up sooner? Maybe I assumed he'd been lying low because he's Afarion—but he hadn't been hiding at all.

"Not scared of the local Guardian?" I asked.

Zai grinned.

"You're asking a lot of questions o you must have gotten your strength back," he said, eyes flicking over me meaningfully.

I blushed. "Yeah… I guess you're right."

And in the next second, his lips were on my neck and his hand slipped between my thighs.