Attempt 1:
Her very first attempt as a paparazzi had failed miserably. Not because Kai was too fast or too clever, but because she had forgotten to take off the camera lens cap. "You just embarrassed the entire paparazzi community." She murmured to herself. But she wasn't giving up.
Attempt 2:
Hours later, Alina spotted movement. Her heart skipped a beat as Kai stepped outside, flanked by his PA and two assistants carrying files. This was her chance. She crouched behind a parked car, raised her camera, and. clicked. Except this time, just as she pressed the button, something blocked her view. A hand. A big, annoyingly familiar hand.
"Excuse me, miss," said a low, even voice. Alina looked up slowly. It was Ryan. Tall, sharp-suited, with the personality of a wall. He was glaring down at her as though she'd just committed a national crime.
"I.....I wasn't doing anything!" she stammered, quickly hiding the camera behind her back.
Ryan raised an eyebrow. "Really? It doesn't look like that''
''And what made you think that I was doing anything?''
''Look up, what do you think it is? Our team runs drone surveillance whenever Mr.Arden is outside. And our drone spotted you."
Alina's mouth fell open. "You... you use drones to check if someone is following him?"
"Yes." The Ryan face didn't change. "And you were spotted within ten seconds."
Her cheeks heated. ''Ten seconds?!'' She wasn't even good enough to last a minute!
Meanwhile, across the road, Kai was already stepping into his car. He didn't look her way, didn't acknowledge the chaos, didn't do anything. But Alina swore...swore....she saw the tiniest twitch at the corner of his mouth.
Like he knew. Like he was enjoying this.
Attempt 3:
The next day, Alina came prepared. She'd studied how to move stealthily, practiced keeping the lens cap open (she even stuck a sticky note on her hand that said "OPEN THE CAP, DUMMY"), and chosen a prime hiding spot near his company gates. When Kai finally appeared, she grinned. This was it. Click
Except when she looked down at her camera screen… the picture was nothing but static.
"What...?" she blinked, scrolling through her shots. All of them. Static. And then, a new image appeared on the screen. Not one she took. It was a photo of a cat meme. With text written across it:
"Try harder, Little Mouse."
Alina gasped. "He... he hacked my camera?!"
From across the road, Kai slid into his car, his face utterly neutral. But when the window rolled up, she caught it....that damn smirk.
Alina stomped her foot. "Oh, it's war now. WAR!"
It went on like this for days. Every attempt she made, he was one step ahead. Lens cap blunder. Drone surveillance. Camera hacked.
Each time, she swore he didn't show emotions, but the subtle curve of his lips, the flicker of amusement in his eyes… it was like he was silently telling her: Go ahead. Keep trying. I'll be watching.
Finally, after yet another failed attempt, Alina was crouched behind a vending machine, whispering furiously to herself.
"Why is this man impossible? How am I supposed to get one single candid picture?!"
That's when a shadow fell over her. Slowly, she looked up. Kai Arden stood there, towering over her, his hands in his pockets, his expression unreadable.
"So," he said, his voice smooth, steady. "This is the famous little paparazzi who's been trailing me."
Alina's heart stopped. Kai leaned down slightly, his smirk finally in full view. "Trying to get my picture… so obsessed with me?" His tone was teasing, quiet, almost dangerous.
She scrambled up, clutching her camera like a shield. "I ....I'm not obsessed! I just...."
"I thought," he interrupted, his eyes glinting, "you'd had enough of me already. After all, you've seen me so close." He stepped forward. She stumbled back.
"So close," he murmured, his smirk widening, "that you don't need a camera to remember."
Her face burned red. Does he know that it's me? He shouldn't have known. I'm so covered up, how can he?!
"Y-you arrogant dummy!" she squeaked, spinning on her heel and running.
Behind her, Kai chuckled softly, the kind of laugh that said he'd enjoyed every second of their cat-and-mouse game.
Alina slammed the door shut behind her and dropped her camera bag on the floor with a dramatic thud.
"That's it. I'm retiring," she muttered, kicking off her shoes with enough force that one hit the wall. "I'm officially the world's worst paparazzi. Congratulations, Kai Arden. You win. You're untouchable. And I…" she collapsed face-first onto her couch with a groan, "…am a potato."
A voice, dry and amused, filled the room.
"Correction: you're not a potato. Potatoes at least have the potential to be French fries. You, on the other hand, are just a very clumsy human with bad aim."
Her phone buzzed. A notification pinged.
A message, she groaned, reaching for it without lifting her head
Script Breaker:Did you find him?
Her stomach dipped. Days of unread messages, and now this. He hadn't given up checking in. She bit her lip. She didn't update him about how he had officially discovered Mr. Stranger, her fingers hovering over the keyboard.
Alina: I… don't know if I found him. Or maybe I did. It's complicated.
A pause. The typing dots appeared, disappeared, reappeared.
Script Breaker:Complicated how? Either it's him or it's not.
Alina exhaled slowly, leaning her head back against the wall. If only it were that simple.
Alina: Because I feel like I'm staring at two different men in one body. And I don't know which one is real.
Her chest tightened as she typed the next line, fingers trembling slightly.
Alina:I hate him. I hate how arrogant he is, how cold, how he treats people like they're nothing.
Her thumb hovered. Then, reluctantly, she kept going.
Alina: But at the same time… there's something about him I can't stop looking at. Like I've seen those eyes before, that voice, that presence. Like he's familiar and a stranger all at once. And it makes me restless. Like, I'm stuck between running away and wanting to stay longer just to figure him out. His personality is interesting.
Her heart thudded after she pressed send, as though she'd just admitted something she shouldn't.
The reply came quickly.
Script Breaker:So… two different feelings for the same man?
Alina froze, staring at the words. That was it. That was exactly what she hadn't been able to put into words until now.
Alina:Yes. Two different feelings for one man. And I don't understand them. I don't even understand myself right now.
She hugged her knees to her chest, her phone clutched tight. It felt safer spilling this here, to someone who only knew her in text, who couldn't see her face or the turmoil twisting inside her.
Script Breaker:You're not stuck, you're just… searching. Sometimes we hate what we don't want to feel. Sometimes we deny what scares us.
She blinked, rereading his words. Searching. Denying. Scared.
Her fingers typed back before she could second-guess.
Alina: It doesn't make sense.
A longer pause this time.
ScriptBreaker: It could be that you haven't seen his other side yet. You've only seen fragments...pieces of who he is. And pieces always feel incomplete, confusing. If you want to know who he really is, don't just look from afar. Find out. Get close. Watch him. Not the face he shows, not the mask. But the cracks. The spaces in between.
Her throat ached at the words. She hugged her knees tighter.
Alina:You make it sound so simple. But do you have any idea how impossible he is? He hides everything. Even his smiles feel like they're hiding something. And when I try to push him, to make him show something real, he just… doesn't. Like he's locked away.
She remembered that ever since she met him, he had no expressions and emotions, his expression unreadable, as if emotions were a language he refused to speak.
ScriptBreaker: Locked away doesn't mean gone. People who hide their emotions the most often feel them the deepest. Maybe when he finds the right person, he will open up. Show all the emotions and expressions.
Her eyes stung, and she wasn't sure why. She buried her face into her blanket for a moment before replying.
Alina: But if I keep chasing this… I might get hurt.
ScriptBreaker:Or you might finally understand him. Isn't that worth the risk?
She stared at the screen until her vision blurred. The words rang in her ears long after the conversation stopped. She turned off the phone screen, hugging it against her heart, eyes stinging with tears she couldn't explain. She didn't know yet. But something inside her whispered that Script Breaker was right.
That was what she wanted, wasn't it? To strip away the masks, the games, the walls. To see him raw, unguarded, even if it was just once. She closed her eyes, his voice echoing again in her memory. Deep, teasing, unshaken.
"So close… You don't need a camera to remember."
Her lips trembled into a half-smile. "Fine," she whispered into the dark. "Let's see how close I can get.".