THE staff of Latest magazine collected in front of the shut dressing room door. Cjay's guards were on standby on either sides of the door and along the hallway. Their faces were stoic and their bodies were frozen in a position that held up their long guns, but it was a lot of effort on their part to hold in their confused reactions from the sounds coming from the dressing room.

The sensual moaning slipped from Cjay. He was already stripped down to nothing but a pair of loose-legged swimming trunks while still cuffed to his seat. Just one touch from Natalia and he instantly jerked his head back, almost hanging over the top of the chair's backrest. With closed eyes, he  shook his head left and right every now and then. He would only pause from moaning when he had to swallow or sigh to catch his breath.

On the other hand, Natalia squeezed out more concealer from its bottle to the sponge makeup applicator she was using on Cjay. Then, she carefully bent over him, propping one foot at the edge of the seat, between Cjay's thighs, for balance. She resumed applying concealer on his skin by stroking the wet tip of the sponge on his left collar bone.

"Hngh!!!" Cjay gritted at the touch of the sponge and when Natalia slowly slipped it against his skin, he pulled his head back and released a throaty moan.

Cjay almost jumped out of his seat when Natalia smacked his arm. "Cut it out, will you?" she groaned.

"Ouch!" he spoke at the same time. "Why did you hit me? That will bruise!"

"Because you won't stop that dirty sexy moaning! Quit it, will you?"

He grinned playfully. "So you find my moaning sexy, huh?"

She widened her eyes at him. "No! I'm just describing your intention for moaning which is sexualizing this! You want to sound sexy to give everyone outside the wrong idea!"

"What? Of course, not!" He sounded defensive but he was smirking and chuckling uncontrollably.

She stood straight and crossed her arms. "And you really think I'll believe you?"

He sighed heavily and was forced to admit defeat. After all, he was the one cuffed in here. "I'm sorry for harassing you. I am just getting bored and you're not replying to any of the small talks I initiated earlier. So, I'm just playing with you."

"I can't concentrate if I'll entertain your small talks and little plays, okay?" Natalia returned to her earlier position. "Just stay still, Cjay, so that both of our sufferings from boredom and stress will be over," she demanded in a voice that hinted her controlled irritation.

"Ooh, bossy. Me likey," he teased and gently tugged his cuff on the left wrist. "Seems like I finally figured out your kink. Dom and sub, huh? I bet it turns you on, being in-charge with me. Seeing me cuffed, topless, and defenseless while under your . . . mercy, stroking me . . ." Natalia slowed down to a halt from her task to glare at him. Cjay immediately quipped. ". . . with your sponge."

She looked away and gravely continued what she was doing.

After four grueling hours of makeup session, Natalia showed her work to Miss Mae for a few corrections and touch-ups with the way she did Cjay's makeup. Then, they were all set for the photoshoot.

In all fairness, Cjay was very quick to work with. Natalia had no idea how the modeling industry works, so she could not tell if the photoshoot was done fast because Cjay was doing an excellent job or if the photographers were just hurrying their jobs. But from what she observed, Cjay had been very easily to work with. He knew how to pickup instructions and he moved faster than usual, making her appreciate his work ethic because she knew how hard it was a for a zombie to move faster than they could.

After the photoshoot, Cjay just got dressed and hurried out of the building. Natalia was the last person to leave, since she had to coordinate a bit with Miss Mae and Miss Arena before joining Cjay in the armored van.

But as soon as she got inside the van, she never had any chance to ask Cjay how the photoshoot had been for him. He already sprawled along yhe lengthy seat on his side of the van and dozed off with his left arm and leg dangling. Natalia decided to sit on the floor with her back against Cjay's thigh so that he wouldn't roll off the seat.

***

CJAY yawned irritably when Natalia shook his arms, interrupting his sleep. She immediately sat him up and propped his back against the soft, leather foam headboard. He didn't know where she got the strength to carry out that task with his heavy, corpse body and he was too sleepy to think about it.

Next, she laid out his hand, and left it hanging in the air.

"Hurry," she said in a hushed voice as she opened a silver canister and rolled out one glowing yellow-green capsule on his palm. "Take it."

She capped the canister, set it on his night table and took the tall glass of water to offer it to him. Natalia gaped at him when she saw that he never stirred in his position.

"Hey! Take your immortality pill already!"

"What time is it?" he asked.

Natalia gritted at him. "It'll be eleven soon so just take it!"

"Easy," he frowned sleepily. "I thought you're so brave. See? You don't want me to go berserk as well."

"You wouldn't want to provoke Akira to shoot you, right?"

As Cjay lifted his head and popped the immortality pill in his mouth, his line of sight finally aligned with where Akira stood. He saw the guard in his same stoic face and white uniform, standing a few steps away from his bed with his gun ready and pointed to their direction . . . or his direction.

Natalia handed him the glass of water which Cjay took unconsciously. It took him a few minutes of staring calculatingly at Akira before noticing that he was holding a glass of water. So, he took a little sip before he put the glass on the night table.

"I can't believe it. I've been out since this morning?" he murmured to himself.

"Noon," Natalia corrected. "I can't believe that a photoshoot could tire you out that much."

Cjay settled back on his bed. "Lucky you. You had the rest of your day off, huh?" He closed his eyes.

"Not really. Because I am forced to keep guard here in your room with Akira."

"You watched me sleep?"

"Unfortunately," Natalia scoffed lightly followed by the subtle sound of the glass leaving the night table and his canister being kept back inside its drawer. "I have to clean off the concealer all over your body while doing so."

"Oh, naughty you," he smirked lazily, getting more sleepy the longer his eyes remained closed.

"What naughty? Cjay, I just—"

"It won't hurt to ask for my consent next time, before you touch my body . . ." Then he humorously followed it by singing Mariah Carey's 'Touch My Body,' particularly the part about being thrown and wrestled on the floor.

"Excuse me?" Her tone reached a defensive pitch. "I just cleaned you up as part of my job—" Natalia sighed. "But of course, I should have asked you."

"Nah. I understand. It's easier to work on me when I'm asleep, hmm? There's none of that sexy moaning and small talks."

"Good night, Cjay," Natalia said briefly to cut the conversation, followed by her soft footsteps that grew fainter until they were gone.

A minute or two had passed before Cjay heard Akira's combat boots. He moved to shut the bedroom door. His long gun clanked lightly as the soldier readjusted the way he held the weapon. Cjay didn't have to check to confirm that Akira would be keeping guard of him for tonight. It eas enough to identify him by hearing his unique robust heart beat.

***

"WHERE are you taking that?" a tight voice asked from behind.

Natalia lifted her upper body away from being bent down the chest freezer. The icy blue glow touched her wide, shocked eyes and subtle, bothered expression on her face. The long strands of her hair curtained on both sides of her face, her teeth gritted to control her tension.

She had been very careful and quiet. She even dropped by the kitchen at two in the morning with her little ice box to steal some corpse meat from Cjay's chest freezer to consume in her bedroom.

Natalia slowly straightened up and turned to face where the voice came from. She saw Akira who cradled the bottom of his gun with his left palm, pointing it to the ceiling while his lips were shut tight and his steely eyes were fixed on her. The dark shadows in the room concealed half of his strong stance while a few portion of his dark hair and face, his broad shoulders and his left arm were reached by the icy blue glow from the chest freezer.

Natalia was quick with her alibi. "This is for Cjay."

"He's already asleep."

"Y-Yes." She slowly and testily narrowed her eyes on Akira. "I might forget to pack some snacks for our appointment tomorrow so I am preparing it already."

Akira slowly stepped close to her. It sent her shivers upon realizing how specific and balanced his walk wad even if his eyes never left her.

"Where's your appointment tomorrow?"

'Is he coming with us? Isn't he supposed to sleep during the day and stay up at night to guard Cjay?'

Natalia quickly answered to dissipate any suspicion from Akira. "We're coming back to Latest magazine's office to check the printouts of Cjay's photos. I hope they'll come out well. Damn, it's a hassle to work in a photoshoot session. I had to put makeup on Cjay for four hours! And I never even applied that much makeup on myself in my entire life!"

She may sound exaggerated or too excited. A blabbermouth. But Natalia hoped her acting convinced Akira that she was carefree and nonchalant.

Akira stopped in front of her. He didn't smile but Natalia seemed to see a shadow of that amused smile on his straight lips and relaxed eyes.

"Wrap it up already. I have to continue my rounds," he replied gently while still staring at her.

Natalia took it as a cue to hurry up stuffing meat in the ice box and mixing it with some ice cubes before shutting both the chest freezer and the ice box.

"Thanks, Akira," she said hurriedly and had already walked past him before she turned to him. Natalia just remembered something. "Question."

Akira slowly turned to face her. He gave a her a look that said he was waiting for her to continue talking, so Natalia did.

"On our first meeting, you said that you are assigned to protect me. So . . . why are you spending most of your time with Cjay? You aren't even with us yesterday on our appointment to Latest magazine."

His eyebrows furrowed curiously, followed by a serious question from him. "Missed me?"

Natalia choked. "What? No—" She swallowed because she didn't know if she was about to choke or cough. Something just blocked in her throat that she had to swallow first before resuming. "What kind of question is that? I-I am just confused about your role here . . . About your line of job, you know. I deserve to know the responsibilities of the people who are around my boss, since I'm the assistant, right?" she blabbered so quick she wondered how Akira was able to grasp every word she just said.

"I slept for eight hours then had an afternoon meeting with the President," Akira explained. "I asked about your appointment because this afternoon, I will be able to accompany you."

Natalia only moved her eyes as she looked away from Akira.

"And Cjay," Akira continued.

"O—" Natalia was about to respond but sue almost jumped when her eyes returned on Akira and she saw him point his long gun at her followed by a crisp cocking of it. "Shit—"

Akira nudged his gun up, pointing it almost at the level of Natalia's head. She was about to hug the ice box in fear but a quick hand swiped it away from her.

Natalia turned and saw Cjay holding up thE ice box before he swung down his arm. A red laser light dotted on his forehead but he didn't showed any reaction about it. "I'm keeping my snack for our trip this morning to Latest magazine."

"What are you doing here? I thought you're already asleep!" Natalia exclaimed with a little gasp.

"I usually have my midnight snacks. Remember?"  Cjay answered boredly before he limped away from her and Akira, heading out of the kitchen.

'B-But . . . that's my late dinner!' Natalia cried at the back of her mind while watching Cjay sway away with her lips curling into a sad quivery wave.

***

AT ten in the morning, everyone were already in their respective vehicles. The convoy and arrangement of seats were the same as it was yesterday.

Natalia was still secretly sulking about her missed late dinner of icy cold corpse that Cjay stole from her. Meanwhile, Cjay didn't seem to notice the cold treatment from her because he was having a nap in the armored van while on the way to Latest magazine's office building.

As agreed upon, Akira accompany them in the afternoon after their appointment with Miss Arena and other staff of Latest magazine. After everyone agreed and approved on the content and photos that would be published by the magazine, their convoy took their route back to Malacañang Palace. At this point, they stopped using the armored van and hopped into the car that Kuya Rick usually drives. Akira sat in between Cjay and Natalia at the back seat while the driver and another armed guard positioned to the front.

Cjay was still recovering from the energy consuming photoshoot he had yesterday, hence the another nap he was having in the car. Meanwhile, Natalia busied herself by looking at the view outside the window. When they passed by San Laurel Hospital, her heart thumped so hard it was if she was kicked by it from inside her chest. She sat straight and followed the building with her eyes as the car slowly rolled past it. There were still traffic cones and barricades around it. A few armed guards and militia vehicles made sure that human entries and exits were controlled and monitored. People stopped crowding around the place and walking people casually passed it by like nothing happened there a day ago.

"The hospital is still closed?" Natalia murmured.

Akira kept his eyes to the front as he spoke. "It's been closed since the incident."

"What about the patients? I mean, those who needs medical attention?"

"Home service. Team Aegis got everything covered."

Natalia could not look at Akira. She didn't have the time to figure out if it was because she didn't want to see the truth on her face or if she eas ashamed for what she did to the zombie victims there. "Are there survivors? Is the incident telecasted on TV?" 'I got so busy I forgot to keep tabs. Or maybe, I am avoiding anything related to the zombie attack in the hospital because I didn't want anyone to know that I was there . . .'

"The people are informed about the incident. The Citadel is a small city after all."

Natalia kept silent, waiting for Akira to relay any news about the survivors.

"There are survivors."

"What did they say?" Natalia sat straight and faced the front because the hospital was already out of sight. "Did they confirm that there had been a zombie attack?"

"I am not part of the operation, so I don't have that kind of information."

"You don't even know if the zombie itself was caught or killed by the militia? They searched the building, right?"

Akira never glanced at her. He looked so stoic but his eyes seemed to hold more words than the words that he releases from his mouth.

"The people will be informed once the investigation is done. The best thing you can do is to focus on your job, Natalia."

As the car took a gentle turn to the left of the road, Cjay dropped on his side. He ended up with his body leaning against Akira who remained stiff in his position.

Natalia shifted her eyes between Akira and Cjay.

"But for your peace of mind," Akira continued, "we will know what really happened in the hospital sooner than we expect. After all, the Lawin Ops are supposed to retrieve the recorded CCTV footages in the hospital."

Natalia's eyes widened as she blankly stared at sleeping Cjay.

'Fuck!'