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Zee stared at the silent phone, heart pounding against his ribs like it wanted out. NuNew never hung up on him. Ever. This was a first.
He grabbed his jacket and keys and walked straight out of the workshop studio, barely hearing anyone calling after him. On the drive home, his knuckles white around the steering wheel, his brain refused to shut up. He went over every option chasing Nunew, texting him, showing up at his place, calling again anything to fix whatever this was before it got worse.
But the more he thought, the more he realized he didn't know how.
One week later they met again for a costume fitting/Shoot
NuNew didn't look at him.
He walked in like nothing had happened smiling, bowing, greeting staff, makeup team, the director, the wardrobe aunties, the interns...everyone except Zee.
Zee sat in his chair pretending to scroll through his phone even though his screen was black. His eyes kept flicking up, waiting hoping for NuNew to glance at him, acknowledge him, anything yet somehow he skipped Zee like he was furniture.
The director clapped his hands together.
"Alright boys, blocking practice for Episode 7. Morning after Kirin slept out scene. Talk it out. Get close, test angles. Let's go."
NuNew finally looked at Zee.
But not softly. Not with that gentle warm gaze that always melted Zee's insides. This time the look in NuNew's eyes was pure work, neutral and Zee hated it
NuNew walked closer until Zee's breath hit his throat. NuNew inhaled, steadying himself, keeping his face blank. He'd decided after the workshop to let go. Let go of feelings, expectations, and dreams of being something other than Zee's beloved younger brother. If Zee didn't want to kiss him, fine. If Zee didn't want to see him as a man, fine. NuNew would approach him as if it were work. Just work.
Zee felt the familiar pull, the magnetism he'd spent two years trying to deny except NuNew wasn't giving him anything back now. No teasing, no spark, no blush. Just professionalism. It felt like punishment.
Zee swallowed as NuNew stepped into his space. He smelled like perfume that wasn't his something new, something sweet and expensive and Zee hated how much that bothered him.
Zee hated how quickly he identified it as not his scent.
It wasn't just jealousy that hit him first. There was something darker. Something territorial and ugly that curled low in his stomach and made his jaw clench.
Because whoever had this scent that was on Nunew had been somewhere Zee was too scared to dare to be.
And for the first time in two years, Zee felt something sharp inside him fear. What if NuNew really was letting go? What if Zee had just lost the only person he'd finally opened his heart to, without realizing it until now?
"I hope this scene isn't too intimate for you," NuNew murmured, voice pitched low enough that only Zee could hear. There was no sweetness in the tone.
Zee heard the sacazim in Nunew's tone but ignored it
Instead, he stepped into his character and delivered his line, "Where were you last night, Kirin? Why didn't you come home? Who permitted you to sleep out? Why didn't you pick up my calls?"
Except that last one wasn't in the script. Not even close.
NuNew's lashes flicked up, eyes narrowing just slightly. "That isn't in the script," he whispered back, mouth barely moving.
"Answer me," Zee said out loud, keeping his character's voice, giving NuNew no room to escape without breaking.
NuNew exhaled slowly through his nose, as if deciding whether to play along or detonate the entire scene. Then he delivered his scripted line, voice soft but loaded:
"Hia'Lian, I'm not a child. I can go wherever I want. It's not like you even care about me. I don't understand why you're making a fuss about it."
The director glanced down at the script, brows drawn. The dialogue was off, but the energy was good. He nodded, satisfied. "Good. The tension's perfect!"
But Zee wasn't done.
"Why haven't you been answering my calls?" he pushed, dropping the character entirely now.
NuNew dropped his too. "Because I don't have to."
Zee's jaw clenched. "I know you're mad at me. How am I supposed to apologize when I can't contact you? I went to your house multiple times and you weren't there. Where were you?"
NuNew blinked, the calm he'd been holding cracking finally. "Hia, I know you think of me as your actual little brother. But you don't have to. Because I don't see you as my big brother. So stop worrying about me. And I don't have to report myself to you. We are just co-workers. We are nothing to each other. Let's stick to that, Hia."
The words didn't just hit. Zee felt them like a punch to the heart, knocking the air out of his lungs. For two years he'd gotten used to NuNew's warmth; he did not know how to survive NuNew's coldness.
He didn't think. He just grabbed NuNew's arm and pulled him closer.
The director blinked twice. "...Cut. Okay. Wow. That was-uh-okay. Let's take five."
NuNew yanked his arm free and walked off the set, not a single look spared in Zee's direction.
Zee followed immediately. Heart first, logic nowhere in sight.
Zee caught up to him halfway down the hallway, sneakers scuffing against the concrete floor as Nunew tried to walk faster.
"Nu-stop!" Zee grabbed his wrist again, fingers tightening with a desperation he didn't get to hide this time.
Nunew yanked, but Zee held firm.
"What was that?" Zee breathed, chest rising and falling. "We're nothing to each other? Since when?"
"I should be the one asking you what that was about Hia" Nunew said as he turned around. His face wasn't angry it was tired. The kind of tired that came from caring too much for too long.
"Hia," he said quietly, "it's been two years. Two years of me trying. Two years of me waiting for you to see me and you never did. So yes, I'm done."
"You think I don't see you?" Zee fired back before he could filter himself. "Nu, I do."
"Then why do you treat me like a child?" Nunew demanded, voice cracking and eyes shining but refusing to fall. "You can't even do your job properly you kept avoiding kissing me during the workshop how are we going to act the scene if you can't kiss me Hia and why do you keep calling yourself my brother when I never asked you to? I hate it. I hate it so much I can't even explain it."
Zee swallowed hard. He hadn't been prepared for that. Not the honesty, not the vulnerability, not the ache in Nunew's voice that made his own chest feel tight.
"I was trying to protect you," Zee said quietly.
"From what?!" Nunew shot back. "From myself, from yourself, what exactly?"
Silence fell between them.
Zee opened his mouth, but the words got stuck in his throat.
Nunew scoffed and wiped under his eyes before anything could fall. "Exactly."
He pulled his wrist free this time, and Zee let him.
He didn't know if it was guilt or fear or something else entirely, but watching Nunew walk away felt like watching a door close that might never open again.
He took a shaky breath and exhaled, voice barely audible.
"Nu," he called out.
But Nunew didn't stop or turn.
He made a move to chase after him, but Max his co-star and the other lead caught him by the arm, halting him.
"Let him cool off," Max said. He'd heard enough of their tense exchange to piece together the situation. His eyes flicked toward the hallway Nunew disappeared into. "Pushing now will only make it worse."
Zee's chest felt tight, breaths uneven with frustration he didn't know how to swallow. His fingers curled against his own thigh. "I don't know what to do," he admitted, voice cracking open in a way he hated.
Max said lowering his voice. "Go to him tonight so that you guys can talk privately."
Zee took Max's advice and forced himself back into the rhythm of production, finishing the day beside Nunew as if nothing had passed between them.
Nunew returned from his five-minute break cool, composed, and unreadable professional to the bone, as if nothing had happened.
They filmed cleanly. They hit marks. They nailed shots that would make fans lose their minds. And yet every stolen glance, every brush of proximity, every breath too close carried a hot, electric static that made Zee's stomach twist.
On the surface they were perfect.
Underneath, Zee felt like he was bleeding.
He wanted to drag Nunew aside, pin him to the walk, touch him until he understood why he was feeling this way. Until they burned through the damn wall between them.