I am lucky because this month, I got assigned the graveyard shift. It will give me enough time to drop by her office during her lunch break and come back after her work hours. I know there’s always the possibility of her accusing me as a stalker, but there’s always this nagging feeling that if I put this off, I may never get the chance to go after her again. I don’t understand why, but nowadays, it somehow feels like I’m in a race against time and sadly, I’m on the losing end.

I’m preparing the food that I’ll bring for her lunch when I heard Jonghyun laughing in the background.

“Hyung! Is it for real?! You spilled coffee on her dress? Again?! This is what? The fourth time you did that? The first meeting, then the second, another during an important lunch meeting with her company’s potential project investors, and the one wherein you accidentally knocked down Joon hyung’s coffee while we were watching a movie. I think that movie house incident tops them all.” he said as he held his stomach in laughter.

“Fifth, hyung. You forgot to add that incident wherein they met each other again in that same café where it all began. They were arguing over a cup of coffee and no one wants to give in because they were running late in their respective jobs. To make matters worse, they were fighting over the wrong cup of coffee. The tug of war over that poor cup was hilarious especially when it splashed all over their clothes! You should’ve seen the look on their faces!

Oh and the real owner of that drink was furious. It was funny to see hyung and his dream girl turn a 180 as they apologized for the ruckus they caused. The older man even scolded them to keep their lover’s quarrel away from the public eye.” Jungshin added. I was going to defend myself again but Jonghyun was faster.

“And yet you’re still brave enough to show your face to her after that incident?” he walked towards where I am and started sifting through my work. I told him to go wash his hands before touching anything else on the table.

“What is this? You’re even packing up lunch for her? Who are you and what did you do to my hyung?! Whoa, uri Jung Yonghwa is jinjja daebak!!!” he said as he kept laughing.

“And here I thought Minhyuk was the only cheesy namja in the group. Aish. Yonghwa hyung is worse. I don’t think that Engineer you fascinate so much is the least bit interested. It’s okay to give up. I bet there are a million other girls waiting to have a chance to be with you.” Jungshin teased me.

I sighed, stared at the ceiling aimlessly and closed my eyes. Her face immediately pops into my mind and I could feel myself smiling uncontrollably. There’s something about her that I can’t explain. This isn’t just an attraction that is guaranteed to fade away. I don’t really know how to make others understand because even I have a hard time trying to search for a plausible explanation.

“I don’t care about the million other girls. I just want one. And that’s none other than Engineer Seo.” I replied. Jonghyun and Jungshin raised their hands in an act of defeat as they laughed.

“It’s official. He’s a lost case.” Jonghyun said.

“Completely whipped.” Jungshin added.

I ignored the rest of their teasing remarks as I took the lunch I prepared and headed out the door.

It was Tuesday when we met for the second time and since then, he has never failed to show up and continue on with the chase. In all fairness to him, he respected my personal space (always maintaining a 3-4 feet distance) and didn’t do anything to intimidate me or make me feel that I’m dealing with a creepy, erted stalker (albeit a handsome and charming one).

My crush is treading on the danger zone with every smooth pickup line wedged between some trivias, facts, or book quotes he’d say. My unnies would jokingly bring out some scissors saying they should cut down my hair before it gets any longer.

Anyway, at first it was cute, but by the fifth time he spilled coffee on yet another signature and costly dress, I was fumigating in anger. I yelled at him and demanded that he go away otherwise he’d be served with an ice cold restraining order as soon as possible. I didn’t wait nor give him the chance to apologize as I huffed and left.

However, that same evening, I saw him standing below my apartment’s balcony (I live on the seventh floor), struggling as he held up a gigantic placard which said:

There was a pink box right next to a large fluffy yellow (I first mistook the plush toy as a block of cheese) teddy bear which held a bouquet of purple hyacinths. In the language of flowers, purple hyacinths meant “I am sorry,” or “Please forgive me.” I knew he didn’t choose those flowers randomly. I knew he knew what it meant and that he also knew that I knew what it mean. Weird. Is this what you call a connection?

“If it were up to me, I’d stay out here until you come down, but the kids are waiting and I can’t fail them by not showing up when I said I would. I hope you understand why it is so important that I don’t disappoint them.” He said apologetically. He looked like a lost puppy that I couldn’t help but to go down and meet him before he left.

“I knew it. You couldn’t resist me.” He grinned as he handed me that box and the yellow teddy. I hate it because he knows that he’s right and I hate it even more because I can’t bring myself to hate myself for feeling this way. Aish. Am I making any sense right now? I doubt it.

“Whatever. Just wanted you to know that I do recognize this act of undoing and yeah, apology accepted. Now, off you go. You wouldn’t want to keep the kids waiting.” I shooed him off just when his vampire and avatar looking chingus arrived to fetch him.

I didn’t notice that the smile remained on my face until such time I looked up to see Hyoyeon, Taeyeon, Sooyoung, and Yoona unnies sport this mischievous facial expression. The squeals and teases filled the place and they urged me to open the box. I laughed hard upon seeing the things it contained – a raincoat, umbrella, hydrogen peroxide (with a note saying it helps lighten the coffee stain in urgent situations), wet wipes, as well as a plush toy with Yo~ng’s picture printed on it.

There was a handwritten letter tucked in a neat blue envelope and I couldn’t hide the blush as I was “forced” (more like me, wanting to brag about it, not that I’d admit to that) to read it out loud:

I literally had to endure endless hours of teasing from my unnies and it didn’t help either that I enjoyed being the center of attention. I think I may have rivaled Rapunzel when it comes to letting down my hair from being chased by such a dashing prince, oops, sorry. I meant, Nurse. Nurse Jung.

There was also a time we met at a bus stop. I knew it was purely coincidental. He tried to catch my attention several times but I pretended to ignore him.

“A bee has 5 eyes.” I heard him say. I instantly looked towards his direction as I asked,

“And what’s that got to do with me?”

“Nothing. Just in case you noticed, I’ve been desperately trying to get you to notice me. This was just a random way to start a conversation. At least it worked, right? Oh and before you ask, a bee really has five eyes. The three ocelli are simple eyes that discern light intensity, while each of the two large compound eyes contains about 6,900 facets and is well suited for detecting movement.

In fact, honeybees can perceive movements that are separated by 1/300th of a second. Humans can only sense movements separated by 1/50th of a second. Were a bee to enter a cinema, it would be able to differentiate each individual movie frame being projected. Amazing isn’t it? But I think it’s even more amazing that our paths crossed at this time. Is this what you call fate?” he smiled at me and just like that, I was a goner yet again.

How can this man be so charming and smart at the same time? Is he unaware that such a combo is lethal to my heart? Where can I go get myself some ammo that would have the same deadly effect on him? It’s not fair that only I, would experience such a thing.

We chatted about a lot of things during the bus ride until the two of us didn’t even notice we both missed our stop and even fell asleep. The driver angrily woke us up when we reached the final station.

There’s something about this Nurse Jung that I couldn’t explain. It’s like I’m caught up in this gravitational pull and there’s nothing I could do to prevent myself from the fall. I should be scared and hesitant at how fast things are escalating at this point, but at the same time, there’s this part of me that urges to just seize the moment and never let it go. At the back of my mind, there’s this unknown feeling that time is not in our favor. I don’t know why and I don’t think I can deal overanalyzing my gut feeling.

My trip down memory lane was cut short when I received a video call notification on Skype. The ringing sound brought me back to the present. I was busy reviewing some paper work so I didn’t bother checking the username as I immediately clicked the answer button.

“UNNIE!!! Where are you? You haven’t texted me the name of the restaurant and the time you’re supposed to meet your blind date!” Krystal’s voice echoed in my office.

Crap. That blind date! Oh no. How could that have slipped my mind?! It slipped because a guy named Jung Yonghwa kept occupying your thoughts… Aish! Stop!

“Please don’t tell me you forgot about it…” she paused for a while as she examined my face. Like I said, I was and never will be a good actress so my expression betrayed me at once.

“Oh my gosh, you totally did! Please unnie, don’t ditch him this time. It’s okay if this would be the first and last time you’d meet. I’ll understand. I’ll never mention this to you again just as long as you see him tonight.

You don’t even have to stay for an hour or so. You can just show your face and leave and I wouldn’t be mad at you. Please unnie…for me? For Minhyuk oppa? Please…” she begged. I could hear her voice crack and I swear I could almost hear Sica unnie’s voice in my head telling me to go hand her little sister a lollipop or some candy before she cries, otherwise I’m doomed.

“I promised to meet him, Krystal, and I will. I’ll see