Chapter 16: Signs that you are a fanboy

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Mark's pov.
Mark will not able to see Junior in person now that filming has ended... or will he?

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Mark groans when he hears his alarm ring, because he remembers that filming for the video had ended yesterday (and he won’t have any reason to see Junior in person again). Not only that, he has to start on editing for that project, in addition to the extra video that got dumped on him yesterday when someone had fell sick. All in all, it doesn’t sound like a good day to wake up and go to work, but Mark dutifully gets off the bed to wash up, because he’d learnt some responsibility growing up.

As he’s getting cereal and milk for his breakfast, Mark sees his phone on the table, and decides that maybe he’ll have time to indulge in some videos before work today. Actually, he almost always indulges in youtube videos over breakfast ever since he started living alone, but he had skipped the morning routine for the last few days during filming (it’s because he only ever watches Junior’s videos during his morning routine, and it’ll be weird to do that and see Junior at work later, so Mark had skipped it).

As he clicks on an old Ju_ni_eo video, one of his favourites (saved in a playlist for easy viewing), Mark hums, pouring milk onto his cornflakes, letting Junior’s voice chatting about some book wash over him to carry away the dreariness of the morning.

In his office, Mark finds an email telling him that the video he’s helping whoever is on sick leave edit isn’t due so soon, and all the footage won’t be done until at least 2 weeks later, so he can just take his time and edit the parts he has for now. Mark takes it as a sign that he should just start on the video he’s actually responsible for, instead of the one he’s helping someone cover, and pulls up all the files he’d transferred from the cameras to his computer.

Even though Mark hadn’t been too thrilled about editing this morning, he quickly finds himself engrossed in his work, until someone knocks on his door. “Come in,” he says, hoping it’s loud enough, as he continues t video files.

“Mark, hey, are you busy?”

Mark looks up from his computer to see Amber and Amy at the door, and he raises his eyebrows, “Sort of. Why are you guys here?”

Amber turns to give Amy a wink, before she stage-whispers, “Amy just thought of a really fun video idea, and we’re looking for people to take part.”

Mark lets go of his mouse, stretching his wrists and fingers, stiff from editing the whole morning. He’s curious now, though he’s also kind of worried because Amy has whacky ideas sometimes, but he finds himself asking anyway, “What kind of video are you talking about?”

“Ta-dah!” Amy gestures as she dangles something shiny from her other hand, and Mark’s squinting because… are those handcuffs?

“100 points for a great observation, Mark,” Amber jokes, and Mark realizes he had spoken aloud.

“What are the handcuffs for?” Mark asks, suspicious, “And are you sure this is for a Buzzfeed video?”

“Ooh~ Are you into stuff, Mark?” Amy teases, but adds, “I thought it’ll be fun to have 2 people be handcuffed to each other for 24 hours, and see what happens. We’re thinking of going with close friends or couples for the first video, so that it won’t be too awkward. But really, I’ll love to see colleagues who don’t know each other well do the same too, if only because it’ll be so hilarious.”

“Uh-huh, so you’re here to ask me because…”

“We were gonna ask you if you’ll want to do this with JB, because Amber and I are cool with being handcuffed to each other for 24 hours, but it won’t be that fun if there’s only the 2 of us trying this.”

Amy’s saying everything with a straight face, like she’s discussing the weather and not talking about handcuffing 2 people together for an entire day just for a video. Mark wonders if he can excuse himself from their crazy idea, because he has lots of editing to do, without having to drag JB around for 24 hours, close friends or not. He sighs, considering what’s the best way to let down the 2 eager faces in front of him with the least fuss, until he suddenly thinks of something –

“Wait, you said you also want to handcuff people who don’t know each other well, right? I have 2 people you might be interested to ask.”

Amber and Amy leave, giggling like teenage girls (instead of the adult women they are) once they hear Mark’s suggestion, and he’ll be glad to finally get back to his work, if not for the fact that he feels like he might have betrayed JB. Eh, it’s not like they’ll actually get JB to agree to do the video, so maybe Mark’s just worrying too much. Still, Mark glances at his phone, wondering if he should text JB a warning in advance.

He spends too long staring that he forgets what he’s supposed to do, so Mark turns back to his computer and resumes editing. It’s only when there’s a loud series of knocks on his door, followed by said door being opened without warning, does Mark remember what he had been staring at his phone for. I was supposed to text JB, whoops.

JB’s standing inside Mark’s office, cl