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Have you ever had someone perform the Heimlich on you? Or to be more specific, have you ever had a stranger perform the Heimlich on you? In front of your date? And many others?

While enjoying a cool glass of milk tea, smiling at your date and politely laughing at his dull, tasteless, self-absorbed story, you took a small sip – a teeny, tiny small one – when you felt a lump in your throat. Literally.

Your eyes turned wide. You didn’t dare breath but that was kinda idiotic, you thought. You swallowed hard, trying and begging for the pearl to slide down. It won’t budge. It’s still there. You smacked your chest repeatedly while your mind automatically sang dumb ways to die.

Is this the end?

Is this how you die?

You stood up. Now you got your date’s attention. But he stayed seated with the dumbest look on his face as he stared at you in confusion.

With your hand desperately clutching your throat and your other pounding your chest desperately, someone ran towards you, shouting something at your ear though you weren’t sure what it was.

Sturdy arms wrapped around your waist with his fist pushed against your abdomen. It was painful but that was nothing on what’s to come.

The stranger then awkwardly his fist against your stomach, almost lifting you off the ground. Once. Twice. Thrice. The stranger releases his hold on you and asks you if you’re okay but his voice was muffled like hearing from underwater. You hoped you were underwater. It’s better than what’s happening now.

You watched as the black, shiny, ball of tapioca pearl roll on the table to a stop just before your date…after it hit him in the eye and rebounded. He looked at it. Now, you. Now, back to the pearl.

And honestly, you don’t even remember what happened next. All you know is that your date never called you back anymore. It wasn’t a problem. It wasn’t going well with him anyway. But you also remember wanting to go hide in a hole and die. All you wanted is to erase that memory gone. The boredom mixed with frustration as your date continuously cut you off, the 30 second moment of writing your last will and testament mentally, and the feeling of having all eyes on you and the tapioca. All of it. Gone forever. Not impossible, right? Even after a few months? Wrong.

Because you forgot one tiny yet really important factor: the stranger. Why again? Because he was a stranger. You thanked him afterwards (though it was so fast and your voice was so soft, you wonder if he actually heard it) and that was it. No connection whatsoever. Bzzt. Wrong again.

Because though he’s a stranger whom you’ve never seen before, it doesn’t mean that you’ll never see him again. On weekdays and some weekends, for the next few months, to be specific.

---

“Have you seen him?”

It was this question that greeted you first thing in the morning. You heard it from the security guard. You heard it from the cleaning people. You heard it from the receptionist. You heard it buzzing in the air from almost everyone at work.

“Seen who?”

“The new director. Since Director Jihyun is on maternity leave, he was transferred from the main branch to ours,” your cubicle neighbor and kind-of-assistant, Ha Won, answered. “They say he’s really good with marketing and sales. I don’t know about that but he looks kind of scary. I saw a glimpse of him when I passed by his office while he was on the phone. But even though he looked scary, his side profile is totally–” you glanced at Ha Won after her silence. She gave you two thumbs up and wiggled her eyebrows playfully at you.

“Oh please,” you said as you arranged the papers on your desk and filed the finished proposals at a corner. “Your standards are totally different from mine. Remember that milk tea guy you introduced me to? Never again.”

“Hey,” she said with offense in her tone. “I didn’t think he would be a coward and an . And why are you acting like I’m introducing the new director to you for a date? Speaking of,” she handed you a half-inch-thick folder of documents then tapped on the cover, “the final designs for the ads that you needed.”

“And why is this a ‘speaking of’ topic?”

“Because once you finalize the proposal, you,” she pointed at you with a sly smile, “are finally going to see what everyone’s been talking about.”

You stayed to watch her happily go back to her own work when you wondered: just how great is he that’s he’s got people talking about him during his first day?

“You sure you’re staying for lunch?” Ha Won asked after four hours of tedious work.

“Not done yet,” you answered, your eyes not leaving your computer screen. “I’ll sneak out to get something after. This one needs to be done today.”

Ha Won frowned and seemed to hesitate before deciding to let you do your thing. “Alright. I’ll just go get you something easy to eat when I come back. Okay?”

You looked up to her and beamed. “You’re a savior.”

And with that, the whole floor was almost empty, with three others busily working on their own in the confines of their mini square offices. The printer gearing up for long prints, one or two calls from different phones, the tapping of fingers on the keyboard and the soft hum of the air conditioning filled the usually noisier and livelier office.

“But of course, this doesn’t mean no coffee for me.” While waiting for your papers to finish printing, you got up and walked towards the pantry.

Humming as you waited for your mug to be filled, your heard footsteps arrive and stop behind you.

“Oh. Good afternoon. Staying in for lunch?” a bright sounding voice asked, the clinking of mugs and spoons and powdered coffee being poured sounded in the background. “Must be tough.”

“Same goes to you,” you smiled and turned to him. Your grip on the mug’s handle loosened for a second making you spill a bit of hot coffee on the floor.

“Are you okay?” he said, his eyes shifting from the spilled brown liquid on the floor and to your hand. “Are you hurt?”

You wanted your soul to escape or have the ground open up and swallow you whole – whichever lets you get away from this situation faster. His eyes turned round (which is a funny thing to say for someone with pointy eyes) and a sickening bright smile made its way to his lips. The memories that you’ve pounded, chained, crushed, and buried has suddenly resurrected.

“Tapioca??”

“Tap…what?”

“It is you! The one who almost choked in the café, Tapioca!” he said clapping his hands together. “You work here?”

“I…how about you?? Heimlich guy.”

“Heim...I’m new,” he shrugged. “Oh wait.” He grabbed tissues from the holder and wiped your hand then the spilled coffee on the floor after making sure you were alright. “Must not add up to their work,” he mumbles.

“You’re new?” you said after getting your senses back. “What department?”

A phone rang from behind you and you soon heard your name being called as well as the name of an important client.

“I’ll get back to you,” you said, hurriedly leaving while protecting your coffee from spilling.

Mr. Heimlich, with his coffee still lacking water, smiled at himself as he watched you run in urgency while amusingly partnered with cautiousness. He placed a hand on his hip and tilted his head. “Who knew?”

---

You shook your head clear of the Heimlich guy from before. You’ll deal with him later. You took a deep breath and held the finished proposal close to you. All you needed was the director’s approval and signature. You’ve handled various 'scary’ directors before. Even some clients were worse. How bad can this one be?

You knocked on the door thrice before pushing the door open.

“Excuse me…” You scanned the room for any sign of the director. None. You looked around. The office used to be filled with soft music when Director Jihyun was around. This time, the office was quiet. The blinds were also drawn and made the office dark. And on the table was a new name plaque.

“Yoon Doojoon…” You clutched the folder tight. “Should I just leave it? Uh but he might be different from Jihyun.” The new director; someone from the main branch. Scary looking. Good in marketing. A shiver went down your spine. In this type of time-sensitive and always-changing-even-to-the-last-minute industry, the rumors being true about the new director has a 100% probability of being true.

Just then, the door opened. It was Mr. Heimlich. “Ms. Tapioca?”

“What are you doing here?” you hissed.

“Me?”

You pointed to the plaque on the table. “The new director might see you.”

“Really?” his eyes shifted to where you’re pointing. He smiled.

“Hey,” you placed a hand on your hip. “You still haven’t answered my question. From what department are you?”

“Oh me. Uh…”

The door opened again and in came Director Kim from Finance. “Director Yoon,” she nodded at Mr. Heimlich then to you.

“Yes?” Mr. Heimlich answered.

“I apologize I wasn’t able to introduce you to the team. It was very hectic this morning in our department; I had to settle some things first.”

“No worries. I also had to finish something this morning. And the team seemed busy as well,” Mr. Yoon-Heimlich turned to smile at you before speaking softly. “Especially Ms. Tapioca right here.”

“Let me introduce you officially to them.” Director Kim opened the door and lead everyone out.

Walking right behind them and following them back to the office was like reliving a dream. Except the dream was horrible and instead of two directors, two big tapioca pearls are rolling right in front.

“Everyone,” Director Kim announced drawing everyone’s attention. “I would like you all to meet our new temporary director, Director Yoon.”

Time froze. Somewhere, someone clicked the pause button in life. All heads were turned. All eyes were directed towards the new director. All was quiet. It was like watching a herd of sheep suddenly finding a wolf in their presence. It was, as you thought, probably caused by the rumors and the serious, almost killer look the new director was giving. That was until he smiled.

“Good afternoon. I am Yoon Doojoon, the temporary director of this department. I will be working with everyone until Director Han comes back well and healthy. I’ve heard many good things from this department. I hope to work well with everyone,” he finishes with a bow and an even warmer smile.

And somewhere, someone clicked the play button and the terrified sheep were no more. Instead, everyone seemed to be in a blissful daze as they stared at the smiling director.

“That will be all,” Director Kim concludes as she left.

Mr. Heimlich. No. Doojoon. Ah. That’s not right either. Director Yoon turned to you and smiled a smile so sweet you were sure you were ready to choke again. “Weren’t you going to give me something, Ms. Tapioca?”

And this went on the whole day.

Ms. Tapioca this. Ms. Tapioca that. Slowly, all eyes from the sheep were turning towards you. It’s a good thing they weren’t looking at you in fear or in anger. But was it better that they’re looking at you as sheep that have turned into wolves, ready to tease the living hell out of you? Asking what your relationship is with him and giving you sly smiles? Nope. Not one bit better than the previously expected outcomes.

“Are you ready to go, Ms. Tapioca?” one of your co-workers teased as she prepared her things. It was supposed to be dinner night with everyone. However, dinner after what happened this day paired with alcohol and your co-workers just isn’t the right mix right now. You had to escape. Or at least give them a good enough reason for them to leave you alone.

You let your smile dissolve into a frown and rubbed your temples for greater effect. “I still need to finalize a few things. It’ll take a while. Go ahead.”

“For the last time, stop working overtime when you don’t need to,” Ha Won said.

“I’m not working overtime. But this is important.”

“Seriously. What do I do with you?” she said folding her arms. “Well, it’s not like I can do anything about it. Then, see you tomorrow!”

“See you,” you waved sadly and watched as they left. Waiting for a few more minutes to make sure no one else is in, you let out a relieved sigh. “That was easier than expected. Time to go home.”

You walked past the director’s office when his voice caught your attention. It wasn’t only because of his voice but because of his honey-like overly-sugared high tone.

“Yes. I understand already. I love you, too. Bye~”

You froze. Standing in front of the table was Doojoon, smiling sweetly at your direction. That is until he realized you were there and his eyes (for the second time today) turned round.

“I’m sorry! I did not know you were still here. I wasn’t eavesdropping!” you said quickly, your eyes wandering everywhere except him. Your whole body was ready to run off. But your feet remained planted on the floor.

He seemed to quickly recover from his surprise when he straightened up. He glanced at the sides with a shy smile, his hands helplessly flailing in the air. “It’s alright! That was my mom. She kept on saying sorry for not greeting me earlier.”

“Greeting you?”

“Ah. It’s my birthday. She was busy and didn’t have time to call.”

“Ah…I see.”

The smile plastered on his face stayed as his feet fidgeted. With nobody else in the area, the hum of the air conditioner at least provided the missing sounds that should be present.

“Wanna go out and eat dinner? My treat. Since it’s my birthday…and I can’t really eat alone,” he added quietly.

“W-why should I?” you blurted out, the tips of your ears growing hot. Looking at him fold from shyness and embarrassment was a completely different look from his director side. “You called me tapioca the whole day. Everyone is looking weirdly at me now. A-and for the record, tapioca is a starch from a root. It’s not the pearls.”

“Ah. Then it’s a good thing not many people know that,” he chuckled, hanging his head down. “Then, as an apology, I’ll treat you to dinner.”

The smile on his face softened. His pointy eyes that turned round when he first saw you, his eyes that turned playful the moment he called you that ridiculous nickname…it’s the same pair of eyes that are looking at you with such shyness and softness right now. “Would you like to, y/n?”

You felt your cheeks flush red with annoyance or so you would like to think. How can a person be so…cute??

“Well…just this once!” You averted your eyes from his that seem to bore through your soul at the moment. “I’m going only because you’ll look lonely eating alone...and because today is your birthday. Let’s go!”

Doojoon watched you walk out with an amusingly troubled look on your face that he can’t help but have a smile forming on his own lips. He ran towards your side and grinned. “Would you like to drink coffee instead?”