You’re seated at your cubicle, editing the finishing touches to the set of images from your supervisor. It was a simple task of adjusting the contrast and clarity of the image and inserting the watermark, or bringing the picture to life –if your were to quote your supervisor. Your fingers fly over the keyboard and mouse while frantic clicks were heard as you made a few changes to the images. Putting one hundred percent concentration and determined to submit them by today, you didn’t realize someone approaching as few sudden taps on your desk made you jump in your seat. You looked up and met eyes with Dabin, your chief editor. Her presence managed to get Doyeon's attention, whose cubicle was just next to you. “How’s the interview with the boxing club coming along?” Dabin asked, eyes scanning your computer screen.

“We’ve finished interviewing Kang Daniel and Park Jihoon, but Park Woojin wasn’t available so we had to reschedule his interview soon,” Doyeon answered on behalf of both of you.

“How soon?”

It was your turn to respond as you pushed your chair aside, away from the editor in chief because she was now leaning closer to inspecting your current work on the screen, “I… we haven’t checked with them. But I’ll drop by the boxing gym today to confirm.” You couldn’t focus on answering her question earlier, knowing that Dabin’s eyes always managed to find faults in her team’s work.

She was silent for a few brief seconds, drowned in concentration before she decided that your work was decent at best. She shifted her attention back to both of you, “The sooner the better. We will be uploading the videos first on the online magazine as a preview before publishing the hard copy next month. Remember, each interview needs to be recorded and transcribed.”

Her eyes were now locked onto yours, as she spoke in a serious but professional tone, “I know that you’re a photographer, but since Doyeon told me that you personally interviewed Kang Daniel, I expect you to type out the transcript yourself. When you finished, I need to review them along with the edited interview videos. Any questions?”

You both shook your heads, hastily scribbling the assignments given in your notebook. Although, you couldn’t help but to wonder why did you have to do non-photography related work. As if she just read your mind, Dabin replied, “I know that it might seem like a lot of work. However, during my discussion with Kang Daniel the other day, he seems to have faith in you. That’s why I’m giving a chance to put the responsibility on you and I expect you to deliver them in time. You can work with Doyeon on this. If we do this right, it might be the best feature story yet for our publication.”

“I will try my best not to disappoint,” You replied, feeling a mixture of tension and determination to deliver your best due to high expectations from her. This is by far, the most important task you’ve been assigned to. If everything works out as planned, you’re one step closer to achieving your dream. Dabin turned her heels, recalling one extra task for you, “Oh before I forget, get copies of the sports month issue from last two years in the archive room downstairs, and look through them. We need to deliver something fresh, I don’t want any overlap. Get me a copy as well. Also, prepare some pictures from the convention that you took. I need to review them for the magazine’s cover sample.”

“What was that all about?” Doyeon murmured behind you as you watched Dabin enter her office. “Do you think she knows about your date with Daniel? She’s not spared from the so-called Kang Daniel syndrome too you know. It’s just that she’s good at hiding it and keeping a poker face.”

You shot her an incredulous look, disapproving her assumptions, “I highly doubt it. She’s just being… professional. Besides, we just went to the arcade. It’s not like I went to some fancy candlelight dinner with him.”

“Well, I know many girls who would kill to go on a date with him. You on the other hand, had to be blackmailed before you would agree,” you ignored Doyeon’s babble and continued to work on editing the pictures.

Her chatters went on and on until your ears perked up at something that she said, “Aren’t you jealous? That someone else might like him too?”

Doyeon smiled triumphantly when you finally swivel your chair to face her, “I’m pretty sure you’ve seen his hoard of admirers. Why would I be jealous? It’s not like were dating or anything.” You remarked, taking note of her playful smile.

“Not jealous? Watch out, you might be eating your words soon.”

************************************

After finding out that you were heading to the archive room, some of your teammates requested you to put away a tall stack of magazines on their behalf. You didn’t even have the chance to refuse as they left immediately after dumping the stack on your desk. You protested –internally and silently of course, seems like doing errands for other people wouldn’t end even after being promoted from intern to junior photographer.

“Argh! Out of all days, why today?!” You groaned loudly as your voice echoed in the empty staircase, you had no choice but to take the exhausting route to the archives room as the elevator was out of service. You could already feel the impending muscle cramps in your legs. You tried to comfort yourself that at least, you don’t need to have a battle with gravity as you are heading down instead of up while carrying the heavy stack of magazines.

You could almost see your destination when suddenly, you lost your footing and slipped during your attempt to balance the heavy stack, sending you tumbling down the remaining steps to the first floor. The magazines flew mid-air before scattering messily in front of you. As you attempted to stand up, your felt a sharp shooting pain in your right foot and you dropped back to the floor in discomfort. Face scrunched up and teeth gritting in pain, you groaned loudly and wished that someone would come to your rescue. A sense of relief washed over, as you hear the sounds of hurried footsteps from downstairs.

Your eyes were still tightly closed when you felt the gentle touches of your rescuer as he carefully examined your foot, “It’s not a sprain, you just pulled a muscle. Thank god. Does it hurt a lot?”

You opened your eyes to answer that familiar voice and made eye contact with Daniel’s worried expression. You were lost for words, extremely surprised to see him come to your aid. You continued to stare at him, mouth agape in disbelief as you were starting to wonder if you’re hallucinating. Getting no response from you, Daniel grabbed your waist and hooked his left arm under your knees, carrying you up with ease. You snapped back to reality when you felt yourself being lifted off the floor and into his arms, as you yelped in alarm at his manly act. “No Daniel! Wait! Wait! Put me down!” you panicked.

“You hurt yourself,”

“I’m fine. Like you said, I just pulled a muscle,” you were frantic, desperately begging him to put you down instantly, in fear of getting caught by others in this compromising situation. “Please…”

Daniel gave in and gently set you down, one arm still around your waist to help you stand, “Let me at least put ice on your foot.”

“Ok fine, but not here. I need to go to the archives room,” you bent down to pick up the scattered magazines as he helped to gather them back into a stack.

“Which way to the archives room?” Daniel asked. His arm found it’s way around your waist again, as he tried to help you walk and at the same time carry the magazine in his other arm. You tensed at his touch, finding it hard to breath at the close proximity. You pushed his arm softly, refusing his help. His touches were not uncomfortable, he was being very respectful and gentlemanly –you also couldn’t help but to take note of his strong and muscle-bound arm. You were mainly concerned of getting another panic attack or worse, a cardiac arrest as you were not used to his acts of chivalry. “I’m pretty sure you can’t even take a step without support,” he insisted. Defeated, you loop your right arm around his own as he guided you to walk until you reached the archive room.

The room was empty, filled only with rows of cabinets and bookshelves that were lined with dust. Daniel placed the magazines on the table in the centre of the room and grabbed a chair. You were about to take a seat, but he beat you to it as he lifted you up again by the waist and placed you on the table. You squeaked in surprise without fail for the second time. You would never be able to get used to that. Daniel rummaged his bag and took out a cold pack, some bandages and pain relief patches. An advantage of being an athlete is that his bag is filled with supplies similar to a first aid kit, it would come in handy in case he has to attend a sudden injury. You watched in silence as he took off your flat shoes and gently placed the cold pack on your injured foot.

“What are you doing here in our building?” you struck up a conversation to break the awkward silence.

“I tagged along with Seongwu hyung. I thought I’d pay you a visit since I’m here,” On a second thought, you felt thankful that he didn’t manage to arrive at the office. You didn’t want to start any unwanted rumours.

“Why do I always conveniently find you in a situation where I need help? Coincidence? I think not,” you pointed out, hissing in pain as the cold pack pressed on your foot.

“Would you believe me if I say it’s fate? A knight in shining armour for the damsel in distress,” he replied cheekily. You were pretty sure the appropriate response to that statement would be to blush and be flattered at his sweet-talk, but you found yourself staring skeptically and giving him a judging look. Both of you burst out laughing a few seconds later, agreeing that it was too cheesy.

“I hope my mom didn’t scare you the other night,” you naturally changed the topic. His surprise encounter with your mother was something you didn’t talk about on the phone that night.

“Your mom’s very… welcoming. I don’t think it’s surprising if she starts calling me her own son if I stayed longer,” he chuckled, remembering how your mom sounded like an excited teenage girl when she set her eyes on him.

You laughed along, agreeing that his assumptions could be true, “Yeah, she gets very excited about my personal life. If you stayed longer, you might even be joining us for supper.”

Daniel put away the cold pack and unwrapped a pain relief patch. He peeled off the paper and carefully stuck the patch on the injured area of your foot. “I get that you don’t really have guys sending you home that often?” he was genuinely curious, as he studied your reaction.

“Not really. The last one was in high school. He just dropped by to get his book back, but my mom misunderstood that we just went on a date. Poor guy didn’t dare to borrow anymore books from that day onwards.”

“If I were him, I’d borrow your books everyday just to see you,” he commented, smiling in the most adoring way possible. You felt blush creep up your cheeks at his straightforwardness. You coughed and looked down as he smoothed out the patch over your foot, wrapping a bandage around it to secure the patch. Why did Daniel have to say exactly what he meant at all times? There is a thin line between being a flirt and being serious when a guy says those words to a girl. And he made it feel like he was leaning more to the serious side whenever he uttered those comments with a gentle, sincere and unwavering expression. Why could your own words never seem to say what you meant? But then again, you weren’t very sure of yourself either.

You shrugged off the thought, dismissing what he just said as you felt that it’s not important to respond to that statement. “Very smooth Daniel. Tell me, have you dated one of your admirers before?”

He smirked, noticing how you avoided his advances by changing the topic again for the second time. “That depends… are you one of them?” he made another attempt, reading your facial expression.

You were slightly taken aback, but made a clever and playful comeback, “Well… if I am, I’m pretty sure I’d be suffering with Kang Daniel Syndrome by now. Symptoms include, swooning into a puddle with hearts in my eyes. Ah, don’t forget squealing at every single one of your movements while calling out your name.”

Daniel finished bandaging your foot and stood up right in front of you. He watched you with a smile, admiring your loveliness. It has been a while since he enjoyed the company of a girl while talking about simple everyday topics, instead of her gawking at him. It would be a lie if he said he doesn’t get butterflies in his stomach or feel nervous while interacting with you, he was simply better at hiding it compared to you. He felt a sense of accomplishment whenever he managed to get you blushing at his words or actions. He enjoyed the fact that he had to work for it, instead of having you swoon over and spazz at him effortlessly.

You were too occupied in listing out the symptoms to his syndrome that you didn’t notice him inching closer. Daniel cleared his throat to get your attention, then you looked up and met his eyes. “Hmm, you’re showing the early symptoms though. Rosy cheeks… difficulty in breathing… increased heartbeat…” he trailed off, eyes moving to your lips.

“S-suddenly you’re an e-expert?” You stuttered, cursing to yourself because he was very accurate about your reaction towards him.

“It is named after me,” Daniel smirked, feeling accomplished that he was able to elicit such reactions from you. His confidence grew at his gradual achievement of getting you interested in him. He was very much attracted to you, and always wondered if you ever felt the same.

You tried to eliminate the symptoms by taking a deep but unnoticeable breaths, but it’s harder to calm down when you have Daniel inches away from you with a look on his face that seemed like he was about to kiss you. Thank heavens your phone rang at the perfect time, breaking off the awkward and tensed air in the room.

“H-hello? Yeah, which month was it again?” You answered the call from Doyeon, informing you of the specific dates the sports magazines were issued. As if he understood what you were talking about, Daniel walked over to the bookshelves and pulled out the specific magazines and brought them over to you. You mouthed a ‘thank you’ as you flipped through them and nodded in confirmation. After telling Doyeon that you’ll take time to reach upstairs due to the broken elevator, you ended the call.

“Rough day?” Daniel asked, leaning against the table beside you to look through the magazine as well.

You nodded, pushing it closer so that he could take a better look, “It’ll only get worse from now on. We’re catching up with the deadline for next month’s issue and I’m fully in charge of the exclusive interview we just did.”

He hesitated, before raising the question, “Well… I guess you’re too busy for a second date then?”

You bit your lower lip, feeling giddy as shivers ran up your spine. He wasn’t joking the other night when he offered another date. “Depends... what do you have planned?”

***************************************

“Thank you for your cooperation Woojin-sshi. We managed to finish earlier than expected,” You gave a short bow, after you finished interviewing the athlete.

He smiled one of his shy toothy smile, “I apologise if I delayed your work with my absence the other day.”

“No worries,” you smiled back as he guided you out of the coach’s office.

Your smile faltered and then faded when your eyes caught the scene in a distance. A girl around your age or maybe slightly older, was running towards Daniel and enveloped him in a tight hug, which he reciprocated willingly with the same amount of force. Her melodious sweet voice echoed in the gym as she called his name. He looked very pleased to see her as he has a very bright smile plastered on his face. She cupped his cheeks and said something that made his smile grew wider and brighter –if that is even possible. She also did something that made you feel like you’ve been punched in the gut, she kissed him on the cheek.

You’ve officially eaten your own words as you hated the fact that you’ve proven Doyeon right. You were definitely jealous now, no doubt about that.

I apologise for the late update. I usually update in the weekends but I was caught up in work and organizing and planning out this chapter took longer than I initially planned. 

If you noticed, I took out the word [Bonus] from the titles. The first 3 chapters [Threeshot] will act as a base for this story and the chapter following that from number 4 onwards will be a continuation. I currently don't have a pre-planned plot for this story in the long run, but I'm trying my best to go with the flow and hopefully create a cohesive story in the end. 

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