Genre: fluff, workplace, valentines theme

Pairing: Seonghwa x Mai (requested)

Word Count: 4.9k

Mood Samplers

"Here we go again," Hongjoong sighed as he looked ahead at his two colleagues who bumped into each other.

"Ugh..." Nara shivered, "I can feel their awkwardness radiate all the way here!"

"Maybe we should step in," Mingi commented, but his idea was immediately shut down by Hongjoong.

"No!" he hollered, "don't take away the only entertaining thing we have in this department."

"Do you at least want to step in before they start the 'thank you' 'no thank you' loop?" Nara asked with a breathy chuckle.

"Are you kidding me? That's my favorite part," Hongjoong said sarcastically before smiling at himself and taking a sip of his coffee.

"Oh, come on," Mingi groaned before pulling Nara along. "I'll put an end to this myself."

"No!" Nara pulled away, "no, seriously, I don't think us self-inserting ourselves would do them any good."

"Agreed," Hongjoong chipped in from where he was sitting.

"Ugh..." Mingi groaned after he looked at the two in the distance and realized they were indeed in the thanking stage. "I can't see this anymore!"

"Relax, tomorrow's the Valentine's Day Fundraiser," Hongjoong mentioned as he sipped his coffee.

"So?" Nara asked as she crossed her arms.

"So," Hongjoong breathed out as he put his coffee aside, a slight smirk decorating his lips, "I'll make sure to assign them the same task."

"No running away anymore," Mingi spoke as he watched Mai and Seonghwa awkwardly walk away from each other.

"Oh please, if this doesn't work, they will die alone," Nara sighed.

"Well, you'll need Cupid's intervention for that not to happen," Hongjoong added as he let out a deep exhale.

Just then, Mai and Seonghwa turned after realizing they were walking in the opposite direction of where they were supposed to go. This was enough to make the trio intensify their prayers for tomorrow.

"All right, everyone can go back to their assigned spot and remember that our most important goal today is to have fun and not get hurt," Hongjoong finished off his announcement after giving a briefing about what will happen today at the fundraiser, and with that, the crowd of coworkers dispersed into different directions. "Seonghwa and Mai, stay behind, please."

At that last sentence, the two who were walking in completely different directions froze in place guiltily before turning around. It was kind of bitterly humorous how their reactions were almost always in sync.

Can't they date already?

"Seonghwa, I told you that you will be helping at the cupcake booth today," Hongjoong reminded him.

"Yeah?" Seonghwa replied in confusion.

"Mai is the one in charge of it, dude. Why were you walking in the opposite direction of her stand?!" Hongjoong hissed, still using his (literal) upper-ground privilege along with the megaphone, alerting everyone around of his friend's idiocy. Hongjoong was, indeed, the head of the department, but he was also Seonghwa's best friend, so his way of addressing him always proved to be funnier than usual.

"I-I didn't-" the man's eyes dart between his best friend and the mentioned woman, "-know it was her."

"Now you do," Hongjoong rolled his eyes, "Mai, why were you going to the parking lot instead of your stall!?" he scolded the woman who shrunk into herself at the unwanted attention he gathered.

"I still didn't get my things from my car," Mai mumbled under her breath as her fingers fiddled with her red sweater.

"Oh," Hongjoong let out before nodding, "great then, Park Seonghwa," he called out and the megaphone made a loud ringing sound making everyone in the hall cringe, "help her get her things set."

"Alright," Seonghwa groaned, just wanting Hongjoong to stop abusing the poor device.

"That won't be necessary, it's only a few things, he can wait for me by the booth," Mai quickly spoke, not wanting any extra alone time with the man that made her walk on eggshells.

"Are you-" Hongjoong hissed before just sighing, "alright, whatever, go, go, go!"

With that Mai and Seonghwa made awkward eye contact before walking in different directions.

"The booth is that way!" Hongjoong yelled making Seonghwa jolt in place before redirecting himself with a grunt.

After waiting by the booth for longer than he expected, Seonghwa finally saw Mai making her way inside the hall. Only he couldn't actually see her from the pile of boxes that were covering her face.

"Oh my god," he breathed out before rushing to help her out.

"It's nothing, I can do it," she said and her strained voice said otherwise.

"You said it's only a few things!" he argued as he took the boxes from her hand anyway.

"It's only 2 things, and these 2 things happen to be 2 huge boxes," Mai joked before involuntarily groaning once the weight was taken off her shoulders.

"Seriousl-" his breath caught in his throat once the full weight of the boxes fell on him, silencing him immediately. "Holy shit," he gasped softly juxtaposing his usual demeanor, and something about it made Mai hold her breath.

"Let's take one eac-" she offered quickly, moving to take the topmost box already.

"-No!" Seonghwa argued, but it came out a bit too strained so he cleared his throat. "No, it's ok, I'm good."

"A-alright," Mai chuckled back awkwardly, "if you insist, but these boxes go to the kitchen not the booth," she pointed at the kitchen all the way across the hall from them.

"I-It's ok," Seonghwa reiterated, sounding a bit less sure than last time. He gulped before continuing, "I'm good."

They finally did reach the kitchen, and Seonghwa was quick to drop the boxes at the nearest counter that he didn't even notice his coworkers -Yurina and Wooyoung- in the room.

"Thank you all for volunteering to help me out today," Mai began, addressing the three of them. "I hope our booth doesn't turn into a total fail tonight," she giggled.

"A total fail?" Wooyoung scoffed, "we will win the best booth even if I have to sacrifice Yurina for it."

"Hey!" the girl gasped, offended, making the scene all the more hilarious.

"Let's get to work!" Mai clapped twice, the workaholic within her coming out along with her buried competitive side, and as he watched her give instructions, Seonghwa couldn't help but admire how her aura was so uplifting yet charismatic.

Soon the mouth-watering smell of cupcakes was swarming the entire hall. They might actually have a chance at winning.

"Just admit you don't have a date for Valentine's," Yurina teased Wooyoung over the sound of her whipping the cream.

"-Yet!" he interjected, "I don't have a date, yet."

"Valentine's is literally today," Seonghwa commented as he divided the batter into the mold.

"So?" Wooyoung rolled his eyes as while watching the rising cupcakes in the oven.

"I thought you and Zena had a thing though," Mai mentioned before turning away from the new bowl of batter she just made.

"I thought so, too," Wooyoung feigned a sniff, pretending to cry.

"A little too much," Mai softly commented about the amount of batter Seonghwa was dividing once she was close to him in proximity. The latter didn't see her coming and almost jumped once he felt her breath so close to him.

"Oh," he let out, "I-uh, I can take out a bit of the-" he immediately moved his spoon to do so but was stopped by her hand suddenly holding onto his.

"No, no!" she chirped, "leave them as is for now, just work on reducing the next patch." Mai looked up to give him an encouraging smile only to notice how close he is. His eyes drifted from their connected hands to her, and she felt herself suck in her last breath as time almost froze for a second.

Was he always this beautiful?

"Who are you spending Valentine's with, Mai?" Yurina's question put an end to their little moment, and the two jolted into two different directions, suddenly feeling hot and bothered.

"Huh?" Mai asked her to repeat the question as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Va-len-tines," Yurina prolonged every pronoun with a strong whisk of her hand, "do you have plans?"

"Uh, not really," the older woman replied as she slightly adjusted her apron. "I'm not big on 'non-traditional' celebrations," she chuckled.

"You and Seonghwa should celebrate together then," Wooyoung let out as a joke, but before he could get to the punch line, the two adults mentioned were on their tiptoes.

"What?!" they both let out in disbelief.

"...since you both are so boring," Wooyoung finished off rather awkwardly after being taken aback by their reaction.

"Oh," Mai breathed out before attempting to laugh it off as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Oh," Seonghwa let out consequently before the words weighed on him "Hey!" he let out, offended.

"Maimai," Yurina called out as she walked up to her, drying her hand on her apron as she did so, "can I go for a bathroom break?"

"Yeah, sure," Mai replied instantly.

"Bathroom break, my ass. She is going to meet up with Mingi!" Wooyoung scoffed making Yurina cuss under her breath.

"Oh," Mai exhaled, turning from Wooyoung to her for confirmation.

"He said it's urgent, it won't take too long, I swe-" Yurina was prepared to plead her case.

"Oh, I mean if you want to meet up with him then take your time instead of rushing it. Are 15 minutes enough?" Mai asked, and Yurina was too taken aback by her kindness that she froze in place for a second.

"Gosh, 15 minutes is more than enough, thank you so much!" Yurina jumped in place. "I don't know why everyone says you're a scary senior..." And with that, the young intern was sprinting out of the kitchen.

"People say I'm scary?" Mai turned to the two men in the kitchen with her.

"N-no, no one says-" Seonghwa wanted to quickly cover it up, but Wooyoung wouldn't let him.

"You literally made Kang Yeosang cry in a meeting," Wooyoung reminded as he grabbed some mittens.

"Hey!" Mai let out, offended, and for some reason, it made Seonghwa giggle. She just looked so cute with her nose scrunched up. "I talked to him about it later, we are on good terms now!" she defended herself to which Wooyoung just turned to give her an unconvinced stare before opening the oven door.

"Am I scary?" she turned to Seonghwa suddenly, making the man gulp.

"No..." he trailed off, his voice getting higher before his tensed shoulders fell slack as he sighed, "ok, maybe a little at first."

"What!" Mai gasped.

"Like, your glasses, and then you always look serious, and also you made Yeosang cry, and you scolded Hongjoong," he tried to make up for his words, not realizing he dug a deeper hole for himself until he was buried halfway under her gaze, "but I, personally, don't think you're scary," he squeaked out. Mai narrowed her eyes at him disapprovingly.

Just then, Wooyoung's phone rang, and after leaving the tray at the nearest counter he excused himself and left.

The kitchen was filled with an awkward silence as only Mai and Seonghwa were left and neither of them knew how to start a conversation. Oh, the perks of social anxiety.

"Is this better?" Seonghwa asked, beckoning Mai over to see the new tray he was starting on.

"Yes! It's great," she replied once she saw it.

"Thanks," he muttered shyly as he continued his work. Mai turned around to grab the tray nearest to her.

"Did Wooyo-" she halted midway, dropping the tray she was holding. Her loud gasp resonated across the kitchen along with the sound of the metal tray hitting the tiles repeatedly, making Seonghwa's breath halt in shock before turning to her.

"-I'm so sorry!" Mai immediately cried out as she saw the cupcakes all squashed up on the floor after they spent a considerable amount of time making them. "I didn't know the tray was hot, I-"

"Oh my god!" Seonghwa finally breathed out in shock as he quickly left what he was doing.

Mai automatically braced herself for a decent earful and turned around to face the gasping man.

"I'm so sorry, I'll clean this up," she rushed her speech as the tall man approached her making her feel smaller and smaller as she recoiled into her frame, "there's still more ingredients, I'll make more batte-" she wanted to continue, but her voice was caught up in her throat when Seonghwa unexpectedly took her hands in his.

"Mai! Your hands!" he cried as he examined the burnt skin. Ironically enough, Mai had not even registered that the reason she dropped the tray, to begin with, was because it burnt her hand.

"N-no, it's ok!" she was quick to respond as she pulled her hand away after a prolonged second, her brain more focused on the mess on the floor.

"No, it isn't!" the man countered as he found himself pulling her by the wrist to the nearest faucet and turning it on the coldest setting, and putting her palms directly under it.

At the suddenness of the feeling, Mai recoiled slightly which finally made Seonghwa snap out of his panicked daze; he quickly let go of her hand as he remembered their typically professional relationship.

"I'm so sorry," he apologized, "I was too startled to think straight, but please run your hand under the cold water."

Mai gulped and nodded slightly before redirecting her attention toward the faucet to escape Seonghwa's concerned gaze that was causing her stomach to do flips. She slowly introduced her swollen skin to the cool water and hissed slightly, which made Seonghwa curse under his breath.

"Ah, those two idiots, we said the hot trays should be put on that counter, not this one!" Seonghwa whisper-yelled.

"It was my fault, I wasn't paying attention," Mai sighed as she closed the faucet and looked down at her hands. Seonghwa sighed knowing he can't convince her otherwise. "Let's get back to work," she said, putting on a contented smile, but Seonghwa was not having none of it.

"No, no, no," he breathed out, baffled by her nonchalance. "Mai, I'm taking you to the hospital, right now," he stated more confidently leaving no room for argument.

"It isn't that big of a deal, really," Mai replied as she pulled her hands back, but while doing so, she naturally formed them into fists which proved more painful than she imagined. She hissed out as she bit her lip.

"Mai, please," Seonghwa spoke softly, noticing how bad she felt already.

"I-" she opened her mouth to say an excuse, but she found nothing to say. "What about the work here-"

"What happened here?" Yurina gasped as she just walked in, followed by Wooyoung.

"Oh, my god, are you okay?" Wooyoung immediately yelled out once he saw the state of her palms which made her hide them behind her hands.

"She'll be okay, I'm going to take her to the hospital right now, can you guys handle the work without us?"

"Of course!" Yurina spoke, more concerned about Mai than the caking right now, "we got it covered, just go!"

"See?" Seonghwa turned to tell her.

"It's not that bad..." Mai trailed off as she lied, suddenly feeling bad for worrying the man, but he was too busy taking off his apron to hear her.

"Honey, this is at least a second-degree burn!" Wooyoung spoke, unintentionally making her more worried. He walked to where they kept their coats and grabbed Seonghwa's and Mai's before tossing them towards Seonghwa, " you need to stay warm, Mai, and Seonghwa, there is a clinic less than 10 minutes away from here, get going.."

"Uh," Seonghwa took a second to absorb the man's words before nodding. He put his apron aside before putting on his coat then he turned to Mai who looked at him sheepishly as she couldn't even get her apron off yet. "Here," he offered, standing behind her to untie the garment despite his heart doing flips at their proximity. He carefully slid it off her so that it doesn't scrap against her irritated skin. He then grabbed her coat, which she couldn't wear, so he draped it over her shoulders instead before dusting off the edges for a better fit. "Good?"

"Y-yeah," she whispered, feeling a bit too shy now that he was looking straight into her eyes; something that never happened before. Another perk of social anxiety.

"Let's go, then," he gently grabbed her wrist before guiding her way out of the kitchen.

"Where the hell are you two goin-" they could hear Hongjoong yell on his megaphone.

"Hospital!" Seonghwa retorted directly, making Mai inwardly shudder hating the idea of how serious everyone will think her injury is. Mai's idea of 'serious' is instantly life-threatening injuries, of course.

Hongjoong looked confused, but before he could ask anything else, the two were out of the hall.

In less than 10 minutes, they were at the recommended clinic (a speeding ticket will certainly be issued). They rushed here so their breathing was heavy, and all their extremities were covered in a bright red hue because of how cold it was outside. After waiting for over 30 minutes, Mai was bandaged and sent out with a transcript for certain ointments to use to avoid discoloration in the future and to make sure no infection ensues; for that, they had to wait in the lobby until their number was called.

"What number are we?" Seonghwa asked her as he sat down, in the back of his mind he knew that by now the sun was fully set.

"1284," Mai replied, sitting beside him but keeping a respectful distance.

"That shouldn't be long-" his words were put on hold as he saw the number on the screen. 1026.

"Oh, gosh," Mai gasped not believing she'll spend the rest of her day cooped up here, surrounded by sick people and the elderly.

"Hey, I mean, we can use the time to..." Seonghwa tried to find something for them to do but ended up speechless.

"Talk?" Mai suggested with a tilt of her head.

"Yeah, we can do that," Seonghwa nodded, but not a second later they fell into silence. They looked at each other, then laughed awkwardly.

"I'll get us something to drink," Seonghwa muttered shyly before standing up. "Is mango juice alright with you or...?" he left the option open.

"Yeah, sure, but I left my walle-" he wouldn't hear the end of that sentence.

"It's just juice, it isn't like I'll go into debt because of it," he spoke, suddenly more vocal since it was a topic he was stubborn about; Mai would always pay everyone back if they got her coffee at their office yet wouldn't accept anyone giving her money back whenever she bought drinks for them.

"Alright," she chuckled nervously, and with that Seonghwa went to the vending machine at the end of the hallway, and soon enough, he was back and handed her the cold drink before sitting beside her again.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot," he giggled seeing her awkwardly trying to open it. He took the can back so he could open it instead. "Will you be fine drinking it or should I get you a straw?"

"Oh, no, no," Mai muttered, "I'll be fine." She took the drink back from him gently.

"Gosh, couples these days, even opening a can?" an old lady muttered teasingly from behind them, making them tense up and turn around awkwardly, not sure if she was addressing them or not.

"What? Why are you looking at me like this?" the lady spoke, "don't tell me you guys aren't a couple!"

Seonghwa and Mai met each other's eyes and immediately turned away clearing their throats to ease the silence.

The lady scoffed as she saw their interaction, not believing she was right. "Why?" she asked as if she had the right to, and the two found themselves compelled to give her a legitimate excuse.

"Uh," Seonghwa tried to save the moment, but he couldn't even string a sentence together.

"Is one of you in a relationship?" the woman asked, and they both shook their heads hesitantly.

"Are you related, then?" she asked, growing skeptical as she looked them up and down.

"No! No, what the hell," Seonghwa blurted out.

"Then, what is it? Do you not like her?" she turned and drilled Seonghwa personally, making the man's ear turn a bright red.

"T-that's not it," he waved it off, his hands flying everywhere to prove his point.

"Then, what? Do you not find him attractive?" she turned to Mai this time, catching her off-guard. The girl couldn't even reply.

"You two look like you're the kind that will die alone, and I know that because I'm living it. If you like each other, which I don't need to even get my glasses to see is the case, then why are you running around in circles as if you have all the time in the world?" the old lady scolded them. "It's Valentine's for God's sake!"

"I'm sorry, but-" Mai started, wanting to put some distance between them and the intruding stranger.

"Uh-uh, no buts. This is my call," she pointed at the new number called on the screen before she supported herself to get up. And just like that, she disappeared leaving the two pinned to their seat and avoiding each other's gaze as they sipped their drink silently, brains working in overdrive.

After a moment of mustering up all the courage in her body, Mai cleared her throat and spoke, "She's right, invasive, but right."

Too caught up in overthinking the previous situation, Seonghwa had to snap himself out of his thoughts to make sure he heard Mair correctly. "Huh?" he breathed out.

"I like you, Seonghwa," she confessed, turning to him, and she could swear something took over her body at that moment to give her such confidence.

The same could not be said for Seonghwa, who was staring at her with widened eyes, the breath punched out of his lungs.

"I want to get to know you," she continued, her reserved personality catching up to her in the way her cheeks grew pink and her eyes darted away from his; suddenly feeling all small and nervous.

"Y-You do?" he muttered, not believing his ears.

"Do you..not?" she asked, looking at him through her lashes as she bit the inside of her cheeks.

"No!" he denied immediately, his hand clasping her wrist as if she was going to leave if she hadn't. "No, no," he calmed down, dropping his grip on her hand. "I-I-would love to," he finally let out, allowing Mai to take in a breath she was holding.

"Y-You do?" she asked to make sure, her posture changing a bit.

"I always wanted to, I just didn't know how to ask you," he admitted sheepishly.

"I mean," she looked down at her feet, "I do avoid you on purpose so it isn't your fault."

"What! I knew it wasn't all in my head, why would you do that?" he let out all in one breath making her giggle a bit, and he felt it change the rhythm of his heart.

"Sorry about that," she spoke, the glint in her eyes making him relax for a bit, "I just really didn't know what was your idea of me, it isn't like we really know each other through and through."

"Well, maybe we could've if you didn't ignore me," Seonghwa mumbled feigning a bitterness that made Mai laugh more.

"We can now," she suggested coyly, blinking her eyes the right amount of time before giggling as her facade fell through due to her inward cringe.

"We certainly have the time for that," he replied, he can raising to the screen that displayed the number 1057.

"Yeah, we do," Mai giggled before offering her can for cheers.

They talked and talked, the conversation going way smoother than the both of them expected; there was no awkward silence or forced icebreakers, Mai would even say this was the best conversation she had in a while.

As she previously assumed, she didn't have much in common with Seonghwa (other than an addiction to televised dramas); however, that didn't seem to cause any issues. The way he talked about his interests made them relatable to anyone, and she felt that whenever she spoke about her interests, she was listened to thoroughly.

They didn't even notice their number going up on the screen until a nurse had to come out and call for Mai by name, jolting the two out of their little moment.

"You know, when I thought of spending Valentine's with you, I didn't think it'd be at a hospital," Mai deadpanned as they walked to his car after she received her prescribed drugs and ointments.

Seonghwa couldn't help but laugh at that. "Sorry," he muttered as he walked slowly, feeling the cold air nip at his skin yet he wanted this moment to drag on for eternity.

"Can't complain, I was as dateless as Wooyoung a few hours ago," she shrugged before shivering a little.

"I mean, you can't consider this a date, that'd be unfair to me," Seonghwa said, making her face contort in confusion.

"How is that unfair to you?" she asked, but her breath caught up in her throat; she didn't notice he had stopped walking and stood in front of her until she pumped into him.

"I can do better than mango juice in the lobby, Mai," he argued in a whisper, and for some reason, hearing him say her name while he was this close made her nerves perform some acrobats.

"Mango is my favorite juice, Seonghwa, and I told you that casually 2 years ago, so that fact that you remember is romantic as it gets," she quipped, a soft smile on her pink lips making his thoughts spiral.

"Then let's go," he said abruptly, and Mai looked up at him in confusion; they were so close she could feel the scent of his cologne overwhelm her.

"Where?" she asked, her big doe eyes putting on a clueless mask to hide the gleeful glint at the prospects she thought of. Suddenly she felt 17 again.

"The beach, you said you love the beach, let's go there," Seonghwa spoke so seriously, it almost forced the laugh out of her at the absurdity.

"The beach? Seonghwa, it's freezing cold, and the sun set hours ago!" she argued, but the excitement in her voice told him she was on board already.

"Even better, that means the place will be empty," he said.

"And the fundraiser?" Mai felt herself tiptoe higher and higher.

"No one has to know you ever made it out of the hospital," he shrugged before they both started laughing.

"You're crazy," Mai breathed out between laughter.

"So, is that a yes?" he asked.

"I think so?" Mai squeaked out, unsure, but longing to do something as absurd and spontaneous.

"Let's go!" Seonghwa hollered in celebration before grabbing her wrist and running down with her to his car.

"Wait! Seonghwa!" she laughed as she struggled to keep up with him. In no time they were by his car, he opened the door for her, picked her up, and put her in the seat without forgetting to buckle her seat belt; all through it, Mai was fighting to catch her breath between giggles.

"Are you ready?" he asked as he started the engine, his face decorated with the same lovesick smile she knew she had.

"Readier than ever!" Mai yelled over the sound of the radio she blasted open, and Seonghwa couldn't help but feel all fuzzy inside seeing her matching his energy.

It's true, they don't have all the time in the world, and they won't be young forever, so they might as well do all these crazy things while they still can; while the feelings are still rushing down like a flooding river, while the night's still young, while every day can feel like Valentines.

Hello again, people, hope you enjoyed this chapter.

I went through multiple writer's blocks while this was in the making so I'm sorry if it isn't the best.

I've also been keeping it for so long and nitpicking over it that I decided to just publish it now, and then I'll go over it for a final edit later (otherwise it won't see the light of day, I fear).

I do have my finals coming up, but I'm hoping to be more active because I realized this book has been out for over a year and it's under 30 chapters 💀

I'm starving you guys.

But stay tuned, this time it won't be an empty promise.