"Just connected two cameras to my phone. When I set them on the floor, they'll respond to and move around with the help of these," Dorian stated.

   I selected one of the two remotes he held out my way.

"You'll have to walk next to them when they start moving since we need to know how durable these cameras are on the ground," he continued on. "I, on the other hand, will be tracking the video quality of each camera. Once I sync my phone with the cameras, I'll be able to see whatever the devices capture. You'll have to go as far as you can from where I'm currently standing so that we can see the effects of various lighting and conditions on the camera."

"Okay." I responded, averting my eyes when he bent over to place the devices on the ground.

   Dorian fidgeted with his phone, giving periodic glances in the direction of the cameras until he stared at me and said, "It's connected. Let's start with one."

   I could only hope any relief I felt at the idea of distancing myself from Dorian wasn't too obvious. Eagerness coursed through me as I worked with the remote in hand. With caution in my thinking, I decided to work the cameras at a slower pace, making sure they matched the nature of my steps.

   It was hard to concentrate. Especially when I couldn't help but be aware that the person whom I'd just shared a moment with didn't have to struggle to view me through my most unflattering camera angle.

   Who was I kidding? These bloody 360 degree angle cameras had probably many more terrible angles of me.

   But not even those thoughts of paranoia could divert my mind from how his embrace had felt. As much as I tried to focus on the camera I was controlling, the sneaky thought (or rather feeling) of regret when he pulled away wouldn't leave.

   The only words he'd spoken since then were only camera related. I should be relieved. Rig—?

"Beth!" My frame turned backwards to the sound of Dorian's call. "Slow down! I can barely observe the surroundings at the speed at which the camera is going. Beth, can you hear me?"

   I frowned, looking down at the remote. My fingers were no longer pressed on any buttons or sticks. When I shifted my gaze to the camera however, I was horrified to see the device rolling toward the edge of the roof with full force, showing no signs of slowing down.

   After several useless shots to use the remote, I took to my heels. My eyes never left the device as it continued to skid toward the part of the roof's edge with narrow spaces through its raised borders.

   Shit. It was going to fall off if I didn't do something.

   My quick steps transitioned into a crouch, then an eventual leap towards the very edge of the roof, catching the camera just in time. This, however, led to me almost toppling over myself. As I gripped the borders of the roof to steady myself, a full view of the ground several miles below came into view. For a moment, I believed the jerk my body experienced was going to be my literal downfall.

   I scrambled away from the roof as far as I could on all fours, struggling to catch my breath.

"Beth?" Dorian's voice and face were a blur as he towered over me. "I followed you the minute I realised what happened. Are you okay? Did you get the camera?"

   Each breath was a slice to what I would safely assume was my chest and not heart. I shoved the camera toward him when I arose and focused on regulating my breaths. Cupping my hands over my mouths and trying to slowly breathe wasn't working.

   The image of the ground from the roof was still too vivid to get out of my head. The trauma of falling had overtaken my thoughts and it took crazy concentration to not suffocate.

   Concentration I didn't have.

"Beth?" His attention was directed to me once more, his worry was far from masked.

"Do...rian..." I blurted out his name with whichever opening I could get. "Hyper-hypervent—ilating"

"Okay, okay!" The unprecedented panic in his reaction played the role of triggering mine in a way I didn't appreciate. "We don't have a paper bag...um, try your hands!"

   My head shook with frantic energy. "I...did. Could...n't."

   His gaze constantly flickering to the exit showed how much he was conflicted on whether to find help or improvise.

   My chest and throat, however, were only getting tighter and breathing becoming worse. I dropped onto the floor on my knees, hoping the use of my hands again could do the job this time.

   My hands had barely covered my face when I felt them being pried away by a gentle touch.

"Please try to calm down," Dorian said from behind me. He had gotten onto his knees too. His larger hands were currently doing a better job of cupping my face. "Just breathe."

   The next few minutes constituted his soothing whispers of me calming down and relaxing. His forefront pressed into mine as I settled into his build for my face to be better acquainted with his hands. I couldn't tell how long we remained in that position, but it was long enough to get my breathing under control and finally back to normal.

   Almost... comfortable.

   I yanked his hands from my face and bolted to my feet.

"I'm okay now." I nodded. "I just got a little freaked out when I tipped over the roof like that. Thank you."

"You're welcome." He appeared stunned from my instantaneous release from his hold as he arose as well. "And don't worry, I'll work the remote this time. You can have my phone to check the camera quality instead."

"Wait," I grabbed his wrist, ceasing his walk back to where the other cameras were. "I just wanted to say thanks again... and apologise for what happened before this. When you had our... exchange."

"No." Dorian's head moved sideways. "You don't have—"

"No, I do. You were right about me being overly-judgmental and expecting the worst." I sighed. "If I was able to meet Minji, then I should have realised that maybe not all Zavolonians were bad. I shouldn't have pre-judged the way you guys would be when I first came to your table and the times after that. I'm sorry, Dorian."

"It's fine."

   I glanced at how my grabbing of his hand had led to our fingers interlocking. And the green eyes that wouldn't stop piercing into my deep browns.

"Um," I took caution in freeing my hand. "Let's continue."

"Yeah, sounds good." He cleared his throat and stepped away, venturing to the devices.

"Good." I followed suit after muttering.

***

"So aside from my issue with that one, the rest of the cameras do not really have major problems so far," I reported as he approached me from his recent camera test. "We have to note though how Camera Five does not thrive so much in excess lighting and the fourth camera was having initial connectivity issues. Generally though, we don't have to worry. Nothing we can't fix."

"Okay then. Let's try the sixth and final camera so we can join the others," he said.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to say that." I groaned. "I could eat a giant-sized...well, anything!"

   He rubbed his brow with a chuckle. "Sure. We can split a large sandwich at the café area."

   I laughed at that, but refused to reply. Dorian was just going to find out the hard way that I didn't plan on sharing. He was really underestimating the hunger clawing at my stomach right now.

   He reached toward the ground and grabbed the last camera from the box piles cushioning all the devices.

"You know," he continued with his back facing as he began operating the camera, moving multiple steps ahead. "I was going through more of your comics yesterday and there was an extra one that managed to hide between the pages of another."

"Really?" I questioned. I wasn't surprised though. "That happens to the old ones that stick together most of the time. I hope I didn't ruin the comic you wanted to read when you detached them."

"On the contrary," His slow strides remained in view. "They were both in great condition. So much so that I didn't have any trouble viewing the other one."

"Oh cool. What was it?"

   Probably another Seekers comic.

"I'm not sure...?" Dorian's hand travelled to intertwine with the ends of his hair. "It started off with a pretty normal plot but then one minute I'm reading about a group of vigilantes having a faceoff with some heroes, the next I'm staring into a more than detailed version of male, female and AI genitalia. I was just..."

   Oh. Oh.

"That is, uh, you know, Hentai." I couldn't recognize my own voice when it came out as a croak.

"What?"

   I didn't expect him to hear me since the distance between us had increased since then, but that didn't stop me from cussing him out under my breath before repeating the words, "HENTAI! IT'S HENTAI!" in a shaky yell.

   He could have spared me the humiliation by just using the internet, though.

   At least we were alone and for once, I was grateful for it. My attention shifted back to Dorian's smart phone in my grasp. He had disappeared out of eye view—Thank God—and was visible only on the screen. The camera retained a steady pace, capturing as much as it could with a somewhat impressive video quality.

   I wondered how much all this had cost...

   That was weird. The screen was suddenly black. I couldn't get any images. I pushed the power button at the side of the phone and was even more confused when the screen now went off. My suspicion was confirmed when I pressed the button once more to be met with the same black screen before the phone was turned off.

"Dorian?" I called. "I think there's something wrong with the camera! I'm not getting any visuals. Can you hear me?"

   Without waiting for a response, I rushed over to the last area of the roof the camera had displayed on the phone's screen. Dorian had his hands over his knees as he bent to peer over the motionless device.

"I keep pushing the button of the remote." He did so in the direction of the camera once more in my presence. "But it's not moving."

   He transferred the remote into his pocket and reached towards the ground to pick up the camera.

"Have you identified any issues yet?" I queried after some seconds passed, maintaining my stance a few feet away.

"No," He shrugged, glanced at the camera eye level style. "I guess we can do with four—"

"Hold on." I cut his words short with the lift of my hand. "Do you hear that?"

   Dorian stayed silent and soon enough, his expression revealed he was hearing the strange beeping sound too. But where was it coming from?

   I shot a wild look to the device in his hand, my heart leaping at the flashing red light that accompanied the sound which had begun to pick up the pace. I was relieved to discover that Dorian's horror-stricken gawk had caught on and was geared toward the camera he was holding.

   I didn't waste any time yelling at him anyway.

"Dorian, drop the camera n—!"

   I was too late.

   The red flash created a dramatic lightshow just seconds before a resounding bang shook the roof of the building to its core.

A/N: 💀 💀 that doesn't sound good. Predictions?

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please don't forget to vote and comment your thoughts!

Question of the day: What's the dumbest way you've ever gotten injured?

Mine's too embarrassing, but I would say it involved a dance routine no one asked for😂