character: woojin
genre: fluff, workplace
word count: 1.8k
author’s note: i’m so sorry i haven’t been active at all,,, school just started and i’m o v e r w h e l m e d but i think i’m getting the hang of things so do send in requests in the meantime! i’ll try my best to get it done soon,, but thank you guys so much for the 449 followers I’m so shocked like,, wHat dID i dO tO deSErvE tHis btw gif credits to @woojinnies!!
• you never dated juniors.
• you had always thought they were too young for you, plus any intern or fresh-faced recruits usually shied away from you- something you’ve grown accustomed to, considering you were one of the most senior journalists there, making you, naturally, the one who would bark orders at everyone. the fact that you were a few years older than most of them made you an imposing figure to them as well.
• you had never looked twice their way, pulled up your skirt a little whenever they came close by, or even smiled at them (truth is, you never really did smile in the office at all).
• hell, you had never even batted an eyelash however handsome they were, because as long as they were wrong, they were wrong. not even their visuals could sway you whenever you were giving them a piece of your mind (even kim jaehwan, that errand-runner who had no idea how to work the coffee machine; you had no idea why the entire office fawned over him with his annoyingly sharp laughter).
• besides, your cold personality didn’t exactly make you the best person to approach, especially on days when you had woken up on the wrong side of the bed (probably everyday though).
• however, one day, someone appeared.
• more specifically, park woojin did.
• honestly, he hadn’t caught your eye on day one.
• with the deadline for the magazine coming real soon, you hadn’t got time to properly introduce yourself to the new journalist in the office. and hence you figured his first impression of you would just be a disgruntled dragon breathing fire out of your nostrils every time someone messes up something you’ve told them just a few minutes ago.
• not that you cared anyway.
• “y/n, y/n!” someone whispered frantically, tugging at the sleeve of your blouse.
• “what, minhyun?” you sighed exasperatedly, swivelling around on your chair to face the grinning male working in the cubicle next to yours. “i swear to god, if you-”
• “look, he staring at you again!” he subtly directed your attention to someone sitting outside the glass room/office separating the seniors and the novices, chuckling softly.
• rolling your eyes, you complied to his request nonetheless, curiosity overwhelming you. you were never stared at- people would refuse to meet eyes with you for fear of incurring your wrath. (which you frankly thought was stupid; who in the right mind would get angry at someone looking at them? certainly not you.)
• surprisingly, you caught the eyes of someone unfamiliar to you- park woojin. i mean, you knew who he was (you were actually the one who had reviewed his application), but you had never interacted with him before, except for the occasional polite nod whenever you would cross each other’s paths.
• realising that he had just been caught, he snapped his head away, and began typing rapidly on his computer keyboard, embarrassment clouding his features.
• giggling to yourself at the tremendously cute sight in front of you, you turned around, only to see a stunned minhyun.
• “i’m smiling…?” you widened your eyes in shock, wiping the smile from your face immediately.
• “must be the sleep, man. i slept at 3am yesterday, ha, yea. i would never smile at someone in this office, ha, except you maybe, but i’ll probably only be laughing at something stupid you did, you know what i mean?”
• the horror you felt at yourself of what you just did grew alongside with the sly grin on minhyun’s face.
• you, y/n, of ALL people, was giggling like a schoolgirl at some new youngster?
• ‘what in tarnation was happening?’ you mentally reproached yourself to stay professional on the job.
• “of course i know what you mean,” he smirked cheekily, dramatically looking at woojin, then back at you.
• “oh, cut it out.” you sighed, waving it off hastily as you focused back on your work, ignoring the abnormal skip of your heartbeat that you had not seem to have felt in ages.
• even though your eyes did trail back to woojin’s table every now and then.
• a few days later, your interactions with woojin had hit a plateau. perhaps it was because he was embarrassed, or maybe he just simply wasn’t interested in you. that thought stung, but you admitted it readily; your love life had bore no fruit for the past few years- your last relationship did not really end on a good note.
• ‘pft, y/n. you’re really going to start liking this new journalist just because he stared at you, and, ahem, looked kinda cute? what kind of deprived woman are you?‘ ‘HEY! I AM NO DEPRIVED WOMAN-’ ‘then explain why you’re practically salivating at him every time he passes by you? wait- no, do you…have a crush on him?’ ‘oh, hell no.’’oh, hell, yes, you vile woman, you-’
• “h-hi, are you o-okay?” a terse voice cut through your internal battle of thoughts.
• jumping at the sudden noise, the cup of milo you had in your hand slipped out of your grasp, dropping onto to the ground of the pantry you were currently in. consequently, the scalding hot liquid had splattered onto your clothes and hand, but you took no notice of that as you stared at the person in front of you.
• dressed in a simple dress shirt and long pants, with a blue blazer draped around his broad shoulders, he looked just about anyone from the office. but, to you, he looked absolutely ethereal, bathed in the sunlight that shone in from the glass window next to the both of you.
• moving quickly, he scrambled to grab some tissues, stuttering, “shit, are you alright? i’m sorry, i didn’t mean to scare you, you looked like you were really frustrated about something, i-“
• "woojin, it’s fine.” you breathed out, eyes fixated on his hand that was reaching for yours.
• oh no, what is he going to do? you might get a cardiac arrest if he were to touch you and the plaque on your gravestone would say “y/n, death by crush”, and you’ll die with embarrassment!
• alarm bells were ringing; and to prevent yourself from potential combustion, you awkwardly blurted out, “haha, never mind, i’ll do it myself,” before snatching the tissues from him and dashing from the pantry.
• but what you didn’t notice was the goofy smile on his face as he turned back to the mess you had created, a thought running through his mind.
• “she knows my name.” he muttered softly to himself, the sheer reality of the words he just said sending little tingles down his spine, the good kind.
• after that small incident, he seemed to smile at you more, which you would, of course, to the surprise of your colleagues, reciprocate; even though you had to hear minhyun fake-sighing to himself every single time, ranting about young love while shaking his head.
• your overall mood had gotten lighter, and you were exceptionally delighted when a few hours later, your manager decided to drop an interview into your lap.
• “y/n, my dear y/n! my little croissant, i have, pulled an exclusive for you, and you are to go downtown tonight for zee interview, you hear me? my little quiche, i shall entrust zis top-secret news for you to handle, señorita! ta-ta,” the eccentric-looking woman ended her speech with a dramatic flourish, before sashaying out of your office as suddenly as she came.
• flash forward to thirty minutes later, you were already on your way to the cafe in which the famous fashion designer had agreed to meet at. you tried to conjure up some questions to ask him later, but you were distracted somehow, your mind drifting off to a certain someone more than a couple of times.
• the interview came and went by smoothly, and your day was made even better with the designer, who went by daehwi lee, promising you to pull some strings to get some interviews with world-renowned actor ong seongwoo and popular basketball player, lai guanlin, for you.
• however, something nagged at the back of your mind as you walked down the street leading to the carpark, under the already-dark sky.
• something about the serene atmosphere put you off, and you almost came to a stop when you finally came to a realisation.
• someone was following you.
• you decided to walk even faster, calming your quickened breaths down as you estimated the distance between you and your car. close enough, but anything could happen within that period of time.
• hence, slipping your hand into your bag for the pepper spray you always carried around as advised by your manager, a surge of bravery shot through you as you devised a plan. you would spray this on that person whose footsteps stopped, accelerated and slowed when yours did.
• whipping around, you steadied your breath, trying to keep out a waver from your voice before calling out,
• “you have five seconds to show yourself before i spray this at you.”
• you heard a sharp intake of breath.
• your stalker had now hid himself in the shadows, thus you could not make out the features of his face at all unless you moved; but you didn’t want to trigger him to attack you either.
• before you could even finish your that, the unknown figure stepped out from the dark, revealing his dashing countenance.
• flabbergasted, you mouth went agape, staring at the flustered boy in front of you.
• “the hell were you following me?”
• “look, it really it isn’t what it seems like, i mean, i heard that you were going out of town this morning and i thought it would be too dangerous considering the heavy snow and i just followed you but i couldn’t bring myself to tell you that because you’re like the most experienced senior and you’re like really high up and and…”
• oh god, oh god, oh god.
• you heart was itching to burst out of your rib cage.
• honestly, if woojin stuttering and stumbling over his words wasn’t just about the cutest thing you’ve ever seen, you told yourself that you would jump into a freezing pond of water naked.
• you heart was fluttering- no scratch that.
• it was flailing around like those stupid inflatable tube thingys outside shopping malls/rest stops/petrol stations.
• because under the yellow-ish light that slightly emanated romantic vibes, he looked breathtakingly handsome.
• but what made him even more appealing to you was the worry that lined his face, as well as his apologetic and sheepish smile that just showed the tip of his snaggle tooth.
• therefore, right there and then.
• you thought there couldn’t be a better way to actually fall in love with this guy.
• “you know what, woojin?”
• “i’m not repeating myself.”
• “i mean, yes. sure. my pleasure.” as soon as the words slipped out of his mouth, his eyes widened, as if he was horrified at what he said.
• you giggled silently, before bursting out in loud laughter after seeing the incredulous look on his
face.
• “damn it…i just screwed up, didn’t i?”
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