Seokmin Wouldve Made The Best Internship Partner - Tumblr Posts

DRABBLE MARATHON #1:

LEE SEOKMIN + internship

1,7k words /// genre: fluff (?) /// warnings: food mentions.

In which Seokmin becomes your own ray of sunshine.

Hands shaking and panic in your mind, you entered the office. 

What had been a goal and a dream just a few weeks ago was now your reality. You had scored the very internship you had aimed for. But that didn’t make you any less anxious about it all.

People dressed in business casual scurried around you, a cup of coffee in one hand and a printed report in the other. No one seemed to notice you.

Unsure who to talk to, you stood off to the side, offering a polite smile to anyone who gave you a curious look as they passed by. None of them seemed to realise who you were or what you were in their office for.

The door opened, startling you just a little, and revealed a young man. He entered and politely bowed to a woman who walked past him. His hands seemed to be shaking as much as yours were as he also stood off to the side, a little away from you.

“Are you–” He cleared his throat and leaned closer to you. “By any chance, do you work here?”

You shook your head. “Just an intern.”

He seemed relieved at your words, his body visibly relaxing as he took in the information. Realising he must’ve looked like a fool to you, he put on a smile. “I’m Seokmin. I’m an intern too.”

You smiled back at him. “Really? What’s your major?”

“Marketing. You?”

“Translation and localisation.”

He looked a little stunned at your answer, a dumb expression on his face. “Translation?” A lightbulb seemed to go off in his head right at that moment. He lit up again. “Oh, maybe we’ll get to work together then.” 

“Right,” you replied with an awkward smile. 

You feared he’d interpret your expression as unfriendliness – a bit unfortunate because you were only socially anxious and actually wanted to make a friend at this internship – but he seemed to see right through you. 

He offered a bright smile and gentle nudge, as if you were friends already. “Hey… I’m scared too. This is my first ever internship. I’m not even entirely sure what I’m going to be doing here. But that’s okay. We’ll be fine.”

“Do you really think so?” you asked him, feeling a little better at the display of camaraderie. 

He nodded confidently and that was all the assurance you needed.

You were given a desk near a ceiling-high window. Though you first couldn’t believe your luck, it quickly became clear why they gave this seat to an intern: the afternoon sun shone right through the glass and onto your desktop screen. This made your work just a bit more difficult, but hey: dream internship.

Your schedule had you coming to the office for full days on Mondays and afternoons on Wednesdays, right after your lectures. The first Wednesday proved to be challenging. You were overcome with the urge to take your post-lecture nap and yet you had to drag yourself to the office where a folder full of documents to be translated had been placed on your desk. 

The sight made you both giddy and weary. But at least the chair was comfortable. 

“I knew we’d be working together!” you then heard a familiar voice. When you looked up, Seokmin was smiling brightly at you as he approached your desk. His eyes shone in the afternoon sunshine – it was easy to get lost in them. 

He placed a folder on your desk. “My supervisor told me to bring these to be translated, but then the translators here told me to bring this to you instead.”

“What are these?” you asked, opening the folder to find the answer to your question. “Oh. What do I do with these?”

“I honestly have no idea,” he answered, his eyes widening to convey his apologies for him. He quickly squinted his eyes again as the sun began to hurt them. “Can you even see anything here?”

“Barely.” You sighed, still eyeing the marketing materials he had brought for you. 

He frowned. “Why not just close the blinds?”

“Because this is the only window in this department that doesn’t have working blinds,” you replied and offered him a tired smile. “Yeah, I can’t believe my luck either.”

“Well,” he paused and tried to find some comforting words to say. It took him a moment, but he got there eventually: “There will probably be less sunshine when autumn sets in.”

You hummed in agreement. “I both dread it and can’t wait.”

“Right?” He offered you an encouraging smile. “They said those materials need to be translated by next Wednesday. Can you do it?”

“I can try,” you answered hesitantly, looking up at him and once again getting lost in the pretty golds and browns of his eyes. 

He took your silence for worse than it was. “Do you want me to beg my supervisors for an extension for you? Because I can do that. I’ve practically perfected the whole ‘getting on my knees and begging for an extension’ thing.”

You laughed. “How come?”

“I suck at meeting deadlines. It’s a miracle I’ve made it this far, honestly,” he confessed before offering again, “So, should I?”

“No, no,” you shook your head quickly, grinning, “I’ll be fine. I’m a quick worker.”

“You sure?” 

You weren’t entirely sure why this stranger – an acquaintance at most – was so hell-bent on getting on his knees for your sake, but it was a sweet gesture. You offered him one last smile. “I’m sure.”

He narrowed his eyes at you as if he had a built-in lie detector, but if he did have one, it proved to be ineffective. Before long, his scowl melted back into a warm, sunny smile. “Well, I’ll come back for these in a week then.” He turned to leave. But before he got more than four steps away, he turned on his heel and made a cheering gesture, bellowing, “I believe in you!”

You hid your embarrassed (yet flattered) face in your hands and waved him away. He laughed and waved you goodbye for the day.

Lunch breaks quickly became your favourite part of internship days for three reasons: 1) lunch, 2) break, and most importantly 3) Seokmin. 

Without fail, on every Monday, at 1 pm sharp, Seokmin appeared at your desk with a sweet smile. Every time, he’d invite you to get lunch with him – even when marketing team members invited him instead. 

“Eating in the park was a great idea,” you told him on this Monday, happily eating your salad. “The weather is so nice today.”

He smiled at that. “It’s the last nice days of autumn. Might as well enjoy them before it gets cold and rainy.”

“I can’t believe it’s been a whole month at the company already. Feels like we met just yesterday.”

“I worried I’d get bored, honestly,” he responded. “I’m not actually a big fan of marketing.”

You chuckled. “Then why are you a marketing major?”

“Mom told me to study something useful,” he grimaced before bursting into laughter. “It’s not all bad though. It’s more creative than business, at least. Or engineering. God, I would’ve sucked at engineering.”

“Yeah, I figured maths wasn’t your strong suit,” you joked and pinched his cheek. 

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Slander.”

You laughed as he dramatically turned his head away from yours. You laughed because you knew that any second now he’d burst out laughing with you. He always did. 

He did it because he knew that it would make you laugh even harder and make your day better. He did it because he had fallen in love with your smile.

Seokmin was good at pretending he wasn’t nervous. Years of drama club participation had paid off in that aspect even if he could never fulfil his dream of becoming an actual actor. And yet, you seemed to see right through him at your last lunch together.

“I can’t believe it’s our last week here,” you breathed out, watching people pass by the otherwise empty break room. 

“Time flies when you’re having fun,” was all he offered, apparently more interested in the fried noodles his roommate had so kindly packed for him.

You looked at him, seated across from you at the table, his back facing the hallway and his face the sun shining through the windows (he always sat on that side, not wanting you to suffer with sun in your eyes). Today his usually sunny expression had been replaced with gloomy skies. 

You reached for his hand across the table. “Are you okay?”

He glanced up, startled by your touch. “I– Yeah. I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not,” you replied. Weeks of knowing him had made you more perceptive to his moods. “You can tell me, you know. I won’t judge.”

He took a deep breath. “... You promise?”

“Of course.” You had thought it was a given.

He took another breath, even deeper. He fingers wrapped around yours and squeezed them tightly. Then, he said, “I have a confession to make.” You nodded for him to continue. “I… (Y/n), I like you.”

“You… like me?” Your eyes widened and you almost slipped your hand out of his on instinct. 

His grip only tightened. “I like you. I’ve liked you since the first day we met. You’re so kind and so sweet and so, so dedicated to your studies and the work you do here. You’re gorgeous inside and out. I can’t help but like you, as more than a friend, and I’m scared that you won’t–”

“I like you too, Seokmin,” you breathed out and rushed to stand up and round the table to hug him. He tensed only for a moment before relaxing into your embrace, relishing in the feeling of your lips against his hair. You repeated and kept repeating, “I like you too. I like you so much. Gosh, of course I like you. How could I not? I like you.”

He wasn’t sure which was warmer: your embrace? the warmth of a blush on his cheeks? the sun shining on his hands as he wrapped his arms around you?All three. He liked all three. But he liked you the most.

A/N: is this my best work? no. could i have written a full slow-burn-ish fic out of it if i was in the right space of mind? yeah. am i proud of it? meh. however, i wrote this, like, a day before scoring an internship so i think it deserves to be uploaded anyway :)