This morning, I didn’t want to wake up but Hyejeong, who I was rooming with, decided to blast music out of her phone to get pumped. I would have been fine with that if she didn’t play it super loud so when she decided to start playing it I didn’t jump three feet in the air. I was honestly so scared. I thought it was the fire alarm at first. But then I saw Hyejeong dancing around the hotel room, getting everything packed for the day.

Today was the day. The day I prove to everyone I wasn’t a waste to the team. That I shouldn’t quit being captain.  To show them why I got my scholarship in the first place.

My bed head was out of this world when I entered the bathroom. That was proof of how well I slept last night. I was tired and sleeping for almost 11 hours felt so good. Being around my brother really takes a lot of my energy. That and also my blood sugar attack yesterday just drained everything from me. But now I feel like 120%. Okay, maybe 105% because my stomach had just growled in hunger.

So I quickly ran a brush through my hair and put on some deodorant. I, then, grabbed Hyejeong and both of us ran down to the buffet to feast of a bunch of free food before we had to leave.

~ * ~

Our team walked through the doors of the gymnasium and all of sudden the smell of coffee just filled the air. I looked around to see a concession stand where a few people were selling chocolate, snacks, coffee, and other beverages. I made a mental note to stop by there later for a hot chocolate.

All of us were dressed in our matching school sports outfit. We had our sports jacket and our track pants on which hid our actual uniform from underneath. On our uniforms were the schools logo in our colour, blue. Everything else was black, except for the libero who wore white with our school logo. It was just so we could see her come on and off the court whenever she was needed.

I watched the other teams. I noticed that some of them kept their eyes on us as we enter and walked towards the warm up area of the gym. I tried my best to not let it bother me but when I heard them murmur amongst themselves, I just walked a faster pace. My team took notice and kept up with my speed.

Once we got to the area where we were going to warm up before our game in a half an hour. Everyone took off their jackets and track pants. I pulled out my gym shoes from my sports bag, as well as my knee pads. First sliding the knee pads on then followed by tying up my gym shoes nice and tight. All I had to do now was tape my fingers which I needed help to do.

“Hey Yewon, can you help me? You are the best at taping.” I begged, using my puppy dog eyes.

Yewon chuckled, “Yeah, only if you help me with mine.”

“Deal.” I said and we moved closer so she could easily tape.

Firstly I did my non-dominant hand, taping my ring finger and middle finger together. Yewon did her non-dominant at the same time as did mine. Then she got the tape and did my right hand. She always got the pressure right while I always did mine too tight, in which I would have to re-do it.

I started to then tape Yewon’s fingers. “Tell me if I do it too tight.”

~ * ~

Sehun kept true to his words. He wouldn’t stop texting me. Maybe every ten minutes he would send me some random joke. It took my mind off the anxiety but it would have been better if they were actually funny. Not just ‘why was six afraid of seven?’ because those weren’t even funny when I was a kid.

So when we won our first game, I went to my phone to see if Baekhyun might have texted me but instead I was bombarded with text messages from Sehun and his crappy jokes. Where did he honestly learn these? I felt like smacking him.

Though being the nice and wonderful person I am, I just responded to him saying that we won our first game.

As I finished sending the message, I fell to the floor in exhaustion. The first team we played against were hard. We took the first set and they took the second. During the final set, we were fighting for the points. But in the end we took a four point lead and beat them. I played the whole game and it just took the strength out of me. The team was great at defense so it was mind and body consuming to set up the right shot for the spiker.

Now I get another couple of hours before our next game which was the deciding match to see if we go into the final round. I heard that the team we are playing next beat their opponents in only two sets. Considering that the game is three matches and the best two of three wins, which meant they were really good. Or their opponents weren’t so good.

I took one of the juice boxes in my gym bag and granola bars. Just starting to eat and drink those before I get too bad with my low blood sugar.

“Good job twin!” I heard Joohyuk’s voice from behind me. I turned my head slightly to see the three boys coming my way.

“Thanks.” I said with a full mouth of granola.

Luhan chuckled, “Don’t talk with your mouth full.”

Chanyeol looked at me. To see me on the ground with juice meant I was getting low on blood sugar so of course, he was going to worry about me. I think he knew I didn’t want him to say anything so he just kept to himself.

I swallowed the food, “Yeah yeah…”

“We are going to pick up some food for lunch, do you want anything?” Chanyeol finally spoke up, still gazing at me.

“Hmm, actually that sounds awesome! But I don’t know what I want.” I mumbled the last part. I really couldn’t think of something that I wanted to eat. Later tonight the whole team was going out for barbeque so I didn’t want anything with meat. Also because I didn’t want to be slowed down by such a heavy meal.

“We’ll get you some jjajangmyeon. No meat. The way you like it when you are at games and tournaments.” Chanyeol knew exactly what I wanted before I knew what I wanted. I guess after three years of knowing him, he’ll remember my food order.

“Then I guess we will be back in a half an hour.” Joohyuk turned to the boys. “Let’s go! I’m starving…” he gestured to Luhan and Chanyeol to start walking.

I watched as the three of them left my sight. They were cheering so loud during the game that when I was serving, I almost fumbled the ball from Joohyuk’s girlish screech. I laughed just thinking of a goofball he is.

Goofball… I almost forgot about Baekhyun. The goofball of my heart. He hasn’t really talked or texted me all day. All I got was a ‘good luck today’ text this morning. I responded fairly quickly but I guess he is super busy with the set up and rehearsals of his concert.

So to make sure he saw my previous text, I sent him another one. Just asking how everything is going and tell him I won my first game. Only a little update. If he was busy, I really didn’t want to disturb him.

I stood up, getting off the ground and I just decided to roam around the gymnasium. This whole place was very different compared to our gym in Seoul. Thinking back to that concession stand, I made sure I had my wallet with me so I could go back there. There was a bit of a line so I waited, considering I had a lot of time on my hand before we went to go warm up before the next game.

My phone vibrated from the inside of my pocket so I pulled it out while I was waiting, thinking it was Sehun with another crappy joke. But it was Baekhyun.

Why didn’t his message feel like ‘Baekhyun’? Usually he would act more hyper when I tell him good news because that’s the way he is. He got excited for every little happy thing that happened to anyone. If Kyungsoo got a good mark on his English paper then Baekhyun would go out and buy ice cream for him. So the way he responded to my text message, just seemed off. I know he is busy because it is the concert today but I don’t know, it just feels weird.

I was next in line for the concession. “Hi, could I get a hot chocolate please?” I asked nicely to the girl who was working the counter.

She gave me the price, in which I gave her my change that added up to the total amount. Then she gave me my hot chocolate.

I started to walk back to the resting area where everybody else was. Yet as I walked, I didn’t know what I wanted to send back to Baekhyun. Obviously I’m going to wish him the best luck for later today.

That text message couldn’t get into my head though. It would psyche me out of the great feeling of adrenalin that was coursing through my veins. No boy thoughts today. Just volleyball. No boys. Volleyball.

“Hey Junhee. The place was closer than we though.” Joohyuk was waving in front of me as he was carrying the carry of food. Behind him was Chanyeol and Luhan smiling towards me as they lifted up their bags of food.

~ * ~

I volleyed the ball off my fingers. Everything felt like it was going in slow motion. The game we were in right now was a really close tie. The team we are against was better than I thought. Though I’m making sure the whole team stays calm by having myself be calm. It’s amazing how emotions of the higher figures of a team or a company reflects off the others.

One of the girls in the year below me spiked the ball over the net. The blockers of the other team tried to get it but they didn’t have a strong force block because the girl had broken through their wall and ball hit the floor of the other side.

My team cheered but we quickly got back into our positions for the other team to serve the ball.

All we need is two points to take the entire match. If they don’t score this time then we have a good chance of getting to win the game. It is just nerve wracking that in a second we could lose our entire composure and just lose everything.

But I was calm on the outside. And to me, that is all the matter in this moment of time.

I kept my eyes on the ball the entire time. They served it over the net and Junghwa volleyed the ball back to the opponent’s side. They were getting ready to spike the ball because if they didn’t then we would.

They were setting up to strike and I noticed that the usual spiker wasn’t moving into the position she was getting into all the other times. So I had a feeling they were using somebody else. The people in the back of the court were moving up so one of them were going to spike.

I was ready to pounce at any moment. There wasn’t any time to notify the rest of my team.

As I finished my thought, their setter, who was diagonal of me, set the ball up in a direction near me. They must have thought that because of what happened at the previous tournament a few months ago, that I was a back receiver. Jokes on them though.

A player of the opposite team ran up from the back and jumped into the air, she was aiming for my direction, which my teammates noticed so Hyejeong, who was behind me, was ready to jump in and help at any given moment.

“Mine!” I yelled out so the others wouldn’t go for me. I got into position and the ball was spiked perfectly to hit against my arms. I volleyed it up and Hyejeong was ready to set the ball to our spiker in place of me.

When the second year student spiked the ball, it hit the tips of the opposite teams’ fingers but bounced and hit the floor out of bounds.

I clapped happily and high fived the second year student. She was doing awesome for this match.

One more point… That’s all we need to go into the final game.

Which, thanks to Hyejeong’s floating serve, we got that final point and won the game.

~ * ~

“So this is what gold feels like? It’s kind of heavy.” Joohyuk held my medal in his hands after the awards ceremony was finished.

The last game was actually really easy. Our opponents were no trouble for us so we won it easily, meaning that we actually got first place in this entire tournament.

“Don’t smudge your dirty little fingerprints all over my medal.” I took back my beautiful medal and put it around my neck. The smile on my face was so big and I was so proud of myself. Not just me but all my friends and teammates because volleyball is such a demanding team sport.

“You did an awesome job today and look at you, you have so much energy right now!” Luhan hugged me tightly. I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him tightly because of the fantastic mood I was in.

“Come on, let’s take a picture!” I cheered and pulled out my phone from my bag, to see a bunch of missed calls from Baekhyun. I figured that I could call him back later.

“I’ll take it of you three.” Chanyeol offered but I refused it.

“You get in the picture too!” I turned towards the direction of Hyejeong. “Hey Hyejeong! Can you take a photo of us?”

She noddedand came over, taking my phone from me. I was squished between Joohyuk and Luhan while Chanyeol stood behind us because he was tall enough. I grabbed my medal and smiled so brightly that my eyes had to shut.

“Say ‘winner!’” Hyejeong said and the four of us all said the word ‘winner.’

When she took the picture, I wanted to see how it was so I got back my phone. Luhan was smiling with his usual grin but Joohyuk and I had our eyes close while smiling. Then Chanyeol, with his usual V sign, he had his eyes closed and his signature hand pose right against his cheek.

I absolutely loved it so immediately I posted the picture to Facebook with the caption ‘Today has been the greatest day of my life with the help of these dorks!! J’

~ * ~

While we were out getting barbeque, I got a text message from Minseok.

Under the text message was a video attached to it. In the thumbnail was Baekhyun at a grand piano with at least twenty students behind him with a bunch of different instruments. I got up from my seat because it was the video of Baekhyun’s grand performance. Everything was composed by himself but I thought it was just him on the piano. When I made it to the secluded hallway, I pressed the play button.

It was a bit shaky at first but Minseok was maybe in the second row so it was really clear and easy to see Baekhyun. He was so handsome with his suit on. I really wish I could have been there today.

Soon I heard him begin to play the piano. Then the string instruments played behind him with a strong but delicate melody that wasn’t overpowering his piano playing.

Then Baekhyun sung like an angel.

When you're overwhelmed and you've lost your breath 
When the space between the things you know is blurry nonetheless.
When you try to speak but you make no sound 
And the words you want are out of reach but they've never been so loud

From the very first line, I knew this song was about me.

If your heart wears thin, I will hold you up 
And I will hide you when it gets too much
I'll be right beside you

I will stay. 
Nobody will break you

My eyes started to water as I heard the beautiful song that Baekhyun was singing. It felt like he was singing directly to me, even though I wasn’t there and he didn’t know that Minseok was recording but there was so much passion in his voice. I haven’t heard him fully sing like this but it reminded of the night that I had a one night stand with Baekhyun, where he sung me to sleep. I felt so safe then and now I feel the same way now.

Trust in me, trust in me.
Don't pull away
Trust in me, trust in me.
I'm just trying to keep this together, 
Because I could do worse and you could do better

If your heart wears thin I will hold you up 
And I will hide you when it gets too much
I'll be right beside you
Nobody will break you.

Baekhyun… He wrote this song… for me. Was this the reason why he was so upset about me missing the concert? I’m sure when he played the compositions that weren’t composed by him, he didn’t really care if I was there but this song though. I felt horrible for missing it.

I never even called him back earlier. So I quickly went into my missed calls and pressed his name. It ringed a couple of times before a low, quiet voice answered the phone. “Hello?”

“Baek?” I had a few tears glide down the apple of my cheeks when I heard his voice.

“Junhee? How are you doing? Did you win?” he tried to brighten his tone of voice but he still seemed tired and just not in the mood to talk to me.

“Yeah, I did win. First place, isn’t that neat?” I tried my best not to sound sad.

“That’s great. I’m so proud of you.” I knew he was smiling right now and I desperately wanted to see it.

“And I’m proud of you. But Baek, I am so sorry for missing your song today. I really loved it.”

“W-wait… How did you hear it?” Baekhyun gasped.

“My friend recorded it for me.” I simply put it.

“I wrote it for you.”

“I know.”

~ * ~

“I’ll see you in a couple days.” I hugged Joohyuk goodbye. We would see each other when he would have take the train back home for the holidays.

Joohyuk waved goodbye as I got onto the bus to go back to Seoul. Chanyeol and Luhan had to leave earlier this morning because of Luhan’s flight back to Beijing. He was quite upset to leave but I knew he was so happy to go back home and see all his family and friends.

Now Christmas break and the rest of winter break begins. I also have a vacation with Baekhyun and his roommates to look forward to… that is if my parents are alright with it.

After everything that went on the past few days, I finally fell asleep without any worries.

~ * ~

I made it back to my dorm room and fell back onto my bed. Everything was already packed but now all I have to do is wait for my dad to come pick me up later tonight after they close the restaurant.

Everything was already packed so now I just had to wait.

But then I heard a knock at my door. I got up, curious to see who it is. I opened my door to see Baekhyun, panting heavily and his face beat red.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” He said in a rushed tone before taking a deep breath.

authours note; OKAY SO i know i did a poll for who would be junhee's ex boyfriend but as i was going through instagram, i saw this picture:

and nam joohyuk is who i see as junhee's twin brother and beside joohyuk in this photo is kim jisoo, who i find incredibly attractive and such a good role for a tough-ish guy (and yes i did watch sassy go go xD) so i decided he will be junhee's ex-boyfriend!! yay!! sorry for the poll that i didn't end up even using, please forgive me!! i just really love this photo as well!

but FINALLY i am done with the volleyball stuff! i played volleyball in high school so hopefully i explained all the scenes for people who don't know volleyball... and the last line of the chapter is :oooooooo

next chapter will be baekhyun's side of the story (in third person) will you be excited? and also the song that baekhyun "wrote" is beside you by marianas trench which is one of the bands that i absolutely adore!! and also WHO IS EXCITED FOR THE BAEKHEE VACATION?! i know i am!!