Chapter 3

The next morning, Seunghee found herself sitting between Mingyu and Irene, her best friend on her right while Mingyu on her left. She was happy of course, extremely delighted even. God must ship them together.

“Good morning, Choi Seunghee,” the grayish-blue haired boy greeted as he plopped down on his seat. This simple greeting instinctively made the students in the class stared at them with curious eyes. They hadn’t even met, how in the world could Mingyu know her name? Seungcheol, without Seunghee knowing, glared at them all.

“Good morning,” Seunghee shyly greeted back. Irene bit back her laugh upon seeing her best friend’s reaction. A shy and awkward Seunghee was definitely a very rare thing to see.

“Are you okay now?” Mingyu asked, oblivious of the students’ stares and chattering about him. “I’m okay now. Thanks for asking,” she smiled. Irene pretended to puke and laughed like a mute retarded seal as she didn’t want to cause any scene. Seunghee gave her a glare that shut her up. Ms. Jung then entered the class and started her boring lesson.

“Remind me why I chose social studies?” Wendy groaned out loud. It was already lunch break. The four girls: Irene, Wendy, Seunghee and Yeri sat at their usual place at the corner.

“Because you’re stupid, that’s why,” Seunghee cleverly remarked and happily ate her yoghurt. The latter side-eyed her. “Says someone who always fails the English subject.”

Seunghee only shrugged and devoured her yoghurt hungrily. Wendy looked at her best friend strangely. “Did something happen today? Usually she would beat me when I said that.”

“That Mingyu sat beside her and asked her if she was okay,” Irene replied. Yeri choked on her food. Seunghee immediately gave her water and patted her back lightly.

“That asshat?” Wendy raised her brow. “Who are you calling asshat, Ms. Stupid?” Seunghee snapped and whacked the back of the latter’s head.

“You lil bi—“ Irene stuffed a peeled-off banana inside Wendy’s mouth, preventing her from saying the ‘B’ word. “The ‘B’ word is forbidden in our circle,’ she informed Yeri, who only shook her head at their ridiculousness.

Seunghee stuck her tongue out at Wendy. “Oh, by the way, Joohyun. Soccer practice already started today, so I’m not going home with you,” Seunghee said. “You’re going home alone~”

“Aish, why?” Irene pouted. “I’m scared of going home alone.”

“You have Wendy, right? Besides, it’s only 4 times a week.”

“4 times a week?!” Irene shouted loud enough for the other 3 girls to hear. “I thought it was only 2 times a week?”

“The coach said so,” Seunghee shrugged. “I can’t say no to soccer, can I?” She wiggled her body. Yeri raised her brow in amusement. This eonnie is unique. She chuckled in her head. He will like her back. I’m sure.

Seunghee loved soccer more than anything else. Back then when she was little, she’d rather play soccer with her twin brother and her boy cousins than play houses with Irene and her girl cousins. Playing soccer eased up her mind sometimes. It made her forget about the hatred she received from the students in her school. She gave no damn about it actually, but it still hurt whether she cared or not.

It all started when she was in the first year of high school. That time, everyone adored her and Seungcheol, even Irene until the ex-president of her school’s student council came into the scene. Her presence was what made Seunghee and Irene’s life like it was right now. Thankfully, that ex-president already transferred to another school. But it still didn’t decrease the students’ hatred towards her, instead, it tripled. Everyone blamed her for the ex-president transferring.

“Hey, Seungcheol. I’ve been itching to ask you this,” said Mingyu. “What is it?” The latter asked. They were in the school’s basketball court, practicing.

“Is your sister sick?” he asked.

“Huh? No! I don’t know what’s wrong with her. She had never had any nosebleeds until yesterday,” he remarked while dribbling his basketball. Mingyu chuckled and started dribbling as well.

“Are you guys always this hateful towards each other?” he asked again.

“Well, we don’t hate each other. It’s just, we like to annoy each other,” Sengcheol said.

“Is that so?” Mingyu laughed. “So who came out first? You or Seunghee?”

“Sadly, I’m second,” the latter grumbled. “She always used the noona card when my Mom gave us house chores back when we were still living her.”

“She’s the noona? Wow, I thought she was younger than you,” Mingyu confessed. Seungcheol nodded. “Yep, everyone says that too. She’s the noona yet I’m the one who takes care of her.”

Mingyu patted his friend’s back. “Ah, as expected from this cool oppa,” he teased. Seungcheol rolled his eyes playfully and then laughed.

“But I think you take a well care of her, seeing her all smiley every time,” he continued. Unlike me. Seungcheol shook his head in denial. “She may look like she’s fine but truthfully, she’s not. Seunghee, she…” he paused for a moment and stopped dribbling, letting the ball bounce on the floor. “She received a lot of hate from the whole school.”

Mingyu only stared at Seungcheol. So that was why, he thought. When he entered the class this morning, he noticed that Seunghee didn’t talk to anyone except Irene and Seungcheol.

“May I ask why?” he carefully asked. Seungcheol smiled lightly and heaved a sigh. “It’s a long story. I think it’s better that Seunghee tells you herself. And please don’t tell her that I told you this or else I’ll be a dead meat, alright?”

Tying her long chocolate brown hair into a tight ponytail, she drank some water from her water bottle before running to the middle of the school’s soccer field. Seunghee’s school was really big. It  had a basketball court, a badminton court, a 2500-seat auditorium, two swimming pools, a big music room with a grand piano, a large dance studio and a soccer field. Seunghee really liked it here. This was also the reason why she was so persistent in staying at this school when the conflict between her and the ex-president happened.

“Here comes our striker!” her teammate named Jisoo teased and playfully nudged her on her shoulder.  Aside from Irene and Seungcheol, the only people who talked to her were her teammates. Seunghee chuckled and nudged him back. “Shut up, Jisoo.”

The rest of her teammates greeted her and asked about her holiday, chatting about the usual things until their coach came.

“Alright, line up everyone,” he instructed. They lined up like the coach asked in the middle of the field. “Want to know the reason why I added your practice time to 4 times a week?” The coach asked, eyeing all of the players. All of them nodded excitedly, although they already knew what was coming next. Yes! Another soccer match! Seunghee squealed inwardly.

Their coach smirked while folding his arms. “There’s no soccer match. Don’t get your hopes too high, kids,” he said, secretly holding his laughter. “I only want 18 of you to clean this whole field.” When he saw their jaws dropped, the coach couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Coach Shim! What the hell!” Seunghee angrily exclaimed, so close to kicking him in the shin. Their coach, whose surname was Shim, made a peace sign and stopped laughing. “That was a joke, guys. Don’t take it seriously,”  he said, patting the person next to Seunghee on his back.

“You guys will have a match against SM High this March, just a week after your first monthly exam,” he informed excitedly.

No one seemed happy.

No one cheered.

“What? Against those arrogant bastards?” One of them named Junsu rolled his eyes. Seunghee stared blankly at the clear sky. She was going to meet that who made her life miserable in 2 months. Even though her enemy wasn’t playing, she knew that witch would come as a spectator and ruin her.

“Apparently, SM High is the one who challenges us first. But, SM High is such a prestigious school, they will never make the first move if it is to challenge a school. I wonder who suggested this,” coach Shim said, rubbing his palms. “Is it—“ “It’s ing Joy, isn’t it? It has to be her, considering how much she likes to ruin my life,” Seunghee finished for him.

Coach Shim sighed and nodded, “I heard she’s the new president of SM High’s student council.” Seunghee cracked her knuckles and smirked. “She’s asking for a ing World War III, isn’t she?”

Her teammates and Coach Shim swore they could see a black smoke around her.

It was almost 5 P.M when Mingyu and Seungcheol finished washing up. The basketball practice had ended a while ago and they were now getting ready to go home. But before heading to the main school gate, they dropped by the soccer field first because as a good brother, Seungcheol wanted to see how his sister was doing.

Mingyu had his eyes set on the only girl in the field. He couldn’t believe that Seunghee actually played soccer, not to mention an expert at that, looking at how good she was at avoiding her ball being taken and successfully scoring a goal. She looked very bright and carefree when playing soccer, unlike when she was in class.

She may look like she’s fine but truthfully, she’s not.

Seungcheol’s words echoed through his mind. But she seems relaxed and really free, there’s no hint of fake smiles or laughs at all. Mingyu thought. Seunghee high-fived her teammates and laughed, her eyes twinkling every time she laughed.

Seungcheol tapped on his shoulder, snapping him from his thoughts. “My Mom called me and said that my 3-month package has arrived, so I’m going to go home first, is that okay?” he asked, getting excited all of sudden.

Mingyu nodded, his eyes leaving Seunghee for a moment. “Sure, go ahead. Be careful on the way home!” Seungcheol made an okay sign and took off, practically running to the front gate as if he was running a marathon. Mingyu chuckled and shook his head in amusement.

Seunghee finally spotted the familiar boy with grayish-blue hair, who had been watching her from the spectator arena. She almost fainted out of joy but held it in. What is he doing there? Is he waiting for me?!  Mingyu gave her a wave from afar when he noticed Seunghee already acknowledged his presence. Seunghee shyly waved back at him and immediately ran to take a shower, leaving coach Shim and her teammates in confusion.

If Irene were here, she would probably have been laughing her off by now.

“I didn’t know you play soccer,” Mingyu commented. It was already 6 P.M when they got on the bus. Taking a seat at the third row on the right, Seunghee laughed. “Unexpected, right?” The boy just nodded.

“I really love soccer, it’s like my second best friend after Irene,” she continued and looked at him, only to realize that they were sitting next to each other. Seunghee looked away immediately, attempting to hide the blush on her cheeks. God must really really really ship them together.

Mingyu didn’t notice that, thankfully. “It feels free, doesn’t it? When I play basketball, it makes my mind go blank,” he said. Seunghee nodded in agreement. She though she was the only one who felt that way and she was happy that someone also felt the same way as her. This made her like Mingyu even more. They already had one thing in common so far and she couldn’t wait to unveil the rest.

Seunghee didn’t consider this as love at first sight. She didn’t love him, well, yet. She only found Mingyu attractive. He was definitely her type of guy, from top to bottom. She wanted to know him more now that they were shared one thing in common and she really hoped that her classmates would leave her alone and not say anything about her past conflict with Joy, the one who already moved to SM High. She wanted to be the one who explained everything to him so that he wouldn’t be upset with her for lying when or if they got closer.

“Why did you move here from America?” She finally asked after a moment of silence. “Were they bullying you?”

“no,” he answered, shaking his head in denial. “My younger sister.” Seunghee muttered an ‘oh’ and apologized for asking. Chuckling, Mingyu told her it wasn’t her fault.

“My dad was furious when he found about it,” said Mingyu. “He was so mad that he almost sued all of the people who bullied his precious, but my sister begged him not to do such thing. He listened to her though, although he was really fuming inside. I mean, I would be too, if I found out my daughter had been bullied for 3 years and she didn’t say a thing about it.”

“Is she okay now?” Seunghee carefully asked. 3 years were a long time. How could she stand it? Somehow, it made Mingyu touched and relieved when she asked about his sister’s condition instead of asking ‘what did they do to her?’ or ‘can your father really sue them all? What does he do anyway?’

“She’s doing so fine right now,” he replied, flashing her a grateful smile. “I failed as a brother, you know. I was blinded by the attention I got and didn’t realize that she was in pain,” he told her sadly and looked at his hands, feeling shameful.

“You can try to be a better brother for her then. If you couldn’t protect her in the past, you can protect her now,” Seunghee encouraged him and looked outside the window only to see the familiar street. “My stop is here. Talk to you tomorrow! Bye, Mingyu!” She said as the bus stopped. She hopped off the bus and sprinted off, but not forgetting to wave back at Mingyu, who was waving at her from the window.

When her figure already couldn’t be seen because of the crowd, he heaved a sigh.

He was really thankful that his sister was now friends with a cheerful and positive person like Seunghee.

I love SM. I love Joy.

Thank you to LinA1992 and peculiarfetus for upvoting this story even though it has only 3 chapters! 

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