Saturdays meant that classes at SVT High only ran until noon. When Mrs. Jeon dismissed the class after the bell rang, Minyoung let out a sigh of relief. It had been a busy and eventful week with the release of the grades from the midterm exam, studying, and tutoring Seungcheol on every other day. While her classmates had plans to play after a busy week, Minyoung had booked her initially free Saturday afternoon for a certain someone.  

A smile that was brighter than usual decorated Iseul’s face as she headed over to Minyoung’s desk. “Are you ready?”

Minyoung was busily trying to stuff her planner and pencil case into her backpack. “Almost.”

“Don’t even try to escape because I’m taking you there myself.” Iseul hummed, a sly look in her eyes.

Minyoung made a face at her friend as she finished packing and put her backpack on. “I know. Besides, I promised.”

The girl stood up to push her chair in and Iseul took Minyoung by the wrist and began to lead the way to the gyms.

“Let’s go watch the basketball team practice!” Iseul sang, pulling her friend along.

Minyoung sighed, remembering what happened three days prior.

–

It all started the day before, thanks to a simple question that yielded an unexpected answer.

Friday marked the third day of tutoring and Seungcheol had been particularly talkative and curious. Other than asking about questions related to that day’s math class, he had also asked questions about Minyoung. He wanted to know about her favorite class (“Science”), how she studied (“Make notes colorful and easy to remember”), and what she liked to do in her spare time (“Eat and sleep”).  

“You ask so many questions.” Minyoung remarked as she watched him get started on the circular functions worksheet Mrs. Jeon had distributed that day to the senior classes. She and Iseul had worked on theirs together during lunch since it rained, leaving them to be stuck indoors and bored.

Seungcheol hummed as he wrote. “Because I want to get to know you better.”

Minyoung looked up from her circular functions notes, turning her head to her right and her eyes meeting Seungcheol’s. “What?”

Seungcheol smiled, eyes crinkling. “I said I wanted to get to know you better.”

Minyoung blinked at him in surprise and then immediately looked away to break the eye contact. “A-anyways. If you have time to chitchat, then you have time to work on the worksheet.”

He chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.”

The next ten minutes were spent in silence as Seungcheol continued to solve the problems on the worksheet and Minyoung reviewed her math notes. The light taps of the eraser end of his mechanical pencil on her knuckles took her attention away from her reading.

“What?” Minyoung asked.

“Can I ask something?”

She looked up from her notes. “Is it about circular functions?”

The boy paused. “Well…no, but it’s important.”

“Hm…okay, what is it?”

“Have you watched our basketball team play before?”

Minyoung shook her head. “Not at all.”

Seungcheol was aghast at her response. “What?!” he gasped loudly, forcing everyone to turn their heads to their direction.

“Keep your voice down!” Minyoung hissed, hitting his arm. “You’re distracting others.”

“Sorry.” Seungcheol lowered his voice as he continued to solve the math problems. “But let me get something straight. You go to SVT High, the current champion of the tournament for the ninth year in a row, and you’ve never watched the basketball team play?”

“It never crossed my mind.” Minyoung shrugged, her eyes intently watching his pencil write out the steps to the solution. She didn’t want to meet his eyes – if they were to make eye contact, he would probably stare at her like a sad puppy again. There was no way she was going to fall for that look again.

“You need to go. After all, you’re tutoring the captain of the team.” Seungcheol nodded.

“Maybe when I’m not busy.”  

“You should go tomorrow. We have open gym practice.”

“We’ll see.”

“You have to go tomorrow, okay?”

Minyoung sighed, finally meeting his eyes. Just as she suspected, the boy was making puppy eyes at her. Oh no. Can he please stop doing that?

“Fine, fine, I’ll go tomorrow if you focus and finish that worksheet.” She nodded, finally caving in.

Seungcheol’s expression lit up and he held out his pinky finger towards her. “Pinky promise?”

Minyoung intertwined her pinky with his, nodding again. “Pinky promise. Now please get back to work. Everyone’s staring at us.”

The boy turned his head and everyone quickly looked away, pretending that they didn’t notice the exchange. Iseul, who was tutoring Lee Seokmin a few tables down their row, gave them a thumbs up and a grin of her own.

Minyoung groaned in embarrassment, burying her face in her hands. Curse those puppy eyes!

–

To no one’s surprise, the gym’s second floor mezzanine was crowded with people eager to watch the basketball team’s practice. The bleachers immediately ran out of spots, forcing Minyoung and Iseul to squeeze their way through a few students standing and settle into a mostly empty corner in the right most part of the mezzanine where Minyoung could see.

“Oof….there’s way too many people here.” Minyoung grumbled, mentally cursing her mother’s family’s genes – almost all of the Kim family fell short of the average height but her siblings luckily inherited their father’s height.

But to tell the truth, Minyoung was looking forward to watch the team practice. She mostly heard word from her classmates that this year’s team was exceptionally talented and that under Seungcheol’s leadership, they had great chances of making it to the championships. She wondered if they really were that good and if they were going to continue the legacy.

Also she kind of wanted to see whether Seungcheol was as good as everyone claimed he was.

Minyoung moved over to the rightmost side so she had a better view of the basketball court, accidentally bumping into someone in the process.

“Sorry!” Minyoung gasped, looking up.

“It’s fine – oh, Minyoung!” Jisoo smiled, his initial look of surprise disappearing.

The girl blinked. “Hong Jisoo!”

“Are you guys here to watch too?" Jisoo asked, nudging his head to Iseul's direction.

Iseul patted Minyoung on the head. “She made a pinky promise to Seungcheol that she was going to go watch the practice today.”

Jisoo wriggled his brows teasingly and Minyoung made a face, about to explain herself. However, the deafening cheers from the crowd interrupted her. The trio turned their attention to the court as the team members of the basketball team entered the gym after running laps outside. Minyoung’s gaze fell on Seungcheol, dressed in a plain white t-shirt and black basketball shorts, as he jogged over to the benches while ruffling his hair.

“Seungcheol oppa!” A few girls from the leftmost part of the bleachers screamed in unison. The boy looked up at the mezzanine and gave them a wave, followed by forming hearts with his arms over his head. The girls emitted deafening squeals of delight as Seungcheol looked pleased with himself.

“This cheese ball.” Minyoung muttered and then clamped a hand across upon realizing that she said it out loud. Iseul jabbed her on the side, making her yelp and Jisoo laughed.  

The first couple of minutes of the practice was focused on the boys being separated in two teams for practice games. Team A consisted of Jeonghan, second year Kwon Soonyoung, second year Lee Jihoon, first year Xu Minghao, second year Jeon Wonwoo on the bench, and first year Boo Seungkwan as their captain. On the other hand, Team B was made up of first year Kim Mingyu, first year Lee Seokmin, second year Wen Junhui, first year Lee Chan, first year Choi Hansol on the bench, and Seungcheol as the captain. The boys on opposing teams playfully glared at one another as Coach Kim disappeared into the storage room to help Hansol and Wonwoo get the equipment.

“Oh, Jeonghan’s waving at us.” Jisoo remarked. Indeed, the longhaired boy was looking up the mezzanine and waving at their direction. Minyoung pointed at their group, unsure, and the boy nodded, grinning. Seungcheol walked past and Jeonghan tapped his shoulder, pointing towards the group and saying a few words to him. Seungcheol turned around to look towards them, his expression lighting up. Minyoung watched Seungcheol jog on the court towards their direction, his head looking up towards the mezzanine.

“Hi Minyoung!” Seungcheol grinned, his eyes crinkling as he waved at the girl.

“Hey.” Minyoung gave him a smile and a wave.

“We just saw each other yesterday! Did you miss me already?” the boy asked teasingly and Minyoung stuck out her tongue at him.

“You wish.” Minyoung wrinkled her nose, but she cracked a smile. “I’m here because you made me pinky promise, remember?”

“I was worried you forgot.”

“I’ll have you know that I don’t break pinky promises. Iseul can guarantee that.”

Seungcheol looked pleased. “You get to see your tutoring partner show off his skills! I’m really good, you know. ”

“Oh really?” Minyoung raised a brow. “We’ll see about that.”

Mingyu went up to Seungcheol and whispered in his ear, cutting their discussion short. Seungcheol nodded as he grinned and gave one last wave to Minyoung.

“You’ll see! Just watch!”

Seungcheol was right, Minyoung thought. He is good. Minyoung knew a bit about basketball, as her two older brothers were avid fans, players, and viewers of the sport. Back when she was little and her brothers had to look after her, it usually meant one of two options. Option one was that her brothers made her sit and watch the games on the television with them. Option two was they made her sit on the porch and watch them play one-on-one. Being exposed to the sport as a child allowed her to learn about it, even though she herself didn’t have any athletic abilities.

From what knowledge she picked up over the years, she could tell that Seungcheol was really good. Like everyone on the team, he had superb form and technique. However, there was something about the way he played on the court that was particularly eye-catching and drew her attention.

She watched him receive first year Kim Mingyu’s fast pass and shoot the ball into the basket. With a swish, the ball went in and Seungcheol’s fans immediately erupted into cheers. The boy high-fived his teammates and Coach Kim blew the whistle, signaling the end of the boys’ practice game.

“Is it over?” Iseul asked disappointedly as spectating students started to slowly file out of the mezzanine. Beside Minyoung, Jisoo nodded.

“Yeah, practice is over for today.” Jisoo explained. “I think they said that the teachers are having a big meeting afterwards so practice is cut short.”

Minyoung checked her watch and noted that it was exactly 3 in the afternoon.

Practice ran for over two hours? That’s impressive…. she mused. The boys took brief breaks and mostly played practice games against one another. She couldn’t imagine how tired they must be after running around for a long time. Minyoung personally felt tired at the idea since she wasn't really an active person (her bed was her second best friend).

Iseul turned to Jisoo. “Are you just waiting for them to finish?”

“Yeah, we’re going to go eat out after.” Jisoo nodded. “What about you guys?”

Minyoung was about to speak when the phone in her pocket vibrated and she immediately fished it out. She swiped her thumb across the screen and punched in her code to find that one of her brothers had texted her.  

From: Jung Minhyuk
minnie mouse!!!
come home!!!
we bought fast food lol ur usual with a milkshake
hurry up so mom doesn’t find out  

“I have to get going,” Minyoung gave them an apologetic look. “Apparently there's fast food waiting for me at home and we’re going to get in trouble if mom finds it.”  

Iseul pouted. “Boo, I was going to treat you to a parfait when the practice ended.”

“Maybe next time!” Minyoung waved, about to head to the doors.

“See you guys!”  

Jisoo called out. “You should say goodbye to Seungcheol before you go!”

The girl paused in her tracks, turning back around to them. “What?”

“Just say bye to him,” Jisoo urged. “We’ll go with you.”

“Uh…okay?” Jisoo led the two girls down the stairs from the mezzanine, pushing open the doors to the gym once they reached the main floor. The boys of the team were busily cleaning up after themselves when they walked in. Jisoo found Seungcheol arranging the benches and he called out his friend’s name. The captain of the team looked up and once he saw the three of them, he immediately jogged towards their direction.

“Minyoung’s about to leave so you have to say bye.” Jisoo explained.

Seungcheol looked at the said girl. “You’re going already?” he asked, running a hand through his hair to push the damp strands backwards and away from his eyes.

Minyoung gave him an apologetic smile and held up her phone. “Yup. My brother's telling me to go home.”

Seungcheol nodded slowly, looking somewhat disappointed. “Ah…then I’ll see you on Monday?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you guys then.”

Minyoung’s phone vibrated again, indicating that she had received another text message. She quickly read the message that showed up on the lock screen.  

From: Jung Minhyuk
hurry up before i eat ur nuggets and fries  

“Ugh, okay, I need to go or else my brother’s going to eat my food.” Minyoung made a face. "He's greedy."

“Ah, wait!” Seungcheol blurted out. “What’s your number?”

She stared at him. “What?”

“You know,” he shrugged. “so I can text you just in case I run into a problem while doing homework during the weekend.”

Minyoung raised her brows as she crossed her arms on her chest. “Am I a 24-hour homework assistance line now?” she asked pretending to be miffed.

“Maybe?” Seungcheol grinned. “Hang on, okay?”

They watched the boy run into the change rooms and Iseul and Jisoo smiled at Minyoung. She made a face at the two of them as Seungcheol emerged with his phone in his hands. Minyoung and Seungcheol switched phones to punch in their contact information and returned them to one another once they finished.

“I’ll see you guys later!” Minyoung gave them a wave as she pushed the gym doors open.

“Bye! Text me!” Seungcheol called out, grinning. Minyoung stuck out her tongue playfully, smiling to herself as she let the doors close behind her.

–

Minyoung closed the front door behind her, taking off her shoes and putting them away into the shoe closet. "I'm home!"

“Oh thank goodness you’re home!” Jung Minhyuk called out dramatically from the living room couch, a game controller in his hands. “It’s been a thousand years.”

“Don’t be dramatic.” Minyoung retorted as she put her slippers on. “Where’s my food?”

Minhyuk’s older twin, Minseok, looked up from the video game they were playing. “It’s on the dining table. Milkshake’s in the fridge.”

“Okay, thanks!” Minyoung shuffled to her room to change out of her uniform into a plain black shirt, a light blue oversized hoodie, and black leggings. Once in comfortable clothing, she emerged out of her room, took out her milkshake from the fridge, and took the paper bag of fast food with her to the living room. She plopped down beside Minhyuk and opened up the package of chicken nuggets to eat first.

“What took you so long?” Minseok asked his younger sister, eyes glued to the tv screen.  

“Watched the basketball practice.”

Minhyuk whistled while furiously pressing on the controller’s buttons. “Ooh, nice. Heard the team’s good this year.”

Minyoung nodded in agreement as she took a bite from a chicken nugget.  “Yeah, they are.”

As if on cue, the phone in the pocket of Minyoung's hoodie vibrated. She popped the rest of the chicken nugget into and wiith a free hand, she dug out her phone and unlocked it to read the message. She smiled as she took a sip of her milkshake.  

From: Choi Seungcheol
Did you watch me during practice??? ^_^ I’m good, aren’t I???  

She set down her drink on the coffee table to punch in a reply. Once she was done, she locked her phone again and continued to enjoy her food as she watched her brothers play their video game.  

From: Jung Minyoung Yes and you did well today ^^ I’ll watch a real game next time ^^  

A bit of a longer update this time! Unfortunately, it looks like this will be the last update for a while. I'm nearing the end of the semester so things are going to be busy until mid-April. But hopefully I'll be able to update faster once the school year ends. Thank you for the subs and thank you for reading! I'll see you next month!