A/N: Sorry for the long wait!! ^^; Yikes this one is quite long lmao. Please forgive me if there's any grammar mistakes, I felt sleepy while editing this (and still am) T-T Enjoy~

PS: just edited the prologue a little bit. You might want to check that out ^^;

*

May, 2016.

Dribbled. Passed. Sprinted to the front. Caught the ball. Dribbled pass an opponent and shoot! Tzuyu scored her team three points just a second before the final whistle was blown.

Tzuyu lifted one arm in victory, grinning when her junior – the opposing team – was groaning at their lost while he fellow comrades rushed to her for an animated hug. She cackled when two of them, one supporting a short, grayish hair while the other one medium chestnut, brown hair with number 12 and 27 in their purple and gold jersey respectively, carried her on their shoulders. She patted their backs rapidly, telling them to put her down.

“Guys come on. This isn’t a tournament. Winning from our juniors doesn’t seem like something to be bragged about.” She said, although she couldn’t help but to smile smugly at the slumped first year.

The shorthaired girl, Jeongyeon, motioned for the vice captain to give a briefing to the dejected juniors before she led Tzuyu to the bench and sat her down.

“This might not be a real tournament but in two weeks we’ll be in one and you’ve shown us how our chance to win this year has increased. Not like we haven’t won two years in a row.” Her other friend, Momo, chirped happily, tossing Tzuyu and Jeongyeon each a bottle of cold water and a clean towel.

Tzuyu and Jeongyeon laughed as they unclasped the bottle and chugged more than half of it down to ease their drying throat. Momo flopped in between their legs and leant her back on Tzuyu’s thigh, watching with great entertainment as the new recruits groan when they were told their punishment, which was extra five laps of running around the court.

Minority of them began to protest, the bratty ones, most chanting about how unfair it was that the seniors who played were the aces of the team, even when it was a 5v3 game. Jeongyeon, who happened to be the captain of the basketball team, clucked her tongue in disapproval and crossed the court. Tzuyu snickered when she saw this and exchanged a look with Momo, knowing what the captain would do after this.

“As strict as ever.” Momo mused with mirth and Tzuyu shook her head with a little laugh.

“At least she wasn’t as wordless as she was the past few days, no?” Tzuyu said and plopped down beside Momo to lay her torso on the grass, watching as the wind brought leaves out for a little wandering and clouds gliding along the sky. It was like watching a river from above.

Momo nudged her knee in acknowledgement.

“Yeah…” Momo hummed and when she spoke next, Tzuyu would miss the somber tone if she weren’t listening in the first place. “I wonder what’s that she refuse to tell us...”

When Jeongyeon approached them back, lending her hands to help the two up, Tzuyu was amazed at how Momo could change the mood in instant.

“Gotta make sure they learn their lesson, huh?” Momo teased. Tzuyu chuckled when the blonde rolled her eyes and let go her hold on Momo, making the latter stumbled back with a groan.

“Gosh I’m starving.” Tzuyu rubbed her stomach, and Momo beamed as though she wasn’t about to sulk after Jeongyeon had ditched her.

“Let’s go eat! Last one done showering must pay!” And with that Momo scurried away to the locker room.

“Oi! You’ve an early start you dimwit!” Jeongyeon grunted but dashed to catch up with her anyway. Tzuyu shook her head. Both of them were older by two years and yet they acted like they were the younger one.

Tzuyu picked up her towel, slinging it around her sweaty neck and drank the rest of her water before she threw it to the nearby bin. Its bottom bumped into the rim, but it landed precisely with a clank after a momentary summersault. Tzuyu ambled to follow the imaginary track of dust her two friends had created, thinking she would just trick both Momo and Jeongyeon to pay for the bill later.

Along the way to the locker room, since the outdoor court was located in the beside the business faculty, some business students had stopped to greet her with a sugarcoated smile and flirty winks. Tzuyu awkwardly smiled back, grimacing when she was meters away from the now squealing group of girls.

She enjoyed her fame all right, she never regret joining the team, but sometimes she wondered how Jeongyeon and Momo could cope with these extra attentions.

"Even if you didn't join the team, you're quite a looker yourself. Those hazel eyes of yours and charming smile are definitely one of a kind." Momo said in between munches after Tzuyu had complained about another yet again love letters on her desk.

Oh right, speaking about the court, she suddenly remembered how she could join the team.

She was struggling to adapt to the new environment on the first few weeks of her transfer to the university and opted to take a stroll to the gymnasium building during her break. Taiwan and Korea surely didn’t differ much, plus she had a grasp of the language already, thanks to her mother who had enrolled her in three languages classes, one of them being Korean, when she was a child. But still, it was a sudden change anyway and the fact that she was here not on her will but out of her father’s request made things twice the harder.

She then spotted a neglected basketball under the ring and casually did some lay-ups to relieve her stress, a habit she had developed since her brother introduced her to basketball years ago. Unknown to her, Jeongyeon and Momo who was in charge of the new students registration of the team saw this and were astounded by her skills.

It was an understatement to say that Tzuyu was dumbfounded when she found out about the two unannounced viewers. Moreover when they practically raced each other to be the first one to offer her a free spot in the university’s team, she almost thought she was about to get scammed. She was skeptical, and she had every right to be, but Jeongyeon and Momo kept on pestering her that she had no choice to but to agree. Unexpectedly, from then on living in Korea was more bearable, thanks to the funny duo and their stupid barters.

Tzuyu hummed a tune and spun her towel around. Today was quite a windy day, much to her delight, greenery trees swaying and hence shades shifting. She was indulging herself in the soothing breeze until she heard a faint synchronize yells and cries. One thing that came to her mind was taekwondo, and she let out a whoop when her guess was right; a cluster of white clothed people was practicing taekwondo down the slope at the hall.

Tzuyu schooled her expression and subtly glance to where the practice was hold, only to be caught off guard when one of the girls had already had her eyes on her. The girl looked away when she was caught red handed, blushing and messing her steps in progress. Tzuyu waved at her and stifle a laugh when the girl pretended not to notice.

That girl was Sana, a Japanese transferee who was majoring in Korean Literature and was on the same batch as her, Momo and Jeongyeon. Tzuyu met her in Momo’s birthday party last year. Sana, being a part of Momo’s circle of friends, was bound to meet Tzuyu at some point and Tzuyu had to admit that she thought Sana was very attractive with her knee-length red dress that matched her equally red lips and complimented her rather silky complexion and darkest shade of black of hair, flowing down to the small of her back like a wave. Tzuyu recalled Jeongyeon had to slug her arm with her fist to bring her back from daydream.

And Tzuyu may or may not have a tiny weeny bit crush on her since then.

She decided to lean in one of the pillars and watched Sana’s practicing, smirking when the latter would glance at her from time to time, only to grow bashful when their eyes met. Sana’s uniform was anything but fancy, her lips were chapped and she definitely was far from being elegant at the moment, but the butterflies still fluttered nevertheless and she was caught in awe when Sana showcased how fluid and quick her movement once she regained her focus, ponytails dangling, almost as if she was dancing.

 

Tzuyu clapped and cheered obnoxiously when the session was over, gaining herself a spotlight, but she didn’t care. She chuckled when Sana rushed to where she was and clasped their hands together to stop her annoying claps, and let out a muffled laugh when Sana pushed her palm to to stop her from laughing as well.

“Stop it!” Sana scolded and Tzuyu mumbled something incoherent. “What?”

Tzuyu signaled for her hand that was still on and Sana let go of her immediately, apologizing, although from the glee flashing on the older girl’s lips said that she didn’t mean it very much.

“What are you doing here?” Sana whispered and brought her aside, conscious by the lots of pair of eyes that was not-so-secretly glued to them, inspecting every exchange.

Sana and Tzuyu's hots for each other was like a public secret. Most of the students throughout the university knew that there was something more behind their prolong gazes and brief skinships. Tzuyu also had inkling that Sana felt the same way, but she was too much of a coward to begin a relationship. Besides, the fact that their nationalities were different made Tzuyu knew a future with Sana would be challenging, despite Jeongyeon’s constant reprimands that what she thought could be wrong.

But it was better not to start anything at all, right? Save both of them from heartbreak.

“Where’s Momo and Jeongyeon?” Sana asked when she noticed the said girls weren't anywhere nearby.

Tzuyu snorted. “I’m here waiting for you but you’re looking for them instead?”

“It’s not like that!” Sana tried to correct herself; afraid she had offended Tzuyu accidentally. But when the latter’s serious countenance broke into a mischievous grin, she slapped her forearm and puffed her cheeks. “Not funny.”

“I was kidding.” Tzuyu sprung away from Sana’s swinging palms with a snigger and caught her wrists to avoid more hits. “Hey, wanna join us to grab a dinner?”

“Sure.” Sana cleared he throat. Tzuyu was puzzled at the sudden display of awkwardness until the warm radiating from Sana’s skins seeped deeper and deeper through her palms. She hastily untangled their hands with a cough, rubbing her nape sheepishly as Sana’s cheeks were again painted with pink.

“We’ll wait for you in the gate then?” Tzuyu said ungainly, thanking god she hadn’t stuttered.

“Y- Yeah, okay. I’ll be, uhm, quick.” And with that Sana darted to the corner to retrieve her bag and to get changed while Tzuyu was about to continue her journey to the locker room, cursing at herself for bringing the atmosphere down, until she was faced with a sight of Momo and Jeongyeon, freshly bathed and was dressed in their typical hoodies. Jeongyeon was wagging her finger pointedly while Momo had this sickening grin on her face.

“We will invite Sana then.”

“Oh get lost!" Tzuyu grumbled and marched ahead, itching to take a shower, all the while Jeongyeon and Momo’s comical whistles were following her from behind.

*

“Hey, sorry, have you been waiting long?” Sana asked, panting slightly. Her white, V-neck heavy cotton top with pants and blue belt had been replaced with a simple pink sweater and jeans, similar to what Tzuyu wore, except that her sweater was in black.

Tzuyu looked up from her phone and smiled, patting Sana’s back lightly before she pushed herself from the bricked wall. “Nah. I just got here.” She adjusted the straps of her duffle bag. “Let’s go, shall we?"

“Where are your friends?” Sana looked around as though Jeongyeon and Momo would suddenly pop out from nowhere. Considering how frequent those two had pranked and startled her, Tzuyu understood why the older girl was suspicious.

Tzuyu tittered and tried not to coo at Sana’s cute, lost expression. “I’m not much of a company, am I?”

Sana gave her a distinct look.

“Alright alright,” Tzuyu held her hands up playfully and added rather nonchalantly, though the exasperation at the end of her sentence was undeniable. “They ditched us for two discount coupons for the new pig trotters restaurant downtown. Betrayers.”

Actually, after knowing that Tzuyu had asked Sana to join them, the two thought it would be a good idea (for their defective brains, at least) to leave her alone with her lifetime crush. Tzuyu tried to protest, but they were fast to dodge her upcoming punches and scurried away to the bus stop, all the while making kissy faces to irritate her further. Tzuyu had no choice but to let them go because Sana would be coming any time soon, although the same thing wouldn’t happen tomorrow when they had another practice in the evening. She would make sure of that.

“What do you want for dinner?” Tzuyu broke the comfortable silence; the spot where their knuckles were brushing tingle