VIRAL LOVE Chapter 21 : MATCHED PART 2 She’s here. Finally. There are almost seventy thousand people in Sangam Stadium right at the moment but Si-jin can only see one single person amidst the hustling, noisy crowd. The only woman that gets to call him hers. --- Mo-yeon bits her lip as she watches Si-jin’s left ankle being wrapped in a compressor a few minutes before the half-time break is over. He keeps staring at her even as the doctor wraps his ankle, giving her a reassuring smile as he sees that she’s worried about him. “It’s ok Eonnie, he’s used to it. He’s played on worse injuries before.” “Jinjja? Shouldn’t they switch to another player?” Myeong-joo snorts good naturedly. “You think he’s going to let them do that? When you’re here watching him for the first time?” Mo-yeon frowns ever deeper at Myeong-joo’s reply. Haish, now she feels guilty. Si-jin keeps his eyes locked into hers until his teammate finally pulls him to the sideline so they can be prepared when the referee blows the whistle. Mo-yeon can hear people whispering amongst themselves behind her seat. They’ve been doing that ever since she had walked into the family stand and sat down fifteen minutes ago. The comically audible gasps when the audience behind her realized who she is and whose shirt she’s wearing almost made her forget her anxiety. Almost. --- The referee blows the whistle after exactly 15 minutes and both teams begin again with renewed strategy and energy. Si-jin doesn’t gain a superpower once he knows Mo-yeon is watching him but his motivation has definitely multiplied right after he sees her pretty face on the stand. He can’t lose in front of his girl. He won't. The home crowd is restless, cheering loudly for South Korea to step their game up but to Si-jin they are just background noises as his own blood rings loudly in his ears. The team begins their strategy to push hard on the attack as he runs circles around Kieran Trippier and Ryan Betrand to chase the ball. They may be bigger than him in size but he has speed and quick wit on his side. The ankle doesn’t throb as bad once he has it wrapped in the compressor. Now his target is to even the score for their country. His heart is working hard, pumping blood to his organs as his eyes remain sharply focus on the ball. ---- England almost scores another goal 25 minutes after the second half starts. Harry Kane is definitely at his top condition tonight as he finds an opportunity to slide between the Korean defenders and then swiftly kicks the ball right into their goal only to be saved in the last moment by Piccolo who almost goes flying to stop the ball from reaching the net. The crowd goes crazy with cheers and boos and Si-jin lets out a loud sigh of relief. Still 1-2. They still have time to even this out. --- “I never knew football is this intense. I think I almost had a heart attack when that ball nearly went in.” Mo-yeon mutters under her breath. She has to stop herself from biting her nails as she frets. Ji-Soo laughs out loud. “Yaah, now you’re a certified WAG!” ---- England’s defense team is almost impenetrable but Si-jin finally spots his chance 35 minutes after the second half starts. Harry Potter has the ball and is trying to pass it to him. Ryan keeps himself close to him, blocking his way until Si-jin manages to trick him and goes right when Ryan goes to his left. Harry Potter sees that he’s free for the moment and wastes no time to kick the ball to him. The clock freezes as Si-jin flies forward and kicks the ball toward the opponent’s goal and it rockets in a sharp thump towards the net before the goalkeeper can jump in and stop it. It goes in. The whole stadium goes into an uproar as they cheer for the home team. He can hear the audience screaming his name loudly as he laughs out loud while he watches the English goalkeeper, Tom Heaton kicks the grass in frustration. It’s 2-2 now. --- Mo-yeon forgets all about her shyness as she claps and cheers loudly from the stand along with Myeong-joo, Ji-soo and the rest of the audience. Her heart is still beating fast ever since she first saw Si-jin kicking the ball right into the goal. Ommo, can’t believe I thought football was boring before. This is amazing! “Daebak Yoo Si-jin!!!!” --- 2 minutes and the game will be over, both teams are still locked at 2-2. At this point both could have been satisfied with the score but their competitiveness would never allow them to just leave it at that. The England team keep pushing and pushing to get another goal while their defenders are on Si-jin like white on rice. They’ve figured out that he’s the one they should be on the lookout for even with his injured ankle. Sweat is dripping from the striker’s forehead, his whole body tingling as his adrenaline goes into an overdrive. 1 minute more. Snoopy has the ball. The midfielder’s eyes zeroes and locks in on the striker’s and Si-jin knows he’s going to pass the ball in a long distance kick right across the pitch to him. His breathing goes from frantic to nonexistent as he sees the ball goes flying toward him and he moves at lightning speed to twist his way around the burly English defenders surrounding him. The ball contacts with his foot with an audible thump and he sends it zooming past the other players' heads, flying toward the net. GOAL. --- "Ommo!!" Mo-yeon is speechless as she sees the ball goes flying into the goal, almost like in a slow motion. Someone shouts “Goal!” in a loud voice and it feels like the whole stadium freezes in shock. One second of silence - and then the whole crowd just loses it. The sturdy Sangam Stadium practically shakes due the deafening screams by the thousands of people in the audience. Mo-yeon watches with wide eyes as her boyfriend stands completely still on the pitch, looking like he is as shocked as everyone else by the goal he has just scored. His teammates begin running towards him and crowd him for a happy, sweaty group