VIRAL LOVE Chapter 59 : TRIUMPHANT (PART 2) “Holy ! I know we lost but damn…we lost to the freaking Germans, man….. That’s like losing to the football kings, so I don’t feel too terrible. I still can’t believe we’ve managed to even get this far! I mean, even if we lose the next game it's already amazing.” Snoopy shakes his head in amazement as the team crowd in the locker room to clean themselves up after their semi-final battle against Germany in Moscow. Piccolo nods eagerly in agreement. His hair is looking funny all plastered to his head due to sweat. In fact, all three of them – Snoopy, Harry Potter and Piccolo are drenched with sweat. “I really thought we would fly back to Seoul right after the group stage, to be honest. And now, look at us! I mean, even if we end up in fourth place we will still be winners, hyung!” Si-jin walks out of the steam-filled shower stall with one towel around his waist and another in his hands as he roughly runs it through his wet hair. He overhears the other players talking among themselves on his way to get a change of clothes and shakes his head, chuckling softly to himself. “Ommo! But you know the best part hyung? I can already imagine the excited fangirls lining outside the airport just screaming my name, Cheol-ho Oppa, Cheol-ho Oppa, saranghaeyo Oppa--hmmmff!!” Harry Potter jumps in surprise when Si-jin’s wet towel lands straight on his head. He turns around to see who dares to disturb his speech only to be flustered when he realizes it is their team leader. “C-captain!” Si-jin just shakes his head again, looking at his teammates with a bemused expression on his face. “Yaah be respectful, don’t talk about ladies like that, Harry Potter. And you guys shouldn’t be content just being in the fourth place. This is our chance to break our country's record for the first time ever. Don’t you want to set a new history and bring that third place medal home?” The three of the scolded players stare at him sheepishly as he finishes his monologue. "I agree." Snoopy nods seriously, his hands coming up to knock his two juniors’ heads together, his face frowning with disappointment. “Yaah, idiots! Our captain is right! You shouldn’t just settle for the fourth place. You should aim higher, seriously…. Shame on you!” “Owwwwwh….” Piccolo rubs on his head as he turns to look at his senior in disbelieve. “But hyung, you were the one who said even fourth place is great already... hmmff---“ Snoopy quickly covers his junior's big mouth with his hand as Si-jin just stands there smirking knowingly. “Hahahah what a funny joke, don’t listen to this idiot, captain… Errr, oh yes by the way, the match will be on the 25th, isn’t it? Do we proceed with Plan B then?” The whole locker rooms suddenly become even noisier than before as everyone else starts to joint in to find out if their captain will still follow through with his initial plan to propose to his pretty girlfriend on the date of their final World Cup match. Si-jin lets out an exaggerated sigh as he walks to his locker. “Of course I want to… But I wonder if I’m being selfish… You guys must already be tired that night… Perhaps I should just do a private proposal to her somewhere secluded or wait until we’re back in Seoul—“ He waits for them to response. Just as he had predicted, everyone starts to shake their heads profusely in return. “No no no, captain, we want to see you propose! Dont do it in private!” "My jersey is ready already, captain!" "Yes, don't chicken out now, cap!" “But I already practiced that song! I even sing it in my sleep!” “Haish, is this a fricking zoo? Settle down.” Si-jin chuckles in amazement, “You guys are even more excited than my sister, seriously.” Ki-bum, a rookie reserved player shouts from across the room, "That's because we are all Yookang shippers, cap! Hashtag Yookangcouple!" “Yes hashtag Yookangcouple!” Si-jin almost does a spit-take when he hears that. "Yookang shippers.... What the hell! What happen to my badass teammates? Did my sis come and brainwash this whole team with her shipper forum nonsense?!" Snoopy snickers at the horror look on Si-jin's face. “We are just eager to participate, captain. My jersey is also ready in the closet back at the resort.” “Yes Captain! All our jerseys are ready!” "And the song! Don’t forget the song!" Si-jin laughs out loud at how eager his teammates are to help him propose to his girl. They’re really the best team in the world to him, equal to his Arsenal teammates. “Okay then, Plan B is still on. It’s good that the game will be in St Petersburg. Then we can go straight to the resort and I will propose there, just like we planned.” The players start to fist-bum each other. "Yaaaaaas!" Si-jin just chuckles to himself as he starts wearing a clean shirt. Seriously, as much as he's excited for their big match, he is equally excited and nervous for his proposal. He knows he can do it the next day or any day after their first anniversary; but 25 is a special date for them. He knows he's being unnecessarily stubborn but still, he wants to look into Mo-yeon's eyes exactly one year after their fated crash at that coffee shop and hear her say that yes, she agrees to be his officially, for eternity. Piccolo sighs and leans his head against Harry Potter’s shoulder as the players start to disperse. “Our captain won't be a bachelor much longer… Meanwhile we are forever alone…. Aigoo I'm super jealous…” “It’s okay,” Harry Potter whispers under his breath to avoid his captain from listening in, “We can get chicks easier after this once we have that medal.” “Yaah, why are you still here being all stinky Harry Potter, Piccolo, Snoopy? Go take a shower!” Coach Park appears out of nowhere and the sweaty players collectively jump and scramble to get inside the empty shower stalls. The other players who are already done with their showers just snicker at the panic look on the three players' faces. Coach Park shakes his head as he watches the players run from his wrath. He stands in the middle of the room and looks around at his team, flashing them a rare smile as the players attentively wait for him to begin. “Listen up, team. You did a wonderful job tonight. We lost the match, yes, but we haven’t lost the battle yet. We’ve reached further than we ever did in the past 16 years. And in four more days, we have the chance to set a new history for our country. As advised by the management; I know you've been avoiding from browsing the net or watching news so you can keep your focus, but trust me, the netizens are loving you right now.” He turns toward Si-jin before he continues, “The media all have positive things to say about your team, Captain. Our country is 100% cheering you on.” Si-jin takes a deep breath as he listens to the coach, feeling his heart swelling with pride for his team. “I will let you have tonight to be with your family when we go back to the resort. But from tomorrow onwards we’ll focus on our final battle so you won't get the chance to see them again until we are at the stadium, arasso? So take tonight to say you love them, and make them proud on the 25th, understood?” "Yes coach! Thank you coach!" ------------------------------------ “Are you sure I should sleep there with you tonight?” “For the fifteenth times, Kang Mo-yeon. Yes. Coach only lets us have tonight together before the last match. And it’s been almost a month since I last hugged you in bed. Do you know how many times I was tempted to knock on your door in the middle of the night? Seriously, I’ll go nuts if I’m sleeping without you again tonight.” Mo-yeon keeps looking around nervously as Si-jin tightens his hold on her hand and drags her alongside him toward the players’ wing. Haish, she starts to despair, is that a KBS reporter watching from across the lobby? Even though Coach Park allows the WAGs to spend certain nights with the players, Mo-yeon has always opted to remain in her room with Myeong-joo instead of staying with Si-jin. To be honest she has been worrying about her boyfriend’s sister. For weeks Myeong-joo had blushed every time she saw Mo-yeon and Si-jin together, giggling nervously and denying there’s anything wrong every time Mo-yeon had asked her about it. Both of them have been wondering what is up with Myeong-joo since she is not someone who gets flustered easily. They asked Dae-young about it and he said he had no idea either. But even he had noticed that Myeong-joo had been acting a little weird around the couple. This has caused Mo-yeon to hesitate from leaving the younger girl alone, even if it hurts her inside to keep saying no every time Si-jin asks her to spend a night with him. Although it seems like Myeong-joo has finally gotten over whatever it was that had been traumatizing her. She even helped to persuade Mo-yeon to spend the night with her brother, pitying the dejected look on his face when Mo-yeon had tried to gently refuse him once again just a few minutes ago. But still….she wonders if it is wise to follow him to his hotel room so blatantly in front of others especially knowing the media’s presence in the resort, even if they literally do live together under one roof back home. Nowadays, she is actually resigned to the fact that she is more or less a celebrity in South Korea, but it bothers her right now that people seems to be more interested in her relationship with Si-jin when they should be concentrating on his incredible achievement instead. This World Cup will mark such a historic moment for his career, and she wants him to receive all the accolades that he deserves. But on the other hand, first and foremost she wants him to be happy. “I know how you feel honey… I miss you too…” Yaah, better open this door fast before she changes her mind. Si-jin quickly unlocks the door to his room, nudging his girlfriend to follow him inside. "No reporters here babe," He whispers when Mo-yeon keeps looking behind her, "We are good."

He knows the media has been focusing a lot on her during this World Cup season. He is also aware that it makes her worry, not because she cares about what people think about her; but she worries that her presence there is overshadowing him as a player. She keeps complaining about how the media and netizens should focus on him and his team, not publishing article after article about what she wears during the match (she always wears his jersey anyway, so what's the point of writing 7 articles about the exact same thing?).

To be honest he doesn’t really mind if the spotlight is on her because to him she is a part of him, in fact as far as he is concerned, she is the most important part of his life. And he can’t exactly blame the media and netizens either, most people genuinely like her and her face is far prettier than any of the actual football players in the team including his, so of course they would rather see her pictures than theirs. It actually makes perfect sense to him. “Come on. It’s fine babe. Besides, don’t you want to see what a player’s hotel room looks like?” Mo-yeon giggles as Si-jin finally manages to pull her into the room. She looks around and furrows her brows in mocked confusion. “Huh! Weird. A player's hotel room looks almost exactly like my hotel room. What's the difference? Do you get three packets of ground coffee instead of two per day?” He snickers. “Don’t you smell it? The sweet, enchanting smell of hard-earned sweat and smashed grass after a whole day of training?” “Eww, gross!” “......Oh really? But I thought you like it when I’m sweaty?” Busted. How did he figure that out? “N-no I don’t! I’ve no idea why would you think that. Sweat? Pffftttt, ewwww.” He tries not to laugh at the way she stammers her denial. She is always bad at lying. “You never seem to mind whenever I hug you even when I’m dripping with sweat after a game. In fact, I think I’ve caught you sniffing me a few times.” He steps closer to her, a teasing look transparent on his face. “So you don’t like it when I’m sweaty?” She blinks and steps back, her eyes wary and a little confused. Why are we talking about sweat again? “I…didn’t say that?” He raises a brow and takes another step. She quickly takes another step back and realizes she’s standing right against the wall. Ugh, nowhere to go now. And her boyfriend keeps advancing nearer to her, causing her heart to speed up a little. “…..So you do like it?” She tilts her head defiantly and crosses her arms across her chest. “I didn’t say that either, didn’t I?” He lets out a soft chuckle, standing so close to her now, his elbows placed at both side of her head, trapping her in. “So which one is it then? Do you like it or does it gross you out?" He smirks, "Or do we need to get sweaty together so I can find out for myself?” *smacks* He rubs on his chest, a hurt look on his face. “Ow! The heck is that for, babe?” “Byuntae!” “What part of it is byuntae? I said get sweaty, like lets do some exercise together or go running or something.” He gasps in shock. “Ommo, you’re the byuntae one, aren’t you? Aigoo, what did you think I was saying Kang Mo-yeon? What do you imagine we should do for us to get all sweaty?” What the heck…. Isn’t he the one who confesses that he fantasizes about me every single day? This idiot. *another smacks* He rubs his forearm. “Yaah! Stop injuring me! I have an important game in four more days!” “Go report