It was the same path home every day.

Get out of the station, walk past a few blocks, cross the street, walk down a few more blocks and past the basketball court, and there home awaits. You’ve been walking that path for a decade now; you could practically walk home with your eyes closed.

Along the way home, the basketball court was always the most happening spot. Regardless of the time of the day, there would always be people in there. Sometimes it was the father and son pairing where the father would try to teach the son how to play, but mostly it was filled with friends that were there after school for a round of game as a stress reliever. Every time the groupings would change – you can tell by the colour of their school uniforms – but there was always someone that was there. You first spotted him amongst the crowd because he was the odd one out. While everyone was decked out in proper basketball gear, he was the only one playing in his black, ripped jeans and battered pair of Converse. You would always silently laugh to yourself when you spotted him: How does he play in that attire? And how does he stand the heat in those black jeans? You wanted to know the name of this comical guy, but the closest you ever got to know his name was through the clues on his shirt. His school shirt reads “B.KANG” and you always wondered what the B stood for.

Every single day, rain or shine, he’ll always be there. Whenever you passed by the court, you would always try to look out for him, and seeing him was like a constant in your life, although you never stopped to ponder more about the boy.

-

Today, things were different. You had a terrible day in school, and you were thinking about the incident that happened again, and again, and again. You couldn’t forget what she said, and your response to her words. You could feel the anger threatening to rise in you again, the blood rushing to your head. You were, of course, very distracted and hence, when the ball came flying right in front of your face, you were shocked. But your shock soon dissolved into anger that sent you into a rage.

First, I had a bad day. And now I almost got killed by a basketball. What a fantastic day.

Rolling your eyes, you turned to yell at the irresponsible player without even looking at his face.

“YAH! Did you have to throw it so high that it went over the fence? Don’t you have eyes to see where you shoot? Can’t you play properly? You nearly seriously injured someone, did you know that!”

When you finally stopped shaking and your heaves slowed to breathes, you finally got a good look at the player – and it was none other than him, the guy that is always here. Today was no different for him, just that you didn’t notice before. Whenever you saw him, he was always smiling that bright smile with a radiant glow on his face.

But all of that was gone now, replaced by wide eyes and an open mouth. He was clearly stunned by your sudden outburst, and you were embarrassed because of it.

Gripping onto the straps of your tote bag even tighter, you tore your eyes away from his face and marched off in the direction of home, all the while mentally cursing yourself and your hot temper. It didn’t take long before you heard someone’s footsteps thundering behind you, and a voice calling you.

“Wait!”

A familiar pair of Converse entered your sight as you looked down on the ground and you slowly lifted up your head to look at him. Before you could open your mouth to apologise for your sudden outburst, he beat you to it.

“You’ve had a hard day, didn’t you? Do you want to shoot some hoops? It might help you forget your anger.”

He then passed you the ball in his hand, and his brilliant smile was on again.

-

After multiple attempts and having the back of your shirt completely soaked through, you finally got a shot in and you did a little victory jump on the spot. You heard loud claps and cheers coming from behind and when you turned, you realised that the noises were coming from him. He was cheering for you with all his might, with his hands cupping the sides of his mouth to amplify his shouts.

“WOOOOO!!! Well done!”

You quickly put a finger to your lips, signalling to him to quieten his voice down. It was already 11pm, and he was going to wake up the entire neighbourhood! But despite your attempts to shush him, he kept up with his efforts and you eventually had to go over to cup his mouth with your hands.

Why is he so annoying? Why does he have to be so loud!

After he finally promised to keep quiet, you moved your hand and plopped down on the spot right beside him. He then leaned back too and made himself comfortable beside you.

“Are you always this…loud?”

“Yes, but it’s good to cheer people on when they’ve accomplished something, right?”

“It’s just one out of the hundreds that I did tonight; I don’t think that’s very impressive.”

“It is! Come on, just celebrate with me!”

You turned your head to smile at him before saying,

“Thank you… Idon’tknowyourname.”

“Oh right! I’m Younghyun! Kang Younghyun.” He then flashed you that bright smile again and your felt your heart swell a little inside.

“I’m Y/N. Younghyun is a nice name but what does the B on your shirt stand for?”

“Oh, B.KANG? It means Brian Kang. Brian is the name that I chose to use in Canada; I lived there for a little while before coming back.”

“I see… So, do I call you Brian or Younghyun?”

“Either is ok.”

“Young…Younghyun then. Younghyun is good.”

“Sure Y/N. Are you feeling better now?”

“I’m feeling much better, thank you.”

“So…what was bothering you just now?”

“I...did something stupid in school.”

“Really? Let’s hear it.”

After taking a deep breath, you begun to speak.

“Well, we were in class today and there’s this annoying classmate that we all really dislike. A stuck up, basically. No names so let’s call them A.”

“A for Annoying, I see what you did there Y/N.”

“Stop it! That wasn’t what I meant!”

You furrowed your eyebrows at Younghyun as he chuckled at your expression.

“I’m sorry, b