I felt it.

The hit.

It was painful.

“OH GOD SANGHEE! ARE YOU OKAY?!”

Yoojung ran towards me, followed by Mijoo and Doyeon behind her with worried looks stapled all over their faces. I had fell to the ground, my head still a tad dizzy from the impact of the ball hitting my forehead. I continued to look at the sky as I laid on the field, ignoring their shrieks of worry and continued to stare at the sky, appreciating the calm blue and white mix of colours on the sky as I stored a statement in my head.

I hate dodgeball.

“Sanghee! Don’t die yet!” A wailing Yoojung kneeled beside me, followed by Mijoo and Doyeon who were also as worried but not as dramatic as she was. I managed a small chuckle as I sat up, bringing a smile back to the Yoojung’s face. “Are you alright?” Mijoo asked, earning a nod from as I got up, and Doyeon helped me up to the bleachers as I felt everyone’s eyes on me. “Here, sit down. Teacher said you can rest and go to the infirmary if you want to,” Doyeon said, and I smiled a subtly as she ruffled my hair before leaving to join the others to play.

A sharp sting went on my leg and I looked at my calf to see that it was a little scraped and a few drops of blood were flowing out onto my skin. Just as I wanted to stand up to go to the infirmary a hand had dabbed a wet cloth on my wound, resulting me to hiss at the contact. I looked up to see the familiar face with chubby cheeks cleaning my wound as gently as he could. As I opened my mouth to inquire how he got here in the first place he had already cut me off with his words.

“I’m out. And your socks looked like they were going to get soaked with the blood,”

I inspected my right leg to see a small patch of blood on my sock, and even though it was noticeable it wasn’t obvious enough for a person from a three foot radius to see. I was sure he was on the other team, so he must’ve been very observant to notice it. “Thanks Jaehyun,” I said as he finished with a band aid to cover the wound, and I pulled my sock up just as he did. “How did you get hit anyway?” I said as I laughed, and he only replied with the same old answer.

“I guess I’m just bad at most things.”

We continued to watch our classmates play, and soon enough the game had ended and we were already on our way to the locker rooms to get changed. The three girls approached me almost instantly, Yoojung clutching onto my arm like a child while the two taller girls walked ahead of us. The daily question then came that moment, and I couldn’t help but sigh as I gave them the same reply, again for the umpteenth time.

“Sanghee, what’s your relationship with Jaehyun?”

“Friends, Yoojung, We’re friends,”

“But you guys don’t look like friends. He treated your wound just now, right?”

“Wouldn’t you the same, Mijoo?”

“Of course I would, but the way you guys look at each other are different,”

“How is it different? Would we be called lovers too if you were to treat my wound too, Doyeon?”

“She meant that Jaehyun looks at you like you’re his everything,” Doyeon spoke.

“And you look at him like he’s your everything,” Mijoo continued.

“So doesn’t that make you two a couple?” Yoojung inquired.

I sighed. “No. We’re friends. Really good friends.”

Just before I entered the girls’ locker room my eyes caught sight of Jaehyun’s brown ones, and I knew all too well he heard what we had spoken about. His friend Jibeom had his arm slung around Jaehyun’s shoulder as he pulled the said boy into the boys’ locker room. A few seconds later he started laughing at Bomin’s joke along with the other boys. I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle as I pulled off my hair band, letting my raven-black hair flow down to my waist as I too, walked into the room to change.

He must’ve thought I missed it.

The quick glint in his eyes.

An emotion that made me doubt myself.

Class continued as usual and I focused on writing my notes as the teacher spoke.

And as the end of school came, I quickly rushed out of the class with my schoolbag in one hand and my camera bag in the other. The girls knew where I was going, and they weren’t really interested to spend time there as it probably wasn’t the most fun place to have a meal at. Our school had been standing strong for quite some time, and one of the buildings that still stood even though it wasn’t used anymore for academic nor curricular purposes. Students refuse to go there though, in fear that there’d be poltergeists lurking around the corner.

It was the perfect spot for a person like me.

It’s a tower, a tower that used to be the place to make announcements for the whole school to hear back in the 90’s. Now it only serves as the home for the school bell and Big Ben-like clock. I’d usually come to the very top to eat and take pictures of the view as the spectac