The sun beat down on the two furious girls as they fiercely battled out on the basketball court. Jennie and Jisoo hardly knew each other. The only things they knew of each other was that they were good at basketball and they hated each other’s guts. 

It was difficult to say who was better. It was almost impossible for Jennie to snatch the ball out of Jisoo’s possession but it was equally difficult for Jisoo to do the same to Jennie. They had great 3-pointer shots - almost always never missing - and amazing layups. 

This was only their third time meeting but they knew, by the hours they spent on court against each other per meeting, that they were their biggest rivals.

Jennie always thought her biggest rival was herself, but she couldn’t help but think that if she couldn’t beat Jisoo in a game she could never improve. Jisoo was all about fun and enjoying herself but something about the way Jennie played made her want to play her best. 

Jisoo couldn’t help but notice how Jennie’s eyes burned with passion whenever she was on the court. It stirred something within her and motivated her to fight back with an equally passionate spirit.

And so here they are alone at the basketball court near their apartments for the past hour.

They weren’t always like this. There was a time they were less aggressive. Their first match was much more calm than their subsequent ones. 

They began with a friendly game when Jisoo’s friend, Jeongyeon, and Jennie’s friend, Nayeon, were with them. The basketball court was surprisingly empty that day. It was usually full of groups of people but somehow, it was only Jisoo, Jeongyeon, Jennie and Nayeon.

Jennie was getting bored trying to block Nayeon’s shots; the girl usually didn’t make them with or without Jennie blocking. Why was Nayeon even there? Jennie wanted so bad to ask the 2 strangers who were at the other side of the court for a friendly game to entertain herself. 

Concurrently, Jeongyeon had practically begged Jisoo to ask the other 2 at the other side of the court to play with them. Jisoo was a nuisance, trying to balance the ball on her head instead of aiming for the hoop.

Jennie noticed this a couple of times and quietly laughed to herself whenever she saw Jeongyeon sigh and make a face at Jisoo. Jennie thought Jisoo was weird and wondered how Jeongyeon could stand that, but weirdly enough, Jennie found Jisoo adorable. Only the purple-haired girl could make weird cute.

Jennie had practically ran away from Nayeon in embarrassment when Jisoo came up to her, who was attempting to balance the ball on her head as she walked towards her. 

Jennie looked at her with a smile which made Jisoo lose focus on the ball. She ran after the fallen ball before going back to Jennie.

“Hey, my friend is interested in your friend, and it seems like you’re not having much fun. Do you want to play a friendly game of 2v2?” Jisoo smiled widely.

Of course, with that smile, Jennie couldn’t say no.

And that was when they started a friendly game. Until Nayeon and Jeongyeon suddenly walked away in the middle of the game when they realised that Jennie and Jisoo were practically dominating the court.

Nayeon and Jeongyeon were seated on the grass patch underneath a tree for shade. The two seemed to hit it off well, but Jennie and Jisoo were too focused on the game to even realise that.

That was when it started - the competitiveness. 

It was cut short when Nayeon grabbed the ball out of Jennie’s hands and dragged her away to rush to their family dinner. Before Jisoo or Jennie could ask the other for their name, Nayeon had yanked Jennie too far away for such a question.

Jeongyeon came up to the sweaty Jisoo and hugged her excitedly, squealing about her conversation with Nayeon.

“Her name’s Im Nayeon, can you believe how beautiful she is? Isn’t she the most wonderful, most adorable girl ever?” Jeongyeon gushed at her best friend Jisoo, who laughed at how funny Jeongyeon acted when she had a crush.

It wasn’t common for the girl to have a crush on anyone, Jeongyeon was too absorbed in sports and her friends to even have time to look at girls. Jisoo found it cute how Jeongyeon found Nayeon endearing. She thought Jeongyeon disliked girls who couldn’t play sports properly, guess Nayeon was her only exception.

Despite Jeongyeon’s enthusiastic chatter about Im Nayeon, there wasn’t any information on Jennie. Jisoo’s quest for the other girl’s name was left unaccomplished. 

“Guess I’ll have to find out the next time I see her,” Jisoo thought to herself, promising to get the girl’s name as soon as possible.

Jennie didn’t expect Jisoo to be at the same basketball court on the second time they met. After all, it was exam period and what are the odds that she’ll be there again at the same time as Jennie. 

She had come alone to the court to release some stress from the week she had. Her exams were still ongoing but she couldn’t handle not balling anymore. 

Expecting an empty court, she was greeted by a rowdy surprise. Jisoo was playing a game with 7 boys and Jennie couldn’t help but watch the intense match.

“Tae, pass!” Jennie heard the girl’s unique voice scream out at one of the boys.

She watched a blonde haired boy try to pass the ball to her but was blocked so he passed it to a pink-haired boy. Jisoo caught the ball the pink-haired boy passed to her while she was standing outside the 3-point semicircle. In one swift movement, Jisoo aimed for the hoop and threw it towards the hoop, scoring a perfect 3-pointer.

She watched 4 boys groan while 3 boys proceeded to carry Jisoo up chanting “chi choo!” over and over. 

“See, Jin oppa, I told you us 95-liners and the maknae would be better than you old grandpas,” Jisoo stuck her tongue out at one of the sulking boys as she was put down by the 3 boys who lifted her up.

At this point, Jennie thought she looked like a creep so she had sat down on the empty bench and pretended to be looking through her bag and tying her shoes to look busy.

“We’re just rusty from not playing for quite some time. It isn’t fair to us because your team are professional basketball players,” Jin stated with his arms crossed.

Jisoo giggled (and Jennie swore it was the cutest laugh she’s heard) making the 3 boys on her team laugh along with her to tease the older boys.

“Whatever,” Jin rolled his eyes.

Jennie was now looking down on her phone, trying not to eavesdrop but failing to do so.

“The boys and I have to head back now though. Noona, thank you for spending time with us,” one of the boys who was celebrating with Jisoo spoke up.

“I’ll always try to make time for you all, it’s not every day we get to meet. Besides, it’s our Jimin’s 22nd birthday. Of course, I’ll make time for a special occasion like that,” Jisoo replied, patting the pink-haired boy who thanked her on the head even though she was shorter.

Jennie looked up from her phone to see Jisoo, with a bright (cute) smile, hug the taller boys farewell. She waited until the boys were gone before stuffing her phone back into her bag.

“You know, you could’ve just said hi instead of watch us like a creep,” Jisoo turned to look at Jennie who was just getting up from the bench.

“I- I wasn’t watching you guys, I was- I just got here,” Jennie’s attempt to lie made her blush harder than she already was from being caught observing the girl.

Jisoo laughed and Jennie was even more flustered.

“If you say so,” Jisoo smirked, making Jennie roll her eyes.

“I really wasn’t,” Jennie insisted.

“Sure, Jan,” Jisoo teased.

Jennie was surprised to hear her say an English phrase, a reference from The Brady Bunch, and was even more surprised at how “Jan” was so close to “Jen”.

“I didn’t get your name the other day,” Jennie changed the topic, picking up her ball from the bench and approaching Jisoo.

“How about we make a deal?,” Jisoo proposed, making Jennie raise her eyebrow. “Whoever wins this game will get to find out the loser’s name.”

“Okay but how much do