"I WONDER what she wants to get as a Christmas gift." Selene asked herself as she passed by the cute stationery store near their school. Christmas is still a month away but she can't wait for it already. 

She and Irene promised each other to spend their last Christmas as high schoolers together. Since they are targeting different universities, their 12-year streak of being together in the same school would finally end so they thought of finishing it in a special way.

Selene stayed at the store for quite a while, deeply contemplating on what to give Irene. She then smiled at herself when she realised how she was worrying about that stuff when other kids of her age are busy filling their brains up with whatever knowledge they can squeeze in.

She'd be meeting the coaches and the players of the university she'd be applying to next week. All she needs to do is just do what she does every time—her best.

She has to make her father proud so his dream would be fulfilled.

‘But what about my dream?’

Selene’s eyes widened when she heard herself ask that. Her eyes then darted to the music instrument store at the opposite of the street.

“Guitar… huh?”

Selene gave out a sigh before shaking her head. She started having interest in music, especially with guitar playing when one of his cousins brought one to their home. They were young back then and her cousin was bragging about him being enrolled in a music academy.

He then taught Selene and her brothers a little bit of it but in no time, the girl managed to play the chords with no problem at all. She was so good at it for a beginner that even her cousin was surprised.

Selene fell in love with the guitar right there and then but her father didn’t support her for it. The man even had her cousin stop taking the guitar when they played. She has to be a professional soccer player and getting distracted by a guitar is something that her father couldn’t afford.

It was actually Irene who helped her sneak out after soccer practice to the music club room and have her play the guitar. If Selene loves playing the instrument then Irene, the music club president, loves singing. 

With melodies filling the club room, the two spent their high school years like that.

“I guess I won’t be meeting the guitar anymore now that we will be going into different schools.” Selene smiled. Well, that’s all she could do. Nothing will happen if she drowns herself in the loneliness that she’s in. At the very least, she has to look happy.

The girl then went out of the store. She has decided that she would just buy a gift for Irene at a later date. She already had a gift in mind anyway.

“Spend Christmas together and then just wait for graduation…” Selene felt the beating of her heart as she walked. “Then after that we will part ways… I guess what I feel for her would finally go away as well. I’ll be at peace finally.”

Selene then stopped in her tracks just to look at the time. She thought for a bit before quickly changing her destination—to the cram school where Irene attends.

It’s been so long since they last hung out after school anyway. Irene is busy with studying just like their peers and Selene misses her already.

She waited inside a cafe just to avoid the cold but all she did was look on the internet for gifts and things to do at Christmas.

When she saw that the other students were already coming out of the building, Selene hurriedly packed her things and went out. Her visit to Irene is a surprise anyway.

Feeling really giddy and excited, Selene quickly made her way in front of the building. Her neck literally stretched as she tried to look for Irene.

“Where on earth is Miss Shorty?” She mumbled to herself as she failed to locate her best friend.

Suddenly, there was noise coming from the students coming out. Selene, due to her innate high curiosity, took the time to see what was happening. She didn’t think that she’d be finding her best friend in the middle of the fuss.

…And she’s holding someone else’s hand. A hand of a boy to be exact.

The soccer player froze on the spot. She felt dry up at the same time when her eyes turned misty. She was confused of what was happening, of what she was feeling.

She heard the other students congratulating them for the birth of a new couple. That was when Selene felt her world stopped revolving.

She has made simulations of this in the past before… quite many times. Irene isn’t just beautiful, she’s also beautiful on the inside. Always kind, always sweet. To Selene Irene’s existence was like the sun. She is always there if someone needs help, that's why Selene was well aware of the huge possibility that a lot of people would fall for her…

She’s one of those people but she knew she never had the right to be chosen.

…And seeing Irene choose someone else… Seeing the chosen one holding the hand of her beloved felt like she was being stung by millions of needles. 

“No…” Selene found herself cowering, her legs started making stiff movements. “This isn’t how I imagined everything… I thought when I see her with someone else I would be freed but why is it…”

Selene’s hand travelled to her neck as she felt harder to breathe. That’s when she realised that her feelings for her best friend had her tied by her neck, had her chained by her hands and feet and all of them were slowly tightening the moment she laid her eyes on Irene together with someone else. There was just no way of freeing herself. 

Selene forced herself to smile but then that smile just pushed her tears to fall down. She wiped her face and looked at her shaking hand to confirm that it was really tears. 

“No… This isn’t it… I have to be happy for my best friend…”

Selene’s fist balled, breathing deeply as she gathered all her remaining strength and ran away. She ran away…

…and she wasn’t able to come back to her old life after that.

~~~

CONFUSED, Yujin found herself in the indoor basketball court of the school. The basketball team has already left but Yujin still feels weird being there, probably because of the huge banner of last year’s final’s MVP of the intercollegiate league displayed in there. She suddenly thought of her friend Minjoo who has a crush on that player.

After the punishment and a bit of explanation from [LFI], Seulgi invited her out only to be brought to the basketball court. Prof. Kang didn’t even ask for permission but she was let in by the remaining club members. She just told them that she would take care of everything before they left. 

Yujin then watched Professor Kang come towards her way while skillfully dribbling the ball. She just knew that all her fangirls would squeal in excitement if they saw this unseen sight of the professor. 

“Want to try stealing the ball from me, Yujin-ssi?” The professor asked with that playful smile on her face. She then leaned forward and started dribbling the ball faster. Yujin couldn’t explain what was happening but she prepared for the defence. They were just talking about [LFI] earlier and about Professor Bae but now they are suddenly playing basketball. 

Yujin gulped. She looked at her right leg for a moment before looking back at her professor. ‘Just a bit won’t hurt, I guess…’

A gasp was heard from her when the professor suddenly went for an attack. She tried to guard her with everything she could do but Seulgi was just really toying with her. In the end, the Professor passed by her with a nasty crossover that sent her to the floor.

All she could do was watch Seulgi go straight to the ring but she was surprised when she made quite a funny shot after all the epic dribbling. The ball just hit the side of the ring and went straight to Seulgi’s face.

“ACK!”

“Professor!” Yujin hurriedly crawled towards her mentor. She was shocked to see her nose bleeding. That was quite an impact. Just hearing the sound of the hit hurt. “Prof. Kang!!!”

In the end, Yujin brought her professor to the bleachers with the latter’s left nostril blocked with tissue. Thankfully, her nose didn’t break or else all her fangirls would be rallying and she would be blamed for no reason because some human beings are either bored enough to make conflicts or just plain stupid.

“What on earth was that shot?” Yujin asked as her adrenaline slowly died down. “All that dribble to be finished with a lame shot like that?”

The professor laughed heartily. “Do you think my fans would walk away from me after that?”

“I don’t know.” Yujin sighed. “They’d probably rush to you to give you CPR or something.”

“CPR for a nosebleed? I’d surely die from a blood clot in the brain.”

There was silence between the two after that. The professor was just looking at the ring while Yujin took the opportunity to send a message to Minjoo. She was then surprised at the amount of messages left by the other girl.

“…It was basketball…”

“Yes, Prof.?” Yujin asked, her body was pivoted towards Seulgi but her eyes were on her phone.

“It was basketball…” Seulgi repeated. “Not soccer.”

Yujin’s fingers stopped moving after the realisation. She slowly looked at her mentor whose gaze was faraway. 

“I-I am sorry, Professor!” Yujin quickly bowed her head. “I am sorry for making fun of your shoot earlier!”

There was another loud laugh from the professor. “It’s fine. I know I looked stupid that time.” Seulgi’s gaze went down to her right hand. She tried to raise it up but she could only raise it laterally but couldn’t raise it higher. 

There was pain in her face but she forced another smile. “I envy you for being able to raise your arms like earlier. If only I could, I would love to take that punishment for hours.”

“Professor Kang…” Yujin worriedly called.

“Don’t feel bad about me. If that doesn't happen then I won’t be able to pursue what I really love.” Professor Kang then pressed her lips together. “I just couldn’t believe that I have to be like this in order to fulfil my own dream. You’re aware of the things that I lost, right?”

~~~

SELENE woke up with extreme pain on her right leg but she couldn’t even cry for help. An unfamiliar ceiling was the first thing she saw the moment her sight adjusted. The smell of blood and rubbing alcohol was thick in the air. 

She wanted to look around but she couldn’t. Her body was aching all over but it was her leg that was aching the most. She could only move her eyes, even talking was hard. 

A little bit of relief then came to her when she saw someone familiar. Her mother was sitting on a chair near her bed. Her mot