YUJIN fell speechless after that question from her mentor. She put her phone aside and concentrated on the conversation.

“Which of them is not true…?” Yujin asked. “Among the things that you lost…”

“It’s all true!” Prof. Kang answered with a meaningful smile. 

“Y-You mean all of it?” The student doubted what she heard.

Seulgi let out a sigh. “All of it. That part of [LFI] is basically my life story. I bet my former classmates who have read the book actually caught it but they remained silent about it despite me getting a name in this field. I am glad they have even a little bit of respect for me despite losing the ‘star player’ tag from my name.”

The professor then stood up, her eyes fixed on the ring. “My family crumbled down because I chose to be myself. Of course I tried to get back to the court after everything that happened but my damage was unfixable. It became even more impossible because I would cower just at the mere sight of a basketball.”

“But now, I am pretty much fine with it.” Seulgi then asked Yujin to pass her the ball and the student did what she was told. “Nice pass! Did you also used to play basketball?”

Yujin nodded. “Yes, back in highschool.”

“I see…” Seulgi passed the ball back to Yujin. “That’s why you had a good defence form earlier.”

There was silence between the two. Yujin just looked at the ball she was holding while Seulgi entered the court. The professor just stood there, her hands on her hips while looking at the ring. The two eavesdroppers had to hold their breaths in suspense.

“Prof…” Yujin called, finally breaking the silence. “...About Prof Bae–-I mean, Irene…” Yujin took a deep breath. “Is everything that Irene said in the story during the confession scene also the same in real life?”

Minjoo’s eyes widened dramatically, resembling the frog meme that Yujin always teases her about. She took a peek of Professor Bae who was already red in embarrassment. 

“She did tell her…” 

Minjoo heard the professor whisper, proving that she’s really Irene. Realisations then hit Minjoo one by one. ‘So that was the reason why silly Yujin ran after Professor Bae earlier? She kinda figured out that Prof. Bae is Irene because of how she reacts to the book?’

And with that, the student’s curiosity rose even more. One question has started bothering her. 

“H-How did the two of you… r-remain friends?”

Minjoo had to cover when Prof. Bae turned to her with a frown. She didn’t mean to say it out loud but her thoughts just came out to her lips. The mentor’s stare was deadly and threatening but then the frustrated look went back to her face. 

She ignored Minjoo’s question and looked back at the other professor who still wasn’t able to answer Yujin’s question. 

Seulgi started walking along the lines of the court. “...Yes… Everything that she told me during that time. I immortalised it through that scene in the book.

~~~

“I LOVE YOU.”

Selene felt her world stopped after she finally put her feelings into words. She was taken aback at first, her fists balled as the pounding of her deafened her. She could still feel Irene standing behind her but she couldn’t face at all. Just like that, Selene gave everything in order to convey her feelings to her best friend. 

“I’m… I’m sorry… I didn’t mean it to be like this.” Selene could feel fear creeping. She could hear voices inside her head telling her that things won’t go her way. Nevertheless, Selene knew that there was no turning back. She had to finish all this pain once and for all. “B-Believe me… I tried to keep it all to myself.”

She felt movements behind her, it was Irene actually facing her but Selene was so afraid and frozen that time that she couldn’t even face her back. She’s afraid to see whatever kind of disgusted face Irene would be making that time. 

“...Are you for real? All this time I treated you as my–-”

“Yes, your best friend. To me you were my best friend too… until I became aware of these feelings…” Selene clenched her chest. “I didn’t want to see you that way but it just happened. It was hard to fight… There’s no way I can resist it…”

“My goodness…” 

Disgust and disappointment were thick to that two-word line from Irene and Selene felt her insides turn upside down. She closed her eyes and tears just rushed down. 

“I didn’t know you were like this, Selene. We even had sleepovers and all this time you were thinking of me—”

“I never thought of you with malice!” Selene gritted her teeth as she talked. She could feel herself breaking even more. The pieces of her that she desperately patched up with the little hope she had left were all crumbling down in that very moment. “I never thought of you like that… All I wanted to do was to remain friends with you… To be in a place where you are also at… I am content with you being by my side… I am happy to have you close and support you in everything that you do… I am… not really planning to tell you about my feelings…”

“Then what’s the purpose of you telling this to me now!?” Irene shouted in frustration. “If you are content with us just being best friends then why are you saying these unacceptable things to me now!?”

Selene looked up and smiled. Irene was taken aback when the girl slowly turned to her but Selene’s eyes didn’t land on Irene. She kept looking down but that was enough angle for Irene to see Selene’s tears. 

“It’s because… we aren’t even best friends now… Heck, I believe I am just a mere stranger to you now…”

Selene’s eyes looked really tired and soulless. There was no word from Irene as well. 

“I’m sorry for being like this. I’m sorry for falling in love with you. I’m sorry for even telling this to you but…” There was another rush of emotions and Selene’s face crumpled. She had to let go of her other crutch so that she could wipe her tears. “Everything… I’ve lost everything anyway… There’s no use in hiding all these things from the light. My life is so over anyway!”

Selene loudly cried as she aggressively wiped her tears away. “That’s why I wanted to let you know… before I completely disappeared from your life…”

With deep breaths, Selene tried to calm herself down but the sight of her former teammates playing soccer outside just made everything harder. 

“...Let’s forget it.” 

With a light frown, Selene tried to look at Irene’s way. “W-What?”

“Let’s forget it… everything!” The smaller girl was looking away, her hands balled into fists. “If you still want to remain friends with me then let’s forget everything. Let’s pretend that nothing happened. Let’s… forget that you even confessed to me like this… Forget that you even have feelings for me.”

“What the—”

“I’ll forget that you have these unnecessary feelings for me. I’ll pretend that I never heard about this and I will just remember this day where our graduation took place as it is. In return, forget that you have feelings for me too. Just treat me as nobody else but your best friend. I will befriend you again if that’s what you want so please! Pretty please!”

Irene looked at Selene eye to eye with those frustrated orbs. “I beg you, Selene… I don’t need these irrelevant romantic feelings of yours… I don’t need you as a lover… I only need you as my friend… So please… Let’s forget it. Let’s forget all of this…”

Selene slowly turned to Irene. She then leaned by the desk, trying to process everything that Irene said. The other girl just watched her until Selene lost it and started laughing. She was laughing and crying at the same time. 

“Oh, what a mess…” Selene sighed with a smile on her face yet tears just kept on falling. “Oh what an awful mess…”

“S-Selene…” Irene worriedly called. Their classmates who went out of respect were all looking worried about what was happening inside. They all rushed outside when the shouting started and locked the doors so the conversation would only remain between the two. But seeing how Selene was breaking down didn’t put them at ease. 

“Phew… This is freaking hilarious…” Selene commented as she wiped her tears away and controlled her laugh. “I’m sorry… I just don’t really know what to say and how to react to that…”

Determination went back to Irene’s face. “I am asking you to forget about your feelings for me and about this confession so that we can remain friends. Is that—”

“You already cut ties with me even before you heard my confession…” Selene gave Irene that empty smile. “And now you say we can go back to being friends if we just forget about what I just did?”

Selene threw her head backwards before letting out another sigh. 

“Alright.”

Irene twitched after hearing that one word. She looked back at Selene whose eyes were now completely devoid with light. 

“Let’s forget it.” Selene smiled emptily. “Let’s forget everything that happened.”

Selene then reached for her crutch that she let go of earlier. She was struggling to lean down and pick it up but the smile on her face wasn’t disappearing.

“S-Selene—”

Irene was stopped when she was about to help Selene when one of their classmates rushed in and helped Selene instead.

“Are you okay, Bud?” That classmate asked as she helped Selene get back to her feet. 

The injured girl just smiled at that classmate and gladly received the help. “Sorry for being a burden.”

“You don’t need to apologise. You can just simply give your thanks. Let’s get you out of here, ‘kay?” 

“Yeah, thanks… Please forget about this after.” Selene answered while chuckling.

Pain was evident in the face of the said classmate. She didn’t waste anymore time and guided Selene out of the room. On the way out, she met Irene’s eyes and showed the latter how she was disappointed with her but Irene just looked away.

“Let’s forget everything… Everything… All of it…” 

Selene continued mumbling as she walked out. She could hear her other classmates murmuring about her but she kept her head low, that empty smile plastered on her face and those words on repeat.

“Let’s forget it… All of it… As if things didn’t happen…”

She then freed herself from her classmate who helped her and walked out of the school by herself. Her mother who was anxiously waiting for her outside rushed towards her once Selene came into sight. 

But, instead of crying even more to her mother, Selene remained smiling just like a doll who had no other choice but to smile because that’s how she was designed. Seeing that look on her daughter’s face, Selene’s mother quickly pulled her daughter into a tight hug and repeatedly told her that everything would be fine.

Yet, at that time Selene heard nothing as she was busy hypnotising herself. She was busy trying to fool herself, making herself believe that nothing actually happened and she could forget everything.

~~~

“WOW…” was all that Yujin could say at the time. She was in a total loss for words. The professor took the ball from Yujin again and started shooting with her left hand again. Thankfully, she seemed to be enjoying it even though she didn’t make any of her shots. 

“Professor…” Yujin called when she finally got herself out of her thoughts. “I can somehow understand why Professor Bae hates [LFI].”

“Yeah?” Professor Kand ran after the ball that she hilariously threw so high to the point that it was higher than the board. “Her hatred for the book is reasonable, right?”

“Yes…” The student nodded. “She asked you to forget everything but you immortalised it, shared it to millions of people and was even adapted into different forms of media.”

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