Few months later

Despite the absence of each other, the two frequently met up online. Donghae had been missing out on the filming of different variety shows and concentrated on his drama together with Siwon. He would often spend the entire day filming, or watch Siwon film whenever he wasn’t scheduled for filming that particular day. As for ___, attended lectures and classes as per normal and often hung out with Hye Rin and Jake on campus. She would spend her day attending classes till evening whereby she would attend cheer practices. So far, although she would be reaching home late almost every other day, she didn’t mind as she enjoyed cheer practices compared to lectures, of which she found great difficulty in.

___ has been in the university’s cheerleading team for close to three months now. Apart from lectures of which she attended frequently with Jake, she decided to take up cheerleading together with Hye Rin as a form of distressing and to mix with different people. She didn’t like the feeling of going home to an empty dorm almost everyday. Meanwhile, Jake had already been part of the school’s soccer team ever since he entered Seoul University, and they would be preparing for their national finals tomorrow against another university. Well, the cheerleading had been set to go down to support of course, as this was one of the many major events which was able to garner the support of the majority of the student body.

To date, ___ has been able to make a few more friends from her cheerleading team and classes, although quite a number of girls often ignored or glared at her whenever she appeared in front of them. However, none of them were as close to her as compared to Hye Rin and Jake. The trio would often have lunch together, study together or go home together. Since Hye Rin was studying architecture, ___ naturally spent more time with Jake due to the same course they took, and would only meet up with Hye Rin outside curriculum time.

Finally, the big day had come for the soccer finals. Since it was held on home ground, it served as a major boost to the players on the soccer team as there would be much more supporters because of the convenience in location. 

Soon, the game started with much enthusiasm as the cheerleaders from both schools made their way on field, performing their cheer routines and eventually doing a dance off with both teams facing one another. Because of the fact that ___ was light and petite in frame, she had obviously been chosen as a flyer. The bright smile she showed whenever she was lifted up, her great sense of balance and flexibility, which allowed her to do more complex stunts in air, had also made her an outstanding member of the cheerleading team. There were loud applauses from both schools as the performance came to an end and the match commenced.

The cheerleaders cheered relentlessly at the sides of the fields, leading the rest of the supporters in cheers. The huge amount of energy coming from the stadium was simply amazing as players from both sides chased after the ball, executing swift attacks and putting up invulnerable defenses.

YOUR POV

Together with the rest of the cheerleaders, we stood by the sidelines, cheering continuously, dancing with our pom-poms dressed in a top, which revealed our belly and a mini skirt.

“YEAH, GO GET ‘EM JAKE !!” I shouted as Jake sprinted towards his opponent to attack.

Though it’s been a while since I’ve known him, I’ve never gotten over the amazement of him being an almost perfect young man. He had the looks, deep blue eyes, hazelnut coloured hair, a sharp nose, forming an extremely handsome side profile. He also had a great body, from what I’ve seen from the posters put up around school by his fan girls. When it came to studies, he was extremely intelligent, never failing to understand concepts quickly though Korean wasn’t his first language. Because of that, he had always offered to give me extra tutoring. However, I’ve never gotten a chance to repay him for all that he had done for me, so I decided that I would cheer for him all the way, until the last whistle blows. He was really nice, and seeing him play so handsomely on the field made me think that his future girlfriend would be really lucky.

Three quarters into the game now and neither side had made a goal. The spectators were at the edge of their seats, watching attentively as the players ran their hearts out in pursuit of the ball. It wasn’t until the last 5 minutes of the game whereby Jake came from behind his opponent, making a surprise attack and with a powerful yet accurate kick, sent the ball into the top right hand corner of the goal post, out of reach of the opponent’s goal keeper. The crowd jumped out of their seats, erupting into cheers. The players on court ran towards Jake, attacking him with high-fives and hugs.

It was then when his eyes looked towards my direction and I gave him a thumbs up, mouthing the words ‘That was awesome !’. He grinned, running off again to continue the game. Shortly after though, the whistle blew, signaling the end of the game, as well as the end of the season. The crowd was in frenzy, happy for the players who had achieved their hard earned goal of the championship title. The team dashed on court, piling on top one another before handing the trophy over to Jake, lifting him up and cheering.

Amidst the celebration, the prize giving ceremony was slowly starting preparations in order to award the players from the different teams for their hard work and determination throughout the season. The players from the teams of the top 3 places in the country then made their way to the front, receiving their medals from the guest of honour of the event. The cheerleaders then performed another routine of cheers for the players once again, applauding them for the excellent show they had put up.  And then, with roses in their hands, the players from the different teams then gave them to the cheerleaders, like they always do. It was normal for the cheerleaders to receive roses from the guys for each event they went down to support.

Roses in their hands, the guys then made their way towards us. This was my first time supporting as part of the cheerleading team. I was a new face, and not receiving any roses would definitely be embarrassing. However, to my pleasant surprise, two players came towards my way, handing their roses to me.

“Oh,” I gasped, “Thank you !!  And congratulations on your championship title !” I said with a smile.

It was my first time having such an experience and it sure felt special.

“Here, thanks for the great support !” a familiar voice resounded before a rose was placed in my hand. It was Jake.

“You’re most welcome. And thank you for your rose !” I said giving him a hug. “You did awesome !! Congratulations, really !!”

“And you really looked great out there when you guys were doing the dance off !” he exclaimed.

“Thanks Jake !” I giggled.

He chuckled, before giving me a friendly hug. It felt good how I had finally done something that meant a lot to him after all the help he had given me in my studies.

However, it was then when he suddenly gave me a kiss on my cheek, which caused me to be dumbfounded. I stared into space. What…was he doing ? Hugs were fine since it was normal for friends but this wasn’t…appropriate, to my knowledge at least.

My eyes slowly shifted towards his and I stared into his eyes, “J-jake…?”

The dreamy look in his eyes seemed to abruptly disappear upon the calling of his name. It was as if he had mentally slapped himself. “Ah..I’m sorry..j-just..um.”

Seeing how awkward the both of us were, I smiled shyly and quickly left for the lockers.  Sure, I had always thought of him as a perfect boyfriend, a wonderful guy, who was always ready to give a helping hand, and extremely handsome for a bonus. But of course, it was never to the extent that I liked him. After all, Donghae always had a place in my heart despite his absence, he was irreplaceable. Never have I thought of cheating on him, never have I thought of leaving him, never have I thought of another guy apart from him whom I was willing to love with all my heart and soul. I didn’t know what to do. Was Jake interested in me ? I had thought of him solely as a friend, although we had spent plenty of time together on campus. Girls had been jealous because adding on to the fact that I was Donghae’s girlfriend, I was also a close friend of Jake, the soccer prince in school.

As I approached the lockers, I stared into the mirror and touched my cheek, the spot whereby no one else had kissed except for Donghae until Jake did just then. I was confused. I was never interested in him. It was Donghae all along. But..I just didn’t know what was the reaction I should have in order to deal with the situation at hand, especially when Donghae and my 300^th day was approaching…

DONGHAE’S POV

I collapsed in bed upon reaching home from an entire day of filming. I had been out since the morning, filming for the drama with Siwon. Not only was the weather hot, but also the costumes I had to wear for the filming was fairly thick, torturing my skin more. I reached for my laptop, which was on the bedside table, letting it start up as I headed for the shower.

A hot shower was really everything I needed to relax my overworked muscles after a day of hard work. It bothered me a little how the members were able to participate in fun filled variety shows, showing off all the mandarin they had learnt while all I did was memorise my lines, rehearsing them and trying to get the pronunciation right before spending an entire day filming it. When I exited the shower, I logged onto Skype immediately to see that ____ was not online. It didn’t surprise me though, it was already 3am in the morning and she must be sleeping after a whole day of classes. I wonder how she was doing.

Recently, we haven’t been able to talk often. Our online calls had gotten from everyday, to once in two days, to once in five days and gradually becoming once in a week. Not that I wanted that to happen but my schedule was really becoming tighter. Whenever I had free time from filming, I would always be rushing in attempt to join the other members for variety shows. Then I would have to memorise the Chinese script in preparation for the next day. By the time all that was completed, it was often already past 1am and whenever I logged in, ___ would always be offline by then. I wasn’t blaming her, it was my fault. I had been placing work as a priority as we only had 4 months in Taiwan to finish filming and we were already behind schedule.

I sighed. I really missed her and how we always blew kisses to one another online. I wonder if she had forgotten about me, or gotten tired of waiting for me. She would always read the note that she had opened that day to me if we managed to meet online. The number of chocolates in her jar were getting lesser and it also made me happier knowing that I would be seeing her soon. I missed holding her, giving her butterfly kisses and simply just seeing her. Everything about her tempted me to sneak back to Korea. On the other hand, she must be busy with her studies too as she always asked for help with Korean whenever I talked to her. It often amuses me how she couldn’t pronounce or understand Korean well despite staying here for years. But that’s the ___ I love, she was perfect to me like that.

Leaving my Skype on, I decided to just surf the net. It’s been a while since I’ve done that and the 3 cups of dark mocha I had drank earlier during filming was definitely working. As usual, I visited one of my fan pages. They often uploaded photos taken of me and it sometimes scares me how they were able to do all that without me noticing. The number of fan mails in my inbox had also grown to become a large number, so I just decided to take a look at it.

I scrolled down the numerous mails, but one of the titles caught my eye:

I told you Ga Eun unnie wasn’t good enough for you, she’s cheating on you, oppa !! Date me instead !

I immediately clicked on it, curious to its content. Right there, smack in the middle of the screen was a picture of a young man, probably a student from the same campus giving her a rose and her smiling and accepting him from it. The picture below that showed him kissing her on the cheek as she held on tightly to the rose.

I stared at the pictures, my jaws dropping. No..this can’t be ! ____ would never cheat on me and I am sure of that. She’s not the kind that would do stuff like that. She’s honest, pure, innocent and definitely true to her words. What was that ?! As much as I wanted to trust her, I felt very much insecure. The guy was a foreigner, probably English speaking like her. He was definitely good-looking and I was sure of the fact that Lee Soo Man would’ve scouted him on the streets if he were to bump into him. But…____..w-why..no. No. It’s all fake. FAKE ! ..right ?

I shut the laptop immediately, dumping it on the bedside table. I switched off the table lamps, leaving the room in complete darkness before I hid under the sheets. I didn’t want to accept the truth. Was this also the reason why she has been emailing me less frequently ? Why she did not seem to wait for me online any longer ? Or maybe it was my fault. Love stories in dramas are true after all ----- long distance relationships are never meant to last. She has probably…

gotten tired of waiting for me.

A/N: Hello there !! :D Here's an update ! I'm still in the midst of shifting and so I'm a bit busy hehe. Anyway, so sorry for the fast forward in timeline 'cos I really need it to continue ! I really worked hard for this chapter ! There has been no internet for the past few days so I typed this chapter out on microsoft word for those few days and I'm finally done with it. Trust me, I really tried very hard to make this chapter as smooth as possible so I'd really appreciate it if you give me some feedback ! Thank you so so so much for reading ♥ Please do comment whether its positive or negative and subscribe ! The more comments the faster I'll update whenever I can, okay ? ^^ Off to continue unpacking now, till then, tkcare readers !