A/N: I hope you like this chapter. For some reason it was so hard for me to write it down. Also, I noticed that my chapters are getting longer and longer, and that's good news to me. :)

***

You Picked Me [7/?]

Does he really know you like I know you, all the little things?

Does he really love you like I love you, how can he compete?

***

Most of his friends were seated together on a round table and already eating when Jinki arrived at lunch. It was a particularly noisy and busy Friday―later in the afternoon Joongdong High School’s soccer team was set to play in a match against Kyunggi High School. Jinki could feel the buzz of excitement surrounding the cafeteria and the whole school as the students of Joongdong looked forward to cheering and showing their support for the school team in the upcoming match.

Jinki adjusted the backpack on his shoulder and approached his friends. Sooyoung, Tiffany and Yuri were having a rather colorful conversation, with the tallest girl gesturing passionately about something Jinki couldn’t quite figure out. He then noticed that there was one notable addition to the occupants of their table today; Choi Minho was seated between Yuri and Jonghyun, helping himself to some sausages, eggs and rice. Jinki smiled to himself; Minho and Jessica have become quite close lately, and although Jinki felt that familiar pang of jealousy at first, it was nice to see Minho making new friends and hanging out with them more.

Directly in front of Jonghyun was Taemin, repeatedly stabbing his pork chop with a fork and looking rather sullen. Hyoyeon was seated to Taemin’s right, sipping her orange juice and occasionally nudging Taemin, probably to urge him to start eating.

“Hey, guys,” Jinki said as he sat down on Taemin’s free side. Everybody looked up to greet him before turning back to their lunch. He then addressed the younger boy beside him, “Ready for today, Taemin?”

“You know he’s always like this before a game,” Hyoyeon commented when Taemin kept stabbing his food and did not answer. “Too nervous to put anything in his stomach. He’s probably scared he’s gonna poop his pants while playing.”

“Noona.”

“What? It’s true. How are you gonna have the energy to play later when you won’t even eat anything now? Look at Minho stuffing his face. That’s what you should be doing.”

Minho was now eating from Yuri’s plate, after the latter had complained that she couldn’t finish her food anymore. Jinki found the sight quite amusing.

He was about to stand up to order lunch when he felt two soft hands cover his eyes.

“Guess who?”

Jinki grinned in the darkness, instantly registering who owned the voice, and piped, “Taeyeon? We have to stop doing this, you know. What if Jessica saw―ouch!”

Jessica scowled as Jinki pulled the chair beside him, one hand rubbing the spot that she pinched on his shoulder. “That was not funny, Lee Jinki,” she retorted, falling gruffly on the seat allotted for her.

“Aw, come on, Sica. It was just a joke,” Jinki said, pulling on her hand as she dumped her bag on the empty seat to her left. “I knew it was you the whole time.”

“Well, it wasn’t funny.”

“All right, all right,” Jinki conceded. Eyes pleading, he said sincerely, “I’m sorry. Please forgive me?”

Jessica only gave him a small smile and kissed his cheek before proceeding to greet each person on the table. She then retrieved a white lunch box from her bag and set it in front of Taemin, who looked up at her promptly.

“It’s from Krystal,” she explained, opening the lid of the lunch box. “She made you a sandwich. She told me to make sure you eat it before the game.”

“Aw, that’s sweet. You’ve got to eat that Taeminnie,” Yuri said.

“By the way, where’s Krystal?” Sooyoung asked.

“She went to meet her boyfriend.”

There was a collective gasp of surprise from the girls on the table. Jinki and Jonghyun’s eyebrows were raised inquisitively. Minho looked impassive, and Taemin seemed to sink even deeper into his chair, his face still sullen.

“She has a new boyfriend?” Yuri asked before turning to look at Minho sympathetically. “But Minho…”

“Don’t look at me like that, I’m fine,” Minho said. “It’s been a while since we broke up.”

“So who’s the new guy?” Hyoyeon asked, turning her attention back to Jessica. “Is it someone we know?”

Jessica shook her head. “He’s not from Joongdong High. His name is Myungsoo,” she said. “He’s coming to watch the game with Krystal.”

“Is this their first date?” Sooyoung inquired.

Jessica shrugged. “I don’t know. Do you think watching a soccer game is an ideal first date?” She turned to Jinki. “I’m hungry. Let’s go order.”

A while later, before he and Jessica stood up to order food and everybody else’s attention went back to their lunch, Jinki heard Hyoyeon whisper to Taemin, “Heard that, Lee Taemin? Your Krystal is watching your game later. So it up and eat this sandwich, so you could prove to her how wrong she was when she decided to date someone who can’t play soccer as good as you.”

Jinki saw Taemin take a bite out of the sandwich when he and Jessica reached the end of the line to the cashier.

***

The Seoul winter sky was a bright blue color, littered with large, fluffy clouds. A consistently cold breeze seemed to blow through the Joongdong soccer field, and despite the fanatic energy emanating from the crowd, Krystal kept rubbing her sides to keep from shivering.

“Here,” Myungsoo said from beside her, shrugging off his jacket and putting it around Krystal. “Better?”

She gave him a timid smile. “Thanks.”

Krystal and Myungsoo were seated on the bleachers with the rest of the students of Joongdong High. It had been a breathtaking match so far―the Joongdong soccer team was obviously in their best shape and hungry for a victory. The moment the players entered the field and were introduced one by one, Krystal was quick to point out Taemin (“That’s my friend I told you about: Lee Taemin!”) to Myungsoo among the other players in blue and white, the official Joongdong High colors.

Now there were only less than three minutes left to the game and the Kyunggi soccer team looked particularly dejected. They hadn’t even scored a single goal yet, and Joongdong already got two goals in. The way Krystal saw it, Kyunggi High winning would really be a miracle.

Seated to Krystal’s right was her Seohyun-unnie, beaming and clapping but never actually screaming, still being her prim and proper self in the middle of a loud and rowdy horde of people. On Seohyun’s other side was her boyfriend, Cho Kyuhyun, who was doing the complete opposite when it comes to cheering―he was nearly hoarse with screaming and shouting “KILL! KILL! KILL!” when Joongdong is in possession of the ball.

“Cho Kyuhyun-ssi isn’t from Joongdong too, huh?” Myungsoo asked, watching the older boy who, like him, looked a bit out of place in the sea of students in uniform.

“A lot of my sister's friends are dating guys from university,” Krystal answered, leaning closer to Myungsoo. “Kyuhyun-oppa just graduated from Joongdong High last February. He met Seohyun-unnie here at Joongdong.”

“I see.”

Krystal turned her attention back to the game only to see the ball barely passing through Kyunggi’s goalkeeper―a goal scored by Taemin.

“Taemin is really good!” Myungsoo said, leaning down into Krystal’s ear and speaking loudly enough to penetrate the cheers of the students around them. “He’s got mad skills.”

Unable to find her words, Krystal just looked up at him and smiled, nodding a little. “I know, right?” she muttered, watching as Joongdong’s soccer team huddled in the middle of field after the successful goal by Taemin. The crowd hollered even louder.

There was a loud buzz signaling the end of the game.

“And this match is over!” the commentator announced excitedly to the crowd. “Joongdong High School wins the game! Final score―3 to 0!”

The crowd went wild; people were cheering so loudly, jumping up and down, and shuffling around and about the bleachers. Even Myungsoo cheered much louder beside Krystal, and before she could clearly understand what was happening, arms wrapped around her from her right side. She turned her head a bit only to get a tiny peek of Son Naeun’s face buried in her shoulder. Her eyes widened in horror.

How the hell did she end up beside me? Krystal's head screamed. And where is Seohyun-unnie?

“You okay?” Myungsoo asked, eyeing the girl whose arms were all over Krystal.

“Yeah.”

“We won!” Naeun squeaked, arms still held around Krystal firmly. “We won!”

“I know, I know,” Krystal managed, trying to think of all the possible ways―outside of muder―to get Naeun off of her. Rolling her eyes, Krystal looked toward the field, seeing the players cheering and hugging each other. Students were already vacating the bleachers and rushing to the field to congratulate the players. Loud chants of “JOONGDONG! JOONGDONG!” filled her ears.

She saw Taemin then, and when his eyes met hers, his face broke into a brilliant smile. Taemin started waving at her, and Krystal smiled back and tried to lift her arms, only to remember that Naeun was pinning them to her sides. Taemin looked amused upon seeing her dilemma, and Krystal laughed.

Then Taemin’s eyes darted quickly to her left, and what he saw wiped the smile off his face.

***

“Where did they get all of the food?”

Krystal laughed quietly, swinging their intertwined hands between them. “I don’t know how but the student council somehow has funds for food during matches. Sometimes we even end up having food fights.”

“That sounds like fun,” Myungsoo said, smiling. “Feel free to invite me to your next school match.”

She laughed again. “Sure.”

Night had fallen in Seoul. Krystal and Myungsoo were on their way to the bus stop, where Myungsoo was going to take a ride on the bus to get home.

“This is really weird,” Myungsoo said. “I was supposed to walk you home, not the other way around.”

"We don't really like sticking to the traditional, do we?"

"Yeah, I guess."

A bus had halted right in front of them, and they watched and waited as passengers spilled out of the bus.

"I really should bring my car next time." Myungsoo grinned. "That way I could return this favor and take you home."

"That would be a good idea," Krystal said.

“I’ll see you soon?” Myungsoo said. Passengers were already boarding the bus.

"Soon," Krystal agreed. And Myungsoo made his way inside the bus, waving at her by the door before entering to find a seat for himself. Krystal watched as the bus propelled away, picking up speed until it finally turned a corner and disappeared from view.

She was alone at the sidewalk, and was left to ponder whether she was doing the right thing with Myungsoo or not.

It wasn't that she was not attracted to Myungsoo―he was admittedly one of the most handsome guys she's ever dated. It was just that ever since the second term had started, Krystal had developed a heightened appreciation for a lot of things, the most important one being for this one friend who has stuck to her side through the ups and downs of all the relationships she has been through. At the end of the day, relationships come and go, but Taemin―he'll always be there for her.

Lee Taemin will always be there for her.

Which is why although her heart had found itself wanting for them to become something more, friend would have to do. And that was so much better than losing him over a failed relationship. Not to mention the fact that Taemin's feelings for her were completely platonic.

Krystal shook her head; she really should stop entertaining these thoughts.

***

Apparently, the world just wouldn't leave her alone. Krystal was starting the walk home to the apartment she shared with her sister when her phone vibrated in her pocket. 

It was a call from Minho.

“Hello?”

“Krystal, I think I need your help.”

***

“Sorry to bother you, Krystal. I didn’t know where he lives and I didn’t have any of his guy friends’ numbers so I had no other choice but to call you.”

Krystal had never seen Taemin drunk before.

She and Taemin had shared beer just recently, the strong alcoholic stuff from the US that her dad kept in their refrigerator at home, strictly to be opened only when he invited his adult friends over to their place. Her parents and Jessica had been out that time, and Krystal had to ditch her date because their friend Sulli had wanted to drown her sorrows in alcohol after being left heartbroken by his cheating ex-boyfriend. The operation let’s-get-drunk-with-Sulli didn’t go through though―it was their first time to taste beer and they unanimously decided that it tastes horrible. They ended up calling for pizza delivery, playing Dance Dance Revolution in the living room and staying the night in Krystal’s room.

Tonight, however, Taemin was trashed.

He didn’t even seem to acknowledge Krystal’s presence when she had arrived at the bar Minho directed her to. His eyes were almost always close, and he mumbled words that didn’t make any sense to her. His face was red and his head was hanging down, and on the cab ride home to his apartment, he clung to her closely and buried his head on her shoulder. She didn’t remember ever being as close to him as she was at that moment.   

She held the front door open as Minho struggled to pass through, one arm holding a wobbly Taemin by his side.

“I’m really sorry about this, Krystal.” It was probably the thousandth time Minho apologized to her that night. “I told him to stop but he just won’t listen to me. He drank so much, like he got dumped by a girlfriend or something.”

Krystal went pink. “I told you, it’s fine.”

Minho smirked at her. “Can’t blame him though, you looked really cozy with that Myungsoo.”

Her eyebrow shot up, her pulse quickening. “What are you―”

“Jung Soojung.” Taemin was suddenly blinking at Krystal, his eyes unfocused and sweet. “Hey, you’re here.”

It took much of Krystal’s strength to glare at him; her knees felt like they were going to melt. “And you’re drunk.”

Minho chuckled, heaving one of Taemin’s arms around his shoulders. “Right. Taemin, let’s walk a bit more, alright?” Taemin grunted. Krystal went to his other side, holding him around the waist. She and Minho deposited Taemin heavily onto the couch.  

“Jung Soojung,” Taemin mumbled again, his droopy eyes fixed on Krystal.

“Good thing you were there, Minho,” she said, arranging some throw pillows around Taemin and trying to ignore his gaze. “Taemin drinking alone would have been a disaster.”

“The whole team was there actually,” Minho said, his hand coming up the scratch the back of his neck. “We were just the last ones out. And he was the only one who got really drunk.”

“Thanks, hyung,” Taemin said, smiling at Minho. “Sorry m’so heavy.”

Minho laughed, and he leaned over to ruffle Taemin’s hair affectionately. “You take care, alright? Krystal’s here now. That was a really good game you played, Taemin.”

“Y’were r’lly good too, hyung.”

“Thank you, Minho-yah,” Krystal said, feeling herself flush.

“I’ve got to get going then. Take care, you two,” Minho said. And with that he was out of Taemin’s apartment, smiling and waving as he closed the door quietly behind him.  

Krystal turned to examine Taemin, who was now lying on his back on the couch, eyes closed. He was still wearing his soccer uniform, which she observed was a little muddy, just like his shoes. His hair looked damp and was sticking up in weird angles. He looked like he needed a bath but in his current condition, Krystal decided that a quick wash in the sink would do.   

She sat on the couch next to Taemin and shook him gently. “Taemin? You have to change before you fall asleep.”

“Mmmrrff.”

“Taemin.” She shook him again.

“Urrrgllhh.”

“You’re a mess, Lee Taemin.”

When another shake still couldn’t take him out of his drunken stupor, Krystal unlaced Taemin’s rubber shoes and peeled off his socks, which made her smirk in spite of herself; his socks were mismatched, one was all white while the other was white from the knee to the ankle then light gray from the ankle to the toe, which explained why it looked like a matched pair from the outside. Her efforts seemed to rouse Taemin from his slumber, and he slowly propped himself up on the couch to give her a lopsided smile.

“Thanks,” he murmured. “Here.” He lifted his arms over his head.

Now he wants me to undress him? Krystal bit her lip. Urgh, stop. Mind out of the gutter, Jung Soojung!

Krystal managed a laugh, trying to shake off her nerves. “You aren’t planning on taking off all your clothes in front of me, are you?”

Taemin chuckled and shook his head, his arms still up.

Krystal began lifting his team jersey and pulled Taemin’s arms off first, but then the shirt got caught when it reached his head. Taemin began to shake with laughter, and Krystal, now laughing herself, pulled on the neckline and finally eased the jersey over his head. She let the shirt fall to the floor and looked up, only to find Taemin’s face only a few centimeters from hers, his eyes blinking wide at her. Krystal was painfully aware that Taemin was missing a shirt, and she couldn’t look down because she might do something stupid, like touch him.  

Best friend, Jung Soojung. He’s your best friend.

It wasn’t helping that Taemin’s gaze would sometimes flicker down to her lips.

“Um, your hair, I think there’s something in it,” Krystal stuttered, her hand reaching up to touch his hair. “You want to wash?”

Taemin nodded. “S’meone spilled beer o’me.”

“Okay then,” Krystal sighed, standing up. “Let me get some water―”

“No,” Taemin protested, grabbing her hand. “Stay.”

”Okay.” Breathe. Just breathe. “Let’s get you to the bathroom. You need to stand up.”

Much to her surprise, Taemin nodded. He slung an arm around her for support, and she wound her arms around his waist, ready to hoist him up. She helped him get on his feet, and when she staggered slightly under his weight, he gave her a sheepish smile.

“M’really sorry ‘bout this,” he slurred.

“It’s fine.”

Somehow they managed to stumble together to the bathroom, and Taemin immediately steadied himself on the sink. Krystal the tap and Taemin leaned in, letting the water run as she scrubbed his hair free of beer. The sensation of running her hands through his hair seemed to calm Krystal, until she found herself wanting to run her hands on his as well.

Get it together, Jung Soojung.

Taemin straightened himself up and grinned at her lazily, his hair dripping wet. “Thanks.”

Krystal reached for the lone towel hanging by the sink and began drying his hair. “You’re ready for bed, I guess,” she said, setting down the damp towel.

“Come with me?”

Krystal gulped, and nodded.

The cold water seemed to help Taemin regain some sense of balance, so the trip out of the bathroom and into the bedroom wasn’t as wobbly. He sat himself on the edge of his bed, and without warning, slowly slipped his shorts down between his legs.

Krystal could feel her face heating up. Taemin was now clad only in his checkered blue boxer shorts.

“Seriously, Taemin, if you want to strip down, tell me so I can turn around,” she warned. Taemin chuckled at her before sliding under his bed covers.

She huffed. He was such a tease even when he was drunk.

“Krystal?”

“What is it?”

Taemin patted the space beside him on the bed and motioned for her to come to him. Krystal approached him reluctantly, and then Taemin pulled at her hand, and in her surprise she sat down unceremoniously on the bed with a loud thump.

 “Krystal…” he struggled, his eyes bleary and half-open. He looked like he was going to dreamland any second now.

“Yes?” Krystal asked in a whisper.

“I think…I think…” His eyes were already closed.

“You should just go to sleep, okay?” Krystal said, loosening his hold of her hand and positioning the blanket to fully cover his body.

“I love you, d’you know that?”

Her hands started trembling. Her heart was almost beating out of her chest. Best friends. You’re best friends. That’s what he means.

“I love you too, Taemin―”

“No,” he murmured, shaking his head against the pillow. “No, s’not what I mean. Y’don’t understand. I want to tell you.” She could tell that he was fighting sleepiness to get the words out. “I want to tell you but I can’t…”

“What do you want to tell me?”

His even breathing told her that he was already asleep.

Krystal stood up to leave, her hands still shaking, and took one last look at her sleeping friend. His hair made small, wet patches on the pillow, and his chest was rising and falling under the blanket. Then, Krystal decided, a kiss goodnight wouldn’t hurt, would it?  

Leaning forward, she made to drop a kiss on Taemin’s forehead.

But then Taemin’s breathing changed. His eyes fluttered open, and almost unconsciously, he tilted his head and his lips met hers.

It was the shortest and sweetest kiss Krystal has ever had.

And then Taemin mumbled and shifted. His eyes were closed and his breathing was even and regular again, and Krystal had lifted a hand to her lips, fighting off the huge smile that was coming to her face.