The sky was clear of clouds and the only thing up there was the sun. It was a blazing hot day but I could feel a cold sweat run down my back. I was nervous. It was the day of our first soccer game and everybody was more excited than ever. My parents and Sun Hi came to watch along with a crowd of other people. I didn’t expect this many spectators to show up. It was quite nerve-wrecking.

“You ready?” Chen asked me.

I turned around and nodded at him hesitantly. Being around Chen mane me a bit more comfortable. He was really excited and didn’t show a hint of nervousness. I wanted to be confident just like him.

“Okay, gather up!” My coach yelled.

We all moved into a circle and watched our coach speak. He gave us somewhat encouraging words before telling us how to play. I repeated what he said in my mind continuously until we got to the soccer field. The other team was waiting for us in their blue and white uniform. We wore red and black. It was a clash of warm against cool.

I walked to the middle of the field and got into position. My team started with the kick off and Chen was the lucky man to do it. Without a second thought, I lunged myself at the ball and began to kick it forward. I was gaining confidence with every advancement.

That was until I saw a player who was bigger than me coming towards me. He had a menacing glare but I decided to think fast and kick the ball to Chen. He shot it at the net, but missed.

“Good job,” I said to him.

“You too, but don’t get scared of the guys, ‘kay?”

I laughed but agreed. The second half came around and only thirty minutes of the game were left. I was exhausted but determined to win. Nobody had scored yet and there was tension in the air. Since it was my first game, I was determined to make an impact.

So, when my turn came to go on the field, I threw away all fatigue and filled myself with energy. I took all the chances I could at the net, but failed. But I didn’t let it bother me much. The only way to succeed was to fail.

With ten minutes left, we all knew it was now or never. So, we formulated a plan and I was at the end of it. I was the one to receive the ball last and shoot it into the net. I was excited to be given this opportunity but when I was waiting in front of the net, I became worried.

I didn’t have much time to worry, though. The ball was kicked to me and in seconds, I was in front of the net alone. I had limited time to shoot otherwise a defensemen would come and block me. So, I took the chance and kicked the ball.

○●○●○

“Yay, Oppa’s team won!” Sun Hi exclaimed when I came out of the change rooms. I ruffled her hair before taking the bottle of juice from my Mother to drink.

“You played well, Son,” My Father patted my shoulder. I smiled at him before we began walking from the field. We were almost near the parking lot when somebody called me. I turned around to see my coach jogging towards us.

“Somebody’s here to see you in the office. You should really go see him.”

“Who is it?”

“You’ll find out,” He smiled before walking away.

I turned to my parents who looked equally as confused as I was. Nonetheless, my Mother told me to go see who it was. I gave her my bag and walked back to the office as I wracked through my head thinking of who would come to see me.

All my thinking did no good because I hadn’t thought of a single person. It could have been a friend. But what would a friend be doing in the office? It could also be a family member. But that person could have just come to my home.

I decided to quit thinking of who it could be and to just go to the office. Nobody was in the building although I was sure Chen was lurking around here somewhere. I walked past the change rooms and ended up in front of the door to the coach’s office.

After taking a deep breath, I opened the door. There was a man sitting on the couch with a cellphone in his hand. He looked up at me and waved me in.

“Um, hello,” I greeted as I sat on the couch across from him.

“You’re Oh Sehun,” He said.

The man had a relatively long face with small features. He had a head which was only half-full of hair and he seemed to be quite tall.

“Yes, and you are?” I questioned.

He shook his head, “It doesn’t matter who I am. We’re here for who you are—or better yet, who you will become.”

I stared at the man as he set up his tablet on the office table. He then clicked a button and something that looked like a movie trailer came up. The video player consisted of soccer players training and playing. It ended off with the words Join Us.

“So, what do you think?” the man asked me.

“Um, the effects in the video were cool, I guess,” I said, confused.

The man laughed, “I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about what those guys were doing. What do you think of that?”

I nodded my head slowly, “Well, they seemed to be doing a lot of training. It looks hard but fun. Is this a soccer team or something?”

The man snapped his fingers before standing up, “It is a soccer team, Sehun. But not just any soccer team. It’s the national soccer team for South Korea.”

I watched the man walk around, “What does that have to do with me?”

“It’s what I was talking about when I said it’s you who will become. You, Oh Sehun, are being scouted.”

My eyes widened and my mouth nearly fell in shock. I had difficulty comprehending what the man said. I just couldn’t believe that he was here for me. Me out of all people. Still unsure, I asked the man if he was sure he meant me.

“Yea, you, Sehun!” He exclaimed as he walked back to the couch. “I was informed that you are a very skilled player. So, I came down here today to see just how good you are and, well, you have promise.”

“I haven’t played in years, though,” I said.

“And yet you still played like a pro today. That’s just another reason as to why I should scout you. So, what do you think?”

“Who told you?” I asked.

“That person asked me to keep it a secret. But that has nothing to do with this contract,” The man said as he took out a big file of papers. “Look through it and tell me what you think by next week, okay?

I nodded my head and flipped through the pile of papers.

“Great, see you next time, Sehun,” The man said before dropping his business card on the coffee table and leaving. I grabbed the card and read what it said. It had his name on is: Kim Hyun Woo. I took the card and put it in the file with the contract before standing up and walking out of the office. I held the file tightly in my hand as I walked out, emotionless.

But while I was walking back to my car, it hit me. I had just been scouted by a national team. And that was when I screamed in joy and pumped my fist in the air.

○●○●○

My parents didn’t object to the joining the national team at all. In fact, they were more than happy. They treated me to dinner that night and Sun Hi even made me breakfast the next morning—albeit it was just cereal and milk.

I told Woohyun that very night and he might have been more excited that I was. He asked me to bring the contract to the hospital the next day. He even woke me up at six o’clock, telling me to hurry to the hospital.

“After your done showing Woohyun the contract, call me and we’ll go to the man’s office together to hand it in,” My Father said to be before dropping me off at the hospital. “I’ll be waiting here.”

“Okay,” I nodded my head before hopping out of the car. I walked into the hospital and went to the elevators. I waited patiently for the elevator to come down.

A half-a-minute later, the elevator came and I got in. It went up and I walked down the quiet hallway. I opened the door to the room and everybody snapped their head my way.

“Sehun!” Woohyun exclaimed as he jumped off the bed and ran towards me. He grabbed the file from me and opened it up. Haneul jumped off her bed as well and ran towards me to hug me. I stood there frozen from all the attention.

“You did it!” She exclaimed as she squeezed me a bit tighter.

“Sign it, Sehun!” Woohyun said as he dragged me to Haneul’s bed. He took a pen out from under her bed and gave it to me.

“Wait!” Haneul exclaimed. “Let me take a picture.”

I laughed, “Is all this necessary?”

“Yes,” The guys chorused.

So there I stood, in the centre of a circle full of my friends. Haneul held her phone up to her face and Myungsoo took out his large camera. Everybody watched intently as I signed the contract in all the designated places.

“Done,” I said as I finished the last signature.

“Yay!” Dongwoo cheered. All the guys then preceded to envelope me in a bone-crushing hug.

“Guys, I can’t breathe,” I said as I tried to push them away. After a while, everybody got tired and let go of me. Dongwoo and Hoya went to get some breakfast while the rest went back to their beds.

“I’m going to go hand this in now and then I’ll come back,” I announced.

“Wait! I’ll walk you outside,” Woohyun said. “Just stay here for ten minutes. I need to get my medicine, okay?”

“Sure,” I nodded my head. “I’ll wait.”

Woohyun left the room and I went to sit on my bed. I swung my legs back and forth with the file still in my hand.

“What do you guys want to do today?” I asked.

“I found this really cool game to play online,” Sungjong said. “How’s the weather today? Will it rain?”

“I’m not sure,” I looked over to Woohyun’s laptop. “I’ll check.”

I walked over to his bed and opened up the laptop. I figured out his password quite easily as it was just his birthday. After a moment, the laptop unlocked itself and I clicked the already open window to check the weather. But what I landed on was an email account. Woohyun left his inbox open.

I was about to ignore it and open a new tab, but a certain name caught my attention; Kim Hyun Woo. I knew it was wrong to look through his stuff, but I clicked on the email anyway. And that was how I found out who told Kim Hyun Woo about my soccer skills.

“It was Woohyun,” I whispered.