The floor beneath me was shining perfectly. Little did it know that there would be marks from feet on it soon.  I walked around the large rectangular room and relished the feeling of the room. The benches had water bottles and towels on them which were ready to use anytime. On one of the smaller walls was a large South Korea flag hung up.

I walked up to it and bowed. Then I took my right hand and brought it up to my forehead in a saluting form. I kept my hand there for a while as I stared at the flag, thinking back to everything it took to get to this point.

After a while, I turned around and began grazing my hand over the wooden cabinets with numbers written on them. I finally got to number nine and stopped. I traced the number with my hand a couple of times. Then I let my eyes fall to the jersey that had been hung up for me. It was a new jersey especially made for the world cup. I grazed my hand over the piece of clothing and smiled in admiration.

We had made it to the finals of the world cup. It had been three years since Woohyun passed away. It had been two years since I played on the national team. My team was stretching outside to warm up for the intense game ahead of us. I had snuck off into the locker room just because I really wanted to see it.

After staring at the room for a couple of more minutes, I walked back out to my teammates. I stretched a bit as well to get my muscles ready while talking to the rest of the players. They were a great group of guys who were very lively. They sometimes reminded me of Woohyun and the guys.

They had all been released from the hospital except Sungyeol and Sungjong. But the two were set to be released soon was what they told me the last time I talked to them. It had been a long time since I saw them; probably around four months. I just hoped they were here today. When I tried to get in contact with them, I couldn’t.

○●○●○

I kicked the ball and closed my eyes, too afraid to look. There was nothing worse than kicking the ball and it not going in the net as planned. After a couple of seconds of dead silence, I heard a couple of cheers. I was unsure of whether they were from the opposing team’s fans or not. The thought that they were scared me.

That was when I was tackled down and nearly squished to death. I opened my eyes to see the happy faces of my teammates. After they finally got off me, I stood up and saw South Korean flags being waved and I realized what just happened; the ball went in the net.

“You did it!” Someone cheered as they hugged me.

And then I realized we won. A big smile spread on my face and I began laughing for no reason. I ran to my teammates and jumped on them. We continued to cheer for what seemed like forever. I waved to all the fans in the crowd and received a great reaction.

I turned around, laughing, only to be met with a news reporter. He put his arm around me and turned me to a camera. I became slightly flustered with the random attention.

“How do you feel, Oh Sehun? You scored the winning goal!” He exclaimed.

“Uh,” I lamely began. “It all feels so surreal. I can’t believe any of this is happening.”

“I bet it is. So what did it take to get to this position?”

“A lot of hard work; practises were pretty brutal,” I joked. “But aside from that, there’s someone who I owe this all to. Without him, I wouldn’t be here today.”

I smiled to myself as I thought of Woohyun. I knew he was happily watching from above.

“Well, all that hard work paid off. Congratulations once again! Go enjoy yourself,” The man said as he walked away to interview someone else.

I looked around at the crowd of people. Red was being waved around everywhere and people had huge smiles on their faces. It made me feel amazing that I could bring such joy to these people. I felt like I did something great for my country.

○●○●○

“You’re coming to the after party, right?” My teammate asked me.

“Yea,” I nodded. “I’ll drop by tonight.”

He patted my back before walking out of the locker room leaving me alone. This time, the locker room smelt dirty and sweaty. I smiled to myself for no reason before getting up and walking out. The warm air hit me when I left the locker room building. I took out my phone and was a bit upset when I saw no texts from my friends or parents.

I puffed my cheeks out before walking back onto the field. The stadium was completely empty now aside for some janitors that were cleaning up. I kicked the bright green grass as I thought back to the liveliness of the day. While thinking of the crowd, I couldn’t help but wonder where my parents and friends were.

That was when someone called me from behind, “Oppa!”

I turned around to see Sun Hi running up to me, everybody else waving from behind her. I broke out into a huge grin before opening my arms for her and spinning her around. I held Sun Hi in my arms before walking up to my parents and my friends.

“I’m so proud of you!” My Mother exclaimed as she hugged me.

I hugged her back before hugging my Father. He told me the same words as my Mother and I felt great knowing he meant them. Then I turned to my friends and the first to greet me was Haneul.

“Sehun!” She yelled before throwing her arms around me. “I’m so happy for you!”

“Group hug!” Dongwoo announced.

Everybody came up to us and hugged us tightly. That hug was the best part of my day. It was nothing compared to the hug I had with my teammates. This hug made me feel infinite.

○●○●○

The day passed by in a blur. Without even knowing it, I was at an after party at Kai’s house. Everybody from my old school had been invited. It was somewhat like a high school reunion but better.

Wanting to break away from the attention, I walked out to the balcony. The cool air was refreshing to my hot skin. I felt like the sky was shining even brighter that night. The moon glowed and I swore I saw a couple of stars.

“Drink up.”

I looked to my left to see Myungsoo handing me a carton of chocolate milk. He laughed at my confused face before shoving it into my chest. He turned around and leaned against the railing so his head was facing the door.

“People are drinking beer in there and we’re drinking milk,” I laughed.

Myungsoo chuckled, “Milk is the best.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t get sick from drinking the milk, you know.”

“Yea, I am,” Myungsoo agreed. “You played great today.”

“Thanks. I wouldn’t have been able to play so great if it weren’t for Woohyun, though.”

“He would be really proud of you if he were here today.”

“I bet he would’ve loved going to the stadium,” I said as I looked up at the sky.

“What are you guys doing?” Haneul asked as she came out of Kai’s house.

“I’ll go inside now. We’ll talk again afterwards, Sehun,” Myungsoo said as he left.

“Why were you guys drinking milk?” Haneul asked pointing at the cartons left on the rail, half laughing. She stood beside me and looked over the railing, our arms touching.

“Because we’re cool,” I said before we burst into laughter.

Haneul sighed, “I feel really happy. Do you?”

“Of course.”

“I wonder if Woohyun’s happy,” Haneul looked up at the sky.

I followed her gaze and stared at the moon, “I’m sure he is.”

“Sometimes I miss him,” She confessed.

“So do I. A lot, actually.”

“But it’s okay. I’m happy I spent the time with him that I did. Although I wish he could be here with us today, I think I can accept the fact that he isn’t on earth anymore. But it’s okay because we still have memories. He will forever hold a special place within me. And I think that special place is where I can meet him whenever I want.”

“You know,” I paused. “Woohyun asked me to do two things. He told me continue playing soccer and to take care of you.”

I held out my hand for her, “So, Haneul, will you let me take care of you?”

Haneul smiled a genuine smile, “I’d love that.” She put her hand in mine and I gave hers a little squeeze.

“Now tell me, what did Woohyun always whisper in your ear?”

Haneul laughed, “That’s a secret between the two of us.”

I pouted as we walked back into Kai’s home hand-in hand knowing Woohyun was okay with that.

○●○●○

And that was my story. The story that I made by accident. But it was this accidental story that made me who I am today. If I could go back in time, I would attempt to steal the tablet again and again until I get caught. Because it was that tablet which allowed me to meet such great people.

That incident which seemed so annoying at the time let me play the role of a caretaker. I learned how to help people and care for their feelings. I learned to let past things go and look towards the future optimistically. I learned that there was always good in the bad and there was always light at the end of a dreadful tunnel.

This was the story that I believe went perfectly. This was the story of meeting a really nice man, a beautiful woman and six dorky boys.

This was the caretaker’s story.