Disdain
The Other Side of the Mirror
"Is he insane?" Sunmi gripped Suho's hand tightly that the other felt all blood flow stop in his limb. "What in the world is he doing? He can't even kick a ball properly and he's going to battle it out with the other team's jjang player? Oh Sehun!" she groaned.
D.O. pried Sunmi's fingers off the poor leader's hands and the leader shot the mother of the group a grateful look. "Chill Sunmi, you're killing Suho hyung here."
"But seriously, what is he trying to do?" Sunmi groaned, grabbing her hair in desperation. "He's going to blow his entire act! Everyone will know something is wrong."
"Not exactly." Kai tapped his chin. "He can blame his lousy soccer skills on his health condition but-"
"It's still a stupid thing to do." Baekhyun finished, wrinkling his nose. "I wonder what Kim Jisuk said to Sehun to manage to provoke him into doing something like that." he murmured thoughtfully. Oh wouldn't you like to know.
The students left from the two schools felt the tension rise even more rapidly than when the actual soccer match had begun. Their eyes followed the two teams' captains as they made their way to the centre of the now empty field, a ball between them.
"So here's the rules," Jisuk said into a loudspeaker so everyone could hear. "There are no rules." he snickered gleefully. There came murmurs of confusion around and he proceeded to speak. "Person with the ball will attack. Person without the ball, defend and try to stop him from scoring the goal. First person to get three goals win."
Sehun swallowed. He hoped he could last at least five minutes.
"And the thing about it is," Jisuk smirked, eying Sehun. "Foulplay allowed."
Gasps of shock and anger vibrated through the student body but Sehun barely registered all of that as he stared back at Jisuk with a blank expression no his face. Foulplay allowed? Foulplay like...tripping the other player, punching him in the eye and stuff? Wasn't this a sport? Where was the sportsmanship?
"The nerve!" Sunmi nearly rushed out into the field and both Chanyeol and Baekhyun held on to her arms to stop her. "How can he set the game in such a manner? He's going to throttle Sehun to death!"
D.O. rubbed his temple. "This is not going to end prettily."
-----
Sehun swallowed as he eyed Jisuk in front of him, both of them waiting for the whistle so they could rush to get the possession of the ball first. His palms were unusually sweaty and he was honestly frightened. Why did he get himself into something like this again?
There wasn't much time for thinking, because then the whistle blew.
Sehun ran as fast as he could but Jisuk was something else all together. The guy got the ball within a blink of an eye and Sehun immediately had to change into defense mode to stop Jisuk from scoring a goal. Sehun held out both his hands to block Jisuk's path, but the darn soccer player was so fast with his reflexes that he dodged under Sehun's arm and made a hard kick.
Sehun whipped around, stunned, only to see the ball sail merrily in the air and land in the goal post. His jaw dropped, amazed at Jisuk's speed and agility. It was then that he realized just who he was up against. Watching Jisuk from the sidelines was completely different from trying to go against him one on one. This guy had the skills.
Jisuk turned around and sent a triumphant smirk at Sehun, making the latter clench his fists. Damn.
-----
The whistle blew again.
This time, Sehun miraculously managed to get to the ball before Jisuk and his dandy weak legs kicked the ball further in front to get it away from Jisuk (and himself) before making a run for it.
Sehun huffed and puffed and was about to give the ball a massive powerful kick when someone pulled on his shirt and caused him to fall backwards. Sehun landed on his painfully and he watched desperately as Jisuk rushed for the ball and shot it easily into the goal.
2-0.
Sunmi let out a growl of anger from the audience seat. "He cheated! That !"
"Not exactly." Kai reminded. "Foulplay allowed, remember? If only maknae wasn't acting so much like a gentleman, he could have won." he muttered.
-----
Seeming to learn from his previous mistake, Sehun's eyes gave off an unfamiliar gleam this time as the two boys faced each other. Jisuk didn't seem to be intimidated as he eyed Sehun with ultimate disdain. "Two zero now, Oh Sehun. I can smell my victory."
When the whistle blew, Sehun's body shot forward and what surprised everyone was that he didn't try to kick the ball and hold it in his possession. He held the ball's possession, yes, but by diving at it and hugging it to his chest.
Pretty extraordinary soccer wasn' it, but foulplay was allowed.
Sehun charged towards the goal post while hugging the ball and Jisuk made a mad dash for him. "." he cursed. In desperation, Jisuk took off his show and threw it at the back of Sehun's head.
Sehun was slightly stumped for a few moments and he stopped in his tracks to regain his balance. There were loud gongs going off in his head and he felt exceptionally dizzy, feeling his body sway uncontrollably. Jisuk used the chance to catch up with Sehun and he grabbed the ball from Sehun's arms, shoving the latter onto the ground mercilessly.
Through that, Jisuk threw the ball into the goal post to score the final goal.
Sehun groaned as he tried to sit up, knowing that he had grazed his elbows and knees but the pain wasn't physical. He saw Jisuk turn and give him the same triumphant smirk Sehun had seen back in his own world when the same guy defeated him in the last question of the Math Olympiad.
That hurt. The most.
Sehun winced as he changed into his spare clothes, hissing softly as his wounds came into contact with the cloth. His team mates gave him half-hearted smiles and even though they told him that it didn't matter that he lost the match against Jisuk because they still won the real match, Sehun could see how disappointed they were in him.
He felt disappointed in himself too, but he couldn't have beaten the guy in soccer when it was his niche.
Sehun walked out of the changing room and ran into Jina and the rest of the cheerleaders. Jina gave him a forced smile and her eyes looked full of disdain. "Oh. It's you, Sehun oppa." she muttered.
Sehun bit his lip. From "HI SEHUN OPPA YOU'RE HERE!" to "Oh. It's you, Sehun oppa." It seemed he didn't quite exactly IMPRESS Jina that day, didn't he?
"Nice uhm, cheerleading today." Sehun murmured, rubbing the back of his neck. Jina eyed him from head to toe and wrinkled her nose. The reason why she liked Sehun so much was for his fame and popularity. He was famous because of his soccer skills and smashing good looks.
Sehun's popularity was fast dwindling down to nothing with this recent turn of events and Jina found that the guy actually turned her off more and more. What was the use of this new nicer Sehun if he was just...well, ordinary? She didn't need an ordinary man. She needed a famous, amazing, outstanding one.
"Hm yeah." Jina muttered briefly. "We have to go. Come on girls." she led the rest of the cheerleaders away and Sehun's shoulders slumped. Great job, Sehun, he mentally congratulated himself.
He trudged back to the exit of the stadium and was surprised to find Sunmi there waiting for him. He dropped his gaze to the ground, feeling a little ashamed.
Sunmi just walked beside him wordlessly, knowing that he didn't feel too good. Sehun stared at his feet as they walked in silence.
"Where are the others?" he finally muttered, feeling as if he should say something.
"They went home." Sunmi murmured softly, shrugging. "I volunteered to stay."
A surge of warmth rushed from his heart. "You could have gone home." Sehun tried to sound chirpy. "I'm fine myself, and we live in opposite directions you know. It's just a stupid game and I knew i was going to lose from the beginning." he forced a smile.
Sunmi didn't say anything but she pointed to the convenience store. She sent him a look for him to stay where he was and she promptly popped inside.
Sehun sighed softly as he sat down the the bus stop, feeling rather down. Now he had embarrassed himself in front of everyone, proven that he had indeed "lost" his soccer skills all of a sudden, and had Jina desperately disappointed in him. He did good that day, not.
Sunmi appeared a few moments later with cotton buds and a bottle of antiseptic. She plopped herself beside Sehun and made him raise his arm to show her his scratches. They looked pretty bad and bloody, making her wince.
Sehun hissed softly as Sunmi started cleaning his wound gently. "Sorry, it must hurt. Bear with it." Sunmi mumbled, focusing on his wound. Sehun watched her and tried hard not to make a sound as the stinging pain sent waves of misery through his arm.
But at least she was here. At least she was here with him.
"I was pretty unspectacular today wasn't I?" Sehun tried to joke. "You know, I think Jina is a little disgusted with me right now. She didn't attack me with hugs and whines like she usually does, so I think I really did badly today huh?"
A hard jab at his wound made Sehun howl in pain. Sunmi twisted her lip in half-guilt. "So you mean you agreed to the match with Kim Jisuk because you wanted to impress Jina? That's plain stupid!" she reprimanded. "You know you're not the Devil himself so why do it? Look at you now, you've got yourself hurt!"
She grumbled under her breath as she reached for his arm again, cleaning the rest of his wounds.
Sehun bit his lip. Jina was one of the reasons why going for the match against Jisuk seemed like a good idea, but how was he supposed to tell her that the main reason why he just snapped and agreed was because Jisuk had taunted him about Suho and her? It made him sound like he was....jealous.
And he wasn't.
He was in love with Lee Jina, whether it was the Jina in his world or this. The Jina that had been through so many things with him. He loved Jina, so why would he feel jealous if Sunmi and Suho got cosy and mushy? It wasn't his business.
Sehun kept mum.
"And don't care about what everyone thinks." Sunmi suddenly continued in a small voice, not meeting his eyes. "They think you're a failure because you aren't good at soccer anymore, you don't dress coolly, you are suddenly nerdy and love books. Don't care about them. That's who you are and be proud of that."
She took a deep breath and finally looked up, meeting his eyes. "This is the Oh Sehun who had stood by me when I needed someone. This is the Oh Sehun that's my friend, I like this Oh Sehun more than any other. Alright?"
Sehun nodded, swallowing hard. Sunmi gave him a soft smile and continued with his wound.
But somehow, the pain just disappeared all of a sudden. Sehun gazed at her with a tender expression, not knowing how he looked. Yes, the pain disappeared.
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