Chapter 3 Part 2

Luhan's Point of View

Dinner with my parents sailed great, so far no one had steered in the direction of my career choice.

"So Luhan, I already send your application to a law school," father says as he reaches for the side dish of lettuce. 

I chew slowly and wait for his speech to turn into a full on argument. I place my chopsticks neatly on top of the handkerchief and replace it for a spoon. Father's eyes dig into my skull, trying to get a reaction out of me, and I well aware of him demand my place be remaining in silence.

I gulp a full spoon of chicken soup, "Thank you father, but for now, my focus is football." I dip the spoon into the soup and continue to eat.

"Of course, I'm happy," I wait knowing there needs to be an insult attached to the forced statement of his."For your pathetic dream. Once your done playing you are going to law school, no decision given." Father pushes his chair and throws his handkerchief at my face, then leaves the table leaving mum astonished at his behaviour. 

"I need to be somewhere, thank you for the mouthwatering dishes." I stand and kiss my mother on the cheek. 

The two of us never had a father-son relationship it has always been business, I'm his trophy kid, the one you brag about to your coworkers.

I cried the first time he labelled my dreams as pathetic, but now I could give an eight about his opinion. 

Because of him, I lost a friend of mine, I followed his example and crushed her dreams of being a football player. I lost contact with her and by the time I man up  to apologize the teacher inform us that Mina had left to Japan. In those three school years that I spend with my classmate, I learned only the basics about her. I'm still clueless of who her family is and where she came from. She didn't look Korean. Somehow it made sense to me why she had moved to japan, her parents must have been of mixed race.

The white man figured appeared, however, I didn't move and nor did the cars in the opposite lane. The Ambulance siren pierces my eardrums as it approaches me and as fast as it  arrives it disappears.

Mina's Point of View

My fist repeatedly hit the cemented wall while I cry from the ache in my heart.  The thumping sound lasts longer and each time it can barely be felt.

"Damera!" I manage to shout between uneven breaths and pain.

Quick steps climb up the stairs, reach my room then stop outside my door. "Mina, are you ok!” Sehun's on the other side with a hand over his chest praying to god that I'm just having a nightmare.

"Help!" my legs give up and suddenly my whole body is on the surface.

"Ambulance, call an ambulance now!" Sehun shouts at the empty room.

"Stay with me, take a breath." Sehun is crying, his hands are on his face wiping his tears, then on his head pulling strands of hair, then back at my cheeks whispering that everything will be fine.

I nod then smile knowing this isn't the first time that my body trembles under his arms and it won't be the last. 

The first time it occurred I was running a field, Sehun jogging by my side, pushing me to the limits. I had wanted to give up because I couldn't bare it, my bones felt as if they were shattered and were now carving at my interior. But whenever I slowed down for a moment to compose myself Sehun would body shame me, just like my classmates had. Just hearing those insults made me work harder so in the future, I could prove them wrong. 

Then there in the middle of nowhere, I fell. 

The next day I woke up in the hospital, the doctor hovering over my bed and Sehun by my feet asleep. 

They didn't allow me to leave the hospital, they took a blood test, then X- rays, the whole process lasted for a month until finally, they released me. My parents visited until they had to go back to work, some of my classmates visited me and trough it all Sehun was there, not once had he left me.

The hospital warned me to only do light exercises and gave Nana a meal plan that I had to strictly follow. 

After six months of countless appointments at the hospital, they had found the cause of my accident. I had been diagnosed with cancer.

My parents and I cried, they blamed themselves for not being there to take care of me. So as a way to settle our weak hearts we decided to spend a year together.

Minho wasn't available at the time the news was given, he was competing for the world cup and had to stay in Colombia for thirty-three days. By the time he was back I had temporarily forgotten about it. However, my parent's hadn't and weren't going to tell him, I was entitled to do it.

Till this day Minho doesn't know, it's selfish of me to keep it a secret from him but I know that if he were to find out he wouldn't allow me to play football since it puts me at risk. However, I can't live a restricted life. 

Sehun held onto my hand as the ambulance's back door closed.

By morning, I was back in the house thrilled to have a picnic with all of the house staff. Because I lacked geographic knowledge of Seoul and any South Korean region, I'd let them all agree on a destination. I left them to prepare my bag of utilities, sunscreen, a baseball cap, zip lock bags, in case I end collecting rocks or other nature related objects. 

Sehun hand picked a dress for me, though I refused and wore sweatpants with a baggy shirt. He didn't pursue me to wear his sunflower outfit. 

I was on the edge when Sehun talked to me, thinking that he'd question my three sixty behaviour. He didn't. He acted clueless to yesterday night and continued with the morning preparations, placing me at ease.

"Are we all packed to leave?"  I ask as I shoved the sunscreen into my bag.

"Yes, Miss Choi." The maids answer enthusiastically.  

I stare out the vehicle, watching the commercial buildings grow, faces of beautiful people selling brands greet me.

The scenery is breathtaking, the sound of laughter gives you a sense of freedom. The breeze is refreshing as it kisses your skin, the trees are vivid in colour, the aroma of pie invites the warmth of bodies into our table. 

I don't wait for a maid to serve my plate instead I'm helping layout the utensils and serve the apple juice. 

This feels like I'm back in Japan with my friends and family. 

I push the plate out of my sight, my stomach feels like it might explode from too much food. Sehun is in a different state then me he's on his third pie, not sure which flavour but it's as good as the others, I can tell because the crumbs outline his lips. 

"Gross!” I say to get sehun's attention. It doesn't work the way I want it to, instead, he devours the pie, bits of pie fall on the cloth.

"Yah, you pig stop that." I slap the plate of his hands.

"Yah, that's my food." He points to his clean plate, clean from his .

"Forget about it, you can eat later on. Now,  let's go play football." I swat the crumbs of pie from my pants and jump out of my seat and look in my bag for sunscreen.

"No, I'm sick of football. Why don't we play basketball." Sehun looks at the maids and flashes them a toothy smile, all for the cost of their support. They eagerly and easily agree to him with their giggles. 

Please, he is as gay as a straight noodle, which by the way is not a thing.

Defeated by the popular vote I agree. It won't matter since I didn't pack a basketball ball, so ha!

Not to my surprise ten minutes from now we have a ball and are now on separate teams.

Sehun and I choose to join opposite teams for personal reasons. Mine being to beat him at his own game and his to outright show off how skilled he is. Without a doubt his team is gonna win since every player is basically a tower, still, I don't let it show on my face. 

"Game on" 

I play man to man with Kris, who seems to be as tall as Sehun and if possible even taller. I keep my body close to his, sometimes pressing my chest to his back. This technique works every time because Kris slows down and that's enough time for me to reach under his arm and slap the ball out of his grasp. 

At the beginning of the game, I was underestimated, not  a threat but seen as to how their ace can't seem to make a pass or  run for the hoop their thoughts have changed. Kris is as equally touchy with me as I am with him, though he doesn't throw himself at me. 

This game feels like something more, like I'm flirting with him and we both are aware of our attraction towards each other. I blush from the ridiculous thought of mine but none the less continue to feed of my fantasy. 

I'm not sure if I'm even flirting correctly, but for now, the only thing I know is that I need to stay close to him and that I need to laugh allot like I'm on prescribed drugs. 

This is working, I think.

He guards me, even if I don't have the ball. 

"I'm Kris," he says as we press our bodies together. 

"I know, you're the captain," I tell him before making a run for a pass which sadly is a fake. This clears enough path for our ace to enter the key and shoot. 

"You haven't told me your name," Kris says, his cool breath on my neck sends chills down my spine.

Is this guy even real, am I actually flirting with him and is he actually flirting back? 

I seriously need to get girlfriends. 

"Mina" I smile at him.

Author note: I'm sorry, I'll try to keep it somewhat close to the original. Funny thing while editting this chapter someone messaged me to update, so this is for them. Thanks Jia_Alrik for enjoying the story, hope this chapter pleases you.