The dog was taken care of. In fact, it had been taken care of for a whole month. And you hadn’t known anything about it for that month. For that whole month, every time you got dropped off or picked up, you had looked for that dog. You needn’t have even bothered to worry about that stupid dog. Because Taekwoon had taken care of it. And he hadn’t thought to mention it to you. For a whole month.

Right at that moment, none of the boys knew why you froze from picking up a fried egg that Hyuk had brought with him for lunch. Least of all, Taekwoon. The clueless boy.

Hongbin was holding out his phone to N who had inquired about his new dog. Clearly displayed on that phone was a picture of a familiar looking black shaggy dog who apparently liked leftover chicken bones. And whose name was Midnight, courtesy of one of Hongbin’s sisters.

You felt Taekwoon’s hand on your back. He was lightly rubbing your back in small circles in a way he knew made you shiver. So, you let it go. The stupid dog was okay. How was possible for Taekwoon can turn everything around so easily? Your irritation dissipated since it wasn’t a topic you didn’t want approach that would mess up the carefree atmosphere surrounding you guys out at the benches once again. Jimri wasn’t there having excusing herself to talk to a friend.

You feigned rolling your shoulder and like you knew he would, N spoke, “Are you okay Mikyungie?” A hand was outstretched in your direction.

Hyuk was leaning forward as if to jump out of his seat. “What’s wrong with your shoulder?”

“Did you have a rough practice?” Hongbin asked next.

“Did you hit someone?” Ravi asked.

Ken smiled. “Are you going to eat that?” He didn’t wait for your answer and snatched your egg from you.

You only shrugged but your shoulders scrunched up when you felt hands massaging them. N noticeably flinched away from your reaction. “Sorry Mikyungie. But the best way is to ease the tension out as soon as possible.” He resumed his massaging and you couldn’t fight your reaction as you leaned forward to escape his hands.

A part of you expected Taekwoon to push his friend away from you but when he didn’t make any move to do so, you peeked at him. He was glaring at you.

He knew what you were doing. He most likely didn’t know why you were doing it but he knew you were doing it nonetheless.

The rest of the boys were back to eating with your empty lunch containers at the side. After a minutes, Taekwoon pushed his friend away and the two shared a look that said many things. N went back to his seat while you did your best to pretend nothing happened.

When the bell rang, Taekwoon brushed his friends’ questions off while his eyes followed you. That was something you’ve taken as normal but there was more to it at that particular moment.

After taking your lunch box from a helpful Hyuk, Taekwoon made sure you two were at the back of the group to go back to class. “What’s wrong?” he murmured to you.

You shrugged and he didn’t like that. He was back to glaring at you. He stopped walking and you continued. A few steps in, you stopped and turned around to face him as multiple bodies walked around you two.

“What’s wrong?” he asked in a clearer voice.

You walked back to him. “The dog.”

“The dog?” You nodded in answer. He looked confused now.

“You didn’t tell me.”

“Hongbin?” You nodded again. He chuckled. “Mad?” You hit his side and walked away. You increased your pace as he followed.

You were still put out that he hadn’t told you but at the same time you knew he didn’t know about how you felt for that stupid dog. Even you couldn’t believe you were feeling like this about that dog. It was to the point where you randomly thought about where the dog could be time to time. But at least now, you knew the dog was taken care of.

It was the end of the school day and Ravi had asked if you could stay for soccer practice that very morning. You had thought his request as out of character for him because out of Taekwoon’s friends, you felt a different kind of barrier with him. You could get the same manliness vibes you got from Taekwoon with Ravi but in a way that repelled you. You didn’t know how to describe it but you had taken it for whatever it was. So you had said yes while ignoring the way Taekwoon was intently staring at the boy. You borrowed Taekwoon’s phone to call your mom and sister’s work to let them know about the change in plans during lunch while the boys had openly stared at you as you hung up on Nunji’s teasing voice already expecting her retaliation at home.

So you were now walking in between the two tall boys to the bleachers. Ravi excused himself at the gate to go change while you followed Taekwoon down the length of the bleachers. There was a considerable change in the amount of girls who were there. You could really feel the attention you and Taekwoon were getting but you were practically impenetrable to them thanks to your middle school time.

You sat down as Taekwoon dropped his school bag in front of you while you slipped out of the straps of your own bag. You placed your bag on your lap while Taekwoon held his phone out to you. You took it without any thought and then he was walking away with his sports bag. You only looked away from his tall figure when there was a shout on the field. It was only some guy who was calling for the ball. But he was in a jersey.

You felt your hand tighten its hold on Taekwoon’s phone. Was this a game? You found a referee on the opposite end of the field so it must be.

Just then, a line of boys started to walk on to the field and they were in red uniforms. A few girls in the bleachers called out to them with one or two waving signs. You narrowed your eyes on the signs and read off the name of a neighboring school. It was a game.

Your mind raced back to the conversations you’ve been present at with the boys. You didn’t recall any of them involving a soccer game for today. Ravi came on to the field some minutes later followed by Taekwoon in their green uniforms. You couldn’t look away even if you tried. Taekwoon in the black uniforms was still fresh in your mind from the school competition but this was completely different because those black uniforms were pretty plain but in his school soccer uniform… it was entirely different. The two boys walked up to you on the opposite side of the fence as the ref blew his whistle.

Ravi also presented his phone to you, “Can you take care of this for me?” You could tell he was basking in the female presence in the stands. For a second, you considered teasing him by saying no, but you took it from him without any reaction. Taekwoon leaned against the fence and you forgot about Ravi. He didn’t seem affected by the female attention he was surely getting even without having to check. You looked up at him and he held your gaze for a while until the ref blew his whistle once again. There was shouting from the home team’s side of the field where a man who surely must be the team coach was calling the players in.

Taekwoon was about to leave when you found yourself speaking, “You didn’t tell me. Again.”

He only waved at you before leaving with Ravi standing tall next to him.

There were many things you needed to go over. First was the way you had wanted things to go when you went to his game. You had planned on cooking something for him. And getting him a water bottle. And you still remembered what sports drink he had drank from that first practice you were at so you were also going to prepare that for him too. You were even going to let Nunji dress you when the time came. Maybe let her do your hair and makeup too.

You discarded these thoughts and decided to take the situation for what it was. Your first time watching him play for the school soccer team.

You looked around for the rest of his friends but you knew Hongbin had practice the same day as the soccer teams so you shouldn’t expect him here. As for the rest, you weren’t sure. Hyuk rarely talked about his club and same for Ken. N was usually vocal about his club but didn’t mention anything that you could remember. Just then, he came through the gate. He looked around and you considered waving at him to get his attention, but he spotted you on his own. He rushed over with a wide smile.

“Hey Mikyungie,” he was really smiling. “This is so cool seeing you here. Usually I’m stuck babysitting the big babies and paying for the snacks during Leo’s games. So it’s really refreshing to just see you. Oh, and now Ravi’s games too!”

When you only gave him a blank face, he patted your hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll be quieter when the game starts. I’m just excited that I get to see Leo and Ravi play again. You didn’t make it to their first game did you?”

You shook your head.

“Well, you didn’t miss much. They won but it wasn’t very exciting but they did give the ball to Leo more compared to last year. Which surely made him happy.” His smile turned sly, “But not as happy as he is today.”

You kept your expression blank but he saw right through that. Must be from practice with Taekwoon. “I know you’re just as excited. Do you still remember what Ken and I taught you from the competition?”

You nodded while thinking about the videos you watched about the basics of the sport.

“If you have any questions, you just need to ask.” You acknowledged his offer with a single nod. “With the school games, there is more energy, what with the school pride on the line and what not,” he waved that comment away. “It can get intense, similar to that one game at the park. Remember?” You nodded with your eyes following Taekwoon. “But since it’s the start of the season, there’s not much excitement. It’s toward the end of the season when it gets fun to watch because of the championship tournament. I think our school has participated in the finals for the last ten years or something and that’s something the soccer team takes pride in. That’s also the main reason Taekwoon chose to take the scholarship for this school.” Now that drew your attention.

N smiled at you knowingly. “Did your middle school ever have a sports competition?” It took a second to consider the question but you gave a decisive nod. “And how were the soccer games there?” You thought about it but you didn’t recall anything. N had been watching your face the whole time so he got a pretty good read on you. “Well, did you notice a difference in the number of soccer players? During the competition?”

You mind went back to the beginning stages of the school year. It was true that there was actually enough players in each class to have a decent team size but you hadn’t recognized the significance in that. Your class had even won which did say something about your second year class when there were the third year players to take into consideration. It wasn’t hard to believe you had been blind to see these factors since you had never taken an interest in soccer in the first place so it was understandable in your eyes.

“Well, the school is pretty proud of its soccer team. That’s why they took care of the field during that time and why only the soccer teams had uniforms. And that’s why the liberal arts program ,” he grew sheepish as soon as the words left his mouth. “Sorry, that last one is personal,” he grumbled. “Anyway, the game is about to begin.”

You had been paying attention to N’s animated rant enough that you had failed to notice Hyuk and Ken’s arrival.

“That’s enough hyung,” Hyuk patted his friend’s shoulder. “Take deep breaths.” N grabbed Hyuk’s hand. “Let go hyung.”

“No.”

“Come on.”
Their conversation was easy to ignore since it was your first time at an official soccer game. Taekwoon had yet to receive the ball as a few girls already started cheering with a few of them shouting names of the players. The crowd in the bleachers grew bit by bit throughout the first half of the game. Ken took the seat on your other side in the meantime with the other two friends of Taekwoon paying rapt attent