Kris followed quietly behind Jinhee, who has not looked at him even once, until they reached a corner that was a fair distance from the cafeteria. Only then did she finally lift her head to meet his eyes, only to hurriedly look away again when he smiled encouragingly at her.

"Umm," he started, tucking both hands awkwardly into his back pockets. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

As she looked up at him again, he could not help but start thinking of Shin. She had a more petite build, slightly shorter than the girl in front of him but stood with stronger shoulders. Her lips were nothing like the rosy ones that Jinhee had; they had a natural, darker tint. And her eyes...

They don't look at me with such adoration.

"Kris?" A cold touch on his forearm brought him back. "Kris, are you okay?"

He cleared his thoughts, bringing his attention back to her. "Yeah, I am."

She began again, shyly tucking her hair behind her ear. "I just wanted to tell you that I've been... not to sound creepy or anything, but I've been paying attention to you since the start of school."

His eyes widened in surprise. While he sort of guessed that she might be harboring a crush on him, he never expected it to have begun so far back. In the back of his mind echoed a voice that said he has been secretly in love with Shin twice as long.

"I just wanted to tell you that I really," she paused, looking straight into his eyes with a fixed determination, "really like you."

Three boys watched Shin curiously as she sipped her drink. She has not said a single thing since Kris left with Jinhee, only nodding and smiling faintly when they probed her for responses.

Lay leaned forward with his hand reachinh for her, clearing his throat. She looked up at him, head tilting questioningly. "There's a reason why Kris is team captain, you know?" Now even Tao and Luhan turned to him, wondering how what he was saying had anything to do with the situation. "Once he has his mind set on victory, he never takes his mind off it. Which makes it every single time."

It was difficult not to smile back when he was beaming at her, proud of himself for what he said.

"Exactly." Luhan nodded. Then he continued, "Some people call it narrow-minded and others call it a one-way thinking, but I'd like to think of it as faithfulness. Determination. Perseverance. Once he believes or decides in something, then he'll stick with it for life."

She caught his meaningful look. She shrugged, suddenly aware of the heavy atmosphere. "Yah, why are you guys making it sound like some serious matter?"

"You looked really down when they walked away together!" Tao exclaimed. "We were just worried about you, jiejie."

A corner of her lips pressed into a crooked smile. "Do I look up enough for you now?"

"Jiejie!" And he whined, not knowing how to react to her impassion.

It was Luhan who concluded the whole conversation, who has noticed Kris returning without the other girl. "What we're trying to say is that once his heart has decided on you, then it stays with you."

They raised their hands at the dirty-blonde who waved at them and she, too, turned around. Luhan leaned forward, quickly getting in another sentence before the subject of the topic re-joined them.

"Not even when you've broken and want to return it."

Shin handed a bottle of iced mineral water to Tao and he passed it down to Luhan, who was sitting beside him. Who, in return, gave it to Fei, and she smiled sweetly back at him.

"Finally! Mine!" Tao half-squealed half-said to the bottle in his hands. He wasted no time uncapping it to down its soothing content. "Ahhhh~"

Shin watched, amused by his reactions to the hot weather. After making sure that all of her friends have gotten their drink, she unscrewed her bottle cap and drank. On the other side of her sat Jia, who mirrored her actions.

"Is the match starting any time soon?" The youngest of them whined, resting his forehead against his jiejie's shoulder. "I'm about to die from the heat!"

They were well into the middle and the hottest of summer, which was the period of the inter-school basketbll champion league. And here they were, sitting at the outdoor basketball court of Chung Kook University. It was now their school's third match; they missed the first two because Lay, who was in charge of giving them all details (Kris was busy training the others and practicing), had conveniently forgot about it. Which, really, was no surprise.

"Huang Zitao, you were the one who dragged us out of the house early in the morning for this!" Luhan exclaimed, hands busy as he fanned both Fei and himself.

"That's because Lay-ge gave me the wrong timing!" He grumbled, whining softly again as he crumbled back towards Shin. "Someone please keep reminding ourselves to ask only Kris-ge for the details. Lay-ge will only get us killed!"

Shin chuckled. "You know, if you stopped whining and kicking about so much, you'll feel much cooler." All she got was an unhappy pout in return.

Students from both schools slowly began streaming in, filling up the almost-empty seats from when the group of friends arrived. It was not until another forty-five minutes under the forgiving heat that there came signs of the match starting. By then, Tao was already delirious from the heat; he was huddled close to Shin, hiding under the umbrella that she bought from a vendor who was walking around.

Cheers filled the place when players from both teams entered the court for their rounds of warm-up. They immediately shot up straight, straining their necks and squinting their eyes to look for their two friends. Kris, unexpectedly, was the easiest to spot.

"Am I dreaming or is that really Lay?" Fei asked. Luhan nodded. "I'm surprised he still remembers to dribble with his hands!"

That got everyone laughing, including Tao. Lay looked like a different person and even though they were only gearing themselves up for the impending game, they could tell that he has thrown all of his concentration into it. His movements were crisp and sharp and even from where they were, there was no mistaking the flame in his eyes.

And then there was Kris, who seemed to have garnered enough fangirls from the previous two matches to form a cheering squad. Every single time he sent a basketball smoothly into the hoop, piercing loud screams would erupt.

Jia nudged her friend, leaning over to quietly whisper to her. "Looks like someone's got tons of competition~"

The other girl simply nudged her back, a small smile on her lips but said nothing. They continued waiting. Few moments later, all players cleared the basketball court and an announcement was made, saying that the game would begin soon. She watched as Kris gathered his team members into a circle, putting his arms around them as he spoke to them. They nodded simultaneously before putting their hands out, piling them together for a final cheer.

Beside her, Tao was getting excited, the heat no longer bothering him as much. "Omo, it's starting, it's starting!"

Unexpectedly, Kris was not part of the line-up for the first half of the game. Even so, he stood with his team mates, walking to each of them and patting their back as a final form of encouragement. When it got to Lay, who was going to kickstart the game, they shared a brotherly handshake and hug.

When he turned around to face the audience, she half-expected him to wave at her after locating her in the crowd. He did none of it, though, and she felt her heart drop. She kicked the feeling away hurriedly, feeling childish about it.

The game began. For the three girls, it was an eye-opener for Lay in the court was a complete contrast from everyday Lay. He moved quickly and nimbly; he has already scored twice for their school. Each time his defense was a success or whenever he scored, Kris would rise from his seat, fists pumping the air. The watching friends, too, jumped and cheered loudly for him. Tao seemed to have channeled his frustration about the weather into his cheering abilities, his voice the loudest and movements the biggest.

Half-time came quickly and Kris was now preparing for the second half. He greeted his returning team mates with a high-five, sharing yet another quick hug with Lay. The latter has put quite a distance between both scores; they were currently leading but it was a difference that was easy to overcome.

"Gege! Lay-ge! Kris-ge!" They both turned to the voice, both rolling their eyes at the sight of the youngest waving his long arms at them. "Jiayou! You're gonna win this game!"

Kris nodded, his gaze quickly shooting to the girl just beside Tao. For a while, that was all they did - him looking at her and her looking back. It was only after she broke into a smile and raised a fist of support at him did he smile too, raising both his hands to wave back at her. His person cheering squad erupted into ear-piercing screams and he grimaced; he turned back to her only to see that she has started laughing. 

Never mind about impressing the girl. Right now, all that mattered to him was that she was here to support him. 

It also mattered not whether or not she could see him properly. He stepped as close as possible to the audience, right in her line of sight. Then he mouthed while gesturing, "Let's have chocolate cake after this."

She nodded.

"I just wanted to tell you that I really, really like you."

For Jinhee, it felt like the entire world around her stopped spinning just for this moment. She did it. She confessed to Kris. She finally did it. And she waited with bated breath, her thumbs digging almost painfully into her fingers.

Kris, on the other hand, let the words slowly sink in. Her confession was beyond his expectations; he knew that she liked him, he just never knew that she liked him enough to confess to him. 

Realizing that she was still waiting for his response, he quickly cleared his throat, using the moment to search for the right words to say. She was looking at him with eyes so full of anticipation, he did not want to let her down as bluntly as he did the other girls. It was more so difficult because he knew her personally; he knew that she was not a bad person at all.

"I... I'm flattered that such a nice girl like you feel that way for me," he began slowly, a hand pulling out from his pocket to scratch the back of his head. "I know there's no way to do it nicely but I don't want to lie to you either." He breathed out, the image of a particular someone passing through his mind. "I already have someone in mind."

She forced a smile even though a sour feeling filled her heart. "It's okay. I wasn't expecting you to say that you feel the same way too." Which was the truth. Somehow, she always felt that his heart long belonged to someone else; she just never had the confirmation that it was so. "So, who is she?"

His lips curved into a smile, one that was sweet and spoke volumes about his feelings for the girl who had his heart. "A most wonderful person who doesn't know that I'm right beside her." Instantly, the smile turned a little sad.

"You should let her know!" Her eyes widened in surprise. How could anybody ignore the existence of Kris beside you? Not to even mention a Kris who was in love with you. "You really have to let her know before you regret it!"

He nodded, smiling wryly. "I will." Then he clicked his tongue, raising both hands, only to let them drop by his sides again. "Thank you for your, umm, you know."

"You're welcome." 

Uncomfortable silence fell over them and he shifted uneasily on the balls of his feet. She, too, smiled awkwardly as she nervously tucked fallen hair behind her ears. 

It was he who spoke up first. "If there's nothing else, I'll just get back to my friends."

"Oh, sure," she replied. "Sorry to have taken your time."

"No, not at all." Then he took a small step back, bowing slightly. A polite gesture but one that told her that this was the distance that will always exist between them both. "I'll see you around."

"Yeah." Surprisingly, she felt relieved. Better to have confessed than to not. At least it'll be easier to let go now. "See you around."

---

Yay! Finally, an update! Hope everybody enjoyed their Lunar New Year; I know I did and the festive occasion kept me really busy, lol. I'm looking to update more regularly now and I'm really sorry to have kept everybody waiting! The next chapter won't take long! ;)

That said, have a fabulous Friday and a greaaaaat weekend! :D :D :D

XOXO,

Yee