For weeks, Lee Byunghun had been bummed out. He found that eating alone was more comforting than eating with his friends, especially when he was around the basketball team and the cheerleaders. Days flew by, and all he saw in his vision was his old crush getting closer and more affectionate with the team captain. He felt bitter about them, but ended up being more sorrowful whenever he kept thinking about them.

Of course, his friends quickly caught up and understood his situation. They tried to encourage him, especially Dasom, who claimed that she was also a lonely person with no love. She reached out her hand and offered to set him up with a girl she thought would fit him, but he only refused. To him, no one could replace Sunyoung. After all, she was the love of his life—of his childhood!

"Ugh. It's Dasom's pesky friends."

Byunghun, who was absent-mindedly climbing the stairs, looked up. His eyes slightly widened when he saw Myungsoo standing above him. An unfamiliar boy approached Myungsoo and quickly locked his arms with him. A bit surprised, Byunghun stared for a long time. When Myungsoo realized that he was locking arms with someone else, he panicked and pushed away the boy.

"Byunghun, what are you doing?" Myungsoo cried out. He paused, then looked at Byunghun. "You're not going to say anything to Dasom, right?"

"Aw, come on, Myungmyung! You like skin-ship, don't you? You always blush every time Dasom touches you," the stranger said, throwing himself onto Myungsoo's back. Myungsoo almost fell, but he managed to regain his compsure when he saw Dasom walk pass them. He quickly grabbed onto the stranger's shoulder and pulled closer, their faces only inches apart.

Dasom, who had been watching Myungsoo and the stranger, gave them a dumbfounded face. "What are you two doing?"

Myungsoo gasped, then pushed away the stranger. He let out a fake laugh and rubbed the back of his neck.

"N-Nothing! That was really nothing, Dasom! I wasn't going to kiss him or anything!" Myungsoo exclaimed.

"Relax, Myungsoo. I already know what kind of person Baekhyun is. We've been hanging out since, like, elementary?" Dasom said. She approached Baekhyun, then smirked as she threw her arm around his neck. "Besides, I could never imagine you in a million years kissing someone. You? With romance?" She laughed and brought Baekhyun closer to her. "Leave that to the experts!"

Myungsoo frowned. "Yeah, yeah! Now let go of him!"

He approached the two and forcefully pulled them away, making sure that he was in the middle. Knowing that he was forgetting something, he looked around, only to see Byunghun walking past them. He scowled and crossed his arms.

"What's up with him? He should at least greet me," Myungsoo retorted.

"Oh, he's just having trouble getting over his unrequited crush. Geez, he should totally be more like me! The more I look at him, the more I see you in him," Dasom said in a pitiful tone.

"Hey, what's wrong with me?" he asked, shooting her a glare.

"Didn't you used to say that you had an unrequited love years ago? Are you still hung up on that person? If you are, you should seriously consider letting go," she told him. She pulled out her cell phone from her pocket, then grinned. "Oh, I got to go! I'm secretly setting him up for a group date, and a group just told me that he could come. Bye Baekhyun! Later, dork!"

Myungsoo widened his eyes as he watched Dasom climb up the stares. "Wha—Hey! No one calls me a dork!"

A small grin appeared on his lips when Dasom faded from his vision. He turned around, only to see Baekhyun giving him a blank stare.

"You confessed to Dasom a long time ago?" Baekhyun asked. "She was talking about your unrequited love. Isn't that her?"

Myungsoo faked a laugh. "Yeah, that was back in elementary school or something. I was going to confess, but she totally took it the wrong way." He stopped himself, then glowered at his friend. "I thought you were on my side, too! What's up with you getting all touchy with Dasom?"

"Dude, did you not see her move on her own?" Baekhyun his lips. "I can't help it if I got the looks. Girls go crazy over me."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Man, I kind of wish you didn't get to know her when she was younger, though. She picked up a lot of bad habits from you," Myungsoo mentioned.

"Love isn't a bad habit. Besides…" Baekhyun's eyes rolled up to the stairs. "…that guy earlier? I feel like I can hook him up with someone. Man, I should've gave him my card!"

"Shut up. You at matching people, anyway."

"Hey, you owe me a ton. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have made this much progress with Dasom."

"What progress?" Myungsoo retorted. "We're not even in the 'I-think-I'm-interested-in-you' status!"

"Woah, woah, there! I know you're anxious, but relax! I got things all under control," Baekhyun said. He smiled, then continued to look up. "Yep, I've made up my mind. I found my second client…"

"You must be crazy."

"Oh, come on, Byunghun! It'll be fun!" Dasom exclaimed. "Who knows, maybe on of the girls here might be into you!"

The two were outside, heading to Byunghun's house because Dasom insisted to go there. They stopped short at a nearby park, where it had a couple of free basketball courts. The two tried playing together, but once they realized that Byunghun was way out of her league, he played solo and had Dasom watch him instead.

Basketball was just one way of relieving stress. His mind would push away all of his troubles and focus on only scoring. To him, it was getting him good practice and making his life a bit more easier. Though lately, whenever he practiced at school, he would always stumble because the team captain was always there to defend the net and steal the ball from him. Everyone knew that he was slipping up his game, but no one really knew why. 

"You still must be crazy. A girl into someone like me?" Byunghun's eyes softened when he thought about his crush. "That would never happen to me…"

"What nonsense is that? Byunghun, you're popular and you're athletic! You even look pretty handsome, if you ask me. If I wasn't your best friend, I would've dated you a long time ago," Dasom said, flattering him.

"What are you talking about? We did date once," he reminded her.

"What date? That was, like, a fake five minute date." She paused. "You didn't even pay the meal!"

"I had to pay the meal? Excuse me, but who was the one who drenched water all over me?"

"That was all you!" Byunghun cried out loud. "The only reason why I agreed to date you that time was because I saw Sunyoung and she seemed to be on a date. I swear, back then, she was totally checking me out."

"Well, that little jealousy plan turned to be a huge fail. She didn't even notice you, even when I tried to act innocent and knocked off that glass of water on me," Dasom pointed out.

There was a short pause in the air. The smile on their faces disappeared and they let out a huge sigh. With their shoulders low and their heads facing the ground, they only reminisced about the past.

"I want to go back to middle school and start all over," Dasom finally said. "Life is too boring like this. I mean, look at me! I'm beautiful and I'm a high school girl, but I can't get a guy to love me!"

"If I only went back and confessed to Sunyoung sooner…" Byunghun muttered to himself. At that moment, he felt something tap against his shoes. When he looked down, he saw a rather dirty and worn-out basketball ball. He passed his own ball to Dasom, who held it with surprise. He bent down and grabbed the old ball. Looking around, he could only see a group of little kids and a short girl at another court, playing around with several basketballs.

The kids were running around, smiling and panting with beads of sweat running down their heads. They had newer and clean basketballs in their hands, aiming to get their ball into the net. Although it was clear that they had trouble shooting, laughter occasionally errupted in the group as the kids failed to shoot.

Dasom walked over to Byunghun's side. She squinted her eyes, shading her vision from the sunlight with her hand raised at her eyebrows.

"Isn't that…Sohyun?" Dasom asked carefully. She looked at Byunghun. "Does she live around here?"

"No clue," Byunghun said, shaking his head. He looked down at the dirty ball, then back up at the group. "Hey! Hey!"

The group stopped running and froze. Sohyun, in particular, looked up with wide eyes, almost like she recognized the voice. With cheeks a bit red, she lifted her gaze and saw Byunghun holding onto her ball. Before saying anything else, she politely bowed, and the others bowed along with her.

"Is this your ball?" Dasom shouted.

"Ah… Y-Yes!" Sohyun replied. "Can you please pass it?"

Byunghun was just about to throw the ball across the court until Dasom jabbed his ribs. He yelped and cringed, rubbing his side. He shot her a glare, growling at her like an angry dog.

"Now what?" he snapped.

"Don't just throw it! Hand it to her!" Dasom scolded him. "Where are you manners? Geez!"

"What? She said to pass it, so I was going to do that."

"Idiot! Go up to her before I make you—"

"Okay, okay! I'm going!" Byunghun exclaimed, giving up. He sighed and walked over to Sohyun, who slowly backed away when she realized that he wasn't going to pass the ball.

The children stared at him, their eyes glued on his blond hair rather than the ball he was handing. After he approached the group, he gentle handed the ball to Sohyun. She took the ball away from him, checking it out in case there was some kind of stain on it or if it was wet. She smiled and dusted the ball, which Byunghun thought was absurd since it was already filthy.

"How long have you had that ball?" Byunghun asked, wiping his dirty hands on his pants.

"F-For a while," Sohyun stuttered.

"Have you thought of cleaning it? This isn't proper care for a basketball," he noted.

"I-It's a l-lucky ball. It got me into the b-basketball team and helped me w-win several g-games," Sohyun managed to explain.

"I see. Anyway, who are these kids?"

"The n-neighborhood kids who l-live around here…" She gasped and quickly reached for one kid's head, pushing it down and forcing him to bow. "Everyone! Greet this guy! He's one of the basketball member at my school!"

"He looks short!" one of the children exclaimed.

"Blond hair! He's a foreigner!" another screamed.

"I said to bow!" Sohyun ordered, grabbing another head while tucking the ball between her arm and ribs. The other children quickly followed, sensing the anger rising from her voice. She sighed to herself and glanced at Byunghun, who was beginning to smile. "I-Is something funny?"

"No, I was just thinking that it would be better if you stopped stuttering and talked normally like how you do with these kids. What made you stutter so much in the first place?" he asked her.

"She had a boyfriend when she was a small kid!" a kid announced. "I know because I saw him before! He used to teach us!"

Byunghun gave Sohyun a long stare. "You? A boyfriend? Wow, I wonder how communicating went through—"

"Yes, yes, but let's get on with the details!" Dasom, who appeared out of nowhere, had her eyes gleaming with interest. "Can you tell me a bit more about this boyfriend of yours?"

"He was part of her co-ed team, but them one day, he didn't want to play basketball anymore. Then she was embarrassed at school because he made fun of her and they broke up and he left and—" The little girl was soon interrupted by Byunghun, who couldn't help but make a comment.

"Dude, you're telling these kids everything. You know what kids don't keep secrets too well, right?" Byunghun asked.

Sohyun sighed and rotated her neck. "It's fine… I-It's all in the past, anyway."

Dasom, who was giving a high-five to the little girl, looked up at Sohyun. "I wish Byunghun learned how to move on like you. Recently, he's been moping around like a baby. How did you move on with your relationship?"

"Me? Well… I played sports. Basketball and graduating middle school made me realize that people don't last forever, especially relationships. For now, there was always basketball, so whenever I'm upset or anything, I just shoot some hoops. Sometimes, I bring the neighborhood kids and teach them how to play. Other time, I like to watch them play," Sohyun explained softly.

"So simple," Byunghun muttered. "I doubt you were that deep in love."

"It wasn't s-simple. Sometimes, words m-make things sound m-more easy than they actually are," Sohyun pointed out.

Dasom paused, then slammed her fist against the palm of her other hand. "That's it! We need to make a club!"

"That's impossible," Sohyun said. "The teachers aren't available, and even if there was one, I'd make a girls basketball club—"

"What do you think of a co-ed basketball team?" Dasom suggested.

"Huh? Co-ed? Dasom, no one around here does co-ed basketball. Even if there were co-ed teams, then it'd be really hard to recruit members—"

"I'll join!" Sohyun offered enthusiastically. By now, the kids had gotten bored of their conversation and ran to another court to play as the older kids talks. "I've done co-ed before. We need three guys and two girls present in the game."

"Cool! I'll join, too!" Dasom offered.

"Come on, Dasom! You don't even know how to play basketball," Byunghun retorted.

"But I can learn from someone amazing and awesome," she replied, poking his ribs.

He groaned and rolled his eyes. He looked at Sohyun, begging her to back down and forget about the idea of a co-ed basketball team. Instead, she stared at him with puppy eyes, pleading for him to join or at least teach the group. From the looks of it, he could tell that she knew that the team would , but as long as they got to play, she was going to be happy.

Byunghun sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I guess I could come for practice a few times…"

"Yes! Then that means we need two guys left!" Sohyun exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air.

"If you want someone, then count me in!"

The three looked up and found Baekhyun walking into their conversation. He gave them a chummy smile, then locked his arms around Sohyun and Dasom. Dasom was perfectly fine with the skin-ship; Sohyun was uncomfortable. She tried to squirm out of his grip, but every time she tried to move out, he would only pull her closer.

For some reason, Byunghun didn't like that.

"Oh, come on, Baekhyun! You don't even play basketball. Heck, you don't even touch sports!" Dasom exclaimed.

"Hey, I might be a bit of a germaphobe, but when I see love fluttering around, germs can't stop me," Baekhyun said.

Dasom raised her eyebrows. "You mean… You see it, too?"

"Dasom, who do you take me for? Of course I see it!" he exclaimed. The two grinned at each other, and exchanged proud handshakes.

"I look forward with working with you in the future!" Dasom announced.

"Same here!" Baekhyun replied.

Sohyun and Byunghun stared, obviously confused. The two glanced at each other, trying to figure out what was going on. When they couldn't, Byunghun decided to move back to the conversation of the co-ed basketball team.

"So we got two girls and two guys. Big deal. You still have one guy left," Byunghun said.

"Is it possible to get someone from your basketball team?" Sohyun asked. She stopped, then bit her bottom lip. "Oh wait, we still don't have a teacher…"

"Have no fear! Leave that to me!" Dasom said, gently hitting her chest with her fist. "I got that all under control!"

"But guys, if I ask someone from the team, all they're going to do is laugh," the basketball player said. 

"You never know that unless you try, Byunghun," Dasom lectured him. "You never know…"

The next day, Byunghun told the team exactly what was going on with the idea of a co-ed team. He explained (with Sohyun anxiously standing besides him) that they were in need of one more person. After he was done explaining, the silence had enveloped their conversation. Then, out of nowhere, Jongdae began to laugh with his arm hugging Sunyoung's waist.

Byunghun only cringed as the others laughed along with the captain. Sohyun tugged on Byunghun's shirt for support, but he had mistaken that for her impatience. He shot her a small glare, and Sohyun could only keep silent and watch him get laughed at.

"Byunghun, this isn't middle school anymore. A co-ed team? Who's going to join that?" Jongdae asked with a wide smirk on his face.

"I just said that we got four people. We just need one more guy. He doesn't need to come often, either. Just occasionally for practice," Byunghun tried to explain. 

"Byunghun, being in the basketball team is a privilege. Don't take it for granted, okay? Tell you what, let's forget that this happened and just move along. The guys are tired from practice and they just want to shower and head home," the team captain pointed out.

Byunghun made a fist. "But if we just get one volunteer—"

"Listen, little boy," Sunyoung spoke up, shooting Byunghun down with a glare. "I have a date in a few minutes with Jongdae and I need you to stop begging and start leaving."

He winced. "But if there's just one guy…"

"Sorry, Byunghun, but let's talk next time. I don't want Sunyoung to get mad at me or anything," Jongdae said. He got up, and told the others to hit back into the locker room. Sunyoung left to go outside, patiently waiting for Jongdae's return.

Byunghun stared down at the ground, feeling more pathetic than ever. Sohyun was just about to pat his shoulders until Daehyun, who was one of the remaining members left around, gently patted his back.

"Sorry, buddy, but I don't think anyone would want to join a team like that," Daehyun said. He was just about to go into the shower room until he saw Byunghun's group of friend head over to them. He stopped and greeted Eunji, who awkwardly greeted him back.

"Byunghun!" Dasom shouted, greeting him with a wide smile. "Guess what? I got the teacher!"

"Who'd you get?" Sohyun asked excitedly, thrilled to know that they got someone.

"The janitor. Apparently at our school, any school staff would work. We could've gotten the principal, too," Dasom said, smirking while crossing her arms. "Isn't it amazing? Plus, I got the rest to join, too."

"I said that I would join as long as I could write on my resume that I created the club," Taemin said. "Besides, you guys know how bad I am with sports."

"Dasom, it's not that we need any people, but that we need good people. Already, half of our teammates . We need at least a good third person," Byunghun said. He glanced at Jieun. "Maybe Jieun would work."

"No, no, no," Eunji said, shaking her head. "Only use Jieun when you're desperate. Back in middle school, she managed to injure nearly half the girls in our P.E. class because they all flirted with Hyunwoo."

"I can imagine them as little targets before making a point," Jieun said with a brilliant smile.

"Junhee, can you even pass a ball?" Byunghun asked her.

"I can bounce the ball in perfect rhythm, but that's all. You should also know that I at sports, but I think I'm better than Taemin," the red-hair said.

"Eunji, you joined, too?" Daehyun asked her.

"Of course! Anything to help my friend. I'm not good at basketball, but I'll still be there to help," she said. "Hey Byunghun, don't you have a basketball game soon?"

"Yep! It's coming up real soon. Are you coming to watch?" Daehyun questioned.

"Probably not," Eunji said.

Daehyun's face dropped. "How come?"

"Well, I only came to watch the games to support Byunghun. Now that he's joining the co-ed team, I could just see him at the co-ed games since that's the only game that would matter to me now," she explained. "Good luck for the boy's basketball game, Byunghun!"

"Yeah, thanks, but I don't know if I'm going to play," Byunghun replied with a tired sigh. He rotated his neck and stared at them. "Well, I guess this will do. We'll be going through some intense training, I guess."

"Yep. Oh, and don't worry about our support group. Howon promised to attend the game and cheer for us, even if he's the only one," Eunji said. "I wish he was a bit more healthier. Then he could play sports without collapsing a whole lot…"

Dasom clasped her hands and began to push her friends away from the trio. "Anyway, we can always invite more later! I'll hand out the club application tomorrow, so be sure to fill that out!"

"W-Wait a minute!" Daehyun exclaimed, grabbing Eunji's shoulder. The group stopped and stared at his odd behavior. "Howon is coming?"

"Yeah, but he's not joining. He doesn't have the best body to run around with," Eunji pointed out.

A sneaky smirk formed on his face. "Then invite me! I'll join the team!"

Eunji scowled. "You? Why you?"

"What? You need a guy with experience, and I can get that for you. What do you say?" he asked.

"Don't you care about your popularity status? You always—"

"Eunji, Eunji!" Dasom exclaimed, covering . "There's a guy offering to join! We don't want that offer to go to waste, do we?"

"But this guy's an attent—"

"Shh!" she snapped, glaring at her friend. Once Eunji finally agreed to stop talking, Dasom uncovered and gave Daehyun a sweet grin. "Daehyun was your name, right?"

Byunghun sighed and rolled his eyes. He looked at Sohyun, who had her little hands folded like a hopeful prayer. Her eyes were bright and wide, her whole body trembling with excitement. The way she stared at the large group made herself look like a tiny child who watched her dream come true.

A smile subconsciously formed on his lips as he stared at the gleaming girl, and he didn't know that from afar, there was another girl looking at him with a spark of envy and a small regret.