CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

If there was more embarrassing to losing to your rivals in your own school, then somebody please tell what it is to the boys of Imperium Academy because 15 minutes before the game ends and they’re still losing.

30 minutes into the game, Taehyung of Ehra High scores the first and the current only goal. Even though it was just only one goal and there were still some time for Imperium Academy to fight back, it already felt like that they’ve already won. Scoring first gave them a lot more confidence, but just a few minutes before the first half ends their mood goes down after Jackson suffers an injury.

“He’ll be okay, right?” Soojung worriedly asks Luhan who was sitting beside her.

“I don’t want to sound all negative, but I don’t he will be.” He replies, looking at Jackson’s direction.

“I hope he does…” She suddenly remembers that he has to debut next month.

Jongin glances silently at Soojung who was watching poor Jackson crying in pain while getting carried by the paramedics. He then looks at his captain when he heard his name called by him. Jinwoo doesn’t say anything, but it seems like Jongin understood what he wanted to do.

Before the second half started, they got scolded by their coach. It was reasonable that he’s mad. Even the players were in a bad mood. Who wouldn’t really? They had to win. There’s no way that they’re going to be defeated again. Not when they’re playing in their own school. Not by Ehra High.

The second half starts, and Imperium was still having difficulties with their own team. Jongin couldn’t hear anything else but his heartbeat racing. He knew that he had to score.

“Eh, Hansol!” Taehyun calls for one of his team’s midfielder to get his attention. He perfectly receives the ball from him and dribbles pass from two defenders. But before he could even enter the box area, he sees Kim Namjoon waiting for him to come.

Jongin took this as a chance to ask for the ball. There were no defenders in his side so it would be easier for him to score. Taehyun, knowing that Namjoon would try and steal the ball from him, passes it to the right part of the field where he stood alone with no enemies in sight. As Jongin goes inside the box with the ball on his feet, Seokjin, one of Ehra’s fastest player, suddenly appears from nowhere and tackles him. The young star from Imperium falls in the ground and groans in pain.

“Oh my God, is he alright?!” Soojung was so surprised that she jumped out of her seat. The whole student body practically did the same thing after seeing what happened. “! Don’t tell me he’s injured as well?!”

“Calm down, Soojung-”

“Calm down?! Look at him! He’s in pain! Why are guys not freaking out? Why am I freaking out? And what kind of game is this?! Jeez!” Both Luhan and Jinri try to make Soojung sit back on her seat, which they successfully do, meanwhile Sehun just laughs at the girl. “Hey! Why are you laughing at me?”

“He might be faking it, so chill.” Jinri tells her.

“F-faking? Why would he fake an injury?” She asks in confusion. “That’s so stupid!”

“So they can get a penalty kick.” Luhan answers, and Jinri chuckles. “Luhan oppa would know a lot of this stuff because he used to fake his injuries.”

“That was one time, Jinri. Just one time.” He puts his index finger up and hushed the younger girl.

“Oh, seems like they’re not going to get a penalty kick though?” Sehun says causing the three to look back at the field where Jongin was holding his ankle while talking to one of the doctors. Chanyeol and some of their teammates were also checking him out. Meanwhile Jinwoo was seen arguing with Seokjin, accusing him of purposely pushing Jongin so he could be injured. But Namjoon quickly defends his teammate just like any other captain would do.

“I don’t think I like this game.” Soojung mumbles. “Isn’t it a bit violent?”

When everyone saw Jongin walking in pain and leaving the field, the Imperium Academy students stands up to applause him. He was not able to continue playing the game due to the pain that he was experiencing.

The game eventually ended with a tie, with Chanyeol being the hero and scoring a header in the very last minute. It was pretty dramatic and Jinri literally lost her voice from screaming too much. Soojung hasn’t seen her best friend being so excited since her 7^th birthday back then.

Even though they didn’t lose, the players of Imperium Academy were still gutted because of the fact that Jongin is indeed injured, not like what Jinri and Luhan was speculating that he was faking it. He was immediately sent to a hospital even when the game was still ongoing. So instead of celebrating Chanyeol’s last minute goal with her friends, Soojung has decided to visit Jongin first. Her friends did promise to visit him after a quick ice cream snack.

When she got out of the elevator, the first thing she sees was the football team still wearing their uniforms. She had heard from Luhan that the coach could be a little harsh so she wasn’t really surprised that they still looked a bit nervous. Jinwoo, being the captain, was in front and was the first one who saw her.

“You all worked hard.” She says, trying to cheer her up. She doesn’t really know what else to say. The boys just smiled, but it was evident that they were tired in comparison to them being so energetic before the game.

“He really wanted to score a goal to impress you, but he wasn’t able to.” Jinwoo tells Soojung as he passed her. “Please cheer him up.”

When nobody spoke when she knocked, Soojung assumed that Jongin was sleeping so she opened the door slowly and silently. But she found out that Jongin was just looking outside the window blankly. She felt bad for him, but she preferred seeing this side of him.

“Hello.” She suddenly greets him.

“Hello- Holy .” Thinking that it was Jinwoo who entered, Jongin ignored who it was but upon realizing that it was Soojung’s voice he was hearing, he literally got shocked. “You’re here?”

“Uhm, yeah…” She says, scratching her head. When did they get awkward like this? “So… how’s your ankle?”

“It’s just a sprain, but I’m all ed up. I can’t move around freely.” He answers sadly.

“Hey, at least you won’t be wearing crutches. Jackson’s going…” Soojung stops after remembering that he won’t be too happy hearing his rival’s name.

“He has to wear a cast? How did you know?” Jongin frowns as he looked at her.

“I called Youngji before going here. She’s with Jackson right now at the hospital.” She answers, avoiding his gaze. “What I meant is that I’m glad that your injury isn’t as serious as his, you know?”

“You always mention those stupid kids… Maybe I should wear a cast.” Jongin mumbles the last part. He didn’t want people to think that he’s just faking his injury.

“Okay, I’m sorry.” She sighs. She didn’t really mean to mention any of the Ehra High students knowing that he would be upset again.

“He deserves it anyways.” Jongin smirks.

“Hey, that’s not nice!” Soojung’s eyebrows furrowed. “I was watching you all the time because I knew you were going to do something stupid.”

“Aww, you were watching me all the time- I mean,” Jongin’s face suddenly lights up but after remembering that he was supposed to be mad at her, he goes back to his poker face. “I can’t believe you would accuse me of doing something like that!” But he did think of doing something to them…

“I’m glad that you didn’t. Also… you did your best today, so don’t feel sad about it, okay?”

This time, Jongin couldn’t really hide his happiness. His lips naturally curve into a grin, especially when she pats his head to cheer him up. When she stops, he immediately grabs her wrists and stares at her for a long time.

“What?”

“Massage me.” He simply says.

“You can massage yourself!”

“I cannot! I’m injured.” He whined. Soojung rolled her eyes causing him to laugh. “Fine, just play with my hair. Didn’t you say that you liked it when I play with yours? Well, I will when I get better.”

“Okay, deal.”

As soon as Soojung started to swirl his hair around, it made Jongin weirdly comfortable. They started to get quiet once again and neither him or Soojung were in the mood to talk.

“I missed you.” Jongin says. This time, it was loud and clear. Soojung couldn’t help but to smile. She was about to say that she missed him too, when Sehun suddenly bursted to the door with a bag of ice cream in his hand, followed by Jinri, Chanyeol and Luhan.

“I scream for ice cream!”

“Finally! I’ve waiting for the ice cream!” Naturally, Soojung forgets about everything and came running for the ice cream. Jongin sighs. He wouldn’t blame her though. If he could move, he’d probably run and steal the ice cream from Sehun even if it's winter.

“Another moment ruined.” He thought to himself.

One of the duties of having a best friend is picking, choosing or asking for opinions for an outfit for your girl, or boy. You’d be lying if you haven’t done this.

That was exactly what Jinri was doing with Soojung a night before their school’s winter ball. Jinri has a bad habbit for leaving what’s important a day before so Soojung wasn’t really surprised about it. She wasn’t that surprised either when her best friend tells her that she would be using one of her mother’s old gowns. She really didn’t mind using a hand me down. All of her mother’s dresses were really nice preserved so they didn’t really look old. Plus, according to Jinri, vintage is the new trend.

“I think this would be better, honestly.” Soojung says as she reaches for a long maroon gown that was hanging on Mrs. Choi’s wardrobe. Of course, they were given permission to snoop around her closet like that. “Oh! I know this dress! Your mother wore this on the Blue Dragon Film Awards in 1987.”

Impressed, Jinri puts her thumbs up."Very Impressive." Soojung then leaves the wardrobe so she could change.

“I know that because I recently watched her movie that was also released at the same year, then I saw pictures of her wearing that.” Soojung smiles to herself.

“Soojung-ah…”

“Don’t tell me it doesn’t fit you.”

“No, it’s not that.” Jinri suddenly comes out half-dressed. She was holding the front part, but the back was still loosen. “You’ve been helping me for the past hour, but do you have a dress already?” Soojung helps her zip it even though Jinri doesn’t ask her to. “You’re attending, right? If you don’t have one, which sounds really impossible considering your personal designer is your sister; you can borrow one of my mom’s.”

“Of course I’m coming. I personally asked Johnny Depp to be my partner.” Jinri hits her bestfriend playfully causing her to giggle. “Ouch. That really hurt.”

“Don’t joke around like that! The ball is tomorrow night!” She says. “You’re coming with Jongin, right?”

Soojung, still smiling, answers, “I visited him at his home for the past two days, but we never actually talked about the ball. And besides, I don’t think he can still move?”

“I’m pretty sure he can move already tomorrow night. I talked to Junmyeon about it. He said that he’ll be alright after three days.”

“If he isn’t, then I’ll really go with Johnny Depp as my partner.” She giggles once again.

“Your Johnny Depp has his Amber Heard already.” Jinri sticks her tongue out.

“Ugh, don’t remind me.”

The senior students of Imperium Academy cannot contain their excitement for their own Winter Ball. They’ve been waiting for this for the past few years and have been hearing incredible stories from their past seniors. Nothing can stop them that night. From the boys’ suits and ties, to the girls’ glittery makeup, they’re ready for it. Everybody, except for Jongin.

Though he can properly walk now, Jongin had still been wearing his cast. His doctor told him that it was unnecessary, but he insisted that he needed one just so people would know that he’s really hurt. He had been taking pictures of his feet all casted up to upload it on to his private snapchat account and almost forgot about the ball. He was about to prepare himself, when he abruptly freezes when he hears his apartment door being open.

Peeking from the sofa where he had been slouching for the past hour, he sees Soojung at the door wearing casual clothes. His eyes widens as she jumps at the chair beside her, while she just smiles at him.

“What… What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to take care of you.” She replies, grinning. “You still can’t stand up right?” She eyes his cast and he remembers that he hasn’t told him that he was fine already. Jongin was hesitating if he should say the truth, or just lie to her and make her stay with him for the night.

“Well, if I have a cast on my leg, doesn’t that mean that I’m still injured, little miss smarty pants?”

“Jinri told me that you’re okay now so…” Soojung puts her hands up in defense. “But that's great. It's nice to hear that I wont waste my time here. Have you eaten dinner? Can I cook?”

“Are you seriously going to take care of me?” He asked in amusement. He thought she was joking at first, but now when she asked, she sounded really serious. “Aren’t you going to the Winter Ball?”

“I am dead serious, Jongin. Am I not allowed here?” She playfully threatens to punch him while Jongin just laughs.

“It’s not that Jung. Just promise me that you won’t mention any of the Ehra High kids-” He hasn’t finished his sentence but Soojung has already rolled her eyes. “-because that will really ruin my night.”

“Promise me you won’t bother them anymore.” She dares. This time it was his turn to get annoyed.

Nevertheless, he raises his right hand and promises her. “I won’t bother those idiots anymore.” He wasn’t really sure himself about that.

“Okay, great. I promise you that I won’t mention them.” Soojung stands up from the chair to head to the kitchen with a grin. “I’ll just talk about Derek tonight.”

He was about to say something when his phone buzzes.

TO: Jongin

FROM: Sehun

Dude, where the are you?

TO:  Sehun

FROM: Jongin

I can’t come. I’m sick.

“He’s sick? He aint sick. I was in his apartment two hours ago.”  Chanyeol exclaims after Sehun passes his phone for him to read Jongin’s message.

The two boys were waiting for their dates in front of their prestigious academy, with most of their classmates already arriving in their own limousine.

“He probably just doesn’t want to come.” Sehun shrugs. “Is Soojung coming?”

“No idea. Jinri didn’t tell me anything.”

“Maybe you she went to Jongin’s?”

Chanyeol glances at his friend after what he just said. “You think so?”

“I told her that I’m going to force her to come, but in the end I wasn’t able to.”

“Wait a minute, who’s your date now that I ask?”

Sehun just smiles at him. “You’ll see.”

When she was in California, Soojung never cooked. It’s either she would eat outside, or just eat some ramen. It’s not that she doesn’t want to, it’s just that she doesn’t know how. Though she used to try when she still had a personal maid back then so she could tell her how it is.

Sometimes, she would ask Derek how her cooking is and being the sweet boyfriend that he is, he would always compliment her even though it isn’t really good. So when Jongin tried her very own version of spaghetti, she paid close attention on what his reaction will be.

“The pasta’s really weird.” He comments.

“No it’s not!” She argues as she takes a bite of her own in her plate. She then realizes that what he said is indeed true. She looks down sadly and says, “Okay, fine. Don’t eat it. I’ll just order pizza or something…”

But when she looks up, she sees that Jongin has finished his. “Oh? I thought you didn’t want to eat it?”

“I said, it’s weird. That doesn’t mean that I don’t want to eat it, my dear wifey.” He says, not knowing that he had tomato sauce all over his face.

Soojung laughs and reaches his face to wipe his face with a tissue. She doesn’t say anything, but she feels genuinely happy about what he just did.

Jongin slowly opens his eyes and scoots to his left side. He has already fallen into the floor when he remembers that he fell asleep in the sofa while watching The Breakfast Club last night with Soojung. He reaches to his foot to finally remove his cast when he notices something.

“Sleep tight, idiot.” He reads her note that was written on his cast. It also had a drawing of a boy sleeping who he supposes is him.

“Thank you for being with me last night.” He says, looking at her drawing with a smile.

After a few minutes of appreciating the girl’s weird drawing and note, he finally realizes that it was the day before Christmas and that he should be getting ready already. He quickly runs to his bathroom in his bedroom.

Unlike Soojung, Jongin loved mornings. Even though he would sometimes wake up tired, it was always his favourite time of the day. He would usually have a long, relaxing bath where he could think about things just like what he was doing that very moment. After almost half an hour in the bathtub, he gets up and dries himself up with the towel.

While brushing his hair, he heads back to his bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and thinking of what he should eat for breakfast when he sees Soojung across the room with her arms crossed looking pissed as always.

author's note: 

I feel really, really inspired right now. I just watched The Riot Club and it's now my new guilty pleasure. I really have thing for rich men cliques. I don't even know why. The boys are such eyecandies though. Hehehe. Can you recommend some movies to me please? O u O

Also, I just can't make these ignore each other. I love them too much.