It was now Mid-February and Areum just graduated high school. With her older sister preparing for college and her parent’s divorce papers being finalized, Yejin needed to self reflect and adapt to these changes. Soon enough, it will just be her and her father in their home until the next year rolls around and it’s her turn to pack up her life and live in a dorm at whichever school she chose to be a student of. The weather was yo-yoing between warm and cold, today being pretty warm, so Yejin took the opportunity and decided to go on a walk.

    The girl was on decent terms with Jackson and his friends so a thought came to mind as she strolled down the sidewalk past her neighbor’s homes. Despite her heart condition, all of her rest and taking care of herself proved to her doctor that she is healthy enough to be active again. Yejin thought about this as she crossed the street and walked closer to Youngjae’s house. She hadn’t had much interaction with him lately besides walking to and from the bus stop, but they were friends, right? The girl walked across his yard and stepped up onto the porch, her heart beating a little more in her chest. She knocked on the screen door and tried to calm herself down, she had nothing to be nervous about. It was the first day of their two week semester break, so she hoped the boy would be home. Maybe she shouldn’t of deleted his number out of rage all of those months ago. The door creaked open and Yejin looked up to see a woman her mother’s age in front of her.

    “Hi, is Youngjae home?” the girl asked, gulping back the slight nerves. The woman blinked a few times before a small smile appeared on her face.

    “Of course, I’ll go get him for you,” the lady said and a wide grin spread across Yejin’s face. The tension dissipated and she was happy that the woman, who she safely assumed was her friend's mother, was super nice. Yejin stood and waited by the front door, lightly tapping her foot to pass the time. Her eyes wandered and she ended up looking down the street towards the gates of their neighborhood.

“Hey,” a voice said, which brought Yejin out of her daydream. She jerked and looked at Youngjae who stood in front of her, cracking the door ever so slightly to keep the heat inside the house.

“Hey,” Yejin said, forcing a smile as she thought of how to word her thoughts. “Do you want to go, you know, shoot some hoops,” she said while pretending to toss a basketball in the air. This made the boy laugh and he nodded, slipping on some shoes before stepping out of the house, clad in baggy t-shirt and matching basketball shorts. Yejin felt better that she could be her awkward self and have a friend who didn’t care and would hang out with her regardless. Once they both stepped off the porch and made their way to the end of the yard, Youngjae stopped but Yejin kept walking. The girl looked back as the boy grabbed the ball that sat behind the goal in front of his house.

“Hey, let’s go to the park,” Yejin called out, gaining the boy’s attention. He lifted his head and met her eyes, but the girl just smiled at him.

“Sure,” Youngjae said, dropping the ball and walking over to catch up with her. The two fell into step and the silence didn’t last long before the boy started talking about how relieved he was that the semester was over. Yejin occasionally nodded and added a few words of agreement in here and there, but Youngjae led the conversation filled with occasionally chuckling at his own words, and just letting the words flow of how good it felt to have slept in until noon. They left their neighborhood and walked beside the road as a few cars zoomed past.

“I don’t know why you want to play with me, I still can’t even make a basket,” Youngjae said with a laugh, making the girl giggle a bit. She shrugged her shoulders before speaking.

“I’ve been thinking about joining the team again next semester, but I haven’t played in a long time. I needed someone who would make me feel good about the little skill I have left,” Yejin said and Youngjae looked down at her with his jaw dropped, yet he couldn’t hold it for long before they both started laughing. “Don’t worry though, I can give you a few pointers,” Yejin added. The two kept joking around even when they reached the park and walked up to the basketball court.

“Looks like someone beat us here,” Youngjae said, voicing his thoughts aloud. Both goals held within the chain link barrier were currently occupied by a group of boys neither of them have ever seen before. Yejin stopped in her tracks and watched the playful round between the teams. She let out a little huff and examined the rest of the area.

“We could play tennis?” she said.

“I’m even worse at that game,” You