Prologue
Playing For Keeps“Thirty seconds left, let’s move!”
Screeches against the wood, and a body hurtled towards the net.
“Catch!”
Too late. Too late.
“Yunhyeong!” A hoarse voice shouted, and a blur came up from the other side. Rough grooves pressed into the heel of his hands and he pushed out, the ball skidding barely above the opponent’s reach as his teammate caught it, brought it down, and shot, all in one fluid motion.
“Hanbin!”
“Donghyuk, support me!”
“Junhoe Junhoe Junhoe Junhoe Junhoe!” A series of squawks came from behind him, and as he watched, the red-and-black clad boy scurried forward, making a dangerous grab at the ball right before someone else could intercept it.
“KOO JUNHOE!” Their coach’s thunderous bark came from outside the court, and Junhoe winced visibly, quickly tossing the ball to their leader, in case he got scolded for causing their team another victory again.
“ it, Donghyuk get your over here!”
“Just SHOOT!”
“GOD ING DAMN IT KIM HANBIN!” Their coach swore again. “BOBBY!”
He sighed, then shot forward, barely missing his opponent and jumped, managing to catch the falling ball and made a deliberate grab at the goal.
Score.
“TIME’S UP!”
“We won!” Yunhyeong yelled, grabbing him and Hanbin in for a tight-as-hell hug. “We won our last game of the season! iKon is officially the national champion!”
“And you know what this means, we get sponsorship for ADIDAS again, plus endorsements. Oh my God, I can smell the money rolling in.” Junhoe catapulted on top of them and slapped a hi-five with him. Jiwon grinned, and returned the hi-five with zeal.
“Hyungs!” Chanwoo, their youngest (and benched) player ran onto the court with barely controlled excitement. “I saw the shot Bobby hyung made. It was so damned cool.”
“Shooting guard, of course.” Jiwon flexed his muscles, and then waved to the crowds of adoring fangirls on the bleachers. They were playing at an international level, but that obviously didn’t stop the teenagers from coming in to swoon over their ‘hot oppas’. “It’s kind of my thing, baby boy.”
Chanwoo, obviously disgruntled over nickname, rolled his eyes then turned over to Hanbin instead. “Hyung, why do you not look so happy?”
“Oh, I’m happy alright.” Hanbin’s eyes narrowed as he put Junhoe down, the younger immediately getting caught in a headlock in Yunhyeong’s arms. “I’m just unhappy at one player.”
Chanwoo blinked, then looked over at their coach.
Kim Jinhwan was gesturing wildly at another boy, sweating buckets, wiping off his hair with a towel right next to the bleachers. He obviously didn’t look pleased at all.
As the five of them looked on, a girl dressed in a floral dress and sunhat walked onto the court, her fair skin almost glinting in the blaring lights of the gymnasium. Never mind that it was indoors, her sunhat covered a large part of her face and neck, but no one needed to see the sunny, cheerful expression she had on.
As she paused next to the sixth member of their team, she slid her hand casually into the crook of his elbow, and he bent his arm, fluidly, as if they had been doing this for a long time, which they did. Reaching up, regardless of the coach’s loud s
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