Standing on the rooftop of our school, I found myself kept staring on the ground. Not even a glance I took to see the guy in front of me. Kim Hanbin was just standing there, hadn’t said anything since we got there. Talking to him wasn’t as easy as I thought, because I was being such a coward in front of him. I knew almost everything about him, but the way he treated me was somehow made me feel like a stranger.

“Are you going to just stand there all day?” He sighed.

But, I dragged him there! So I would be more embarrassed if I didn’t say anything at all. “I want you to participate on school’s anniversary,” I kept looking at his shoes.

Even if I couldn’t see it, I knew he would be looking at me with his platonic face. And I hate that. “You know, when you’re talking to people, you should at least look at them. Manners,” Hanbin said.

Hearing that, I lifted my face and look straight into his eyes. “How am I supposed to look at the guy who dumped me, Hanbin?” I was a bit surprised by my own words but seemed like my brain was invaded.

Then a smirk upon his face stung my chest. “So, you’re talking about it now?”

“Forget it,” I sighed. I knew that it was useless for me to talk to him because I would never get what I wanted at the time. And the way he looked at the moment showed me enough that he was fine, like there was nothing happened. I felt like I was a fool for being so weak and gave him a chance to take advantage of my feeling.

“You can leave. My mistake for bringing you here.” Again. I found my voice trembled.

But, Hanbin was sure taking his time on staring at me before he took a deep breath and turned his back at me. “Don’t bite more than you can chew,” he said as he walked away.

Just like that, he bit me again as he always did. And at the time, I realized that he was always over me. It hurts my pride and I didn’t want it to last because I don’t want to be a chicken anymore. It did grow in me that I wanted to stand tall in front of him, didn’t let him have a chance to beat me over again.

With that, I found myself running towards the door and saw him walking down the stairs. I overlapped him and stood a few steps in front of him. But, it wasn’t a good choice because it made me so much shorter than him.

“Look,” I had to look up to see his eyes. “We need you to participate on the school anniversary whether you like it or not.”

Hanbin raised his brows but there was no words came out of his lips. So, I decided to speak again.

“I’ll tell you about the games you’ll be part of, which I think will be a lot because our class is lack of the boys,” I tried my best to sound indifferent.

“What if I don’t want to be part of anything?” Hanbin was trying to get on my nerves.

I was so frustrated and I didn’t know what to do anymore because I had nothing to force him. It was just impossible for him to settle down and help his classmates. He had no time to do such a thing because he was facing something bigger and I know that. But, to be honest, I didn’t want him to lose his youth for something like that. Even if it was just a little thing but I wanted him to be like the other kids. I wanted him not to feel lonely.

“We need you, Hanbin,” I stared at his eyes, searching for a little bit of hope in there.

A sigh left Hanbin’s lips before he walked down the stairs.

***

“Where’s your spirit, sis?” Chanwoo nudged from my side as we walked out of the bus, heading for school. It was the first day of the tournament and Hanbin being persistent with his ‘no’ answer, I was so sure that our class would just fight for nothing. Unlike me, Chanwoo was so vibrant because his tall body could give him some advantages for games or sports.

Suddenly, I felt like I couldn’t walk into my homeroom because I knew that my classmates was having a high hope on me. “Why didn’t I just keep my mouth shut?” I murmured.

“What?” Chanwoo halted when he was about to go to his homeroom.

I shook my head. “Nope.”

Walking into my classroom, I found everyone was so excited and half of them had been already in a pink sport clothes. Our class’ color. Suhyun picked the color last month.

A pair of eyes met mine as he approached me. “I thought you’ll be here with Hanbin,” the class president stated.

Well, there was no use to keep it any longer, right? “I have to tell you guys the truth,” I said out loud so everyone could turn their attention at me. “We broke up.”

Just for a few seconds I thought everyone was choked because no one said anything. Until I heard Suhyun cleared . “Is it because you ask him to participate?” She was searching my gaze.

“No,” I said it quickly. “Of course not. It has nothing to do with you guys. Really.” I clarified.

Then everyone’s gaze turned into a sympathetic one and I felt like everyone had already guessed it would come sooner or later. Yeah, they might think I was just his temporary girl like Hayi. Which made think it was true.

“I am sorry,” Pres gave me a look.

I just tried my best to smile.

***

As expected. We were destined to be the help of the other class’ victory. We had already lost in several games and everyone was getting hopeless. The next game was piggy back race and everyone seemed avoiding Suhyun’s eyes. No one wanted to be a participant. Including me.

But then, our gaze met.

“Chanyoung?” She gave me her puppy eyes. “Please?” she said.

And of course I didn’t have any choice. Everyone was staring at me as if their lives depended on me.

“Chanhyuk will be your partner,” Suhyun added.

“What?” Chanhyuk protested. “I’ve never said that!”

“Of course you will,” Suhyun insisted.

Then, a few minutes later, we were already in the field and everyone had gathered to watch the next games. My classmates were also there. Undoubtedly, their faces had already changed and no trace of the expression their made before. Right, everyone was happy as long it wasn’t them to be in my position.

“I don’t think I can carry you to the half of the field,” Chanhyuk pouted. His body was as thin as me and I knew that we were just going to embarrass ourselves. Well, I just wished that no one would take a photo or anything in case I fell.

But, it seemed impossible when everyone was ready with their phones.

“Sh*t,” I cursed.

“I’ve never heard you curse before,” someone said as he stood up next to me.

And I didn’t have to look at him to know the owner of the voice. Kim Hanbin was standing there and did some exercises. He was wearing the class’ shirt but I didn’t remember we ever given it to him.

“What are you doing here?” I asked even though I had my own guess.

Hanbin winked, “Can’t you tell?”

And before I could say anything more, he went to Chanhyuk and whispered to him so I couldn’t really heard them talking. But, Chanhyuk seemed relieved and happy at the same time as he left the field.

“Goodluck!” He said as he patted my shoulder.

Mr. Nam announced over the megaphone that the race would be started and we had to get ready. Kim Hanbin bent down in front of me with his back facing me. I was hesitated for a while before walked towards him.

“I think I’ve gained weight, you know,” I stated.

I knew that he has a well built up body but I had been a pig recently and I didn’t think he could lift me easily. But, Hanbin just stared at me without saying anything. I looked around and everyone seemed a bit surprised to see Hanbin was participating on the game.

“Whatever!” I didn’t care what was going to come as I hopped onto Hanbin’s back.

Curled my arms around his neck, I tried not to think anything but to win the race. I thought that with Hanbin there, I had at least three percent chance to win. Hanbin chuckled before he straightened his legs and lifted my body. God, I was so afraid that he knew my weight.

“Ready?” He asked as Mr. Nam started to count backward.

And, before I could say anything to his words, I felt him moving his feet. We were running fast through the field and I thought that we're in the lead. I tightened my arms around his neck because I was afraid to fell on my . And silly me, I tried to focus on Hanbin's breathing instead of a loud noise of everyone's shouting.

Just when we had arrived on the finish line, I heard Suhyun and the rest screamed and ran towards us. Hanbin put me down on the ground as he panted. He had worked hard and gave him a smile. It surprised me when he returned my smile as he wiped his sweat.

"We won!" Suhyun cried as she pulled me into a crushed hug and I tried not to groan.

***