Panting heavily, Hyewon took a seat on the bus, Sehun taking the one next to her. She was lucky that the bus wasn’t that packed or she would have to wait for the next bus and wouldn’t make it for dinner. They were catching their breath quietly in the first five minutes of the ride. Sprinting all the way from the school to the bus stop was surely tough, especially for Hyewon who wasn’t athletic.

Sehun was the first one to break the silence. “That was fun!”

“No, it’s not,” Hyewon said in short, uneven breaths. “And we’re late for dinner because of you.”

Holding his phone, he looked at the screen. “It’s no big deal. Uncle texted me that we should go directly to Hwadam Restaurant. They’re already there.”

“Why did he text you instead of me?” Hyewon frowned, thinking it’s weird that her father had chosen to tell Sehun. Wasn’t she his daughter?

Sehun shrugged. “I’m not sure. Probably because he thinks I’m his future son-in-law.”

As expected, Sehun’s answer always didn’t make sense. She should have known better than asking him. Rolling her eyes, Hyewon said, “You wish.”

They stayed silent for the rest of the ride, but it was a comfortable silence where Hyewon didn’t feel the need to say something. No one spoke until they arrived at the bus stop near the restaurant.

Hyewon had almost nodded off when Sehun suddenly said in a loud voice, startling her, “Hyewon, we’re here!”

Walking past Hyewon’s apartment building, the two of them headed to Hwadam Restaurant which was located just a few buildings away. Hyewon’s and Sehun’s families were regular at this restaurant when Sehun had been living at the apartment next to hers. But since they’d moved to Busan, she rarely went there. Her parents were barely home so she didn’t have any reasons to go to a family restaurant alone.

Sehum hummed in amusement as Hwadam Restaurant came into view. “It really brings back memories, isn’t it?”

Hyewon’s parents were already sitting at a table full of food when they entered the restaurant. She hurried to take the seat in front of her mother, dropping her backpack on the floor, next to her chair.

“Sorry for the wait, Mom, Dad,” Hyewon said.

Her mother nodded. “Let’s eat.”

Before they started eating, Hyewon and Sehun said simultaneously, “Thanks for the food!”

Hyewon recognized most of the food on the table – they were dishes they had used to order and they were her favorites. She happily dug in starting from the appetizers: shrimp salad. The one thing she hated from this salad was the cucumber slices. She disliked cucumbers because of the smell and she could never bring herself to get used to it.

She was about to get rid of the cucumber slices when Sehun did the job for her. He casually moved the cucumber slices one by one from Hyewon’s plate to his. It was something he usually did when they ate together.

He remembers. Taken by surprise, she hadn’t expected him to still do the same thing after three years.

Hyewon’s mother began, “Sehun, I heard from your mother that you got volleyball scholarship at Hansung High. You must be amazing.”

Swallowing the food in his mouth, Sehun said bashfully, “I’m not that great. Hyewon also thinks I’m average. I was just lucky.”

Hyewon chimed in, feeling guilty, “Sorry, Sehun. I lied. You’re really awesome at practice earlier. I was only teasing you.”

“You’re mean! Super mean!”

Her parents laughed and Hyewon was pleased, looking at them having fun. Sehun really brought their family closer together and she was thankful for that. Then she was reminded that she hadn’t asked him about why he’s here.

“Sehun, why did you decide to come to Seoul?” Hyewon asked out of curiosity.

Sehun lifted an eyebrow as if the reason was obvious. “Why? Of course because I want to see you.”

Sighing, Hyewon realized that she shouldn’t have asked. Sehun might be her first love, but she believed she no longer felt anything like that for him. It’s useless to dwell on the past. Moreover, when it was unrequited love.

Jungkook was in the middle of having his breakfast with his parents when his front door was rapped harshly countless times. Irritated with the loud noise, he got up from his seat and rushed to open it. His annoyed expression turned into a confused one when he found Jimin and Taehyung behind his front door.

“Jimin? Taehyung? Why are you here?” Jungkook asked dazedly. “Aren’t we supposed to meet up later at Jamsil Baseball Stadium’s entrance?”

“I’m also a victim here, Jungkook.” Jimin pointed to Taehyung with his thumb. “This guy dragged me out of my house.”

Taehyung ignored their complaints and beamed at Jungkook. “Come on, Jungkook. Let’s go!”

Jungkook took a glance at the clock on the wall, frowning. “But it’s still early. And I’m planning to go with my parents.”

“Go with your friends, Jungkook,” Jungkook’s mother suddenly said from behind him, smiling warmly and nodding slightly at Jimin and Taehyung who politely greeted her as soon as they saw her. “Your father and I can go by ourselves. We can meet there later.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Jeon,” Taehyung and Jimin said simultaneously, following Jungkook to his room and helping him get ready. Well, they weren’t of much help actually when Taehyung was tailing him wherever he went and Jimin was lying down on his bed.

Jungkook changed into his casual wear – black plain shirt with thin white jacket over it and jeans. It was late spring and it’s almost summer, so the weather wasn’t that cold.

After the three of them left the house and took the bus, he realized that Jimin and Taehyung weren’t planning to go straight to the stadium. They led him to a bus that didn’t head to Jamsil – where the stadium was.

“Where are we going?” Jungkook asked as they sat at the back of the bus.

Jimin answered, “Taehyung insisted that we pick Hyewon up and go together with her.”

“It’s more fun if we all go together, right?” Taehyung added excitedly.

No one answered Taehyung and Jungkook was wondering how someone could be that excited all the time. Or it might only be because he was sleepy at the moment and that made him unable to keep up with his vigor. Glancing at Jimin who also looked drained, Jungkook thought it wasn’t the case. Taehyung was just too high-spirited.

The apartment building was familiar for Jungkook since he had walked Hyewon home a few times, but he never actually entered the building. Arriving at the tenth floor, Taehyung rang the doorbell continuously and from how passionately he did it, Jungkook instantly knew that Taehyung had been the one knocking his door earlier.

The person who opened the door was the last person Jungkook had expected.

Sehun was still wearing his sleep wear. He yawned drowsily as he greeted the guests. “Oh. It’s you guys. What’s up?”

“What?” Taehyung was the first one to recover from the shock, gaping at Sehun. “Why are you in Hyewon’s house?”

Rubbing his eyes casually, Sehun stepped back to let them in, but no one moved. He raised both of his hands in the air, supposedly surrendering. “I’m not trespassing, guys. No need to look at me like that. You can rest assured. I’m only temporarily living here until I officially move to the dorm. And that’ll be next week.”

“I didn’t know you both are that close,” Jimin said while walking over the threshold, being the first one to enter the house. Taehyung and Jungkook followed behind him.

Sehun closed the door and went to check on Hyewon, coming out from her room a few seconds later to announce to everyone that she was still taking a shower. He asked the guests to sit down on the couch as if it was his own house. Taehyung and Sehun were chattering nonstop, leaving Jimin and Jungkook out of their conversation – not that they minded, though.

Jungkook’s ears perked up when Taehyung and Sehun were talking about Inter-High Preliminaries. The discussion piqued his interest.

Taehyung and Sehun were exchanging information about the teams they knew. Having more experience in practice match against various strong teams, Sehun was the one who gave the most information. But he didn’t seem reluctant to share it with them. Unfortunately, as expected from a simple-minded guy with simple-minded explanation, the information he gave wasn’t that helpful.

“It won’t be long until Inter-High Preliminaries,” Sehun said. “I’m looking forward to play against your team. Don’t lose before you fight me, okay?”

Feeling challenged, Jungkook chimed in, “We won’t lose.”

Sehun grinned in satisfaction. “Good. Let’s have our official game at Nationals.”

Back in Busan, only the winner could get the ticket to go to Nationals, but in a big city like Seoul where there were so many high schools, the top three teams could all go to Nationals.

“Let’s give it our all!” Taehyung exclaimed and stood up, looking ready for a match right at this moment. Jimin had to pull him back down before he became too excited.

It’d been a while since Hyewon’s apartment was this lively. She could hear the buzz of occasional laughter from outside her room while she was getting ready and she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. It really felt nice to not be alone at home.

Wearing a simple lavender blouse, cream cardigan and ripped jeans, Hyewon slung the strap of her white leather bag and she was ready to go. She was greeted by a loud good morning from Taehyung which widened the smile on her face. Sehun handed her a pair of toast with chocolate jam, wrapped in a sheet of aluminum foil to eat on the go.

“You made this?” Hyew