6 months later…




Taecyeon cleared his throat as soon as the waiter left their table after they made their order. Nickhun glanced at the group of girls about a couple of tables away behind Taecyeon and then back at his best friend. He chuckled.

"This is not funny. Not at all." Taecyeon glared at him as he wiped away the cold sweat trickling down his temple.

"Relax, Taec. It's not like those girls are going to pounce on you in any second." Khun said as an attempt to comfort Taecyeon. The girls kept looking back at them and giggled amongst themselves. Taecyeon recognized them from one of the classes he attended. Still, being the sole focus of a group of girls made him nervous. It never changed since high school.

"Still." Taecyeon shrugged, trying to keep his cool but Nickhun knew Taecyeon was secretly malfunctioning inside. He needed to 'save' him quick. Somehow.

Nickhun chuckled again. "We need to fix that little weakness of yours."

"I'd be grateful if you could actually achieve that." Taecyeon ruffled his hair. Adjusted his seat. He just couldn't sit still. Nichkhun hoped he could stop being nervous once Jaebum arrived. It was always better for Taecyeon when he was in a big group. That was how he coped playing in the court despite the hundreds of fangirls checking him out in the audience. It helped when he could distract himself by thinking that the girls were paying attention to someone, everyone else in the group.

"Do you still have girls confessing to you in campus?" Khun asked. They both went to the same university but they rarely crossed path because their faculty was located far apart from each other. Taecyeon took engineering while Khun took business. Occasionally they had lunch together.

Taecyeon shook his head. "There was none at all this past couple of months. What about you?"

"Same." Khun shrugged.

"It's all good for me, but I wonder why though. It was like suddenly the non-stop confessions never happened in the first place."

"You don't know?" Khun raised an amused eyebrow. A glint of mischievous smile shadowed his lips.

"Do you?" Taecyeon reached for the glass on the table and downed the clear water.

"People think we're going out, both of us." Khun pointed to Taecyeon and then back at himself with his pointer finger. He grinned when Taecyeon choked on his water.

"They what?!"

"I'm not surprised. I mean, we rejected all those confessions, we rarely hang out with girls, and we are always seen together." Khun shrugged.

"Are you fine with that rumor?"

"I don't really care."

"Well… me neither, actually." Taecyeon scratched the back of his neck. He couldn’t care less about what people said about him, plus girls do't really chase after him anymore. It was still surprising that such rumor could spread. When Taecyeon looked up, he saw Jaebum coming through the entrance so he raised his arm high, waving at him. The small guy saw them and casually made his way towards their table. They greeted each other and bumped fists before Jaebum sat next to Khun, but Taecyeon noticed the mellow air about him.

"So how is it going?" Taecyeon asked. Jaebum went to a different university in Ilsan, which was quite far from Seoul so he rarely came back. It had been a while since he saw Taecyeon and the rest of the basketball team members.

"Things were just fine. It feels great to be back again."

"Have you seen Gohee?" Taecyeon asked. His voice soften from their previous greetings.

Jaebum shook his head at Taecyeon's question. The smile on his lips turned bitter. Both Khun and Taecyeon knew what was going on between Jaebum and Gohee. They wanted to help, but there were only so much they could do. Khun reached for Jaebum's shoulder and squeezed it firmly.

-

“Gohee,” Gohee’s mother gently called her as she pushed the door of her daughter’s bedroom ajar. Gohee who had been busy sewing, finishing up her customer’s hanbok order, looked up from her sewing machine and smiled gently at her mother.

“Have you finished packing up your stuffs for tomorrow’s rehab?” Her mother walked in, and watched as her daughter continued her work. This was what Gohee had been busy for since she graduated high school. She had missed a lot on school, but with her friends’ help, she managed to catch up on everything at the last 3 months before graduation even though her score weren’t as good as she used to have. Since then, she took on sewing and began working at home.

Also, because she was still bound to her wheelchair, she couldn’t go to college, or more like, chose not to. She might looked strong and happy, but just like everyone else, she was scared and sad and jealous of other people who could walk. She was scared that she couldn't manage being away from her family and friends.

“You should sleep early tonight.” Her mother gently told her and massaged Gohee’s shoulders.

“I’ll be done in a minute.”

“Oh, and Gohee,”

“Hm?”

“Somebody left this in our mailbox again,” Gohee’s mother turned around to pick something she put on the bed when she entered just now. It was a Calla Lily and a small card. She left them on Gohee’s sewing table before she softly patted her daughter’s head and left the room.

Gohee reached for the card and read it.

‘For tomorrow, FIGHTING!’

The card had no clue of the sender at all, but Gohee knew well who it was. It was Jaebum again, who else? He must had been back in Seoul. That was what the flower indicated. When he was back in Ilsan to continue his study, the mailbox would be empty.

Gohee picked up the flower, and went to her study table across the room. There was a large glass vase on it, with the same flower in it, plenty of it. He had been leaving those flowers and cards every now and then. Gohee put the flower into the vase and then stared at them sadly.She didn’t know which one was right and which one was wrong anymore, but she knew one thing for sure, that her recovery had not shown any progress since three months ago. Every morning when she woke up, she wished she was dreaming. And then when the wheelchair and the sewing machine came into her sight, the reality hit her hard and it was painful everyday, telling herself that she was going to live that way until the last day of her life. She hated herself for not being able to completely grasp the reality.

-

Wooyoung stood straight in front of the rows of his juniors while watching them finishing up their basic training routine for the day. Munhwa stood by his side, still the most diligent and loyal secretary as ever, timing the boys and made sure that nobody was hurt and jotting down notes whenever necessary.

One by one, the newly added members fell flat on the floor as they finished a complete set of 100 push-ups, leaving Wooyoung secretly impressed with their determination. However, he didn’t want to be satisfied just yet. It had only been two months since they joined the basketball club, and he wanted them to at least had a strong base in stamina and endurance aside of the usual basketball training. Besides, in the first 3 months of practice, there will be people dropping out now and then, so he wanted to see only the best and the most determined member to stay.

“Captain! I’ve finished! I finished first!” a freshman shouted excitedly, putting his hand up like an elementary school student offering an answer to his teacher’s question in class.

Wooyoung nodded. “Continue 50 more.”

“What?” His bright expression faltered. “Can’t we just continue tomorrow, please?”

“Or do you want to do 100?” Wooyoung ignored his pleading.

“50 more, right away…” The freshman said weakly and continued with the drill.

Munhwa felt sorry for the boys, so she softly nudged Wooyoung’s shoulder with her pen from his back.

“Yah, can’t  you be a bit lenient? They had been doing this for the whole week.” She whispered.

“No.” Came his short answer. Coach Cho who had been supervising from the sides chuckled. Well, Wooyoung did seemed suited to this position. He was the type who carry out his responsible well, if given the chance. Taecyeon did well in appointing Wooyoung as the new captain. Wooyoung had changed since he became the captain. He became more matured and keen to his peers’ opinions and well being except during his occasional tendency of power abusing.

“Hm, by the way,” Wooyoung said, and then peeked into Munhwa’s little notebook. “Seo Jin, was it?” Wooyoung asked, referring to the freshman who finished first just now.

“Yes, Seo Jin. The one who always comes late. But he never skipped a day, though.”

Wooyoung nodded, taking a mental note of the boy. They will be picking out new main player in the coming month so he had been more attentive than ever towards the freshmen.

-

Yun Residence
5.30 p.m.

Whenever there were days without practice, Wooyoung had developed a habit of hanging out with Munhwa to study. He said now that he was a captain, he had to be an example to his team members. There were times when he dragged Chansung and Junho along. Munhwa wasn’t the slightest bit against his habit, she thought he had changed for the better so she had been a good supporter for him, even though she still hated it when he started being mean again.

Wooyoung unconsciously tapped his pencil on his book, not paying attention to the study but got lost in his own thought instead.

“What are you thinking?” Munhwa asked. That evening it was only the two of them, so it had been a little silent and boring.

“Hm… I’m thinking about giving the boys something a bit more difficult. How about cleaning the toilet?” Wooyoung smiled mischievously.

“No!” Munhwa almost stood up from her seat, showing how much she was against the idea. If it wasn’t for her, Wooyoung would probably had his head way up in the sky just because he was the captain. The team would suffer from his bullying and a lot of people would leave, or so as Munhwa had always imagined. So far, Wooyoung had instances when he came up with ridiculous, childish ideas but he had been listening to Munhwa and the coach.

“That’s just plain bullying, I’ll never let you do that!” Munhwa protested.

“Okay, okay… Geez, no need to get worked up… How boring…”

“Can’t you be nicer to the boys? What if they all left?”

“Agh!” Wooyoung exaggerated his reaction by pulling out his hair, “Stop nagging already!”

Munhwa’s eyes widened in shock, “Nag? I wa- I wasn’t nagging! I was just-”

“Just talk a lot?” Wooyoung raised his eyebrows. Even after his confession got rejected by Munhwa last year, he still enjoyed teasing her. He was glad that nothing changed between them other than the fact that they got closer and more comfortable with each other after that period of awkwardness passed by.

“I, I just… Fine I nagged. Happy?” Munhwa quickly averted her attention back to her practice book while Wooyoung took his own sweet time laughing at her.

“What about the venue for our summer training next month? Did you manage to find one?” Wooyoung changed thetopic to get Munhwa stop sulking.

“I looked up for the camp that we usually go to, but they’re all booked this summer. All that’s left are the expensive ones.” Munhwa frowned. Wooyoung nodded, trying to come up with a solution, which accidentally brought him back to the memories of their summer training last year. That was when everything was less complex, when Minsun had less to worry about, when he was deeply crushing on Munhwa. Wooyoung got lost in his thought again, because Munhwa could tell from the way he suddenly engulfed in silence, or how his eyes turned murky at bittersweet memories.

“Do you really couldn’t get in contact with Minsun?” Munhwa suddenly asked, her voice gentle and timid.

Wooyoung shook his head and slowly paid his attention back at his notebook.

“It’s impossible to get in contact with her. I tried everything I could get to, e-mail, cyworld, twitter, whatever out there but it feels like she didn’t exist. I think her mother wants to erase us from her life.”

“Poor Minsun…” Munhwa mumbled under her breath. There was no reply from Wooyoung, which aroused a curiosity from the girl.

“Wooyoung ah, since it has been a while, can I ask you something?”

“Don’t ask anything weird!”

Munhwa’s eyes suddenly brightened, and she looked like an eager little child at the sight of ice cream as she asked,

“You like Minsun, don’t you?”

Wooyoung choked on his saliva before he retorted loudly, “WHAT?!”

“When I think about it again, you were quite obvious, you know? You’ve been following her around, being nosy with her and Taecyeon and you even broke into her home-”

“I was just worried of her!”

“You’ve never paid as much attention towards any girl. That’s why I was so shocked when you suddenly confessed to me,”

“Well, I was surprised when you said you have someone you like, so who is it?”

Munhwa gasped, her hand automatically flew to . She felt so stupid for baiting Wooyoung into her deepest,  little secret. Once Wooyuoung had gone into his investigating mode, there was no stopping him.

“I’m not telling!”

“Would you admit it if I guessed it right?” Wooyoung asked her with a serious expression, just to scare her because it would be much more fun when Munhwa began to get nervous.

Munhwa frantically shook her head.

“Hm… Is he from the student body?”

Munhwa shook her head.

“From the basketball team?”

“Not telling!” Munhwa closed her eyes and covered her ears with her hand. Wooyoung smirked, totally enjoying the reaction this girl would give.

“Hm… Taecyeon hyung?”

Munhwa slowly opened her eyes, because Wooyoung was waiting for her answer instead of keep guessing. With an anxious expression on her face, worried that her cover got blown, she blinked a couple of times while Wooyoung looked straight into her eyes, trying to read her mind. Munhwa was silently debating with her conscience on how to react in order to not give away her secret. Should she flat out deny him? Or should she pretend like she heard nothing? Should she change the topic? Or should she just not react at all?

“Impossible…” Wooyoung  muttered to himself.

“Uh…”

“It really is Taecyeon hyung…” Wooyoung stared at Munhwa’s reddened face in disbelief.

“It… It’s not…” Munhwa still timidly took her one last chance to keep her biggest secret.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe it. It’s really Taecyeon hyung! I was just joking around but… Yah, how did you not show any sign at all?”

“Oh, no…” Munhwa covered her warm, flushed face with her hands, “Why did I let it out…”

“H-Hey,” Wooyoung nervously laughed when Munhwa sounded like she was on the verge of crying. “Oh, come on. This is Jang Wooyoung, you know? I don’t spill secrets, I keep them!”

Munhwa slowly lowered her hands, and shyly looked at Wooyoung. Wooyoung was surprised at how embarrassed she was for her face to look that red. He might have moved on from his previous crush, but he still thought she was cute.

“Promise me nobody will ever know about it…” Munhwa said, her voice trembling.

“Sure. But why are you keeping it a secret? Do you know how popular is Taecyeon hyung at his college? All the female seniors kept asking him out. I heard from Chansung and Junho that Taecyeon hyung and Khun sunbae are just like those guys in the drama… Um, what they call it? Ah, F4! So, are you going to confess or let him get snatched away by some girls?”

Munhwa shyly looked down. “It’s not like that… it’s just… he never looked at me more than a little sister…”

“You could have been a bit bolder towards him, but then, this Taecyeon hyung we’re talking about. Ah… he can be a little hopeless,” Wooyoung said and then laughed at Munhwa.

“Can we please drop the topic already?”

“Not that easily. So what are you planning? Don’t you want to go out with him for real? Come on, don’t tell me you’re giving up that easily! How long you’ve been liking him?”

Well, to be honest, since he was still with Subin, but a lot of things had changed. She liked how things were between Taecyeon and her right now and she didn’t want to ruin their current relationship.

“I… I don’t plan on dating him… I wish I could just fall for someone else instead… You know? Like how you moved on from me to Minsun?”

“Okay, let’s drop the topic now.”

It was Munhwa’s turn to laugh at him. She softly chuckled and quickly agreed to Wooyoung’s suggestion. It wasn’t all that bad actually, to actually have someone to share her secret with. She suddenly saw her situation in a different perspective, and she thought it felt less difficult to move on from Taecyeon now.

-

Sunday
7.20 a.m.

It was raining heavily that morning, which kept Wooyoung awake for some reason. He had always loved snuggling under his blanket on rainy days, but after Minsun left, rainy days kept reminding him of her. He wasn’t sure if it was because he liked her that much, or because she told him how she liked rain, or because of their last farewell which took place on a rainy night. In short, there were just too much sentiments to keep him feeling anxious when it rained heavily like right now.

Wooyoung sighed out loud and scratched his head, messing his hair in the process. He lied down for a while and closed his eyes, hoping that he would fall asleep soon, but it wasn’t happening. He took a deep breath and decided that he had to keep his mind clear.

Wooyoung left his bed and reached for his jacket. He passed by the kitchen on the way out, simply said ‘Jogging,’ when her mother who was preparing breakfast asked him where he was going early in the morning.
 

-

Ding, dong.

Munhwa raised her eyebrows in wonder when she thought she heard doorbell in such early hours. And it was raining heavily outside too. She waited for a while to make sure if she really heard right.

Ding, dong.

Came the doorbell sound again. Munhwa left her study desk and quickly ran to the front door, since her room was the closest.

“Who is it?” Munhwa asked as she opened the door. There was a girl about her height - probably her age as well - clad in a pale blue raincoat, drenched from head to toe. She had a small bagpack with her. Munhwa couldn’t make out who it was because she couldn’t properly see her face. As if she could hear Munhwa’s silent wondering, the girl pulled the hood off her head, and smiled warmly at Munhwa.

But Munhwa still couldn’t recognize her uninvited guest.