Part 1

Eunha couldn’t clearly remember the first time she met Jinyoung, because frankly, she hadn’t bothered with him then.

He was just one of the younger members of the baseball team. A team that Eunha had somehow been roped in as a temporary assistant manager for, because their coach needed help and she was the go-to girl to assign responsibilities to. Frankly, Eunha had been much more pre-occupied with the captain of said baseball team- Im Jaebum.

Im Jaebum had an undeniable charm. He wasn’t necessarily the handsomest or prettiest boy around. Yet there was something about his deep tone, the broad shoulders and the way he looked at people that had everyone floored. All the boys respected him. At least, no one dared do otherwise to his face. Jaebum could command people with a single glance, and the occasional flash of anger that passed his usually disinterested eyes had girls in flutters. But he never misused this power, and perhaps that was why nobody could dislike Jaebum. He was fiercely protective of his teammates, and eerily mature for a teenage boy.

“Hey- do you need help with those?” Jaebum asked coolly, as he watched Eunha lug a cardboard box full of water bottles towards the locker rooms. She had tried picking it up, but her arms couldn’t lift the weight and so she was awkwardly dragging it along the floor while bent over.

Eunha straightened up, cheeks slightly pink from the effort. “What? No- I’m fine.”

“You look like you’re having a hard time,” he pointed out, reaching down to pick up the box. Eunha shook her head, placing a hand on his arm to stop him from picking it up. Jaebum frowned at her, confused, before looking down at her hand.

“It’s my job, Jaebum,” she said softly, but firmly. She gave him a small smile. “Thanks, though.”

Jaebum laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. He was usually calm and composed, but he occasionally found himself blushing and flustered around Eunha. Perhaps that was the reason that rumors were flying about the two of them. Eunha was one of the few girls that Jaebum bothered to speak to and  that had their overly-curious high school classmates gossiping about them.

“Yeah, well. You never asked to be our manager,” Jaebum pointed out reasonably. His smile seemed slightly apologetic. “I’m sorry Coach dragged you into this. You must be busy enough with Class President responsibilities. And exams are nearing too. I promise you can quit doing our dirty work once the tournament ends.”

Eunha smiled. “I don’t mind. I feel like I’m supporting my school team, and it’s kind of fun. I wouldn’t have taken it on if I couldn’t handle it.”

Jaebum hummed, a slight frown on his face as he looked down at the box of water bottle again. He looked like he was itching to pick it up for her. “I still wish Coach wouldn’t give you heavy lifting responsibilities. He’s so used to treating us guys roughly that he forgets you’re a girl sometimes. I’ll have a word with him-“

Eunha shook her head quickly. “No, no, don’t do that. It’s just a few water bottles, Jaebum. Honestly. How has your practice been going? Aren’t your teammates stressed with the tournament so close?” 

Jaebum sighed and glanced back towards the benches where his teammates were sitting. “I wish they were more stressed,” he joked lightly. “I’m having a tough time getting them to care. Jackson and Bambam are constantly goofing around, I can hardly get them to practice. Youngjae’s been sick lately so his condition isn’t the best. Jinyoung keeps whining about his braces, and somehow manages to sneak out of practice every hour or so to eat ice cream. He claims the dentist told him to, but I’m not sure if I believe him anymore.”

Eunha giggled. Jinyoung was cute; his slight lisp caused by his braces and his generally cute face earned him his fair share of admirers among the younger girls in school.

“How about Yugyeom?” she asked.

Jaebum glanced back at Yugyeom. The maknae of the team was sitting alone, baseball helmet held awkwardly between his legs as he stared at the ground blankly. There was clearly something wrong with him. “I’m worried about him, too. He joined the dance club recently. He wasn’t saying anything until recently, but he admitted that one of the sunbaes at that club is bullying him.”

Eunha’s eyes widened. “What? That’s awful!”

Jaebum nodded and sighed. “Yeah. It’s okay for now, I’m taking care of it.”

“You should. Yugyeom seems really innocent, it’s not right for anyone to take advantage of that.”

“I agree.”

“I think it’s really admirable how well you take care of your teammates,” Eunha admitted with a smile. Jaebum blinked at her and his cheeks flushed a little red, causing Eunha to feel flustered as she realized how forward her own compliment sounded. She hoped that she wasn’t being too obvious with her flirting, but his next words surprised her.

“Eunha… do you maybe want to go out for dinner sometime? Maybe after practice tomorrow?” he asked quickly. His cheeks were a little flushed but he was maintaining eye contact with her, watching carefully for her reaction.

She smiled softly. “Sure. That sounds great.”

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Park Jinyoung, on the other hand, remembered it all.

Jinyoung remembered the first time he had seen Eunha. He had noticed her walking past him in the corridor at school. Her soft smile, the gentle yet unwavering eyes and the way she would wear different colored hairbands to school every day. He remembered the first day the Coach had introduced her to the team as their temporary manager until the tournament was over. Eunha had bowed slightly while the rest of the team greeted her, her hair falling over her shoulders and her usual calm smile on her face.

He remembered the first time he had injured himself on the baseball field during practice, and Eunha had gone running to get the first aid kit; cleaning the blood off his knee and helping him limp up to the nurse’s office. Eunha had waited the whole time he was getting his knee bandaged up. When Jinyoung had thanked her, she waved him off with a gentle smile and told him to heal soon or Jaebum would be upset at losing one of his ace players.

Jinyoung remembered the first time somebody had suggested that the baseball team captain and the manager could be dating, and how he had thought it was absurd. Why would somebody as kind and caring as Eunha date the stuffy Im Jaebum? It was impossible.

He remembered the first time he had seen Jaebum walk up to Eunha after practice, when the two of them had quietly and subtly slipped their hands into each other’s, keeping them intertwined while the Coach came over to brief them. None of the other boys had noticed the couple holding hands but Jinyoung had been cursed with sharp eyes and a deepening, undeniable crush on Eunha. He noticed it all with a heavy heart.

Jinyoung had still denied it. Both his own feelings for Eunha, and the fact that she and Jaebum could be anything serious. Yet it reflected in his behavior; he found himself irritated whenever Jaebum gave orders to the team as if he could control them. Jinyoung felt anger rise up inside of him whenever Jaebum would point out his mistakes during practice because who was he to embarrass him in front of Eunha like that? What gave Im Jaebum the right to tell him anything?

The resentment escalated, slowly and quietly without Jinyoung realizing it himself.

He was finally brought back down to earth a few months later, when he could no longer deny what was right in front of his face.

It had been a normal day after practice. Jaebum had insisted that Jinyoung stay behind after everyone had left to help him throw some pitches. The captain made it sound like extra practice but they both knew it was punishment. Jinyoung had been acting out lately, and Jaebum needed to put him in line. The two of them were practicing in the hot sun when Bambam had come running up to them.

“Hyung! Hyung! It’s- uff- hyung, you need to come-“ the younger boy was panting at the edge of the baseball ground, bent over double with his hands on his knees. Jaebum frowned at him.

“We’re practicing, Bambam.”

“It’s Eunha-noona!”

Jaebum had paused. “What?”

“You remember the guy that was picking on Yugyeom? From his dance class? He was trying to push him around again at the park and Eunha-noona tried to break it up and it got kind of serious-“

Jaebum hadn’t needed to hear anymore. He dropped the baseball bat on the ground and ran after Bambam, not stopping until they reached the park. Jinyoung had run after him. The three boys reached the park at the same time, only to find Yugyeom sitting on a bench and drying his tears while Eunha patted the younger boy’s back gently.

“What the hell happened?” Jaebum demanded loudly.

Eunha glanced up and blinked at all of them, looking confused at the appearance of the three boys, heavily panting and looking like they had run a marathon. She had narrowed her eyes at Bambam, frowning slightly. “Bambam. I told you to call him if something happened-“

Bambam blinked. “But noona-“

“You went up against the guy that was bullying Yugyeom?” Jaebum demanded. Anger was clear in his expression, but there was more. Possessiveness, worry, frustration. He walked up to her and stood inches away from her. “Where did you get the brilliant idea to go up against a guy twice your size, Eunha?” he demanded.

Eunha didn’t flinch. “It’s not like I fought the guy-“

“Oh? What did you do?”

“I tolked to him,” Eunha replied. She looked irritable now, and one of her hands came up to rest on her hip. “I explained to him exactly how serious what he was doing was, and the sort of consequences that would come from a disciplinary mark on his academic record-“

“Oh, and he just sat and listened to you, did he?” Jaebum demanded. He took a brief step back and scanned her up and down, before his hands landed on her wrist. Eunha tried moving it behind her back but Jaebum had grabbed it before she could. It was clear; a large, red handprint that showed somebody had grabbed her wrist roughly. Jaebum’s eyes flashed. “What is this, then?”

Eunha bit her lip. “So he wasn’t very co-operative-“

“I’ll kill him.” Jaebum took a step back and clenched his fists as he turned around. “I’ll ing kill him-“

“Don’t be stupid,” Eunha snapped, grabbing Jaebum’s shirt and pulling him back. “You know better than to get into a fist fight with that kid. It’s a handprint, it’ll fade. He’s in the Principal’s office right now and he’s probably going to get suspended anyway, so it doesn’t matter. He’ll learn his lesson.”

“And have you learned yours?” Jaebum demanded.

“Excuse me?”

“Not to pick fights with men twice your size.” Jaebum took a step closer and released her injured wrist, instead bringing his hands up to caress her face. His palms cupped her cheeks gently as he moved closer to her. “Do you know how worried I was? Don’t scare me like that again.”

Eunha looked unimpressed. “I’m sorry you got worried, but Jaebum-“

He cut her off, leaning down and pressing his lips to hers gently. Eunha froze at the feeling of Jaebum’s warm lips on hers and she let him kiss her, her own lips moving in response. Neither of them noticed Bambam and Yugyeom staring open-mouthed at the brazen public display of affection nor the shocked expression on Jinyoung’s face.

Yes, Jinyoung remembered it all.

He clearly remembered the day he realized that he would have to give up on Eunha, because it was one game that he didn’t want to play.

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Eunha had always been practical when it came to relationships.

She could often spot things and patterns that other people couldn’t, she could pick up on behavior that nobody else saw and most importantly, she was capable of making rational decisions that weren’t clouded by emotion. So it was barely a few months into her relationship with Jaebum when she saw something that apparently nobody else could see.

She and Jaebum weren’t right for each other.

It had been exciting at the start, definitely. Her heart had leapt whenever he held her hand, and the few kisses they’d shared had her feeling flustered and giggly. Yet as they grew closer, and the excitement of their first relationship wore off, it became clear that there was a fundamental flaw in their relationship.

It was that Jaebum was overly protective, and Eunha liked to make her own decisions.

She wondered if it was normal in the beginning to feel a tinge of irritation whenever he would show his over-protectiveness. Her friends seemed to think it was very romantic of him to come around after her class, and offer to help her carry books to the library or put up posters for the cultural festival, or do some other task that the teacher had assigned. But somehow, Eunha didn’t like it.

She had always taken her work and responsibilities very seriously. It was probably why most of the teachers loved her, and why she had been chosen as Class President. Yet when Jaebum would waltz in and simply take the posters from her and start putting them up, or take a heavy load of books out of her arms to carry them for her, she would feel a burst of irritation.

It’s my job, she had told him, a countless number of times. It’s sweet of you to offer to help, but let me do it. I don’t need anyone to do it for me. It make me feel like I’m slacking off. 

Yet somehow, Jaebum never seemed to understand. It wasn’t his fault. He thought he was helping his girlfriend. He was a generally protective person who didn’t like seeing Eunha struggle when he could help her. Things escalated when Eunha became Student Body President in their senior year. The workload was getting too much for her, and the responsibilities constantly weighed her down. Jaebum often listened to her complain about how much work she was doing and how she’d been staying back at school late almost every day, until one day he finally burst.

“This is absurd,” Jaebum had said finally. “You should quit.”

Eunha had laughed. “I’m not going to quit.”

“Be practical, Eunha. Those teachers are just taking advantage of the fact that you’re responsible and they’re piling too much work on you for one person to do. You should quit. It’s not healthy for you. I’ll come with you to talk to Mr. Lee.”

“No, you won’t. Because I’m not quitting,” Eunha replied firmly.

“But you complain about how difficult it is every day!” he pointed out, irritated.

“Am I bothering you? I’ll stop complaining.”

“That’s not the point. You need to do something about it, Eunha. I can’t just sit and watch while you overwork yourself like this. Quit, or at least threaten to so that they decrease your workload,” Jaebum replied. He was getting a little frustrated. Why did she never listen to him? “Like I said, I’ll go and talk to Mr. Lee for you-“

“Why on earth would you go and talk to Mr. Lee about my work?” Eunha demanded, bewildered.

“Because I’m worried about you-“

“Your worry isn’t an excuse to start doing whatever you want to! Yes, it’s difficult being the Class President. Yes, I come and complain about it to you because it feels nice to vent my frustrations to my boyfriend. But it’s still my job, I’m doing it because I like doing it. Whether I quit or not is solely my decision,” Eunha had snapped. Jaebum was shocked at the irritation in her voice and even more surprised when she took her bag out of his hands and walked away, going the rest of the way home by herself.

Apologies had been exchanged the next day, but it didn’t matter. They both knew this was something they wouldn’t get over and Eunha had been the one to say that words that they were both thinking inside.

“You’re a great guy, Jaebum,” she had said quietly. “The way you take care of people around you is admirable, and I know you have every good intention at heart. Which is why I hope you can find a girl who will appreciate everything you do for her. But I don’t think I’m that person.”

Jaebum had protested weakly, said that they could work things out when he knew that they really couldn’t. It wasn’t something they could compromise on. Jaebum was used to being a leader, to taking charge and making decisions for people around him. It was something he prided himself in, and yet something that Eunha hated about him. They couldn’t reconcile this; it wasn’t worth it.

Things between them were awkward and uncomfortable for a while. Yet, both Eunha and Jaebum stayed professional for the sake of the baseball team and ended up as good friends. None of the members of the baseball team even realized when the two had broken up. In a couple of weeks, they were talking normally again, without any sign that they had once dated.

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