“What did you mean I’m last?!”

“It’s not a big deal Siyeon.”

“To you!”

“To anyone, idiot.”

“I politely beg to differ!”

“Let it go.”

“You put me third! Last Kyungwon!”

Siyeon huffed. Kyungwon lightly chuckled.

“Forget it.”

The current situation was Kyungwon a few feet ahead of Siyeon, heavy gym bag thrown sluggishly over her shoulder, trying to (emphasis on the trying) make her way home from a day filled with soccer.

Siyeon trailed behind, nothing too out of the ordinary from their usual routine.

Their respective classes till 3pm. Siyeon’s acting and singing lessons until 4:30pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Kyungwon’s soccer practice until 4pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, games played on Saturdays.

It seemed somewhat bizarre how their busy schedules conveniently fit the other, how even on Tuesdays Kyungwon had enough time to change out of her soccer kit and make her way over to the auditorium where Siyeon would be waiting. Neither girl had questioned just how effortlessly their daily lives seemed to match.

But that’s what they did, Kyungwon and Siyeon, they fit together perfectly.

Or maybe not.

“Kyungwon!”

“What?!”

“Hold up.” Siyeon sounded out of breath, her little legs no match for the other girl’s long and slender ones.

“I’m holding.”

The younger girl quickened her pace until she met an impatient Kyungwon, as they proceeded to walk side by side.

Siyeon would like to think that the silence that followed was anything but uncomfortable.

Siyeon would also like to think that Kyungwon wasn’t angry at her, for some reason she couldn’t quite figure out.

She’d like to think that her friend was joking when she’d announced she liked Siyeon the least out of three of their friends.

Siyeon would like to think a lot of wishful, unlikely things.

“So…good game today?”

Kyungwon took a breath before answering.

“We lost.”

Ah…… Siyeon silently cursed herself. Her scolding halted however when Kyungwon continued.

“You couldn’t have known that though. You weren’t there.”

To say Siyeon could practically see the venom dripping from those words wouldn’t have been so far from the truth.

It’s not like Siyeon had a choice, things were getting too serious now in her future for her to blow off Saturday lessons to watch Kyungwon play.

The years Siyeon had spent putting Kyungwon first were starting to catch up with her, fast.

It had become a tradition between the two to watch each other.

Siyeon would skip her 12pm acting lesson at the weekend to join the regular crowd at one of Kyungwon’s soccer games. Even at crucial times she’d manage to leave early, somehow persuading her teacher she had somewhere more important to be.

Because to Siyeon, she did.

Kyungwon had made it her duty to attend all of Siyeon’s play recitals and showcases, cheering her on enthusiastically (and a little embarrassing at times Kyungwon admits) from the front row. Even shouting at the top of her lungs from the back when she’d barely made it in time after a match, hair stuck to her forehead from sweat and mud still covering her legs.

If there was one thing between the two it was consistency, and yet even that begs to be broken.

“I talked to Kyla though, asked her how you played.” Siyeon spoke hesitantly.

“Was she as unimpressed as the talent scout?”

“She said you scored 2 goals, were the best player on the field today.”

A pause. Siyeon backtracked on Kyungwon’s last words.

“Wait…talent scout?”

Kyungwon gave her friend a look that made Siyeon feel guilty, as if she should’ve known. Maybe she should’ve.

“A talent scout?”

“Yes.”

“Watching you?”

“Yes.”

“Today?!”

“Yes Siyeon!” Kyungwon let out an exasperated breath, clutching the strap of her bag tighter.

“And I missed your game.” Siyeon huffed, a statement rather than a question this time.

“It does seem that way, doesn’t it?”

Siyeon lost count of the times she swore at herself right then. For all the days she’d been there, watching, albeit not always paying attention, it didn’t seem enough.

Maybe it was that one thing she knew to be true that settled at the pit of her stomach, unfamiliar and unwanted, the fact that she’d let Kyungwon down.

The silence that followed was excruciating.

Siyeon tried to focus on the crunch of the leaves beneath her feet, or the heavy breathing of Kyungwon beside her, her warm breath causing mist in the air.

The cold seemed to have taken the words out of Siyeon’s mouth, as if she’d had any to begin with.

“’You’ve got potential.’” Kyungwon stated.

“Huh?”

The taller girl sighed, long and exhausted. “That’s all he said. ‘You’ve got potential, kid. Maybe next year.’”

Siyeon could feel the hurt in Kyungwon’s words, in her eyes, the way she carried herself.

If Siyeon could (and she’d die trying), she’d feel half the pain her friend was feeling any day, just so Kyungwon could feel less.

“What the does that mean, Siyeon? ‘Potential’?”

“I don’t know, Kyungwon.” The smaller girl mumbled.

Kyungwon’s fingertips were frostbitten and calloused, but that didn’t stop Siyeon from intertwining their fingers, rubbing her thumb along the length of Kyungwon’s index finger.

“I don’t know.”

“Me neither, because you weren’t there, and we didn’t win, and I didn’t get scouted.”

Again, quieter this time, as If Kyungwon was thinking aloud, “And you weren’t there.”

Siyeon felt there was more meaning behind those words than either of them would like to admit.

The remainder of the walk home was as solemn as the weather.

Siyeon told Kyungwon about her day, the taller girl tried her best to be cooperative, but Siyeon could still see the hint of disappointment in Kyungwon’s face.

She just wished that disappointment wasn’t directed at her.

The bitter chill was a pain in the , Siyeon had commented, which led to her friend shaking her head, pulling the spare goalkeeper gloves out of her bag and stuffing Siyeon’s trembling hands inside each one.

Without fail though, despite what the shorter girl thought lay between them, Siyeon found herself being led up her driveway by Kyungwon and escorted to her front door.

The taller girl dropped her bag almost immediately, turned the other girl around and ped Siyeon’s own bag, rummaging around for a second or two before pulling out the desired object.

Kyungwon found Siyeon staring down at her own hands, engulfed by the comically large gloves.

“You look like a fool in those.” Kyungwon laughed softly, inserting the key she’d retrieved into Siyeon’s front door.

“You don’t think I’d make an excellent goalie?”

“Not a chance, Park.”

This elicited a light smack from the smaller girl onto Kyungwon’s back as she bent down to pick up her belongings, allowing room for Siyeon to enter her house.

Siyeon threw her bag down once she stepped inside, watching it slide across the wooden flooring and hit the wall nearby.

“Help me?” she asked, holding her hands out to Kyungwon and gesturing down at the gloves.

While her friend was preoccupied, Siyeon couldn’t help but internally chuckle at the fact that even now, standing higher than the other girl, Kyungwon still had a centimetre or two on Siyeon.

The cold hit Siyeon’s hands the moment they were free again, and Kyungwon tried her best to keep her warm by rubbing them between her own hands, considerably larger than Siyeon’s.

“Did you mean it?”

“What?” Kyungwon laughed, perplexed by the unprovoked question.

Siyeon took a moment to look long and hard at the girl before her.

“Ranking me third. Did you mean it?”

A look. A pause, one Kyungwon spent calculating the right way to answer.

Her mind had been so preoccupied with soccer she’d forgotten about the jovial conversation they’d shared at lunch with their friends.

“Yes.”

Siyeon pulled her hands away, subtle enough that Kyungwon didn’t notice.

“You really like me least?”

A nod of the head.

“Out of you, Yaebin and Yewon that is.”

Siyeon’s eyes narrowed at the other girl, she took a moment or two let that sink in.

“You see that’s what I don’t get. Yewon I understand, a literal sunshine and all that. But Yaebin? I can’t seem to wrap my head around that one, Kyungwon.”

“You don’t need to wrap your head around it, just accept it.” Kyungwon said, ruffling her hand through Siyeon’s hair.

“Stop that.” Siyeon threw Kyungwon’s hand down and huffed, only fuelling Kyungwon’s idea of the smaller girl being a little child.

“You’re seriously not joking about this?”

“Nuh uh.” Kyungwon mumbled with a shake of her head.

Siyeon would like to pretend she didn’t see the smugness on Kyungwon’s lips, the satisfaction of seeing the smaller girl squirm.

“Why Yaebin?”

“Why do you care?”

Siyeon gave her friend a sharp look. Kyungwon would find it intimidating if Siyeon wasn’t quite convincingly, the perfect depiction of a puppy.

“She’s a fellow Kang.”

“Bull.”

“Mind your language, little one.”

Kyungwon was barking up the wrong tree.

“Okay.” Siyeon said nonchalantly, seeming almost satisfied with their conversation.

She took her foot from in front of the door and began to close it.

As she’d expected (or maybe, hoped) Kyungwon’s strong arm came protruding out, halting the door in its path.

“Okay?”

“Yeah. Okay. I accept it.”

Kyungwon looked at her friend sceptically.

“You do?”

“Am I not convincing enough?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

Both girls let out a small chuckle of sorts, laughing for different reasons as Siyeon began to pry Kyungwon’s grip from the door, finger by finger.

“Nothing will change your mind?” Siyeon dared to ask.

There was a hint of hesitation before Kyungwon answered with a shaky ‘No’, trying too hard to sound affirmative.

“Then goodnight Kyungwon.”

The older girl took a step back as Siyeon’s face was the only thing that could be seen in the doorway now.

She let a moment pass before realising Siyeon was definite.

“Goodnight.” She sighed, turning on her heels, “Don’t let it keep you up at night!”

But maybe Siyeon would. Maybe something inside of Siyeon told her that Kyungwon’s mind wasn’t entirely made up, that there’s nothing a little persuasion can’t change.

Because Siyeon knew Kyungwon.

And Siyeon liked a challenge.

A/N: Because Kyungwon and Siyeon rose from the dead and did a vlive, and I got a little inspired.