The basketball players are getting ready in the lockers room, stretching while talking with their teammates. It’s the preliminary for the nation’s high school basketball competition and Hanhwa has been holding the trophy for two years in a row.  The pressures are all on the tonight’s team, they want to keep the trophy at school.

“So you went for a dinner with her?”

Jongin asks Sehun when they’re getting ready and Sehun chuckles. “Hey, that’s big news. Admit it,” Jongin adds before he gets hit by Sehun.

“Alright boys, gather up!”

Orders the coach and the team gather up in the middle of the locker room, “Whimoon is tough, we have to admit it but I have a great team players so I trust you to handle them. Captain, eyes on Kim Taehyung! He’s the captain and the center, others also have to see your opponent. Remember, 2-3 and box-and-one! Talk to your teammates, you can’t work as a team if you can’t communicate. Keep that in your mind, eyes on the opponents, head in the game!”

They’re listening to the coach closely. Coach Kwon is young but he always say the right thing that’s why the athletes respect him. He draw the defense pattern on his board and make sure that his kids know what to do and who to watch over. He doesn’t only tell the sophomores but also the juniors that most likely will replace the starters as a substitute. After a good 10 minutes of talking and giving some supportive message, they finally go to the court after the liaison officer for their team come and tell then that the cheers are starting which mean they will have to go out to the court soon.

“You know, Haewon will perform soon.” Jongin says and Sehun stares at him at his statement.

“I know,” Sehun says as he looks away from him, Jongin sneers at his friend’s respond. Sehun knows what Jongin ‘s mean by telling him that. His friend loves to especially about love and girls. Out of the four, Sehun is the most popular yet the most careless person about love. Even Kyungsoo, who looks like someone who doesn’t really care about it, has several exes that acknowledge his shrewdness in romance.

“Oh shut up, Jongin.”

Haewon stands in a line with the other cheers members, all the sophomores look ready and relax. Unlike some juniors who are nervously talking with their friends and fidgeting their fingers. Haewon and her friends aren’t really nervous. They’ve done it a lot of times since junior high school so she’s not really nervous. She just hopes that the crowd is easy (because she had performed in front of a tough crowd who didn’t really respond the cheers before) and the floor isn’t slippery.

“Are the players will standing right beside us?” Jisoo asks while tying her shoes, “Don’t worry you got all night to stare at the junior players during the game.” Areum answers her and the latter glares at her answer.

“There’s someone that should be off limit though,”

Eunyoung remarks and her friends frown at her statement, Jisoo raises her eyebrows in acknowledgement after a couple minutes and nudges Areum whose standing beside her.

“Ah, I see.” Areum laughs with the two, making Haewon frowns at them.

“Oh Sehun,” Eunyoung nudges her and she just chuckles at them, “Come on guys, that’s not something that you should be noisy about.” Haewon shakes her head and her friends just won’t listen. “You have a very dense personality, don’t try to avoid this fact.” Areum says.

Soon they hear a lot of boys talking and very noisy crowd behind them, the basketball players are coming and starting to line up beside the cheers. Haewon suddenly feels someone touch her shoulder.

“Hey,”

Haewon turns around and she sees Sehun right beside her with Jongin by his side.

“Oh, hey. Good luck on your game,” Haewon supports him and he thanks her, “Good luck on your performance too, don’t fall.” he replies and she just laughs at his statement.

“Here they come! Hanhwa’s Cheerleader team, INFERNO!” the announcer says and the cheerleaders team comes out, they did several routine before opening the way for the athletes to come out. The crowd is enthusiast on the game, howling and cheering can be heard all over the court. The cheerleaders stand in their respective supporters’ bench. Hanhwa and Whimoon supporters sit opposing each other, so are the cheerleader teams.

“Why do basketball athletes always handsome?”

Jisoo wonders as she looks at all the basketball players in the court, doing their warm ups. Balls thrown everywhere and the crowd is cheering their heart out.

“Someone should stop Kim Jisoo for wandering around the athletes,” Areum says and Eunyoung quickly blocks Jisoo’s view, resulting in the latter’s protest. “Hey, wandering isn’t bad.” Jisoo exclaims and her friends just laugh.

A few minutes later, the main official (referee) blows his whistle and both if the teams gather with their own coaches. Hanhwa supporters fire up and cheers can be heard through the court for both high school.

“Eyes and head on the game, remember that! Play fair, we’re here to play basketball not wrestling.” the boys laugh together and then they wish one another good luck before the game officially starts. The crowd go crazy as the team members’ name from each school who plays as starters are called. Hanhwa starts the game with a three point from their shooting guard senior, earns a big howls and cheers. Sehun and Jongin who still sit on the bench also scream to cheer their seniors.

The match went quite well and the first two quarters go well, Hanhwa lead the match with five points ahead Whimoon.

“Minwoo, you’re okay?” Jongin and Sehun hear the seniors ask Minwoo as the captain nods his head. “I think I could hold it until the third quarter, but I can’t promise you the fourth one. Sehun should play for me.” Minwoo says as the commentator announces that the cheerleader team from each school will perform. Whimoon dancers go first and they perform well, they go with hip hop rather than modern like Hanhwa dancers.

“Sehun, you’ll play on the fourth quarter okay?” Sehun nods his head to his coach and the basketball players all sit to watch the cheers team.

“Three times state champions are back, the national dance team will bring you the heat again! Here they come, INFERNO!” Hanhwa students all cheering for all the girls in the team. Sehun claps his hand to cheer as he sees Haewon among them. A song starts to play and the girls also starts to yell some cheering words to the boys. Sehun has watched the routine for a few times that he almost remember the song that they use.

Like any usual cheerleader performances, there’s a lot of gymnastic routine. There’s some attraction that Sehun and the boys haven’t seen yet, they seem to save a few surprise effects until their performance. There’s some part when Haewon and one of her friend doing some split after tumbling. Jongin howls as he is amazed by her. “She’s a great dancer, I mean it.” Jongin nudges Sehun who just smiles while watching the cheers team.

“Let’s go Panthers! Let’s go!”

The crowd clap their hands after the girls finish their performance and go back to their respective place.

“Let’s go, let’s go!”

The match begins it’s third quarter and the crowd goes wild again. Hanhwa leads the game with 29-23 from Whimoon, Minwoo start taking the ball from his opponents as they pass the ball to each other. Although he has an injured ankle, he still plays greatly. Miyoung even cheers loudly for him and jumps whenever her boyfriend scores. Everything goes pretty well until someone from Whimoon tackle Minwoo and he gtoans.

“AHH!”

The crowd instantly freeze and when the main official blows his whistle to tell that it’s a foul out as the player who tackles Minwoo has done four foul before and eventually dismissed from the court. The crowd or more precisely Hanhwa’s supporters boo-ed that player.

“Minwoo, you’re okay?” the coach approaches the captain as he shakes his head, “I think you should let Sehun play faster than I thought,” he says as the coach escorts him to the bench. “Sehun, your turn.” Coach Kwon says and the younger male nods his head.

“Are you okay?” Miyoung approaches Minwoo and the boy just laughs but then groans as their team’s doctor touch his ankle.

Haewon looks at Sehun who substitutes for Minwoo, he looks confident with no trace of nervous at all. She doesn’t know how nervous he is as he runs to the center of the court. Not only this will be the first time he plays for his high school but he also substitutes for the captain of the team. The best player and the communicator among the players.

“Let’s do this!” Coach Kwon claps his hand to encourage his team.

Sehun looks at the board to see that there’s only five minutes left in the third quarter. He nods his head to the other senior in the team and the ball is thrown by the official. He quickly takes the ball and run through Whimoon’s point guard and then scores a three-point for his school.

“WOOOO!!!!”

The crowd goes crazy and Sehun high fives with a senior right beaide him, “Great job,” that senior says as they retreats to guard their area.

Haewon looks at the energetic Sehun in the court. She can feels all the excitement rush over his body. She could see the determination in him, makes her wonder how can someone like him could share the same thinking and feel the same thing she feels. He could easily put a three point and takes away the ball from his opponent. It amazes her to see how different he is. The Sehun that she first knows is completely different with this Sehun who flies around the court in front of her right now. It amazes her how he could keep the two side of hum completely different.

The third quarter quickly ends and the crowd starts to getting louder.

“The third quarter has ended and Hanhwa is still leading with 38-31!!”

The commentator says and Hanhwa’s supporters also cheers loudly at the comment. Sehun and the team take a break in the bench while listening to the couch’s comment and feedback.

“Stay focus guys! Sehun you did a great job with the three point, keep it like that. I think we need to keep an eye at Whimoon’s point guard, he did three fouls already. Don’t dare to have more than four fouls unless the officials are ,” Coach Kwon says and the boys laugh. “Jv kids, I’m going to need you in this fourth quarter okay? Keep focus guys, focus!”

Sehun listens well to Coach Kwon’s words as he drinks his water. He takes a glance at the cheerleaders and then he locks eyes with Haewon who is talking with her friends. She looks at him and then smile while mouthing ‘Fighting!’ at him. He smiles and then gets back at his team.

“Ooh, what was that?”

Eunyoung teases Haewon who just chuckles at her friend’s comment. Haewon looks at the basketball team who’s getting ready to start the fourth quarter. They look serious and determined.

“The fourth quarter is going to start and we’ll see who’s going to the next round for the national high school basketball competition!”

The whistle is blown and the players get to the court once again. Sehun with three seniors and Jongin start the fourth round. Cheering can bee heard all around the court as Hanhwa’s Panthers scores. Whimoon also doesn’t lose, the crowds getting louder and noisier.

“Sehun is a great player,” Miyoung comments as she looks at Sehun who is guarding his teammate to bring the ball to the other side of the court. “Yeah, he is. I heard he was one of the youngest player to be scouted for KBL boot camp.” Haewon quotes her friend’s saying back then. “Well, I guess Minwoo and the others leave the team to the right person.” Miyoung adds and Haewon just nods at her statement.

“Hey, have you considered about taking my place after this tournament?” Miyoung asks Haewon, mking the her turns her head towards the older female.

“Are you serious with that?” Haewon asks her back and she just nods, “You have a great talent and quite a leadership skills, I can sense that.” Miyoung nudges her and Haewon thinks for a while.

“Aw, come on. I trust you more than anyone else. I’m sure you can bring the team to the top, pleasee?” Haewon is quite amused to see her senior who from the outside looks like a very strong by means no cutesy at all is doing an aegyo. “Yes, ma’am.” Haewon gives up and the senior cheers up, “Thank you, I trust you!” Miyoung hugs her and then goes to her other friends to tell them about the news.

Haewon looks at the score board that also shows the time they have left in the gamr.

“Five minutes until the game is over, looks like both school are still fight hard. Whimoon scored a three point but then got a double shot from Hanhwa. This is still preliminary match and it’s already this intense.”

“Jongin!”

Sehun raises his hand and Jongin seems like he understands what does he want. Jongin brings the ball to the center of the court and Sehun takes the ball from his grip while circling him, then he dribbles the ball near the net and passes it to a senior who quickly scores it. The crowd goes crazy as the match is close to the end.

Miyoung lead the cheers team to cheer their boys.

“WOOOOOO!!!”

The crowd goes crazy as the official blows his whistle, marking the end of the match. Hanhwa’s supporters are screaming and cheering loudly as their school is announced to be able to continue to the next round. The basketball players congratulating each other and also shake hands with the team from Whimoon while saying they’ve worked hard too.

Sehun is congratulated by all the seniors who play with him including Minwoo, the older male does a bro fist to him  while saying “That was amazing! We, the seniors, can trust the team to you guys.” Minwoo says to the jv players.

“Congratulations boys! Great game out there, don’t forget that we’ll be playing against Ssanghwa next Tuesday. Keep your condition, rest well and get well soon to those who injured yourself today.” Coach Kwon says and the boys begin to tidies up their bag to leave the locker room.

“Good job Sehun, I have an extremely bunch of talented jv players.” the coach says to Sehun and the other juniors.

Haewon is looking for something to eat or to cook in the supermarket, she usually has something to eat at home but she runs out of ingredients. The game ends around six so she still has time to shop for foods and ingredients. She has her backpack while continues to stroll around the supermarket.

“Are you here for shopping?”

Someone interrupts her and she looks around only to find Sehun with a bag of chips in his hand.

“Why do we keep meeting like this? This is funny,” Haewon laughs while keeping her trolley stay close with her, “Yeah, this is odd. But odd can’t even describe this,” Sehun furrows his brows and the teo laugh together.

“You’re buying a lot,” Sehun looks at the trolley Haewon has with her, “Yeah, I run out of stock at home so I need to buy a lot. You’re here for that?” Haewon looks at the tortilla chips bag in Sehun’s hand and the male laughs. “I ran out of stock in my bedroom, so yeah. You need some company?” he asks and Haewon thinks for a while, “You don’t mind?” he shakes his head and they end up walking through the supermarket together.

“Anyway, great game earlier. You really good at basketball,” Haewon praises the male who laughs humbly at her praise.

“Thank you, you did great too.” Sehun says as they stops in front of milk section, “You shop alone a lot?” Sehun asks as Haewon puts three carton of milk in her trolley. “Yeah, I live alone so no one could do this for me.” she answers and he nods in understanding manner.

“So you’re good at cooking?” he asks her again and she chuckles, “Not real good like really delicious one but decent one that you eat. I mostly cook jiggae, fried rice or just simply ramen.” She answers again and he laughs.

“What about you?” she asks him back, “What? Do I cook? Nah, not really a good cook. I cook a decent ramen though,” Sehun answers while laughing. “What about your favorite food?” Haewon curiously asks him while taking a cart of eggs, “I love sushi and bubble tea,” Sehun says while helping her to push the trolley. “Bubble tea? Really? I love bubble tea too!” she exclaims and the two of them laugh together.

“We should get some bubble tea together some time,” Sehun suggests and Haewon nods to the suggestion.

They roam the supermarket together as Haewon fills her trolley with foods and drinks. “I’m done here, do you need to go somewhere else?” Haewon asks as she pushes her trolley to the cashier, Sehun shakes his head  as they walk together.

Haewon finishes paying for her foods and going to take the shopping bag but she is beaten by Sehun who already takes it. “No, I’m fine. One bag won’t kill me,” she says and tries to takes it from the male who shakes his head, “I’ll accompany you until the bus stop,” he insists so she just gives up and they walk together to the bus stop.

“Thank you,” Haewon says and Sehun smiles, “To be honest, I never spend this much time with boys. Like, never ….” her confession makes him turn his head to look at her while keep walking, “But I bet you’re popular in your old school, even Jongin knows your name.” Sehun says and she just laughs.

“Thank you for thinking highly of me, but my friends are the one who’s famous not me.” Haewon kicking the rocks on the street while walking.

They arrive at the bus stop and Haewon takes the bag from Sehun’s grip as he loose his grip around them. “Thank you, you should go. It will be late,” Haewon thanks him, “The bus will comes soon. I’ll wait for you until you ride the bus, girl shouldn’t be left alone at night.” Sehun refuses and stay with her until the bus comes.

“See you tomorrow?” Sehun asks before Haewon gets on the bus, “But tomorrow is Saturday, right?” Haewon furrows her brows.

“Yeah, but I have a hunch that we will meet again tomorrow.”

“The head injury is quite severe, we don’t know when will she wakes up. But her vitals are good so she should wakes up soon,”

“Hyung, are you sure?”

“Don’t worry Sehun, she’ll be fine.”

⇒ Sorry it took me like a month to update this:( Exams has been killing me (I even have a test on Saturday wtf) I hope you guys like this and please do leave a comment down bellow to tell me about what do you think about this fic, is it boring? Speak~:) I won't bite^^ I still have exams on next monday and tuesday before the national exam on April ..... Hpefully I can update again tonight or maybe tomorrow~ Thank you for all the new subbers^^ Enjoy the story!