The next day, a headache welcomed me once I opened my eyes. My body was moving slowly around, so I took my time to do things. After last night, I had lost all of the joy I gathered during the summer. Now that I thought of it, it was actually funny how one conversation with Kai could put me down so quickly. As I made way to the first floor, I called Chen.

“Hi”, I greeted.

“Ji Eun ah”, Chen said. “I might be a little late today.”

“It’s okay”, I waved at Mrs. Kim in the kitchen and continued to the hallway.  “Uh…. I’ll wait for you outside.”

“Is something wrong?” He asked. ”You sound a little sad.”

“Everything’s fine”, I was embarrassed at how quickly he caught on what was going on with me.

“You know that you can talk to me right?” He said.

“I know but ev-”

“I’m coming to you right now”, he hung up on me. I distractedly put my phone in my pocket.

”I’m going to school Mrs. Kim”, I leaned against the kitchen door.

“At this time?” She asked. ”You haven’t had breakfast yet.”

“I have lots to do at school and I’m not really hungry”, I pursed my lips and folded my arms.

“Ya”, Kai said behind me. “You’re in the way. Move.” I turned around and bumped into him.

“It’s Ji Eun”, I said. “Not ya.”

“Whatever”, Kai passed by me. His entire aura was pissed off. I sighed and met Mrs. Kim’s eyes. She was watching the two of us.

“Why did you guys fight yesterday?” She asked.

“I’m going”, I said and hurried out of the house before she’d get anything out of me. In the driveway, I saw Chen. “I thought you were going to be late.”

“I had this aching feeling that something was wrong”, he smiled. “So you better start talking.”

“Chen”, I softly called. The two of us strolled to school because we had so much time ahead of us.

“I’m not blind or deaf you know”, he said. “I know you well enough to know when you’re in pain. I’ve seen the way you and Kai ignore each other and I can hear that you’re depressed in your voice. Did you guys talk?”

“We did”, I answered.

“Then why are you-?” He gasped. ”Did he ask you to forget about him? Because if he did it means we can finally date.” I laughed. It wasn’t the first time Chen had made this dating statement. I wasn’t against it either but I had thoroughly explained to him that it wouldn’t be possible until after I got over Kai which he had agreed on. He didn’t want to come second to anyone, he’d said, so for now we were both content with what we had or was doing.

“Fine I’ll tell you”, I said. “We talked or I mean I talked and we argued. Actually he started it, but then Mrs. Kim came down probably because we were yelling at each other.”

”Did you cry?” He asked. When I didn’t answer, he shook his head. “A guy that makes a girl cry is not a good guy. I thought he was nice.”

“He is”, I said. “He can be a sweetheart.” I smiled remembering the times Kai was nice and decent to me. “He’s very… I can’t find the right word.”

“You’re defending the guy who hurts you”, Chen said. “Tsk. Tsk.” He looked at me head shaking. “That’s no good.”

“I know”, I agreed.

“I’ll make you feel better”, he said once we reached school.

“How?”

“By taking away one of Kai’s number one title”, he said.

“What?”

“I’ve heard about him being the best at everything”, Chen explained. “But if I win against him at… let’s say a basketball game and he goes down to 2nd place in terms of the school’s number one basketball player, it’ll make you feel better.”

“How will that make me feel better?” I asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to see him loose at something for the first time in his life?” Chen asked. “Don’t you want to see the look on his face when he loses something?”

“Chen”, I clapped his cheek softly. “There’s no way you could beat Kai at anything he does. It doesn’t matter how talented, strong or smart you are. You can’t. No one can.”

“Just so you know”, he said. ”You just hurt my feelings by not believing in me.”

“It’s not that I don’t believe in you”, I explained. “It’s just that no one can beat the guy. Do you know how many people have tried?”

“If I win you will go out with me”, he said. “I’ll take you somewhere you’ve never been before.”

“Deal”, I agreed.

Lunch

“It’s not that simple”, Se Hun explained. “You need to eat healthy and exercise regularly if you want to stay fit and lose weight.”

“I hate healthy food”, Alice frowned. “I’m not exercising with you ever again. I thought I was going to die yesterday.”

“Why would you want to lose weight?” I asked. “You’re perfect just the way you are.”

“I wanted to do some squats and help my stick out some more”, Alice said making the boys laugh wholeheartedly.

“Girls are so funny”, Tao said. “I’ll never understand them.”

“Why do you have to make your stick out?” Lu Han asked.

”Because I don’t want it to be saggy”, Alice explained. “Girls butts are extremely sensitive to age and it’s important to manage.” Listening to Alice complaining about her being saggy made me think of mine.

“Is my getting saggy?” I asked. The laughter stopped and the boys gave me a very serious expression.

“Yes”, Chen nodded. ”Your is very saggy.”

“You should start squatting”, Tao agreed.

“Definitely”, Lu Han added. I waited for Se Hun to say something.

“Saggy”, he nodded.

“You guys are being jerks”, Alice shook her head.

”What are you talking about?” Lime joined the table.

“Where have you been?” Se Hun kissed her cheek.

“I was talking with Lee Tuk”, she explained.

Chen suddenly stood up, making us all look at him.

“It’s time”, he said.

“For what?” Lu Han asked. Chen headed to a table further away from ours. When I saw the table he was approaching, my eyes grew bigger. Oh god, I thought, I wasn’t ready. Chen stopped in front of the table and he hit it hard with both his hands hushing down everyone.

Kai who was sitting at the table put down the book he was reading and looked up at Chen with an unreadable expression. He hadn’t been startled by the sudden tumult at all. Chen cleared his voice and pointed his finger at Kai.

“You have caused someone I care for to cry”, Chen said. “And since I don’t like to see people I like getting hurt, I’ve decided to deal with it my way.” He took a deep breath. “I Chen challenge you Kai to a basketball game.” People around gasped. This was the first time in two years anyone had challenged Kai at anything, really.

“I caused someone to cry?” Kai turned his head to his left and laid his eyes on me. “You mean her?” He shook his head. ”You’re standing up for her by challenging me? I thought we were friends.” He looked at Chen.

“Oh, we’re still friends”, Chen smiled. “But I have to defend her and if I have to become your enemy by doing so, then I will. We can still be friends later though.” The corner of Kai’s right lips turned into a mesmerising smirk.

“Fine”, he said. Kai held eye contact with me again and I felt my heart racing at how intense his eyes were. He stood up from his chair. “Let’s go.”

He and Chen left the room and were followed by everyone present at the scene besides Tao who had stayed with me.

“Aren’t you coming?” Tao asked me. ”Two boys are fighting over you.”

“What’s the point?” I sighed.

“Chen likes you”, Tao stood up. ”And you like him. Forget about Kai and date Chen. You deserve better than him, Ji Eun ah.” He gave me a weak smile before leaving.

You’re probably wondering why I didn’t follow everyone, and the truth is it’s because I didn’t know who to cheer on. I know, crazy right?

 I wanted to cheer on Chen for being such a good friend and supporting me even though I knew Chen was going to lose. Against the unbearing reality, deep inside I hoped he would win. That way I could use it as an excuse of going on a date with him. 

The other problem was that I didn’t want Kai to lose. I knew he was going to win and I also didn’t want him to lose because…, because… Actually I had no idea why. Kai always hurt me and this challenge was about getting back at him, so why did I want him to win? 

“Ya!” I turned around and saw Lime waving at me. ”What are you doing by yourself when you should be cheering on Chen?”

“I should cheer on Chen right?” I asked. “He’s standing up for me.”

“Of course”, Lime said. ”Why? Were you thinking of cheering for Kai?”

“No”, I lied. “I was just confused.” Yes, she was right. I should cheer on the one person who stood up for me and even risked getting humiliated just to make me feel better.

“But you better come right now”, Lime looked excited. “It’s a tie. Chen was winning, but Kai caught up with him and things are going crazy out there.”

Hope. I felt hope when she said Chen was winning.

“Let’s go”, I said. We ran out of the lunchroom to the basketball court outside. It was really crowded, but after pushing through people we made it to the front.

“What’s the score?” I asked.

“It’s 6-5”, Se Hun answered. “Kai is leading. They’re playing to 10.”

I watched the boys play. They were sweating so much, they had taken off their uniform’s jacket. At the moment, Kai was holding the ball and Chen was trying to block him, which he succeeded at. When it was Chen’s turn to have the ball I started cheering.

“Chen! Chen!” I cheered loudly. ”Go Chen!” Chen and Kai stopped playing and they looked at me, but I had my eyes on Chen only. Chen grew a smile when he saw me. “Come on! You can do it! We’ll cheer you on!” Soon everyone started cheering for the one they were rooting for as the game continued. With the cheers, Chen was able to score another point. I was so happy I jumped around with the girls.

It was now 9-8 to Chen.

“Oh my god!” Alice said. ”What if he wins?” She had asked the exact question I had in my head. What if Chen wins? 

“Let’s cheer some more”, Lime said. As we cheered for Chen, Kai had taken the ball and he was dribbling his way to the basket.

“Come on Chen!” I yelled. Chen was going for the ball while Kai was getting ready to jump. “Love you, Chen! You can do it!”

Midway in his jump, Kai turned around losing focus on the game and didn’t see when Chen jumped to meet him. The two of them bumped in each other midair and fell. Seeing the two of them almost fall, I shrieked in horror. Chen grasped control of his fall and rolled subtly to his side, but Kai fell on his leg hitting the ground harshly. When I saw the frown on his face as he hit the ground, I completely lost it.

Before I was aware of it, I was already running into the basketball court. I saw Chen coming my way, but he was not on my mind at the time. I ran pass him and kneeled down on Kai’s side.

A/N:

Wow was not expecting all the comments from the last upload but thank you so much for subscribing to this story. 

@pinkespluescheinhorn  "I completely agree with you about the he has to call me first thing, even with the she always makes contact first but imagine it from Ji Eun's perspective: He kissed her, then laughed about it and left for 2 months. He would call, ask for, speak and greet everyone but never her. So the guy she's in love with basically kissed her, made her feel stupid about thinking he did it because he might like her and then he ignored her. Now put all of that with the fact that she's always insecure around him. How could she even get the courage to pick up the phone and call him when to her it was clear he didn't care about her at all? She's always made the move but at one point he needs to step up."

@alll the chen fans "I love Chen too. Ji Eun will definitely be in a difficult position between the two."