~

When Myung-Soo asked me to hang out I didn’t know what to expect, but when he told me to dress comfortably I was well versed in that area.

So, as he requested in just under ten minutes I was outside my apartment complex in a pair of denim boyfriend jeans with my grey H University sweatshirt and to compliment my white conversers laced my feet. I had worn a few layers underneath to combat the chill of the autumn evening.

Myung-Soo came right on time, he was wearing a grey hoodie that hid a lot of his body, a pair of khaki slacks and grey Nike’s. On his shoulder was a black duffle bag which caught my interest, I wanted to ask what was inside but he drew my attention by leading us away.

“Let’s go.”

Why I was being so careful with him I didn’t know. Okay I did know, but I didn’t know how to bring up the conversation and knowing Myung-Soo he must have misunderstood the phone thing with Seung-Ho. It was clear that he wanted to get whatever was weighing on his chest down so who was I to stop him? If it meant finally spending time with him, I didn’t mind.

We walked through our neighbourhood for a little while and taking in the never sleeping streets of Bunker Hill I suddenly remembered just why I had chosen this area to live in. Besides being situated in the growing financial area of downtown LA meaning it was good for work, the people were nice and everyone all seemed happy.

Well, on the outside that is.  

Seeing the way couples pranced lovingly hand in hand in the streets and students hanging with their friends reminded me that there’s life still to be lived and we were all doing just that, albeit in our own little ways.

When Myung-Soo stopped walking, so did I. I had been focusing on him and my thoughts for the duration of our walk I didn’t take in the surroundings, but when I did I noticed we were standing in the middle of an open basketball court.

I shifted to look at him and he was already setting the mysterious bag down on a bench, opening it to reveal a pristine basketball. The court was empty and since it was late it was dark, with the only lights coming from the lamps that stood at the four corners of the court.

I raised my eyebrows at him intrigued as this was far from anything I would have expected tonight. “When you said dress comfortably, this was what you meant?”

He held the ball out to me and smirked, “How about it? First to ten points is the winner?”

“Winner gets what?”

“To be the winner.” 

I folded my arms and stepped closer, “Not to toot my own horn, but you do know I was the ace of the high-school team and top scorer for two years at Uni?”

His smirk grew wider, “You do remember I still beat you the last time we played though right? By a margin at that.”

“That was a fluke, I was having a bad day.”

“There’s no such thing, I’m just better.” He pushed and I would be lying if he didn’t stir up my competitive side. I didn’t underestimate Myung-Soo’s skills, he was actually really good at basketball but it had been a while since I’d been on the court and kicked some proverbial .

He might just have to be my first target.

“Fine, but let’s make it interesting.” I suggested, swiftly stealing the ball from his hands. “Strip basketball. If I get it in you have to take off a piece of clothing and if I don’t you can keep the clothes on your back. How about it?”

The moment the idea came out of my mouth I knew it was too late to take it back. Heat instantly hit my cheeks, but I suppressed my embarrassment by simply observing as his expression transformed from one of interest to one of deep thought until he accepted, all in the span of a few seconds.

“Call.”

It was my turn to be surprised, I didn’t think he’d accept so quickly. I had extra layers underneath my sweatshirt for insurance, I wasn’t too sure what he had but with my skills I guess I was sure to find out soon enough.

“Want to start?” I offered, but he gently declined with a raised hand. I shrugged and quickly made my move, dribbling the ball past him into a speedy lay-up and threw the ball into to the target. It hit the corner of the board and fell into the net perfectly, just like I had envisioned.

I turned to Myung-Soo behind me and gave him a ‘did you see that?’ look. I pointed at his hoodie and although he didn’t look bothered at all I noticed his tongue slide across his teeth. He pulled at the hem of his hoodie and I waited in anticipation only for him to pull it back down to slowly reach for his shoes.

I suppressed a scoff, of course he was going to start with the shoes, why was I having such thoughts? I’d seen Myung-Soo’s body since we were kids, what kind of twisted-

“My turn.” He called, changing my train of thoughts as I threw the ball to him. Unlike my fast technique, he slowly made his move towards me and I got ready to defend. This was what irritated me when we played, I liked my play speedy and to the point because it’s what I did best, but Myung-Soo always took his time and still managed to one-up me.

He dribbled closer, bouncing the ball to the side as he stepped closer to me. He was getting so close, I could feel the strings of his hoodie tickle my face. I was ready to tackle, when his scent invaded my senses rendering me immobile. He smelled good.

Really good.

I cleared my mind, but he had already beat me to it by the sound of the ball swishing in the net. Damn.

“What’s it going to be?” He asked and I quickly threw off my sweatshirt revealing my white Lacoste tee. I was getting hot and I still needed my shoes to play on the gravel unlike a certain show off.

This went on repeatedly with both of us scoring on each turn until I was left with my jeans, vest and bare feet. Myung-Soo was more prepared than I thought, he stripped down his layers of hoody and tee leaving him shirtless, barefooted and still in his Khakis to my relief.

We switched to shooting from the middle of the court instead of the tackling and defending we were doing before to ease our feet. It was his turn and if I let him have this point it was going to be my vest or my jeans and I wasn’t going to let either happen.

He centred himself, lifting his arms up while simultaneously flexing his wrists and for the love of me I couldn’t remember when Myung-Soo had developed abs – several of them at that. I took another glance at his chest, he looked more defined, firmer and a lot more s-

“You still have your erted habits.” He says in what I could only decipher as him teasing me. What made me blush more than checking him out was actually being caught doing it.

I needed to focus.

“I’ve never been erted, you somehow find yourself half-dressed in my presence a lot of the time…” I illogically defended.

He scoffed clearly not believing me. “I scored.” He said and I widened my eyes in response. Was I so lost in his abs that I didn’t notice?

“How about this, in exchange we get to ask each other a question.” He suggested, I pretended to think about it and nodded. Why didn’t I think of that earlier?

“Ask away.” I folded my arms and waited for his question.

He played with the basketball between his fingers a little before tucking it underneath his arm and then shifting his eyes towards me, locking my gaze. His eyes were filled with a gleam that he’d had all night, from the moment he stepped out of his bedroom earlier he’d maintained that same stare. The basketball game was just a distraction, I could feel it, I knew he had something on his mind and he wanted to let it out.

I gulped, apprehensive of what was to come out from his lips.

He questioned in a tone so low, I might not have heard him if it wasn’t just the two of underneath these stars.

“Are you still in love with him?” 

There was only one person he could be referring to, but I didn’t think he would come for me this directly.

I braced myself and stood a little taller.

“Ani.”

At my answer, his eyes slanted displaying his confusion.

“What about earlier? You sounded...” I held my hand up before he could think of his next word. I moved to the centre of the court and flicked my wrists watching as the ball dropped inside the hoop.

“My turn. What did you do last night?” His eyes flickered for a second and I narrowed my own in return, I rose one of my brows calling his name softly. “Myung-Soo?”

“I went out with a few people from class.” He finally spoke and although it was the truth it was only half of it. I went to get the ball and threw it successfully into the net, he didn’t even seem bothered that I didn’t let him have his turn.

“I’ll rephrase my question from earlier.” I let out a deep breath and stared at him with hesitant eyes. “What’s going on with you and Kayla?”

“W-what? What do you mean?”

I broke eye contact with him for a second, “Sorry, I didn’t meant to but I heard the message she left for you earlier. She called and apologised for last night… I was right wasn’t I? She likes you.”

He scratched the nape of his neck and nodded. “… She uh, tried to kiss me.”

“She did what?” My voice rose slightly and I took a step closer to Myung-Soo. “Well? How was it?”

“I don’t know.” He answered, “I-she didn’t get to. I avoided her lips in time, but she… kept trying. That’s maybe why she called.”

I suppressed a sigh of relief by biting my lip and shifted my eyes to look at the sky. I didn’t have the right to feel jealous let alone let it actually show, what was I doing and why was I reacting so strongly.

Even if they did kiss, I shouldn’t feel like the green-eyed butterfly I was feeling like.

“What makes you so sure?” His voice magnetically pulled my eyes to look back at him.

“What do you mean?” It was clear we had abandoned our little basketball deal and as the heaviness of our discussion was weighing down we settled on simply having our questions answered.

“What makes you so sure your feelings for him aren’t the same anymore?”

I took in another breath of air and let it back out soon after, my palms were sweaty and my heart was beating out of my chest. A feeling of butterflies drummed nerves all through my stomach and all the way up into my heart causing it to thud loudly.

I wanted to tell him how I’ve been feeling, I should tell him.

“B-because. I just am.”

Upon noticing the slight drop in temperature I went to where our clothes were gathered with Myung-Soo following close behind. I threw him his hoodie, but he just held it in his hands and I put on my sweatshirt choosing not to follow his decision to be cold.

“Why? Don’t believe me?” I enquired. Considering how broken I was back then it would only make sense for him to think the opposite and I could tell he was hesitant from his silence.

“No it’s not that, I just don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand?”

“You said you loved him!” He exasperated running a hand through his hair and then softening his voice again. “It still feels like yesterday when you were crying over him, when you told me about everything, it still feels like-like…”

His sentence drifted into silence as I waited for him to finish what he wanted to say, but he didn’t. I tentatively took a step towards him.

“You asked me if I was still in love with him right? I’ve settled my feelings already.” My eyes drifted to his hands which remained idle by his side. I wanted to reach out to him, to place my hand in his and give it a squeeze, but I didn’t. “That’s my answer to you.”

“I-I see.”

“So, do you like Kayla?” I felt childish asking that, but it still came out from my mouth.

His face twisted and he took a step away from me, “… Are you serious?”

“Would I make a joke like that? Of course I’m being serious.” I responded with a slight pout, was it that much of a childish question for him to react like that?

“I don’t believe this.” He whispered more to himself than to me.

“What exactly don’t you believe Myung-Soo?”

“You…” He ran another rough hand through his hair, “I-I have been in love with you for the past fifteen years of my life and you ask me if I like another girl? Did you think my feelings for you were that fickle?” He didn’t sound angry, more confused. “Did I make you feel that way?”

“W-w-well it’s not like it’s a crime, and besides what else am I supposed to think? She’s pretty, she likes you, you both go to the same school and have a lot in common.” I was already imagining the two of them with little lawyer babies who all had her beautiful brown eyes and his dimples.

“What’s gotten into you?” He took another step away from me and I scoffed taking another forward.

“Why do you keep stepping away from me?” Was I being irrational here? Did I say something wrong?

“Be