AHN YUJIN

 

“Uhm, I’m really sorry but I have a date with Chaewon next Sunday.”,she looked at me with those sad puppy eyes which took a lot of my willpower not to kiss her.

 

Besides what am I supposed to expect Minjoo would obviously go for someone who holds the first place in her heart and is the captain of the reigning champion of the West Division. Why would she even opt to leave some time out for me, especially now since we are ex girlfriends?

 

I held in my emotions, trying to convert my face into that of disappointment.

 

“Well, that’s okay, I’ll have Yuri send over the videos she has taken for the match. But mind you, it might be probably full of close up shots of Yena though” I joked, trying to make the situation lighter as she seemed rather sad that she won’t be able to make it. Besides, why would she be even feeling sad when she’s spending time with her girlfriend.

 

“Oh yeah, ha ha ha. But it’s a pity I won’t be able to see the match.” 

 

Yeah, it’s a pity that you had to choose Chaewon to go on a date, forced out of your own will instead of watching a great player at work in the court.

 

“Anyways, I should really get going since I have practice with the girls in about an hour's time. And make sure you don’t put a lot of strain on that knee of yours so that the wound won’t be opened up again.”

 

“Yes, yes, I will Yujin. I’m not a baby, you know. I’m a teenager who is fully capable of taking care of herself and you better get going so that you won’t be late.”

 

I wanted to say that ‘you are my baby’ but it and let’s just rush to the court.

KIM MINJOO

I closed the door after Yujin said her last advice filled with concern over my knee.

 

I wanted to run to her and tell her that I truly wanted to go to that match and ditch Kim Chaewon’s to see her at the court. I don’t mind having to hear Yuri’s dolphin screams for an hour when I can just watch you, focused over the ball in the court and having it aim towards the goal post. But I just can’t since I had to be a faithful girlfriend compared to Chaewon who would probably be snogging someone an hour before the scheduled date.

 

But then again, wouldn’t it be nice if I could see her while she was training at court. Besides, there was that projector room that was a level above the court so I could watch her without her even knowing. I had the key to the projector room since I’m the co-president of the theatre club. Perks of being the co-president since it allowed the both of us access to places where we could have brief make out sessions together. That seems like a great plan but I can’t just go without having a good friend along. And, by a good friend, I mean Yuri.

Hey little

 

Do you want to meet your Princess Charming? 

 

I know a place where you can see her train;)

WHAT!!!

 

SPILL THE LOCATION FROG

 

Ok ok chill

 

You remember the projector room

 

Uh huh

 

The one where you snogged with Yujin

 

But what about it

 

Well, you see it provides a perfect view

 

So are you down to watch the team train with me?

 

Obviously, but why though?

 

It seems sudden

 

Wait

 

Do you perhaps want to see her train?

 

I mean yeah

 

This message was deleted

 

Ohoho so you do u little snarky hoe

 

Tbh, u should just break up with Chaewon and just get back with AYJ

 

Y’all are prob the cutest couple in the floorball team if it weren't for the breakup

 

You stupid git 

 

You know damn well I am in love with Chaewon

 

Besides, she is my girlfriend 

 

Girlie

 

If she truly is your girlfriend

 

You won’t be spending your time avoiding her like she is the plague

 

Besides, the title ‘girlfriend’ is just a label

 

Ok ok, spare me the lecture hag

 

So are you down to watch them today?

 

Hell yeah

 

I’ll bring my popcorn to watch a drama too ;)

 

Why you little

 

I’m going to hang you out of the projector room later

 

As if you have the strength to :)

 

Anyways meet you in an hour at the front gate

 

Okayyyyy

 

‘Girlfriend’ , it’s just a label. If it’s a label then why would the label, ‘ex-girlfriend’ make me want to rip it off above our own heads and replace it with ‘girlfriend’ but I’m bound to this label with Chaewon. But this label seems suffocating to me with Chaewon but seems free with Yujin. Anyways, I should proceed to get my clothes.

 

I opted to wear one of the hoodies that Yujin had left behind but hadn’t bothered to take back like how I hadn’t bothered to take back my clothes that I had left at her house.

 

I matched it with black sweatpants and completed it with a pair of white Converse.

 

Checking that I brought along the key to the projector since it would defeat the purpose of going to watch the practice without any key.

 

While taking the bus to school, I messaged Yuri who was on the way to school too.

 

Finally, I reached the stop at our school and right on time, Yuri’s bus came along behind mine so I didn’t have to wait under this hot weather with my injured leg.

 

We were cleared by the guard and proceeded to the projector room. Wary if the floorball team may have their warm up practice. I’m not really sure if Yujin had changed the team’s training plan but since she was a person of habit I assumed that she had not.

 

Finally, we reached the projector room and switched on the air-con which was our saviour in this sweltering heat. But I felt bad for enjoying this luxury as the floorball team were pouring their sweat and hard work into their training.

 

I peeked over and saw their coach, Coach Kwon shouting instructions to the team which made them immediately go down in the push up position. They had to switch to crunches immediately, which I assumed they hadn’t been fast in reacting to Coach Kwon’s orders.

 

Suddenly, they were made to stand up, leaving Yujin to stay in the push up position. She then instructed the rest of the girls to proceed on with the training, while Yujin was still holding her push up position. She didn’t seem to show any signs of giving up the position. Truth be told, most of the time she usually told me that their training was fun but she never mentioned this side of where she was being punished on behalf of her teammates. The girls did not seem to budge and immediately went into a push up stance. Yuri looked on with a gaping mouth at the scene.

 

Immediately, I heard a chant ‘NO WE DON’T RETREAT, NO WE DON’T REGRET’ shaking the walls of the projector room.

 

This made my heart swell in joy, realising how much the team respects their captain despite fooling around, majority of the time. I realised how Yujin truly devoted her time to being the best captain she could be by having training plans planned out prior to these sessions, compared to Chaewon who just used her status of being the soccer captain to her advantage and punished her team unfairly if things weren’t going according to her flow of plan. Contrast to this, Yujin took time out of her own personal time, thinking of different ways to make the team train their stamina and strength so they wouldn’t lose out to their opponents. Sometimes, she had to take time out of our own dates to go and watch replays of their matches which resulted in my constant whining but it ended with promises of cuddles during the replays. But in all fairness, looking at a serious and goal driven Yujin made me feel a huge swell of pride in my heart over her nature of wanting the best for her team sport along with the best for our past relationship with her bringing out the best of me. However, I returned her a heartbroken response.

 

Yuri looked on with a rather surprised look towards the scene where the team were refusing to budge unless the team was punished fairly. Also, she hadn’t witnessed a group of people that had respected Yujin for she was and not for remembering her as being a clown along with the trio, Yena, Hyewon and Chaeyeon.

 

Coach Kwon finally seemed to give in, realising that the team wouldn’t budge an inch and let them off with a warning of 10 laps around the school’s soccer field if it were to happen again.

 

The floorball started off their training with some simple drills which she had pointed out to me before. If I could recall, they were X or Y drills. Bah, I can't really remember but all I know is that they have alphabetic names. The team moved to shooting drills after a while

 

My eyes followed Yujin’s body who was moving towards Shuhua to teach her what I presume to be a wrist shot from how the stick was moving along with the ball to the front of her body where she put on a pit of force down on the shaft of the stick and released the ball which immediately zoomed past the goalkeeper, Minnie’s outstretched right hand and landed a neat top corner shot in the goalpost.

 

Shuhua clearly didn’t seem to understand so Yujin had to awkwardly hug her from behind and have her hands hovering over Shuhua’s hands. She gestured to put pressure on the shaft and Shuhua managed to shoot a ball which rolled flatly on the ground after hovering the air for a few seconds.

 

Yujin rubbed her neck and flashed her dimpled smile, which usually made anyone swoon for her and it had the same effect on Shuhua, including me currently. She said something about practicing more and walking away to focus on the other players with Shuhua shooting hearts out of her eyes. 

 

However, I couldn’t ignore the fact that Shuhua was smacked unfortunately in the head by Soojin. To which Shuhua responded by giving a sweet peck to Soojin. Aww that was pretty cute, this moment reminded me of how Yujin tried to constantly make me pick up the sport despite my constant refusals. She didn’t give up even though she went home with a sprained ankle after I had accidentally tripped on the stick which caused me to fall in her embrace. However, she was really exhausted from training that day so she ended up losing her balance and tripping on the floorball stick and twisted her ankle as a result. Furthermore, she immediately went to check on me despite her obvious pain from her sprained ankle. But we managed to deal with her sprained ankle with Mrs Ahn allowing me to stay over and watch Yujin’s favourite movies for the night. She also locked me in her room with just a bag of ice and a first aid kit. This made no difference as I ended up poorly tending to Yujin’s wounds with her instructions but she immediately winced when I tied the bandage a bit too tightly on her right ankle, but she brushed it aside saying that there was a funny feeling in her stomach. I immediately tightened the bandage which made her scream. Her mom soon rushed in screaming,” Not in this holy household you hormonal raging teenagers”. She dropped her broom, realising that we weren’t doing anything out of the ordinary and said,

“Y’all better get a room next time for your illicit activities” stalking out of the room.

 

This was one of the best moments I had with Yujin, wait scratch that every moment was probably the best so long she was beside me.

 

I glanced over to Yuri who was holding a pair of binoculars while eating popcorn. Every now and then, she would chuckle to herself which made me follow her line of vision. Honestly, I’m not surprised that Yuri brought this in her bag. I saw that the team had arranged the court for a match setting and it seemed like Fantastic Four were separated into two teams which I assume so that they could try out different styles of attacks and defense.

 

Anyways, it seemed like Hyewon was paired with Yena and Yujin was paired with Chaeyeon. It seemed rather interesting since the countless times I had watched their games, they each had their own style which moulded well together to form a wonderful team that was strong in all aspects of their play.

 

For example, Hyewon was a rather fast player and her stamina lasted longer than the rest of her teammates which allowed her to take the floorball as an attacker from one end of the court to the other with her dribbling skills, however the downside was that she was weak in tackling her opponents when she lost control of the ball hence making her lose momentum.

 

This is backed up by Yena’s position as a defense player where she is able to tackle players with her strength. Despite her having a slender frame, she is able to use various parts of her body such as her elbow to easily jab her opponent out of the way or her body to block the opponent from reaching out for the ball easily. However, she was rather slow in her speed in bringing the ball up to the front which meant her competitor would be able to take it easily if they are quick enough.

 

This is where Chaeyeon or known as ‘Partners in crimes’ within the court and outside of it. She works seamlessly with Yena’s weaknesses being a defense player alongside her by using her agility to easily manoeuvre herself around the opponent’s outstretched stick and tricks played by dirty players. This allows her to bring the ball easily to the centre line and she is able to pass the ball onwards to Yujin. However, the downside is that since she was rather weak in situations where she is faced by two or more players focusing on her, she would lose the ball easily since she has lost focus over the game after receiving pressure from the opposing team.

 

Yujin plays an equally important role like the rest of her teammates. She is able to use the tricks she has up her sleeves to fool the ball past her opponent and coupled with her great shooting skills, she is able to aim for accurate shots which aim for the goal majority of the time. Coupled with the fact that she doesn’t let anything faze her, she is able to put her heart and mind to the game. However, she is rather slow for an average attacker so she has to depend on Hyewon to carry the ball up quickly and she has to pace herself to match Hyewon’s pace so that a goal is scored.

 

Looking at the current match, it seemed that Yujin and Yena have collided into each other, this signalled the end of the match time with Coach Kwon’s whistle ringing shrilly in the background. The match ended with a tie from opposing ends with injuries sustained from both sides.The team immediately rushed off to untangle the mess of limbs from each other. Unfortunately, it seemed like only one of them had not managed to escape the wrath of injuries as Yena seems to have no visible changes while Yujin was clutching a sprained ankle judging from her rather oddly twisted ankle

 

Yuri gasped loudly which made Yujin look around suspiciously for the sound which made me pull Yuri down with me, so that our cover would not be blown.

 

Yuri mouthed ‘the was that for’ while rubbing her forehead which she had accidentally bumped against the control panels. I apologised profusely to her while picking up the popcorn, just to make sure we hadn’t let any trace of evidence. I told Yuri that we must leave a couple of minutes after the team had cleared so that they would not suspect us of watching their training. Fortunately for us, it seemed like the team was rather efficient as they were able to pack up the boards and the goal post back into their places.

 

The lights in the court out, signalling that it was time for me and Yuri to leave the projector room. Once, we had ensured that the place did not seem like it had been invaded by two idiots, I locked up the room with the key and keeping it safe and sound in my pocket or Ms Yoo, my theatre club teacher in charge would murder me on the spot.

AHN YUJIN

 

I said my farewells to the rest of the team while holding back Yena since she wanted to make up for the injury I had sustained earlier by waiting till my Grab driver came along. However, I held back Yena for the real intention of having her meet her girlfriend who I suspected had tagged along with Minjoo to see the floorball girl’s training. Despite Yena knowing that I was perfectly fine on my own without needing her help, she couldn’t help but let her loudmouth run along.

 

“Say, Yujin why the hell did you hold me back? Do you perhaps miss me after yesterday? Oh and by the way did you manage to convince Minjoo to come along and accompany Yuri?”

 

I shook my head in response to her last question and told her to wait for a surprise.

 

She had a rather confused expression and I had to tell her that her birthday was ‘in a few months time and there was no way I would celebrate it that ing early’

 

Finally the surprise came down along with her pretty cute ‘partner-in-crime’.

 

Since the both of us were covered by the walls, they couldn’t see us till Yena’s mouth went blabbering off some lovey dovey and she ran immediately to Yuri. This caught them both completely off guard. Firstly, Minjoo’s legendary shocked frog face appeared. Secondly, Yuri looked scared less for her life when she was engulfed in Yena’s sweaty body. 

 

I could hear them squabbling right at the foyer with Yena being smacked continuously by Yuri and her screaming something along the line of ’you pull this again and I will truly use your floorball stick and turn you into roast duck’.

 

Finally they both ended up their squabbles when Yena promised that she would walk her home. Ew couple things. I faked gagged in the background which certainly did not go amiss as Yena yelled.

 

“Let me have my sweet moment. Not as if you pull right in front of my eyes with her” gesturing to a rather bewildered Minjoo at the scene.

 

She looked rather surprised and her eyes widened further, that I’m afraid her eyeball might drop out.

 

Yena realised her mistake and luckily for her, Yuri was there to pull her away while pushing Yena’s head down to apologise for her loudmouth.

 

It seemed rather funny seeing how Yena gives in to her girlfriend so easily.

 

“We’ll get going now” and Yuri nudged Yena in her ribs while whispering something in her. 

 

Yena quickly took her stuff and gave me a quick farewell. What the hell? No goodbye bro-fist or any last jokes.

 

As the couple skipped off to the front gate, this made me come to the realisation that I was left with someone again and again. 

 

Like history repeating itself over and over again.

 

Kim Minjoo.

 

I looked away, trying to avoid any eye contact as she sat on the bench beside mine.

 

“So how has your knee been?” Trying to strike up a conversation so it won’t be too awkward.

 

“Uhm, it’s been well”

 

“Oh okay.” Come on Ahn Yujin, think. Put your two brain cells together and string up some bull sentences.

 

“Do you perhaps want to join me to go home? I’ve booked a taxi and it won’t be fitting if I just left you to go home on your own especially with your knee injury?”

 

“Well sure, if you let me pay for it in return for your mom’s efforts yesterday in cleaning up the wound and your first aid kit”

 

“I-. Okay, yeah that’ll be possible” I’m surprised she answered without any hesitation. Damn, what happened to that label separating us like a barrier?

 

It went quiet for a couple of minutes till my phone started ringing. 

 

BIRTH GIVER aka my mom

 

“Hey, you tall flagpole. Just want to let you know, I’m taking an overnight shift so I won’t be down at home and Dad went to accompany your grandpas for a drinking session so I’m guessing he won’t be home later. Do be a good big and not break anything in the house. Oh yeah, I heard about your injury. I’m surprised you didn’t cry like a baby unlike other times and the only first aid kit we have is with Minjoo. So good luck crybaby”

 

She hung up immediately without even hearing my response. I’m guessing she has a really tight schedule so I won’t really bother her.

 

“So uhm, Minjoo, my parents are away to do their own stuff and like the only first aid kit we have is with you. So do you mind if I rest a while at your apartment before going back home?” I said while looking at the snail which was slowly making its way to the cement slope like is the most interesting thing in this conversation.

 

“Oh yeah sure. I’m cool with that” I looked up to see her smiling warmly at me.

 

This picture of her smiling warmly was rudely interrupted with the honk of the taxi driver’s car.

 

I snapped out of my trance and slowly hobbled up. 

 

Minjoo took notice of my struggles and told me that I should give her my equipment. She put it into the car and apologised to the driver for making him wait while returning to fetch me from my pathetic state.

 

She made sure I was alright and told the driver that it was ok to leave the school compound.

 

I couldn’t fall asleep as I was sitting next to her. Last time we’d used to cuddle and hold our hands tightly round each other on our way home. Now, we are left to face this invincible barrier, which seemed like it was slowly breaking down.

 

Soon we reached her apartment and she paid for the fare as promised and the driver wished me ‘a speedy recovery’. I thanked him politely and hobbled out of the car, using my floorball stick as my walking stick.

 

Finally, we reached her apartment after much difficulty and a strained atmosphere.

 

She immediately went off to get a glass of chocolate milk, knowing that it was my most favourite comforting drink to have after training. Habits are slowly slipping out, chipping away the barrier bit by bit.

 

She went off to find the first aid kit. Luckily for her, I taught her this morning so I don't need to give her instructions like in the past. 

 

I could see her tenderly applying the ice pack on my sprained ankle and after a while, she looked at me for a ‘go’ signal.

 

She then proceeded to wrap the bandage around my ankle rather slowly so as to avoid any further sprain.

 

Finally she was then and she proceeded to clean up the mess. I tried to pull myself up to my feet but I collapsed in a heap on her sofa.

 

“You know, judging by your current state, I might as well let you stay the night. Besides, my parents are out of a business trip till next Monday and with tomorrow being a public holiday, you can get a little bit more rest.”

 

She looked at me with her worried eyes which made me want to kiss the worried expression out of her but I guess not.

 

“Yeah, I think I’ll do that”

 

“Uhm, shouldn’t you be calling your parents to inform them you are going to stay the night?” She asked out of curiosity .

 

“Oh, my mom has an overnight shift and my dad is gonna have his weekly drinking session with grandpa. So I don’t think I might have to call them”

 

“But you know, leave them a text so that won’t come home to an empty house”

 

“Oh yeah, you’re right” I laughed awkwardly at how dumb I was.

 

I dropped my parents a text in the group chat informing them of my whereabouts. My mom immediately replied with ‘don’t do anything funny’

 

Like mom, how am I supposed to do anything funny when she’s my ex girlfriend?

 

Minjoo went off to her room and gave me an extra blanket and pillows along with a change of clothes. 

 

“I know you keep a pair of undergarments in your bag for a change of clothes and you can just wake me up if you need anything”

 

I thanked her for the nth time this day and she shrugged it off and proceeded to her home.

 

I hobbled to the bathroom where I managed to freshen up and slipped on the pyjamas which just consisted of a white hoodie and a pair of matching sweatpants. Smells exactly like her scent, jasmine. Soft and sweet.

 

I went back to couch and prepared to go to sleep with a pillow underneath my injured ankle so to give it a bit of elevation

 

As soon as my head hit the pillow, I immediately fell into a deep asleep.

 

1.48 A.M.

 

I cracked open my eyes after hearing someone bump into a furniture 

 

What the hell? Why do I see a ghost in front of me? Oh wait it’s Minjoo. But what is she up doing so late in the night?

 

I could make out her silhouette crouching over her shin which I assumed she must have bumped into.

 

I sat up immediately and asked her immediately if she was alright.

 

In response, she hit her head again on the coffee table.

 

“Gee, even if you broke up with me, you are still a clumsy piece of ”

 

She threw her slipper at me in retaliation. 

 

Unluckily for me, I had poor reflexes so I was hit with a flying slipper.

 

“Owww. The was that for” I muttered angrily

 

“For being an , Ahn Yujin”

 

I giggled at her response which she slowly giggled back. 

 

This giggly episode slowly turned into a myriad into which we were throwing insults over our injuries and her clumsiness.

 

After our giggling episode, I felt tired and told her I’ll go back to sleep and wished her a ‘good night's rest’, afraid of ing up the progress we were making.

 

What she said next surprised me.

 

“Can I sleep beside you tonight?”

 

 

 

____________________________________________________________________________________

andddd this concludes the end of chapter 6. Jdchrt here,I hope you guys enjoyed this unusually long chapter and expect a little twist in the next chapter and comment down what you think Yujin will say to Minjoo. Also, I haven't been able to release this chapter earlier than expected since I was writing a new one shot on jinjoo. It might be up soon in a few days :). Thank you and have good morning/night!!!