The Game Changer

The stadium was filled to the brim when Kwan got there ten minutes early making her regret a little. She should have come earlier. Now she has to try to find a seat amongst this throng of people. Her roommate had asked her an hour early if she was coming but she was doing her assignment at that time and clearly, an hour early was too early.

Boy. Was she wrong?

Apparently, this match was important. If they get through this one, they would automatically be put through without the preliminaries for the summer event next year. This was a huge deal as they are certain and can get ready from the get-go. The preliminaries themselves were tough and many teams were knocked off before even the official matches begin.

Kwan searches for a seat high above the stadium as almost all of the seats in the front were taken. She likely wasn’t going to go about in front of all these people to find a seat. No thanks.

She spots her roommate and her girlfriends seated far from her and she stops and stares at them in awe for a moment because their beauty truly shone even from such a distance. Her roommate was a serious beauty so she wouldn't be surprised if there was a poll on who's the prettiest, she might win.

She finds an empty seat next to a really unbothered-looking person and so settles down in it. The best way to be left alone is being with an unbothered person.

She watches with fascination at the formalities before the game like the singing of both the college’s anthem and the shaking of hands and how everything felt super official. Also, the choir was simply stunning.

Their college stadium was not all that big but it wasn’t really small either so seated on the highest row, she could barely see the other end of the ground. But she deduced if the people in front of her don’t stand, she can at least see what’s going on.

From up here, Chanyeol naturally stood out. He was a head taller than any guy here and from the way he stood, he naturally exudes self-confidence. Despite feeling the jab in her heart, she still hoped the best for the boy.

“Park Chanyeol. Good luck.” She whispers a small cheer for her friend and settles down.

She notices Sehun Sunbae on the other side of the goal post and Yixing Sunbae somewhere in the middle and as the referee blew the whistle, her heart began to race.

Just a few minutes in, she had her thumb in with her adrenaline rushing. The other team was amazing but it was clear that LUFT was a tad bit better but they were giving good competition.

The other matches had also happened before but she had been too busy with her work and adjusting to the environment so this was the first time she was attending an official match. And gosh! It was amazing.

She spots their principal, director, and lots of professors, and her eyes raised at how official this was. Their University really liked football, don’t they? Now she understands a little why Chanyeol was seemingly as popular as they made it to be.

At that, she blinks when she realized that she had been dating this man feeling quite surreal. To begin with, Chanyeol doesn’t act like a well-known person... He just always seemed so ordinary.

Her eyes lingered on the guy who seemed a little distracted. From the few practice matches she has seen of him, she knew clearly that he was better than this. Aside from the fact that three of the rival players were keeping a check on him, he also seems quite distracted.

What could be the reason? Was he still upset about the news that came about?

If it was her, she might also be the same.

Her attention is taken when the rival gets the ball closer to the goal making the screams go panicking. She watched in awe as Yixing fought for the ball, shouting to his teammates while Sehun begins advancing towards the ball as well.

She edges towards her seat almost muting the noise that was going bonkers from every side of the stadium. Ah… the spirit in stadiums was crazy. No wonder people fly from all over the world just to witness such moments.

Yixing fails to snatch the ball and Kwan is actually surprised at how good this player was. Probably the ace player in their team because by now with Yixing’s shouting, two of LUFT were flanking each side of the said player, she squints her eyes hard… Number 7.

The ball gets nearer, Yixing’s hands go crazier, the goalkeeper crouches down halfway to focus from where the ball was coming. Her heart beats on as the number 7 guy suddenly gives a mighty kick.

Goodness! Were they going to get the first goal?

Half of the stadium groans when Sehun suddenly appears out of nowhere and kicks the ball out of the field while the other half screams with delight, chanting ‘OH SEHUN, OH SEHUN’ for some good minute.

However, she couldn’t join the chant because her seatmate suddenly begins cursing out loud. Strings and strings of curse words began to erupt from his mouth towards the name being chanted as though he had a personal vendetta against said male.

“That motherer, manwhore- thinks he can ing actually kick a ball?” that was one of the lesser, cursed-filled sentence he uttered making Kwan unintentionally lean away from his side.

So much about looking unbothered. He was actually pretty bothered.

The giant TV, the same one that made her stare in awe for at least three minutes when she first arrived because it was the first time she had ever seen such a huge one, put on each side of the stadium showed the number 7 guy and she is surprised at how beautiful the man was. With doe eyes and tiny lips, he exudes a delicate, feminine nature.

He turns around, face away from the camera and she sees a name. Luhan 7.

That Luhan was good.

The girls scream upon seeing him on the screen making him smile bashfully, making the scream go even louder. Kwan would definitely agree he was cute as a button.

Her eyes though take her towards the place where Chanyeol was standing before and isn’t really surprised to see him stand next to their coach nodding while the coach shouts into this ears.

It took a nobody like her to know that he was distracted. Obviously, the coach caught on too.

She nervously watched as they return to playing with Chanyeol looking more and more serious as the time went on making the ball fall in their favor.

The only problem was the cursed murmuring of the fellow seated beside her. Goodness. This guy was scary. Also, his murmurings were low and incomprehensible with none but her hearing it. It was distracting because the moment the ball comes to Yixing or Chanyeol, his murmurs would get louder.

Chanyeol was looking better by now judging from the big TV above, and with the way, he was pointing towards certain things and shouting to his teammates, told her he was now in control of the game.

But was he always that… grouchy? From the start of the game till now which had seen about three attempted goals from LUFT and that one missed chance by that Luhan guy, Chanyeol was yet to smile even once. Not even when the people chanted his name or displayed his face more than ten times, did he smile even once.

For Kwan, it was sort of weird considering Chanyeol always, always had a smile near her that it was hard for her to picture Chanyeol without one.

As the game progressed, the guy next to her became more and more involved. He got louder and louder with arms flailing about and curses just… throwing it out there like confetti making her cringe and try to hide her face. God. Why would she choose his place?

However, his excitement did rub her too because she found herself jumping up every time Chanyeol guides the ball nearer to the goal. It was amazing. The excitement from this game alone was more than she’s had the last past year she has been here in the college, no kidding.

Sadly no party scored any goal in the first half and when the whistle blew, the players retreated to their stations with Chanyeol scanning the crowd as though looking for someone.

She wondered for a brief moment if by any minuscule chance that maybe it was her but shook her head knowing what Chanyeol had told her last night. He clearly wanted nothing to do with him now.

So when Chanyeol disappears from sight, she took this time to scan the crowd and see what she can learn from them.

There was a hoard of students with their classic Navy Blue and white uniform while their rival sported the flaming red and gold. It was magical how wonderful the stadium looked. It was the first time she was witnessing such a full stadium.

Couple of people began to mill around with some going out to relieve themselves and she wonders if she can actually get out of here and grab another seat. But then that would mean standing and walking around with all these people watching so she just seated her down. Besides the person next to her, donning the red and gold she might add had also retreated to his nonchalant behavior.

Some people came around carrying packets of popcorns and drinks to sell to those thirsty fans and people began buying them but she gulped. She did not at all expect anything to be sold, let alone thought of bringing her purse to the game. Besides even if she did bring, she was not going to buy.

Who on earth would spend her money on some munchies and drinks? Not her. Next game, she would definitely remember to bring her own food and drinks. But then she wanted to drink and eat too so she simply sits there and pouts. Surprisingly her seatmate nudges her and when she turns to look at him, he gives her a side glance from surprisingly huge eye bags and turns away to look at the stadium.

However, between them sat a large bag of popcorn and a tall glass of coke.

She blinks and turns to look at him again as though trying to confirm if he really bought this for her. He seemed to have noticed and simply sighs and nods making her smile with glee and took the drink while her other hand goes to get the corns popped just for her.

The waiting was not for long and soon the players are running out into the field much to the delight of the audience and pretty soon they were in their positions running after that small ball while they munched on cheerily and drank their juices.

Well… Who knew this curse spewing boy could actually be so kind?

They quietly spectate the match and of course, the eye bag guy curses more and more as it progressed and at some point, she also felt like cursing.

For some reason, the rival team was starting to be extremely rough with Chanyeol knowing that as long as he was game their team couldn’t stop them.

Yixing and Sehun also looked pissed judging from the way they were shouting at the referee whenever Chanyeol was sent down on the floor. Not just them, of course, the whole team especially the Coach looked furious.

Thankfully the referee seemed level-headed and began rewarding those people with yellow cards so their gameplay began to get fairer.

By this time though, her popcorn was already over and she turns to look at the empty bag feeling sad that their buttered popcorn was already gone.

At that time, the stadium erupts into one giant scream surprising the daylights out of her only to regret looking away because according to the commentators, Chanyeol had scored a goal.

With her eyes fixed on the screen, she watched Chanyeol celebrating with his usual 'punch in the air with his fist' while his team comes to hug and pat him.

He looked determined and hyped but there was still no smile on his face.

Of course, the guy next to her had gone off to a motorway of curses standing and throwing his hands about and this time in Chinese.

Oh . She could only imagine what the words were judging from all the previous Korean curses. Does this guy’s vocab