As the night comes to a close, Jin offers the usual for yet another party as his place after the banquet. I invite Taeyong by default, who reluctantly agrees. After the two or so hours at the table with the rest of the team, Taeyong was fitting in perfectly. I saw him weirdly connecting with Jungkook the most; I overheard them talking about the peak of David Beckham's career for a while.

Taeyong agrees to drop me off first for the both of us to freshen up, and then Hoseok will pick up the both of us to go there. When he drives me back home, I gather up all of my awards and look at them all in delight. Throughout this night, I kept taking glances at the atheletic board's tables that looked unamused for the entirety of the program. But I just know they were just fuming in their seats that I finally proved them wrong, and I now have tangible proof of it.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." Taeyong teases.

"Ahhhh! They're just so beautiful," I sing. "Such a great night. What'd you think of it? My team's pretty cool, huh? Seems like you were bonding with them just fine."

"They're pretty cool, yeah," Taeyong agrees. "Don't tell my team I said that, though. They'd burn me at the stake."

"Ooooh, I have something to blackmail you with," I joke. "And then later, we're going to bond with them more and drink and party! What a hell of a night, right? Aren't you so excited!"

Taeyong awkwardly smiles. "Sure."

"Uhhh, it doesn't sound you are," I raise my brow. I turn my body towards the driver's seat. "What's up?"

I watch as Taeyong takes a silent pause, then breathes out. I feel something form in my stomach - what a sudden change in mood. How did the moment go from lighthearted to now.. whatever this is?

"I don't think I'm going to go anymore, actually." Taeyong answers, and I bite my lip.

"Oh.. okay. That's understandable, are you feeling okay or do you have something else to get to?" I ask curiously.

"It's, uh... actually, something different. I, I don't really know how to say this."

"Say what? What's going on?"

"I guess I will say this bluntly. Do you like me, or not?" Taeyong asks me directly, and I immediately get flustered at the question. Where on earth did this come from?

"I.. uh. I think you're a great guy, Taeyong," I respond. I watch as Taeyong's face falter slightly, and then the sides of his lips curl up into a faint smile. "You are so sweet and caring, and I really admire and think it's so rare how direct you are - it's really refreshing. But.. I don't know. I think, I'd just really like us being friends right now."

"Yeah, yeah," Taeyong mutters to himself under his breath. "I figured."

"What do you mean?"

"Let me take another shot at being direct," Taeyong chuckles this time. "Do you like Jungkook, your team's goalkeeper?"

Excuse me what?! In this moment, I feel like the temperature's been amped up by 20, and I am dying in this heat and pressure. I raise my head up to meet eyes with Taeyong, and he doesn'tlook mad or frustrated; the emotion on his face is more of an empathetic one? I can't exactly read it, but I don't necessarily think I should be afraid.

"Why are you asking me this?" I'm able to say.

"Because," Taeyong brings his gaze down. "I saw the way you looked at him tonight. You were eager, enthusiastic to get his attention. When he won that award, you looked at him like he had singlehandedly found the cure to cancer. You were in awe."

"N..no. I just think he's a great teammate and captain. That's all," I lie.

"Yerin," Taeyong calls out my name like he's my mother catching me red-handed. "The way you look at him is different. I would know, because I find myself looking at you in the same way. You feel more for him, don't you?"

I furrow my brows and meet direct eye contact with Taeyong. I'm trying my absolute best to not let teardrops fall from my eyes, but I can feel them right on the brim. I would've never expected our night to end like this; I would've never expected ending this with Taeyong like this. As much as I hate to admit it, I did lead him on this whole time. With every joke he cracked that I laughed to, with every compliment that I accepted out of flattery... Jungkook was on my mind the whole time.

"I'm so sorry, Taeyong." I'm able to say.

"No, no. It's okay," Taeyong wraps his arms around me. And now, he's embracing me, and I feel like the worst human alive. First, I'm almost on the verge of tears for stringing this guy along, and now he's comforting me because of it!

"It's not okay. I played along this whole time, but really... I have this pathetic, little crush on someone that I could never have - it's so stupid. I'm sorry, I never meant to hurt you."

"You didn't hurt me, Yerin." Taeyong says with a smile. "I've enjoyed your company, and I'd like to think I can read the room well enough to think that you enjoyed mine, too. We've had fun, there's no doubt in that. But I guess now it's best if we just continue being friends."

"Yes, please! I would want nothing more! I'd love to keep seeing you, as friends."

"So you can follow along and make use of all my discounts around town?" Taeyong answers with a sly smile on his face, and then he starts laughing. I smile back.

"Yes, exactly," I joke back.

"Ah, well, that's probably about half of my 'friends' anyways," Taeyong winks. "I'll still take you to that steakhouse if you're free anytime soon."

"Yeah, I'd like that."

"Cool," Taeyong says in a calm tone. "Well, I hope you have a great night, celebrating all your successes. I hope it's not ed up of me to wish one of your guys just so happen to break a leg so our team can take your spot at regionals."

"That's actually really ed up," I giggle.

"Eh, can't say I'll take it back." Taeyong continues, and we both share a laugh together. I take a final look at my friend, Taeyong, and I feel very relieved and grateful to have had this mature conversation with him. It may not be me right now, but Taeyong deserves someone great, someone that appreciates his effort and his genuinity.

"I'll see you next time, Taeyong," I say as I open the door and look back at him.

"And Yerin?"

"Yeah?"

"If I could just provide you one thing, I'd say to... be careful. Jungkook is your teammate, at the end of the day. Things can get a little rocky when you mix feelings with business," Taeyong supplies. "I'm rooting for you guys, truly; that'd be awesome to see such a power couple sharing a field together, hah. But, uh, yeah. Just stay cautious and keep an eye out for what's to come."

"Hm," I say as a response. "Thanks. I'll catch you later."

Taeyong nods, and I close the door behind me. I trudge my way back to my house, knowing there is a full night ahead of me, and my heart feels a lot more heavier than before. I've always had a lingering thought that my crush on Jungkook is really not for the best: it could affect my game, it can make me play with my heart instead of my head... I take Taeyong's words and hold on to them for now.

When I arrive at the party, I am pulled away almost instantly from Hoseok and the guys and into the kitchen area to take an immediate shot. I feel my wrist getting dragged by a softer touch, so I know it's not someone from the team - their hands are normally ridded by callusses, I'd know because they're always requesting for my hand cream.

Typically, I'd be surprised, and in a bad way, if I ever got yanked away by someone I don't know, because I'm about two shots in me already, so I don't mind this time around.

"Miss Yerin!" A high-pitched voice sings to me, and I turn my head to a girl that I genuinely have never seen in my life. I give her a weak smile in response, but then she embraces me into a hug.

"I'm Jia, on the tennis team! Taehyung invited me tonight," Jia says to me. "Come, a bunch of us girls are just hanging out on the balcony!"

"Oh," I hesitate, but it doesn't seem like I can be able to pull away anyways. "Sure, I guess!"

"Amazing~" Jia cooes and leads me to outside. Right away, the breeze hits me like a truck, a soothing, but a clear clash from the warmth of people's hot breaths in the house. When I get there, all of the girls just scream in unison like they just saw the world's cutest corgi. It's about ten or so of them, just sitting about in a circle talking with red solo cups scattered around them. "We were all invited by the guys, but seems like they're all too busy to give us attention now. We're all scattered around, too: swim, tennis, track."

"Yerin!!" Some other girl screams once she sees me and hands me a petite shot glass. "We've been talking about you all night! It's so exciting to meet you. You know you're like, a queen, right? It's never been done, never even been heard of before, that a girl is playing on an all-guys team?! That's still so insane to wrap our heads around."

"Thanks," I smile and then my face instantly sours once I take the shot of whatever the that was. "It's been lots of fun."

"Oh yeah, I ing bet! Come sit. You need to tell us all the juicy deets!" Jia drags me down to the wooden floor with her. "We were just talking about it. Do you see them in the locker rooms... like , and stuff?"

"Have they seen you ?"

"Have you slept with any of them yet?"

"Woah," I answer, holding my chest to take in these jabs that came out of nowhere. "Let's... let's slow down for a bit! Please!"

"You guys," Jia speaks for the rest of them. "One at a time, please. So Yerin, how is it, really?"

"Sorry to disappoint you all, but