Team Cheongyang: Jieun, Haneul, Ilwoo (Haneul’s coworker)

Team Seoul: Jihoon, Dong-Il (Jinju’s Appa), Seojun

The two teams huddled  in the small grassy space outside the house, as more of Jinju’s visitors gathered outside to watch. Dong-Il and Seojun looked pretty pleased with their tall and fit teammate. Jihoon was silent, but his face said it all: he was so sure he can win this.

Jieun found out that Haneul played defense and Ilwoo can play as a defensive midfielder, which is perfect because her usual playing position is forward/striker.

“I can hustle up front, but I can’t do much running. I haven’t trained in ages.” Jieun said in a hushed tone. “Ilwoo, you can drop me a pass and I’ll take care of it. Haneul just has to be the last man.”

Both men nodded, their eyes looking confused but amazed. They didn’t expect her to know so much about the sport.

“I trust you, Jieun. What’s important is that we have fun.” Haneul responded. He tried to make it seem like the football game was not a big deal, but Jieun felt that it was. This tradition has been going on for years (or so Jinju mentioned a few moments earlier – it went even before she was born), and Haneul never won even one game since.

Yuna and Jinju, who will serve as the game officials, signalled that the game will start in a minute.

Jihoon took a spot at the back, directly in front of their make shift goal, which means that Jieun will be head to head with him. The tall man had a smile on his face, his gaze directly fixed on her.

What an arrogant pabo. I’ll show you.

Excitement bubbled inside her. It has been too long since her last football match. Aside from her unbelievably hectic life, Inna has been busy with her work as well, making it almost impossible to meet up with their old football buddies. Add that to the fact that Hanteo disliked it when she does anything that had the remote possibility of injuring her. Injuries meant delayed schedules and possible contract issues. Today, Jieun was just a girl playing a football match against the man she hates and loves at the same time…and she’s going to show him who’s boss when it comes to this game.

“Okay, we’re going to play for 30 minutes, 15 minutes each half. Are you guys ready?” Yuna announced.

Everyone gave their nod of approval. Suddenly, the playful atmosphere turned somewhat serious. Jihoon, who was picked as team captain, won the coin toss, which gave them first possession.

When Jihoon made the pass to Seojun, Jieun can tell he knew a bit, but not a lot of the sport. His only advantage was his fitness, and his long legs (means shorter runs to get to the ball/goal/wherever he wants to go).

Seojun ran past Jieun to get to the goal when Jieun snatched the ball away from him. She heard a yelp from the spectators, seemingly shocked with her ability to play. She deftly took the ball using her right foot and flipped it to the left, pivoting away from Seojun and enabling her to make a run towards Team Seoul’s goal. At the corner of her eye, she can see Ilwoo making a run, but the goal was pretty open, save for the looming presence of Jihoon’s impressive physique.

His eyes seemed to say that there’s no way she can score one against him, but at that split second when she went for a strike, she saw it – that flicker of uncertainty in his eyes when the ball curved toward the far post, and into the goal. The strike was too fast and went too wide for him to save it.

Team Cheongyang 1, Team Seoul – 0.

Hanuel and Ilwoo made a run towards her, wrapping her in a euphoric group hug.

Jihoon’s team tried to regroup, but Ilwoo and Jieun’s partnership up front led to another goal, this time by Ilwoo. By halftime, Team Seoul is still trailing by two goals, and Dong-il no longer looked as happy that they didn’t get the girl as their teammate.

There was a short water break. When Jieun went to fetch a cold drink, a scowling Jihoon was already there. She smiled at him, but he wasn’t in the mood to return it. Just as she was taking a sip from her drink, she felt a small hand poking her leg. When she turned to see who it was, it’s Jinju.

Squatting to her level, Jinju whispered something in her ear that made her smile. She held out her hand and led the little girl towards Jihoon. When he saw them approaching, he had a confused look on his face that made Jieun giggle.

“O