“He’s not in the best spirits. I don’t know if going to practice will be good for him.” Chanhee said as they tailed Juyeon to the court.

“I don’t think it will be good for Hongjoong.” Kevin murmured under his breath, Changmin chuckled as he chewed on a gummy worm.

“What a waste, it would have been nice seeing him get a taste of his own medicine.” The Ji boy hummed along, Chaerin sent him a look.

“Juyeon rarely gets angry, but when it happens, it…can get scary.” Chanhee nodded back, they entered the building and went ahead to the bleachers.

“Well, he shouldn’t come trying to poke the lion with a stick when it’s not in the mood, and, those two really never got along well.” Changmin shrugged as he took out more snacks, his eyes went to Juyeon as he joined the rest of his teammates, their friend had already changed into his jersey.

“It’s the semi-finals this Friday, must be why he’s tensed.” Chaerin murmured as looked around, expecting Ahyoung to appear.

“Do we know who their playing against?” Chanhee picked out a bag of potato chips.

“It hasn’t been announced yet, but wouldn’t it be interesting if it’s Jung Jaehyun’s team again?” Chaerin mused, Kevin grinned at her.

“So, we all are still skirting around that, huh?” Kevin spoke, Changmin glanced at his friends.

“Skirting around what?”

“Our Juyeonie and Ahyoung.” Kevin spoke, Chanhee and Chaerin grinned at each other.

“I think he likes her or, he’s getting there.” Chanhee pointed out, his eyes were on Juyeon as the coach huddled the together.

“Girls have been falling at his feet for years, and this headache who jumps over walls come in, now he’s the one falling.” Kevin chuckled as he opened his can of soda.

“But, what about Ahyoung? What do you know?” Chaerin nudged Changmin, the male blinked at her.

“Nothing. I mean, she dated a basketball player once, and that didn’t end well. You think she’d do it again?” Changmin mused, Chaerin sent him a look, the girl was about to speak when she saw Hyunjae and Younghoon step in the gymnasium.

“That’s not very helpful.” Chanhee murmured under his breath, he noticed that the two seniors were making their way towards them.

“Changmin-ah,” Hyunjae spoke as he jogged to them, Chaerin immediately looked away.

“Hyung,”

“Have you seen Ahyoung? I’ve been calling her.” The older brother spoke, Younghoon was standing behind them, his eyes flitting about.

“Actually hyung, she didn’t come to school today. He..ditched, I think.” Changmin replied, Hyunjae sighed and shook his head.

“That kid, really. I barely got the chance to talk to her at home.”

“But, what about you, Younghoon sunbae? Ahyoung did mention she needed to talk to you the other day.” Chanhee chimed in, the older male paused.

“W—We didn’t get to, I was busy.”

“When were you too busy for her?” Hyunjae chuckled before joining them, he plopped down beside Chaerin and smiled at her.

“I’ll get going. See you.” Younghoon said under his breath, and then he started moving away from them.

“Hi.” Hyunjae said as he relaxed on the bleacher, Chanhee and Kevin exchanged knowing grins.

“Good to see you, sunbae.” She managed to blurt out.

“This is going to be interesting.” Chanhee murmured to Kevin as they watched Younghoon leave the court.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you here, can I join you?”

Ahyoung smiled and nodded.

“Of course, have a seat, unnie.” She said to Eunhee, Ahyoung noticed that like her, the girl was also not in school during class hours. But, she looked way better, dressed in all black, Eunhee was wearing a pair of distressed jeans and a vintage looking crop top, and a pair of Converse sneakers were on her feet.

“I see…you’re quite the rebel, unnie. I mean not the outfit, but…” She looked around them with a grin, Eunhee chuckled and plopped down across her.

“What are you doing out here?” The older girl asked as she took a small sip from her latte.

“I wasn’t up for school today, how about you, unnie?”

“Well, going to my new school didn’t seem ideal today. And, I wasn’t in the mood.” Eunhee shrugged, Ahyoung grinned and nodded.

“About the other day…I’m sorry for bolting out so suddenly, unnie. It was..just awkward and I wanted to let you two old friends hang out.” Ahyoung trailed off, the older girl shook her head.

“It’s fine, I actually wasn’t expecting that our mothers would force us to go out that day, and besides, I think having you was a great help.”

“Well, Younghoon oppa can..be shy.” Ahyoung shrugged as she took another bite of her cake.

Eunhee tilted her head before speaking.

“He seems comfortable with you.”

“Years and years of bickering and arguing will do that, unnie. Maybe~”

“I’m going to be honest with you, Ahyoung-ah.” She begun, Ahyoung paused, stunned.

“O…Okay.”

“I’m saying this because I have a feeling we might become good friends and I like you.” Eunhee began as she leaned forward on the table, Ahyoung grew amused.

“I don’t know if it’s not obvious to you yet, but Younghoon’s mother and mine are trying to pair us up. And, trust me, they’re not being discreet about it.”

Ahyoung bit her lower lip and grinned.

“I kind of sensed that, unnie.”

“Well, I’m not interested.”

“Yes?”

“I’m not interested in him. He’s not my type.” Eunhee let out a shrug.

“Oh, I..okay.” Ahyoung blurted out, Eunhee chuckled at her.

“I just wanted to put it out there, Ahyoung. Just so..you’d know.” Eunhee mused at her, the younger girl only nodded along and grabbed her coffee.

“Well, I’ll make sure…not to be used by auntie, I guess. I have a feeling she’ll call me to badger oppa about into asking you out.” Ahyoung stated, Eunhee looked at her, with raised brows.

“That’s good, would you like a ride back to school?”

“Is she back into her old habits?” Changmin mused as they headed to back to the parking lot.

“Or she just wasn’t in the mood to attend class.” Chanhee hummed as they reached their respective cars, Juyeon and Chaerin were chatting a few steps behind them.

“But practice was good, right? I mean, I didn’t hear the coach yelling…at you..in particular.” Chaerin said, Juyeon smiled briefly.

“Yes, it was fine. Some of us are just on edge for Friday.”

“I’m sure you’ll do well, dude.”

Juyeon was about to comment when a bright yellow Porsche 911 pulled over, the students paused, noticing the car.

“What~”

“Thanks for driving me, unnie. Let’s hang out soon.”

“Preferably not on a school day, I wouldn’t want to be labeled as bad influence.” The stranger commented from the driver’s seat, Chanhee tilted his head.

“Whoa, who is that?” Chaerin voiced, Juyeon followed her gaze and his brows went up. Ahyoung pulled away from the car, and turned towards them, the girl broke into a smile.

“Did you have fun, young miss? How did your day go by? For us, we had two quizzes today, which you kind of missed.” Chanhee pointed out as she walked up to them.

“Hehe.” Ahyoung grew sheepish, Chanhee rolled his eyes at her and got inside his car, Chaerin hopped after him, and the two drove away.

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow, good to have you back with us, Ahyoung!” Kevin joked before running off to his car, Changmin gave his cousin a wave before leaving as well.

“Not one offer from them. Nice.” She muttered under her breath, Juyeon was already loading his stuff into his car.

“So, how was training?” She said as she strolled over to him, Juyeon faced her, the expression on his face unreadable.

“Uneventful.” He replied, Ahyoung’s lips curled up.

“I know, I should have at least texted back, but..after that chat with my schoolmate, I..” She trailed off, her forehead creasing, and she fidgeted with the sleeves of her coat.

“The Takoyaki was good, you know.”

“I heard. Anyway, I’ll go..and~”

Juyeon held onto her arm and he sighed.

“The next time you disappear…maybe a text would be okay. It’s not too much to ask for, right?” He asked, Ahyoung paused and looked at his hand on her arm, Juyeon stilled, and he was about to pull back but the girl laced her fingers with his.

“Okay, I’ll keep that in mind.” She grinned before letting go of his hand.

“So, new friend?” He asked as he took her bag from her, the girl smiled and got inside the vehicle.

“Yes, and she’s really cool. I wanna be like her when I grow up.” She chuckled as he started the car.

“Would you like to eat out before heading home?” Juyeon asked as he drove out of the school property, Ahyoung leaned back on the seat and nodded.

“Dinner sounds great, if you’re down.” She said to him.

“Still not facing your brother?” He mused in reply.

“Less contact as much as possible. I try my best to survive.” She joked, Juyeon let out a laugh and Ahyoung glanced at him.

“Well, I don’t think your brother got the memo.”

“What do you mean? Did he try to befriend Chaerin again today?”

Juyeon only grinned at her as he stepped on the gas.

“Okay, you have to tell me what I missed, Juju Bear!”

Hyunjae uncrossed his arms as he saw the familiar G Wagon pull over at their house, he glanced behind him, his father and Ji Seonmi were talking. Well, Seonmi was trying to ease his father’s worries, Hyunjae looked on and grinned when he saw Juyeon slide down from the vehicle and opened the door for his sister.

“See, she’s fine. And she’s here.” Seonmi commented, Mr. Lee huffed and moved forward.

“Are you going to explain what happened today, young lady?” Mr. Lee demanded as he reached them, Juyeon paused, surprised.

“I was out.” Ahyoung replied coolly, Hyunjae grimaced and joined them.

“You told your mother you would stop~”

“I said I would try. Not totally stop.” Ahyoung pointed out with a shrug, Juyeon nudged the girl and she sighed at him.

“Well, I had a lot of things in my mind. I needed…the time out.” She cleared , Hyunjae’s brows went up. Did Juyeon call out his sister and not get hissed at in return?

“Actually, she went out to meet a friend, Mr. Lee. They only went out to get coffee.” Juyeon softly said, their father’s eyes went to him, and he instantly recognized the male.

“It’s good to see you, Juyeon-ah. Thanks for driving her home, tell your parents I say hi.”

“Yes, no problem, Mr. Lee.” Juyeon replied, Ahyoung rolled her eyes at his reply.

“We will talk inside inside the house, Ahyoung-ah.” Mr. Lee stated as he turned his back to them, Seonmi followed him in but not before giving the two youngsters a short glance.

“That went well.” Hyunjae was grinning at them, Ahyoung chewed on the insides of her cheek.

“Sunbae,” Juyeon nodded at him.

“I was looking all over school for you today, you brat.”

“Well, I’ll deal with you later. I must go and…pacify our other parent now. So,” Ahyoung took her bag from Juyeon.

“Thanks for the ride. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Ahyoung said with a small smile before giving his hand a light squeeze.

Juyeon nodded in reply and watched as the girl hop towards the house, seemingly not bothered that her father was angry with her.

“So,” Hyunjae cleared his throat, Juyeon turned to the male.

“I haven’t seen anyone survive after telling her what to do.” The older male chuckled, Juyeon tilted his head, confused.

“I..don’t understand~”

“All I’m trying to say is,” Hyunjae continued grinning, and he took a quick glance at their house.

“I trust you with my sister. Not totally trust, but I know you’re good for her.”

Juyeon diverted his gaze away from the older male, Hyunjae chuckled.

“So, continue being her friend, Juyeon-ah. Who knows,” He said as he started to walk backwards, away from Juyeon.

“She just might realize what’s right in front of her.” Hyunjae mused before entering the house.

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