Yongsun ordered some food and took a shower. After hearing Byulyi's explanation, she's starting to doubt her own memories of the bullying acts that happened 10 years ago but she didn't want to admit that she might remembered it all wrong. She brushed aside the thought and heading to bed to sleep it off. Her dog, a Jindo mix with white and brown fur, Yongkeey followed her and rested on the nurse's leg.

While resting and closing her eyes, her phone was vibrating on the nightstand but she just turned it off completely and burying her face on the pillow. She's trying to sleep but there's a certain someone appeared in her mind that's bothering her. She screamed against the pillow, "Aarrghh!!! Damn you, Moon Byulyi! Why I can't stop thinking about you!"

The dog startled and woke up as the nurse got off from the bed and wore her glasses first before opening her laptop. She typed the basketball coach's name and read what happened 2 years ago. It was after the Japan Summer Olympic Games in 2020 and the South Korea's basketball team just went home after losing the preliminary around against Spain.

There's a picture of their national team players wearing the white uniform with red and blue on the sides and Byulyi looking serious with a ponytail and wearing a red headband. But the accident that changed the brown haired woman's life wasn't on the basketball court in the foreign land, but on the street of her own country.

[Seoul, 2020]

‌It's 2 am and Byulyi was riding her motorcycle from the training center to her apartment. She could've let her agent to drive her home but as an independent woman, she chose to go alone despite just having a flight home from Tokyo. On her way in the intersection, she stopped at the red light and there were two motorbikes stopped on either side of her. Sense something was about to go wrong, she pulled the acceleration handlebar even before the traffic light turned green. 

‌The two motorbikes were on her tail and she tried to lose them by riding faster. The street was empty and nobody else was there. Byulyi slowed down when she thought she lost them but then one bike suddenly appeared from the alley on her left and blocking her. S‌he quickly pulled the brake but she couldn't control her Ducati. She lost balance and fell to the right side with her her right leg was stuck under the heavy motorcycle.

A man had a knife and the other had a metal baseball bat. Another bike arrived and they were watching Byulyi struggling to free her leg. One man attack her but she managed to dodge. A much bigger man lifted the Ducati and trying to turn it on with the intention to steal it. 

Byulyi got up and lunged at him, "Nooo!"

Her action made the other men faced her and beating her up. Byulyi took off her helmet and defending herself with it. But even though she was a good fighter, due to fatigue and exhaustion from the flight and Olympic games, she couldn't overpower four muscular men. She was fighting for her life and took a one last stand, then the man with metal baseball bat swung it hard at her right knee. The sound of her cry filled the air of the cold and dark alley that night. 

Out of nowhere, a police siren was heard nearby and the men panicked. Two men snatched and pulling Byulyi's duffel bag instead. The national athlete reached out to it but she only managed to get a hold of a silver basketball keychain in her right palm before losing consciousness. 

Cops found her and rushed her to hospital. Byulyi's body was covered by wounds and blood and she also had a torn ligament and fractures on her right knee. Before the doctor could perform any surgery, her guardian had to sign the consent first. 

Since her parents were in Bucheon with her sisters, the cops was only able to reach the best friend, Ahn Heeyeon. The woman came running in a blazer and cried when she saw her only friend was laying there on the bed. The rookie lawyer acted as Byulyi's guardian and stayed there until everything was over.

In the morning, Heeyeon overslept with her head on the bed and felt a hand on her shoulder. She bolted up, "Ah! Oh, Byul-ah. You're awake."

"Heeyeon-ah..." Byulyi said weakly, "What happened?"

"Damn you, stupid idiot! I told you it's not safe riding that bike of yours in the middle of the night!" The rookie lawyer shouted and cried at the same time, "What if something worse happened to you? You're my only friend! I can't live without you!"

"Heeyeon-ah... Stop screaming," The athlete tried to sit but she felt major pain all over her body and her right knee was covered by a cast, "Ack... My Ducati... Where is it?"

"You look like  and you're worrying about it now?" Heeyeon shook her head, "The police took it. Don't worry, it's safe but they couldn't find your bag. I'm sorry. How are you?"

"I feel like I just got hit by a car," The brown haired woman winced, "What about the keychain?"

"What keychain?"

"The small basketball."

"Ah.. You mean this?" Heeyeon took out the silver basketball from her pocket, "The doctor said you were holding onto it really tight in your palm. They took it before the surgery."

The lawyer gave it to Byulyi and the athlete held it in her hand, "Ah... The keyring is broken. I should replace it."

"You always have that thing on your bag since high school. Why is it so important? Did someone give it to you? I don't remember."

"Yes. A secret admirer," Byulyi smiled weakly, "And it's my lucky charm. Maybe I survived and still alive because of it."

"Eyy that nonsense," Heeyeon frowned, "I think the anesthesia still have affects on you. You should go back to sleep."

As an athlete representing her country, she's having a hard time dealing with the major knee injury and feeling anxious and worried that she might have to stop playing basketball forever. Her spirit was broken and when she thought her life was already over, it got worse. Her wallet and apartment keys were inside the duffel bag and seemed like the same men from before broke into her apartment. They stole almost every expensive thing they could find and cleared out her bank accounts. Her whole life turned upside down just in the matter of days.

The apartment's security didn't notice it before because the men had Byulyi's keys. Heeyeon swore that she would find those men and bring justice but Byulyi told her to just let it go. The rookie lawyer said the national athlete's big and kind heart was too good for this world but deep down, Byulyi just didn't want Heeyeon to waste her time dealing with her problems.

Crippled and penniless, she decided to move out from the luxurious apartment without telling her neighbors and because Heeyeon was also struggling financially, Byulyi went back home to Bucheon. Her family supported the medical bills and physical therapy for months, but of course they're not a well-off family and soon it became a burden for them. 

The national team coach called to encourage her and rooting for her, but after months of treatments, the injury didn't get any better. She couldn't move her right knee freely and still had trouble walking. The coach let her to take a break and think about what she would do but after the accident, Byulyi wasn't the same person as she used to. She was broken and damaged, physically and mentally. Her whole world was crumbling down and she didn't want the people around her suffer because of her anymore. She became a quiet person who always stayed in her bedroom and eventually, she accepted her condition and decided to say goodbye to the thing she loved the most, playing basketball.

[Present day]

The basketball coach had a chocolate milk in her hand. She wanted to put it on the nurse's desk in the morning but after their semi drunk talk and clarification, Byulyi didn't have a chance to meet Yongsun again for days and she's afraid things would be more awkward between them. She got an idea and knocked on the classroom 10-5 and called the point guard, Wheein during lunch break. 

They went out to the corridor and the student asked, "What's up, Coach? You never came to the classroom before."

The coach looked around before asking, "Did you have lunch yet?"

"I just did. Hyejin and I always packed our lunch boxes from home so we never eat in the cafeteria."

"Okay then," Byulyi gave the chocolate milk to the girl, "Here."

"Woah! Thank you, Coach!"

"That's not for you. I'm asking you a favor. Can you put it on Nurse Kim's desk before the lunch break over?"

"Aah..." Wheein slightly disappointed but she understood. She shrugged, "Okay. Sure."

"Can you do it everyday?"

"Eh? Why don't you give it to her yourself, Coach? Did you two fight?"

"No... I just don't want to make her uncomfortable after what happened between us. Wheein-ah, I trust you so please don't tell anyone about this."

"You have my words, Coach," Wheein saluted the older woman and said, "I'll go there now."

"Thank you."

Yongsun came back from the toilet and found a chocolate milk on her desk. She already knew who sent it and for a week, the nurse always found the chocolate milk on her desk whenever she came back from the toilet after lunch and she gladly drank them. One day, she decided to stay in the infirmary because she wanted to know how the coach managed to sneak inside without her knowing. Yongsun ate a sandwich she bought in the morning and she heard the door was opened. Instead of the coach, it  was the short basketball player tiptoed inside and obviously didn't expect the nurse was eating there at the desk.

"O- Omo!" Wheein froze and held her breath. She's pretending that she got lost and turned around to leave, "A- Ah! I must had take a wrong turn and thought this is the toilet."

"Stop right there," The nurse got up with a sandwich in her hand, "Aren't you going to give me that milk?"

"Oh, right," The sophomore student smiled nervously and handed the milk to the nurse as she's running out, "Enjoy the milk, Nurse Kim! Bye!"