Seola woke up with a stinging pain in both her head and body. She has been overworking herself for the past few weeks because of the upcoming quarterfinals and barely has time to eat her meals, too. Despite the aching, she still pushed herself to get up and get ready for school. She was informed that they would have exams today and was also forced to be excused from her training. Lucky for her, who's experiencing an unbearable ache all over her body, but also quite unfortunate because she hasn't been studying well these days because her mind's too occupied with volleyball.

“Morning mom!” Seola warmly greeted her mother, who was busy chopping up the lettuce and cabbages. Their eatery had just opened a few minutes ago and there were already a few customers inside, mostly students, who go to the same university as the athlete.

“Good morning, my MVP!” Her mother greeted her back with the same enthusiasm. Seola just giggled at the response before giving the hardworking lady a tight embrace. Her mom could only chuckle at her daughter's clingy state. “I'm surprised to see you in your uniform today? Usually, you're wearing your volleyball jersey whenever you drop by here to get your food.”

Seola nodded, her arm reaching for the plastic container her mom had put on the top counter and placing it safely inside her backpack. It will be her lunch for that day and she knows she'll be enjoying it because her mom's homemade dishes will always be the best ones to eat.

“We have exams today and there will be no exceptions, so I have no choice but to go back to my classroom,” she replied with a soft sigh. 

“You sound unhappy?” Her mom teased, nudging the young girl's shoulder. Seola just shook her head and laughed along. 

“What's so fun about taking exams anyway? It'll just make my head ache even more. I'll go now, mom! Don't overwork yourself too much.” 

After giving her mom's kiss a gentle peck, Seola left the eatery and walked her way towards the school. It's not too far from the place and riding the bus on the way there would be too pricey, so Seola just chooses to walk everyday. 

The classroom wasn't too crowded yet, since it was still a bit early. Only the class president and Seola's best friend, Bona, and her other classmates were inside; all minding their own businesses. Seola then walked towards her seat and placed her backpack on the chair, sitting down comfortably and plopping her head on the desk. Bona was able to hear the thumping sound, and she already knew it was from her best friend. 

“Good morning sleepyhead!” Bona greeted her as soon as she occupied the empty space beside Seola's seat. The other girl just groaned in response as she squished her body further to her seat.

“Well, someone's not having a good morning.” Bona uttered, eyeing her friend, whose face was all covered with her long, black hair.

“My headache is killing me, and my whole body feels like it's being hammered by ten men.” Seola replied, her voice sounding a bit hoarse. Bona was still able to understand what the girl said though.

Bona sighed, extending her arm to give the girl's head gentle rubs. Seola loved how it felt and even moved her head closer to Bona's palm. Her friend just chuckled softly, thinking that Seola might have been a cat in her past life because of how she acts around her.

“That's what you get for training until late at night. Our bodies have limits too, Seol, and I really am not a fan of what you've been doing for the past few weeks,” Bona said in a worried tone, still rubbing gentle circles on Seola's head. 

Seola slowly tilted her head, enough for Bona to see her face; she was still resting it comfortably in her arms. Bona stared at her fondly, her hand now patting her best friend's cheek.

“You're worried about me now? I thought you told me to work harder to prove to Soojung and her worshippers that I deserve to be our team's captain.” 

Bona rolled her eyes.

“I didn't mean it that way. You know, I would never ask you to overtrain yourself. You can work hard as an athlete without having to stay so late in the gym and only get a few hours of sleep or barely eat at all,” she reminded.

“You sound exactly like mom.” Seola teased, avoiding the topic. Bona just gently hit her arm before going back to her seat since their professor was already inside the classroom.

“Good morning, class! And good morning to the athletes that are surprisingly here with us today.”

Seola just shrugged, and Bona was just being herself; all smiley and enthusiastic. 

“Well, since everyone is already informed, we will be having important exams today and special exams won't be given for those who are absent. Class president, kindly distribute these answer sheets and test papers.” 

Bona stood up from her seat and walked towards their instructor's desk. She grabbed the papers and started distributing them one by one until all her classmates had their own. As soon as she returned to where she was sitting, the professor told them that they could start answering.

“Gosh, what are these questions...” Seola muttered under her breath, cursing in her head for not giving herself time to at least review her notes.

She took a quick glance at Bona, who was busy answering. She studied her friend's face, almost laughing when she realized she was just randomly picking letters to shade. Seola was about to do the same thing when a small piece of folded paper landed on her desk. When she opened it, it was full of letters. On the bottom part was a note saying: 

'I'm your biggest fan. Glad to see you back in the classroom, Kim Seola.'

Seola looked around, only to see the class musician, Park Soobin, giving her a heartwarming smile. She just smiled back and mouthed a 'thank you' before copying all the answers written on the paper. 

An hour had passed and everyone was already done with answering the test questions. Bona was asked by their professor to collect all the papers and bring them to the faculty room, so she just told Seola to wait for her in the school's cafeteria. 

Seola was about to leave when Soobin approached her with the same smile she had worn earlier. 

“Hey,” Soobin greeted, tapping Seola's desk. The athlete turned around to look at her after putting her backpack on. 

“Oh hi, Soobin.” 

“I watched the previous match. Congratulations on being the MVP again! You did really well.” 

Seola smiled too. 

“Thanks, but how were you able to watch? I'm pretty certain it was class hours when the match started,” she questioned. Soobin just wiggled her eyebrows, grinning at the girl. 

“I have my ways.” 

The athlete just laughed at her silly antics. She wasn't really that close to Soobin, or their other classmates. They just normally greet each other good mornings whenever Seola gets the chance to return to their classroom, and that's all of it. Besides, Seola was the introvert of all introverts, and she only ever had the longest conversation with her childhood friend, who was also on the same volleyball team as her; it was no other than Kim Bona.

“Uhm, I'll get going now, Soobin. Bona's probably waiting for me in the cafeteria.” Seola said, trying to excuse herself from the intense stares the other girl was giving he