“Duellie!”

My eye twitched. “What are you doing here?”

“What do you mean what am I doing here? You invited me over. Now let me in, it’s pretty chilly out here.” Baro pushed right past me and entered my apartment. He began looking around with a smirk that I just wanted to punch right off. “Wow, this place is small.”

“What do you expect,” I muttered as I continued holding the door open, hoping he would just walk out, “It’s just me and my parents living here. Now tell me again, why are you here?”

“Did you bump your head and lose your memory or something?” Baro said with a chuckle, “You invited me over. Remember?” He handed me his phone and I snatched it out of his hand with a frown.

From: hey, come over dude. im so board and stuff so lets hang out. heres my adress

I read the address that was written (which was horribly misspelled by the way) and let out a heavy sigh. “Baro, are you an idiot? This isn’t even close to the way I normally write. And the word address is misspelled. Even my address itself is misspelled. You know how I am about my spelling. They didn't even use the right kind of bored.”

Baro took the phone back and reread the text. “I thought you were just having a bad spelling day or something,” he said with a shrug. "It's no wonder why it took me a while to find your place."

“Baro, not to be rude or anything, but I kind of don’t want you he-“

“Baro! You’re here! I was waiting for you to finally come.”

Shinwoo pushed me out of the way to grab Baro into a friendly headlock, “It was so boring without you here,” he said while he looked over and smirked at me, “And Duellie was dying for you to come over and brighten the mood up.”

Baro laughed as he found his way out of Shinwoo’s headlock. “Really?” he said excitingly as he looked over at me.

Oh no. Not those puppy eyes again. Those damn puppy eyes.

“Yep! Isn’t that right, Dullie?” Shinwoo put an arm around my shoulder and smirked, “You really like being around Baro, don’t you?”

I blinked at Baro and was about to tell him the truth when he flashed me those damn puppy eyes again. They were practically screaming at me not to hurt Baro’s feelings. I tried to look away from them, but it was impossible.

“Whatever,” I muttered as I finally managed to look away, keeping my eyes locked on the kitchen sink. I couldn’t stand looking at his eyes right now. If it wasn’t for them, I would have kicked Baro out by now. And Shinwoo was going with him.

“I’m so happy to hear that!” Baro said with a bright smile, “I was actually starting to think you didn’t like me.”

“But I really don’t li-“

“Of course he likes you!” Shinwoo said as he slammed my hand over my mouth to get me to shut up, “We all like you! And Sandeul here likes you so much; he even said he wanted to play soccer with you!”

“Really? I didn’t know you liked sports, Deullie.”

“Oh, he loves sports,” Shinwoo said as he looked over at me, his hand still over my mouth, “Don’t you, Duellie?”

I furrowed my eyebrows, but before I could do anything, Baro spoke again.

“Then let’s go play!”

Those damn eyes again.

--

Ok, just to let things straight: I hate sports. I hate sports more than I my classes. And that is a lot of hate.

I glared over at Shinwoo, who was on the other side of the field, flirting with a couple of girls that just happened to walk by the moment we got here. Stupid idiot. He’s the one who caused this whole problem, yet he’s wasting his time flirting with girls who obviously look as though they’re going to puke in any second.

“Deullie, are we going to play or not?”

I turned my head to Baro, who was holding my old soccer ball in his hands. After enough complaining from both boys, I was forced to search for that old thing from out of my closet. I got it as a birthday gift from my dad when I was still in elementary school, and it's never actually been taken out to see broad daylight.

I frowned.

I didn’t want to play. Not at all. I wanted to be home right now. As way from society and, especially, away from Baro.

But looking at Baro’s huge excited eyes, I knew there was no way I was going to be able to tell him that. Besides, we’re already here at the soccer field. Might as well get this whole thing over with without causing any problems. Baro and Shinwoo are just lucky that the soccer field was so close by, or else I wouldn’t have even come here.

Baro smiled brightly as he put the ball down right in front of him. I was standing a couple of feet away and right in front of the goal post, where Baro told me to stand.

“Alright then,” Baro called out to me while passing the ball back and forth to himself, “You know how to play, right?”

“I’m not stupid,” I muttered, but it was loud enough for him to hear, “I’m aware on how soccer is played.”

“Okay,” Baro chuckled. I swear, he’s the only person who can actually stand this smart mouth of mine. How does he do it? “I’m not going to go easy on you then.”

“No one asked you to.”

Baro chuckled again to himself and nodded his head. “Fine. We’ll just shoot a couple of goals as a warm up before actually playing.”

“Whatever. But wait,” I looked over at Shinwoo, who was still flirting with the girls, “What about him?”

Baro looked over at where Shinwoo was standing and just shrugged his shoulders. “He can join in later.”

Before I managed to respond, Baro stopped passing the ball to himself and took a few steps back. “I’m going,” he called out to me. He took another step back and looked up at me, “Ready?”

I nodded my head.

Now, normally I’m pretty aware of my surroundings. I know when something is near me or coming my way. But it wasn’t until I felt the wind from the force of the ball passing right by me that I finally noticed Baro had kicked the ball. Pretty hard. No, scratch that. Really hard.

I turned my head and glanced down at the ball that had hit the net right behind me. I glared at the ball before looking back over at the smirking Baro.

“One point for me.”

“Not fair,” I said in defense, “I wasn’t ready.”

“I asked if you were ready.”

“But you didn’t let me know exactly when you were going to kick the ball.”

“That’s the point of making a goal,” Baro laughed.

I pouted as I bent down to pick the ball up. “One more time,” I called out as I threw the ball back at Baro.

Baro caught the ball and then nodded his head before putting it back on the floor and right in front of him. He looked back up at me and smirked.

“Are you ready now?” Baro asked with some teasing in his voice.

I nodded my head and went to get into a proper position. But before could even lift a finger, the ball came flying past me and into the net once again. I quickly glanced over at the ball and back at Baro.

“What the hell? I wasn’t ready!” I shouted as I stomped my foot like a fussy little kid.

Baro eyes widen for a split second before he suddenly burst into laughter.

“What?” I asked in annoyance, but I could feel my lips forming into a pout.

“Oh my god! Deullie, you’re so cute!”

“No I’m not,” I muttered while crossing my arms against my chest.

And before I knew it, I was being tackled down by a squealing Baro. “Aw, Deullie, you’re so cute!”

It wasn then that I realized I must have been acting like a little kid, making me look like one as well. Curse this cute face of mine. But mostly, curse myself for acting like a brat over a stupid game. We haven’t even been playing for a while and I’m already acting like this. I need to control myself.

This was the reason why I hate sports. It wasn’t because I didn’t like running around or anything (though I honestly prefer not to). It was because I’m competitive when it comes to sports. Actually, I’m not competitive. I just act like a brat. A spoiled little brat. And because of my face, it makes me look cute (or so I’ve been told).

Shinwoo clearly knew that already. This was the only reason why he even offered to play. He knew Baro would agree, and he also knew I couldn’t say no to Baro (for reasons even I don't understand). And what he also knew was that Baro had a soft spot of my cute face, so Shinwoo was positive that the moment I started to act that, Baro was going to tease me non-stop.

And Shinwoo knows I hate being tease. And so he did all of this just to annoy me.

That bastard.

I swear, it’s like that idiot spends hours thinking of plans just to piss me off. He enjoys getting me annoyed. But I have no idea why though. I've always been so nice to him.

“Hey, Deullie.”

I glanced up and realized Baro was still sitting on top of me. As badly as I wanted to push him off, I knew I was too weak to and I’d just embarrass myself if I tried. “What?” I mumbled.

“Can I keep you?”

I blinked in confusion and this time I really did push Baro off. What kind of question was that?

Baro landed on his and watched as I sat up and gave him a glare. “Don’t ask such weird things,” I muttered as I stood up on my feet. “Come on."

I heard Baro chuckle as he stood up as well.

We went back to making goals and I managed to block 3 out of the 10 shots Baro made, while Baro managed to block all 10 of mine.

It wasn’t long until we actually began playing a real soccer game. And let’s just say, I really . It wasn’t that I’m bad at soccer or anything, but Baro was just too good at it. Baro managed to keep the ball to himself practically throughout the whole game while I was making failed attempts at trying to steal it from him. Whenever Baro made a goal, I would always make a pout and fuss about it (Not that I really wanted to. It came naturally). Next thing I knew, I’d be on the floor with Baro on top of me, begging me to let him keep me. Whatever that’s supposed to me. But from that overly excited smile on Baro’s face, I could tell it wasn’t something good.

“Let me keep you!” Baro cried as he tackled me onto the ground once again, “I’ll do anything! I’ll do your homework! I’ll clean your room! Anything!”

I let out a groan as I blew some hair out of my face and looked up at Baro. “Get off of me.”

“Not until you let me keep you.”

“What are you talking about? Man, you’re so weird,” I muttered as I tried pushing Baro off. Sadly, I was too weak.

I let out a frustrated sigh and frowned. “Baro, get off,” I whined.

Baro simply chuckled as he finally got off and sat down beside me, “This is funny.”

“What is?” I muttered as I sat up and looked over at him.

“You are,” Baro said with a smile, “This is the first time I’ve seen you act like this. You’re normally so calm and stable. But today, all you’ve been doing was act like a little kid whenever we played. It’s cute on you though.”

I glared at Baro before putting my gaze onto the grass. He was right. I hardly ever act like this. I’m always quiet and keep things to myself. But today I was whining, yelling every now and then, and I even grabbed Baro by the shirt a couple of times so I could try to get the ball away from him. It was a little embarassing, now that I think about it.

In all honestly, the way I was acting was not a surprise to me at all. Like I stated before, I’m somewhat competitive. Once I get into a game, I tend to get out of my normal self and become really excited for no reason. Much like a little kid.

The only thing that surprised me today, though, was that I managed to act like this around Baro. I’m normally able to keep this part of me inside whenever I’m around somebody I’m not really familiar. Only my family has ever seen me act like this, and that was only because I grew up with them.

But Baro; I’ve only known him for a few months. And this was only the third time we've seen each other face-to-face.

I blinked as I glanced over to where Shinwoo was. After all this time, we was still flirting with those two girls he just met. I’m surprised they haven’t called the police yet from all the corny pickup lines I bet Shinwoo is throwing at them. Or maybe they’re that just desperate for attention.

“Let’s take a rest,” Baro said as he stretched his arms and let out a sigh as he lay down on the grass, “Soccer is getting boring now. Besides, you .”

“Hey!” I snapped while glaring down at him, “I don’t . You’re just a ball hog.”

“That’s the point of the game.”

“I don’t care. It’s annoying.”

Baro chuckled as I he grabbed my arm and forced me to lay down beside him. I didn’t want to, but like always, I couldn’t say no to Baro. Those eyes.

It became quiet between the two of us, which was odd since Baro is always talking no matter what the situation is.

“Man,” Baro mumbled while we both looked up at the sky, “I honestly missed talking to you.”

“We text each other every day.”

“I mean, I miss actually talking to you. Not through phone.”

I simply remained silent. There was nothing I could really say in such a situation. Baro and I live in different parts of the town. We go to different schools. We have different lives. The only thing that keeps us connected is our phones. Without that, we’d probably never see each other after the first time we meet. I wonder how it would be if I never gave Baro my number that night. I bet life would be much easier on me.

Baro smiled to himself as he sat up, “It that we go to different schools,” he said as he looked down at me, “If we didn’t, we’d probably be together all the time.”

I tried to avoid eye contact with him by continuing to stare up at the sky. I’m not sure how I feel about the thought of always being around Baro. It didn’t sound like something I would like, but it didn’t sound like something I would hate either. I was a bit skeptical.

“That sounds awesome, doesn’t it?” Baro said excitingly, “Just imagine how closer we’d be if we were always together. We would've been best friends!”

I made a bad decision by looking over at Baro and making eye contact with him. Immediately I put on a fake small smile, “I guess.”

“Maybe something will happen and then we’ll get to be together all the time," Baro said with hope in his voice.

“We’ll let destiny decide that,” I mumbled as I went back to looking at the sky.

“If only there was a way to help destiny,” Baro mumbled back as he went back to lying down beside me.

“I wouldn’t mess with destiny.”

The two of us remained silent for a couple of minutes as we both continued looking at the sky. It felt like forever until Shinwoo came over to us, once he managed to get one of the girl’s phone numbers, and said it was time to go home.

“Hopefully we can see each other again soon,” Baro said once the two of us got off from the floor, “Make sure you text me when you get home, ok?”

I looked at Baro’s eyes and sighed. “Ok.”

We said our goodbyes and went our different ways. Oddly enough, I ended up walking Shinwoo home, who didn’t live too far away from me. Much to my dislike. I was still annoyed of the fact that he forced me out with Baro.

“Brighten up kid,” Shinwoo said as he softly punched my shoulder when we reached his door, “Baro isn’t a bad kid. I don’t see why you’re so uptight with him.”

“You know how I am with people,” I mumbled, “I don’t like getting close to them.”

“Well, I think Baro is someone who will be good for you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Go home. It’s getting late,” Shinwoo patted the top of my head as if I was a little kid and entered his house.

I was still confused as what he meant, but just choose to forget about it. Shinwoo always says weird things like that. I gave up understanding him when he changed his name. I thought Dongwoo was a nice name.

I slowly walked back to my apartment, and by then, it was almost about to reach midnight. I didn’t notice how fast time went by when I was with Baro. And now that I’m by myself time is going very slow.

I sighed when I reached the door to my apartment. I’m glad I live on the first floor. I’d probably be too lazy to actually climb all those stairs just to get home. I turned the door knob and let out a sigh of relief when I saw that the door was still unlocked. I’m lucky. If it wasn’t, I’d have to ring the bell and then my Mom will yell at me for not carrying a key or something. She's been doing a lot of yelling lately.

I was expecting to find my house quiet, since my parents should be asleep by now, but instead I saw something else.

“Whatever, I’m done dealing with you,” My Mom snapped at my dad before turning around and stomping her way to their bedroom and slamming the door once she entered.

My dad let out a groan and rolled his eyes. “Stupid women,” he muttered.

It was silent for a while before I decided to let him know I was home. I cleared my throat and that caught his attention.

“Oh, son. You’re home.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled as I glanced to the direction where my mom went, “Um, sorry for being late. I lost track of time.”

“Whatever,” my dad said. He grabbed the car keys from the key rack and looked over at me, “I’m going out for a bit.”

“It’s about to be midnight. Where are you going?”

“Anywhere that’s not here,” he muttered before leaving the apartment, also slamming the door once he left.

I blinked at the door. What… just happened?

I walked over to the living room couch and sank down with a sigh. This wasn’t the first time my parent got into a fight, and you’d think by now I’d be used to it. But I’m not. It irritates me when they fight. Because, even if the fight is small and stupid, both of them have too big of an ego to actually do anything to fix it. And I end up suffering for whatever reason.

At that moment, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I took it out and, of course, it was a text from Baro.

From: hey r u home? hopefully u got there safely ^^

I sighed as I pressed the off button on my phone. I’m not in the mood to text him tonight. He’ll understand, right? Not that I care.