chapter four;

My body was covered in sweat almost from head to toe. I rolled up my sleeves and tied my hair into a tight bun so that it would not get in my way later.

“Hot day, isn’t it?” Soojung, my teammate commented while we both were doing our warm ups

I nodded away without a reply. Indeed, it was perhaps the hottest summer ever. The gymnasium almost felt like an oven with the heat from the raging sun outside.

“Can’t wait for autumn,” she added.

I smiled, remembering my favourite season where the blazing heat would disappear and replaced by the gentle cooling breeze of the approaching winter. Most of all, autumn was my favourite season because it was my season.

With the chirpings of the birds, the squeaks of sneakers and balls dribbling sound inside the gym as a companion melody, my thoughts began to wander off. Until I heard someone yelling my name.

“Suji yah, watch out!”

I turned around, dazed. But before I could realize it, I felt something hitting my head, so hard that it knocked me off to the floor. Feeling dizzy, I could hear voices calling my name, people running toward me and tossing are-you-okays despite it was obvious that I was not. The last thing I remembered before finally passing out was being carried on someone’s back and inhaling faint coconut scent from his hair.
 

-

The smell of anesthetic filled my nose, and immediately I knew I was at the infirmary. Hearing the unmistakable noise from Jongin’s DS, I slowly opened my eyes. Sure enough, I found him on a chair by my side playing with his game console while making extra sound effects with his mouth.

“Jongin ah, can you keep it down? Your sister’s sleeping,” the nurse called from her desk over the curtain.

“Don’t worry. She sleeps like a log. She won’t wake up from this,” he mumbled back, eyes not straying from the screen.

I threw the blanket at him at shot him a glare.

“Oh you’re awake now?” he raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but yes I’m awake,” I chided.

He chuckled, flipping his DS close and shoving it into his bag.

“I thought umma doesn’t allow us to bring that to school?”

“I’d appreciate you not telling her about it,”

I looked up, pretending to be considering his request before returning my gaze at him with a smirk. “Only if you do my English homework for me,”

He threw the blanket back at me, laughing. “Why do I have a sister like you?”

“I wonder,” I shrugged. I glanced around, and finally remembering why I was here when my head suddenly throbbed, I touched my forehead to check for lumps. “Is my head okay?” I asked Jongin.

“No, Miss Hong said you lost some memories and there’s a blood clot in your brain,” he answered with a straight face. When I did not reply but simply stared at him, aghast, he chuckled. “No, silly. You’re fine,”

I exhaled a sigh of relief attacked him using the blanket again, but he threw it back the next second it landed on him. My eyes then laid on my school bag on the side table. “Did you carry me here?”

“Nope. I was just going to meet you at the gym as usual but Soojung told me you’re here, so I brought your bag,” he explained.

It hit me then that the coconut scent I smelled was not similar to the scent from Jongin’s shampoo. “Then who brought me here?”

He shrugged. “A boy I don’t know, but he said he’s in the team,”

My eyes flicked around the infirmary, looking for the sign of that mystery man. “Where’s him then?”

“He left the minute I came,”

Somehow, hearing that, my heart sank. I wondered who he was, and if I was heavy that it tired him to carry me all way here since the infirmary was quite far from the gym.

“Let’s go home now,” Jongin said as he rose from his seat and slung both his bag and mine over his shoulders. “Can you walk?”

“If I say no, will you give me a piggyback ride?”

He shook his head. “Not a chance. You’re too heavy,” he stuck his tongue out at me, and I did the same.

Final exam on Monday and after that I'll be freeeeee!