chapter five;

As soon the bell signaling the dismissal went off, I felt my phone in my pocket vibrating. I waited for the teacher to leave first before answering, not even bothering to check the ID as I knew only one person would call me right after the bell rings.

“What’s up?” I said while stuffing my books into my backpack.

“You have practice today, right?” asked Jongin without a hello as usual.

“Yup. Why?”

“Because I need to rush home,” he replied, then added, “Stomachache,”

I chuckled. “It’s okay, go on. You don’t have to wait,” I told him. “Besides your stomach is more important than me, right?”

I heard him laughing over the phone. “I’ll come back to pick you up,”

“Okay. Be careful not to do your business halfway on the streets,”

“Yah!” he yelled before bursting into another fit of laughter.

After hearing the beep, I shoved my phone into my bag and slung it over my shoulder as I made my way out to head to the gym. Just as I was about to turn, I felt my shoulder bumping into someone, causing a book I was holding to slip off my hand and fall to the floor. I sighed and hunkered down to pick it up, but that person beat me to it.

“Here,” he mumbled as he handed the book back to me. “Sorry,”

“It’s fine,”

“Hey, it’s you!”

I looked up and finally met his eyes. It was the same boy I saw that day when Jongin and I went out for patbingsoo. I opened my mouth to speak, but realizing I did not really understand why he would recognize me since we had never spoken before, I closed it back and frowned.

Perhaps he noticed my confusion, because he immediately cleared it up. “That day, it was my ball,” he said. But seeing that it did not really help, he went on. “I was the one who knocked you off with my ball,” he explained further. “And I carried you to the infirmary,”

My eyes widened. “Oh, so it was you! I was wondering who it was since you left before I woke up,”

“Are you mad?” he raised an eyebrow. “Is your head okay? The nurse said it was fine so I left. Plus your brother was there,”

“No, no, it’s not that I’m mad. I just wanted to thank you,”

“Thank me?”

“For bringing me there,”

“Ah,” he nodded, revealing his smile. “In that case, you’re welcome,”

I smiled back, shifting my weight from one foot to another, not knowing what else to say. I remembered then that I was supposed to head to the gym, and he was not supposed to be in my classroom. “What are you doing here by the way?”

“I was looking for someone,” replied him, cocking his head to one side to peek inside the class. “But I guess she’s already left,” he shrugged.

“Who?” I blurted out.

He smiled again, but somehow I saw a different type of smile from the previous one. “Doesn’t matter,” he returned. “Let’s go. We have practice now, don’t we?” He turned around and started walking away, but paused after a couple of steps and glanced back around. “I’m Minho by the way,”

Another smile crept up, gracing my lips. My gaze at him softened, and somehow I felt my heart warmed at the sound of his name. Minho. “I’m Suji,”

“Suji,” he repeated, his eyes trailing at the fluffy white clouds in the side. “That’s nice,”

-

I didn’t realize how poor I played that afternoon. Even my coach’s hollers were inaudible to my ears.

But I remembered stealing glances, and that was all, until the final whistle blew and I heard a warm voice calling my name. “Ready?” Jongin asked, my bag already hanging on his shoulders.

I smiled at him yes, but as we both headed off, I stole another glance back, deep down hoping that he’d do the same.

But he didn’t.

Thank you those who wished me luck ♥