There was a short silence after they disappeared and you tapped your fingers on the table in front of you.

“You were really good, Amber,” you broke the silence because you didn’t want to waste the break at something like that.

“Not good enough,” she looked down to the ground.

“Don’t say that. You were still really good. Heck, you were one of the last ones to be called out,” you tried to comfort her. You kind of understood her because you hated to lose too.

“True. Oh well, I’ll get over this. It’s just something I feel right now. I’m more disappointed in myself than angry about the fact that I didn’t make it,” she confessed.

You didn’t know what to say so you just nodded your head.

“Let’s change the topic and not talk about this,” Luna slammed her hands on the table.

You nodded once again and looked around. There were many different groups in the skate park. All of them were in their own corners talking about today. You looked to the one area you hated the most. The one where Yongguk’s clique usually sits. They were sitting around a table with some others. There were some girls too and one of them was sitting on Yongguk’s lap. He held her by her lower back and the group laughed at something.

As they talked on and on, you watched them from afar, not aware of it either. You stared at their direction for a good five minutes when suddenly Yongguk turned his head towards your direction while still laughing. When he met your eyes, the once smiling and laughing face disappeared and was replaced by a mocking one instead. You rolled your eyes at him but that didn’t change his expression in a way you wanted. Instead, he bit his lip and winked at you. You had to admit that he was really y while doing that, but the girl on top of him just destroyed the sight. You gave him a disgusted look and turned to Amber and Luna again.

“About the changing of topics,” you began, “Amber, can you explain to me why the hell Yongguk can speak English?”

She looked up towards you and sighed, “Because he lived in the U.S.”

You arched your eyebrows in surprise, "Oh really?"

Maybe that explains his attitude?

“Yeah. He was born in the U.S but he moved back to Korea when he was still a kid.”

“Why?”

“Isn’t it because his father left him and his mother?” asked Luna.

Amber nodded and continued, “He left them after he met someone else at work. Apparently she was a family friend too.”

“Auch,” you couldn’t help but feel sorry for Mrs. Kwon. Then it hit you. Yongguk’s mother asked you to call her Mrs. Kwon although his family name is Bang.

“So after his father left them, and his parents got divorced, they moved back to Korea and started a new life here.”

Now everything made sense to you. You looked back at Yongguk and noticed that the table he was sitting at wasn’t as crowded as it was minutes ago.

“Now, young lady,” you could feel Amber's glare from the side, “Explain to me what picture you were talking ab-“ she stopped talking. You turned to her and saw that she had a questioned look while Luna was more shocked. They were looking at something behind you. You raised an eyebrow and turned around just to be welcomed by three figures walking towards you. It was Himchan and two others of Yongguk’s friends.

“Hi,” he greeted as they walked up to your bench.

“Himchan oppa? What are you doing here?” Luna asked him and the three of you eyed the three persons standing in front of you.

“We just came to say hello and good luck to Jin Ah,” he looked at you and smiled.

“Yeah, nothing more,” added one of the guys beside Himchan.

“Why would you do that?” asked Amber before you could say something.

Himchan sighed deeply before speaking again, “Listen Amber, we are sorry for having a friend like Yongguk but we really don’t mean any harm. In fact, that guy has gone crazy these couple of days,” he stated and looked at the other two.

“Ehm… yeah. We would like to start over with you Jin Ah, but also Amber and Luna,” said the other guy. “I’m Youngjae, this is Jongup,” he pointed to the guy with the cute smile, “and you already know Himchan.”

You let your eyes go from one blond haired guy to the other. Just then JB and JR skated back with the drinks in their hands and their faces changed expression once they saw who was standing by their table. Immediately, JB jumped off of his skateboard and stood behind you.

“What are you doing here?” he asked and pointed towards them.

You held your hand up to stop him from talking any further and turned to the three guys again.

“I don’t trust you,” you said, “I don’t trust people so easily.”

That fact was actually true.

“But..” the guy named Jongup began talking but was cut off by Himchan’s hand.

“Jin Ah. I swear to God, we are not here to make trouble. Well, being here will get us in trouble because Yongguk won’t like this but other than that, we would really like to be friends with you. The three of us are tired of Yongguk’s bull and that’s why we would like to be friends with you just as Zelo and Daehyun.”

“Aish, come on guys! Give them a chance!” Luna jumped up, “They are telling you the truth,” she lowered her voice after earning looks from the four of you.

“Why did you come now?” asked JR.

“I’m telling you. These days, Yongguk isn’t himself and we are tired of that. We just want to hang out with you,” explained Himchan once again.

“I don’t know yet. We will see about that,” you said and took a drink from JB.

“You should sit down guys,” offered Luna.

“Are you sure?” asked Youngjae and looked at JR and JB.

The two of them exchanged looks and JR nodded, “Yeah, why not?”

All of sudden, the music played again. It was time for the finale.

“It’s on,” said JB and handed the rest of the drinks to the others because he wouldn’t have time to drink it.

“Good luck guys,” said JR as he took your seat.

“Jin Ah, make sure you beat Yongguk. That would be hilarious,” said Himchan and winked.

You shook your head as a small smile appeared on your face. You jumped on your skateboard and, together with JB, skated away to the ramps. It was time for the last part, the finale, where you will be skating in the height. You flinched from the word height and prayed to God that everything would go well.
 

***

“You look hot today,” said Yongguk in English out of nowhere as you, JB and he were standing in front of the ramps while the judge explained the rules.

“Are you sick or something?” you asked him in the same language. JB looked at you confused because he didn’t understand a thing.

“Nope. Perfectly fine and still I’m telling you that you are y,” he answered while looking forward.

“You said hot,” you corrected him.

“Yeah, that too,” he shrugged.

“Is something wrong?” JB whispered to you while glaring at Yongguk.

“No. Everything is okay,” you smiled at him and turned to Yongguk again.

“Well, I could say the same then,” you talked to him in English again. He turned to you with wide eyes.

“Really?” he smirked.

“Yep. Especially with that face you will have after I beat you today,” you said and winked.

“Alright, finalists. On to the ramps!” announced the judge just in time. You smiled to Yongguk and skated after JB who was the first in the row.

“Damn,” was the only thing you heard Yongguk whisper.

 

***

The sunlight was gone a long time ago. It was evening and the competition was slowly coming to an end. The three of you skated down ramp after ramp and it was really easy in the beginning. But for each ramp you owned, you became more nervous.

Scared of heights.

That is the reason for your mood right now and something you have been struggling with your entire life. When people say that they are afraid of heights, then they mean just in general. If someoe is standing on an edge of a hundred metres high building, of course they would be scared but you have a phobia of not so high things too and it didn’t help that you weren’t standing on the ground but a rolling board.

Yes, that is an issue. A skater who is scared of heights doesn't sound right but that is just you. Just because of the phobia, you didn’t want to give up something you love to do. That's one of the reasons why you love sliding and performing on the ground more than skating down high ramps.

However, you ignored the feeling and ignored all your thoughts and worries for the moment. The three of you owned ramp after ramp. You were standing on a really high ramp and waited for Yongguk to perform. You sighed now and then and JB noticed your change in mood.

“Hey,” he took your hand, “Is everything okay?” he searched for your eyes but you didn’t find any words. You were lost in your own thoughts, “Look at me!” he shook you by your shoulders.

“What?!” you half shouted at him.

“Is something wrong?”

“No. Can you just be quiet for a minute? Otherwise I’ll faint.”

“Faint?! Why would you do that?!” he panicked.

“JB, please…” you closed your eyes.

“Okay, sorry. But don’t worry, everything will be alright.”

You just nodded and turned your attention to Yongguk who just finished his turn. JB was next on. He released his grip on you and walked over to the edge. He glanced one last time at you before jumping on the skateboard and skating down the ramp.  

“Jin Ah baby, what’s wrong with your pretty face?” Yongguk walked towards you.

“Don’t come any closer. I’ll kick you in the area were I shouldn’t,” you warned calmly. At that he stopped in his track and smirked instead.

“Fine. If that helps you win then I’m more than glad to help you,” he said and turned his attention to JB, who skated his last part, “But the chances aren’t so big.”

“We’ll see,” you said and walked to the cope.

JB finished his turn and now it was your time to shine. Or not. You took a deep breath and looked down the ramp. Immediately you regret your actions because that’s when everything in your head started spinning. You began to sweat and your breathing was irregular.

“Just give up hottie. We don’t want your face to get hurt. I mean it,” Yongguk talked from behind.

Come on now Jin Ah. Snap the hell out of it!

Yongguk’s comment just gave you motivation to not give up. You took a last breath before leaning onto your skateboard and skating down. The speed changed in one second from slowly to extremely fast. It was so fast that the next thing happened in a brief second. You lost control of your skateboard that flew away and you drifted down to the lowest part of the ramp. You heard the crowd gasp and some girls screamed in fear.

You ignored everyone and took your head in your hands. You groaned in frustration and anger.

“This can’t be true,” you whispered to yourself.

“Aaand, unfortunately, number 29 is out,” informed the judge.

Even though you tried to defeat your phobia, you failed big times. This was one more reason to why you should just accept the fact but on the other side you couldn’t because now you couldn’t look at Yongguk’s face.

You lost against him.