BGM: Younha - One Shot

"What do you mean you registered for the race?!?"

Minseok held up a piece of white paper with the numbers '6126' on it and posted it on his chest for Kyungsoo to see. Sure, he originally came to Jamsil Olympic Stadium to perform medic duties as a Red Cross volunteer, but somehow, he found himself signing up last minute for the fun run.

"Don't worry too much. You guys will be fine without me," Minseok reassured, pertaining to his fellow medics Kyungsoo and Jinho.

Minseok then made his way to the crowd of runners and squeezed himself between you and Joonmyun. When you noticed the runner number on his chest, you wondered why he suddenly decided to participate in the fun run.

It was Joonmyun who asked him about it, though. "I thought you weren't running!"

He just smiled and shrugged, "Change of plans,"

From the other end of the row, Luhan suddenly pointed his finger at Minseok and declared, "I'm still going to finish ahead of you, Baozi!"

Flipping his long fringe away from his face, Jongin smirked, "Even I'm going to finish before him!"

"I'll finish before Kev does, though," Minseok confidently proclaimed.

Yixing agreed. "All of us are going to reach the finish line before him, that's for sure,"

"Hey! I think I'll at least finish before the girls do," Kevin objected, giving Yixing one of his death glares only to find himself laughing afterwards. 

Jihye, who was wiping the sweat beads on her forehead with a hanky, jokingly snickered. "Oh, believe me. Jaemi wouldn't even make it halfway,"

"Ya! It's not like you can finish it too!" you countered.

"Oh, I will," she promised.

When you saw her steal a lingering glance on Kevin, you realized that she probably will.

"ON YOUR MARKS..."

After the first command of the Starter, you exchanged a 'We can do this!' hug with Jihye. Before pulling away, she whispered in your ear, "Why didn't you tell me you're acquainted with a group of flower boys?!?"

"Geez. I'll tell you all about them later, I promise," you mumbled back.

Kevin, who was standing right beside your best friend, turned to his left and gave an encouraging "Hwaiting!" to the rest of you, so you pumped your fists up and mouthed "Hwaiting!" back. Beside you, a blushing Jihye copied what you just did. You noticed that Kevin did the same thing with Luhan and Yixing, but cheered "Jiayou!" instead. Like Joonmyun, Minseok, and Jongin, the Chinese boys also bumped their fists with each other.

credit to fyeahexo-i-ship-them

"GET SET..." 

The time for giving each other encouragement has quickly passed and right now, everybody - except you, that is - had their game face on. Looking to your right, you noticed Luhan anticipating the start of the race. The way he was furrowing his eyebrows and biting his lips made you realize how manly and how handsome he looked when he's concentrating.

Yes. Not pretty, but handsome.

Beside you, Minseok also had a very determined look on his face. He was already jogging in his spot, probably as a last minute pre-race exercise, and you can't help but notice him stealing affectionate glimpses at Jihye and competitive glances at Kevin.

"GO!"

The moment you heard the gunshot that signified the start of the race, you immediately made a run for it like a little puppy that was released from its leash for the first time in weeks. 

"Hey, Jaemi! Don't run too fast!!!" Yixing cautioned.

*Why is she in a rush? Does she know that she'll easily get tired that way?*

Without stopping, you looked back at him and asked, "Why? Isn't this supposed to be a race?!?"

Shaking his head, Yixing looked behind him to confirm something with Jihye.

"She really doesn't know a thing about marathons, does she?" 

As Jihye predicted, you didn't get to finish the race. In fact, after running a little over a kilometer and a half, you finally decided that your legs couldn't take it anymore. Thinking about it, you were actually quite lucky not to experience cramps at all since you didn't even took part in any form of warm-up exercises before you started running.

Upon quitting the race, you decided to look for the rest of the boys who were currently volunteering as waterboys and medics for the fun run. After walking around the race route for another five minutes, you finally saw the tiny frame tent where Kyungsoo sunbae and his friends were stationed.

"Oh, there you are!"

As soon as you approached them, Kyungsoo immediately stood up to offer you his seat while Sehun hurriedly reached for a cold bottle of water for you to drink.

"Oh, thanks," you panted in between breaths.

"Aish~ Jaemi-ah! Why did you have to quit so early?!?" Chanyeol complained.

Before you could ask why he was so worked up about your performance in the fun run, you saw Sehun holding out his right hand towards his hyungs. The way he was repeatedly bringing the tips of fingers closer to his palm made it obvious that he was motioning for them to pay up.

"You had a bet on me, didn't you?"

"Yeah, and we lost," Jinho admitted, before taking a crumpled 1000 won bill from his pocket and handing it over to Sehun.

Shaking his head, Kyungsoo chimed in, "This is what I get for putting so much faith in you, Han Jaemi," He too, handed another 1000 won banknote to the maknae, who happily accepted it.

"You should be ashamed of yourselves," you grumbled before gulping down almost half of the bottled water Sehun has given to you.

Ah! Water tastes really good when I'm thirsty...

"So, did you bet on the others too?"

"No," they quickly answered.

How come they only had a bet on me?!?

"Hey! How come you only had a bet about me?!?" you protested.

Pulling out another chair for him to sit on, Kyungsoo answered, "Because we already know who's going to do well among our friends,"

The