“I heard about it,” Sunggyu told the younger, black-haired guy who was just a little shorter than himself.

“Good morning,” Woohyun smiled upon seeing the older guy and handed him two coffees to choose from again.

Sunggyu took one from Woohyun and muttered a ‘thanks’ under his breath.

“You didn’t tell me,” Sunggyu continued on with the previous topic.

Woohyun immediately understood what Sunggyu was talking about.
“It’s not such a big deal, hyung. Besides, you wanted it didn’t you?” Woohyun asked.

“That’s true, but I didn’t want to force you into it. If you didn’t care or didn’t appear, I wouldn’t mind. I don’t want it to seem as if I was threatening you,” Sunggyu said.

Looking at Sunggyu’s serious face, Woohyun couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Did it really seem like that to you, hyung?” Woohyun asked the puzzled Sunggyu.

“Because that’s not how I wanted you to feel. After watching you, I realized that I really want to help you achieve your dream. If it was to help you, I wouldn’t mind doing anything,” Woohyun smiled at the older guy who was starting to feel a little embarrassed.

“I’m doing this of my own accord, Sunggyu-hyung. I wanted to go to the finals together with you and win it,” Woohyun assured the doubtful Sunggyu.

Flashback**

“Sunggyu-hyung, you’re amazing! I can’t believe you really managed to get Woohyun to participate in the tournament!” Hoya had excitedly related the news to Sunggyu.

“But I...didn’t really…” Sunggyu was trying to make sense of the whole thing.

“Don’t lie hyung. Woohyun had told the captain that you really tried your best in making him enter the tournament. Now the captain’s so happy!” Sungjong continued jubilantly.

“Sunggyu-ah! I knew I could count on you! Well done!” The captain had gone on and hugged Sunggyu with such gratefulness.

A puzzled Sunggyu was just standing there rooted to the spot.

Flashback ends**

“The tournament’s tomorrow isn’t it?” Woohyun’s voice snapped Sunggyu out of his thoughts.

“Yeah…” Sunggyu’s voice trailed off.

“Why are you so worried?” Woohyun grabbed Sunggyu’s slightly trembling and cold hands.

At the sudden contact, Sunggyu got a shock and withdrew his hand. Woohyun appeared slightly disappointed.

“I just really wanted to win this time. Last year, even though we tried hard, but we failed at the semifinals. This time, I really want to win it. Win the semifinals, the finals and become the ultimate winner!” Sunggyu declared, however, his tone sounded a little uncertain.

Woohyun smiled. “This time, you have me. I’ll do my best and win it for you,” Woohyun smiled at the older man, hoping to allay some of his fears.

Sunggyu smiled slightly at Woohyun’s attempt but continued, “I’m just so worried. It’s tomorrow and yet, we’re forced to rest today. We should practice and do a last minute sprint!”

Woohyun understood Sunggyu’s feelings. He wanted to make sure he was in top condition tomorrow and could perform his best.

The train soon whizzed past and the entrance door stopped right in front of the couple. Sunggyu was about to enter the train but he felt something pull him back. It was Woohyun.

“Okay, I’ve decided!” Woohyun’s sudden outburst scared Sunggyu.

Woohyun turned to face Sunggyu with a mischievous look on his face.

“We’re playing truant today!” Woohyun declared and before Sunggyu could react, the younger one had taken his hand and ran out of the train station.

“Nam Woohyun, what are you doing?” Sunggyu protested, trying to catch up with the energetic Woohyun.

“Trust me!” Woohyun shouted to Sunggyu, who was panting behind him.

~

Sunggyu stared blankly at the court.

The sounds of baseball hitting the bat and hitting the solid ground echoed throughout the whole court.

“Er, why did you bring me here?” Sunggyu asked.

Woohyun’s grip on Sunggyu’s hand didn’t release as he continued leading the older guy to a small court.

“Here,” Woohyun passed a bat to the clueless Sunggyu.

Sunggyu finally took the bat from Woohyun.

“Watch me,” Woohyun commanded.

A baseball was shot towards Woohyun by a nearby machine. Woohyun swung the bat with much strength and accuracy. The ball went on to hit a target board situated just above the machine about 15 metres away. A reading was recorded: 90 mph.

Sunggyu couldn’t help but stare. He knew Woohyun was a prodigy in archery but he was well-versed baseball too?

“Your turn!” Woohyun went over to join Sunggyu at the bench and prompted him to shoot.

Sunggyu reluctantly picked himself up and went over to that spot that Woohyun was at before. Then, he positioned himself to hit.

The machine shot balls after balls. Though with great concentration, Sunggyu could only hit the balls but never as high and as far as Woohyun. Woohyun kept cheering Sunggyu on on the sidelines.

Sunggyu played as hard as he could and tried many times. His frustration and anger started building up as his shots began getting stronger and stronger, faster and faster.

“Freak you Nam Woohyun!” Sunggyu shouted as he swung the baseball bat, making contact with the ball and the ball went on quickly to hit the target. The screen read: 87mph.

Panting and sweating like a dog, Sunggyu turned to smirk at Woohyun. Woohyun sat on the bench, shocked, beyond words. He ought to watch out for Sunggyu now.

Sunggyu landed heavily on the bench next to Woohyun.

“Why do you always become so violent whenever I’m concerned?” Woohyun asked, genuinely curious.

“You have no idea how much trouble you bring to me Nam Woohyun,” Sunggyu smiled a little after hearing Woohyun’s question and watching his cute pout.

“And honestly, who plays truant just to hit some baseballs?” Sunggyu asked, exasperatedly.

Woohyun’s pouted even more. “I was just trying to get you to relax!”
“Since I don’t know where to find an archery shooting centre, the closest sport I could think of was baseball! Besides, I thought that if you sweat a little, you would feel less worried and nervous!”

Sunggyu stared at Woohyun, both eyes blinking. He didn’t know that Woohyun was thinking so much about him. So all of this was done for him. Even though it seemed quite ridiculous, Sunggyu had to admit that it worked out quite well and time had passed so quickly. He was also less nervous about tomorrow’s tournament.

“Arasso. Sorry,” Sunggyu apologized to Woohyun, who was a little shocked.

“And it was really effective, thanks!” Sunggyu smiled to Woohyun, causing Woohyun’s heart to skip a beat.

“Oh… Yeah. You’re welcome,” Woohyun averted his eyes from Sunggyu’s bright smile.

Woohyun threw a dry towel at Sunggyu. “Here wipe your sweat!”

Sunggyu took the towel and wiped himself clumsily.

Watching the hopeless Sunggyu, Woohyun couldn’t help but take things into his own hands.

Woohyun took the towel from Sunggyu and wiped off the beats of sweat from his neck, like an attentive girlfriend.

Sunggyu immediately blushed and looked away from Woohyun.

Noticing Sunggyu’s sudden red cheeks, Woohyun realized that his action was a little inappropriate.  Woohyun removed his hands and let the towel fall to Sunggyu’s lap. There was an awkward silence between the two as they both tried to calm their beating hearts.

‘What’s wrong with you?’ The two asked themselves. ‘Get a grip!’

“Er…” The two started, realizing that they both said it at the same time.

“You can go first, Sunggyu-hyung,” Woohyun immediately continued.

“Er yeah. It’s just that we should be going soon don’t you think?”Sunggyu tried to improve the awkward atmosphere.

“Yeah, okay. School’s over anyway, so let’s go!” Woohyun agreed readily.

Just as they were about to leave, Woohyun’s phone rang.

Woohyun took a look on the screen and switched his phone off.

“Who’s that?” Sunggyu couldn’t help but feel a little curious after watching Woohyun’s weird action.

“An unknown number,” Woohyun answered.
“I don’t pick up calls from unknown numbers.”

Sunggyu raised an eyebrow and then proceeded to ask again, “I was wondering, what do you do with the phone numbers of your ex-girlfriends?”

“Hmm?” Woohyun made a sound. “I delete them.”

That shocked Sunggyu as he didn’t expect to hear that cold tone from Woohyun.

“So you break off all contact with them? Isn’t that a little too cruel?” Sunggyu continued chasing Woohyun for answers.

“There’s no choice isn’t there? How would you feel if the person you’re going out with keeps receiving calls from their exs or unknown girls?” Woohyun’s volume started increasing.

Sunggyu fell silent to that. There was a point in Woohyun’s reasoning. However, he couldn’t help but feel a tug at his heart.

‘So this is what will happen to me next week too’ he thought. ‘Next week, Woohyun won’t even remember anything about me or that I even exist. He’ll delete my contact and everything related to me. That’s all. It’s over after 7 days,’ Sunggyu finally understood.

‘I knew that all along… so why… why is it hurting so much?’ Sunggyu frowned, his expression turning to a pained one.

“Sunggyu-hyung?” Woohyun was suddenly worried about Sunggyu’s sudden change in expression.

“Are you alright?” Woohyun reached out his hand to touch Sunggyu’s face but his hand was slapped away by Sunggyu.

“Of course I’m fine. What are you talking about?” Sunggyu managed a forced smile and ignored Woohyun’s hurt face when he slapped off Woohyun’s hand.

“I was just thinking how stupid your 7 days thing really is, that’s why,” Sunggyu tried.

Woohyun looked up into Sunggyu’s black orbs.

“Besides, is 7 days really enough to love someone? 7 days is barely enough to get to know someone. Don’t you think you’re being unfair to the people before? Maybe you didn’t know them well enough,” Sunggyu started.

“I said this before but 7 days isn’t a standard. It just happened to be that some people believed in that. As long as I really like that person, who cares even if 7 days pass? I can still be with that person I love,” Woohyun protested.

“Oh really? Well, it’s impossible then how so many girls from the last 2 years never got past your 7 days. It’s ridiculous! 7 days later and you break off all contact with the person. You don’t even give a second chance to anybody. Isn’t it ridiculous how you’re a couple this week and the next week, the person doesn’t even care about you or know of your existence?” Sunggyu continued his argument.

Woohyun stopped at that. It was the truth. He had nothing to argue to that. He knew that he was cruel, but somehow it hurt him to hear those words from Sunggyu. It hurt him to know that Sunggyu despised him.

“7 days later, there will be no future with anybody you dated right?” Sunggyu asked, his voice trembling.

Taking Woohyun’s silence as consent, Sunggyu’s heart broke into pieces.

‘so 7 days later, we’re really going to be nothing, Woohyun,’ Sunggyu thought to himself and the thought hurt him so much.

“You’re ridiculous, Nam Woohyun. I was an idiot for taking part in your 7 days plan! I was an idiot to want to have anything to do with you!” Sunggyu screamed at Woohyun and took off.

Woohyun let Sunggyu go and didn’t bother to stop him.

Sunggyu’s words had pierced his heart so deeply. Was Sunggyu saying that he regretted meeting Woohyun? That he regretted being a couple with Woohyun?

But all along, Woohyun had had so much fun being with Sunggyu. He loved seeing Sunggyu’s different expressions. He loved seeing Sunggyu’s clueless expression, his engrossed expression, his smile, his laughter, his beautiful stance.

‘Freak!’ Woohyun cursed.

He was starting to love Kim Sunggyu. But after hearing Sunggyu’s words today, it seemed as if he didn’t want to have anything to do with Woohyun anymore.

A tear trickled down Woohyun’s cheek.
‘Was this retribution?’ He wondered.