Soonyoung’s eyes flicked open with a start, the thudding of his heart hitting against his chest. Attached to him was a heart rate monitor, whose steady beeps went haywire. Air rushed into his lungs, sharply gasping at the sudden action. His eyes darted around the spotless white walls, desperate for anything he would recognize. Across from where he sat was his soccer uniform, folded up neatly with his shoes placed on top. Memories of yesterday’s beating flooded into his mind. That’s right. He took a low blow to the leg, all thanks to the Trojans. Exhaling, he placed a hand against his thigh. He pressed against the blanket covering his leg to see how bad it was, and quickly retreated. There was a huge lump along his inner thigh and it was painful. His face twisted at the pain. He dreaded the moment when he had to see how it looked like.

At the corner of his eye he saw a red figure hunched over the side of his bed, and immediately, he felt at ease. Soonyoung watched as Choyoung stirred in her sleep, ponytail hanging by only a few strands of hair. She mumbled something as she rubbed her eyes but turned her head the other way. Had she stayed there all night watching him? A smile formed on his face at the thought of Choyoung staying with him. It was so unlike her to do something like that. On the table, he could see his mom’s belongings. More importantly, where was his mom?

“Soonyoung, you’re awake!”

Choyoung lifted her head from the bed, still groggy from her late night sleep. With her eyes still half closed, the corners of lifted into a weak smile. She slid the wheeled chair she was sitting on closer to his head and leaned in to examine his face, her nose almost touching his. Her eyes crossed the closer she went in, “Are you okay? Did you sleep well? You look okay to me,”

Soonyoung adored her morning voice. It was higher than it usually was, and slightly raspy. It was like a little kid who woke up two hours too early. A smirk formed on her lips when the heart rate monitor started to speed up again. Knowing that he wasn’t able to hide anything, a blush started to form around his cheeks. To turn the situation around, he brought his hands up and squished the sides of her face, laughing. Slowly, his heartbeat went to normal; she looked like those idols that blew up their faces into the blowfish. She frowned, making him laugh even more. Pulling her face away, she punched his arm lightly, “You’re definitely alright,”

“Wait, don’t you have school today?” Soonyoung asked, realizing that it was Monday.

Choyoung shrugged her shoulders, slumping in her chair. She tried her best to imitate his pouty face, “I waited all night with you and now all you want me to do is go back to school,”

Guilt washed over him. Even though she was just pulling at his strings, he couldn’t help but feel bad. She was right. He should have been a bit more enthusiastic in expressing his feelings about her staying with him. Holding out his hand, he motioned her to hold it, “I’m sorry, were you expecting a kiss or something?”

Gasping, Choyoung’s eyes widened; all traces of sleep thrown out of the window. She bit her bottom lip and softly flicked his forehead, “A simple thank you would have been enough,”

“Hey, hey! Don’t hurt an injured person!” Soonyoung grabbed her by the wrist, playing as if he was sick, “Where are your morals?”

“You’re obviously well enough if you can be sassy,” Choyoung pulled her arms away and folded her hands down on her lap. Soonyoung shook his head smiling and looking up at the ceiling. It was knowing that someone stayed with him throughout the night. Maybe Choyoung did have a heart after all. She handed him a note from Jihoon which said that he would be there after school to bring by his homework and hang out later. Soonyoung figured that Jihoon was going to tell the entire second year class about how someone ganged up on him.

Choyoung started to fix her hair, “Bo Kyung must have been really angry to do that to you,”

“Maybe, but I don’t think that was his intention,” Soonyoung folded up the note and stuffed it in his gown pocket, “I’m sure he did that so that we would lose the first game of the playoffs. He probably wants us to be humiliated because without me, our team is pretty much screwed,”

“Confident much?”

“Yeah, you could say that, but it’s true,” he said looking back down at his leg, “Is it bad?”

“What’s bad?”

“My leg. Is it bad?”

Honest to goodness, Choyoung had no idea how it even looked like. All Mrs. Kwon had told her was that it wasn’t that bad, thank the Lord, but he wouldn’t be doing much for the next few weeks. Choyoung was relieved to hear that his recovery time was pretty short compared to the year-long recovery times. It was truly a miracle for Soonyoung’s leg to even survive that blow. Bo Kyung’s monstrous size and bulky weight were no joke compared to Soonyoung’s slender figure. From what she had heard from the doctors yesterday, it was in the upper part of his thigh closer to his groin area. She definitely didn’t want to see any part of that. She shrugged her shoulders once more, “I don’t know, I didn’t actually see it yet. I don’t plan on seeing it either,”

“Now that I think about it,” Soonyoung brushed his fingers against the blankets, “I don’t want you to see it either,”

Smiling, Choyoung reached over and ruffled his hair acting like his mom. She raised her voice to appear sweeter than what she usually was, “Go get some rest now, okay? I’ll get going now,”

“Wait where are you going?”

“I have to make it to auditions, remember?” Choyoung said, standing up from her chair.

“Oh, that’s right. I’m sorry I can’t audition,” Soonyoung’s face fell, “That makes me a lousy promise keeper now, doesn’t it?”

“Don’t worry. It’s not your fault. Besides, you have next year,”

She made her way around the bed, but Soonyoung reached out to catch her wrist. Surprised, she turned around with her eyebrows raised. He looked at her hand with a distant look on his face. Choyoung stood there awkwardly, not sure if she should pull her arm back and get on her way. Soonyoung raised his eyes with a stern expression, “You’re coming back afterwards, right?”

“Yeah,” Choyoung smiled and brought her hand to her side, his fingers easily sliding off, “Definitely,”

“Hey, hey, don’t worry girl you’ll do fine!”

Jihoon turned his junior around to pin her audition number onto her back like Choyoung had done with him earlier. The blinding white rays illuminating off the chandelier crystals hanging off the ceiling brightened up the hotel lobby, casting over the masses of students waiting in line for auditions. The both of them were dressed up for auditions that evening and he actually went and got his hair curled at his mom’s bridal salon. Mrs. Lee was a local fashion designer and the owner of a bridal shop and she had curled his hair countless times for various events. Choyoung had gone along with him and got her hair curled as well. Because Mrs. Lee offered to lend a dress out for Choyoung to wear, Jihoon had picked out a casual, navy twist wrap bridesmaid’s dress for her to wear. Despite Choyoung’s protests, Mrs. Lee also lent her a simple silver crystal band and silver glitter dust flats for a nicer effect. Because they were auditioning together, he wore a long-sleeve dress shirt in a matching color with black slacks and shoes.

They weren’t the only ones dressed like that either. Their school play was no joke. The Seoul Arts High School Drama Club was the one who organized and directed the entire production, but there were many actors who auditioned from many school districts. It was no ordinary school gymnasium play either. Oh no, it was big. Auditions were held in a Hilton Hotel in Gangnam and the plays were performed in Seoul Performing Arts Center, the symbol of South Korean Culture. Everyone who wanted to be anyone had to dress to impress. Choyoung and Jihoon didn’t want to fall short of that.

“What if I mess up?” Choyoung fanned herself, turning around to face Jihoon, “I don’t think I can do this,”

“Lighten up, will you? I’ll be with you the entire time,”

“But I-!”

“Do you think Soonyoung would want you to back down?”

Choyoung’s mouth immediately shut as Jihoon’s intense gaze fixed into her worried eyes. She remembered Soonyoung, unable to keep up his end of the deal because of his injury. Her heart rose to as she bit her lip. He was right. Soonyoung wouldn’t want her to not audition but even so, why did it matter to her? He wouldn’t have taken the audition seriously anyway. And even if he was chosen for any role, he wouldn’t have taken the practices or his role seriously. Jihoon rubbed her back, attempting to calm her nerves. He noticed she was a lot jittery now that there wasn’t anyone to keep her mind distracted. He wished Soonyoung was there. It wouldn’t have been half as bad. Choyoung took a deep breath, and held out her hand, “Give me your phone,”

“What? Why?”

“Just give me your phone,”

Hesitant, Jihoon pulled his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it for her. Thanking him, she made her way to his contacts list and called the person she was looking for. It hadn’t even reached the second ring before the person on the other end answered, “Hello?”

“Soonyoung!”

“Number 19, you’re up!” the runner from the audition room yelled from behind the door. Panicking, she knew that Jihoon and her were up next as number 20 and 21. She paced around the room with Jihoon following close behind. She smiled as Soonyoung’s voice chimed through the speaker when he heard her voice. He was such a kid. He asked how she was and if Jihoon was there with her. Reassuring him, she held the phone out to Jihoon who in turn yelled his hello in the microphone.

“It’s our turn next you know,” Jihoon said once she put the phone on speaker for both of them to hear, “And damn, is your girl looking fine tonight!”

“Oh does she now?” Laughter came through the speakers as Choyoung flicked Jihoon’s forehead, “With a face that only a mother could love? I highly doubt it,”

Rude! Choyoung’s mouth dropped and left the two boys chuckling to themselves. The one time she tried to be nice and call Soonyoung to keep him company, she was made fun of. Nice going guys. Scoffing, she quickly changed the topic, “Did you eat yet?”

“Who are you? My wife?” Jihoon snickered at his senior’s comeback. How immature.

Annoyed, Choyoung yelled into the microphone, “Fine then, starve! See if I care!” A few of the students nearby glanced her way and she threw a fake smile their way. That’s what they get for being nosy in the first place.

“Alright, calm down princess. Mom came by with dad earlier and they brought me food,”

“Good, I’m glad to hear that,”

“Glad to hear that I ate?”

“Glad to hear that you’re not dying as we speak,”

“I feel like death right now actually,” Soonyoung complained, looking down at his thigh.

Curious, Jihoon asked, “What do you have anyway?”

“Hematoma,”

“Ew dude, that’s gross!”

The large bump Soonyoung had felt earlier that morning was in fact, just a collection of blood build up from damaged blood vessels. Hematomas in the leg were common in athletes who suffered a direct blow to the leg; as in Soonyoung’s case, a cleat to the thigh. The hematoma stretched across four inches in his inner thigh in a dark hue of violet, and was slightly raised. The doctors had told him that it wouldn’t be noticeable after one month but he should lay off on anything that required straining his legs. He was going to be out of school for at least a week or two until the swelling went down. He already arranged Jihoon to bring his stuff to his house every day for the next two weeks. Jihoon’s face twisted as Soonyoung continued to further explain what his symptoms were.

“Number 20 and 21, you’re up!”

Jihoon and Choyoung looked up at each other, surprise written all over their faces. They hadn’t expected the audition to go by that quickly. Quickly saying goodbye to Soonyoung, Choyoung handed Jihoon’s phone back to him who swiftly stuffed it in his back pocket. Jihoon turned to Choyoung for a last minute check, tucking a falling strand of her into her ear as she reached up and fixed his tilting tie. After an abrupt vocal warmup, Jihoon laced his fingers through hers, heading Choyoung into the dimly lit audition room. The back of the judges’ heads came into his line of sight as he stretched his neck to see over the rows the theatre room.

It was time.

author’s note: alright so this was a pretty brief, succinct, and straightforward transition chapter. i tried to change it up a bit and add more dialogue than narration. personally, i prefer writing narrative centric but it was a nice change of pace this time around. looking at it now online, it looks a lot shorter than i intended. it was longer on a word document o.o hopefully it wasn’t too boring for you! and again, i apologize for the troll update yesterday >.<

i did see a few of you guys subscribe to toepick! and i’d like to sincerely thank you for that c: