*chapter nine;

“Luhan! I’m sorry.”

Soah clenched her fists and looked down, blaming herself for letting that happen again, for saying sorry too much, although there was nothing she could do to change the fact that she had just left him. Sometimes, sorry wasn’t good enough. Sometimes, sorry wasn’t the word the other one wanted to hear. Sorry couldn’t always make everything better.

“Jinhie and Yohee told me,” Luhan said monotonously and she couldn’t really see in his eyes what he was thinking, what he was feeling.

“Oh.” She was relieved that her friends had taken the problem of explaining the situation from her, but even if Luhan had accepted that... she wasn’t able to stop blaming herself, even though no one could have done something to change the situation right now.

Luhan knew that too, but he couldn’t erase the feeling of sadness and disappointment coiling up inside of him. He knew it wasn’t her fault - it was just the wrong timing, and if he could have changed the situation, if he had that much might, he would have done it. Heck, he would even have postponed the whole game just to have her by his side.

“Luhan...” Soah whispered, tears tingling in her eyes, her voice turning so sad that it caused his heart to tighten. She covered half of her face with her hands and shook her head. This wasn’t only about the game or his position anymore. This was about a girl who was begging for an apology. “I wanted to be there so badly, really! I was looking forward to it the whole day!” she blurted. “I wanted to cheer you on, to call your name whenever you scored and I wanted to feel the ups and downs with you. I’m really sorry. Please don’t be mad at me!”

“Soah...” Luhan couldn’t help but think how cute she would always become in situations like this.

Although he was sad, he couldn’t blame her. And even if he had doubted her for a minute at the beginning, this thought had now vanished. How could he be mad at her when it wasn’t even her fault? Especially when she was standing in front of him like this, looking like a lost puppy and fearing that he could be angry at her.

Luhan was aware of what she had been through and it wasn’t right to make her situation worse. From what he knew about Soah so far was, that she was a sincere and candid person. There was no way she would do things that would hurt him on purpose. He saw how much it hurt herself and when something hurt her, it hurt him too.

“Soah, I’m not mad,” he said softly. “It isn’t your fault, so it’s okay. Don’t make the new team captain sad now. Everything is alright.”

“New team captain?” She looked up and gulped, trying to bear down the tears and when she perceived Luhan’s grin which she loved so much, there was no need to cry anymore.

“I’m so proud of you. You really did it!” she exclaimed. “Oh god, I missed everything...”

“Don’t think about it anymore, silly. Next time, I will tie you down on your seat, so no one can take you away from me, how does it sound?”

“A li