Jongwoon doesn’t even try protesting when Yoona nods at her bodyguards and they him to their lady boss’ car, doesn’t even try asking where they are taking him and doesn’t even bother calling for help in the middle of a busy airport anymore. He doesn’t even question what this is again but calmly goes along whatever this is because he’s just tired.

Maybe if she isn’t going to kill him to give her the most satisfaction of ruining Jongwoon’s life, he can still go to Amsterdam after this matter. He sighs and looks outside the window. “Are we not there yet?”

“We’re going to the university, oppa,” Yoona answers with a smile.

“Can you…” Jongwoon stops. He means to ask her to stop calling her oppa because it’s both strange and awkward to be called oppa by the person who made his life miserable but he figures he doesn’t really care. She can call him a fairy or something and he could care less. “Why?”

“To see the game of course,” she says with another smile.

“What game?”

Yoona looks at him disbelievingly and it finally dawns on Jongwoon. He sighs and thinks he should have shouted for help at the airport earlier although knowing Yoona, she might have asked her father to talk to the entire airport about her plans, and it would be totally futile.

They arrive at the university just in time for the teams to enter the gymnasium. There are curious look and hushed whispers from the people around when they see Yoona walking inside with Jongwoon behind her. They really can’t be blamed after what everything that happened.

“Why are you doing this, Yoona?” Jongwoon asks when he sits one seat away from her. He stares at her coldly and sees nothing but remorse in her eyes. He doesn’t want to see it but that’s what he saw.

She only gives him a small smile and says, “You know, oppa, I’ll be leaving for China today after this game...” She pauses a little before continuing, “But I can’t leave without at least trying to fix the mess I made. It’s just… You and Kyuhyun taught me that there are more important things in this world than what money can buy.”

He can only stare back at her as he realizes the crowd has grown silent around them when it is roaring like there is a festival in the gymnasium earlier. He looks away from Yoona and looks around them before his eyes land on the floor.

Kyuhyun is looking at him. He has stopped walking and is looking at him.

There are probably a thousand people in the entire gymnasium and he must be assuming but he knows Kyuhyun is looking at him. Siwon is already running back to Kyuhyun, to ask him to continue walking because the game is about to start, but he is just standing there and looking at Jongwoon. He is staring there and he can’t believe there is Jongwoon.

Jongwoon tries looking away but he finds himself looking back at Kyuhyun.

Kyuhyun wants to run where Jongwoon is. He wants to run where Jongwoon is and tell him everything he told his father this morning. He wants to apologize to him and he knows after everything he did, he doesn’t deserve to be forgiven but he wants to say how sorry he is for hurting the person he loves. He knows his parents are somewhere in the crowd, probably worriedly looking at him now. But he doesn’t want to lose this chance anymore.

“Kyuhyun, let’s go,” Siwon is suddenly beside him.

“Hyung,” Kyuhyun looks at his captain, his eyes are pleading.

Siwon knows. He knows and he understands. When he told Jongwoon that he’s a good person and that truth shall prevail, he meant every word. He doesn’t give a damn if Jongwoon and Kyuhyun are in love. He doesn’t give a damn because that doesn’t define them as person. And to him, they are good people. But this is the most important game for the team this year.

“Let’s go,” the captain repeats again, holding Kyuhyun’s arm.

He takes a deep breath before looking one last time at Jongwoon’s direction and following Siwon. Everyone is watching the little commotion even though the rival team doesn’t really know what exactly is going on. Everyone from the university knows and this little commotion is like the continuation of a live drama they are fond of watching.

“That went well,” Yoona comments, taking a handful of popcorn. She offers the popcorn to Jongwoon, “Do you want some?”

Jongwoon doesn’t know if he wants to kill her in this exact moment or pour the popcorn over his head. He does neither and just turns his face away from her, looking for familiar faces like Sooyoung and Joohyun. “No, thanks.”

The game immediately begins and although their university’s team is strong, the rival team isn’t exactly weak, too. Both teams have been catching up to the other in scores and you can’t really tell which team is leading because when the university’s team is scoring higher, the rival team will catch up and vice versa.

The crowd has been loud ever since the game began – probably forgetting the little scenario that happened earlier and has been cheering for the two teams. It is really an intense game and to be honest, if this is just another scenario, Jongwoon knows he will also find himself standing up whenever the university team is scoring or holding his breath during free throws or shouting complaints when there has been a dirty play.

But he can only see himself staring at the back of Kyuhyun when he runs from one side of the court to the other or when he rebounds for the ball or when he shoots. He stares because as much as he tells himself to look away, up to now, Kyuhyun is still the person he wants to look at all the time.

He knows. He knows there is nothing between them now. To be honest, he knows there has never been anything between them. He is probably just a nuisance in Kyuhyun’s life but he doesn’t want to lie to himself. He wants to do as much as that.

He keeps his hands to himself and he keeps his mouth closed when Kyuhyun is scoring.

“You know, you can cheer for him, oppa,” the evil witch beside her comments again. He doesn’t understand why she can’t get the simple signal he’s been giving her ever since that she doesn’t wish to talk to him about anything.

“Why don’t you cheer for him?” Jongwoon sarcastically says without looking at her.

“I did,” she replies, “but it’s not my cheer that he wants.”

Jongwoon keeps his eyes in the game until he realizes that his phone is ringing. He grabs it from his pocket and sees his father has been calling him twice already. He immediately answers, “Dad?”

“Jongwoon, where are you?” His father is obviously worried already.

“Um, Dad,” he doesn’t really know what to say so he decides to just say the truth. “Do you remember the girl I told you about? Im Yoona? Well, she asked her father to block my flight and she asked me to come with her to the gymnasium to watch our university basketball team’s finals.” He tells it like how someone would tell that the sea is blue.

“What?!” His father is obviously not pleased. “That wench of a woman better not be there when your mother and I pick you up. We’re turning around the car now. Get out of there now, Jongwoon. I might hurt someone if we enter that gymnasium.”

“Dad, please, there’s no need for that,” Jongwoon begins.

“I’m not losing a child again, Jongwoon.”

He finds himself smiling a little because of his father’s words before he hang up. He sighs and slightly regrets that he’s not seeing this game finished but he knows he really needs to go now. If his father’s company probably needs to be in bad terms with Yoona’s father’s company, then his father will probably do it for him, for them.

Besides, Yoona probably asked her father to block only his flight earlier.

“Refund the ticket I wasn’t able to use,” he suddenly says.

“What?” she asks, confused.

“Because you blocked my flight, I wasn’t able to use my plane ticket. Donate it to the university’s foundation before you fly yourself back to China and I’ll consider it paid. Do you understand?” Jongwoon seriously says.

“Are you going now, oppa? Are you not going to finish the game? Are you not going to talk to him?”

Jongwoon takes a deep breath before standing up, not really in the mood to speak another word to Yoona anymore. He grabs his bag and begins to excuse himself from the other people in the row, ignoring Yoona’s calls of his name, which he doesn’t realize has shifted the crowd’s focus on him again instead of the game. Which is ridiculous, he think.

He’s not even the main player. He’s not even a player.

He makes the mistake of turning to look at the crowd and the crowd is not looking at him. Indeed, they are looking at the court but there’s nothing intense happening in the floor. There’s only Kyuhyun in the free throw line, holding the ball with both of his hands but his body and his face is not turned to the ring but to Jongwoon’s direction.

To Jongwoon.

He doesn’t know what stupid thing happened from the other team but Kyuhyun must have gotten himself a free throw and instead of simply shooting it, he’s looking at Jongwoon who is leaving. Jongwoon tells himself to look away. He convinces himself to look away.

He succeeds after several tries and begins to excuse himself again from the other people in the row.

He needs to leave. His parents will be outside the gymnasium any second now.

Kyuhyun stands there, the ball in his hands and his teammates shouting at him to shoot it already. The game is only a few seconds left and it’s really critical whether he’ll shoot these two free throws or not. It might make or break this game for them. He knows he should just shoot the ball. He tells himself he should just shoot the ball but he can’t force his eyes to tear away from Jongwoon. From Jongwoon who is leaving.

From Jongwoon who he thought already left. From Jongwoon who he thought is already gone. From Jongwoon who is here now.

He doesn’t know what he did in his past life to deserve such kindness from the heaven but just seeing the older’s face is enough for him to thank the heaven. He knows Jongwoon is mad at him. He might not even forgive him if he asks for forgiveness and he can totally understand but just seeing him again makes Kyuhyun feel so blessed.

The crowd is starting to shout for him to throw the shoot already. Siwon, his teammates, the coaches, the referees and the commentators. Vaguely, he thinks about his parents and if they’re also shouting for him to shoot the ball to finish the game in their team’s victory.

He knows he should shoot. Kyuhyun knows.

But Jongwoon is already nearing the end of the row. He is ignoring Yoona’s calls and the shouts of the crowd and Kyuhyun. He is ignoring Kyuhyun because he knows he needs to go already. He is already nearing the end of the row that’ll take him only a couple of minutes to leave the entire gymnasium. To completely leave Kyuhyun.

Jongwoon is already nearing the end of the row and Kyuhyun just knows he doesn’t want to lose him like this. He doesn’t want to lose him. He doesn’t want to lose him again.

He runs out of the court but not before running to his captain. He tells Siwon with a small smile on his dry lips, “Sorry, hyung. He is more important. I’m really sorry.”

Siwon finds himself smiling back despite all this and shouting as Kyuhyun runs towards the stairs, “We’ll win no matter what!”

“I know you will, hyung!” Kyuhyun shouts back before he runs after Jongwoon.

He catches up to Jongwoon in no time and he thanks the training he got from Siwon, all those running in the university field. He catches up to Jongwoon and he grabs his wrist. He knows that even if the time in the clock has stopped for the game because the one who is supposed to shoot the free throw suddenly leaves the court and their coaches must have been trying to justify what he did now, he knows the clock has probably paused for him and Jongwoon but it didn’t stop.

“Kyuhyun,” Jongwoon looks at him with the same expression someone has when they go what the . He is sure the entire gymnasium is looking at them but his gaze remains pierced on the person in front of him, holding his wrist both tightly and gently, the kind of hold someone does when they don’t want to let go of someone they cherish deeply. He wants to look away but at the same, he still wants to know the meaning of this, “What are you doing?”

A/N: Hey guys. Happy New Year! I think it's safe to say that it's 2017 all over the world now? XD Because there's this countdown in Facebook yesterday but it's in Paris time but I still got excited when I saw it lol ;-; I hope 2017 will be a year of happiness for Kyuhyun and Jongwoon. Jongwoon dropped a #2017 sort of teaser yesterday and let's all support him in his upcoming comeback, alright? I honestly can't wait~ *o* And baby Kyu is getting ready for his mandatory military service. Let's hope he'll serve well and come back to us well! I also hope for a prosperous and peaceful 2017 for all of you, guys ❤ - Elle Kim