Sehun inhaled and exhaled deeply, sweat dripping off his brow. Currently at basketball practice, because Jongin was unwilling to talk to him and cooperate with him, he had to work twice as hard. Instead of Sehun typically standing at the centre line and waiting for Jongin to pass the ball to him, he now had to stand at the other end and get the ball across the entire court.

"Sehun!" Kris barked from the other court. "Even if it's two on two, you shouldn't be this tired!"

Sehun resisted the urge to retort something back at Kris but stopped himself. It wouldn't do well for his future basketball career to piss off his captain so Sehun nodded at Kris and ran to defend against Baekhyun. Baekhyun, who heard Kris yelling at Sehun, had small smirk playing on his lips. Sehun, irked that he was pleased that Sehun was being scolded, hit the ball out of Baekhyun's hands and snatched it from him.

Sehun instantly dribbled the ball towards the other end, sprinting swiftly and ignoring his heavy legs. However, Baekhyun and Chanyeol soon caught up and both of them moved to block him. Sehun executed a crossover and went past Baekhyun and as he almost dribbled past Chanyeol as well, Baekhyun hit the ball behind him. Chanyeol then in a flash caught the ball and passed it to Baekhyun who proceeded to dribble to the other end.

Sehun stood there and leaned over, his chest heaving as he let out ragged gasps. It was exhausting, having to sprint to each end for two hours and counting. He knew he was going have sore legs tomorrow and because of that, he felt furious at Jongin. Even if Jongin was mad at him, it didn't have to mean he could refuse to work with him in basketball.

"Sehun!" Kris called out and Sehun grit his teeth in frustration. "Come over here!" Sehun breathed deeply and walked over to Kris. "What are you doing? You're literally just standing there and doing nothing!" Kris yelled and Sehun hung his head in shame. "When practice is over, I'll have a little chat with you." Kris added in a quieter but more dangerous tone.

"Yes Captain." Sehun snapped, his anger getting better of his judgement. Kris glared at Sehun icily, his mouth set in a thin line but Sehun was already walking back to his court and returning to his game. Sehun knew he was going to get in trouble for it but his blood boiling in rage caused him to forgo the future consequences.

When Sehun reached the court, he fired a furious glare at Jongin but Jongin who was doing everything he could to avoid eye contact with Sehun, didn't notice. Meanwhile, Chanyeol had scored another basket and very conveniently, Kris decided to end practice right after.

"Guys, hit the showers!" Kris commanded and all of Sehun's teammates all let out a relieved sigh as they lumbered to the shower rooms. However, instead of Sehun joining them, he made his way to a red-faced Kris. "Look Sehun, I don't care what Jongin and your problems are but it shouldn't affect our basketball games." Kris although he was extremely annoyed at Sehun, he still managed to say those words calmly. If Kris had yelled those words at Sehun, he would have been angry and not taken Kris' words properly but instead Kris had said those words almost tiredly and because of that, a flash of guilt shot through Sehun.

Sehun wanted to protest it wasn't really his fault but because Kris had guilt tripped him and played the good leader card, instead Sehun nodded. "Look, I'm sorry, I'll talk to Jongin." Sehun sighed and Kris smiled slightly at his words. Kris patted Sehun's back and then told Sehun to 'hit the showers'.

As Sehun walked to the showers, he sighed and ran his fingers through his sweat drenched hair. Jongin was stubborn as a mule and Sehun knew he was going to have an impossible task of telling Jongin to grow up and stop being so damned immature. Besides, Sehun thought. It wasn't his nature to apologise and especially when he wasn't in the wrong.

But when Sehun entered the shower rooms and found Jongin hunched on one of the benches, a morose expression plastered over his face, Sehun suddenly felt guilty. True Jongin was being stubborn and just downright unpleasant to Sehun but how could he argue that it wasn't justified? Jongin clearly loved Krystal with all his heart and here Sehun was, flirting with Krystal and basically ignoring his best friend for a girl that broke Jongin's heart. Yes, Sehun's pride was deeply important to him but he also knew Jongin was dear to him as well. Because of that, Sehun made a decision and sat down next to Jongin.

Jongin turned to see who sat next to him and flinched before stiffening at the person next to him. Both his jaw and fist tightened a fraction of a second later.

"Look man, I'm sorry." Sehun apologised while side eyeing Jongin's clenched fist and wondering if Jongin was angry enough to swing at him. "This is ridiculous; us fighting over a girl." Sehun added and decided that if Jongin was going to start a fight in the shower room, Sehun would most likely have the upper hand.

"She's not just a girl." Jongin snarled, his words lashing out at Sehun. "She's the love of my life." If the situation wasn't so tense and Jongin wasn't being deadly serious about his words, Sehun would have burst out laughing at the how cheesy and how cliché Jongin was being. Instead, Sehun felt extremely tired.

"Are you really choosing your best friend over your girlfriend?" Sehun asked seriously and Jongin froze, his mouth slightly agape. "I know, you love her obviously and you've been together for a long time; like three months." Unfortunately, Sehun couldn't prevent the slight sarcasm slipping out but quickly added more before Jongin noticed. "But are you really going to ignore the years we've grown up together? Are you going to ignore when you fell out of a tree and twisted your ankle and I had to carry you home? The times we spent dancing together? And the time when I didn't get the dance and you very patiently went through it with me?" Sehun's questions sent Jongin's gaze wandering off and no doubt he was reminiscing their childhood as well. 

Jongin's next sentence was caught in his throat and he opened his mouth for a few seconds, struggling to say something before his Adam's apple bobbed up. His fist slowly loosened and gradually relaxed as he stared off into space. "I'm sorry...” Jongin whispered. "Maybe she isn't worth it…"

"Good." Sehun smiled, his heart feeling lighter than ever. "It that we weren't cooperating together in basketball, I think Baekhyun was getting cocky that he was finally beating us." Sehun added in a lighter, more joking tone and was pleased when Jongin smiled slightly.

"It doesn’t matter, I didn't need you. I'll still kick your and Baekhyun's." Jongin said in the normal, friendly tone he typically used with Sehun before the whole Krystal fiasco happened. Sehun gave a small snort at Jongin's words and raised his eyebrows. However, inside, Sehun was felt relieved and somewhat surprised that Jongin had forgiven Sehun that easily. But then again, Sehun thought. Jongin, despite being headstrong, was after all his best friend and was rational enough not to throw away their years of friendship.

"Right. I'm not going to take you seriously when you smell like a sweaty pig." Sehun bantered and stood up, deciding to take a well-deserved shower now.

"Huh, you know, I'd say the same thing about you." Jongin replied without missing a beat and he too, stood up and stretched. Sehun acknowledged the jibe but didn't reply and instead walked over to his locker and retrieved his towel inside. He glanced over at the showers and realised they were still full and still had a small amount of people waiting. Sehun then took off his damp jersey and walked back to his bench to wait his turn.

"How's your dance going?" Sehun asked Jongin conversationally and Jongin's eyes lit up in response at the fact they had strayed to a topic he was most passionate about. While Sehun was in the dancing club with Jongin, he didn't share the passion for dance as well and only mildly enjoyed it and liked even less talking about dancing. However, Sehun was intelligent enough to know distracting Jongin's thoughts from Krystal was probably the best way to maintain their friendship.

"My instructor from my jazz classes…." Jongin began excitedly, his eyes bright.

A loud startled cry from one of their teammates caught the attention of both of them and Jongin broke off mid-sentence to identify the source of the noise. It was Luhan, his right hand clutched tightly on his towel wrapped around his waist and he was staring, flabbergasted, at the entrance. Sehun stood up and tried to peer at what exactly was at the entrance that caused Luhan to be so alarmed.

Sehun's heart stopped.

It was a tall, slim figure, standing at the entrance of the shower room. Then suddenly, without a moment's hesitation, the figure walked confidently towards him.

His mouth was dry and he felt his heart rate quicken as the figure made its way closer and closer towards him. All of a sudden, Sehun was aware he was shirtless and covered in sweat. When the figure finally stopped in front of Sehun and blinked once, ignoring the fact pretty much everyone in the shower room was panicking wildly.

Except for Jongin and Sehun.

"Hi, Sehun." Krystal smiled slowly and in a painfully y way. Sehun heard Jongin swallow and in the corner of his vision, he saw Jongin's Adam's apple rise up and down. But Sehun was still, his eyes wide and his body entirely motionless. How unfair, how terrible her timing was, how bold she was, those were the thoughts racing through his brain as he stared at Krystal in a foolish manner.

"About that date…" Krystal continued, not so much as even sparing a glance for the darker skinned male and Sehun felt physically sick; his palms sweaty, his mouth and throat dry, his head thumping painfully and a sick feeling inside his stomach. Please, his eyes pleaded with hers. Please not now, not now.  But Krystal ignored it with a small smirk dancing on her lips. "I'm available this Saturday, so we'll go then?"

With her words, Sehun felt his heart drop to his stomach. He felt the years of friendships he spent building with Jongin crash into oblivion; their innocent childhood, their bittersweet hours spent practicing dance or basketball, the jokes and banters they exchanged. All of it; gone.

Sehun glanced at Jongin almost fearfully and when their eyes met, Sehun knew it was confirmed and that every memory they had together had been disregarded.

Relishing the bitter taste in his mouth, Sehun slowly nodded dully in response to Krystal's words.

"Great! I'll see you then!" Krystal rose up to her toes and pecked her lips against Sehun's cheek. Their eyes met again and from her gaze, she looked like she knew she had already won the game. Krystal then flipped her hair and her heel before walking out of the locker room. A burning sensation lingered in Sehun's chest as he watched her walk away. The lilac perfume Sehun secretly was fond of mocked him now and right now, all he wanted was to run away from the locker room.

Krystal was too good, Sehun thought despairingly. He couldn't do this; it was in the earliest stage of their game and already Krystal had gained the upper hand. If their little game was chess, Krystal would have already killed his Queen and surrounded his King. But it was already too far for Sehun to even dream about going back; Jongin would never forgive him now, even if Sehun managed to break Krystal's heart and she miraculously went running back to him.

It was far too late and there was only one thing Sehun could do now; take Krystal Jung down with him.