"Kyeopta!!! You should get this."

"But I don't like pink."

"Pink is a nice color and I love pink. So if you love me, you will choose pink too, Taetae."

The rest of us watched as Taeyeon lifted up her hands and sighed in frustration while Tiffany was admiring the pink colored futsal shoes. We had all went to the mall and were currently in one of the sports shop. Initially only Hyoyeon needed to get a new pair of shoes but the rest decided to get a new pair too for themselves.

"Just because I don't like pink, doesn't mean I don't love you, Fany-ah." Taeyeon's voice sounded upset and Tiffany seemed to notice it.

"Mianhae, Taetae. I just went crazy if I saw anything pink." Tiffany placed the shoe that she was holding on, back to the shelf.

"Have you all thought about what shoes you're getting?" I asked as I sat down at one of the sofas that was available in the shop.

With some nodding and some shrugging their shoulders, I looked at the display of shoes. A salesperson came over to assist the girls.

"Jaegi, you're not getting a new pair for yourself?" Jessica came to take a seat beside me after she had walked around the shop with Seohyun.

"I'm still looking through the shoes. Nothing has caught my interest yet." I smiled at her as I heard Yuri calling me.

"Hey, Jae. What are the brand of shoes that you said were good for futsal?" Yuri walked towards me.

"There's a few that I could think of. For Adidas, you could try looking at the FreeFootball Top Sala or the FreeFootball SpeedTrick. For Nike, you might want to look at Lunar Gato II or the Elastico Finale II. You should try it out to get a feel of the shoes first. Get the one that you feel the most comfortable in." I said as I realised that all the girls were already crowding around. "Why do I feel like I'm doing a promotion on futsal shoes right now?" I chuckled at my own remark.

"Because you always prepare yourself well in every tournament and I've seen you change into countless number of futsal shoes before." Taeyeon said as she explained that I'll usually do a lot of research for new futsal shoes in the market.

Just as the girls were about to disperse to find the shoes, Taeyeon's phone rang.

"Annyeonghaseyo, Ms Lee." Everyone's attention turn to Taeyeon when she mentioned our coach name. "Really?.... Yes... I'll inform them... You're sending the photo now? Okay. Noted. Thanks, Ms Lee."

The moment Taeyeon hang up the phone, her phone beeped again to indicate an incoming message. Taeyeon looked at it and frowned.

"Fany would love this." She said as she showed us the photo on her phone.

Before we could comment anything, we heard Fany's loud voice that was filled with excitement as she kept on repeating about how cute the jersey was and how she wished Taeyeon was wearing the goalkeeper outfit. The cheerleaders uniform had always been white pink since 3yrs ago while our futsal team kit was previously in black and blue which was the same with the men's team.

"Is that our new jersey?" Yuri asked as Taeyeon nodded her head. "I guess they wanted us to match a little bit with our cheerleaders counterpart instead of the men's team."

"Ms Lee told us to meet her at the sports hall tomorrow at 9am to collect our new kit and also to brief us about some changes for the upcoming tournament." Taeyeon said.

"I was just planning to sleep in since it's a Sunday tomorrow." Sooyoung pouted.

"Let's just continue with our shopping then." Sunny said as she dragged Sooyoung to the display shelf as everyone disperse to look for their own pair of shoes.

After almost 2hrs of shopping, all 10 of us were currently at a Korean restaurant that was well-known for it's ginseng chicken soup for our lunch. While waiting for our food to arrive, we talked about our new jersey and the possible changes that Ms Lee had mentioned

"Hey, Taeng. Did Ms Lee told you beforehand about the changes for the tournament?" Yuri asked as everyone's attention shifted to Taeyeon.

"Anni. All I'm aware is that Sunny will be drafted into the team as our back-up goalkeeper but I think everyone is aware of that. Besides that, I'm not sure about anything else." Taeyeon replied. "Before I forgot, I better inform Hara, Hyomin and Min about it."

"Have you guys chosen your vice-captain since Taetae is now the captain?" Tiffany asked as she pointed to Taeyeon who were busy on the phone.

"We did." Sooyoung, Yuri and Hyoyeon answered at the same time as they pointed at me.

"Yah!! Didn't I reject the position?" I said as I gritted my teeth at them while our girlfriends had a confused expression except for Yoona and Sunny.

"We all voted for Jae to be the vice-captain but she rejected it because she said that other players are better than her." Sunny said.

"But these girls didn't budge from their decision so Ms Lee had actually kept the position empty." Yoona added on. "So officially we don't have  vice-captain."

"Why didn't you accept it, Jaegi?" Jessica asked as she placed her right hand on my lap. "I've seen how you played and controlled the game. I know how passionate you are about it so why did you reject?"

"I've got a lot of things on my shoulders lately. And just recently, I wasn't doing well in my practices. I couldn't give my all to the game which was why I rejected it." I explained myself.

"But that was just a blip on your part. You've gotten better now and even Ms Lee said that you've improved after that slump." Sooyoung said before breaking into a wide smile as she saw the waiter bringing in our food.

For the next 10mins, no one said anything as everyone was mesemerised with the food that was spread across the table. Everyone then started to eat as Jessica leaned in to whisper at me.

"I think you should reconsider about your decision. I have faith that you'll do a great job as the vice-captain and everyone believes in you. Think about it, okay." I nodded my head as Jessica smiled sweetly at me.

Lunch was almost over as we then discussed about our next place to go. Some suggested to watch a movie while others wanted to go to the karaoke. Out of the blue, Taeyeon suddenly voiced out

"Why does it have to be pink?"

Everyone looked at her like as if she was an alien until she flinched when Tiffany pinched her arm.

"Taetae!! Pink is loveable. And sweet. And beautiful. It's like the best color in the world." Tiffany frowned at Taeyeon who looked surprised.

I saw that Taeyeon was about to say something and knowing Tiffany, both of them are going to argue all day just because of this topic. So I quickly intercepted her and told the girls that we should get a vote on either the movies or karaoke. In the end, we ended up choosing the karaoke.

As we walked out from the restaurant, I grabbed Taeyeon by the neck.

"Sicababy, would you please be a darling and walk with Fany? I want to have a talk with Taeng for a while. Gomawo." I said as Jessica nodded her head and linked her arms with Tiffany, walking ahead of us.

"Wae?" Taeyeon asked as I let her neck go.

"What's with your pink frustration? You do realise that color is Fany's favourite right?" I asked as both of us strolled slower than the rest.

"I know. It's just... Huargghhh.." Taeyeon gritted her teeth. "I don't hate the color. I just don't like it. And Fany is crazy about it. She's like a pink monster and the way she defended the color, makes her sound like a pink gangster."

I couldn't control my laughter when I heard Taeyeon's sentence as she ended up laughing along. Our girlfriends turned around to stare at us as we both just shook our heads to tell them that there's nothing to worry about.

"Yah!! Why the hell did you laughh? We almost got caught by our girlfriends." Taeyeon smacked my shoulders.

"How can I not laugh when you compare Fany with pink monster and pink gangster? I was actually imagining how it'll look like." I said as I quickly covered my mouth to stop the laughter. "Jokes aside. Try to be more tolerant of her preferences. I can see that she's trying her best not to force you to love pink just like her. Anyway, our new jersey is mostly black. You're lucky you're not a goalkeeper. Imagine if you have to wear what Soo is going to wear."

Taeyeon shook her head. "But at least Soo likes pink. Anyway, thanks for the reminder. I'll try to be more tolerant from now on."

********************************

"Yah, palli!! Ms Lee is going to scream at us if we're late for the meeting." I shouted through the living room as I prepared some sandwiches for the girls.

All of us had slept through the alarm and it's only when Sunny and Yoona came over did all 5 of us woke up. Rushing like mad, Taeyeon and Sooyoung had went over next door to have a quick shower while me and Hyoyeon showered in ours. Both of us were the ones that won't spend too much time in the toilet so we could allow Yuri to shower after us.

Hyoyeon was already helping me out in the kitchen with the sandwiches while Sooyoung, Sunny, Yoona and Taeyeon had already made their way to the sports hall.

"Yah, Kwon Yuri!! By the count of 3, if you're not out yet, we're leaving you behind." Hyoyeon shouted as I stuffed all the sandwiches into a backpack.

"I'm coming." Yuri's voice was hoarse all thanks to the singing from yesterday.

The only reason why me and Hyoyeon were the ones shouting was because the rest of the girls were having a sore throat. Hyoyeon had spend the whole time at the karaoke, dancing away while I didn't really participate much in the singing.

It was already 8.45am when me, Hyoyeon and Yuri left our dorms. With me carrying the backpack, the 3 of us ran all the way to the sports hall and managed to reach there 10mins later, just at the same time with the other girls.

"Yah... how come.. you all.. just.. reach?" I asked while being short of breath.

"What time did the 3 of you left the dorm?" Taeyeon asked as I only managed to wave my hands at her, gesturing to her that I've got no more strength to answer as we all walked into the sports hall.

"We left 10mins ago." Hyoyeon answered.

"Wow, you guys took just 10mins to...." Sooyoung's sentence hanged midway when a voice stopped her from continuing.

"Sunny!! So happy to see you." Hyomin smiled widely as she hugged Sunny who just nodded her head. "Did you all saw our new jersey? I think you would look so cute in that pink goalkeeper outfit."

I can feel the intensity of Sooyoung's glare at Hyomin and was about to pull Sooyoung aside when Sunny suddenly linked her arms with Sooyoung.

"My Sooyoungie will also look cute in it. Can't wait to see her wear the new jersey. Both of us loves the color pink. We're the pink couple. Right, my dear shikshin?" Sunny did an aegyo to Sooyoung causing the tall girl to be dumbfounded as she just nodded her head absentmindedly.

I grinned when I saw the change in Hyomin's expression. I guessed all Sunny wanted was to knock some sense into her.

"She's good." I turned to face Hyoyeon who was standing beside me. "Sunny must have noticed the anger in Soo's eyes. Well, Hyomin needs to face the truth eventually. That Sunny is off the market. Did you see how dumb Soo look earlier?"

I giggled when I recalled it. "I think she didn't expect her girlfriend to respond in such a way. Ms Lee is coming. Let's find a place to sit."

All of us gathered at the benches as we waited for Ms Lee to approach us. I was seated at the 2nd row in between Hyoyeon and Taeyeon. Sooyoung was seated between Taeyeon and Sunny. At the front row was Min, Hara, Hyomin, Yuri and Yoona in that position.

"I apologise for my last minute arrangement to meet up with all of you. Firstly, I was suppose to hand you all the new jersey last Friday but due to unforeseen circumstances, it got delayed. I hope you all like the new design. 2nd thing is that there will be some changes in the format to this year's tournament. For group stages, we will no longer be playing 2 games against each team. Instead we will only be playing a game each. Which is why this year, the tournament will start on a Tuesday. The top two team of each group will then proceed to the next round which will consist of 16 teams. From then on, it'll be the same like last year with two matches a day. If we do well enough, we'll be playing in the Finals on Saturday. The match for the 3rd and 4th placing will also be played on Saturday before the Finals. Thirdly, I've just been informed yesterday that 3 universities from last year's tournament had lost their place during the playoffs and will be replaced with 3 other universities. The new teams are from Jeju University, YMC University and Busan University. I've not seen how good the new teams are but lucky for us, none of them will be in our group. Lastly, I need to submit a vice-captain name to the organiser."

At that moment, everyone turned to look at me, including Ms Lee. I looked around and swallowed my saliva before nodding my head slightly. The sudden eruption of celebration shocked me as I placed my right palm over my heart. The girls were dancing around dorkily as I noticed Ms Lee approaching me.

"Hyun Jae, are you sure of your decision? I don't want you to agree to it because of peer pressure."

"It's not because of peer pressure, Ms Lee. I just want to do my part as a team player and contribute more. There must be a reason as to why all of them were sticking to their decision to make me their vice-captain and I believe that it's a good reason." I said as I smiled at Ms Lee who showed me the thumbs up.

A shout from Ms Lee stopped the girls from celebrating further as she distributed our jerseys. After briefing us about the reporting time on this coming Tuesday, the rest of us were busy discussing about the tournament for the next 10mins while eating the sandwiches that had been prepared earlier.

"Does anyone know anything about the 3 new teams?" Sooyoung asked as she swallowed the sandwich.

All most everyone shook their head as I noticed Taeyeon frowning. Nudging her elbow, I asked her about her thoughts but before she could answer me, Yuri interrupted us.

"Isn't Ailee from YMC?" She said as my eyes lit up with that revelation.

"Let's ask her." I said as I took out my phone to message Ailee but before I could do so, Min voiced out her opinion.

"If she's from there, can we trust her words?"

I looked at  Min before turning to look at the other girls. I smiled at Min and nodded my head. "No harm in just asking. It's not as if we're going to slack off because of what our friend will say. Am I right, girls?"

Except for Min, Hara and Hyomin, the rest of them nodded their head. While waiting for Ailee's reply, the 3 girls excused themselves since they had other plans for the day while the rest of us decided to pack up and head back to the dorm. Especially since Seohyun had left Hyoyeon a message, saying that she, Tiffany and Jessica were already awake. I looked at my watch and realised that it was already almost noon.

We were about to reach our dorm when my phone beeped. The rest of the girls gathered around me as they anticipated Ailee's message.

To Hyun Jae:

Hi Jae. Sorry for the late reply. I just woke up. Reading your message, I just remembered that you and your friends are futsal players for your university. Guess I'll be seeing you guys soon. With regards to my team, all I can say is that from my point of view, they're good. I can't say how good since I've not seen you guys play before so it's not fair for me to compare. Anyway, all the best. :)

After replying a 'thanks and see you soon' to Ailee, we all continued our way up to our dorm. I was walking with Taeyeon at the back of the pack and were about to enter our girlfriend's dorm along with the rest when I remembered Taeyeon's expression earlier.

"Hey Taeng, why did you frown earlier? At the sports hall." I said as I removed my shoes and waited for her to remove hers.

"I was just thinking about something." Taeyeon replied as she avoided eye contact with me.

Knowing Taeyeon for so long, I knew she was not telling the whole truth and was just about to press on for answers when I heard Jessica's voice.

"Jaegi!!"

I was engulfed into a hug as I saw Taeyeon walked past me and took a seat beside Tiffany in the living room. I was then dragged into the kitchen by Jessica who quickly wrapped an apron around me. I was confused but I just stood frozen in my spot. It was not until she finished tying the apron, did I spoke up.

"Why am I wearing an apron?"

"That's because you'll be helping me to prepare lunch for the girls. This week is my duty week remember?" I pouted and folded my arms. Seeing my actions, Jessica quickly did an aegyo pout to me. "Please, Jaegi."

Who can ever resist that kind of cuteness as I just nodded my head. That was when I heard laughters from the living room.

"Yah, Park Hyun Jae!! You are toally whipped." Sooyoung commented as the other girls laughed while Jessica just meronged at them but what caught my attention was Taeyeon's reaction. She wasn't laughing along with them Instead she was just staring at the floor, spacing out by herself.

'What's wrong with that midget? Is something bothering her?' I thought to myself as I pulled up my sleeve to start helping Jessica out.

********************************

Just like last year, the cheerleaders shared a bus with the futsal team as I saw some of the newcomers being excited the moment the bus made its way out from our university compound. Sitting beside Jessica, I saw that she was already half asleep with her head resting on my shoulders. Looking at our position right now, I remembered how it was between us last year.

"Sicababy, are you asleep?"

"Anni. I'm just resting my eyes. Wae?" Jessica lifted her head and sat up straight while facing me.

"Do you remember how we were last year? In the same bus, at the same seat. I still remember you were being sulky when I disappeared for awhile."

 "I was not sulky." I received a light slap on my shoulder. "You were like the hot stuff back then. Everyone wanted to sit with you."

"Everyone? As far as I can remember, it was only Clara and Victoria." I chuckled when I saw Jessica rolling her eyes at me. "But frankly, I was very happy during the times where I could spend it with you no matter how short it was. I still remember the very first backhug that you gave me after our win in the semifinals. My heart was beating so fast that I thought it'll burst out."

"I remembered you saying that it was the after effect of the running. I didn't know that it was because of the backhug. Were you feeling nervous?" Jessica asked with a teasing tone as I felt my cheeks became warm. "Omo, are you blushing, Jae?"

Jessica's sentence caught the attention of the other girls as within 5 seconds, I could feel 9 pair of eyes looking at me.

"Jae's blushing? This is weird." Taeyeon commented as I just saw her head popping out from the seat in front of mine.

"I should take a picture of this." Sooyoung was about to snap a photo when I grabbed the phone from her since she was just sitting beside me on the other side of the bus.

"Yah!!! Stop teasing me and sit down properly. We should be reaching the stadium soon." I said as I rubbed my face, trying to erase the traces of the blush.

I saw Hyoyeon giving me  a thumbs up before she turned to face the front while I felt Yuri patting my head. Yuri and Yoona were seating behind us as I heard Jessica giggling. I turned to face and meronged at her while she just grabbed my right arm and rested her head on my shoulders.

"We're reaching soon, Sicababy."

"I know. I just want to enjoy every minute that I have with you." She said as I smiled at her simple answer.

Half an hour later, all of us were gathered at our seats in the stadium while we listened to a speech by the chairperson of the tournament. We were seated in rows of five, with the cheerleading team occupying the first 3 rows, followed by us with the men's team behind us. I saw Taecyeon smiling and bowed his head when he was walking past Jessica who was seated in the 2nd row as he made his way up.

I knew both him and Jessica had not contacted each other ever since the arranged marriage was off but I couldn't stop the tingling feeling of jealousy when I saw their indirect interaction. As I sat there pouting by myself, I felt a vibration in my pocket. Taking my phone out, I saw a message from Jessica.

To Jaegi,

What's with that cute pout? Better stop pouting before other girls feel tempted to kiss you since I'm feeling the temptation to do so. :p By the way, Taecyeon smiled and bowed to me earlier when he was walking up the steps. Out of courtesy, I smiled back at him. Don't misunderstood okay. Nothing between us anymore. 

I smiled while reading the message and when I looked up, I saw Jessica looking at me. She made a small heart shape with her fingers and placed it in front of her chest as I replied with the same gesture. I saw Jessica giggling by herself before she had to turn to face the front when announcement were made, stating that the tournament will begin in 15mins time.

"Our first match will begin only at 10am so we have about 30mins to warm up. Taeyeon, I want you to lead the exercise while I go and check things out with the administration side." Ms Lee said as Taeyeon nodded her head.

All of us had dispersed into our own allocated corners. We had changed into our kit before we left the campus so all that was left to do was to change into our futsal shoes. While changing, Jessica came up and sat beside me after her debrief with the cheerleading team. She just sat there quietly and watched everything that I was doing. When I looked up, I saw her blank face and I couldn't resist to pinch her lightly on both her cheeks.

"Kyeopta." I said as I stood up to join the rest of the girls to warm up.

*******************************

From a distant, 3 pair of eyes were watching everything that was happening from the moment Jessica sat down beside Hyun Jae and just stared at the girl until the part where Hyun Jae pinched both Jessica's cheeks and stood up to join the rest of the girls. It was clear to the onlookers that from their expressions, those two girls were really in love with each other.

But those 3 pair of eyes were filled with different emotions at the moment. Envy. Remorse. Confused.