"Wow, there's so many people. Will the food be enough?" Sooyoung said as I saw her eyes darting from left to right.

"The organiser catered it for us. I think it should be enough." Seohyun replied as we sat at a long table placed at a corner of Hall 3.

Every participant from the mens and womens teams along with their supporters had been invited to have their lunch at Hall 3 from 12pm to 1pm, catered for them by the organiser of the tournament.

"But they don't know that we have a shikshin in our team." Sunny said.

"She's not the only one." Yuri said as she pointed at Yoona who was also busy looking around the hall.

"Girls, get your food and then gather back here to eat together." Ms Lee informed us as we nodded our heads.

"Jae, we'll go and get the food for you and Sica since you can't really use your hand. Sica, keep Jae company okay." Taeyeon said as the girls left us at the table.

I tilted my head and grinned dorkily at Jessica who was busy with her phone. I rested my elbow on the table and placed my head on my palm while I continued staring at Jessica.

"Wae?" Jessica asked without turning to face me.

I pouted and sighed loudly, doing it on purpose to grab her attention and I succeeded when she put her phone away. Turning to face me, I straightened my hand and laid down my head on the table.

"Appa and Omma send their regards to you. They wish you all the best for the Finals." Jessica informed me as she patted my head lightly. "What's wrong, Jaegi? Hungry? Sleepy?"

"Anni. Just wanting your attention." I said as I smiled at her. "Sicababy, do you think I'm too nice?"

"Too nice?" Jessica had a clueless expression on.

"The girls said that I'm becoming like Yuri while Taeng said that I'm too nice to people whom I just met, making them fall for me." I said as I pouted. "Do you agree with them too?"

Jessica stared at me for five seconds before she pinched my cheek. "Aigoo, are you still brooding about the incident earlier with your so-called fan?" Before I could say something, Jessica cupped my face and pulled me up slowly into a sitting position. "There's something about you that is able to attracts girls. You're nice, friendly, caring, talented and charming in your own way. But even if at times I do get jealous, I don't want you to change yourself because of me. Do you want to know why?'

I nodded my head with Jessica still cupping my face.

"Because I love you just the way you are. And I know you love me too. You've shown me countless of times of much you love me. Frankly, I kind of enjoy being jealous sometimes. It adds some sparks to our relationship. Don't you think so?" Jessica giggled as she let go off her hands.

"So you want me to keep making you jealous?" I smirked but the glare from Jessica removed it instantly.

"Don't push your luck, Jaegi. I said sometimes." I chuckled nervously. "But what's important is yourself. Are your conscious clear when you talk to other girls? As in you are sure that you're not flirting with them?"

"Of course. I'm just treating them like a friend. Trying to be nice." I replied without hesitation.

"Then I guess that's fine with me. By the way, were you always like that since young? I thought I remembered Boa-unnie telling me that you're not really the friendly type." Jessica asked as she tilted her head as if she was trying to remember something.

"It's true. At least not until I met you. Because of Uee, I had trouble trusting people or opening up myself to others. Ever since then, I don't really mingle much with others. At that time, I still had Taeng and Yul with me so I was still fine until I had to return back to LA, I couldn't cope well being alone. Besides being discriminated there, I couldn't socialise well." I said as I sighed with a heavy heart.

"Is that why you ask Appa to send you back here?" I nodded my head to answer Jessica's question. "Oh, my poor baby." Jessica pouted as she my head.

"Okay. Enough of the PDA. We need to start eating." Sooyoung said as she placed her tray of food on the table and took a seat in front of me.

"Is that mine and Sica's?" I kept staring at Sooyoung's tray which was filled to the brim.

"Anni. This is mine. Taeng's carrying your's and Sica's" Sooyoung tilted her head backwards where the rest of the girls were walking toward us.

"All that is yours?" Jessica asked with an amused look. "A plate of japchae, a plate of tteobokki and a bowl of bibimbap. Are you going to a war?"

"Mine is nothing. You should see what Yoona is eating. She's the real shikshin." Sooyoung said as she started to mix her bibimbap.

I chuckled by myself as the rest of the girls settled down at the table. TaeNy took two different dishes each and told us to choose any of it. I told them to choose first since they've already helped to take the food for us.

"Sicababy, do you want tteobokki or bibimbap?" I asked as Jessica told me to choose first but I told her that I'll just eat whatever is left behind after she made her choice.

"Soo, there's only two dishes on Yoona's tray. Japchae and tteobokki. How is she a shikshin compared to your 3 dishes?" I asked as I start to mix my bibimbap.

"Yah!! She puts her 2nd plate of tteobokki and kimchi fried rice on Yul's tray." Sooyoung said as she continued chewing.

I instantly turned to look at Yuri's tray.Yoona was busy focusing on eating while Yuri just shrugged her shoulders. I was about to start eating when I literally had to blink my eyes a few times with what I saw in front of me. "Yah, Choi Sooyoung. Are you a vacuum? I haven't even start eating and you've finished one dish."

Sooyoung was about to answer me when Sunny slapped her thighs. "Don't talk with your mouth full."

While all of us were chatting away and enjoying our lunch, Taecyeon came over and interrupted us. He stood behind Sooyoung and greeted Jessica who was seated to my left.

"Hi Jessica. Hi everyone. I heard that you all made it to the finals. So did the mens team. We're confident of becoming the champion. How about you girls?" He asked with an arrogant smirk on his face.

"We will work hard for it. At least we're confident of that." Taeyeon who was seated on my right answered but Taecyeon just nodded her head nonchalantly while his eyes were still looking at Jessica.

"Excuse me, but my Taetae is talking to you. Don't you at least have the decency to look at her?" Tiffany said sarcastically, causing everyone to look at him.

"Sorry." Taecyeon gave a curt reply while looking at TaeNy before he turned back to look at Jessica. "Jessica, can I talk to you for a while?"

Jessica was about to answer him when I held her hand from under the table. "She can't." I replied while staring straight at him, feeling myself getting agitated with his attitude.

"Omo.. Being possessive, aren't you? Wae? Are you scared that I might steal her away?" Taeceyeon returned my stare as I saw him clenching his fist.

"Anni. If you just have a little bit of common sense, you can see that she's not done eating and we're only left with 15mins before the lunch ends. So if your situation is not life threatening that you have to speak to her right now, I suggest you do it when she's available." I replied as I gave him a smirk while the rest of the girls were giggling quietly at my remarks. Even Jessica was trying to stiffle her giggles. "Oh, and just for the record. I'm not scared of you stealing her away because you're not capable of that. I'm very confident that Jessica knows what's best for herself and it's obviously not you."

Taecyeon was lost for words as he rolled his eyes at me before walking away. The moment he left, the table erupted with cheering and whistling. I turned to look at Jessica who was smiling at me.

"I'm sorry for that. I just don't like it when he disrespect my friends. You don't mind me saying all that right?" I asked as I tried to calm myself down.

"Mind? Why would I mind?" Jessica asked as I explained the reason was because Taecyeon was her friend. "Like you said, he was rude so I don't see anything wrong with that. By the way, I kind of like it when you behave like that. Very dominant yet y." Jessica blushed the moment she said it.

"Okay, both of you. Enough of the admiration. Let's finish up our food and head back to Hall 2." Taeyeon said as I meronged at her.

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

"Okay girls. We've been working hard for the past few days and I am very proud with all your efforts. Today will be the day where we will have to work hard one more time so that we can defend our championship trophy. I have faith in everyone here so go out there and show to them what you girls are made up of." Ms Lee ended her speech as everyone gathered around to do a 'hwaiting' cheer.

I watched by the sideline as Sooyoung, Yuri, Hyoyeon, Yoona and Taeyeon walked into the court and get into their position.

"I'm sorry, Jae. I know you've been looking forward to play but I've decided to hold on to you first. I'm not sure how YMC university will be deploying their strategy so I don't want to take the risk of throwing you in especially with that injury." Ms Lee who was sitting beside me, explained her decision.

"It's okay, Ms Lee. I understand." I said as I smiled sincerely at her.

When the whistle was blown, both of us automatically looked at the court and watched in silence. YMC university team was playing aggresively as they surged forward to try to find the first goal but Hyoyeon and Yuri did well as the defenders along with Sooyoung. My concentration was interrupted when Jessica patted my thighs softly.

"Ailee's looking at your direction. I think she wants to greet you. I've already waved and smiled at her earlier." Jessica leaned forward to whisper in my ears.

I turned to my right and after following Jessica's train of sight, I saw Ailee smiling and waving at me. I returned her gesture by smiling and waving back before turning to face the game again. I noticed Jessica shaking her head as I turned to look at her. "Wae?"

"Nothing can take your attention away when it comes to futsal." Jessica said as she smiled at me before she turned to face the court.

"There is." I said as I leaned forward to whisper in Jessica's ears. "And that is you."

I saw Jessica turning red but the loud sound of the whistle being blown, instantly made me turned. I saw Yoona on the floor as Taeyeon was trying to help her out. Yoona had been fouled by an opponent, just outside the semicircle of YMC's goalpost. A freekick had been given to our team but the chance was given away when the ball hit the goalpost and went out.

Both sides were good and distributed their ball possession well but no one seemed to be able to break the deadlock. Frustration had risen among all the players as clumsy fouls and tackles were getting more obvious.

"Yul!!!" I shouted towards the court and showed her a gesture of asking her to calm down as she gave away another foul, giving the possesion to the opponent.

"Is Yul okay? She seemed agitated." Jessica asked.

"Looks like Yul is upset that the player who tackled Yoona earlier was only given a warning instead of a yellow card. Hopefully she can maintain her cool until the half-time. Then I'll knock some sense into her." I chuckled a little as Jessica nudged her shoulders against mine.

The first half ended with no goals as both teams returned to their own sides for a much needed half-time break. While the cheerleaders of both teams were busy doing their performance, the players were also busy discussing their strategies.

"Jae will be replacing Yoona in the second half taking over Yoona's position behind Taeyeon. All of you have been doing great but please keep your cool especially Yuri and Hyoyeon since both of you are our last line of defence. Avoid giving away freekicks near our goalpost. I can see that Sooyoung has been coping well with it but I don't want unnecessary pressure on her. Understood?" Ms Lee asked as the girls nodded their heads. "Sunny, could you please check on Yoona's ankle? I just want to make sure that the tackle on her earlier did not cause any hidden injury."

"Hey, Yul. What happened out there? I saw you losing your cool unlike your usual self. Was it because of that tackle on Yoona?" I asked as I passed a bottle of water to Yuri.

"Did you saw that tackle? It was reckless. The player was going for Yoona's ankle instead of the ball." Yuri was expressing her anger.

"I think it's just a late tackle, Yul. She apologised to me the moment I stood up." Yoona explained as she patted Yuri's back while Sunny was checking on her ankle.

"But it was dangerous. She could have injure you." Yuri pouted as I just shook my head. "Sunny, please check properly. Is there any internal injury? Does she need to go for scanning? Is there any scratches or scar on her ankle?"

I giggled at Yuri's protective behaviour as I told her to help me out to warm up and also tightened my shoelaces.

"Jaegi, you're playing later? Will you be okay?" I nodded my head at Jessica after she came back from their cheerleading performance.

"I hope so. I'll be careful, okay. Promise." I did a peace sign as Jessica gave me a reluctant smile. I patted her head, knowing that she's worried about my injury. "Sicababy, at least give me an encouraging smile please."

Seeing my pout and puppy eyes, Jessica broke into a smile as she pinched my cheeks. Just at the moment, the whistle was blown to signal the start of the 2nd half. Me, Taeyeon, Yuri, Hyoyeon and Sooyoung stood up as we walked towards the side of the court where Ms Lee was standing.

"Do your best, girls. And Jae, be careful." Ms Lee informed us as the 5 of us nodded our heads and gathered around to form a circle.

"We're left with 20mins more before the final whistle. I know everyone is feeling tense since the scoreline remains at 0-0. But let's enjoy ourselves when we're out there. We have what it takes to bring home the trophy. I'm confident of that and I have faith in every single one of us. This might be our last tournament since we might not be participating for next year. So, let's just enjoy the moment and play at our heart's content for the next 20mins." Taeyeon said.

"Hwaiting!!!" All 5 of us shouted at the same time.

10mins had past since the match resumed. Both teams were trying their best to score a goal but the score remained at 0-0. I had felt a little strain on my wrist due to a slight collision with an opponent earlier on. Luckily, the YMC coach called for a time-out as we all gathered at the sideline.

"Sunny."

I called her the moment I was near the bench and pointed to my wrist. Sunny quickly ran to my side along with a frowning Jessica while the other girls took turns to drink some water.

"Is everything okay?" Jessica asked as she observed Sunny turning my wrist around slowly while she examined my bandage.

"Jae, trying clenching your fist slowly." I did as Sunny instructed. "Now, slowly open it up. Does it hurt a lot?"

"No that much. Just a little strain on my palm near the thumb." I said as Sunny explained that it could be due to the tightness of the bandage. Ms Lee came over to check on me and I assured her that I was fine to continue playing.

"I'm fine, Sicababy. Just a little strain." I smiled at Jessica who looked at Sunny for assurance.

The two girls headed back to the bench when the referee blew her whistle to resume the game. I jogged alongside Taeyeon and whispered some strategies with her. Once I was sure that Taeyeon understood what I wanted, both of us stood at our position and got ready.

5mins later, we were on the attack as I received a pass from Yuri who did well to steal the ball from the opponent's possession. Hyoyeon was running forward on the left while Taeyeon was already positioned near the opponent's goalpost.

"Hyo!!"

I shouted as I shot a ball forward, slightly ahead of Hyoyeon but with her speed, she managed to get to the ball before the opponent got to her. As Hyoyeon was trying to get away from the defender, Taeyeon ran forward to assist her as I lingered around the corner of the semicircle. Hyoyeon dodged from left to right before passing the ball to Taeyeon but the defender had accidentally elbowed her face in the process when she turned around to chased Taeyeon. Hyoyeon automatically dropped to the floor while covering her nose.

The whisle was blown as me, Taeyeon and Yuri ran towards Hyoyeon to check on her while the referee pulled the opponent aside.

"Hyo, gwenchana?" I kneeled down as Hyoyeon slowly removed her hands. "Sunny!!"

The moment I saw Hyoyeon's bleeding nose, I shouted for Sunny while Yuri gestured to Ms Lee with a sign that Hyoyeon's nose was bleeding. The referee came up to us and asked Sunny about the injury. Sunny checked on Hyoyeon's nose to ensure that it was not broken and also to stop the bleeding. To ensure that the injury would not be aggrievated, Ms Lee decided to replace Hyoyeon with Yoona.

"Jae, bring back the trophy." Hyoyeon managed to say to me before Sunny helped her to get back to the sideline.

The referee had consulted her assistant and it had been decided that a free-kick would be given to us just outside the semicircle. I asked Yoona to stay in our own half of the court while I called Yuri and Taeyeon to my side.

"Are you going to score like the previous time since it's almost the same position? " Yuri asked as I noticed that the opponents had cleverly closed any possible gap which I could use to score a goal from where we were standing.

"I can't. They must have analyse that goal before since they've positioned themselves well and covered the gaps." I replied as Yuri looked around while I looked at the clock. "We've got 2mins to make this work. This is what I plan."

The 3 of us gathered around as I quickly whispered to them about the strategy that I suddenly thought of. The referee came up to us and told us to get ready. Yuri ran to the centre of the court as me and Taeyeon stood in front of the ball.

When the whistle was blown, I kicked the ball hard towards Yuri. The opponents were caught offguard as they were expecting us to shoot for goal. Seeing that the ball was already away from their goalpost, the YMC players started to disperse with 2 of them running forward towards Yuri.

"Yul!! Now!!" I shouted.

Thinking that I was asking for the ball, one of the defender ran towards me, trying to intercept the pass but Yuri volleyed the ball straight towards the goalpost as their goalkeeper got ready to catch the ball. Taeyeon who was lingering on the left side with one defender marking her, surged forward.

The player that was blocking me ran off to help her teammates when she noticed Taeyeon running towards the ball. All of them thought that Taeyeon was going to shoot but instead, Taeyeon did a back pass to me who had no problem slotting the ball in at a very tight bottom left of the goalpost with no one guarding me.

"Goal!!!!!"

Shouts could be heard from our supporters stand as the referee blew the whistle to acknowledge the goal. The girls ran towards me and were about to hug me when I turned my body around and protected my wrist. My actions made them remembered my injury as they just patted my back.

We were told to get ready to restart the match but just after the opponent kicked the ball around for about 3 passes, the referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the match.

Everyone on the bench ran towards us who were already gathered in a circle as we celebrated our victory. Ms Lee came and asked us to stop so that we all could shake the hands of our oppoenents and their coach.

"Your team has got a very good strategist. She should consider being a futsal coach after she graduate." I heard the YMC coach telling Ms Lee who had a wide smile on her face.

"But the problem is she's a major in Interior Designing and not Sports." Ms Lee chuckled as the YMC coach had a shocked expression as she didn't expect me to be majoring in a totally different subject.

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

"Does it feel better?" Suny asked after she removed my bandage.

"Much better. The doctor taped my injury too tight and after that slight collision, it became uncomfortable." I said as I did some light exercise around my wrist.

The bus was bustling with cheerings as me and Sunny stood up to walk back to our seats after both of us had to sit infront since the first aid kit was placed there.

"I think it's better if you use the wrist support in the mean time, Jae." Ms Lee said as I walked back a few steps to where she was seated and handed me the wrist support.

As I walked back to my seat, I laughed at the comical dance that Yuri, Sooyoung and Hyoyeon were doing. Taeyeon was just laughing in her seat with her trademark ahjumma laughter. I saw Jessica staring at her phone when I took my seat beside her.

An image of her phone appeared in front of my eyes as she pointed at the screen. I squinted my eyes to read the message.

To Jessica:

I'm still waiting for your answer. About the dinner.

"Who send this?" I asked with a blank expression.

"Taecyeon." Jessica replied shortly before keeping her phone aside. "Should we ask him to bring us to a very expensive restaurant?"

Looking at Jessica's evil grin, it made me laughed out loud causing the rest of the girls to look at us. Tiffany asked about it and Jessica told her what happened.

"If Jae is like my shikshin, it would have been better but Jae doesn't really eat much. So it doesn't really matter." Sunny said.

"But I don't understand the need for him to meet up with you though." Yoona commented.

"He's trying his luck." Hyoyeon said nonchalantly.

"He's wasting his time if that's his intention." Jessica replied as I grinned widely before I felt someone knocked the top of my head.

"Stop grinning. You look stupid." Taeyeon replied as I rubbed my head. "So will you both meet him together or it'll just be Sica alone?"

"Together." Jessica replied even before I could say anything.

Just at that moment, my phone beeped to indicate an incoming message form Ailee.

To Hyun Jae:

Congrats for being crowned champions. Your team were great. Especially you. Hope to meet up with you girls again. Maybe over lunch or dinner. Take care and send my regards to everyone.

"Is she trying her luck with Jae too?" Seohyun asked with an innocent look.

"I don't think so. She includes everyone in her message. See." I showed the message to everyone.

"But why does she always only message Jae? I don't see her messaging any of us." Sooyoung said causing me to be dumbfounded.

"Maybe because she feels more comfortable around her. Right, Jaegi?" Jessica replied on my behalf as I just nodded my head and smiled.

"Whipped."

The rest of the girls laughed out loud after Yuri's comments. Their laughter stopped when we heard Ms Lee's voice.

"Girls, we're almost reaching our campus. Don't forget to wear your official blazer for the award ceremony tomorrow at our school gym. Our school Dean will be presenting us with our medals and trophy. So I'll see you all tomorrow at 9am sharp. Rest well tonight and once again, congrats on a job well done."