Mark’s POV

Fighting!<3

That is what’s always written on the tennis ball I strangely find inside my locker everyday. Ever since high school started, I have received this without fail every single day. This tennis ball will magically appears inside my locker and strangely, I never know who puts it in there.

“Is it your secret admirer again?” asks Jackson, my only friend who knows about this. I used to confronts him about this because I think that it was him who slips it inside my locker as a joke.

“Yeah,” I simply answer while slipping it inside my bag.

“Why is it always a tennis ball? I mean you’re a basketball player, why gave you a tennis ball, I don’t get it,” he asks me dumbly.

“Why are you asking me? Ask the the person who gives this to me, idiot,” I retorts.

“But what if the one that gave all these tennis ball is a pretty girl?” he imagines excitedly.

“Yeah, I’m sure of that,” I answer sarcastically as I don’t believe it.

I walk away from my locker in a fast pace, leaving the dumbstruck friend of mine behind.

“Hey, wait for me you jerk,” yells Jackson, running behind trying to catch up.

_ * _

I stare at the bright yellow coloured tennis ball, in my hand, with “Fighting!<3” written on it. What Jackson says actually makes sense, I’m a basketball player, why give me a tennis ball? Unless the one that gives me this ball is in the tennis club. Maybe there, I could find the girl/guy who gives me all these tennis balls. I put the ball inside a plastic bag full of the other tennis balls I have gotten so far.

_ * _

MinAh’s POV

“Oh my gosh, Mark sunbae is here at the tennis court!”

“Are you serious? Mark sunbae!!”

“Mark oppa, what are you doing here?”

I look at the so-called Mark guy and smile bitterly as I see all the girls become hyper and all swooning over him. I walk towards the changing room to grab my bag. I close the locker with ‘Song MinAh’ written neatly there with a loud bang.

As I leave the court, I can see the tennis ball he holds in his hands. I mentally smile with a triumphant feels, knowing that he has received my gifts.

_ * _

It was the last period before the school ends and one girl walks up to the teacher’s table, from that point of view she can see the field outside through the window and spots Mark’s class. They are on their physical education class and are playing basketball.

“Mark oppa’s class is playing basketball outside!” she yells and immediately all the girls stand up and fight with each other to get the best view to see them playing outside, admiring his basketball skill in action. Meanwhile, I only turn my head to face the window to see him playing from my sit right beside the window with a nonchalant expression.

“Hey MinAh, how is it possible that you’re the only girl in the entire building that doesn’t like Mark?” asks WooRi, the girl that sits behind me.

I give her a confused look as an answer and she then says again ..

“Do you like someone else? Is that why you don’t like Mark?”

“No, I don’t like anyone else. I’m just.. okay with him.” I answer rigidly.

_ * _

Mark’s POV

As the usual morning, a ball rolls out of my locker when I open it.

Fighting!<3

“If you can talk, you should tell me right now who put you inside my locker every single morning,” I say in an inaudible voice to myself as I’m turning crazy and start to talk to a tennis ball.

“Dude, you haven’t gone crazy while trying to find your secret admirer that you actually start to talk to dead stuff do you?” Jackson suddenly pops out beside me and talks in my ears, scaring the out of me.

“Tch, of course not,” I answer while slapping the back of his head for scaring me off.

“Let this smart guy give you some advice. Try going to the tennis club and look around,” says Jackson with a proud smile in his face as if I didn’t think and did that already.

“I’ve done that you moron, but it’s not that easy, trust me. There’s lots of people who’s in tennis club, how is it possible for me to know which one?” I try to explain to him.

“Oh you’re right..” he looks dejected that his idea was slapped down.

“OH! Try going to the school early to see her.. or him, whatever.” He suggests again with sparkling eyes because he knows I haven’t try that and there’s a good chance I will find out if I did it.

“I’ll try that tomorrow..”

_ * _

With my eyes half closed, I sit right the opposite of my locker and wait there.

I know that I have to wake up early today but yet I still slept late last night that I can’t help but drift to sleep after a couple of minutes trying hard to keep my eyes open.

When I suddenly wake up realizing that I have fallen asleep. I stand up immediately and look around the hallway, I see a girl’s back figure just turning around the corner.

_ * _

“5 minutes break. Then come right back here and run 2 more laps!” yells the coach with that annoying commanding voice of him.

I immediately run to the bench and start to gulp down my water.

“How did this morning go? Did you finally find out who is she?” asks Jackson, who sits down right beside me at the bench while gulping down his water too.

“50% successful,” I answer vaguely.

“What does that suppose to mean? 50%?” his eyes look confused.

“Well, I only caught a glimpse of her back, so 50%,” I say fulfilling his question.

“Explain to me how her back looks like! Maybe I know the girl!” he shakes my shoulders hoping for me to spill details.

“Stop moving. Well she’s around 160cm, with a long brown hair tied in a red ribbon. That’s all I managed to catch of her.” I shrug.

“DUDE, EVERY GIRL IN THIS SCHOOL HAS A LONG BROWN OR BLACK HAIR AND THEY SOMETIMES TIED THEIR HAIR. I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU EXPECT BUT THAT’S PRETTY MUCH ALL GIRLS EXCEPT THE ONE WITH SHORT HAIR!” he yells furiously at my rather hazy description.

I raise my brows at his rage and stand up, leaving him to continue the 2 laps.

He doesn’t understand, I saw her back. I’ll recognize her when I see her.

_ * _

The only teacher I know that has the students’ lists is Ms. JiHyun. I walk around the class 10’s corridor, as I hope that I can borrow the students’ name lists for the benefit of the basketball club.

Then, I suddenly spot Ms. JiHyun with her hands full of the collected assignments at the end if the corridor.

“Oh, let me help you miss,” I say as I approach her to help.

“Thank you, Mark-sshi,” she says, relieved at the helping hand.

As we walk to the teacher’s room, Ms. Jihyun started the conversation.

“Mark-sshi, I heard that the basketball club is short in members,” she remarks carefully.

Happy at where the conversation is going, I answer,

“Oh yes Miss, we are short of 2 members. That’s why I have been looking for you, may I borrow the class 10’s students name list?”

Her face is full of questions so I continue.

“I need to look for candidates that I can recruit to join the club.”

She finally understands and allows me to borrow a copy of it. I thank her and help her with the heavy papers to the teachers room and left after bowing.

Mission success! Now I need to scan through this lists and find that girl, I think to myself.

“Be grateful to this genius brain of mine that came up with this idea to get hold of the students list!” Jackson’s voice dripping with pride.

“Yeah, AFTER we find that girl.” I say without looking at him as I am busy scanning the names and turning the papers back and forth.

“Anyways, why do you want to meet with her? Its a lot more fun if you don’t know who the secret admirer is,” he says with a lot of thoughts.

“I don’t know, I guess I’m curious as to why she gave me a tennis ball instead of a basketball and why did she need to give it to me everyday? Yeah that’s it.”

“You sounded as if you like her.. Wait, oh my gosh! Do you really like her?” he asks me astounded as his realization struck him.

“Eyy, it’s impossible that I like her, you know I’ve never met her.” I try to find an excuse.

“Uhm no. You’ve met her remember. You’ve seen her back.” He answers, trying to prove that I actually like a girl I’ve never met before.

“So? Seeing a glimpse of her back doesn’t mean that I’ve met her!”

“You should already know if you’ve seen her..” He starts to lose control of his own words and doesn’t know how to explain it anymore.

I grin at the name ‘Song MinAh’ with the picture of her, the same girl I’m looking for.

I stand up from my desk, with Jackson calling me continuously asking where am I going.

Gotcha!

_ * _

MinAh’s POV

Mark Tuan

That’s what’s written in front of the red locker that I always see and read every morning.

I open that red locker and slip in the tennis ball as usual. I close the locker, only to realize that Mark sunbae is right beside me, leaning at the locker beside his.

“Song MinAh-sshi?” he utters my name syllable by syllable. His hand’s playing with the tennis ball I give him.

“It seems like you’ve got caught red handed,” he says with a proud smirk.

I look down in embarrassment for getting caught so easily.

“I’m not going to make this more awkward than this, so I just want to ask you a question. Why a tennis ball? I’m a basketball player,” he states in a matter of fact as if no one in this school that doesn’t know he’s a basketball player.

“Because tennis ball is cheaper than basketball,” I answer anything that comes to my mind.

“I think you’re not telling the truth. Tell me the real reason,” he says while narrowing his eyes.

“No, it really is cheaper. And basketball is too big to fit in your locker.” I made up another nonsense excuse.

He looks at me in disbelieve but he doesn’t press the matter more.

We stand there in awkward silence for awhile until I start to walk away.

He grabs my hand and turns me around to face him.

“Hey, don’t think that our conversation is over!”

“No, it’s not over, because I’m waiting for your answer sunbaenim.” I smile and left.

_ * _

Mark’s POV

I look at her figure that slowly disappears.

“Answer? My answer? What answer?” I say aloud.

As I’m still thinking, I slowly open my locker and the usual tennis ball rolls out and falls into the ground. I pick it up and read the letters written, I think it would be the usual “Fighting!<3”. But no..

“Will you go out with me?”

_ * _

MinAh’s POV

“That’s the end of Chapter 3, please review it at home. We will have our monthly exam for this chapter next week. You can pack up now, the bell will ring anytime soon. Have a nice weekend.” The teacher says while closing the book he’s holding.

A few minutes later, the bell rings and the students scurries to get out of the classroom. I grab my bag and slings it on my shoulder.

I walk to my locker to grab the books I need to bring home. As I open it, a tennis ball rolls out.

‘A tennis ball? Don’t tell me it’s from Mark sunbaenim. Did he say yes? Eyy. Don’t get your hopes too high or it will crash down, MinAh. ’ I talk to myself, trying to calm myself down.

I pick the ball only to realize that it was the ball I gave him this morning, I turn it around and there it is, to my surprise...

“YES”