[Suga's POV]

                Marriage. When a person’s deeply in love with someone and thinks of nothing else but his beloved, marriage suddenly pops up in his head. Kisses and hugs are not the keys to endless love, it is marriage. When two people get married, they make their vows and promise that they will be together forever. No second or third parties. Only the two of them. That’s exactly my point why I mentioned marriage to Tae Bi. The reason why I said it to her is to prove that I won’t look for any other woman except her. But I think I surprised her a lot with that so I have to be more careful now. Still, I’m thankful that I was able to give her a hint about my future plans.

                I was driving back to the hotel when Tae Bi told me to stop the car. It’s 7PM and we’re already halfway to Hivice Hotel. I park the car at the roadside and turn the engine off.

                “No one’s playing,” she speaks, looking outside the window on her right. I’m curious to know why she asked me to stop driving, so I also look at where she’s looking. It’s an empty basketball court with four lampposts lighted up around it. Basketball. My hands are itching to play my sport.

                “Do you want to play?” I ask her. She then looks at me and nods.

                “I know that basketball is your another area of expertise,” she tells me, making my head big. I’m flattered.

                “Then, let’s have a round. Hopefully, there’s a ball in that court.”

                We both get off the car and carefully walk on a grassfield before reaching the empty court. The playground looks abandoned because dry leaves are scattered around. The backboard’s damaged and the hoop doesn’t have net. Seems like a typhoon passed through here. The only thing that gives me a safe feeling is the light coming from old lampposts. People from the road could clearly see us because it’s quite brighter here.

                “Suga, there’s the ball!” Tae Bi let go of my hand and run outside the court. I couldn’t see the ball until she picks it up somewhere in the midst of swaying tall grass.

                “Tae Bi careful!” I run to her because it’s dark there. I get the dirty ball from her and hold her hand to keep her from tripping. “Do you have a night vision? How come you saw this thing from there? What if some weird creature harmed you?” I couldn’t hide my concern for her.

                She gives me an apologetic smile, “You know I-”

                My phone suddenly rings, disturbing my worried heart and Tae Bi’s unfinished sentence. Jin hyung’s calling and I have to answer it because I know it’s urgent. Tae Bi grabs the ball from me and looks around for something that could clean it.

                “Answer it,” she says, giving me a smile that already killed the awkward silence between us.

                I answer the call but I don’t take my eyes off her.

                “Hyung,” I say.

                “I can’t believe it, Yoon Gi,” he sounds surprised. “You already have your own SNS account without asking for manager’s permission. Is that really yours? The ‘min_ss’ on IG?”

                So they figured it out. No wonder. The news spread quickly like a wildfire. I’m sure the fans are the first ones who saw it, and then they created a cacophony on social sites until it reached BigHit and woke up every media. This is expected already because that’s exactly what I wanted to happen; to tell them that Tae Bi and I are having a good time together.

                “Yea, that’s mine. Did you follow me yet?” I jokingly ask. A group of people from afar caught my attention. They’re standing close to my car and looking at us. I walk to Tae Bi and take her hand. She stops from dribbling the ball to also look at the people. We couldn’t clearly see their faces but most of them are girls.

                “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Jin speaks through the phone. “I’m dying to have my own Twitter account but we’re not allowed to do it. And yet, here you are, breaking the rules and asking me that question.  I will never ever follow you,” he laughs but I don’t. I’m starting to find out why those people are watching us. “By the way, you’re leading the entertainment news again because of those two Instagram posts. You two really look close and sweet. Should I feel proud?” he laughs again and I start to smile. Entertainment news? So I’m on the news again.

                Perhaps those strangers from a distance are fans. They know that we’re here because of the pictures I’ve posted. They recognized the Ansan beach in the background. Clever.

                “Thanks, man. I’m hanging up. We actually have a game to start,” I tell Jin.

                “Yeah sure. It must be basketball because I heard a dribbling ball earlier.”

                “Yup,” I snatch the ball from Tae Bi and run to shoot the ball into the hoop.

                “Okay then. Enjoy the game and see you tomorrow. Expect for a great number of reporters when you return here. Bye,” he ends the call and I keep my phone in my pocket. Leaving this place so soon makes me wish to stop the time for a while. When we got back in Seoul, I’m sure life’s not going to be as soothing as this. If cowardice doesn’t exist in this world, I would definitely spend a lifetime in this place with Stef, far from the city noise and inevitable criticisms.

                Tae Bi doesn’t look bothered anymore when I told her that those strangers were fans. And I am now sure of it because some of them start to bring out their cameras.

                “Let’s play?” I ask her, and she nods.

                I hand the ball to her but when she’s about to grab it I pull it back and run to throw the ball into the hoop. One point for me.

                “This seems unfair,” she stands still with arms crossed. “You’re a player, and I’m not. You’re going to be the winner, obviously.” She tells me and I couldn’t help but admire her serious face. “I want a fair play.”

                “What’s your suggestion?” I ask while I make the ball twist on top of my finger.

                “When I made the ball shoot, that’s equivalent to five points,” she requests with a smirk. Wait, did she just smirk at me? “While you stick to 1-point-per-shoot rule. Deal?”

                I let out a laugh, “That doesn’t sound like a fair play,” three girls in uniform are already outside the court. They’re shouting my name and waving their hands. Tae Bi suddenly stands frozen in front of me, probably because she’s afraid that those girls would bash her or whatever.

                And why would I let that happen?

                “But since I love you so much, I would agree with your proposed rule,” I continue my sentence, and turn her around so that she would face the fans.

“Suga-” I hear Tae Bi gasped because she didn’t expect this. Before she could hide herself again, I already shout.

“Hi there! This is my girlfriend! She is the ‘unique girl’ I was referring to during our special anniversary concert. It would be my pleasure to feel your support for us.”

                The girls cheer when they see me talking to them and they keep on taking pictures. More people gather near the court to prove to themselves that it is really me they’re watching from afar. I feel so proud, not worried. I’m so happy to announce that she’s my girlfriend. Shouting those words is similar to telling to myself that Tae Bi is really mine and no one can take her away from me.

                Tae Bi holds my hand and I feel it trembling. I let go of it to wrap my arm around her shoulders, because I believe it is more comforting than just holding each other’s hands.

                “Oppa! Is she your girlfriend?” one of the students asks. Maybe because she’s overwhelmed, she wasn’t able to hear what I just said a while ago. But it’s alright at least more people would hear it for now.

                “Yes, she is my girlfriend!” I gratefully answer back and point at Tae Bi who’s hiding her astonishment behind her smiling face.

                “Wow she’s so pretty!” another fan yells and more positive feedbacks follow. They don’t stop taking photos but none of us feel bad about it because there’s honesty around. I was expecting for someone to shout something bad about Tae Bi or our relationship, but surprisingly, people surrounding us are all smiles. Tae Bi must feel grateful, too, because her smile is now genuine.

                I dribble the ball once again to start the game. Tae Bi looks at me, the moonlight adorns her ever beautiful eyes and face.

                “How about we invite them to play with us?” she suggests, and I couldn’t refuse to that because I love her. If that would make her happy, then I should agree with it. “You said my proposed rule a while ago seemed unfair? Then, let’s make it fair now,” she giggles.

                “I have no problem with that or any of your rules,” I smirk at her, and I caught her blushing. How cute. “I’ll pick my team, you pick yours. Or you need my help with that?” I jokingly ask.

                She rolls her eyes but her lips are smiling, “Rappers are, indeed, braggart.”

                I laugh to her banter then I grab her neck with my arm. She chuckles when I rub my forehead on her hair. Fans are squealing to our sweetness and I have to admit that that’s not a fanservice, this is real romance. We walk to the audience and ask who wanted to join us. As expected, all of them, girls and boys, young and middle-aged, want to be part of two teams. So, we’ve decided to divide them first and then pick our first five players. The remaining members would be the substitutes. Three guys volunteer to be the game’s officials. It is a deal and I can’t wait for the game to start. My excitement has two purposes: to make myself look cool in front of Tae Bi and to grant myself of this kind of break. The winning team will have free snacks and the losing team, obviously, will buy the snacks.

                Our referee, who looks like a middle school student, blows the whistle and we start the game. A lot of people record our game using their phones while others cheer for each player on the court. My name is heard all the time since the game began. I catch a glimpse of Tae Bi. She’s having a hard time playing along with her teammates who seemed like real basketball players, especially the two girls. Her team actually has the better members and her charm makes it look undefeated. She spots me looking at her and we both smile at each other. Basketball has never been this good and exciting.

                The sky is asleep, yet we’re still filled with energy and laughter. I’ve interacted with lots of fans before but not in this way. For me this is like revisiting my old days when I wasn’t yet a trainee, playing with my pals and merging with each other’s brains so that there would be teamwork.

                The ball is passed on Tae Bi. She runs quickly and I stop from moving to watch her demure gesture. She’s really lovely. My teammates also pause from running when they saw me. No one blocks my girlfriend from shooting the ball through the hoop. Everyone’s anticipating if she would give a score to her team despite her lack of throwing skills. She jumps for a bit and throws the ball with accuracy. As I predicted, the ball goes through the hoop and everyone, even my teammates, applaud. It’s just a single shot, but for me and Tae Bi it feels like we won a lottery. She did a good job and I’m so proud. After numbers of failed attempts, she finally scores a point.

                “Yehey!” she gives hi-five to her team and then she runs to me with her wide smile. I grab her waist to carry her and turn around joyfully. I could feel the vivacity of everyone, especially my heart. How I wish everyone is as happy as this when they found out about my relationship with Kim Tae Bi.