“I can’t believe this!” Sungyeol was outraged, pointing toward the court, glaring at one person wearing a black and yellow sport uniform. “Did you see that foul that made? I cannot believe they didn’t kick him out of the court! The referees should give him a red card or something like that!” He turned to his best friends, Seo Inguk and Lee Howon (or Hoya as he was commonly known as), shaking his head in fury. “That idiot blatantly pushed him aside just to score a point!” He scowled darkly. “It’s a good thing he didn’t get to score. I still say the referees should’ve flagged a red card at him.”

“Well, it’s not like this is a football game, though,” Inguk pointed out.

“Basketball, football, baseball, so what? Does it matter? Kim Do Han might’ve been injured and then we’d have to substitute for him because of that. And it’ll crush his dream of being a basketball player!” Sungyeol had a look of passion in his eyes as he focused his gaze on their school’s star basketball player.

“As expected of the old Drama Club President,” Hoya muttered to Inguk, who couldn’t have agreed more.

“Such a drama queen,” Inguk whispered back.

“This is his chance to show what a great basketball player he is and if he was badly injured, he would’ve lost that chance!” their friend cried out indignantly, oblivious to what they were saying about him.

Inguk and Hoya exchanged glance and shrugged, bewildered. They didn’t know what the big deal was, seeing as their team was winning the game, anyway. However, to humor their friend, they nodded as if they agreed with him but he had already turned his head back to watch the game intently.

Even though they were no longer in the school, they thought they'd still go back to cheer on the basketball team. It was part of their high school that they weren’t ready to bid farewell to, even if they were already graduates. Around them, parents and family of the teams were just as outraged as Sungyeol were but the game continued. But they didn’t need to worry. Taeyang High School’s basketball team, the Fury Fire Dragons, was winning by ten points and there was two minutes left on the clock.

“It’s too late for Seungri High School to catch up,” Hoya remarked as he placed an arm around his girlfriend’s waist.

Eunji nodded, hugging her boyfriend back. “Our team has always been the best,” she replied, a warm smile on her face as she gazed fondly at the team sitting by the bench. “We’ve never once lost a game.”

Hoya raised an eyebrow. “Are you checking them out?”

“No, of course not. Don’t be silly, oppa,” Eunji replied dismissively.

Inguk and Sungyeol sniggered to themselves as Hoya shot them dark looks, although there was this faint ache settling in Sungyeol’s heart and he wondered why his mind automatically pictured having Hyunyoung’s arms around his waist. He imagined Hyunyoung standing next to him now, laughing and smiling as he gazed fondly at her.

He looked down to see the absence of her arms, being brought back to the loud cheers of the crowd and sneakers screeching across the court. It made him frowned slightly. A second later, he shook his head as he recalled the conversation he had with Jihyun a few days before.

“Oh, Yeollie, please. I know when you are bullting and you should know that everyone knows that while you were under the impression that you liked me, you were actually falling for my sister.”

“What are you talking about?” he frowned. “I liked you when I was under the impression that I like you. And that was it.”

Jihyun chuckled softly, pursing her lips in amusement. She had forgotten that Sungyeol was stubborn when it came to admitting his feelings. Hoya and Inguk had told her it took him a long while before he admitted to himself that he had feelings for her. “Yeah, well, I notice that whenever we would go to the ice cream parlor, you’d always buy the pistachio flavor for me.” She grinned. “I don’t mind pistachio, but that’s my sister’s favorite ice cream flavor.”

“Oh . . . well, I guess it’s an automatic response,” he replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his nape. He didn’t know why but it was like he was wired to say “one Oreo, one pistachio” whenever they would go there. “I mean, given the time we spent when she helped me with my lines, we came here pretty often and would always order the same flavor of ice cream. She would order pistachio and I would order Oreo.”

He’s so in denial, Jihyun thought.

“Fair enough. But that still meant she’s in the back of your mind.” She shrugged, unfazed by his disagreement. “But you know, it didn’t happen after she left.”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Even when she was still here,” Jihyun explained, “even before that night of the play, you would still order pistachio whenever you and I go out for ice cream.”

“Really?” Sungyeol couldn’t remember that.

She nodded. “Yes, so I’m not wrong when I say you had already begun to like her when you thought you liked me.”

“Like I said, my mind was wired to order that since it became a routine,” Sungyeol replied defensively.

Jihyun decided to try a different angle. “Okay, fine. But I do have another point.”

“What?”

“Remember the times we’d head over to the animal shelter to volunteer on Saturdays? Remember how you used to be so afraid of the German shepherd dog, Pepsi, because she was always fierce and never lets anyone touch her?”

“Yeah . . .?”

“I know that you would talk to her on days we go there for volunteer when you think that no one is looking,” she said softly, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder as if to sympathize with him. “I’ve seen you talking to her, and the other volunteers sometimes tell me that you’d go back on other days just to keep her company. Sometimes I’d hear my sister’s name.”

Sungyeol kept quiet because she was right. He couldn’t deny it, he had gone back there to talk with Pepsi; she was Hyunyoung’s favorite animal at the animal shelter even thoug