**

Nam Taehyun was a quiet man. He was chic, cool, and mostly emotionless. He was a man of a few words as many would say but he begged to differ. He was just shy and his usual poker face was just a mask to cover his insecurities.

It’s not like he’s ugly or anything. He was blessed with feminine yet sharp features – well-defined cheeks and a nice nose, droopy yet beautiful eyebrows, wonderful slanted eyes, and velvety lips. He was a beauty to behold. He was manly and at the same time, beautiful.

He wasn’t dumb either. He was quite a knowledgeable and intelligent man. He wasn’t exactly outstanding in his studies but he was above average. He was certainly not lacking in terms of brain cells.

He was, as he believed, mediocre. He was simply a mere student who had nothing much to offer to the world in his eyes. But Yoon Bomi had another opinion.

The yound lad was an ethereal being to her. He was the Adonis to her human and lowly self. Nam Taehyun was the greatest and most beautiful being to have ever walked in the soils of the Earth for the pretty belle.

To Yoon Bomi, he was a god. He was her god. And she literally, and seriously, treats him like one too.

“Taehyun-ah!” the female smiled at the younger as she cheerfully skipped towards him. He was a year younger but Bomi didn’t mind. You could never question who your heart beats for, that’s what she believes in anyway.

The younger sighed under his breath. He wasn’t exactly having a good day and bumping into his annoying stalker (as much as he wanted to think of another and less offensive word, stalker would be the best word to describe his sunbae to be honest.) was the last thing he wanted.

Feeling defeated, he gave the senior a tired smile. “Sunbae,” he greeted her with a bow.

Bomi playfully clicked her tongue at him. “How many times did I tell you to call me Bomi or maybe noona instead!” she teasingly scolded him.

Taehyun unconsciously rolled his eyes. “Ah! Yes, yes. Sorry about that noona,” he humored the senior.

The belle giggled and smiled fondly at the male. She really liked Taehyun. In fact, she may even love him.

“Taehyun-ah! When is your next match?” she excitedly asked the younger. Taehyun was part of their school’s soccer team and she wanted to cheer for him. Well, she’s actually in the school’s cheerleading squad – she was vice captain to be exact, but she considered herself as Taehyun’s own personal cheerleader.

There’s a big difference with cheering for your school and cheering for the one you love. It’s entirely and completely different, Bomi believed.

The male pursed his lips in conflict. As much as he appreciated his senior’s affection, she was starting to exhaust him. Her energy level and clinginess was seriously wearing him down. He was about to lie to her but quickly stopped himself. Bomi was looking innocently at him, with a loving and charming smile on her face, that he couldn’t make himself to lie in front of her face.

Truth be told, the younger has grown a little attached to the noisy senior.

“This Saturday,” he finally replied to her question. Bomi nodded her head. She hummed happily to Taehyun as a response and thought of the things she needed for the match.

She was a cheerleader after all, and cheerleaders need props too!

“Oh! Bomi, you’re here,” Chorong, the soccer team’s manager and also Bomi’s best friend, walked towards the duo.

“When was she never here,” Taehyun quietly mumbled.

The older among the three, Chorong, playfully hit him at the back of his head. “I heard that,” she whispered to him.

Taehyun just rolled his eyes again. He faintly heard Bomi chuckle. He turned to their team manager and bowed.

“I need to go now noona,” he simply told her and hurriedly ran towards the locker room.

Since practice was already over, and he’s not really feeling well, he wanted to go home quickly.

Bomi smiled as she stared dazedly at Taehyun’s back. “You really like him huh,” Chorong commented. She simply nodded her head.

“But-“ her friend was about to tell her something but Bomi stopped her. “I know. He doesn’t like me back. He might like me, but only as a friend or as his senior,” she honestly confessed her best friend, a small frown now on her face.

Chorong looked at the cheerleader, feeling a little guilty to have made her friend sad. “Then why are you still clinging onto him?” she curiously asked her friend.

Bomi smiled at her sadly. “Because that’s the only thing I could do for him to notice me,” she softly answered.

The older understandingly nodded her head. She had no words of comfort or encouragement for her best friend. The cheerleader already knew that her love was unrequited but she still continued to love.

She thought of her best friend was extremely amazing.

“Wah! I never knew our Yoon Bomi was such a hopeless romantic! Who would have known!” Chorong joked.

Bomi laughed at her words and playfully hit her in the arm. “Yah! What do you take me for? A gorilla?” she argued.

Chorong furiously nodded her head. “Yeah. In fact you are,” she argued back.

The two best friends then bantered back and forth until the sun has set.

**

Bomi knew quite well Taehyun doesn’t see her as a lover – or even as a girl, yet she continued on bothering him.

But as she has said to her best friend, clinging onto the male was the only thing she could do in order to be with him. Even though the cheerleader sometimes felt a little embarrassed with her extreme clinginess to the athlete, she just liked him too much. She was clearly head over heals for the male.

“I’ll just continue to like him until I don’t like him anymore,” she told herself with a determined nod.

“I’d eventually fall out of this infatuation, right?”

**

It was finally Saturday and it was the soccer team’s do-or-die match. If they win, their school would play against the defending champions in the league’s finals. It was their one and only chance to be champions after how many years so everyone was looking forward to this day.

Everyone in the dug-out looked giddy and slightly jumpy. They were excited to play yet at the same time they were anxious. It was their only shot to finals and if they lose, all of their hard work would be in vain. Morale in the team was extremely low but Mino tried to be positive.

“Guys!” he clapped his hands to gather his teammates.

He was the captain after all and he was responsible for their team’s performance. He needed them to focus.

“We could win this! We’ve trained so hard these past weeks, we would surely win this match!” he told them.

Some of his teammates nodded but the others still looked apprehensive.

Mino could only internally sigh. Morale was definitely low at the moment.

“If you don’t win today, we’d double your training, be stricter with your diets, and reduce your days off. That means less time for you guys to have fun and date,” Chorong, the team’s manager and also Mino’s girlfriend, threatened out of nowhere.

Heads turned and mouths gaped at her. Even Mino was taken aback with her words. “What?!” they all shrieked.

She looked at them challengingly. There was an evil glint in the manager's eyes.

“Noona!” Taehyun screamed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Seunghoon screeched.

“You little devil!” Sungjoo gasped.

“Don’t you dare!” Mino warned.

Chorong pointedly raised an eyebrow at the team. A scoff escaped from her lips.

“Don’t be such wussies, guys. You know you’ve got the skills. I can’t believe you’re scared about playing soccer!” she told them incredulously.

Eyes turned serious and then suddenly there was a glint in the whole team's eyes. It was as if a fire was ignited inside each one of them. And Mino finally understood his girlfriend’s words. She was trying to get them rile up, and it seriously worked.

“Okay guys! We can do this!” he said as he clapped his hands again. He then put his hand on the center and the others soon joined him.

They were all determined now. They were all resolved on doing their best, and winning of course.

“One, two, three… Fighting!” they all cheered.

He gave a grateful nod to his girlfriend before they all walked out of the dug-out. Chorong happily winked at him.

**

The match was already on the second half of the regulation time and the scores were still a nil. Both teams were good and consistent with their plays. It was a highly exciting and thrilling match to be honest.

Bomi felt her heart escaping her chest as she nervously bit her lower lip. “Go! Taehyun-ah! You can do it!” she cheered her lungs out.

The ball was passed to Taehyun by Mino as the duo ran past their opponents. They swiftly passed the ball back and forth to each other and smoothly arrived near the goal. The ball was now with Mino but the opponents quickly made their way to block him. He was certainly having a har