This chapter, I admit, is not very good. . . 

and there is never a proper excuse for that..........

But I promise the next chapter will be better! <3 

“Is that what you’re upset about?”

Yoona pushed a cold bowl of mint ice cream in Luhan’s direction. She slipped a scoop of her own vanilla-flavored custard in between her lips, savoring the sweetness while pondering his dilemma.

Luhan sighed. “Yes. I know I was never going to make a career out of soccer, but it’s something I thoroughly enjoy.” He pushed a few curls away from his face as he tasted the cold ice cream. “I’ve been playing ever since I was three. How could Father expect me to part with it so easily?”

Examining the disgruntlement on the boy’s face, Yoona couldn’t help but envy him. Luhan is naturally an athletic individual, and soccer is one of his many physical talents. The thing is that Luhan loves soccer, and unlike football and basketball, it would be incredibly difficult for him to give it up. He’s been involved in track, football, basketball, and soccer his entire life. Going into high school, he decided to give up on track, mainly because he didn’t enjoy the sport as much as he could have, and it didn’t entertain him any longer. At the end of sophomore year, he (meaning him and his family) decided that his busy schedule was the reason for his dipping grades (even though he still had better grades than most of the people in their class), and he quit football and basketball. After junior year, Mr. and Mrs. Xi still were not content with his grades. So that is why Luhan and Yoona are sitting at their favorite ice cream and custard parlor, choosing a booth in the way back corner, so that Luhan can have as much privacy as possible to be miserable.

It’s not like Yoona wanted to be as miserable as he was right now, that isn’t what she envies about him. It’s just that she had never needed to be in such a situation before. If Yoona was a participant in sports, which she is not, she would give up all of them if it satisfied her parents. She was cognizant of his passion for sports, and mainly for soccer. But if Luhan was never going to pursue anything out of high school with his love for soccer, why continue? It is because of his long soccer practices that he loses study time. She wished she had this problem, because if she did, it would be the least of her problems.

“How am I supposed to tell the others? I’m the captain, I have the biggest responsibility to the team.” He looked so sad, Yoona could almost feel her heart break inside of her. “And now I have to quit on them.”

She sighed. “It’s not your fault,” she reassured, though she knew it wouldn’t make a dent in his unwavering guilt, “you have a loyalty to your family and their expectations.”

Luhan replied with a sarcastic chuckle. His gaze stayed on his ice cream and never wavered, though he didn’t feel hungry at all. Yoona seemed to give an endless amount of advice that always adhered to family loyalty. He knew for sure that Yoona’s family life was easier than his. Whenever he came over to her house, her father would always greet him with the warmest smile, and there was always the smell of the homemade food coming from the kitchen. Her mother was constantly patting her head to get the knots out of her hair, and her father spoke of her with the most gentle words. He could see, every time he went to Yoona’s house, that her family was one that he yearned for.

Not that his parents didn’t love him, they just didn’t dote over him the way Yoona’s parents always tend to with her. They openly expressed their love for her. On the other hand, Yoona’s been to his house countless times, yet he could only count on one hand the number of times his parents had actually been home or stopped whatever they were doing to speak to Yoona.

“If I were you, I would do as your parents say.”

Of course you would. But what do you know?

Luhan wanted to spit out those words, but he held his tongue. He finds that it’s easier for him to hold himself back now. Even in front of Yoona, his best friend. It’s not that it’s anything new though. He’s been keeping a few things to himself for a while.

“Hey,” Yoona nudged the sulking Luhan. She gave him a warm smile that looked almost identical to her father’s. “It’s not so bad. You don’t have to quit soccer forever. You can always pick it back up as a hobby when you go to college.”

Though he was sure she could never understand the problem he was faced with, he couldn’t help but feel some sort of relief. It was the effect she had on him. She was a thoughtful friend, and that’s all that he could really ask for from a girl that would never have the same family background as his, someone who would never experience the pressure that he feels at the moment. He returned her smile. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He let himself taste a spoonful of ice cream and almost immediately felt the sweetness melt away his previous worry. “I love mint ice cream,” he says, more to himself than to her, as he takes another bite.

I know. And this time, it is Yoona who holds back the words that are on the tip of her tongue.

Kai gave Yoona a back hug.

Yes, he knew there were lots of people in the hallway. Yes, he knew that PDA was not acceptable according to the school handbook. Yes, he knew that he wasn’t necessarily on good terms with the administration.

But he gave her a back hug anyway.

Because it was Monday morning, and he had a headache already, and he didn’t speak to or see Yoona the entire weekend. And he hated going for a few days without speaking to her.

“Jongin?”

“For the love of everything holy, Im Yoona, I’ve told you to call me Kai over a hundred times already,” Kai huffed, though he didn’t put his heart into it. She was the only person at school who ever called him by his real name, even the teachers had grown accustomed to “Kai.” He felt as if that one small label, though it was his real name, made them that much closer. He liked how there was a name that only she could call him by.

Yoona could feel Kai snuggle up to her and inhale the scent of her hair. She smiled at his childishness. Even though Kai’s intimacy was always too public for comfort, she appreciated his affection all the same. He was really the only person who gave her so much shameless skinship. Even Luhan, who was the first person she’d met in this town so many years back, rarely gave her such endearing touches.

“Did you finish your English essay?” Yoona grabbed the rest of her papers from her locker and wiggled out of Kai’s grasp.

“Yes ma’am, all thanks to you! I really appreciate you giving me that vocabulary list on Thursday.”

“What happened to yours?”

“Monggu chewed it up. When I got it back, there was so much drool on it that it was basically pulp.”

“How cute,” Yoona sighed dreamily as Kai cringed. Monggu was his mother’s dog, and he swears that she loves that pup more than she’ll ever love her children. He was halfway to believing that Yoona loves Monggu more than him as well. Not that Yoona ever claimed she loved him to begin with. . .

But rather than talking about that high maintenance beast, Kai decided to switch his attention to another subject. “So what’re you doing this Friday?” he advanced.

Yoona puckered her lips for a moment as they made their way to English class, a habit she’d grown into. “I don’t think I have anything planned,” she concluded.

Kai slid an arm over her shoulder, pleasantly surprised. “Well then, seeing as how I happen to be available that night as well, why don’t we take that time and make use of it?”

“And what do you have in mind?” Yoona asked with a smile.

“I don’t know, we’ll figure it out when Friday comes,” Kai replied absentmindedly with a shrug. He was always like that: carefree, spontaneous, even impulsive. “So after school, you up for it?”

She chuckled, always amused by his responses. “Sure, Jongin.”

Kai’s smile reached his ears as he pulled her closer and nuzzled his nose into her hair. “Awesome,” he whispered, though he wasn’t even sure if she’d heard it. It doesn’t matter. It was more for himself anyway.

Luhan’s grip tightened on his backpack strap. His heart throbbed just as hard as he half-listened to the nosy students who also watched the duo make their way down the hallway.

“They’re so cute.”

“Do you think they’re into each other?”

“I’ll give it a two weeks till Kai asks her.”

The bell rang as the couple opened one of the doors in the English hallway and made their way in.

But Luhan didn’t notice.

I would love to hear any feedback in the comments! <3 

Thank you for being so patient! I love you guys so much!

I promise a longer author's note next time!

word count: 1544