Luhan knew the nightmare he had was an indication of how the rest of the day would go badly.

He clearly knew right now was the General English class, but here he was, half-heartedly dribbling the basketball in the court. Luhan hated that class the most, because the lecturer was a plump woman who relentlessly trying to match her daughter with him while openly admired his looks without shame.

Even though he was under the hot summer sun, he could not help but to shiver at the thought of the lecturer’s half lidded eyes with mouth slightly agape as she gaped at him.

Screw finals! I’m not going to her class!

Unlike him, Minwoo and others were definitely in the lecture room, no matter how bad the lecture was, they would not risk their attendance percentage that was pretty much the key to graduate.

Luhan begrudgingly began to play basketball on his own.

He loved playing basketball, even the hot weather would not dampen his spirit to play. Nevertheless, as much as he loved the sports, it was undoubtedly annoying when he was playing on his own, because not only it was uninteresting, he had to keep on picking up the ball.

Luhan shot another three-pointer, but the ball defiantly rolled around the rim before bouncing off and dropped to the floor, just like all his previous efforts for the past hour. He huffed and sat down on the floor in pure agitation.

He was catching his breath as he put his hand behind him, squinting his eyes as he faced towards the cloudless sky. Releasing another breath, he suddenly realised that maybe other than being arrogant, the very reason why Lee Jieun loved to gaze at the sky because it had the ability to calm people down.

Tsk, Lee Jieun.

Luhan dropped his head and glared at the round orange ball that had now become still. Moments later, he whipped out his phone from his pocket and picked a contact number to dial.

The person took some time before picking up and as the person spoke, Luhan unmistakably heard the running water before it stopped.

“Hello?”

The voice was barely a whisper and Luhan found himself excited more than he should.

“I’m at the basketball court near the west gate. Come here fast.”

“I’m not free.”

Luhan did not even mutter a response and the phone ended with its beeping sound. He blinked once, then twice, before realising what happened.

“What the- she dare to hang up the phone on me?”

Without a second thought, Luhan dialled the same number again but the call ended with the lady’s monotonous voice even before the second beeping sound. By the time Luhan had dialled the number for the fourth time, the call directly went to voicemail and Luhan tried his best not to throw his phone across the court and channelled his anger through his bellowing.

Luhan grumpily stood up and went to the bleachers, taking out his bottle of water and chugging it down. Once he thought he had cool down and was about to leave, his phone beeped with an unread message. He saw who the sender was and in a fit of pique, he decided to ignore the message just like how his called was being ignored.

After moments of fidgeting with his fingers, Luhan suddenly realized that his act of whim was pretty much meaningless when no one cared. With a frustrated sigh, his thumb swiped over his phone as he read the message.

“Coming.”

Luhan snorted as he threw his phone into his bag, his legs shaking out of habit and he looked at the basketball which remained at where his last saw. His previous thought of leaving was long forgotten as he stood up and begun dribbling with it.

The tips of Jieun’s hair were still wet by the time she reached the basketball court despite the hot weather. She stopped just by the sideline of the court while her chest rose and dropped, catching her breathe. Her nose scrunched when she caught a whiff of the sweet buttery smell.

Nevertheless, her attention was quickly focused on the tall lad who was now standing at the three-point mark, dribbling the ball before changing into shooting stance.

Jieun had wondered why would he have her phone number, but on a second thought, it was not all that out of ordinary. After all, the pretty boy did make it clear that she was at his disposal the day she was at the Lu’s household.

Luhan jumped and the ball shot through the air with a perfect curve aiming towards the rim, but alas, the ball rolled around the rim before bouncing off.

Unknown to Jieun, Luhan had noticed her the moment she arrived which was why instead of following his order usual practice drill, he skipped all the dribbling drill and headed straight for the three-pointer shooting drill. Yet, the ball seemed to despise him that day because he had yet to score once and failed again right in front of her.

Luhan’s eyes narrowed as he turned towards her while Jieun was looking at him with a raise of her eyebrow.

“What are you standing there for? Pick up the ball!”

Jieun cocked her head, but proceeded to pick up the ball and throw it to him like he asked wordlessly.

Luhan had a smug look when he caught the ball thrown by Jieun and the latter remained her impassive mien.

However, Luhan’s triumph did not last because no matter how many times he tried to get the ball into the hoop, it just would not. As time passed, despite that Jieun was not responsive to anything other than picking up the ball, Luhan was sure that beneath the expressionless mask, she was sneering at him for not even able to score a point!

This whole ordeal was to make her suffer, but why did it seem like he was the one being vexed?

Jieun checked the time and saw that the vicious cycle of Luhan’s egoistic pride to get the ball through the hoop was not coming to a stop any time soon, so she decided to leave before this dragged out any longer. She would be late for part time job, if she did not hurry. The place where she would be handing out flyer was rather far from the university.

“I need to leave.”

Jieun said as she tossed the ball towards Luhan.

“Hell no!”

Perhaps it was because of his impatience or his bruised pride that he had yet to score a three point ball in front of her, he hastily made another attempt for the hoop; this time the ball bounced away from the rim straightaway from being thrown with such force.

Jieun’s lips turned upwards when she saw how Luhan resembled a porcelain teapot that was near its boiling point, his cheeks puffed out in redness as he clenched his teeth in irritation.

“I’m not done playing! So you stay back to pick up the ball!”

“Childish.”

Jieun muttered as she picked up the ball again. This time instead of tossing the ball to him like she had all this while, she stood beside him and gave him a fleeting gaze before changing her stance similar to Luhan’s when he was about to make a shoot.

“Not too much force in your wrist movement, a higher angle as you shoot and there it is.”

As soon as the words left , Jieun lightly jumped and the ball that had been defiant the whole afternoon went into the hoop obediently. Jieun brushed her hands against each other and turned to Luhan, continuing her unfinished sentence.

“See, three-point shooter isn’t that complicated.”

 Luhan’s face had gotten even redder in both embarrassment and anger especially after hearing Jieun’s faint chuckle when she went to pick up the basketball. As she handed him the ball, she shrugged her shoulder and gave him a pointed a look.

Luhan reluctantly grabbed the ball and did what Jieun had told him to change as he shot the ball. Unsurprisingly, the ball swiftly went into the hoop, Luhan’s back stiffened and he stubbornly avoided Jieun’s gaze.

Just then, someone called out Luhan’s name. Still in his begrudging mood, Luhan did not even bother to reply when Minwoo and Junho were waving at him and merely turned towards them.

“So here’s where you’ve gone to instead of the English class! Madam Choi will skin you alive the next time she sees you!”

Junho and his plump friend were too busy rambling on how they gave excuses to Madam Choi which prevented Luhan from being into trouble that they almost missed the petite girl standing behind Luhan until the latter grumbled towards her.

“Don’t just stand there, pick up the ball!”

At first both Junho and Minwoo were astonished to see Lee Jieun in the basketball court, but Junho smiled slyly as he realized what was happening. He nudged his friend who was now squirming in unease, attempting to reassure him.

“Luhan is helping you take revenge.”

Luhan’s humiliation he felt from before was now replaced by the sense of pride after hearing what Junho said to Minwoo while their plump friend’s protests fell on deaf ears.

“Luhan, it’s okay. I don’t- There’s no need-”

“Come on, let’s play a round or two.”

In no time, Minwoo was heaving, sweats rolling down his body as heat rained down on them like the breath of hell. He swore the heat was so intense that as it bounced off the surface of the court he could see the illusion of wavering images and steam rising from the ground. All this while, his eyes fleeted to the bob-haired girl from time to time. In his memory, Jieun’s skin was so pale that it seemed to shine under the light, but right now, it seemed like her pale arms that were exposed under the scorching sun were coated with red angry marks- the evidence of the flame-like sunrays which her arms.

Minwoo grew even more guilty because if it was not of Luhan’s intention of helping him to take revenge on her, Jieun would not be anywhere near the basketball court, suffering under the summer weather.

However, Junho mistook Minwoo’s fleeting gazes at the girl as the latter’s glee for he finally relished on the feeling of taking revenge on the girl who slapped him across the cheek. Therefore, he was more hyped as time passed, for a few times, he purposely passed the ball with such force that his friends naturally dodged the ball and it bounced to the far corners of the court. Whenever he saw the petite frame following the direction of the ball, he would titter with his mocking gasp of air which to Minwoo sounded like a mouse making fun of a sleeping cat; Minwoo knew eventually the cat would wake up and eat them up like mice.

Minwoo gulped at the thought and finally could not hold it any longer as he turned to Luhan.

“Luhan, I think that’s enough, the weather is exceptionally hot today…”

“Why? Aren’t we also suffering under the sun?”

Luhan sneered, but little did his friends know Luhan had noticed that Jieun’s movements were beginning to slow down and he was beginning to feel a little bad for her. However, with Minwoo’s words, his ego flared up again as he thought to himself that it was not anyone else’s business, he was to decide whether to begin or stop his torment on her.

After a beat, only then Luhan realized what he was thinking and almost missed the ball which was tossed by Jieun. Perhaps bothered by his own thoughts, Luhan’s tone became edgy again as he talked to her.

“We’re thirsty, go buy us some drinks.”

Not slightly perturbed by Luhan’s tone, Jieun’s voice remained as cool and aloof as ever.

“Any specific drinks?”

“Three green teas.”

“Cola for me…”

Luhan’s glare at Minwoo caused him to waver at his last word and he sulked in the end because his coke was not going to happen.

After Jieun left the court momentarily to get their drinks, Luhan and his friends moved to the bleachers, his two friends began to bicker as usual while Luhan only muttered a few responses occasionally.

Luhan breezily casted his eyes around the crowd that was nearby, surely a lot of them witness how he had ordered Jieun around. Although most of the students in the campus at the moment were at least two years their junior, they would still recognize Jieun; after all her name was a rather big feat in the university and now that with her current state, no doubt they were amused with how she was being treated.

However, what Luhan missed was that as his basketball session with her became frequent, Jieun was once again put under the spotlight, feeding into the whispers and mockery gazes targeted at her. Precisely saying, Jieun did not offend that many people as how others thought. However, her previous reputation had again became the topic of gossip which spread by word of mouth and eventually those whose ears acted as their sight began to view Jieun as the sole antagonist everyone hated.

You may hit me for the next chapter.