Well, as expected, they won the match and they were glad that their journey did not end here.

They were leaving the stadium when they came face to face with GongJin’s team.

JongHyun was the first the stood in front of them. He smirked. “Yah, number 18.” Jisoo looked up and met eyes with him. “Apologize to Roo”. His respect towards Roo was really no joke. He doesn’t disrespect Roo, neither would he allow other to do so.

“Why do I have to?” He answered back.

The others were all confused, especially Roo. She raised an eyebrow looking at him curiously.

“I believe you said some disrespectful stuff directed at Roo just now. Since you made a bet, my bet would be that if you lose, you apologise to Roo”

Jisoo laughed. “Yah, why should I, I just said she’s a beauty and I want to get to know her. How is that disrespectful?”

Roo grew awkward. While Joohyuk and Sehun snickered. They find JongHyun’s protectiveness funny.

“It’s true that your coach is a beauty, the Key MVP of basketball. Seriously Roo, you found yourself a good player. Anyway, good job. You always had me opened my eyes to a whole new world, on court or off court.” The Gongjin’s coach patted Roo’s shoulder before walking away with his team, who were laughing too.

Jisoo stopped as his team walked away, “Hey. As for your reward, here’s my number, call me anytime to get it.” he passed a paper to Jonghyun, “anything”

“Anything?”

“I’m a man of my word.” He nodded, “anything not too overboard. Goodgame” Jisoo shook Woobin’s hand then followed his teammates back to their bus.

“Y-yah, Hong Jonghyun! What are you even doing!”

“What, I’m trying to help!” he defended.

“Was that even necessary!” She argued with red flashed across her cheeks before she stumbled quickly back to their waiting room.

“Firstly, I want to say good job, and thank you for winning this match. Another round of matches before you enter the top 10 for this league. I know I have been saying this a lot recently, but I am really proud of the 10 of you here. No one knows how tough it has been for all of you here, only you guys will know the hardship behind the victory. I hope everyone will remember this moment, even when you guys are at the top in the future, never forget how you fought through to reach there. In sports, there are three types of people, those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happen. And all of you are the ones who make it happen.” She took a look at each one of them meaningfully, “It has been a great journey so far. We will be moving on to the 8^th finals after a week of rest. It is not going to be easy from now on. All the teams that are able to enter the 8^th finals are not peanut teams, and that includes Team Richmond. No matter who you face in the future, I am going to warn you in advance. Never let your feelings overtake you. Play like a champion, win like a champion, and behave like a champion”

“Roo” ChanYeol called.

“Yes Chanyeol? Any question?” She gave him her attention as well as the others who turned their head to him.

He stood up and went beside Roo. Her gaze followed as he stood beside her. Curious about what he was going to do. He gave her a look before turning to his teammates, and back to her.

“I think it’s time we show some respect to coach during training” he grinned.

*Coach…* Roo was taken aback by that name coming out from Chanyeol’s mouth.

“Yes, some of us have been showing respect towards her, but I am going to start calling her coach during training, and I think it’s the least she deserves. I am hoping all of you could do the same.” He said proudly towards his teammates, waiting for them to approve.

“You don’t have to tell us that because, we were going to do the same even if you didn’t say it” Mino said in a tone that was trying hard to show Chanyeol that he is a busybody.

“Oh come on…” Roo was happy yet feeling awkward with the sudden formality.

“Chanyeol’s right, I think that’s the least we could do to show our appreciation.” Woobin spoke.

Roo cleared , “Thank you? I supposed. But I hope that only applies to training?” she smiled unconsciously. The rest of the people smiled genuinely watching her.

“Of course, we are going to keep this formality to the minimum, we are still friends, right?” Jongsuk added in.

“Oppa”

“Hmm?” Joongki was busy with his report when Roo came around in his room and sat on his bed. He hummed without looking up.

“busy?”

“totally not” he answered sarcastically, not even shifting his eyes away from his reports.

Roo ignored his sarcastic tone completely, she was in a good mood. She lied down on her back, staring at the ceiling above. Hearing nothing, Joongki rolled his chair to face her and was surprised by her bright smiles that he’s been longing to see ever since she came back.

“What’s the good news sister-sister?”

“They called me coach” she spoke softly,

“huh?” he was confused, thinking he heard wrong.

“I said, the Richmond kids called me coach today”

“and?”

“I mean,” she sat up, “they never called me that out of sincerity before. This is the first time.”

“you’re that happy?”

She nodded excitedly, “It felt as if they accepted me as one and” and flipped onto her stomach, looking at her brother, “it felt surreal, months ago, I would’ve never thought of this happening.”

“Roo, this should’ve happened like months ago, but anyhow, I am still happy for you and definitely proud of you.” He crossed his arms and smiled.

“And you know what?” she chuckled giddily, “they addressed me as their friend today”

“Aigoo” Joongki could only smile and ruffle her hair playfully but feeling sad inside. He knew what his sister had went through in Whimoon and he was glad that she defied all their protest and got into Richmond at the moment. Because at the moment, he could finally see his sister’s smile.

Deep inside, Joongki knew how lonely Roo is even though she didn’t mention anything to him before. He knew that she was only a high school kid that needs friend but was too prideful to do anything about it, she was too immerse in this so-called passion of hers as well as studies. Too immerse in it that she had lost most of the youth in it. It hurts Joongki to see her like this. However, if that was what she wants, he was all in to support her. Even without anyone, he will always be there for her.

“Roo!!” she turned to the source of the voice to find Chanyeol running towards her.

“Slow down!” she scolded lightly when he almost crashed onto her if not for his fast reflex, holding on to her shoulder to stable himself.

“sooooorry” he sheepishly smiled.

“What’s the rush about?”

“oh!” he swung his bag to his chest and dug through it. “this” he passed a paper folded in to a rectangle to her. “open it” he urged.

Roo looked at him suspiciously with an eyebrow cocked and carefully opened the said letter.

“Park hospital…” she read the content of the letter. Chanyeol was observing her reaction and was expecting a lighter reaction than the one she’s showing right now. As she continues to read the letter, her face contorted, she clenched her jaw tightly.

“Why are you giving me this?”  He was taken aback by her reaction, it was far from what he had expected.

“W-What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?! oh come-on ChanYeol, you should know better than this” She furrowed her eyebrows and glared softly at him. She knew that he was doing it for her own good, but she wasn’t going to accept this.

“Come on Roo, I’m sure there will be a way. I asked my uncle, and he was more than willing to help you. Just take it as a routine check-up huh? Who knows, maybe he might find a way to help you.”

“ChanYeol,” she paused, took in a deep breath, she spoke so softly and firm, “I am not going to do this. I hate hearing words of disheartenment. I hate to hear that I can’t play anymore. I am going for operation, I am, but not now. Not when we are almost reaching our goal. You knew why I was so antagonistic towards this, and yet you’re trying to convince me in to this? How much did oppa pay you to do this?”

“It’s not that, it’s not whatever’s on your mind. I was just trying to help you. We might find a way. My uncle is an orthopaedic surgeon, he will be able to figure out an alternative. He will-“

“Chanyeol! He is not god for goodness sake. It’s a freaking comminuted fracture. The best thing I could do now, is to take pain relievers so that I could at least, sleep a little better at night and forget that pain for a moment. If it was caused by a normal accident, comminuted fracture would’ve been less complicated but unfortunately for me, it’s not. I know my injury better than you are. So for goodness sake, please stop minding other people’s business and just concentrate on your studies and the upcoming competitions.” She gave him a look before bumping in to his shoulder on purpose while passing by him.

Chanyeol rubbed his face tiredly, he knew he didn’t think through carefully, he knew that Roo wouldn’t give in so easily but yet he still went ahead with it.

Roo walked to the gym and sat down, it was empty as school hasn’t started yet. She sat herself down at the sit-up bench. Reopening the letter by Chanyeol, she immersed herself in her thoughts again. Re-reading the letters again and again for the umpteenth time, but nothing goes into her head. She ruffled her hair with frustration.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought about the past events that had happened to her. She thought about her injuries. She thought about the consequences to her basketball life. She thought about Richmond, and she thought about her family. Everything was starting to eat her up, she thought about ChanWoo whom she had left behind and thought about her brother that she had disappointed. Her breath became ragged, she grabbed on to the piece of paper tight until it crumpled as her hand shook with the force exerted. She clenched her jaw and felt the tightness in her chest. She felt suffocated.

Operation? She thought.

She thought about all the disappointment she would cause for rejecting the operation.

But she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

She couldn’t throw away something that her dad had left her. She couldn’t bring herself to show how weak she was to Whimoon. She couldn’t …no, she didn’t want to let herself down.

But who would understand what she’s feeling right now?

She brought her hands to her face as she let her tears slip and she buried her head in between her knees.

Her body went rigid the next second as she felt a pair of warm hands enveloping her, patting her shoulder slowly. She felt emotional as she let herself cry in the arms of the unknown person.

A moment later when she realised that it wasn’t appropriate to do so, she brought her tear stained face up to check upon the unknown person.

“Are you feeling better now, Roo?” A soft familiar voice asked, as he placed his palm sternly at the side of her head, wiping away her tears with his thumb.

“Y-yugyeom?” She was surprised, that out of everyone, it was Yugyeom that came to comfort her. The two had shown respect to each other but they were not on comfortable terms to be this close to each other.

He wasn’t sure about what his next response should be. He had never done this before, let alone being this close to Roo. He bit his lips in contemplation.

Watching the big doe like eyes glistening with tears staring back at him made him nervous while she couldn’t care less.

Staring back at her, he removed himself from her and sat down beside her instead.

“What…happened?” he hesitated.

*it was ChanYeol, and now Yugyeom? Why am I this weak?*

“It’s nothing serious. I just got caught up with my own emotion. You should go back, class is starting soon”

There were silence for another 5 seconds, both of them not knowing what to say.

“I’m not leaving until you’re really okay”

He shocked Roo with his response. If anyone in the Team that Roo felt had the least connection with, it would be Yugyeom. Yet here he is, accompanying her, comforting her, and making sure that she is fine.

“I am”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yugyeo-“

“Stop”, he stared in to her eyes, “stop hiding everything to yourself Roo. You are going to explode if you kept keeping things to yourself. Remember when you said you’ve met a family and that family is Team sanspeur? Then you should take us as one. I am here, we are all here if you need us.”

Roo had no come back to this, she quietly stared at him, lost of words. This is her, she is someone who doesn’t share things with even with her own brother. She found it difficult to say it out. It takes time.

“I know you need time to trust us but Roo, it’s been like what…4months, isn’t it long enough?” She watched him, it was her first time hearing so many words coming out of his mouth. “I just wish you could share it with us, wish that we can lift off some weights off you. you’ve helped us so much, we just wish we could help you too.”

“Yugyeom-ah” she was almost convinced to tell him all her problems, just a little bit more and she would spill everything.

“Yes Roo?” he watched her, anticipating, “I will sit here until you’re ready alright. Even if at the end of the day you’re not, it’s okay. Just know that you have a company by your side for you to lean on. Don’t push me away. You’re not alone” Her heart warmed. It took her a few seconds to regain back her composure as she stared ahead of her.

“You know” she swallowed as she started, it took her a good 5 minutes of silence before she decided to tell Yugyeom, as promised, he waited patiently. “ Maybe, just maybe god is so unfair. He equipped me with these basketball skills but decided to not let me play basketball anymore. He gave me a sweet basketball journey but decided to take everything away.” She said as her eyes glistened with tears, “ just like my dad, he gave him everything he wished for, but before he knew it, he took him away…” she clenched the paper in her hands tight as she trembled, as memories flooded her mind. Even though there has been too many unhappiness within her team, but she had enjoyed basketball so much.

Yugyeom listened attentively by her side.

“I am scared.” It caught his attention, “I am scared to prove my teammates right. I am scared that I would give them what they always wanted; to watch me fall. I am scared to give up something, the first thing that I have been doing since young. I am afraid to break promises. I am afraid of changes and what’s gonna come after that.” Her lips trembled as she stopped, she continues, her dry lip slightly, “but I am fully aware, that if I were to turn this down” she lifted up the letter in her hand, “I am going to let so many people down. My brother will be so disappointed, my mum too…Chanwoo too…and…chanyeol.” She carefully said the last name out while Yugyeom was surprised with the mention of the last name. “ I am not trying to be stubborn but this is the only thing that I want; to be able to play. I knew that oppa has helped me so much and has put in so much effort to get me in to treatment. ChanYeol even spoke to his uncle. I had to even trouble my mum with my difficulties. I … I don’t know.” She sighed. “I don’t know what to do. I am lost”

“You see, sometimes only letting go can let you move forward. Yes, you would lose something, something important, but you will be able to find yourself. We can’t be afraid of changes, Roo. Letting go isn’t the hardest, but rather learning to start over. We can’t help you if you don’t take the first step. We are here, we are your family, Roo, we will be here to help you start over. We will help you prove your teammates wrong. You are not giving up your passion just because you can’t play, you’ve found something already isn’t it? Coach.” He reminded.

“Coach…” she whispered.

“I’ve always been impressed by you. You always come up with the most creative drills and techniques, your matches never disappoint me, even the match with Jonghyun hyung, even when you’re injured. I couldn’t believe it on the first day, when you came shouting at us, making us sign your contract, making us play your game. Putting Karls Roo Ji Hyun that name aside, you’re just a mere high school girl. I doubted you, I doubt you would stay, but you did. You didn’t disappoint us even a little bit.”

“Even when I locked the gym?” she cut him off, joking a bit.

Yugyeom displayed a tiny smile, “Even when you locked up the gym.” He confidently assured, “we all knew by heart that you were trying to help us. We were too hot headed at that time, we all know that. We just lost it. That’s why we tried so hard to get you back. You were the only person that has given us so much, given so much to the team. I bet you’ve heard this a lot but it’s true. We were so used to people leaving that we aren’t surprise anymore, we were actually more surprised when you decided to stay. What I am trying to say here, is that even when you’re not playing basketball anymore, even when you’re not on court, you manage to even inspire us, leaving an impact in our lives. Was that not enough for you?”

“I came to this school by chance, I would say it’s fate to have met the 10 of you. it would have been different if its not the 10 of you. With results, then comes expectation. In the near future, when all of you graduate? Where will I be then? I hate myself for thinking so far back, for being attached to all of you.” she frowned.

“What’s so bad about being attached to us? I am so glad that you admitted it.” he glanced at her, giving her a knuckle on her forehead, “silly you. We can always move on together you know. Have you never thought of setting up your own club? Spreading your love for basketball to more people? Bringing the 10 of us to a higher leve?”

She gave it a thought. A smile lit up on her face.

“Why haven’t I thought of that?” she looked up at Yugyeom.

He too, gave her a rare smile.

“Pabo”

“hey…” Roo called.

“hmm?”

“It’s noona for you” She teased.

Yugyeom’s ears grew red and warm, he forgets the fact that Roo is older than him.

Yugyeom cleared his throat.“By the way…”Yugyeom’s voice came out like a whisper.

“What is it?”

“I have been wanting to ask you about it.” Roo patiently waited for him. “About you and Mr Park’s agreement.” Roo froze. “I kinda overheard that day when he talked to you at the hallway.”

Roo let out a nervous laugh. “oh, about that? You don’t have to worry about it. it’s nothing”

“Top 10. You think we can do it?” his eyes glistened with sincerity. “Do you think we will be able to achieve it and help you stay in Richmond?”

She gave him a meaningful smile, “of course. I have trust in you guys.”

“Do you really think so? Because I am worried. What if we can’t? do really you have to leave then?”

Roo swallowed. She really haven’t thought of it until now. Was she really going to abide and leave if they didn’t get into top 10? Will they think that she left because they weren’t good enough? “I…honestly don’t know”

He sighed. “I know it was an agreement before you knew us. But Mr Park that conniving old man doesn’t care about all those. I won’t ever blame you, but I hope you can trust us. I will work harder.”

She smiled. “Thank you… but yugyeom, can you keep this to yourself?” He didn’t give her an answer. “please? I don’t want this to add on to their stress. School is already giving them enough stress. Let me worry about this and just let everything stay as it is now.”

He gave it a thought before he answered. “Alright, I will”

“Thank you, Yugyeom”

“Are you feeling better already?” he asked.

“I am,” he gave her a doubting look, “really” she reassured, “thanks to you”

“That’s great.”

So…I still have yet to come into a conclusion for the operation…