[synopsis] . when two high school students grow a fit with each other to the point that it becomes a daily occurrence. when you find yourself trying to escape, but you cant and to add to this whole monstrosity he’s the captain of the boys soccer team- while she is the captain of the girls. he's also her twin brothers best friend n best friends brother. the result of all of that means she sees him almost everywhere she goes. just before she thinks things couldn’t get any worse, the two soccer teams combine to make one large friend group and somehow brings the two closer.
[genre] . hs au , fanfic , drama , enemies to lovers , brothers best friend + best friends brother , slowburn , angst .
[warning] . intended lowercase , cursing/swearing , dark humor (kms/kys) , mentions of death/etc , cheesy , not proof-read.
[status] . completed !
profiles menu !
CHAPTERS .
001. get him back !
002. lose vs win !
003. the truth !
004. blah blah prom !
005. this odd feeling in my chest !
006. i don't even recognize myself !
007. better person because of you !
008. with you !
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the next afternoon she had turned in her history homework, getting admitted to go to the prom. eunbi, hana, yunjin, and her had planned to get ready at soyeon’s house.
as soon as the girls arrived, they took their turns showering before doing each other's makeup.
after about 3 and a half hours they tossed on their dresses and they were ready for the prom. the theme for prom was ‘fantasy wonders’ and soyeon knew exactly what to wear.
she curled her bangs, tying 2 small braids on either side of her head that met in a curly bun with the rest of her hair, down in curls, and she wore a long flowy white dress that barely reached the floor. (i cannot describe for my life)
it was tulle and from the stomach up, it shaped her very well. the dress was thinly strapped and was tied along her shoulders. on her right shoulder she had a tulle flower shaped ribbon on the strap with white heels.
“hyunjin’s here!” soyeon exclaimed, rushing downstairs. she grabbed her white handbag before sliding on her heels, “i’ll meet you guys there, yeah?”
“have fun!”
“see you there!”
“don’t have too much fun,” hana added, earning a laugh from soyeon.
she opened the door and was met with a well dressed hyunjin. his hair was pushed back and he had a black tux on.
“wow.. you look great,” hyunjin complimented her.
“thank you, hyunjin,” she thanked, “you look amazing.”
hyunjin chuckled, reaching in his pocket to reveal a clear box with a corsage, he took it out of the box before tying it around her wrist.
“this is so pretty! thank you,” she gushed, she was actually pretty nervous.
he guided her to his car before driving to the school. as they approached the entrance he held his hand out.
“shall we?” he asked, she accepted his hand while faking a british accent, “we shall.”
they walked in, the entrance hall was bright and pretty. along the walls, fairy lights fell down and roses and vines along the roof.
“this decoration is so gorgeous,” soyeon gaped as they reached the ticket entrance.
“thank jeongin,” yena shrugged, “he had a pinterest board and everything, have a fun night.”
they laughed, jokingly teasing the idea of jeongin having a pinterest board.
“let him be,” soyeon defended.
hyunjin continued to laugh about it, his eyes crinkling, “that's so not like him.”
as soon as they walked in, they were filled with admiration. it was utterly gorgeous. there were already loads of people dancing on the floor, couples claiming seats near walls and tables within the gym.
“should we take a picture?” he asked, signalling to the bright flashing on the right of them. the line not so long.
“sure,” she smiled brightly, she was so shocked with how well everything turned out. as they waited in line, her eyes couldn’t help but look around- keeping an eye out for jungwon.
she wanted to see him, take a picture with him, maybe even dance with him. with the possibility of that its almost impossible. they both showed up with someone.
“soyeon, we’re up,” hyunjin told her, catching her attention. she nodded as he grabbed her wrist lightly, bringing her in front of the camera.
they posed three times before recieving it. first they posed normally, second they posed with a funny face, and third they attempted to take a cute ‘bestie’ pose.
once they took pictures, they found a table that heeseung had claimed. soyeon sat beside hee and they immediately started to talk.
“so it didn’t work out?” she asked, with a sad smile.
hee nodded before shrugging, “she was way out of my league anyways.”
“no way,” soyeon gasped, “she was stupid for not wanting to be with you. plus, you're so charming.”
“thanks, soyeon.”
she felt someone tap on her shoulder, it was hyunjin, “want some punch?”
“i can get it,” she assured him, “stay here and chat with heeseung.”
he was about to decline the offer but heeseung beat him to it by asking him a question.
soyeon had no clue where the drinks were, but she was determined to find it. she continued to roam around for a while before reaching it. coincidentally, jeongin was one of the helpers.
“innie!” she gasped, waving at him.
“oh my gosh, soyeon?” he questioned, “you look so good.”
“thanks, innie,” she smiled.
“would you like two fruit punches?” he asked.
“um.. yes please.”
soyeon looked around as she waited for jeongin to fill the two cups for her. still no jungwon in sight. maybe they were running late?
she shook off the thought by accepting the two red cups from jeongin, “thanks innie, i’ll see you later!”
“see you, soyeon!” he waved with a big smile.
soyeon was able to return to the table, she placed the two cups beside hyunjin when she spotted her best friends there.
“took you guys long enough,” soyeon scoffed.
“well since we’re here, let’s go dance!” hana screamed, sitting up from her seat. she pushed all the girls out and onto the dance floor.
‘starships’ by nicki minaj started to play. the crowd of people getting more crowded, everyone squishing together. ignoring it all, she continued to dance keeping her eyes on her friends.
rows of songs had played and by the time ‘i’ve got this feeling’ started playing, she walked back to the table with sweat on her forehead.
when she returned, hyunjin and heeseung weren’t there. they're table was empty and her handbag was set neatly on a chair covered by a jacket.
when she picked it up in her arms she could immediately recognize the scent. it was jungwon’s jacket which meant he was here.
she placed the items back on the chair before walking in the busy crowd of dancers. he had to be in the crowd. he had to be dancing.
soyeon left the crowd before noticing the change in beat, it was a slow song and the floor was getting cleared up.
soyeon sighed defeatedly and was going to go back to the table until a hand pulled her back lightly, unexpectedly it was hyunjin.
“it’s a slow song,” he pointed out, “shall we dance?”
she debated on bailing on him but the guilt sunk in quick, “fine but only one song and one song only.”
“okay okay,” he agreed, dragging her onto the dance floor. she placed her arms around his neck, his arms creeping around her waist.
“now what?” she asked with an awkward smile.
“we can just talk normally,” he told her, “about anything.”
she nodded, wanting him to say something first.. looking down at they're feet.
“hyunjin, i..“
“soyeon, theres something i need to tell you,” he says as she looks up at him to see what he’s got to say but he has this look in her eye that makes her feel guilty, “i.. i have a small crush on you.”
she sighs, “hyunjin.”
“okay maybe its not small, maybe i’ve been liking you for a while now but this is really no pressure into dating me like at all,” hyunjin assured her, his grip tightening the slightest on her waist.
“hyunjin, i’m so sorry,” she apologized, he gave her a confused look.
“for what?”
“well we’re going to the prom as friends and.. i didn’t know you were going to go confessing to me today. if i knew—“
“which is exactly why i had to tell you today,” he explained, “i know you like jungwon.”
her eyes widened at his statement, her grip loosening on him, “what?”
“there’s no denying it,” hyunjin spoke a little louder, “so please just once, let me,” she looked at him with furrowed brows before he leaned in quickly, locking their lips.
after a second too long she pulled away, “hyunjin,” she gasped, looking around hoping that jungwon hadn’t seen it.
but she could recognize that haircut anywhere. she immediately started to run for him before hyunjin pulled her back, “i have one more question.”
“what, hyunjin?” she asked, clearly annoyed.
“out of all the people, why him? he’s treated you so bad for years and after one switch up, he’s got you wrapped around his finger?”
“i.. i don’t know, hyunjin,” she sighed softly, “if only i knew.”
with that he let her go. she ran off in the direction jungwon had ran. soyeon sprinted through the hallway entrance sprinting past familiar faces before being met with the cold air. she spotted him walking into the parking lot.
“jungwon!” she called out, ignoring her he continued to walk, “jungwon, please stop,” she said, it was almost inaudible, “jungwon, i like you."
he came to a halt, trying to process her words. she walked up to him, grabbing his forearm to turn him around to face her. her eyes scanned his face for anything, any sign of hurting.
“i didn’t kiss him back—“
“but you didn’t push him away,” was all he needed to say for her to know that he was angry.
“i did,” she whispered lowly, “you left too early to even see me push him.”
“i already left so what’s the big deal, you could go back.”
“why are you so mad?” she asked, annoyance laced in her voice.
“because someone just kissed you!” he almost yelled catching her off guard. he broke eye contact with her, trying to find the words.
“this is going to sound really cliche but if i was brave enough to ask you out quick enough, that would’ve been you and i on that dance floor. it would’ve been me driving you here, it would’ve been me you took pictures with, and it would’ve been us.”
“it still can be,” soyeon whispered, “jungwon, can i be your date to prom?"
his eyes met hers, his hand making its way to her cheek before leaning in to kiss her.
they broke the kiss, forehead to forehead, “i made a sign and everything,” jungwon confessed, “i had planned to ask you right after the trip to seoul but hyunjin beat me to it.”
“what about sumi?” she asked.
“i told her i’d think about it and at the time only jay knew the plan but it fell through when i heard hyunjin asked you so i told her we could go but just as friends.”
soyeon smiled but couldn’t help but feel relieved. she pulled away to look at him, “so is that a yes?”
he laughed, caressing her cheek again before going in for a second kiss.
˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
they walked back inside the ‘fantasy wonders’ themed prom, walking hand in hand. soyeon could feel her heart thump heavily, she swore it was loud enough for everyone to hear it.
“is that a photobooth?” soyeon asked, pointing to the corner of the gym.
“let’s go take a picture,” jungwon said while pulling her with him.
there was a prop stand in front of the booth with a sign “feel free to use!” soyeon looked over their options before grabbing a blue cookie monster ‘beanie’. jungwon smiled widely at her revealing his dimple.
“cute,” he mumbled, quickly picking up a very similar one except it was elmo. they both tossed them on before jungwon opened the curtain so she can go in first before closing it behind him.
she sat down on the seat, jungwon sitting beside her as she clicked the buttons to change the settings.
“okay okay,” soyeon started, “what poses?”
jungwon paused, “we’ll just improvise,” he shrugged with a guilty smile that she couldn’t get tired of.
“whatever you say.”
jungwon reached in his back pocket before pulling out his wallet, sliding in a couple of dollars.
“there will be four poses!” spoke the machine, their faces popping up on the screen, “you will have 5 seconds to pose for each one. ready? five, four, three..”
the pair looked at one another, jungwon grabbing the hands of the beanie to squeeze it together. soyeon copying him before turning to the camera.
click!
soyeon smiled nervously before making a funny face— looking at her nose with fish lips, pulling the hands of the beanie away. jungwon posed with a peace sign.
click!
moments after finishing them, they picked up the photos. it dropped two so they clearly decided to keep one each. they took a couple more photos together before walking back to the table.
“i really like this one,” soyeon complimented, pointing to the photobooth films with the hats on.
“i like this one,” he showed her, quickly pulling it away as she tried to take it.
she glared at him jokingly, “burn it.”
“you look cute, what do you mean?” he laughed.
she could feel a smile tug at her lips.
“i’m surprised they had those types of hats at a fantasy themed prom.”
soyeon nodded, “i know, so much for working on my hair for about 2 and a half hours.”
“hey yeonie,” he halted once they reached their table. as expected their friends were no where to be found, “do you want to dance?”
she paused, listening to the music and turning to the dance floor.
they were starting a slow dance. she groaned with a smile, burying her face in her hands.
“of course,” she mumbled, putting her photos in her purse. jungwon stuffed the photos in his jacket pocket, placing it on top of her purse before interlocking their hands and bringing her to the dance floor.
when they made it to an empty spot on the floor, he faced her. his hands finding his way to her waist, naturally she placed her arms around his neck.
she looked around, seeing people staring becoming self conscious.
“hey,” jungwon spoke calmly catching her attention, “are you okay?”
“how are you so calm,” she scoffed yet her smile remained.
he laughed lightly, “trust me, i’m freaking out inside,” he assured her, reaching for her hand, placing it on his chest.
his hand over hers as she felt his heart racing. the more they swayed she felt more comfortable. she put her arms back around his neck, trying to contain her smile. she couldn't stand the close proximity.
for some reason, jungwon couldn’t keep his eyes off of her, but for soyeon she couldn’t even look him in the eye longer than two seconds before becoming a blushing mess.
“i’m really glad you chased after me,” he started.
she looked up at him with soft eyes, “i’m glad i did too.”
he looked at her intensively with genuine interest.
“stop looking at me like that,” she mumbled, glancing to the floor.
jungwon laughed again for the millionth time that night, “like what?”
his dimple deepened as he smiled. his question was genuine plus he didn’t know she could ever get flustered so easily with eye contact, he found it adorable.
“i don’t know,” she smiled awkwardly, pulling him closer to her so she could place her head on his chest.
soyeon could feel and hear his heartbeat next her ear, reminding her that he was there.
“jungwon,” she began, he hummed in response and it ticked as she felt his chest vibrate against her cheek, “i like you.”
“i know,” he smiled, placing his head on top of hers. his arms hugging around her torso, keeping her close.
“no, i mean.. i like you.. a lot. everytime i’m with you, i get this feeling in my stomach. it’s indescribable yet i feel so at ease, sometimes it makes me nervous; especially like right now because i’m scared i’ll fuck everything up,”
she continued, “but i really really want us to work out.”
jungwon kissed her forehead pulling away to look at her, “so do i. i liked you before we even started talking, as in when I teased you,” he tried to explain, she laughed at his confused face, “when sunoo and I hung out, you also had to hang out with us. i cherish all those memories every second of every day.”
“oh yeah,” she smiled at the memories, “i still think that’s embarrassing that i had to stick by you and sunoo just because i didn't have friend's of my own.”
“i remember this one specific moment during the summer before our freshman year when you fell off of the swing and your leg was bleeding,” soyeon's smile slowly faded, focusing on his expressions, “and i had to carry you all the way back home while running. i genuinely thought you were gonna die.”
“i still have the gash,” she shrugged, “spoiler alert, i didn’t die,” soyeon smiled widely revealing her teeth, the outer corner of her eyes crinkling.
he didn’t respond back, looking at her with so much intention. as much as she felt like looking away, she couldn’t. she just stared back at him.
it was until he started leaning in, stopping right before their lips touched, “can i kiss you?”
his voice was shaky. he was just as nervous as her and could feel his pulse in his neck. she nodded slowly, closing the gap between them.
it didn’t feel long but when she pulled away, he was the one flustered. he hid his face in the nape of her neck, holding loosely on her waist. she could feel him smiling.
“yeonie,” he inhaled, her scent made him giddy but he attempted to hide it, “will you go on a date with me?”
the next morning was the usual except sunoo had made 3 toasts of bread and when they left the house, there wasn’t a sunset- it was a cloudy sky. in a way it felt different. everything felt wrong.
it felt wrong with jungwon approaching them without being a nuisance, but at the same time it felt right?
when the four of them had arrived to they’re grandma’s house, she hadn’t responded to sunoo’s call. shrugging it off, soyeon took off her shoes before walking into the familiar abode.
but that was when everything felt wrong. how cold the atmosphere already felt, how she should’ve expected it but no one should ever. i mean of course they knew the moment would come, but today? today of all days?
soyeon screamed when she saw her, her words jammed in her throat- soyeon had so much to tell her, so much to update her on. so many things she had to ask her; for her opinion, for her advice because thats how it’s always been.
that afternoon, soyeon and sunoo didn’t go to school. in fact they hadn’t shown up for the rest of the week. as for sunoo, he returned for the second week, not wanting to fall that much behind.
but soyeon hadn’t shown up for the second week either, stuck in bed. the weather hadn’t gotten any better, even more of a reason to stay home. for some reason ever since the incident, everything felt tense and gloomy.
all soyeon could think about now was how her mom had asked her to speak at the viewing in front of everyone; relatives, friends, family friends, strangers..
of course she couldn’t deny it, so she did it for her grandma.
it had been about 3 weeks since their grandma died. it was a wednesday afternoon when the viewing took place. everyone showed up, many people from school- soyeon and sunoo’s friends.
the friends sunoo invited due to soyeons absence. soyeon decided to be strong although she hadn’t been. she promised that after the viewing, she’ll return to school just her for grandma.
after her mother, soyeon walked up to the podium that was placed beside the coffin. frozen, her hand shook intensely before putting it behind her back, squeezing it with her other hand.
“i’d like to thank everyone for coming today, and i am.. my.. um.. my name is kim soyeon and kim haejoon is my grandmother. i’m standing here today to share some memories and my highlights in remembrance of her,” her voice was shaky and clearly worn out, this was her first time in a while talking aloud.
“um one of my favorite memories has to be when she would goes to sunoo and i’s performances during middle school and would cheer very loudly in the crowd. it made it really easy to spot her and if you guys don't know my grandma, she’s definitely that odd one in the crowd,” soyeon joked earning laughs from the audience, her eyes locked with her moms.
“my grandma was someone i envied and someone that i’ll always look up to no matter the circumstances and for one this has changed a lot for me. that morning when i found her, my heart fell to the floor- actually thats not even close, my heart is literally breaking and it aches at the thought of her not being here,” her eyes began to blur, she looked down not bothering to wipe her tears, “there are so much i have to tell her and so many things i need her advice on. i never thought about how it’d be without her here… and to be honest, i didn’t want to even think about it because it terrified me. but it lightens me to know that she was never scared of dying.”
“she was the type of grandmother that would sugar coat you over whatever your parents decided, she would cook anything you’d like and whenever you’d want it. if you couldn’t finish your food, she’d finish it for you because she believed that wasting food is stupid and believed that everyone goes to heaven. she’d buy me honorable gifts even if i didn’t really deserve it because she believes that just because i tried, i deserve the world. she’d always thought that. she’s the type of person that’d repeat goodbye until you hung up because she’d never want to cut you off too short. overall she-“ for some reason, her words got stuck in her throat again.
she closed her mouth before feeling herself break down. it was finally hitting, she was never going to see her grandmother again after today.
soyeon glanced at the coffin with blurry eyes before crying horribly, “i miss her so much,” her voice cracked, “i just want to scream it, let the world know how much i love her. i want to hug her one more time, just one more time and to tell her how grateful i am for her.”
“thank.. thank you,” she bowed before walking off the podium while grabbing her paper, taking herself outside of the venue.
she stared blankly at the piece of paper in her hand, purely full of anger, sadness, anxiety, she couldn’t tell. she ripped it in half then in fourths then in eights. she hadn’t read it at all, and before she knew it she’d said everything in the moment.
her breath started to feel heavy and everything hurt, as much as she tried her hands couldn’t stop shaking.
she leaned her back against the wall before falling down on the floor, covering her face with hands. her lip trembled unknowingly, crying in silence so no one could know she was hurting.
soyeon let her head relax on the wall as she tried to collect herself, closing her eyes; all she could see was her grandma.
“yeonie?”
she opened her eyes to see jungwon approaching her, “jungwon,” she trembled, her voice was small and shaky.
he was wearing a black formal suit, even now she couldn’t help but admire him. she missed him so much, her face growing redder.
she stood up with teary eyes that stained her face. he looked at her with sad eyes, “i’m proud of you.”
and that was all he needed to say for her to run over to hug him around his torso, his arms naturally wrapped around her neck. her head fitting perfectly between his right shoulder and neck.
“it hurts so much,” she cried,“how do i make it stop? i miss.. i miss her so much.”
in this moment she felt frail and fragile like a child and all he could do was hold her. so he did. he held her tightly hoping she wouldn’t slip away if he let go.
“shh its okay,” jungwon comforted her, rubbing her back, “let it all out, I’m here,” he assured her, “i am not going anywhere.”
soyeon wrapped her arms around him a little tighter, hiding her face in his neck. they stayed like that for a while longer, just embracing one another. she eventually stopped crying and he was about to let go but she pulled him close again.
“please stay. just a little longer,” her voice seemed worn and it came out more like a whisper but he heard her perfectly fine.
“i’m right here, don’t worry,” he reminded her. she hugged him tighter, not wanting to let go, “yeonie?”
she hummed in response, wanting him to continue, “i um, i’ve missed you. i’ve been so worried.”
soyeon kept quiet before talking normally but once again it came out more like a whisper, “i miss you too.”
he shut his eyes at her response, “are you tired?” he asked.
“i feel like falling asleep in your arms,” she laughed, jungwon could feel her laugh vibrate against his chest that reminded him that this was real. that she felt safe in his arms.
her laugh put a strange feeling in his stomach, something that is always present when she’s there.
“let’s go back, yeah?” he told her, slowly pulling away to look at her. tears stained her face but she still looked so effortlessly pretty. he wiped the fresh ones off her cheeks before saying, “you look great.”
she decided to believe him, following him back to the viewing and when she returned everyone was already lining up to greet her grandmother goodbye at the coffin. soyeon tensed up, freezing in her spot.
“if you’re not ready, we don’t have to.”
she could see sunoo in the line, looking just as broken as herself, “i can do it, thank you, jungwon. i’ll find you afterwards.”
he nodded as he watched her walk toward sunoo.
“hey sun,” she greeted him.
“yeon,” he gasped, wrapping his arms around her, “i..“
“i know already,” she smiled sadly, “we’re twins, i know exactly how you feel and it’s like a second heart in my chest so everything hits twice as hard.”
he nodded before facing forward in the line. they were next up, she interlocked they’re hands.
hesitantly they walked up together since soyeon had already cried it out, she was able to feel a little more sober than sunoo but on sunoos part he started to cry seeing her laying in the coffin.
she knew he wasn’t ready either, that morning when she volunteered to go inside the house it was because he knew and didn’t want to know if it was true.
that afternoon they’re grandma's house was being put up for sale and they had the right to keep anything within the house. soyeon kept a brown jewelry box including some of her jackets, she took her grandmothers bedside table lamp too, but overall she didn’t need anything. sunoo had taken some backpacks and her tapestry. the rest were put into storage and several for sale.
the next morning, soyeon arrived at school alongside sunoo. they took a public bus to school and sunoo walked her to class before walking himself. soyeon kept quiet and to herself, she didn’t feel like conversing with her friends but when they’d talk she’d listen.
“kim soyeon,” our teacher called out, soyeons ears perked up, “coach trix wants you to go to her office.”
soyeon knew exactly why she needed to go there, and it wasn’t good. when she walked into her office, coach trix greeted her.
“i heard about what had happened,” coach trix sighed, “i’m sorry for your loss. i know it’s hard on both you and sunoo, but you haven’t been practicing for about three weeks. have you?” soyeon shook her head, coach looked at her disappointedly, “i’m sorry but as coach, and for what’s best for the team, i have to demote you from being captain of the soccer team. if you can show me that you're ready to play competitively, i’ll be waiting for you.”
there it was, not to mention prom next weekend. everything was just falling apart in her hands. she was able to keep up with her academic works aside from history; they had a bunch of in person assignments that she couldn’t cover at home.
by the time she left coach trix’s office, it was already lunch time. she showed up at the cafeteria before searching for her friend group. when she saw them, both groups were there- jungwon’s and her own.
a lot has changed in 3 weeks and she has to somehow figure out a way to adapt to them.
soyeon sat beside eunbi before resting her head on her arms.
“hey girl,” eunbi poked, “after practice, do you want to maybe hang out at my house? we don’t even have to do anything special, we could just chill.”
soyeon could only have that sad expression on her face as she shook her head lightly, shutting her eyes to rest.
“i’m not going to practice today,” she mumbled, not wanting everyone to hear.
if she were to show up at practice, everyone would know. she didn’t want to be there to see everyones reactions. in fact, she didn’t even feel like being apart of the soccer team. i don’t feel like myself.
“what why?” she asked with worried eyes, her hand landing on her upper back, “you can always talk to me.”
“yeah i know,” soyeon nodded, keeping her eyes shut, she could feel heavy eyes on her. too many for her liking. she just wanted to cry and jump into a hole, “i.. i just have a lot of.. um.. history work to catch up on,” she said, hiding her face in her arms.
eunbi nodded slowly, sensing that soyeon didn’t feel like talking about it so she rejoined the conversation with hana and heeseung.
as if in a blink of an eye, the bus ride was over and eunbi and jake were shaking jungwon and soyeon awake.
“wake up sleepy heads,” eunbi raised an eyebrow.
soyeon groaned before realizing she was holding onto jungwons arm. she immediately let go, picking up her backpack and excused herself past jungwon, grabbing eunbi in the process.
“we’ll see you guys tomorrow,” soyeon waved, not looking back while dragging eunbi with her. she paused before walking off the bus, smelling the scent of wet rain although it had stopped raining by now.
˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
“okay wait..” eunbi started to laugh as they left the campus, “can we talk about what just happened? you were literally hugging jungwon.”
“i don’t want to talk about it,” soyeon sighed, pulling her sleeves over her hands.
“didn’t you hate him?”
“well we made up, okay?” she told her best friend.
eunbi scoffed, “clearly, something has to be going on.”
“nothings going on, we’re just friends,” soyeon stated as casual as she could even though she was still freaking out about how close they were just a minute ago.
eunbi was absolutely right though. not even a week ago had she been teasing back and forth with him in her living room.
“just because you guys are friends doesnt mean neither of you have feelings for each other,” eunbi pointed out.
“yeah like you and jake,” soyeon scoffed, arms crossing over her chest due to the cold.
eunbi gasped turning to her best friend, “what are you trying to say?”
“I don’t know maybe that you guys are clearly into each other. as if you and jake weren’t all lovey dovey in the bus too!”
“oh please, jake and i? lovey dovey? as if. we’re just friends,” she emphasized.
eunbi stayed quiet before stopping in her tracks, soyeon pausing after her.
“sunoo!” eunbi panicked.
“oh my god, my brother!”
the two sprinted back to campus not realizing how far they had walked already. soyeon slowed down as she saw six people walk off campus together- one of them being sunoo.
“he’s right there,” soyeon reached for eunbi’s arm to slow her down before pointing to the figures ahead of them.
they slowly approached them.
“guess who forgot me?” sunoo rolled his eyes playfully.
“i didn’t mean to, i mean it’s really cold and i’m tired,” soyeon attempted to reason.
“okay okay,” he brushed it off, “eunbi are you walking home with us?”
“yeah, we planned that since my house is too far that i could just stay at your house and borrow soyeons clothes.”
“oh okay,” sunoo nodded.
she searched for jungwon, he was not with the group.
“hey sunoo, where’s jungwon?”
“oh hana had her car at the parking lot so they drove home,” sunoo informed me, i nodded.
soyeon lined up beside eunbi as we all moved as a group. we were with jake, sunoo, heeseung, and behind us were familiar faces, it was hyunjin, jeongin, and seungmin.
“oh hey hyunjin,” she waved, slowing down to walk beside him.
“oh hey,” he smiled widely, “you remember jeongin and seungmin, right?”
“yeah,” she nodded, “jeongin you’re on the soccer team, right?”
“yup, but i don’t know i might quit and do photography.”
soyeon nodded understandably, “seungmin, you’re an art major too, no?”
“yeah, we worked together for the fruit project,” he laughed at the memory.
“oh yeah!” she laughed along.
jeongin and seungmin had eventually started a conversation together leaving hyunjin and i to talk to one another.
“you guys heading to the bus stop?” she asked.
“yeah,” he nodded, “are you guys?”
“no, our house isn’t a far walk. or well it’s far, but it’s really nothing.”
hyunjin nodded, looking at her as she spoke.
“i’m still surprised you said yes to going to the homecoming with me,” he whispered with a small relieved smile.
“you don’t need to whisper it,” she laughed, “but.. i don’t know, i ought to try it someday so..”
“you’re right, you’re right.”
it wasn’t long before they’d reached the bus stop, she waited a little back to greet them bye on the bus. as it drove away, she could see the group way ahead of her and she immediately caught up.
once she got home, she gave eunbi a sleepwear outfit. soyeon showered first and as eunbi finished up her shower, soyeon had been laying flatly on her bed with a lot on her mind.
she just couldn’t believe herself. if she thought about it, it had to be true. she lifted herself to sit up, facing her desk. she could see the dark blue sweater hung on her chair before looking at her clothing rack to see jungwons jacket being hung.
she couldn’t have. she couldn’t believe anything. it was as if she wasn’t herself. no matter how many times she tried to deny it, she knew it was true. she liked jungwon.
if she deeply thought about it, she realized that when jungwon had teased her these years she was always fed up but in a way it made her feel noticed. weird, right?
there was no possible way he could’ve liked her back. of course she wasn’t going to confess, she would never. no matter how confident she was, never in a billion years would she see herself confessing her love.
but in another universe had she wished everything had been different. that he hadn’t been stubborn this whole time, if he wasn’t then they’d probably be best friends like how he is with sunoo, but they arent. they arent best friends.
soyeon shrugged it off before crawling into bed, eunbi soon entering the room, turning off the lights and laying beside her.
nari looked up from her toes to the ceiling, “we all should eat out together as a group since we won,” she thought aloud.
soyeon looked over at eunbi for a reaction.
“sure,” she replied, “if you guys want to.”
“hey hana, ryujin, yunjin!” nari called out, the three heads turning around to them.
“do you guys wanna eat out together as a celebration?” soyeon spoke.
“yeah sure!”
“i’m down.”
“okay, first whose paying?” yunjin questioned with a goofy smile.
˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
as the girls started to walk off campus, coincidentally the boys were just leaving too.
“hey eunbi!” a familiar voice yelled causing their heads to turn.
“oh hey jake.”
“where are you guys headed?” behind him, soyeon could see his group bundled up together in their own world walking over to them.
“we’re going to go eat out as a celebration,” eunbi told him.
“ohh i see..” he mumbled, still awkwardly standing there. the heat almost swallowing them whole.
“is that all you needed?” ryujin asked impatiently as she fanned her face with her hand due to the sweat rebuilding on her body, “it’s getting hot so we better get going.”
“she’s right,” soyeon commented, “why were you asking?”
“oh uh, we were wondering if we could join,” jake explained, scratching the nape of his neck, “why have one small friend group when you can have a one big one,” he laughed off.
“uhh..” soyeon blankly stared, clearly judging.
“sure,” yunjin told him, “but we’re not paying for you guys. no money equals no invite.”
soyeon’s head turned as fast as lightning to her best friend about to curse her out but eunbi grasped at her shoulder before anything could happen.
“catch up, yeah?” eunbi forced a smile, turning the group of girls out of the school.
“why’d you invite them?” soyeon whined, she was mostly sad over annoyed.
she was sad that she wasn’t able to eat in peace especially since her friend group was one of the only ways he could stay away.
“it’s just one time. plus, it’s getting hot and why argue when we could just be eating,” yunjin shrugged, her face glistening as she patted it down with the rag wrapped on her neck, “and even though they’ll be at the same place, it doesn’t mean we’ll have to interact with them or anything.”
for once, soyeon had actually believed her but once they arrived at the bus stop for public transportation the boys had chosen their spots selectively.
“hey kim,” he let out a sigh, standing beside her.
both of them turned to the street as they waited at the crowded bus stop.
“why come if you're going to be moping?” she asked, already tired of his voice.
“as if your not,” jungwon retorted glaring an eye at her.
“i am not moping,” she told him, “i am simply hungry and it’s still blazing hot out even though it’s almost 7.”
“yeah, i’m sure girls like you are always hungry.”
she scoffed at his response, “okay.. didn’t know you were a body shamer. i wonder what would happen with your line of bitches once they find out that this is how you felt,” she fake pouted.
“i’m only like this with you,” he pointed out as if it wasn’t already obvious.
“and why’s that?”
“because-“
“you’re so tease able,” she mocked, his voice echoing in her head.
he hatefully smiled at her while saying, “do you remember everything i say? are you in love with me that much?”
“ha ha, very funny. no, there’s just no need to repeat yourself, i heard you the first time.”
“then why ask?”
“why come to this dinner if you’re just gonna bother me the whole time?” she said, raising her voice at him. suddenly she wasn’t in the mood to eat dinner anymore, “god, i’m going home.”
soyeon scoffed, walking to go say bye to sunoo and her friends just as the bus was in view, her hand clutching onto her side bag.
“hey sunoo, i’m going home. i’m not feeling too well,” she said as if her lame excuse would even work, sunoos mouth dropped open a little in thought.
“i’ll go with..“
“no no no, stay here, go eat out with them,” soyeon insisted, “i’ll be fine at home. bye girls, i’ll message you guys later.”
soyeon started to walk away from the bus stop. she could hear the engine rumbling and the bus doors peeling opening. she bagan to pull her phone out of her back pocket when a hand clutched onto her wrist before dragging her alongside him and onto the bus.
beep.. beep.
“for two, please,” he said before pulling her to an empty seat for two, gesturing for her to sit at the window seat.
he turned around to face her as she gave him a ‘are you serious?’ look.
“don’t make me regret this,” she mumbled, taking the window seat. he sat down beside her, they’re shoulders pressing against one another. she could feel her face heat up, she’d never been close to a boy before, but she immediately shook the thought off since it was jungwon.
˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
the bus ride was short and quiet. they hopped off and started to walk in a line of some sort as they headed up a somewhat steep street to another bus station. there were groups of twos and threes chatting and near the back was jungwon and soyeon.
they hadn’t spoken since the bus, the walk was silent and the weird part was that it wasn’t uncomfortable.
most of the time she wasn’t bothered by jungwon’s company, she only minded him when he’d blabber with no objective. it’s not like he’d ask questions to expect an answer, but interrupt me before she could respond, he’d expect a reaction of some sort every single time. as if a sign of acknowledgement to remind him that he still existed. at least thats what soyeon thought.
“so why’d you tell sunghoon about hana liking him?” soyeon spoke, making jungwon look over at her as she attempted to start a conversation and she looked back at him hoping that it would work.
he chuckled before looking forward again, “well sunghoon’s my best bud, i wouldn’t have told him if i didn’t think anything was going to happen,” he pointed forward.
soyeon peaked around the groups before seeing hana and sunghoon near the front, laughing together
“i didn’t know you were a matchmaker.”
“oh trust me,” jungwon said looking at her, “i got heeseung with his girlfriend now, jake.. sort of. well not sure about jake but jay, i got him with his 3 year crush.”
she smiled at his achievements, “impressive, i must say, but not one for yourself?” she asked.
he stumped at the thought, looking at the floor ahead of him.
“or are you not into girls?” she joked, he laughed before poking at her shoulder.
“I’m not gay.”
“okay, okay, I was just asking,” soyeon told him while taking large steps.
he thought carefully, “i..” he paused, “i never really thought about being in a relationship. i value friendships much more.”
“clearly cause we’re obviously best friends.”
“well of course we are,” he smiled, “no but even with all the arguing i would consider you a very close friend.”
now that got her attention. how could she be one of jungwon’s close friends? they don’t even know anything about each other, let alone the idea of just now being able to sit in a comfortable silence with one another. he was speaking his truth but she couldn’t seem to believe it one bit.
“from the start, i felt like we were gonna be close friends considering my friendship with sunoo,” jungwon attempted to explain, “it’d make sense if you don’t understand but it’s how i feel.”
she nodded, “i sort of understand. i can’t really say the same but maybe if you didn’t always push my buttons we would be a little closer.”
“yeah but, i’m pretty sure that the only reason we’re friends is because of how much i push your buttons,” he reasoned, and soyeon couldn’t help but agree.
3 years ago, he and her brother were already close friends but it wasn’t until the year after that, that he had started to put some notice into her. she never talked to jungwon but teasing her just became a natural instinct. she began to realize how much of a difference he had on sunoo and her.
if she were thinking realistically, she knew jungwon for almost three years but truly began to know him two years ago. they’d been to each other’s houses, watched movies together, and at times they did get along, but for the most part it was only on rare occasions.
˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
they had been talking and getting to know each other more as they waited at the second bus stop.
“you do push my buttons a lot,” soyeon laughed, the bus starting to halt at a stop.
“how about this,” he said as he reached for her wrist, holding it softly and lightly, “let's stop arguing and actually become friends.”
jungwon stopped to face her, meaning every word that comes out of his mouth, “i mean come on, aren’t you tired of arguing back and forth? do you really want to remember me as your high school frenemy?”
“i thought you hated me,” soyeon asked with a somewhat mad face.
“nope,” once again he led her into the bus, paying for both of them. soyeon didn’t need to say anything as he gestured the two empty seats to her, she chuckled before sitting at the window seat. jungwon sitting beside her.
unexpectedly, the ride was silent between the two. it wasn’t until they got off again did she realize he hadn’t bothered her since the hill. for once he mustve tooken her seriously.
when they had gotten off, they had to walk down a one way street before arriving at the shop.
once again, jungwon and soyeon stuck together, walking down the street in silence. it wasn’t uncomfortable but it was peaceful, and since it was peaceful. this was new, and she was starting to enjoy it.
“why are you so quiet?” she questioned, not bothering to look at him but he glanced at her due to her sudden talking.
he chuckled, “I thought that’s what you wanted.”
she kept quiet at that. she attempted to think about what to ask. it felt as if this was the only moment to ask him these questions.
“whats on your mind?” jungwon asked.
“well..” she hesitated, “you haven’t teased me yet and it feels kind of weird. what about you, what are you thinking about?”
“i’ve been thinking more about why i teased you, and the only thing that comes up was that we never truly talked. i guess i.. i dont know,” he tried to explain.
“so you decided to tease me?” she scoffed, “thats’s a horrible way to get a girls attention.”
he gasped at her accusation, “i did not want your attention,” she peeked over at him, signaling for him to continue, “i… i just wanted to be friends. i mean you easily became friends with jake and heeseung, and you were sunoos sister so i basically saw you every other day but somehow you were closer to the people you barely saw. not to mention you always being at my house because of hana.”
soyeon nodded at his reasons before smiling, “i guess that makes sense.”
jungwon paused in his tracks, soyeon copying, “would it be okay if we restarted?” he nervously asked, clearly hesitant.
“you mean you want to be friends?” she asked with a teasing smile.
he nodded in response. for one, this would be the first time they’d eaten out together even if it was with friends. in the past, the closest he got was when he would stay for dinner at their house or vice versa at his.
but this would definitely be one of the first times she’d be smiling at him. never once when they met had she ever genuinely smiled this brightly due to his presence. in a way it made him happy.
“of course we can be friends,” she told him before adding, “jungwon.”
“soyeon,” he cringed at himself, “ew its weird.”
“hey!” she smacked his arm, “my name is not weird.”
“no no no,” he assured her, “i’m talking about how weird it is to say your first name.”
“oh.”
“yeah, your name is perfectly fine,” jungwon reassured her as he started to walk again, and she followed his movements.
“you can call me.. yeonie.”
“is that your nickname?” he asked, for some reason he hadn’t heard anyone call her that.
“no,” she said plainly, “I just thought of it right now.”
“oh.. yeonie..” he repeated to himself, “yeonie. it works!”
“guys hurry up! they’re seating us,” eunbi called out to the pair, soyeon and jungwon could see their friends enter a small barbecue restaurant.
“come on, youre sitting with us,” jake added before turning around to hold open the door.
soyeon reached for jungwons wrist before pulling him all the way to eunbi and jake. jake held the door open, letting them walk through first as eunbi guided them to their table.
there were only four people at each table, spread out around the room. jake sat beside soyeon and jungwon sat beside eunbi and they immediately started ordering.
“so jake,” soyeon spoke, “what’s your major?” presumably because they’d went to an college preperatory high school, soccer wasn’t a major.
“i’m a physics major,” he told her, “but i also do photography.”
almost everyone at the table besides jungwon had been flabbergasted.
“you must help me with physics, i’m actually really bad at it,” soyeon laughed.
jungwon started to lay the meat on the stove as it started to sizzle and the smell of braised pork began to cook filled their nose.
“of course,” jake smiled, “if you ever need help you can always message me.”
“oh i don’t have your socials.”
his mouth formed an ‘O’ before putting his hand out, surprised she hesitantly unlocked her phone before handing it to him.
“okay okay you guys can stop flirting now,” eunbi spoke up.
“we weren’t,” soyeon sighed, recieving her phone back from jake.
“anyways, whats your guys’ majors?” jake asked them.
“i’m a creative writing major,” eunbi answered while flipping over some meat, “soyeon is an art major.”
“yeah but i’m good at math, especially pre-calc,” soyeon added.
“oh hey,” jake snapped as if he’d gotten a brilliant idea, “jungwon sucks at math, you could help him. especially since he’s basically failing pre calc this semester.”
“way to rat me out,” jungwon sighed, moving the cooked meat to a seperate plate before equally distributing the pieces of bugolgi on everyone’s plates except jake’s.
jake pouted, “oh come on.”
“nope,” he shook his head, “take the plate.”
eunbi and soyeon laughed at their bickering. soyeon started to eat, already in aw with the smell.
“god I’m so hungry,” yunjin groaned as she stared at the meat with mesmerised eyes. yunjin was sitting with heeseung, sunoo, and nari and even though they sat a table away they could still hear her.
“well anyways, i am not failing calculus,” jungwon defended himself as he kept a good eye on the sizzling meat, “i have a C.”
jake scoffed, “that’s basically an F.”
jungwon’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “no it’s not. it’s still passing.”
“not the point,” eunbi butted in.
“i could help you, jungwon,” soyeon told him.
“you really don’t have to.”
“calculus is fun so i wouldn’t mind.”
“you think it’s fun?” jungwon questioned.
“it’s anything but fun,” jake said, letting out a laugh.
“aren’t you in AP stats now?” eunbi asked while jungwon picked up the cooked meat before placing it on people’s plates as jake added more meat on the grill.
soyeon nodded before picking up her meat and stuffing her mouth with rice.
“dang you must be really smart,” jake gasped.
“is it that surprising?” she gave him a unconvinced look.
“no..”
note: long chapter, i did no lie. do you guys prefer long or short chapters. ill make a poll on my page. enjoy, my loves <3
class started an eternity ago, the lunch bell ringing to send us to lunch. as the two girls, hana and soyeon, exited they’re shared classroom, soyeon began to speak her truth, “i’ve thought about it and have decided not to get revenge on your brother.”
soyeon reached into her skirt pocket, taking out her phone. hana watched as her best friend tapped on her phone before showing her a text message, “we could beat him at his own game instead.”
hana’s jaw dropped at the message announcement. she looked up in thought before speaking, “that doesn’t sound so bad.”
“students! after changing, head straight to field one to warm up. both teams should be on the field, boys on one side, girls on the other. this is to build your guard up because i’d like to see both teams trying their hardest out there. BOYS vs GIRLS showdown!” it read.
˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
“i didn’t bring lunch today,” soyeon sighed as she pointed to the cafeteria catering, “see you at the bleachers?”
“yeah, see you,” she waved, going straight out the field doors.
meanwhile soyeon lined up with all the other students, grabbing a tray. it was basically a free grab and she was early, there were bowls of food; soup and rice, with a few other side dishes you can individually grab. she’d grabbed soup and rice, kimchi, and a small egg omelet before adding some fruit slices onto her tray.
when it was her turn to pay, she pulled out her phone. she tapped the back of her phone on the scan machine. as expecting a beep, she came to the realization that nothing happened. confused, she walked to the side, leaving her tray on the extended countertop as she searched for her school card in the back of her phone case.
“shit,” she cursed under her breath. it wasn’t in her case nor in her pockets. she normally had it laid flatly between her phone and her clear case although she had changed her phone case out with a new one and left it at home, “actually.. I don’t have my card today.”
“no lunch card, no food, sorry kid,” the lunch lady stated, shaking her head before shooing her off. soyeon awkwardly smiled as she started to walk away. until suddenly a hand pulled at her wrist and back to the register.
“i’ll pay for it,” the voice insisted, “for two, please.”
soyeon looked up surprised to see a familiar guy and she couldn’t seem to see why she recognized him.
“oh thank you,” she thanked, grabbing her tray back.
“no problem,” he shrugged.
they continued to walk side by side, heading to the field door’s at the corner of the lunch room until he turned to see her somewhat following him with a confused face.
“huh.. oh.. oh I’m sitting outside,” she defended herself, her grip tightening on her food tray, “I’m not following you or anything.”
he laughed at her shaken reaction, his shoulders moving up and down by the slightest, “don’t worry,” he said as he pushed the door open for her.
she let out a breathy chuckle debating on starting a conversation but as soon as she opened her mouth, he started speaking.
“you’re kim soyeon, right?”
“oh yeah, aren’t you on the boys soccer team?” she asked him.
he nodded, clearly a little shocked that she knew he was even on the team, “yeah, my names hwang hyunjin. if you didn’t know already.”
“i knew the hwang part because of the jersey but.. hyunjin,” soyeon repeated, trying to get it in her head enough to remember.
“youre actually really good,” she complimented him, “i’ve attended some of your guy’s games and you play offense if i remember clearly.”
“yup,” he smiled widely, “i never knew you attended our games, you should say hi next time.”
“i normally just went for sunoo.”
“ohh isn’t he your brother,” he remembered.
she nodded as they approached her friend group sitting at the bleachers in their normal spot, the boys being nowhere to be found.
“well, this is my stop,” she turned to face him, “thanks for buying my lunch. if your buying lunch tomorrow, i’ll pay for it.”
“no no no, its okay dont worry about it,” hyunjin assured her with a gentle smile.
she started to walk toward her friends. she curiously, she faced back around, seeing the back of his head as he began to walk back to the lunch room, calling out to him, “hey, hwang hyunjin!”
he turned to her mumbling a ‘yes’ under his breathe, “where are the boys sitting?”
“they’re in the cafeteria,” he told her, but she assumed they were sitting out here since hyunjin walked this far out, but she decided not to question him.
“oh okay, see you later at practice!” she waved, steadily holding her tray with her left hand.
“also, you can call me hyunjin,” he reminded her, sending her a toothy smile once again.
she hadn’t ever had a good look at him before. she rarely looked at any other boy besides her brother and his friends, as in friends she meant jungwon.
when hyunjin smiled, his eyes beamed with stars in his eyes. even as they were talking he was soft spoken, and he had the smallest hint of nervousness when he spoke. when she thinks about it plainly,he’s hot.
eventually, hyunjin was out of view and was now inside the cafeteria. she stepped up on the bleachers before sitting on a bench in front of yunjin, placing down her tray.
“since when did you and hyunjin start talking?” yunjin asked, her mouth full of rice and curry.
nari laid down on her back, looking up at soyeon, “hwang hyunjin’s so hot. i heard he’s really popular with girls and he knows how to treat them. better watch your back because there are crazy fangirls in line for him.”
“i’m not into hyunjin,” soyeon stated, eating her lunch.
“so why did he walk you here?” eunbi butted in, she was obviously teasing.
all the girls were suddenly so invested in this new friendship. oddly enough, soyeon expected this from them.
“i didn't have my student card with me so i wasn’t able to pay for my lunch and thankfully, hyunjin was right there to save the day and offered to buy my food.”
“oh i see..”
“what is there to see?” nari asked in behalf of soyeon.
“well he clearly has a bunch of girls in line but you were automatically shoved to the front. he must be into you,” eunbi exclaimed, clapping her hands, “that’s so exciting! plus, nari is clearly not making any improvements with sunoo.”
yunjin gasped with a wide smile about to choke on her food. a surprised expression on her face, the sudden accusation of a soon-to-be upcoming relationship, especially since it was nari and sunoo. yunjin couldn’t help but immediately look at soyeon for her reaction.
“okay first of all, i have nothing going on with sunoo-”
“lies!!” eunbi interrupted and pointed, basically shoving a finger in her face, “i saw him walking you home the other day.”
“i also witnessed it,” hana spoke up, raising her hand, who’d been silent the entire time, “eunbi and i were going to the convenience store in front of my house and sunoo was walking with nari up the street. he totally walked you home.”
“wait.. wait, wait what! sunoo as in my brother! kim sunoo?” soyeon basically yelled in surprise, “you’re into my brother?! i’m not mad but like you never told me this.”
nari groaned, sitting up to turn to all the girls, “i do not like sunoo nor am i dating him. end of story!”
˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
it was now after school and soccer practice is about to begin. it had been 10 minutes since they’d all met up on the field, both teams doing their own separate warm up held by their captains as coach took her time to come out.
coach trix had walked out to the center of the field, bringing both teams to group up. soyeon and jungwon glared at one another, making it clear of how competitive both team captains are
“okay, so if you guys saw the announcement, we’re having a BOYs vs GIRLs showdown,” the crowd of soccer players cheered, excited to play- interested on whose better..
“i have high expectations for both teams. the winners get to choose the losing team’s punishment,” coach trix announced, the crowd of soccer players cheered, already getting ideas in they’re heads, “line up! quickly, quickly, quickly!” she yelled.
both teams going in their line, captains on opposite ends. they greeted each other, both jungwon and soyeon meeting up as the last members of their team.
“goodluck, yang.”
“wish i could say the same,” he said saltily, shaking her hand ever so lightly.
she squinted at him with hate, “sucks to know your not a team player, wonder how you’ll react when you lose.”
he scoffed at her, smiling widely revealing his dimples, “i’m sure you’ll do great,” for a moment, she saw a glimmer in his eye, “when i’m benched.”
she pulled her hand away, leaving his hand lingered there for a moment, “wishing you the best, kim,” he spoke quietly although she was feets away by then.
the whistle echoed across the field signalling that the game had started, one touch.. two touch.. three! at first, jungwon had kicked the ball, passing it back and forth through his offenders, not to mention hyunjin.
YANG 1- KIM 0
once again, jungwon had collected the ball passing it around. she scoffed as he attempted to cross her, she kicked the ball to the left lightly as nari carried it all the way to their defense.
eunbi called for the ball, getting blocked by jeongin. soyeon ran after her until nari wished on her luck, getting around niki and straight into the goal.
“thats my girl!” soyeon screamed, the girls cheering her on.
YANG 1- KIM 1
she turned around to face a defeated jungwon, “oh cheer up, kitty. 1-1, we’re just getting started,” she teased.
eventually soyeons team was up by one, until jake scored a lucky rare shot off the left side causing them to tie.
YANG 9 - KIM 9
soyeon immediately ran to guard hyunjin stealing the ball in the process. she sprinted across the field as hyunjin attempted to kick the ball through her feet.
“oh come on, hyunjin,” she spoke, steadying her breath as she shuffled the ball within her own square. he cracked a smile as he kicked the ball between her feet. the next thing she knew that as she spun to turn around, she’s falling to the ground with hyunjin. both of them tumbling to the floor. she gasped as she met with the fake grass.
“oh my god, are you okay?” he panted, getting up, pulling you up with him.
“eunbi! get the ball!” she called out, looking around for jungwon, “i’m.. i’m okay, hyunjin.”
she brushed off the black rocks that printed into her skin as her eyes met with the boy’s team captain. she immediately began running trying to beat him to the ball.
by the time she reached jungwon, she slid onto her side to kick the ball between his feet and to their right defense hana, causing him to trip over his own feet in the process.
jjake ran up to steal it, but before he could soyeon ran up to kick it as hard as she could launching it past the middle mark.
nari and sunoo racing for the ball. jungwon attempted to run after it before he tumbled over soyeons foot.
she recovered as fast as she could, ignoring jungwons fall to run after the ball. panting and puffing as she sprinted next to the net, joining her teammates.
nari kicked the ball past sunoo towards soyeons direction and before niki could kick it out she hovered over the ball, niki attempting to jump over her as she kicked it with her right then left and into the net.
YANG 9 - KIM 10
“nice shot, soyeon!” nari yelled out, the whole team ran over to soyeon, bundling up together like ants as they’re coach called them all over.
soyeon fanned herself due to the feeling of sweat slipping down her face and could smell how dirty she is.
“nice win, ladies,” she congratulated them, “you guys know your prize, decide on a real good punishment. as for the boys, i want you guys to stay back for a minute. you ladies can go ahead and shower and change.”
they all started to converse as soon as they started walking away. coach trix’s critism in the background, soyeon curiously turned around to glance at jungwon. his bottom lip was bleeding. it was probably when he had fallen over.
she looked to the side of the group, hyunjin, and he was looking right back at her with a thumbs up before listening back to coach trix.
soyeon shook her head and jogged to catch up to nari and them.
note: i hope you guys enjoy this semi long chapter :)
if you haven’t met that one person in your life who's a nuisance, i’m sure you cannot relate one bit but when i tell you just how annoying it is and how frustrated it makes you; you should be relieved that you don’t have to deal with it. some people would call it bullying, but it didn’t feel like that at all. he was just teasing, and it wasn’t his fault that this is a small world we live in. it was his fault when i felt like shit because of all the trouble he’d put me through.
soyeon woke up to get ready for the school day. she was drowsy, tired, and looked horrible. she tried her best to put on light makeup to mask the reality and by then she was wide awake. her brother had already woken up and was toasting bread in the kitchen down the hall from her room.
she considered herself lucky to have such a wonderful supporting household. she had a nice and caring twin brother, their hardworking and loving mother, and their grandmother who lived a couple blocks down. although there were bad times, none of them made her wish for a better life because she knew many more had much worse than her. she was more than grateful.
“you’re awake already,” she called out to sunoo, strutting down the hallway to the kitchen, “are you staying after school for practice?”
“of course,” he nodded.
pop.
the toaster pushed the golden bread up enough for sunoo to snatch them, putting them on top of two napkins. one for soyeon and one for himself. almost in sync, he reached for the butter as she dug for a knife in the utensil drawer, they found themselves buttering their toast together.
“will grandma take us to school today?” she asked, spreading the butter along her slice.
sunoo smiled lightly enough to make her look over at him, “yup.”
once they finished, they neatly cleaned the kitchen up before grabbing their backpacks to leave they’re house.
the pair walked on the sidewalk side by side in a comfortable silence. this was normal for the two, walking down to their grandmothers house after eating enough to keep them til lunch, and they didn’t need to talk or say anything to stay comfortable.
she wasn’t sure if it was because they were twins that that made it easy for her to run to him or if it was because he was labeled her brother that she knew he’d always be there for her. as usual, the sun was just peeking over the houses across from them. they were always awake before sunrise and it was always beautiful every time they saw it.
it was until a heavy hand was placed on her shoulder, bringing her down enough to trip and stumble over her own feet. she slowly regained her balance as she heard that familiar snarky laugh. yang.
“hey, sun,” jungwon smiled proudly, tossing his arm over his best friend.
“hi wonnie,” he greeted him, not affected at all by jungwons behavior, “surprised you were able to wake up this early.”
“who said I just woke up?” he laughed causing sunoo to chuckle.
soyeon didn't bother attempting to squish onto the sidewalk with them, she’d rather get shoved onto her neighbors lawn, having to step on their fake grass. she sighed before shifting to walk behind the duo.
jungwon turned around to see her slouching, looking purely disheveled, “come on, slowpoke,” he called out, pulling on her sleeve so she could fit in between both him and sunoo, “is it just me or do you always get uglier?”
“its just you,” she assured him, not in the mood to play along with his games. he scoffed at her response before mumbling, “no comeback?”
“stop teasing my sister, wonnie.”
“this is a normal occurrance, wouldn’t it be weird if I just stopped picking on her after 2 years worth?” he questioned, mostly to himself, “would be such a waste..”
“maybe if you never picked on me it wouldn’t be a problem,” she remarked whilst faking a smile.
“you’re just so tease-able.”
“and you’re just an ass,” she glared, “gosh, i never realized how twig like you are. i’d like to see if you’d break like one when i snap your arm-”
“okay okay!” sunoo interrupted, taking her spot in the middle of the sidewalk before she could do anything. even so jungwon flinched at her antics, “gosh..” her brother let out a deep sigh as he patted down his uniform, “is there a moment when you guys don’t bicker?”
“not sure..” his best friend muttered, “maybe you can find it in the yearbook under-”
“oh look,” sunoo projected, his voice easily overpowering his own best friends, “we’re at grandma’s house! what a quick walk.”
soyeon and jungwon didn’t miss a chance to glare at one another as sunoo pulled the wooden door to the house, revealing a thinner metal one.
“grandma!” he called out from the metal door. in seconds, they’re grandma was trudging over to them with her cute purse.
“i’m.. i’m here!” she smiled widely, “hi children, how.. oh jungwon!” she gasped, surprised to see him. he immediately bowed to show his respects, “oh come on, you know you don’t have to bow,” she smiled, pulling him up by the arm to stand up straight, “are you riding with us?”
“if that’s okay, yes.”
“of course it is,” she assured him in a cheerful manner (clearly where the twins got it from).
“can i sit shotgun?” soyeon spoke.
and as if testing her luck, she had gotten a shotgun the last time they’d been in the car so she was sat in the back seat with jungwon while sunoo got to be passenger princess.
even in the car jungwon was trying to mess with soyeon, he always found a way to annoy her, by ruffling her hair and asking her useless questions- continuously asking and asking. getting impatient, she smacked his shoulder harshly. she could only wish they arrive at school quicker.
“hey!” he winced.
“gosh, do you always have to say what's on your mind? do you have anything in your head that is considered a secret, or a single thought, i don’t know! or do you always bring noise wherever you go?” soyeon retorted, absolutely beat by the idea of not getting a peaceful ride to school.
“sorry,” he murmured quietly before going silent, and of course soyeon felt bad. quickly after, she mumbled an apology to him, he chuckled at her reaction before turning over to her, “okay so-”
“are you going to keep talking for the rest of the ride to school?” she whined, “sunoo, can we please switch places?”
“no can do,” he shook his head, “i have every class with him, you have to suck it up.”
“as i was saying..”
“jungwon is so cute,” they’re grandma spoke, “don’t get mad at jungwon.”
soyeon sighed heavily before looking out her window, attempting to ignore jungwon’s chatter beside her.
˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
once they got to school, soyeon basically sprinted to class and immediately spotted her best friend before sitting beside her.
“why’re you so out of breath?” she asked, “did you run a marathon here or-”
“where were you this morning?” soyeon exclaimed once she collected herself.
“i had to meet up with nari this morning and she suggested that we meet up at cafe hue,” hana explained, taking a bite out of her protein bar.
“at what? 3 in the morning?!”
“no, at 4,” she corrected, offering a bite of her snack which soyeon politely declined, “what, did my brother tag along with you guys again?”
“of course,” soyeon basically sobbed, “ugh.. i’m going to get back at your brother so hard. he even sweet talked to my grandma. my grandma!”
“you can do whatever you want to get back at him,” hana said. soyeon stared at her with a suspicious eye.
“why are you letting me off the hook for saying that about your brother?” soyeon questioned.
“he’s been a brat this whole week. he ate my food in the fridge, i let him use my car but he didn’t fill it back up with gas-” she gasped, staring at her best friend with wide eyes, “he even told sunghoon that i used to have a massive crush on him!” she whispered.
soyeon froze, blinking at her, “how does he even know that?”
“i told him one time when we were having a sweet brother and sister talk, you know, but oh my god I wished we had the same bond you have with sunoo,” she pouted at the thought, “hear me out, jungwon’s really sweet but i still think he’s very much immature.”
“jungwon sweet? i cannot imagine, no offense.”
“none taken, considering how much pain he caused you these past years. i still haven’t forgiven jungwon for that one incident last semester when-”
“don’t bring it back up,” soyeon stopped her, “it makes me mad.”
hana nodded understandingly, “but why do you guys even hate each other, specifically why does he always tease you? i’ve tried asking Jungwon about it but he’d never be honest with me.”
“uh..” she thought, “i’m not really sure. it kind of just happened when we got placed in the same class last year and.. he’s always had that tone and that smile when he’d talk to me although most of the time it felt like he was judging. i.. i don’t know how to explain it.”
hana immediately shook her head, “no no no, i understand. i’m glad we’re still able to stay friends though.”
“i would never stop hanging out with you because of your brother,” soyeon reminded her, “don’t even think about it.”
once lunch ended, soyeon was one of the first people to leave the table since she didn’t eat anything, she immediately started to walk back to class.
on her way back, she was surprised to see jungwon at the end of the hallway beside sumi. they were both smiling. i guess she was so stuck in her head she didn’t even notice that jungwon wasn’t sitting at their lunch table.
sumi was smiling brightly, she didn’t notice until now that sumi was one of the prettiest and nicest girls in school. in fact, she was never the type of girl to ask anyone out nor accept anyones love. knowing she asked jungwon, she must’ve really liked him.
soyeon could feel her heart tighten. for some reason seeing them happy with one another made her.. sad? why? i should be happy for jungwon. but seeing them together answered her question that she never got to ask him, what’d you say to sumi about prom?
this was definitely something that topped her day. it felt like this was her last straw. she was frozen in her spot until she realized that jungwon was looking right back at her.
she turned almost immediately and ran into the janitor's closet. oh my god, did he see me? she heard the bell ring from the hallway, hoping he’d left already, she decided to head to her classroom now.
she turned around, twisting the knob. soyeon shook the knob as hard as she could before she realized it wasn’t gonna open.
“is anyone out there?” she yelled. the chatter on the other side of the door becoming quieter.
she reached for the light switch on the wall, flicking it up and down but nothing happened. she tried to yell one more time before hoping that the janitor needed a broom or something and that he’d come save her.
“is any..“ but the door opened before she could finish her sentence, she was pulled out of the closet by jungwon.
“you do realize that this janitor's closet is not used, right?” jungwon asked with a teasing smile.
“uh yeah,” she nodded, smiling at him. his eyes widened the slightest at her, “what.. what? is there something on my face?”
he chuckled before smiling wider, “it’s just that it’s the first time i’ve seen you smile in a while.”
her smile faltered before making up an excuse to go to class. that night, soyeon was in her room doing some work for class before sunoo walked in. he was dressed up in an outfit other than house clothes.
“where are you going?” soyeon asked, looking at him through her glasses.
“i’m going to hana’s party.”
“what?”
“not a crazy raid party or anything,” he nodded, “all our friends are showing up. you should go too.”
“i’ll think about it.”
sunoo shut her door as she put her focus back on her history homework. for some reason she couldn’t understand any of it so she reluctantly opened her phone to message jungwon.
they’d exchanged numbers the day they decided to be friends. she clicked yes on the incoming call, propping her phone to stand up against her monitor.
“hey, jungwon,” she beamed, waving as his face filled her screen.
“hey yeonie,” he waved aggressively, his voice was a little raspier than usual, “since when do you wear glasses?” he asked, she could hear the sound of him shuffling around.
“i only wear them when i’m reading,” soyeon explained, pulling her leg up on her seat.
jungwon nodded, propping his phone up somewhere on his table so she could see him. his lights were off and the screen was lighting up his face.
“why’s it so dark in your room?”
“oh i just woke up,” he mumbled quietly, she could see his eyes close shut, “keep talking. you can ask any questions you want and i’ll answer them.”
soyeon watched him carefully, her cheeks flushing, “okay. what was the main motivation behind hangul?”
“to simplify the writing system so it's more accessible for common people,” he muttered loud enough for her to hear him.
“can you repeat that one more time?”
“to simplify… the writing system so… its more accessible-“
“slower!” she spoke, writing as fast as she could.
he laughed. even with his eyes closed he could see how flustered she was, “okay okay, let me know when I can continue.”
he squinted his eyes open, his eyes hurt as they adjusted to the bright light. when it settled, he could see her writing, her face focused.
“okay, you can continue,” she smiled.
jungwon paused, looking up as he thought, “where’d i leave off?”
“the writing system so it’s more..”
“so it’s more accessible for the common people,” he nodded.
“next question,” she started, “what was the significance of the gwangju uprising in korean history?”
“it was a student-led protest against government corruption,” he told her.
“do you remember this by heart?” she laughed.
the sound made him feel giddy in his heart, it felt like she was right beside him when he shut his eyes.
he shrugged with a lazy smile, “maybe.”
it continued for a while as jungwon felt himself dozing off.
“okay, we’re almost done,” she clapped, “what was the gyeongbokgung palace used for during the joseon dynasty?”
when soyeon didn’t hear a response, she looked at her phone. jungwon had fallen asleep.
she picked up her phone, unsure if she should hang up. he had his gray blanket up to his chin, his arms disappearing in the blanket. he looked so peaceful.
she could hear his light snores, unknowingly she smiled. she tested her limits, taking a couple pictures of him. she stretched her arms out before turning off her laptop, putting her school books away shortly after. she didn’t realize until now that she was wearing jungwon’s jacket.
she looked back at her phone, jungwon still sound asleep. she didn’t want to disturb him, muting. soyeon turned her light off before crawling in bed, charging her phone before placing it horizontally against her grandmother's lamp. she laid down, facing her phone looking at jungwon before falling asleep.
it’d been a week since she fell asleep on call with jungwon and they’d been talking a lot. hana occasionally gave sunoo and soyeon a ride to school which meant she could hang out with jungwon twice as much.
turns out jungwon and sumi were going to the prom as friends. sunoo had found a way to ask him about it in the car as nonchalantly as he could.
soyeon didn’t want to seem like a quitter but she never felt like wanting to go back to soccer so she decided to switch the sport to photography so in a way she was able to still be around it. they accepted her almost immediately.
for this whole week, guys had been asking girls out to prom and occasionally girls would ask out guys. many flowers, candies, signs, and worse of all.. newly couples.
she was kind of sad that she wasn’t able to experience that part of going to prom. instead she was just asked a simple question. she wasn’t sure if she even wanted to go with hyunjin just as friends. After all, all she could think about was what if she beat sumi to asking jungwon.
would she and jungwon go as friends?
she was now waiting in her room on her bed for jungwon as he walked to her house. he was going to help her finish her history assignments because if she didn’t turn it in tomorrow then she wouldn't be able to attend the prom tomorrow night.
jungwon of course made time to help her with it. as for soyeon, she wasn’t sure if she was back to her old self yet.
ever since the viewing, everythings been different but it seemed better in her opinion. although she wasn’t as optimistic, she was still herself.
jungwon knocked before walking in, immediately in awe of her bedroom. his eyes exploring everywhere, except the drawers (kid friendly).
“c’mon jungwon,” she smiled sheepishly as he walked around her room, looking at the little picture frames planted around.
“aw you look so cute in here,” he pointed, holding it in his hands smiling- his dimple showing.
“your dimples are cute,” she said bravely, “now come on.”
he laughed, ignoring the pink on his cheeks and sat beside her on the bed. they quickly started to work. jungwon tried to explain everything as best as he could, examining the article.
“that should be right,” jungwon nodded as he overlooked the paper for the millionth time, not finding any mistakes.
“finally,” soyeon exclaimed, flipping onto her back to stare at the ceiling.
“took us long enough,” he commented, collecting all the papers to putting them back in her folder. soon sliding it in her backpack before laying beside her.
soyeon sighed, feeling jungwons head right beside her own. butterflies erupting in her stomach, the presence of him was causing her to burn up.
recently, this feeling in her stomach had been occurring a lot, especially when she was with jungwon. even now she was feeling them again, she wasn’t too worried if she fell hard for him.
she was just worried about how he’ll react. knowing jungwon he definitely wouldn’t end their friendship because of this.. right?
she channeled her breath as she closed her eyes. soon falling asleep, rolling onto her side unconsciously.
jungwon too had a lot on his mind. he remembers that one time eunbi had asked yeonie about hyunjin asking her to the prom, turns out it had been true. they were going to go to the prom together, as a couple.
he shook his head realizing how mad he was getting. no, not mad, jealous. he was jealous that all hyunjin had to do was ask her. he didn’t know they even talked.
he could feel the bed dip closer to him. naturally jungwon turned his head to the side to see yeonie about an inch away from his face. he didn’t move, he just stared.
he began to hold his breath. her eyes were closed, he was sure she was asleep. just to test it, he called out her name, “yeonie?”
as expected, she didn’t react. instead she adjusted her position, using her hand as a pillow.
jungwon took this moment to examine her face. the sun shone through the window and beamed onto her. soyeon’s hair effortlessly falling on her face, he felt mesmerized by her beauty.
he could never tell her this. knowing her state and how much she’s been through this past month. it must be hard. still, he was able to show her that she could depend on him.
slowly and hesitantly, he traveled his hand to her right cheek, moving the strand of hair back into place behind her ear. his palm brushing against her cheek ever so lightly. all he could hear was his heart beat fastening at the touch.
her skin was just as soft as it looked and she had light freckles spread across her cheeks. yeonie’s hair is a dark brown but in the sunlight it looks much lighter, he’d never been so close to her before.
jungwon gulped, retracting his hand before mirroring her. using his hands as a pillow to face her. he let his eyes shut due to tiredness.
