Where Pan Mang River Flows

30: Playing around

"Taekyung!" shouted In Yeop as he deftly passed the basketball to him during PE class.

Taekyung did an aggressive move with his arm. As soon as his arm touched the ball, the object shot into the air, reaching an impressive height. In Yeop knew all too well that this would happen, but he felt the need to pass to his friend because no one else did. Their whole team complained. At the small middle school, the boys and the girls were divided in sports classes. In this group were the boys of all three classes of the year and in the other group were all the girls of the year. "Sorry," Taekyung muttered defeatedly.

"You suck!" yelled Dennis at Taekyung, "Why don't you join the girls? You already have the hair."

"Hey! I've never seen you even hold the ball!" shouted In Yeop. Their team was losing badly. In Yeop was the only one who was really good, then there were a few who were acceptable. The others were doable, but Taekyung was terrible.

"It's because you always pass the ball to Taekyung that we're losing!" cried Dennis.

"Do I have to pass to you from now on!?" shouted In Yeop back.

"Yes!"

"Okay, fine." Nodding, he set himself up. The ball was thrown up. Opposite him was Malu, a tall thin boy with a black complexion and short frizzy hair, he was the best of the other team. Malu jumped high in the air and reached out his hand to grab the ball. But just when his fingertips were about to make contact with it, In Yeop shot past him into the air. He grabbed the ball. His whole team cheered him on, but they cheered too early. In Yeop landed on the ground and turned to face his teammate. He threw the ball to Dennis as hard as he could. The ball hit his head at high speed, and Dennis fell to the ground. There was a whistle. The teacher wanted to give In Yeop a penalty, but when he realised that they were in the same team, he did not know what to do. Dennis got up with difficulty. "Hey!" he yelled angrily. He grabbed the ball and threw it back to In Yeop. In Yeop had not been paying attention for a moment and when he turned around to respond to the 'hey' he was hit full in the stomach.

"Are we good now? You're the best player and I want us to win!" yelled Dennis. In Yeop raised his thumb. "Really didn't need to, bro," laughed Taekyung, he knew how important winning was to In Yeop. He appreciated the support he always offered him. In Yeop was the person who made Taekyung strong. If he hadn't had him, he would have been someone completely different now. He patted In Yeop on the back, waiting for him to straighten up. But he didn't. "Dude..." Then he saw it, In Yeop wasn't laughing anymore, he had a dead serious expression. Taekyung pulled him up and looked at his pale face. He heard a chuckle and looked at the boys behind him, noticing Wonbin grinning at In Yeop.

"He hurt his ankle, we're going to the infirmary for a while," Taekyung said to the teacher, who nodded in agreement when he saw In Yeop. Taekyung dragged him to the boys' toilets, where no one was.

"In Yeop! What have you got?"

"Nothing I euh...I'm just not feeling so well for a while."

"What did they do!?" Taekyung had become angry.

"Nothing I said!"

"Why can't we just be honest with each other!?"

"Honest!? You never tell me anything yourself! You're in a fucking class with Do Hwan and Wonbin! But you've never told me anything!" cried In Yeop furiously, "You know what, there are things all the time. You don't think I forgot about that one day? How am I supposed to feel about that? You had really tried your best to hide it too."

"At least I don't get pale during PE lessons!"

"Forget it. You really are a hypocrite."

"What happened?"