Oppa : Kim Seokjin

Chapter Eight: Worrisome

She turned to go get the ball, and I sighed quietly. She was right. I didn't even understand why I felt so annoyed toward her, but I just... did. The phrase "Seonsaengnim" was echoing in my head. "Sorry." I called. "I'll try hit some a bit easier."

The ball heading straight back toward me took me by surprise. I moved on instinct, but my receive was off and it spiralled off to my left. Joohae was grinning fiercely. "I didn't say I wanted you to go easy on me!"

At that, I had to laugh. "All right then." I said as I retrieved the ball, "Better be prepared, then... I wanna work on my spin serves."

Both of us were well and truly overheated after a few hours of this, and before I knew it it was much later than I had meant it to be. My legs were fatigued from jumping, arms sore. As practiced as I was, even I couldn't take this much impact from a volleyball slapping into my forearms with ease. "I think we oughtta call it a day."

As we got dressed in the changing rooms from showering, I slowly realised that Joohae was staring at me. Pulling on my shirt, I met her gaze, questioning. "What?"

She flinched, and fidgeted uncomfortably. "Ah... Unnie..." I rose my eyebrows, and she laughed uncomfortably. "Nothing." I frowned at her, pulling on my socks. "Well... I was just wondering... did I do something?" It was my turn to flinch, then. "When I first came into the gym, you seemed... mad at me..." Joohae was being uncharacteristically nervous. "Ah, well. It might have been my imagination. Sorry if I said something weird..."

"No..." I sighed, and her gaze snapped back up to me. "No, you're right." I said, honestly, feeling guilty at her hurt expression, "You didn't do anything wrong. I don't really know why I felt annoyed with you... I'm sorry."

She seemed even more uncomfortable at that, waving her hands rapidly in front of her, "No! Don't be sorry! I know I'm annoying sometimes..."

That made me feel even worse. "You're not annoying! You're great, amazing! And just as crazy about volleyball as I am!" I sat down on the bench beside my bad and put my head on my knees. "It's just... I think I got... jealous."

"Jealous?! Why?!" She seemed astounded, flailing, "What on Earth would you have to be jealous of me about?!"

I grumbled wordlessly into my knees, embarrassed. "I'm... an only child, so it's a given that I'm bad at sharing..." I was deeply troubled, feeling out the words as I said them. "...right? That's gotta be it... right?"

She sat down on my other side, and sighed. When I looked up, there was realisation on her face. And understanding. She seemed more sure of herself in that moment than I was. "Unnie... no, Captain. You've taught me a lot, and now it's my turn to teach you something."

I sat up, confused. "What?"

Joohae drew in a deep breath, then exhaled. "Oh Ju-eun, you have a crush on him."

I almost stood up on instinct from shock. "Eh?"

She nodded, wisely. "You have a crush on your Oppa."

My face coloured. "No way! You're just saying that because we're close..." I stammered, brushing it off. There was no way that was the case. Jin was, well... Jin, my Oppa, my babysitter, one of my closest friends, like family....

"You got jealous because of another girl calling him Oppa. If that doesn't yell out crush to you, I don't know what does..." Joohae said seriously, and I shook my head, so vigorous it could have rolled right off my shoulders. "Come on, Unnie, there's no way you're this dense!" I gave her a sharp look, and she wilted a little. "Sorry..."

"There's no way I could have a... crush.. on Jin-oppa. He's like family! We've been like this forever..." I reasoned, standing up, "It'd be weird, he's like my brother... I just got jealous because I'm a possessive person. I've gotten jealous over Yun-ji before!"