"i hate you." // jaeyong

XI. rejection

jaehyun

tryouts were over, and jung jaehyun could not be more disappointed in himself. as captain of the team it was HIS responsibility to be the best, HE had to run the farthest, the longest, and he had to have the best skill. but this year, there was one person who was...

better.

lee taeyong.

jaehyun's face morphed into a scowl as he thought of the name.

-

at the beginning of tryouts. the team was ordered to run sprints and jaehyun was ALWAYS the last one to finish, earning a new highest score every year. all of those around would collapse after a few mere minutes, except this year.

this year, lee taeyong and jung jaehyun were caught in a tie for speed, running at exactly the same pace from line to line, from every second to stop. the two were incredibly in sync, red faces and sweaty bodies and all. when jaehyun couldn't take the run anymore, he shuffled out of pace and began to stop. however, taeyong continued to sprint, beating jaehyun's high score of 104 by 5. the boy was furious.

after sprints, the team found themselves by the basketball hoops, starting a shooting activity. it was simple, shoot as many as you could in the span of a minute. jaehyun shook his head.

'this is so easy.' he thought to himself as he approached the line waiting to shoot. yet again, he found himself at the end, standing right behind a tall black-haired taeyong.

if he couldn't beat the boy at sprints, then he definitely could at shooting. it was his specialty, of course.

eventually the line shorted and it was now taeyong's turn. the coach bounced the ball over to the boy and started the timer.

taeyong moved with such bliss and grace, almost as if he was dancing instead of playing basketball. jaehyun was completely immersed in watching the man as he shot basket after basket, eventually ending the minute with a score of 32.

jaehyun was shocked. taeyong turned on his foot at the sound of the timer stopping and with an expressionless face, he handed the ball to jaehyun, holding a short second of eye contact.

jaehyun gulped. normally, the boy stood tall and confident, as he had no reason to feel intimidated. however, being the last to shoot, jaehyun felt a sense of nervousness wave over him.

"jaehyun!" the coach suddenly yelled.

jaehyun looked over to the voice and saw his coach holding the stopwatch in his direction.

ten seconds had already passed.

jaehyun panicked and threw the ball, aiming towards the basket. the object ricocheted off of the rim and flew across the gym. jaehyun stared in disbelief.

after attempting to shoot more after his failure, jaehyun's minute ended. he had only made 12 baskets.

"thank you all, team. tryouts are now over, you all did great today. i will contact you once i've made a conclusion on who i want my team to consist of." the coach looked over and made eye contact with jaehyun as he finished, dismissing the boys.

jaehyun collapsed against the side of the bleachers that sat in the gym. he leaned his sweaty head against the cold surface.

"jaehyun? yo, dude what the hell?" yukhei said as he approached his friend. he crouched down next to the sitting man.

"are you feeling okay? man... you sucked today. hell, even doyoung was better than you! and he sucks as basketball!" he exclaimed.

jaehyun just kept his eyes closed and sighed.

yukhei shook his head. he knew it was the wrong time to ask him what was going on, because there was definitely something.

jaehyun was NEVER this bad. basic training and shooting were his stronghold, so why was he so.. bad?

yukhei haunched up to his feet and left his friend in peace, more than likely going off to find jungwoo or another one of his friends.

jaehyun let his head fall into his knees. how the hell was he so bad today? no, the real question was how was taeyong so good?

basketball tryouts weren't about winning, how had he let competition go to his head?

"lee taeyong?" jaehyun suddenly heard his coach call.

curious, jaehyun poked his head out from his knees and searched for the boy. as taeyong heard his name being called, he turned his view over to the caller. the black-haired boy began his walk over to the coach, an expressionless  look on his face yet again.

jaehyun suddenly stood up, slowly turning his way over to see the action that was taking place.

"listen, boy. i'm going to be as honest as possible with you." the coach began.

jaehyun's eyes widened. there's no way he could be telling him he's not cut out for the team. he was obviously good. he was amazing, even, and jaehyun hated to admit it. but he couldn't possibly tell him he wasn't going to be on the-

"i want you to be the new captain." he said.

jaehyun stopped breathing.

"you've obviously got the skill. and we've had the same captain for so long now. we could use a good change around here." he told taeyong. he then saw jaehyun out fo the corner of his eye and gestured for him to come closer.

this was the longest walk jaehyun has ever had to take. his dreams were ending. right here, right now. jaehyun wasn't going to be captain anymore.

the coach grabbed the boy by the shoulders and turned him to face taeyong.

"taeyong, you're amazing. to have you added onto this team would be the biggest honor i would ever be given." the coach stated.

jaehyun could only stare at the floor. his mouth was dry.

"alright. that suits it!" the coach said, patting jaehyun's shoulder, "practices are every thursday from now on. i look forward to seeing you there, captain."

the coach concluded himself and turned to start walking towards his office.

jaehyun still couldn't believe it. this kid suddenly just showed up at the school, impressed all of the teachers, intrigued every girl in the entire building, and was now he was the basketball team captain? jaehyun thought he was going to be sick-

"no." taeyong said, sternly.

the atmosphere froze. you could hear the loud squeak of the coach's shoes as they stopped in their tracks. jaehyun's neck snapped upward. taeyong was already staring at jaehyun when they looked into each other's eyes. the amount of shock displayed on jung jaehyun's face was immeasurable.

"pardon?" the coach asked, quite upset.

taeyong's cold orbs slowly made their way off of jaehyun's and over to the coach. he glared the man down.

"i said no. i don't want to be the captain of this team." he said, a bit cocky. he suddenly looked up to the top of the bleachers where a boy was sitting and waved for him to come down. the blonde began to gather his things. 

taeyong looked over to jaehyun and stared at him. he was still heavily shocked at what was happening.

"i don't want to be captain. this player that you have here is fit to be the perfect captain. and i've never been on a team before, nor do i have any interest for joining this one. with all respect, sir, i just don't think it will work out for me." taeyong ended. his friend approached him and taeyong turned to leave with the man, not before giving a slight nod to jaehyun.

'what the hell' jaehyun questioned to himself.