basketball ➸ lee eunsang

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it's new year's eve. her neighborhood was a pretty small one, and were mostly made up of elders. it was tradition to visit and spend time with family members for the new year, and she watched (from her window) as her neighbors' families showed up on her neighbors' front doors.

she was just envious of the people that still had family left in this world, while she had none. well, technically she does have a brother; hangyul. speaking of hangyul, she was kind of guilty for lashing out to him the other day— she just had no one else to take out her anger on. even though it's already been a day, she was still in shock and furious at the people that made her life miserable.

ever since she knew the truth, she hasn't spoken to anyone. but the only time she had spoken to anyone was that night when she and eunsang made the midnight phone call that lasted until she fell asleep. ever since then, she's been isolated in her room.

after a few hours, it was already two minutes until new year. after haeyoung moved in with her grandmother, they'd always watch the fireworks display that could be seen from their living room window when she was still alive. it was haeyoung's first time to spend the new year alone.

she waited by that window to see the fireworks; she needed a distraction from her feelings, and fireworks were the perfect distraction. fireworks were colorful, loud, and bright. that was the best thing that could distract haeyoung from her feelings at the moment.

haeyoung heard nothing but her loud mind... and the sound of the clock ticking. she looked at the clock; 11:58 PM. two minutes left until the fireworks would start. two minutes left until new year. two linutes left until the hopes of a new, fresh, better year would probably come true.

and finally, the huge sparks of colorful fire bursted in the night sky, creating a beautiful display in front of haeyoung's eyes. after a couple minutes, the display ended. then, the sky became dark once again, nothing but the moon and the stars shining up above.

the display ended with the fireworks shaped as the words; 'happy 2019!' and it made haeyoung wonder if 2019 was going to be as happy and as better as she expected.

➸

back to reality. winter break ended, and it was time to go back to school, and it was the first day of school for 2019. she packed her bags, wore the uniform she never wanted to wear again, and headed out the house she used to call home. she arrived at school and was immediately met with her friends by the entrance.

as soon as dongpyo saw haeyoung, he gasped and ran up to her. "haeyoung!!" her best friend said, "i missed you so much!" as soon as he finished his sentence, he pulled haeyoung in an embrace that was so tight that haeyoung could feel her body being squeezed by her best friend.

she hugged back, but after a couple seconds, let go of dongpyo. "okay, okay, enough." haeyoung said. she could see her two other friends coming up to dongpyo and her; wonjin and eunsang. they were walking in a much more chill and relaxed pace than dongpyo, who ran to her as if he was in a race.

"sup, hae!" wonjin said, raising his hand to give her a high-five. haeyoung jokingly looked at wonjin and ignored his high-five, which made wonjin pout. "you're so mean." wonjin playfully said.

haeyoung then smiled and raised her hand up to give him a high-five. "just kidding." she said, chuckling, giving wonjin a smack on the hand instead of a high-five. "you smacked me, but yay!" wonjin said, making the three chuckle.

the four friends walked inside the school, chatting and catching up with each other. "woah, haeyoung, you seem happier." eunsang said.

"yeah... well, happier isn't the word, i'm just trying not to ruin the new year with my depressed-ass mood." haeyoung said, chuckling. "you know, i want to start a new fresh beginning."

"i get you." eunsang said, smiling.

"oh, shit!" wonjin exclaimed, making the three's heads turn to him. "exam results are up!"

"oh, shi..." haeyoung said, but didn't continue the word she was saying.

"did you guys do a good job?" dongpyo asked.

"uhm, not really, i guess." haeyoung said.

"of course, eunsang did a good job! he's the top student anyways." then wonjin chuckled in realization. "wait, why is the top student hanging out with a bunch of dumb people like us?"

"i know, right?" dongpyo and haeyoung said in unison.

"i don't know, either, you guys are just fun." eunsang said.

"wow!" dongpyo said, "we're fun! the top student said we're fun!"

everyone laughed at dongpyo's statement, but it eventually faded when they stopped by the poster with the sophomore year (their year) students' rankings. everyone went serious, and looked for their names in the huge poster, flooded by students wanting to see their rankings.

haeyoung looked for her name in the fourth tier (since that was the tier she was expecting to be in) but didn't see her name. she checked the fifth, to the last, but didn't see her name anywhere.

"guys! my rank went up by 8 ranks!" dongpyo said. "my rank's now 77!"

"that's not bad, considering students here are smarties." haeyoung said, still concentrating on finding her name.

"how 'bout you, hae? what's your ranking?" dongpyo asked.

"i can't find my name-"

"i found your name, hae." eunsang said.

"where?" haeyoung asked. eunsang pointed to her name. "what?! i'm in the top forty?!" she said, in shock. her rankings were always from 60-100, and she wasn't expecting it to go up that high.

"what's your ranking?" dongpyo asked.

"thir.. th-thirty-four." haeyoung stuttered in shock. yes, that might be a bit low, but in comparison to how much haeyoung studied for finals, that was really high.

"congrats, you went up almost twenty rankings!" eunsang said.

"wow, hae, you're getting smarter." wonjin said.

they exited the sea of students, and was finally in the not-so-crowded halls. haeyoung was flustered and in shock of her ranking, and was still speechless.

"how about you, eunsang?" dongpyo asked.

"i'm number one..." eunsang said, but not in a boastful way.

"wow! amazing!" wonjin said. "hey, my rank is near haeyoung's."

"really? what's your ranking now?" haeyoung asked.

"i'm not yet done talking." wonjin said. "my rank is near haeyoung's but add a hundred to it."

the three chuckled. "let me guess, one hundred and thirty-four?" eunsang asked.

"yep!" wonjin said. "hey, it went up five rankings!"

"congrats!" haeyoung said, making all of them laugh.

and that was the first sign haeyoung saw that told her that this new year was going to be a better one.

➸

a bit late but CRAVITY'S DEBUT WAS BOMB DKABDJSBSB (i took like 20278192 screenshots of their mv lmao)