"You know you're good enough; you're just not used to letting it all out." Jaemin spoke, stacking the five books back on the shelves. "And for your information, I may not excel in English, but attracting me with the first stanza is hard to achieve, and you did."
"Oh, stop, you're just saying that just to boost my confidence or whatever." Eula breathed out, trailing behind the pinkette like a lost child.
"But something did bubble up inside you." He looked over his shoulder to send a wink and slid the last book in. "You're already good, Eul. Trust me."
"Yeah, I might have a problem with that word."
Jaemin turned on his heels with a frown. The girl is smiling, but her eyes say otherwise.
He sighed, running his fingers to straighten the stubborn strands of her hair, and bent down to align their faces.
"Say that you're not good again, and I'll kiss you."
"Oh, please," she scoffed, rolling her eyes, though the male remained stoic. "You're serious."
"As I've ever been," he said, standing back up with a grunt like a 70-year-old man. "Jeno's schedule has been hot lately, so since I have errands to run for mom, I suggest you have to wait for him at the gym. I can't walk you home today. I'm sorry, baby girl."
"For the last time, Na Jaemin, please stop calling me that!"
"Not until I kick Jeno's patience with that. Bye baby girl!" he ran away with a giggle, almost tripping over the trash bin at the wall side.
Eula just let out the most heavy sigh she could, walking over to the doors while greeting the librarian.
The preparation is hectic as time goes on. Not just that, but when October hit the calendar, she started receiving birthday messages from her distant family. Knowing that it's a family habit to literally bombard one of them when their birthday month came, Eula just replied to them with a happy heart.
I can't believe I'm turning 20, she sighed for the billionth time that day, her shoes softly padding on the cemented hallways to the east gymnasium, which the table tennis team owned.
Entering the huge space with a little push of one of the double doors, Eula already heard the smashing of the balls and the exhausted groans of the players.
Her face lit up seeing Jeno on the far right table, also recognizing Donghyuck on his opponent side. She excitedly skipped on the bleachers on their side, glad that no one had trashed her out.
As usual, the ravenette looks dreamy. His reflexes are admirable, and he is a literal ace in everything he does physically.
Eula started to melt in the practice game, her eyes continuously bouncing between the two. The brunette is a hard player too.
The girl can only feel sorry for the competing schools.
"Your girl at the side," Donghyuck suddenly said.
"Huh, what?" though his question dropped when he met with the said girl's eyes and immediately got distracted.
"Boohoo! Loser!" the brunette yelled in victory and collapsed to the ground, all sweaty.
Jeno cursed under his breath, running over to the lost orange ball rolling away.
"You're so annoying!" Eula clicked her tongue when the brunette stood up.
"Pretty girl, I'll take my chances." Donghyuck smirked while shoving his racket in his bag.
"Yeah, Jeno would kill the game if you didn't."
"My exact reason, actually. But fear not, your boy will kill all the players at the official game."
"I'm winning, you prickhead." Jeno approached with a scowl, proceeding to fix his gears.
"You're still the MVP in Shin Eula's heart," Donghyuck cheekily said.
A pinkish hue shot on the pair's cheeks, unable to face each other, while Jeno chased the brunette around.
Eula just watched them with a laugh until the team was called for dismissal.
Jeno mouthed an excuse to shower, in which the girl was left alone again since almost all the players cramped in the shower room also.
With sheer patience, Eula walked out of the wired barrier of bleachers and stood against the tennis table, running her fingers on the spot where Jeno once placed his hand.
A clearing of a throat broke her silent moment, and she turned around just to be greeted with a hard-toned chest and a black shirt.
"I almost punched you." She lightly laughed.
"You wouldn't want to hurt this face." Jeno pointed his face with a frown.
"Hey, Jen! Team dinner, are you in?" a male called out.
"No thanks–"
"You can bring the pretty girl in."
Jeno's shoulder muscles tensed after that, though Donghyuck slid in before something happened.
"Lihyun, dude! Let's go; I'm hungry! Don't say anything now; let's go, team!"
The brunette did shove the team out with his loud, booming voice, until their backs disappeared through the closed doors.
Eula let out a breathy laugh, gaining the frustrated ravenette's attention.
"My blood literally boiled, you know?"
"It's okay now, geez; you looked like an alpha dom awhile ago."
Though the male just replied with his lips pressing onto hers, catching the girl off-guard, she easily coped with his movements.
Jeno wasn't joking back there. Eula can feel his anger and protectiveness through the kiss—his unwavering dominance.
They locked their intimacy in the huge, silent gym, with Jeno placing her on top of the tennis table and settling between her legs.
They pull away in a second or two to inhale a small amount of air, and their lips hungrily crash again.
Jeno growled when she purposely bit his lower lip, though her chuckle dropped when he attacked her neck, his teeth sinking into that certain spot and making her moan.
The air inside them faltered between the heavy tension, with Jeno pushing himself to stop and gluing their foreheads together as their hot breaths molded.
"I felt happy seeing you watching," he whispered.
"Not gonna lie, you look hot playing like that."
"Yeah? I swear I'll take you to the VIP seats at the game."
"I like that."
He began smothering her face with soft kisses, her melodic laughs filling his ears.
"I know we're avoiding the topic—though I'm not sure if avoid is the exact word—but we haven't really got the chance to bring it up," he started, the girl looking at him expectantly. "Also, I know things were pretty hard, especially for you, but I just want you to always remember that I am here with you."
He cupped her cheeks, their sparkling eyes locking and fond smiles engraving their lips.
"You told me to ask you again when everything's been taken care of. Well, it did, so... Be my girl?"
"And what honor do I have to receive the pleasure of being asked this lovely confession?"
"Just you prettily sitting there with your lovely eyes on me."
"If that's the case then, Lee Jeno..." she teasingly brushed their lips, her smile growing bigger. "I will be your girl."