[2015] Thank you @nekoxchimchim, @watty95 @exobaekyeolove @suhobaae and @baevelvet for voting. Arigatou! ⛄
"Chorong! What's the answer for variable of x?" Kim Jongdae's question caught me off guard and almost made me die by choking on my strawberry milk. I had to stop from walking, frantically finding a wall to support myself from falling over.
"What." Looking at him with a confused frown, I said after a moment of calming down. "You didn't even give me a question to solve in the first place."
He simply replied with a louder voice than necessary, "...That is correct!"
I heaved a sigh at his ridiculous joke. Seriously, if only..if only he wasn't someone who associated with Junmyeon, I'd have smack his head with my pink diary and bury his head 6 feet underground already. "Plus, you should be asking me History questions. Not maths. You know, since you're my History tutor." I swore I was having trouble to get along with his genius mind during a few desperate moments.
"I've done a good job so far, haven't I?" He stared at me with his usual bizarre way. I had told myself so many times that it felt like he was trying to connect his smart sexy brain with mine telepathicallyㅡ but I just couldn't decipher the actual words. You know, since I was classified to be a dumb potato. When I narrowed my eyes, he copied my sigh and closed the novel he was reading.
"That means you'll be supporting me to be the valedictorian for graduation later, right?!"
I grimaced over his loud voice that echoed in the hallway. Everyone who was passing by gave us weird looks but some of them didn't really mind since it was the infamous loud Jongdae. "Geesh! Okay, okay. Don't worry." Let us just hope that he wouldn't do what Junmyeon told me two days ago. The reason why he tried so hard to be the valedictorian..was not normal at all.
"REALLY?!" His feet jumped around slightly in excitement.
"Yes!" I tried to calm him down by matching the same tone as his. He looked like he could really explode right at that moment. I panicked when he was about to roll down on the floor like a crazy personㅡ but his action was stopped when large hands put a pressure on Jongdae's shoulders to keep him still.
Chanyeol raised a brow in an amused way when we both looked who was the knight in a shining armour to save me from embarrassment. "Wow, I could practically hear your guys from miles away. What's so funny?" His signature teeth smile shined a very blinding light and hurt my eyes. Even though school had ended a few minutes ago, he still had energy to emit his happy virus aura.
Jongdae shrugged those hands from his shoulders but Chanyeol didn't budge at all. Jongdae scoffed, "Nothing! Mind your own business."
"Don't be like that, Jongdae." Chanyeol let out a small laugh. While Jongdae started to complain over his sudden unwelcome presence, I had noticed that Chanyeol was in a red jersey with the number 61 on his backㅡ it was his basketball club's official attire. Was he heading for his club already?
Noticing my stare, Chanyeol leaned down a little bit to shift my attention. "Chorong, you should come as well."
"Huh?" I furrowed my brows as I looked up; only to find his face was closer much than I thought to be. Backing away slightly, I ran my gaze away to anywhere else beside his face. Gosh, my life would be shortened to 20 years earlier if he was closer than that! "W-Where to?"
He pursed his lips at my question, "What do you mean by that?"
"Where are you asking to come?" I repeated my question in much more in a full sentence. Was he in need of help, like carrying boxes from his club or something? "Because I am actually heading to the library with Jongdae, soㅡ"
Jongdae cut my off by raising his index finger towards the air. He finally got out from Chanyeol's grasp and stepped forward. "Change of plan! We're going to the gym." Excuse me, what was that?
"Didn't you know? Basketball club will be having a practice match with another school today." Chanyeol explained when my perplexed expression started to overgrown unnecessarily. "Most of the students are going to watch..don't you want to see me play, Chorong?"
My jaw dropped. "How come I didn't know that?" I came to school like everybody else, went into class like everybody else, but how did I miss this one thing out? This was absurd to take in! Ireneㅡ oh, wait. Something about a match.. I thought she really had told me a gist of it this morning. Was it that I was too distracted to hear the rest of what she said since I kept thinking about Junmyeon? Yeah, typical. She was like this, wasn't she;
Have you heard today's basketball match? It'sㅡ
Then at that time I was busy thinking about how should I help to set her and Junmyeon for a hangout. No wondered she disappeared really fast before I could see just now. She must be heading to the gym and left me out since I had another tutoring with Jongdae..
"Well?" The tall guy's lips curved up as he watched my dumbfounded action. I blinked my eyes to regain my composure back.
"I'm not sure.. Jongdae, do you agree with changing plans?" Wasn't he was spouting nonsense about translating an artefact aged 890 before century that he found on the internet with the rest of his club members later?
"No problem!" He nodded, much to my surprise. Heck, I thought that would be his priority first. "Everyone should be there to support Chanyeol. You two can go first. I'll have to head to my club room and cancel our plan today." Jongdae spun his heels around and moved to another direction with fast steps.
His words rang through my mind. Everyone, huh. Everyone.. Every.. So, J-Jun..Junmyeon should be there as well, right? My eyes lit up. "Nice. Then we should hurry up before it's late." Pushing Chanyeol from the side, I held myself back from giggling like a maniac. Would he be cheering for the team and hold pom-poms like he did during the volleyball tournament last year? That would be something interesting to update on my diary.
Chanyeol's ears perked up upon noticing my sudden eagerness. His smile grew larger than before. He must be thinking that I was really excited to see him playing and support him with the full content of my heart. "That's the spirit, Chorong!" His little excitement did added up a few percent of chances me cheering for him instead of stalking Junmyeon for full time.
"Of course." I kept myself spilling the truth that would be hurt for him to know. Sorry, man. With maximum level of my fangirl spirit, I managed to bring him to the gym. Chanyeol grabbed on my arm before I could kick the door off for a marvellous entrance. "Yes?" I looked up at him with a questioning face.
"There's something I would like to tell you.."
"Right now?"
His ears went red when he noticed I was staring at him rather hard. He seemed embarrassed to tell me something, as he scratched the back of his neck. "Our opponent is quite strong today."
Oh, was he nervous? I tiptoed and patted his shoulders in encouragement. "Don't be so scared, Chanyeol! You're our school's ace. I'm sure you will beat their asses. Show them your Rolling Mega Thunder shooting technique, and they'll freak out in no time. If it doesn't work, then use the ultimate Starlight Jump 2.0 version." It sounded like I was going to play an arcade game with all of these techniques.
"Thanks for the suggestions, but that's not the point." He chuckled. My, wasn't he being so cute at this point.. Chanyeol cleared his throat and put on a determined face afterwards. "What I'm really going to say is, if I win.. Let's go home together today."
"What? Why?" I gave him the most puzzled look I could give to anyone in my life. Just what had gone into his mind that made him to say something crazy like that?! Was he high on drugs. There would be no way for him to say those nonsense towards me.
"To celebrate my winning victory, of course."
"Do it with your teammates." I furrowed my brows even more.
"But I wanna go home together with you."
"No."
His shoulders slumped in discouragement immediately. As he pouted sadly, he muttered under his breath, "So I guess I don't have to play seriously..maybe it would be better if I tripped over as well..and break my nose..stay in hospital for three weeks.." Black cloud started to spin around on top of his head as his aura darkened sullenly.
I widened my eyes. "D-don't be like that." A pang of guilty slapped my face.
Chanyeol drew an instant grin as soon he heard my pity tone. It was like a switch flipped on inside him. "Okay, it's a promise then!" If it was a cloud before, then it was now a rainbow painted over his head. Before I could comment on his changing moods, he went pass me and walked into the gym first. He literally left me hanging out there like that right after pulling a very sympathetic act.
I snorted in disbelief. Wow, Park Chanyeol was really something else. I wondered what he was up to actually. Sighing, I soon followed his steps into the gymnasium quietly. The basketball club members were still warming upㅡ the match must had been postponed since the ace Chanyeol wasn't here yet. And the opponents looked scary, to be honest.
There weren't that many students here to watch; probably since it was just a practice match. The only ones who were zealous enough to put efforts to support should be Chanyeol's and the rest of the handsome members' fans. The only difference between them and me was that I was here for Junmyeon only..
"What the?" Irene flinched when I sat beside her. After two rounds of pacing without direction, I finally found her seat. And she looked like she had seen a ghostㅡ the one that she despised the most should be the legendary Sadako. "Why are you here? I thought you were with Jongdae."
I shrugged, "Change of plans. He wants to watch Chanyeol playing. I was dragged into it."
"Seriously?"
"Is it bad for me to skip tutoring and waste my time here instead?"
"Technically, yes. You should be worried about your History grade that is dying faster than your sick goldfish." She nonchalantly replied. But that hurt my feelings slightly. My goldfish wasn't dying..yet! I hadn't taken it to the vet, so I wasn't sure if it had caught a flu or it was already its fated time to die.
"Anyways," I scanned around excitedly. "Where is Junmyeon?" He should be here already, right? Although there was possibility for him to not be hereㅡ but the percentage of him coming and supporting his best friend should be higher. I'd put my bet on that.
"I saw him somewhere here but then I lost track of him since I was busy staring at the basketball club manager." Irene snickered. "Isn't that Hwasa so freaking cool?"
I laughed. "Yup, totally." The super hot manager was really at another level of popularity at school.
"I wanna hang out with her, but I'm just another potato in her eyes.." She faked a sob to gain pity. I couldn't help but to scoff at the overdramatic action. If she was a potato in the famous basketball club manager's eyes, then I would be merely a piece of gum stuck under a table in Junmyeon's eyes. "Should I bring her to Subway after this? Going home together sounds nice, too."
"Talking about that," I gulped when hearing some sensitive words. "Chanyeol, that Park Chanyeol. He wants to walk me home if he wins today. It's kinda awkward." Her head immediately snapped into my direction and eyes started to grow larger. "What should I do?"
She gasped. "He wants what?!"
"It's so sudden and it sounds suspicious, don't you think? Is he going to act nice and bully me afterwards?" Even though I wasn't so sure what was his real intention, the possibilities of bad things to happen did sound believable. I pressed my lips into a thin line as I leaned backward on the chair. That Happy Virus was plotting something, wasn't he? There would be no way for him to approach me like this over nothing. Wait, it couldn't be that he liked Irene as well, right? No way, no way. I shouldn't assume things.
As if it was a cue, a whistle sound was blown by the referee to start the game. The players had already in their own position, and Park Chanyeol really stood out the most. Sure there were other seniors who were taller than him, but there was something peculiar radiating from his face. Even in a serious game, he still couldn't suppress his happy virus aura. Was he really eager to win that much?
"I don't think he has bad intentions to you. You didn't do anything bad and pissed him off, didn't you?" Irene spoke, gaining my attention back again.
"I've barely talked to him in high school." I quickly denied the accusation. The times I talked to him in middle school should be more than the times I had a proper conversation with him in high school. His tall height scared me ever since his growth spurt was too much. It was only until recently that he had guts to approach me again and spout funny nonsense.
"Let's hope for him to lose if he makes you uncomfortable that much."
"It's not that I am uncomfortable with his gesture." I answered back. "It's just that, I didn't expect him suddenly to get closer and friendly with me." It was as if God wanted to heal the scar that Junmyeon gave to me by sending Chanyeol at such correct time.
"Don't be like that. You should take the chance to get know him better than you were in middle school." Irene nudged my arm with a smile. "It's fine to have some sort of fling on someone else beside Junmyeon, you know."
Heat creeped onto my cheeks and I flushed into shades of red. "That won't be happening, Irene!" She just laughed over my silly reaction as I shifted my focus back to the game. I cupped both of my cheeks in my hands to calm myself down while eyes searching for one particular person.
I was immersed into the match with all the shoutings coming from every places and males rampaging all over the court just for one ball. I sometimes hated to watch soccer games too, since I didn't understand much about the efforts to chase one round ball on the field. But right now, instead of knocking myself into sleepㅡ I was rather focused on Chanyeol who playing with all of his heart. I could see it.
He dribbled the ball and scored a magnifying 3 pointer shoot. Even after getting crush with his teammates' group hug, he still had the chance to find me in the midst of the crowd. As he raised his hand in the air and put on a V pose towards my direction, he jumped around in triumph.
I ran my gaze away embarrassedly. Instead of calming down, I could feel my cheeks became more hotter than before. "Geesh. It's just a match, why would he be so worked up over it.."
Hearing Irene snickered from my side, I believed she was having fun to see my rare shy side. "He looks pretty confident in winning. Prepare yourself, Chorong. Don't get too carried away and forget about your best friend and your ultimate crush."
I kept on a small smile and turned my head to look at her. An unidentified question suddenly popped into my mind. It couldn't be helped but to ask about it when I got into this far. "Hey, just wondering."
"What is it?"
"What would you choose if you were given an option to pick between your love and your best friend?"
Irene raised a brow, clearly not expecting the random question. "Urm," She hesitated when she thought about it for a while. "Probably love? Guys always talk about bros before hoes, but I don't think you should discard your love during desperate times."
I certainly didn't see that coming from her. I thought she would be the bros before hoes type; someone that would prioritised friends first. "Really? Even if it compares with your best friend?
"It depends on people. The feelings of love differs on each things, after all. The love for our pets; the love for our family; and even the love for our friends are all different and specific. I, myself think the feelings for my partner is be too important for me to lose."
Wow. Bae Irene had just spout a really philosophical explanation that nobody would pull off.
"Look, look." Irene pointed to the front and broke the silence after a few seconds. "Chanyeol scored another 3 pointers! He's too good for the opponent to beat."
I found myself looking back at him. He was ready to get half naked and throw his jersey off from his toned bodyㅡbefore it was stopped by his team captain. So he opted to celebrate it with a dab gesture instead.
Perhaps..Park Chanyeol wasn't a bad guy after all, if he put a really big effort just to walk me home. I unconsciously smiled, thinking what would change if our invisible friendship grew closer and unexpectedly matched well soon. That wouldn't be so bad.