Archive of Our Own

—

Jungeun walked out from the classroom she was in and checked her phone, it’s 2 PM in Friday, two hours before her volleyball practice and six hours before her weekly date or she would prefer to say it as a friendly-weekly-dinner-hang out with her best friend, Y/n; who happens to be her volleyball vice captain. It’s like a tradition for you two, going out together once every single week just to relieve some stress you both have from school.

As her last class for today just ended, Jungeun walks to the campus cafeteria to get some lunch since the last thing she ate was her breakfast this morning.

“Unnie!”

Jungeun turned her face when she recognized a voice that sounded like calling out to her, she smiled when she saw Yerim walking up to her from the other building that’s not far from where she’s standing right now.

“I didn’t know your class finished at this hour, it was always an hour later.” Jungeun said while the younger girl was standing beside her and then walking together.

“Yeah, the professor chose to be kind today. He just gave us one assignment and ended the class since he feels not teaching for today.” Yerim chuckles while Jungeun looks surprised with the information, she has never had a professor like that in her almost 2 years in college.

“How I wish I had at least one professor like that…”

“It's once in a blue moon though, I think this is his first time. Maybe something happened that ruined his mood or something.”

“Once in a blue moon yeah, no wonder I’ve never had that.”

One turn to the right and now both girls have arrived at the cafeteria, Jungeun can see you’re already there with Heejin laughing about something, assuming that both of you had class together before. Also with Hyunjin who’s just eating her bread feeling unbothered by the noises around her.

Like a telepathy or some kind, you stopped your laugh then looked at Jungeun and raised your hand to the said girl, “Hey, Jungeun! Yerim!”

Jungeun smiles at that, she and Yerim walk to your table and Jungeun takes a seat right in front of you while Yerim in front of Hyunjin.

“Your class ends early, Yerim?” Hyunjin asked when the youngest girl put her bag in the chair and was about to leave to get some food.

Yerim nodded, “Yeah, the professor wasn’t in the mood.” She answers simply, feeling too hungry to fully explain it like how she did with Jungeun.

Hearing the youngest girl's words make Heejin groan, “Ah how I wish I had that kind of professor at least one, I’m tired with all of that 3 hours class and other assignments every single day. I can’t even let my hand stay still without making something now, getting too used to the pile of endless projects.”

“Not to mention there's volleyball practice after class! Oh I just want to disappear from this school…”

You flicked Heejin’s forehead and the latter immediately rubbed on it, “Ow! What was that for?!” Heejin replied with a punch in your arm which you successfully dodged. Jungeun chuckles at the scene, feeling amused with your friendship with Heejin. The childhood friends who always fought all the time yet always have each other’s back, Jungeun shook her head and then walked away with Yerim to get some food.

“You’re overreacting! The projects weren't that much and besides, you do like drawing! And talking about volleyball practice like that in front of me? Should I remind you that I’m your vice captain here?”

Heejin rolls her eyes, “Yeah, I do like drawing if I do it myself without any requirements which should I put there and which I shouldn’t!”

“Also, oh my, Y/n please. Can you change the practice schedule? I wasn’t joking when I said I barely can catch up with it because I’m always tired after class.”

The changing of tone and the puppy eyes Heejin puts make you softened, sure you always argue and fight (lightly) with Heejin in daily but you still care about her just like how she cares about you.

You huffs, “You know I’m not the one who made the schedule, it was the coach and Sooyoung, it’s out of my control.”

“But you can talk to Sooyoung-unnie about it!”

Hyunjin who is still there listening and watching the both of you sighed, it’s kind of tiring for her since she just wants to eat her bread in peace for once.

“Just say yes for now, Y/n. This spoiled puppy won’t stop asking if you don’t agree with it, and honestly I kinda agree with Heejin too. You can talk to Sooyoung-unnie about it, check the other girls’ schedule and discuss it.” Hyunjin finally said and Heejin looked at her with pout but adoring eyes to her girlfriend.

At the same time, Jungeun and Yerim were back with a tray full of food in their hands and taking their seats back to eat their lunch.

“Alright fine,” You sighed “You’re lucky your girlfriend is backing you up, Jeon one.”

Heejin stuck out her tongue to you, “Sad to be you that you have no girlfriend to back you up, Jeon two.”

“I still can’t believe that you two are not siblings, unnies. With how you always fought and having the same last name.” Yerim said while taking a full spoon to her mouth.

Jungeun nodded slightly, agreeing with what Yerim just said, “Also can you two stop fighting just one day? I swear the whole school could hear your voices every time you argue about something.”

“I’m not the one who started it!” Heejin defends herself, but before you can argue with that, Jungeun gives you a full spoon out of the blue to silence you.

“No more arguing, give me a rest.” Jungeun said while taking another spoon and putting it to her mouth instead, not even care about the fact how you two just shared the same utensils.

While chewing the food, you just nodded at that and then took a sip from your favorite chocolate milk. Right now, the table sounds more calm just with light chatting between Heejin, Hyunjin and Yerim, also you and Jungeun.

“That was your last class for today right?” You asked Jungeun when she’s drinking her orange juice, she just hummed and nodded to answer while taking a last spoon from her lunch.

You both know each other’s schedule well, seeing that you both always go to the campus together since the first day no matter how different your schedules are and actually have one class together every week. You chose design major while Jungeun chose photography, since photography is one kind of art so you have that one class that coincidentally is the same with Jungeun’s.

“Do you want to go back to the dorm first before practice? We have at least an hour and half spare for that.” The school is kind enough for letting their students choose their own roommates, so you and Jungeun have been roommates ever since you took the first step in this place. They only decide it for you if the said student doesn’t have any for themselves.

“Don’t you still have one class left? That color class thing?” Jungeun asked instead, giving her full attention to you now that her food is finished.

“Color theory, yeah but the professor changed the schedule last minute to have the class tomorrow instead, so I’m free to go right now.”

“Wait, but we have practice again tomorrow morning?”

You nodded, “Yup and my class is right after the practice, at 1 PM.”

Jungeun sighed, “How can you still have energy for class after practice, I’m basically gonna pass out every time after practice.”

You chuckled at that, “It’s just the same like how I have practice after class every week, and you’re overreacting! You’re clearly fine every time after practice!”

“Yeah, but I’m dying inside…”

You go silent, watching Jungeun sighed and then you purse your lips. “Do you want me to change the schedule as well?”

“Huh? Oh– no it’s fine. It’s not like I have a hellish schedule before practice anyway. And besides, the schedule right now is perfect with your class isn’t it?”

“Mhmm, but maybe I will check it again with the other girls’ schedule. It’s hard for Heejin, maybe the girls’ feel it as well but they just don’t say it.”

Jungeun frowned, “But if you change the schedule, it will be hard for you.”

You raise your head to look at Jungeun and smile, “So, going back after this?” You asked again back to the topic.

Jungeun sighed when you changed the topic, maybe this is the part of you that she hates. Too care about others more than yourself, but she nodded anyway. “Sure, I forgot to bring my shoes anyway,”

“Alright.”

“You had a bad day?”

You were about to leave to buy another chocolate milk since the one you just drank has run out but Jungeun’s question made your attention shift to her again, “Huh?”

“Bad day? You need your bed?” Jungeun asked again, now with her question clear enough for you to answer, you just sighed and nodded your head.

“Yeah, something like that…” Followed with your giggles, “But well, you need your shoes anyway. There’s no spare shoes left in the storage room since me and Sooyoung threw them out last week, they were all broken.” You added before you leave to get the new milk, maybe getting bread as well doesn’t hurt.

“One professor yelled at her today, in front of the class.” Heejin said, answering Jungeun’s confused face, the older girl widened her eyes and turned her face to Heejin.

“What? Why?”

“She’s kind of had a debate with him in the class. It was a seminar class, she was presenting her artworks and he didn’t like it so he was attacking her with questions that could make her art look bad, but since she studied about it she answered all of that easily, and the class even agreed with her. Of course that man feels his pride hurts so he raised his voice and even called Y/n stupid in front of the others, he didn’t care about the rest of the students.” Heejin explained with such a low voice, didn’t want it to be overheard by other students.

“What the hell?!” Jungeun snapped, feeling angry with what Heejin just told the girls at the table. “A professor isn’t supposed to say that at all to the students, who the hell is he?!”

“Well…he’s the head of our study program.” Heejin answered while lowering her head, “I mean–I know he’s kind of an asshole and today he just proved it right.”

Now Jungeun goes silent. Thinking about that it was not surprising that you didn’t dare to mess with the said professor since it’ll put your study in danger.

“To think that she was laughing out loud earlier, the one that looks like doesn’t have any problem at all…” Yerim muttered low.

“Oh, she’s fine right now I’m sure. Right after I told that to Hyunjin, she gave Y/n her bread which she accepted with teary eyes. I mean–you know what does that mean when Hyunjin gives someone her bread right?” Heejin smiles while looking at Hyunjin who’s now playing a game on her phone, she glanced at her girlfriend now looking at her with adoring eyes making her cheeks flushed in tint pink.

Heejin giggles when she notices that, “It means nothing.” Hyunjin said, trying so hard to hide the blush in her face.

“Sureee,” Heejin scoffs and pushes Hyunjin lightly which makes Yerim laugh at that.

Not long after, you’re back with two boxes of your favorite chocolate milk and one cream bread. Jungeun knows that when you have a bad day, you always try to cheer yourself up with sweets. It’s not something new that you don’t talk about what you feel, it was hard for Jungeun in the early days when you two got to know each other, she doesn’t know when you feel down or even angry because you don’t show it, not even a slightest bit in your face. In the second year of high school, she even asked Heejin about that matter because you only poured everything what you felt only to your childhood friend.

But actually that has changed in the past years, living under the same roof with Jungeun made you change towards the girl. You two more opened to each other and promised to not keep any secrets, so Jungeun thinks maybe today was just a small accident that’s not important to tell, no big problems were made anyway.

“Do you want to get ice cream when we’re walking back?” Jungeun asked instead after you got back to your seat, you lightened up with the question and then nodded excitedly.

“Sure!”

—

The sound of shoes squeaking, balls hitting the floor and walls as well with some friendly yelling in here and there fills the air. Sweats running from your forehead through your cheeks, your eyes focusing on one object that’s swinging in the air without any tendency to lose it. Especially when your team is in the match point.

The ball hovered in the air as Jungeun ran towards it, “Center!” Hyeju yelled at the same time Hyunjin yelled “Right!” to Jungeun while both of them were running to get their spike position. Jungeun swung the ball in Hyeju's direction in the end. As if it’s like waiting for it, Hyeju’s spike got blocked by Jinsoul’s palm and flew away. Hyeju clicked her tongue for that. Before it touches the ground, Yeojin dives to it and successfully puts the ball back into the air.

“All right! Left!”

You shouted as the ball coming just above Jungeun’s hands and then she’s pushed it to your direction while her back facing your body, Jungeun immediately turned her whole body just in time to see you hovering in the air while raising your left hand and your right hand in a stand by position, then you swinging it out in a rotation-like and hit the ball as hard as you can with your right hand, you feel your palm hits the ball perfectly.

The ball went sharp across the sideways as if it’s avoiding two pair hands in front of your face and slams to the ground nearing the white line with a loud thud. Your feet back landing to the ground with a slight smile on your lips, feeling so proud that you finally did that spike after weeks of practicing it. It doesn’t go unnoticed by Jungeun who was watching you after she gave the ball to you.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” You heard Heejin yelling while freezing on her spot watching the ball bouncing in front of her. “Where did you learn that cross shot?!”

You shrugged your shoulders, “I learnt it myself of course,”

Three whistling sounds from the whistle were heard, telling the whole players on the court that the match is over after you landed the last point for today. The score ended up with 23-25.

“Alright, the puppies team won the practice match today!” The coach yelled and was immediately followed by a groan from the opposing team, the kitties team.

“See, this is why you do not put Jungeun and Y/n in the same team for practice matches especially when you’re facing them in the opposing team. They’ll always pull a ridiculous new attack.” Sooyoung said, taking a seat after she grabbed her bottle of water from Jihan–the team’s manager–softly while wiping her face with a towel.

“Not gonna lie, I thought Y/n-unnie gonna do her insanely sharp straight shot since me, Chaewon-unnie and Jinsoul-unnie kinda opened the slight corner for Haseul-unnie to be ready to receive that. Especially after Jiwoo-unnie decided to do that new move today.” Yerim said while pointing at Jiwoo who just laughed at that, “But then I saw her palm slightly moved and the ball went sideways right in front of my eyes! Even Vivi-unnie didn’t prepare for that.” Yerim talked excitedly with her usual animated expression and pointed at Vivi in her last sentence.

“I mean, I’m kinda glad I didn’t get to receive that ball. I’m afraid my arms would fall off with how hard that hit was.”

“I bet I can receive that, it’s a shame that it was a rotation where I switched positions with Haseul-unnie.” Heejin sneered. “And besides, I was supposed to be in the same team with them, I'm a puppy!”

“Heejin, you lost a rock-paper-scissors game with me. You did it yourself.” Hyunjin answered for her girlfriend with chuckles, the rest of the team followed.

“When did you learn that cross shot anyway?” Jinsoul asked while looking at you, you saw the older middle blocker shocked face earlier, “And how long did it take?”

“I’ve been practicing it these past few weeks in our individual practice, I asked Jungeun to toss it to me, or sometimes Chaewon if Jungeun is too tired to do it.” You asked while nodding to pointing at your team’s two setters.

“Woah, you even got our two setters to practice? And Chaewon actually wants to do individual practice?” Hyeju jumped into the conversation with a teasing tone in her voice, not long after that, Chaewon threw a punch to the girl’s arm.

“Hey! I still want to improve, and I’m still unnie to you, you know?!”

The team laughed seeing the scene, there’s not a single day goes by without the two teasing each other, it’s such a cute sight for them seeing how the couple showing love from that.

“That means we should be ready to receive that shot from now on then…Yeojin and Haseul as well!” Sooyoung added while wiggling her eyebrows to said girls and got answered with Haseul rolling her eyes and a groan from the youngest in the team.

“We’re not even in the front line to get that shot!” Haseul blurted out.

“You can dive to it though?”

“Sure, but I would still barely reach it!”

“Your captain is right though, I’m expecting I have liberos who’s ready with any type of attack.” The coach yelled not far away from his position right now followed by his giggles at his own comment, Jihan is already back to his side giving a book full of notes of the team’s attack from today’s practice.

“Fineeeee!”

The practice vibes are always so friendly like this, no matter the differences–senior, junior, freshman, or even coach–it’s always so friendly, it always feels like a whole family and you love every single piece of it. You feel lucky you have incredible and amazing teammates. You’ve never regretted choosing this school not even once, especially for the volleyball team ever since Jungeun told you that she chose this school for her major.

You’ve been friends with Jungeun since high school, but your first meeting with each other was in junior high, in a volleyball match where you defeated her team with a score 20-25 in the second set. After the match ended, you went to the bathroom to wash your face and there you saw Jungeun–who you didn’t know the name yet back then–standing with the sink on, you halted your step and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Of course you noticed the watery and red eyes in her face.

Noticing there’s another person in her surroundings, Jungeun quickly washed her face, turned the sink off and walked out from the bathroom without saying anything. You just stand there watching her back until you can’t see it when she turns to the left. There's an urge in yourself to say sorry to the unknown-girl but what is it for? Sorry for winning the match and kicking your team out of the lineup? You shake your head and go on with what you planned to do before.

“Have you decided where we’re going tonight?” Jungeun’s voice stopped you from your train of thoughts, you turned your face to look at her wiping her face with a towel. She even still looks gorgeous even with that tired face, you think.

You nodded your head answering her question, “Yeah, I’m kinda craving for sushi tonight.”

“Oh great, I’ve been craving for that as well for the whole week.” Jungeun gives you thumbs up rapidly, still with her breath slightly panting.

The coach walked to where the whole team was sitting and resting their bodies while looking at the book in his hand, Jihan walking beside him with both her hands in her back. Despite still being a freshman, Jihan adapted to the team very quickly. With her bright and cheery personality, she befriends everyone easily especially with the coach as his own brother.

“Alright, I can see today’s practice match was better than last week. Hyunjin and Hyeju work in sync way better with the blocks today,” Which the two reacting with fist bump each other, “The lack of no-touch-serve with Sooyoung’s defenses, Jiwoo’s new sharp straight shot, Jungeun’s more than once setter dump without anyone can read it and Y/n’s new cross shot attack.” Coach Han explained with his eyes in the book and then looked up to see his players.

“Oh! I see Yeojin is getting better with the diving, that was really a good improvement, keep that up!” He added and gave applause for her, and the team followed with some whistling and Jiwoo patted the libero’s head.

“You know how I’ve never asked nor expected any of you to have a new move every single week not because I don’t believe you but,” He smiles looking at his team, “Considering that this is an university team not a high school team where you probably be a lot busier, but you took it personally and seriously for this team and I really appreciate that.”

“Maybe from now on I’ll expect any of you to have something new to show so I won’t get a heart attack every week.” He added with giggles at the end that made the whole team smile at that.

“As you can see we have a tournament in two months, and thankfully that was when your exam week ended so you can fully focus on practice for at least two weeks.” The team nodded understandingly, “Just like I said, with the lack of no-touch-serve I’m hoping you practice your serve more, especially to the jump serves–by the way, I’m not saying the jump float servers to not improve it as well, you know what I mean right, Jungeun and Jinsoul?”

“Of course.” Both girls replied at the same time with a slight smile on their faces, responding to the coach’s playful tone.

“When I said lack of it doesn’t mean we don’t have it right? Hyunjin’s serves were so good today, especially the one where Sooyoung got it but it’s still flying out away. That was a good power, keep it that way!”

Hyunjin just nodded at that and giving the coach’s salute pose which he laughed at that and then he looked at you, “Also that last one Y/n’s serve was intense, not a single one dare to touch it, afraid that their arms will fall off–just like how Vivi said earlier. Even though we knew that was highly unlikely to happen.”

The whole team laughed at that as the coach Han shook his head, “It’s still surprising to me that your power increases in the last minute game almost all the time, what’s the secret Y/n?”

Now the whole team eyes focusing on you, waiting for your answer. You feel the heat on your cheeks not used to this attention as if you don’t stand in the stadium with hundreds of eyes watching you at least every year. Jungeun noticed that and she giggled, you glanced at her and there you felt butterflies in your stomach as you saw the smile on her face.

“W-well, I just want the game to end faster? We played like five sets, I just wanted to sit down.” Your honest answer makes the whole team burst into laughter, even your coach couldn’t hide his laughter.

“Understandable,”

“Alright, I guess that’s it for the review and practice today. You can go straight home, or I’m hoping you do the individual practice for a few minutes. Don’t forget to stretch correctly! We still have practice tomorrow so do not get sick. Have a good night everyone!”

“Okaaay! Thank you coach!”

With that ending words from coach Han, he walked out from the court, Jihan started to collect the team’s match vests to put in the storage room. Some of the team’s members either laid their body to the floor as soon as the coach stepped out, or walked out to get the ball to start their individual practice. You as the latter walked to get the ball to start your serve practice until Jungeun came to you.

“Need someone to toss it for you?” Jungeun asked, you smile at that while shaking your head.

“I just want to practice my jump serve, you want to join me? I heard the coach call out your name to improve your jump float serve earlier.” You wiggled your eyebrows teasing her which she just groaned at that and slightly punched your arm.

“You are so annoying.”

“I know.”

You both walk to the corner of the line court with the ball in your hand and Jungeun taking another ball not far from both of you. Right before you throw the ball up to do your serve, you heard Hyeju’s yelling voice that makes you burst into laughter.

“Heejin-unnie, get your ass here! Help me and your girlfriend with blocking, I swear I’ll stop you this time!”

Heejin groaned, “Fineee! Park Chaewon, toss me some!”

“These idiots.” Chaewon muttered under her breath and walked to her position, getting ready to toss the ball for Heejin to hit.

The situation in the gym right now could be described as a mess; Haseul, Vivi, and Jiwoo laying their bodies in the corner of the room, Sooyoung and Jinsoul in the other corner of the line court, opposite you and Jungeun doing their serve practice. Hyeju, Hyunjin doing their blocking practice with Heejin and Yerim joining them to hit the ball with Chaewon tossing to them, also Yeojin standing just behind the two middle blockers to receive the ball just in case they let the ball go through.

You’ve been doing your jump serve for almost 20 minutes now, Jungeun just took her rest time while watching you throw the ball, jump, and then hit the ball as hard as you can. On the other side, there’s Yeojin ready for your ball and she receives it well even though she feels the sudden pain in both her forearms right after.

“That was so freaking hard! What the hell, unnie?!” Yeojin yelled at you which got you surprised at the sudden outburst, “Does it hurt?” You asked in worry.

“Yeah, but it was just a pure shock. I’m fine, I can do three more!” Yeojin changed her tone with her excited voice, it didn’t convince you at all, not after she said it was hurting her.

“I’m gonna do the last one for you, after that we’re done for today and get some rest!” You said, raising your voice a little bit for her to hear it since she’s far across from you. Remembering your position, Yeojin just nodded and got in the stand by position to receive your serve once more.

You bounced the ball to the floor and lifted it straight in line with your hand, just your serve routine. After a few seconds, you throw the ball and jump to hit it, decreasing your power a little bit to not hurting the libero again.

“Nooo! Unnie! Why did you lower your power? I can feel it was slower than before.” Yeojin whined after she successfully received your serve. You giggled at that while walking to get your ball back and then walking to her.

“I did not though?” You lied while patting her head, “I can feel tired too you know, in case you forgot.”

Yeojin scoffs, “Fine. Thank you for that anyway, that was great, your power is really amazing.”

“Thank you kid, now stretch and get back before it gets late.”

“Ay-ay, captain!”

“Hey! I’m your captain!” Sooyoung yelled immediately after hearing Yeojin’s voice saying that which the youngest just replied by sticking her tongue to the older girl.

After Yeojin walks away from you, you watch your surroundings and see that most of your teammates are doing their stretches, which means that they’re done for today. Even Heejin has done with Hyunjin and Hyeju’s blocking for today, your eyes ended in Jungeun standing right across from you, she slightly nods to point at the clock in the wall; it’s almost 8 PM and you both still have dinner to attend.

You sighed then walked back to Jungeun’s direction, putting the ball to the floor and you got into your stretch position. Jungeun joined you not long after.

“Have you ever felt tired?”

You looked at Jungeun, her attention is on her feet while she’s stretching it. “Of course,” You answered, “I literally just said it to Yeojin earlier.”

“You lied, I know you did lower your power earlier because she said it hurt her arms.”

Scoffs leaving your mouth, “Yeah, didn’t want her arms to fall off aren’t we?”

You both chuckled at that silly joke, “So, I take it that you’ve never felt tired if it comes to volleyball?” Jungeun turned her face to you, “Interesting.”

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s just amazing that you’ve been doing this since you were twelve and now we’re nearing twenty but you seem to haven't lost your passion at all.”

You looked at Jungeun who’s smiling at you after saying that, it can’t be helped that it makes you smile as well.

“Well, I just love volleyball a little bit more.”

—

Walking from school to the sushi place wasn’t that far, it was around 20 minutes walk and Jungeun has used to it even to an hour walk since high school, but today she just felt so tired. She feels so sleepy, she’s just finished her food and all she wants right now is to lay in her bed and go to the dreamland. The tiredness in Jungeun’s face of course didn’t go unnoticed by you, you watched her eyes drop a few times when she took a bite of her food. It's kind of cute for you–it’s Jungeun after all, she’s just so cute in everything she does.

While she’s out of her mind because of the sleepiness, you took your chance to leave the table and went to pay for your food. If Jungeun knows about this, she will probably be so mad because she doesn’t like every time you pay for her food, not realizing that she did this to you sometimes.

After you paid for your food, you went back to your table only to find Jungeun had already dropped her face to the table. Sleeping as if she’s not in a food place right now, you chuckles at that.

“She must be so tired as hell, huh.” You muttered under your breath, this is actually the first time you see Jungeun so worn out like this.

You put your backpack to your front, and sling Jungeun’s bag on your neck. Without making any more noises even though there’s so many already, considering this is a public place. You quietly grab Jungeun’s hand, lower your body and carefully put Jungeun’s whole body to your back. After making sure that she’s in a comfortable position on your back, you stand up and then walk out of the place.

You walk in silence, seeing that Jungeun is asleep on your back and the night is getting late. You’ve never been the one to be scared of anything as well, it’s always Jungeun that was scared of ghosts or some kind. So walking at night in complete silence doesn’t bother you at all, rather you feel comfortable with it, you enjoy the walk with the night breeze touching your face.

You hummed your favorite song in a low voice, afraid that it would wake Jungeun up. After a 15 minutes walk and just one last turn to the left you will reach your dorm, you feel Jungeun’s hand clutching on your neck. You slowly and slightly turn your face to the left–where Jungeun’s head is laying on–to see Jungeun slowly open her eyes and take a moment to recognize her surroundings.

“Huh?”

“Good morning.” You teased. Realizing that your voice was right exactly in her ear, Jungeun widens her eyes and turns her face to her right only to see your smiling face is so dangerously close to her.

“Y/N?! Wha–”

“Just go back to sleep, we’re almost there.” You said instead quietly, cutting her off.

Jungeun goes silent, trying to remember what just happened before this. Few minutes in, she remembered that she did fall asleep in the sushi place back then with how tired she was.

“I…fell asleep?”

You nodded and readjust her position on your back seeing that now she’s awake, Jungeun suddenly feels heat in her cheeks seeing her position on your back right now. She can feel how you hold her with so much care, Jungeun looked away from you, hiding her blushed face.

“You can drop me off right now, I’m fully awake and can walk.” Jungeun said but you still didn’t stop your step, you kept walking without intention to drop her any time soon.

Jungeun looked at you again when you stepped into the building, still holding her tight on your back. You even hummed to your favorite song again, feeling so comfortable with the situation. Jungeun couldn’t believe this, but actually she doesn’t want this to be over yet. She tightened her hold on your neck to get more comfortable but not too hard that could choke you, and you just smiled at that.

Instead of getting into the elevator, you turn left to take the stairs instead. Jungeun squinted her eyes, looking at you confused.

“Are you bragging about your strength right now?”

You chuckled, “Why? Our room is just on the 3rd floor anyway. It’s too bothersome to press some button while my hands are busy holding you, you know.”

“Excuse me, Jeon two-ssi. I thought I told you to drop me off earlier?”

“And I thought I told you to go back to sleep earlier, Kim Jungeun-ssi?”

Jungeun scoffed, “You’re so annoying. Don’t you use your energy too much today? How is it even possible for you to piggyback me from that far away place after you spent 3 hours running and jumping?”

“Also we still have practice tomorrow morning and you have class right after! You should give your body a rest.”

“Alright alright, keep your nagging until we get inside okay?” You answered instead with giggles in the end, Jungeun rolls her eyes and presses the passcode for the door to open.

After you slip out your shoes, you carefully put Jungeun down since she needs to take off her shoes as well. She doesn’t want all the dirt in her shoes to get inside her room.

“You want to take a shower? I’ll check and get the hot water ready for it.” You beat her before she could talk your ears off with her nagging, hearing your softened voice and seeing your caring act makes her lose her temper.

She nodded at your question, “Yes please, that would be great, thank you so much.”

You smiled, you gave Jungeun’s bag back to the owner. Walking to your own room to put your bag and jacket, then you dragged your feet to the bathroom. Jungeun walked to her own room as well, putting her bag to the table and hanging her coat to the coat rack in her room.

Jungeun standing still in her room after she notices your hoodie in her laundry bag, she remembers she stole it from you because that day was so cold and she was too lazy to walk back to her room, so she took the hoodie you left in the coach and put it on. Maybe that was the only time that I didn’t nag her about putting something out of the place, Jungeun thinks. To this day, she hasn’t given your hoodie back nor you asked for it back.

“Hey Jungeun, I think I want to order a pizza.” You walked out slowly from your room with your eyes locked to your phone screen without even looking at Jungeun who’s just lounging on the couch watching a movie on the TV.

“Do you want so– huh? Is that my hoodie?” You stopped your step and changed the topic as soon as you raised your head and looked at Jungeun, in a comfortable position with her hand on her mouth, biting her nails with a scared look on her face, you noticed that she’s watching a horror movie.

“Huh? Oh– Yeah, I was too lazy to go back to my room and it’s so cold. You should be glad that I’m not nagging you this time for putting your things out of the place!” Jungeun answered quickly in one breath while keep moving her focus from the TV screen to your face, she even put the hoodie on since it’s big enough to even cover her face.

You laughed at that and took a seat beside her and kept looking at her getting scared with the movie, you shook your head and then sighed. “I guess you don’t want some pizza then?”

Jungeun turned her head so face not caring about the movie she was focused on, “Of course I want! Who says I don’t?!” She blurted out which you giggled at, “Alright alright.”

She smiles at the memory, it wasn’t even a long time ago–it was around 2 weeks ago and yet she felt like it was an old time already. Jungeun turned her head while she heard footsteps and just in time to see your head peeking out in the doorway.

“The water’s ready, Jungeun.” You said with a small smile on your face, Jungeun nodded at that. “Thank you, Y/n.” She added, Jungeun also appreciates the way you didn’t even step into her room not a slightest bit, you both respect your boundaries so well it makes her heart warms.

“Just take your time, I’ll wait for you to be done to get my turn.” You said before you walked away, Jungeun then got her t-shirt and sweatpants and then went to the bathroom. She sees that you’re not in the living room and assumes maybe you’re waiting in your own room, without wasting any more time Jungeun stepped into the bathroom.

After it took almost 30 minutes, Jungeun stepped out from the bathroom feeling so refreshed. She looks at the time while drying her hair with a towel, almost 11 PM and it’s already way past her bedtime. Jungeun frowned when she didn’t see you in the living room, since you usually wait for her there to get your turn to take a shower.

“Y/n?” Jungeun called out while walking slowly towards your room, you leave the door slightly ajar and there Jungeun can see you at your desk, asleep in the most uncomfortable position with how you put your head to the table and bending your body. She sighed, of course she’s that tired, Jungeun thought.

Jungeun hesitates to step into your room but she can’t leave you in that position, she walks in quietly and then softly shakes your body to wake you up.

“Hey Y/n, wake up. You should clean yourself first before you sleep.” Jungeun softly whispered, it didn’t take a long time for you to blink your eyes and then stand up abruptly.

“Oh my god! I fell asleep, what time is it?!”

“Relax, you didn’t sleep that long, it’s almost 11 PM. I’m sorry I walked into your room like this but you look like you’re in an uncomfortable position earlier, and you need to take a shower first.” Jungeun answered in a low voice, you then looked at her. Jungeun with her slightly wet messy hair, her barefaced and her oversized t-shirt. She looks so cute, you cleared your throat, “Thank you Jungeun, I–I’ll go then.” You looked away and then grabbed your stuff before you walked out from your room and stepped into the bathroom, Jungeun followed you out and went into her own room.

It was such a tiring day, Jungeun thought. Before she goes to her bed, she sits at her vanity desk and dries her hair with the hair dryer, after around 10 minutes and she feels enough she goes to her bed. Jungeun pulled her blanket and it didn’t take a long time for her to fall into deep slumber.

The next day, Jungeun blinked her eyes when she heard small noises outside of her room, she noticed that the sun had risen but not bright enough since it’s still early. Jungeun raised her arm to get her phone in the nightstand, 6:12 AM it shows. She rubbed her eyes and slowly got up to be in a sitting position, processing everything and giving time for her brain to work.

The noises outside got her attention again. Curious about what it was about, Jungeun got up from her bed, didn’t forget to make her bed first and then walked out from her room. The sound was getting clear when Jungeun walked to the kitchen, and there she saw you busy with the stove making breakfast. Jungeun squinted her eyes when she saw you in a training suit with your wet messy hair and looking so freshly cleaned. It didn’t take a long time for her to come to the conclusion that you went jogging before this and actually had a shower as well, it’s a routine every single week.

“What an early bird,” Jungeun muttered under her breath, it wasn’t loud enough but somehow it made you turn around and look at her.

“Oh! Good morning, Jungeun!” You greeted with a smile on your face, Jungeun just smiled at that and walked to the counter.

“Good morning. You went jogging?” Jungeun asked which you nodded as the answer, “Just want to warm up my body before the practice today.”

Jungeun’s jaw dropped, “You know that we’re basically burned out every time in practice right?” she scoffs, “What do you mean warm up your body?”

You laughed at that, “What’s wrong with that? It’s not like this is the first time I’m doing this! You knew that I did this every single week.”

“Yeah and it still amazes me how you can do that with the way you spent that much energy last night, please tell me you’re not a robot?”

You raised one of your eyebrows and leaned your body slightly to the counter to face Jungeun right in front of her, “And what if I’m a robot? Have a problem living under the same roof with a machine?”

Jungeun can feel her cheeks heating up slowly, before you can notice her reddening face, she pushes your shoulder and scoffs. “Shut up.” Jungeun said and you giggled at that, “Is it done? I’m hungry.” She added, you nodded as you turned around to bring two bowls of kimchi stew and another two bowls of rice, you put it on the kitchen counter in front of Jungeun. You also bring a plate of egg rolls and not forgetting the spoon and chopsticks also the water.

“Sorry, I can only think of this for breakfast.” You said and gave a smile to Jungeun while walking to her and taking a seat beside her.

Jungeun smiles, “It’s perfect, thank you.” she starts to take the spoon and chopstick, “Let’s eat!” Jungeun added, you both eat breakfast in comfortable silence. You did this every day, waking up to see each other whether it is in the kitchen or in the living room, eating breakfast together.

You've done this routine for years already and yet Jungeun still feels her heart warms at it and she also can feel butterflies in her stomach. She glanced at you and couldn't help but smile at the sight of you, she feels so lucky that she has you in her life.

Jungeun knows about her feelings towards you, she’s fully aware of what she feels for you and fully understands what it means. It just annoys her so much that her friendship with you is just so precious, it scares her how precious it is and afraid if she’ll destroy it all just because of her feelings. She doesn’t want to lose you, not after all the years you spent together. She only can hope that you feel it as well; how precious this friendship is, how you don't want to lose her, and maybe hope that you feel the same for her as well. Jungeun hopes that maybe you feel something a little bit more towards her.

“Are you finished?” Your voice wakes Jungeun up from her thoughts, not even realizing the clinking voice of your bowl has ended 5 minutes ago. Jungeun nodded, “Yeah, I’ll do the dishes since you did the cooking today.” she offers.

“Nah, I’ll do it. You can go take a shower if you want, we still have time before we go for practice. You want the coffee from the usual cafe right?” You said while taking all the bowls and taking it to the sink.

This. This act of service you gave her, full of care that never fails makes Jungeun feel safe and loved. Jungeun doesn’t know what’s with her today but she almost choked because the tears were building up suddenly, she looks away to hide her face but not forgetting that she needs to answer your question.

Jungeun hummed, “Yeah.” she muttered up and sighed, which you didn’t notice since your back is on her right now, with your hands busy washing the dishes.

“Alright, we’ll go around an hour later, take your time.” That was the last thing Jungeun heard before she went right into the bathroom.

—

After Jungeun finished preparing and you had changed your clothes, both of you stepped out of the place and left. Not forgetting to stop by your usual cafe to get both your morning coffee and some bread, it took around 30 minutes until you finally reached the school’s gymnasium.

Dropping your stuff in the club room and changing to the practice attire, you walk to the gym and you can see Sooyoung is already there setting up the net, Chaewon playing with her phone, Vivi eating her bread and Haseul putting on her shoes not far from it. You quickly walked to help Sooyoung after you finished putting on your shoes. Jungeun walks to Haseul with her gym shoes in her hands and then sitting beside the older girl, she starts putting on her shoes as well.

“Good morning.” Haseul greets, “Good morning, unnie.” Jungeun replied with. Feeling like having a sixth sense, Haseul tilted her head to look at Jungeun clearly.

“You have something on your mind.” Haseul said, Jungeun stopped her hands that were tying the shoelaces.

“Huh?”

“You have something on your mind.” Haseul repeated, “Did something happen earlier?” The older girl’s eyes shifted towards you and then back to Jungeun.

Jungeun raised her head and then noticed the gaze immediately shaking her head, “Oh– No. Everything’s fine, nothing happened.” Jungeun answered with a nervous smile on her face, trying to assure the older girl but it didn’t work.

“But something still bothered your mind, what is it?”

“It’s nothing unnie, really.”

“Jungeun. You know you can talk to me about anything right? Or even to Sooyoung, I’m sure our leader will unders–”

“It’s nothing. Unnie. I–It’s nothing… Everything is fine, I’m fine.” Jungeun cut her off, the shaken voice surprised Haseul a little bit but she didn’t mention it at all. The libero nodded, trying to understand the younger girl and she knew that Jungeun would talk if she wanted to and was ready to.

“Alright then,” Haseul said instead with a smile on her face, she pat Jungeun’s shoulder and gets up leaving Jungeun behind to walk over to Sooyoung, helping with the net.

Jungeun sighed, everything is indeed fine but why did she feel like this? She is fine, you are fine, your friendship is fine and nothing happened earlier. It was a really good morning even with how she spent the breakfast with you, walking together, getting her favorite coffee. But why did she feel unsure right now? She feels like she’s unsure that this is enough for her, she feels like she wants more. She wants you, she wants a little bit more than friends with you.

Jungeun shook her head, trying to distract herself with the practice today. She gets up and walks to the storage room to get the volleyball carts out. Not long after, the rest of the girls arrived as well as coach Han with Jihan beside him.

After the team warmed up enough with running and enough stretches, the practice started with spike drills today. Jungeun and Chaewon stand in their position right beside the net, while the other players stand in two lines straight across the two setters. Yeojin and Haseul stand by in their position on the other side of the net, ready for the spikes they will getting in.

Coach Han started throwing the ball to Jungeun’s way first and then Chaewon, with Jihan helping him by giving the ball from the carts. The team started running and did their spike one by one each after another.

The tosses and spikes went by smoothly with no one missing their shot nor Yeojin and Haseul failing to receive it. In the last set with only you, Sooyoung, Jinsoul and Jiwoo left for the last spike for today, you decide to try a new move that just now you think about.

“Maybe I can pull this off today with Jungeun’s toss,” You thought and glanced towards Jungeun, “But what if she’s too shocked to react and then we fail?” You shook your head slow and nodded to convince yourself.

“She can do it.”

Jinsoul runs at the same time when the toss goes up from Chaewon’s hands meanwhile Jiwoo runs when coach Han throws the ball to Jungeun so she’s already halfway when the toss goes up, both of them land the spike smoothly.

When it’s you and Sooyoung’s turn, you watch coach Han’s hands carefully and then start running even when he hasn’t given the ball to Jungeun yet. Sooyoung and the rest of the team who sees that are so confused, even Jungeun is slightly shocked with that. Sooyoung starts running before the toss goes up and at the same time you’re already jumping when Jungeun tosses the ball to you which you successfully landed hard with Yeojin standing frozen in her spot, seconds after that Sooyoung has landed her spike as well but then she immediately turned her face at you.

The gym goes silent, only the sounds of bouncing balls were heard, not a single soul was saying something after you landed that shot. You just did an unusual super quick attack with such a not normal, an unusual approach to the setter.

“Are you kidding me…” Heejin muttered low but it reached the whole team’ ears considering how quiet the situation was.

“H–hey Y/n, are you just–”

“WHAT APPROACH WAS THAT?!” Sooyoung screamed, cutting the coach’s words. Sooyoung wasn’t the calm type of captain nor the shout-out type of captain, sure she screamed a lot sometimes in matches but that was actually the first time she screamed her lungs out at practice.

“And Jungeun?! How can you still be able to react at that?!” The captain added, her face not showing that she’s angry even though she raised her voice, it just sounds like an exciting raised voice.

“Uh–”

“Y/n, you do realize that you started running even before I gave the ball to Jungeun right? You do realize that you’re already jumped when the toss goes up right? I just want to make sure that you did all that in your conscience, not just by accident.” Coach Han said while looking at you with a serious but still shocked face.

You nodded, “Yeah, I just thought that I could pull that off. I’ve been thinking about it while I was standing there and actually have been watching the ball in your hand.” You answered with pointing at the ball carts.

“You just thinking about that move today? Few minutes ago? In the middle of the drills?” The coach repeated your words, still processing your words and what he just saw.

You hummed and nodded, the gym went silent again. Suddenly the sharp sound of slapping heard in the gym, with you hissed and rubbed your left arm, Jungeun just slapped your arm as hard as she could. “What was that for?!”

“You stupid! You should tell me first beforehand! What if I won’t be able to react to that and just stand still in my spot while you are hovering in the air?! You’re just so– Ugh! You’re lucky I noticed when you started running and you’re lucky this is practice and not an actual match!”

Jungeun’s outburst shocked you and got you stunned while you rubbed your arm still, even the whole team who’s watching it couldn’t make a voice. Afraid that they will get another yelling by their setter and feeling awkward to say something.

Coach Han lowered her head and sighed, “Maybe I really should prepare myself and expect any of you would pull something before I step into the gym, I can’t always go on with this heart attack every day.” He muttered with giggles at the end. “To think that this is still early in the morning and only the first drill.”

“I’m sorry?”

Suddenly the quiet and awkward atmosphere disappeared as the whole team laughed after you said those two words, it wasn’t even a joke but it brought smiles to the girls’ faces even to your coach. Jungeun just sighed with a slight smile on her face, she walked out from her setter position since the spike drills had ended.

“Alright. That was a really amazing super quick attack, Y/n. Thank you, and I hope it’s not a fluke so we can try it more often.”

"We’re gonna start the receive drills, after that you can rehydrate yourself for 10 minutes before we start the two-on-two drills.” Coach Han said and only muttered “Okay!” were heard from the team.

You walked to Jungeun’s side and held her by her arms to get her attention, “Are you mad?”

“No?” Jungeun answered, you frowned at that. “You don’t sound so sure.”

Jungeun chuckles, “I’m not mad, Y/n. Sure, I was literally yelling at you not a minute ago but I’m not mad at you, I was just shocked that’s all.”

“Oh. That’s a relief, I really thought you were mad at me. I mean, I know we like to pull a new attack almost all the time but I was always telling you beforehand. But today I thought–and I’m sure that I could pull that with you, because I believe in you and I know you could do it as well.”

There again. Jungeun knows you’re good with words but she can’t help and feels butterflies in her stomach, she can feel how her face starts to heat up and her face turns red again for today. Before you can point it out, Jungeun looked away and cleared her throat. “That was a great attack actually and uh– thank you for believing in me. But I want you to tell me first if you want to try something new from now on, so I can suit the toss to be more comfortable just the way you want it to be.”

You smiled hearing Jungeun’s words, “Your tosses are always perfect Jungeun, every single one of it.”

—

Days and weeks pass by without any of you or Jungeun realizing it, with the exam week ended, you’re both now busy practicing for the tournament in just two weeks. Not only focusing her mind on the practice, Jungeun can’t stop thinking about her feelings, about you. How can she when she’s literally living in the same space with the person that makes her go crazy? How you acted towards her, how your sweet words affected her, and how your stupidly good volleyball skills took care and paying attention to her tosses that made her flutter all the time.

She feels overwhelmed with everything that got her panicking, afraid that you’ll find out about her feelings and will destroy your friendship. She doesn’t want that to happen, she doesn’t want to lose this friendship, doesn’t want to lose you. Jungeun slowly avoids you or tries to make less interaction in any way with you, planning to get rid of these feelings she has.

The exam week makes everything easy with how busy both of you are with studies so Jungeun doesn’t need any reason to avoid you. But right now with the constant practice which means walking to the gym every single day together, within distance reach every single minute, makes her like a criminal trying to go away from the crime scene.

Of course all of that didn’t go unnoticed by you, it’s stupid if you don’t see things going on with Jungeun actually. Ever since the exam week started, you feel Jungeun avoiding you but you somehow understand it. Maybe she was so stressed with the exam and you definitely didn’t want to add more worries to her and you needed to focus with your study as well. But today, with how Jungeun ate her breakfast first leaving you alone in the kitchen and saying that she was too hungry to wait which she’s never done this before ever since you live together, and instead of walking side by side, she was walking way ahead from you when you were on the way to the school’s gym also leaving the club room as soon as you stepped in.

It confused you more when you saw Jungeun busying herself with helping Heejin and Hyunjin setting up the net, even the couple looked at Jungeun weirdly, Jungeun has never liked setting up a net. You wanted to ask what’s wrong to the girl but when Sooyoung yelled and told the team to start stretching stopped you from doing so.

You sighed in relief when coach Han put you in the same team with Jungeun in four-on-four drills for today, and Jungeun seemed to be playing like the usual without reducing her tosses towards you, but the lack of communicating and high five after scoring got you back worrying again.

“Did something happen between you and Jungeun?” Your captain’s voice got your attention, Sooyoung and Jinsoul took a seat beside you, resting their body on the wall with a bottle of water in their hands.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

You shrugged your shoulders, “I really don’t know. I feel like she’s avoiding me but I don’t even know what I did wrong.”

“Did you still talk to each other?” Jinsoul asked.

“Of course, I mean–we’re roommates, we live together, there’s no way we didn’t talk at all.” You looked at Jungeun’s direction, the girl sat on the other side of the gym with Jiwoo, Haseul, Chaewon, and Yeojin. Laughing at something only they know.

Sooyoung looked at you pity, she sighed. “Since when did this happen?”

“When the exam week started? I thought it was because the exam got her stressed so I don’t want to disturb her but today just clearly shows that she’s avoiding me.”

“And did you notice anything different before the exam week started?”

You went silent at first, thinking about some things different from Jungeun that you noticed in past weeks. “Uhm… The first thing I noticed from her is the way she can’t look at my eyes every time we talk. Like–she was never like that, but in past weeks she’s always looked away when I look at her when we were talking.”

Sooyoung nodded and hummed while Jinsoul only looked at you in silence, giving you signs to keep going on.

“She’s always zoning out lately, it’s like she has a lot in her mind. But the funny thing is, every time she’s zoned out, her gaze somehow always towards me? I mean–she can’t look me in the eyes while we were talking but she thinks a lot when she looks at me?”

You sighed, “Sometimes when I touch her by accident when I was giving her the bowl after I cooked, or when I took a seat beside her on the couch to watch something on the TV that got our shoulders bumped to each other, she always flinched. She did that a lot lately, it’s like I'm some kind of ghost that appeared in front of her eyes.”

“Every time she does that I always think about what I did wrong that day but I’ve never got an answer. Not to brag about my kindness but I’m extremely careful when it comes to Jungeun, you know what I mean?” You looked at the both older girls to see their reaction, the captain only nodded and gave her attention fully to you. You ignored the smirk Jinsoul had on her face.

“I’ve never walked into her room because I respect her and our boundaries, I cooked her breakfast and dinner sometimes, I did the dishes every time after we eat, I was always gave her the first turn to take a shower so the water would be still hot or warm enough for her liking, I took care of her when she got sick–I mean who else? We both live far away from our parents right now. Sometimes when she fell asleep on the couch, I carried her to her own room so she could get more comfortable, and that was the only time I walked into her room without her permission.”

“So I was wondering, what went wrong…”

You ended your ranting with lowering your head, Jinsoul put her hand on your shoulders and then patted your head slowly. “I think maybe you need to stop looking and care about that matter now,” Sooyoung said finally after you’re done talking.

You frowned, “What do yo–” before you asked her a question, she cut you off. “Instead think about what if someone else did everything you’ve done to Jungeun to you? Or think about if the roles were switched, what if Jungeun cares that much for you? How do you feel?”

“And maybe also think about why after you’ve done all that, Jungeun started avoiding you? You just care about her as her friend but why did she go away from that?” Jinsoul added, you looked at both the older girls processing their words. The advice you got from them sounds confusing and weird to you but you put it in consideration anyway.

Once again, you looked at Jungeun’s direction. She was looking at the ball in her hand with a lot of thoughts in her mind that really showed on her face, it seemed like she noticed your gaze, she raised her face and looked at you back. Before any of you look away, Jungeun gives you a small smile on her face until the whistle from coach Han was heard and all the team including you both got back up to back to practice.

Finally after how many hours you didn’t even count, the practice ended for today. The practice started in the early morning and now when you step out of the gym it’s already dark, practice nearing tournament days is always intense. After you changed from your practice attire and had already put your coat on, you looked for Jungeun who’s standing near the doorway while talking with Jiwoo.

“Hey Jungeun,” You called out, not only that got Jungeun’s attention but all the souls in the club room stopped what they were doing and listened to whatever conversation you two will have.

“Yeah?” Jungeun answered, you noticed how her breath halted for a second before she answered. “Have you decided what we’re gonna eat for dinner? It’s your turn today.”

“O–oh, I think…” Jungeun glanced towards Jiwoo slightly and then back at you, “I forgot to tell you that I’ll go with Jiwoo tonight, we’ve planned this yesterday. I’m sorry?”

“What?” Jiwoo whispered but Jungeun ignored that and gave you a nervous smile instead, everyone in the room could sense the tension in their surroundings.

“Oh…” You muttered under your breath, and nodded. “Alright. I’ll see you later—?”

“Also I’m staying over at Jiwoo’s tonight, it’s been awhile and she said she wants to watch this one movie with me.” Jungeun cut you off and that made Jiwoo widen her eyes, couldn’t believe what her childhood friend just said.

You went silent, everyone who sees you right now probably can see and feel the hurts in your eyes. But you smiled anyway, walked to Jungeun’s direction only to get out of the room and give the said girl one last look for the night.

“Okay. I’ll get going then, good night everyone.” You said in a low voice, Jungeun noticed your voice was shaking a little bit, she bit her lips and tried so hard to ignore it.

After you’re out of reach, Jiwoo slapped Jungeun’s arm. “Jungeun?! What did you just do?!” She said with her raised voice.

Jungeun lowered her head and put her palms on her face, “I don’t know Jiwoo…”

“I just can’t face her right now with all these feelings piling up.”

“You know that you did a wrong move earlier, right?” Heejin's voice brought Jungeun’s attention back, the younger of the two shook her head and sighed. “Y/n probably think that you hate her right now.”

“Yeah she probably will, but hopefully she thinks in a different way.” Sooyoung added, “Me and Jinsoul talked to her earlier when we were on break–I didn’t tell her about your feelings, don’t worry.”

“But have you ever considered talking to her first instead of making a careless move?”

“What? Saying that I like her and I want to be more than friends with her and then ruin our friendship?” Jungeun blurted out, didn’t even care about how she just revealed her own secret.

The room went silent, there’s 7 girls in the room with Jungeun but none of them dared to say anything after Jungeun’s outburst. Jungeun sighed, holding her tears. “I just don’t want to risk our–”

“You’re not risking anything, unnie.” Heejin spoke, cutting Jungeun’s off from her negative thoughts. “I’m sure Y/n feels the same just like what you feel right now.”

“And how did you know? Did she tell you that? Did Y/n directly tell you that she has feelings for me?”

“Did you really think that Y/n needed to tell me that for me to know?”

Jungeun squinted her eyes looking at Heejin while Heejin just sighed, she looked at Jungeun with a frown on her face. Slowly gets up from her position and walks to stand right in front of Jungeun.

“Look, unnie. I’ll only say this to you just this one time. Between the twelve of us right now in the team, I’m the only one that knows Y/n the longest, I know how she was when we were kids and even after we grew up. Sure, she’s such a nice and kind person but that doesn’t mean she does all of that to every person she meets.” Heejin said in a sharp voice and put her pointing finger right on Jungeun’s shoulder.

“If you say that all her act towards you was just merely a kindness, or how she cares about you just because you’re friends who live together then…maybe you’re the one that should open your eyes to understand what that means.” Jungeun gulped when she saw the younger girl's serious face in front of her, “Do you think Y/n watching every single person in the gym with full of adoration and love in her eyes? No. It was just you. Have you ever wondered why she’s always trying new moves when you’re the one who tosses the ball for her? Because she believes in you that much–I’m not saying she doesn’t believe in Chaewon but, she knows she can do it because it’s you.”

“She has always liked volleyball ever since she was a kid, she’s always liked volleyball a little bit more than anything. She loves it. You know how her eyes shine brightly every time in practice or matches?” Heejin asked, waiting for Jungeun’s response until the girl nodded her head.

“It shines even more when she looks at you. I don’t understand why you never noticed that, you’re not the only one who looked at her like that since she looked at you just the same way.”

With that, Heejin walked out of the club room and Hyunjin went after her with her widened eyes. The rest of the girls didn’t say anything at all after Heejin’s speech, they just went back to what they were doing, leaving Jungeun with her mind because they knew what Heejin just said was right.

Jiwoo looked at her best friend with a sad face, she feels bad for Jungeun but Jungeun’s decision to avoid you right now is really a wrong move and she doesn’t like that.

She sighed and grabbed Jungeun’s arm to leave. “Let’s go and grab something to eat, Jungeun.”

Jungeun’s mind back to earth when she feels Jiwoo’s hand in her arm, she only follows Jiwoo’s steps wherever the girl brought her. Without even realizing, tears had escaped Jungeun’s eyes and rolling to her cheeks.

—

The next day in practice, you didn’t say a single word to Jungeun when you saw each other at the gym’s doorway. You only gave her a tight-lipped smile and then walked away to setting up the net with Sooyoung before even Jungeun reacted to that, she only sighed and then put her gym shoes on.

Just like the usual, the practice started with stretching, spike drills, receive drills, and then either two-on-two drills or four-on-four drills before the practice match. It’s not a surprise that coach Han said the team is gonna do practice matches at least 4 times a week nearing the tournament. As for today coach Han decided to do the two-on-two drills to improve each individual's skills and he put you in the same team with Jungeun first, again.

You raised your hand, “Coach, can I ask for teaming with Chaewon this time? I want to try the cross shot with her tosses more.” You asked in a casual tone without glancing towards Jungeun when the said girl looked at you sadly, your whole teammates could feel the tension getting up suddenly.

Coach Han who didn’t notice anything going on between his students, just nodded his head. “Oh, sure. That's a good idea actually since you always do that with Jungeun, so it’s a good move if you can do it more with Chaewon as well.”

You gave him a smile and then nodded, you walked to your position with Chaewon behind you. Choosing to ignore your “problem” with Jungeun, the younger setter talks to you about strategy and moves you want to try so she can suit her tosses for your liking which you complied with gratefully.

“But you still need to team up with Jungeun in the last quarter of this drill, your cross shot with her hasn't been perfect yet either.” Coach Han added and you only nodded for an answer.

“You okay?” Jungeun turned her face when she heard Jinsoul’s voice with the older girl put her hand on her shoulder, “Yeah, I’m fine unnie.”

Jinsoul gave her a smile, “Alright then.” and then she walked to the court with Jiwoo since they’re in the first order coach Han chose just like you and Chaewon.

It’s easy to ignore the situation between you and Jungeun going on as you direct your focus to the practice more and Jungeun doing the same as well, coach Han didn’t put you two in the same team either until the last quarter he asked for. But that doesn’t mean your attention towards the girl is zero existence, because every time after your drill finished and you got a little break, you always watched Jungeun especially when she started her drill.

Jungeun is no different with you, even right now she’s watching you when you team up with Heejin. It’s your last drill before the short break and before the last quarter of this drill where she’s gonna do it with you. It doesn’t help that the spot Jungeun chose to rest right now is not so far from you so she can clearly hear everything you said to Heejin.

“I think I want to try something new, I’m gonna try hitting the ball above the block so maybe you can toss the ball even higher? And maybe try to get a little bit closer to the net?” You said to Heejin and your childhood friend only nodded at that, Jungeun squinted her eyes when she heard it since it’s the first time you will try a new move with someone else. And Heejin isn’t even a setter to begin with, but she admits the younger girl gives a good toss.

Vivi hits her usual serve and you receive it easily, remembering your words, Heejin tosses the ball higher than usual when you run to it. Focusing the strength on your feet, you jumped as hard as you can, as high as you can and hit the ball just right above Hyunjin’s hand with her barely reaching it. Before anyone can react to that, instead of landing to the ground smoothly, you can feel your left foot got hold by something–most likely a net which got you by surprise and you fell to the ground with your back hits the floor first with a loud thud, just nearly bumped your head to the hard flat as well.

Everything happened so fast, your whole teammates ran towards you with shock in their faces as Heejin screamed your name and crouched beside you.

“Y/n! Are you okay?!”

You groaned, you can feel an extreme pain in your back and your feet. You feel the dizziness in your head as well that you feel like you’re hyperventilating.

“Give her a room! Do not surround her!” You heard Coach Han yell and in no time he’s already beside Heejin, looking at you worry while carefully touching your sore feet. The whole team took a step back giving you space to breathe, while Jungeun froze in her spot.

“Y/n, are you okay?” Coach Han repeated Heejin’s question, “Where did it hurt? Do you feel you can still walk?”

You nodded slowly, “I think I can walk, I’m fine but maybe I think I need to lay down a little bit.” You answered while you’re trying to get up, the coach helped you and Heejin put your right hand to her shoulders, helping you to walk to the corner of the room, away from the court area.

You put your back stick to the wall instead of laying down, aware that it will be more uncomfortable that way without any layer. Not long after, Jihan comes to you with a bottle of water in her right hand and a cold spray in her left hand. Gratefully taking the bottle from her hand, you drink it and hold the water on your cheeks before you gulp it. Jihan sprayed the cold spray on your sore feet several times, until she felt it’s enough she stopped.

“Thank you, Jihan.” The girl only answered with a smile and a worried look on her face.

“I know you will hate me if I decide it myself so I will ask you first, do you want to go to the hospital to check it up?” Coach Han asked, you can hear the worry in his voice. You slowly shook your head, “It’s okay coach, but maybe I’ll take the rest for today instead if it’s okay?”

“Of course Y/n, of course. Take all the time you need to rest your body right now, and after you feel you can walk home, you can leave first and take maybe 2 days of rest.”

You smiled at your coach's words, “Thank you coach, but I don’t think I need that 2 day break, I’m sure I can walk normally tomorrow.”

“You sure are stubborn, huh.” Sooyoung sneered, you only giggled at that. “Alright, whatever you say, but for today I need you to go home. You’re done for today’s practice.” Coach Han added.

“You can take Jungeun home with you, she’s your roommate right? And besides, you need someone to help you walk home.” Before you could answer, the coach has already shifted his attention from you. “Alright everyone, that was it for today’s drill. You can get your lunch break and we will start the practice match in an hour and half.” Coach Han ended the drill and he walked away from the group, taking the notebook in his chair on the other side of the gym.

You closed your eyes and put your crown head to the wall, trying to calm yourself when you feel all the pain in your body coming in.

“You stupid! How could you stick your feet to the net knowing that you jumped higher than usual, and do not try that move again with me! I don’t want it!” Heejin holds the urge to slap your arm seeing that you’re already in pain right now.

“No–I mean, that was a good move actually, but it would be perfect if you didn’t fall off like that. Maybe you can try it again next time but be more careful?” Vivi said instead, responding to Heejin’s words.

You chuckled at the two, “Right, unnie? That was a good move right? I think I can pull that off in the tournament.”

“And seeing you fall to the ground again, hurting your body and leading the team to defeat?” Jungeun blurted out made you silent and brought the awfully awkward atmosphere back to the team.

Sooyoung cleared her throat, “Uhm… I think I want to grab lunch at the cafe in front of the campus, anyone want to come with me?”

“Uh, y-yeah I think I will, unnie. Jungeun you can watch over Y/n right? I mean–you two will leave the gym first anyway.” Jiwoo added, with Jungeun only nodding at that without saying something, without leaving her gaze from you.

The girls slowly, and one by one leaving you both in the corner. Too afraid to intervene with your business, not after seeing that scary look on Jungeun's face. Jungeun is always scary when she’s mad.

Jungeun sighed, she stepped closer to you and then took a seat beside you. “You see, maybe that’s a sign to not try a new move with anyone except me.” she said, trying to ease the tension between you two.

You scoffed and muttered under your breath, “Yeah, maybe if you stop avoiding me.” which she heard but she chose to ignore it. Silence covering you two in the moment, while you hold the pain you feel in your body, Jungeun pursed her lips not knowing what to say to you to lift the awkward situation.

“You know,” Jungeun raised her head when you brought your voice out, you didn't look at her direction made her put a long face. “You can stay at practice, I know you want to perfect your combo with Hyunjin, also try that new attack you had with Haseul where she tosses the ball for you. You need to improve your spike anyway.”

“I can walk home alone.”

Jungeun frowned at you, of course you didn’t see it considering you haven’t spared a glance towards her. You try to get up slowly and walk with a limp, you can't even straighten your left foot to walk.

“Y/n wait–” Jungeun held you by your arm hard by accident, which you hissed at since it makes you turn around harshly with your painful back. “I’m sorry!” Jungeun blurted out, just as fast as her grabbing your arm, she was quick to release her hold as well.

“Look, Y/n–let me walk you home, okay? You can’t walk around in this condition alone.”

You bite your lips, holding the words you wanted to say back, because you know it’ll hurt her when you say it and you definitely don't want to hurt her. So instead, you just keep walking leaving her behind until she slightly runs to you and walks with you from behind.

“We’re leaving, coach.” You said and bowed to coach Han before you stepped out of the gym, Jungeun did the same and followed you closely behind.

“Damn. That sure was intense, I feel like I’d step into a lion's cage if I walked between them in that situation.” Yeojin said after making sure you and Jungeun were already far away to listen to her words.

“Is this their first cold war between them? I’ve never seen Y/n act coldly towards Jungeun, let alone not looking at Jungeun’s eyes.” Vivi asked while taking a bite of her lunch’s box, glancing towards Hyeju, Yeojin, Hyunjin, and Yerim in front of her. They sit in a circle so they can see each other very clearly.

“Yeah, I think this is their first time. They’ve never been in such a big fight like this.” Hyeju answered, emphasizing the “fight” word by raising her fingers and doing the finger quotes.

Hyunjin sighed, “This will probably gonna make or break whatever relationship they have.”

Jungeun did end up helping you to walk on the way to your dorm, and you just let her. It was indeed hard walking with a limp without any help, so you just let Jungeun put your right hand to her shoulders and walk together in close proximity.

Neither of you have said anything since you both left the school, with some thoughts and conclusions you had last night, you figured Jungeun needed time for whatever reason to avoid you and you’re not gonna push her away nor pull her back for it. Meanwhile Jungeun is thinking so hard right now, she needs to say something, she wants to say something to you yet she can’t get herself to.

What if Jungeun cares that much for you?

You just care about her as her friend but why did she go away from that?

You keep thinking about Sooyoung and Jinsoul words, you did actually take their advice into consideration and was thinking about it the whole night.

“I care about her but why did she go away? Maybe because she feels uncomfortable with it and too awkward to say it out loud? But I’ve done this for years, has she already reached her limit?”

“What if Jungeun cares that much for me? Well, I can feel she does care about me. But I’m not sure if she cares the same as how much I care about her.”

You think about the days you’ve spent together with Jungeun. When you were both sick and taking care of each other, when you were both taking turns to cook for each other, when you were both walking together to campus every single day.

You glanced towards Jungeun, the shorter girl just looked straight ahead while holding you with such full care. You think about that one day when she sprained her ankle in practice and you have to carry her back to the dorm, and that reminds you of that night when you carried her from the sushi place to the dorm, how you do all the laundries even Jungeun’s when she was too tired from practice, how do you hug her when she’s crying because of a movie and because she likes hugging when she’s sad.

If the roles were switched, how do you feel?

“How do I feel? I will fall for her of course, easily.”

Oh. Wait.

The thoughts made you stop your track and made Jungeun look at you confused. You keep repeating all the scenes in your head and gathering your thoughts. Saying the last sentence of your thoughts one last time in your head again.

I will fall for her of course.

First of all, it’s not like you don’t have feelings for your best friend. You've been awfully aware with your crush on Jungeun ever since you were in high school, but you have never thought about how she probably feels the same. So you ignore the feeling all this time and just enjoy all those days you spent with her as long as you’re with her. Especially since you knew this feeling won’t disappear, not when Jungeun is still by your side all the time.

“So, does she feel the same?”

“Y/n?” Jungeun’s voice brought you back to the ground, you looked at her eyes for the first time after awhile today. You sighed, giving up with the situation going on between both of you and decided to make everything clear right now since you’ll see each other for the whole day, and more days after.

“Hey, Jungeun.” You called out, Jungeun only hummed with her gaze stay to you.

“Did I do something wrong without me realizing it?”

“Oh. N–no. You did nothing wrong, Y/n.” Jungeun stuttered while shaking her head rapidly.

“Then why are you avoiding me?”

Even the words sound painful when you let it out from your mouth, you keep your gaze on Jungeun who looks at you with her teary eyes.

“I’m not…” Jungeun held her words, who’s she gonna fool? She’s not stupid and she knows you’re not stupid. She was clearly avoiding you but she just doesn’t want to admit it.

“I don’t–” Jungeun closes her eyes, she doesn’t know what to say and you just stay quiet waiting for her answer, giving her a chance to explain. Jungeun takes a deep breath, “I just don’t know what to do…” she muttered out.

“What do you mean?”

“I have this…feeling that makes me scared. I have this feeling for a long time already, ever since we’re being a roommates but recently it's just hitting me so hard that I have no idea what to do. I’m afraid that–” You still wait for Jungeun to finish her sentence, Jungeun lowered her head and sighed. “I’m afraid that when you find out about it, it will ruin our friendship. Because, I don’t want it. I don’t want it to happen, I don’t want us to lose our friendship. I don’t want to…lose you.”

Your breath halted for a second after you heard the last part, she feel the same way? That’s the only question you have in your mind right now.

“I know it’s stupid of me for avoiding you, I know it’s a wrong move to stay away from you especially when I know this feelings won’t go away just like that. I’m– I’m sorry. I just… I just–”

“I like you, Jungeun.”

Jungeun froze, she raised her face to look at you. You have a smile on your face, looking at her back.

“I like you, Jungeun. I like you, more than friends.”

It only took a second after hearing those words Jungeun burst into tears, she hid her face in her palms and sniffled. You failed to hold your laughter because crying Jungeun is so cute, it’s like kid Jungeun–which you got to see when Jungeun showed you her childhood photo.

Jungeun looks up and frowns when she sees you laughing, “Why are you laughing?!” she said while hitting your chest lightly.

You pulled her into a hug to stop her for doing so, “Because you’re just too cute.”

Jungeun can feel her cheeks starting heating up and her reddening face starting to appear, so she’s just clinging to you to hide her face in your neck and put her arms around your waist. You just giggled at that, you just feel so happy right now.

After some minutes pass by with you holding onto each other and you feel Jungeun has calmed down enough, you push her gently and hold her by her shoulders.

“Do you want to go on a date with me, Kim Jungeun?”

You wipe the tears on her face with your thumbs softly, looking at her with your adoration eyes and smile on your face which she gives you in return.

“Yeah, sure.”

—

The sound of shoes squeaking, palm hitting the balls, and cheering voices in here and there fills the stadium air. Sweats running from your forehead through your cheeks, your eyes focusing on one object that’s swinging in the air without any tendency to lose it. The score is at 22-23 right now with the opposite team just one point away to match point.

“One touch!” Heejin yelled after she successfully touched the ball from the opposite team’s attack which gave your team a chance to counterattack.

Haseul receives and passes the ball as it comes towards her within reach, Jungeun is ready with the ball at the same time Sooyoung runs from the back row. After it reaches her hands, Jungeun jumps and slightly touches the ball just to make it stay high in the air as the captain jumps just right before the white lane and hits the ball as hard as she can. The ball goes above the blocker’s hands and bounces to the ground so hard leaving the court area until it lands in one of the audience's hands.

“Good power, Sooyoung!” Coach Han yelled that made Sooyoung put a smile on her face.

“YEAAH!” You screamed after she landed back on the ground, the team giving their captain high five and patting her back including Jungeun and she gave Jungeun a pat in her head.

You walked to the back line of the court, getting ready for your turn to do the serve. Jungeun stands at the front in this rotation just between Jiwoo and Heejin. The score is 23-23 right now, catching up with the opposite team’s score and one point away from match point.

One of the court staff throws the ball at you and you catch it easily, you bounce the ball twice to the ground and then put it in your hand straight in front of your eyes. Your eyes are focusing on the ball as you’re so ready to hit your serve in the last set for today’s final. The team has been playing for two sets already and have won both of them, just this one more set and your team will be the champion this year.

“I can’t mess this up.” You thought. Taking a deep breath, you glanced towards the setter's position, looking at Jungeun who looked at you back with a smile on her face. Sometimes you’re glad Jungeun is a setter since she’s able to face her teammates instead of facing the opposite team as she needs to get to the actual setter position. You can see her lips mouthing a line that sounds like, “You can do this.”

You return her smile just in time for the whistle sounds hovering in the air, you throw the ball to the air, run and hit the ball as hard as you can. You can see the opposite team can receive your serve but you did make their formation break with your hard serve, you quickly make a way to your position in the back with Sooyoung and Haseul, getting ready for any attack that will come.

The opposite team attack from the right side succeed to make the ball go through the blocker but with one touch from Jiwoo’s palm, Haseul dives before the ball touches the ground and just in no time Jungeun has tosses the ball to Jiwoo’s way in the left side and the wing spiker landed the shot hard with a point.

“Nice one!” You heard Sooyoung yelling, your team huddles up in the middle for the point and patting each other’s back to give strength. Your team reached the match point first.

Jungeun got a chance to squeeze your hand briefly before you went back to the serve position, you gave her a nod. Just one more point. You hit the ball hard without reducing your strength, and it seems like giving the opposite team a hard time with how their formation broke again, but they’re still able to land an attack and get through from three blockers at the front.

Sooyoung receives the ball well and Jungeun runs towards it, the position forcing her to do a C pass. With everyone except Haseul ready for the attack, Jungeun swings the ball towards Heejin’s direction just in time when she jumps. She hits the ball hard, purposely aiming for the blocker’s hand so it will be a block out, but their libero is so fast to save the ball and successfully gives the ball back to your side even though without an attack. Haseul touches the ball first and she passes it exactly to Jungeun’s way, you’re already running and jumps from the back row, and she pushes the ball for you to hit. Looks like the opposite team’s defense in this rotation are at their best, they managed to receive your hard shot and make a counterattack with Heejin barely blocking the ball and Haseul almost reaching it with her diving, the ball landed just near the white lane. Now the score situation is a deuce with 24-24, not one more point anymore, your team needs two points in a row for this.

The team huddled up once again in the middle with Heejin and Haseul saying I’m sorry! in between, Sooyoung gave them a nod and patted their back. Jungeun holds your hand for a moment, “You want to do the quick one?” She asked that got you by surprise, you haven’t used your quick combo for today’s match.

“You’re ready?” You asked Jungeun back, looking at her expectantly.

Jungeun smiled, and patted your cheeks twice, “I’m ready whenever you’re ready, tiger.” She answered then walked away to back to her position, you make your way back as well without tearing your gaze away from the setter. The nickname makes you burn up without no reason, all your tiredness just went away and replaced by excitement.

Whistle sounds were heard, the opposite team’s serve was hard but you received it well even in a perfect position for Jungeun to do an A pass. Without even wasting a second, you’re already running and hovering in the air at the same time as the ball comes from Jungeun’s hands. The team against you didn’t even have time to react and only realized when you had already landed the point in seconds. You noticed the cheer from the audience even louder after you landed that quick attack.

“YOU CRAZY DUOOOO!!” You heard Heejin’s yelling from where she’s standing, you walked back to your position after you patted Jungeun’s crown head and the latter only gave you a smile.

You shifted your gaze towards coach Han briefly only to see him giving you a look that said, “Do whatever you want as long as you make the point.” and you nodded proudly at that.

Heejin getting ready for her turn to serve in the back while Haseul walks away from the court to switch positions with Hyeju, this is your favorite rotation so far. With Hyeju and Jiwoo strong blocking at the front, sometimes with Jungeun’s help. And with you, Sooyoung, also Heejin in the back row for defense, this is the strongest rotation your team has right now.

“One last point, Jeon one.” You said to Heejin as both your positions are not that far away, your childhood friend gives you her usual smirk, “What’s your opinion about having two points in the last minute, Jeon two?”

You chuckled and turned your attention back ahead, “That would be perfect.” and Heejin heard that very clearly.

As the referee blows the whistle, Heejin throws the ball in the air and hits it hard. The opposite team is already ready with their attack but it won't be easy to get away with Hyeju’s block without a touch.

“One touch!” Hyeju yells, you receive the ball as it comes towards your way and pass it to Jungeun’s direction.

Jungeun glanced towards the team against her briefly and pushed the ball to Hyeju’s direction, unfortunately Hyeju’s spike got received easily by the opposite team so the younger middle blocker went back to her position as fast as she can.

You were waiting for another attack but the opponent team’s setter decided to change her mind as she’s doing the feint, Heejin dives right into it because apparently she has watched the setter’s movement all the time.

“Setter dump in time like this,” Heejin groaned quietly but it didn’t go unnoticed by you.

Jungeun has no choice to do the underhand pass and give the ball to Jiwoo which the wing spiker can’t hit it hard as the ball in awkward position for her, it giving the opponent’s team a chance for an attack.

You can feel your focus goes sharper at the moment, you watch the ball closely and as you can read their movement, you step back a little bit and stop the attack with your receive and pass the ball to Jungeun. It didn’t reach perfectly to Jungeun’s position but it was close, you can see Jungeun nodded slightly, and apparently the whole team noticed that as well. Not only you but the whole team is already running from their position as Jungeun walks towards the ball, this synchronized attack never fails to confuse any opposing team.

With Sooyoung jumps succeeding to trick the opponent’s team blocker, you appear just right behind Sooyoung’s back as the blocker is already down from their jump and you hit the ball hard. It hit the opposite team libero’s shoulder and the ball flied away from the court.

A few seconds of silence for you and your team processing what just happened and then the three whistle final sounds were heard, you saw the referee hands towards your team meaning that your team got the last point. And the match has already ended, with your team as the champion this year.

“HELL YEAAAH!!!” You heard Yeojin’s voice screaming out loud as the youngest girl run towards the team in the court from the bench area, the rest of the girls in the bench area already running to the court with Jihan and coach Han as well.

“WE WONNN!!!”

“WE DID IT!!”

“I’M SO PROUD OF YOU GIRLS!”

Shouting of happiness and cries reached your ear, your team huddled up in the middle of your team’s side of the court with big smiles on their faces, each one of them. The cheers are so loud it muffles the MC’s voice.

In a surprise without you noticing, Jungeun throws her body towards you as she wraps you in a tight embrace. You hug her back tightly as if she’ll disappear if you let it go even just for a second.

“You did it! You made the last two points!” Jungeun said happily while jumping in her spot, you only laughed at your girlfriend while patting her head.

“You made it happen, Jungeun.” You said when she released her hug only to see you in the face, Jungeun’s wide smile is always your favorite.

“I’m so proud of you.” Jungeun said still with a big smile on her face, you hug her again.

“I love you.”

Jungeun gasps, you push her away gently to look at her face again. This time with a smile on your face, with your eyes looking at each other, and with your hands in her waist while hers on your neck.

“I love you, Jungeun.”

“I love you a little bit way more than volleyball.”

Jungeun cupped your face and meeting your lips with her own just in a second, you can feel the smile on her face along with the kiss. The kiss was just a brief seconds, but you can still feel the butterflies on your stomach.

“And I love you a little bit more every day.”