MISSION: Love

+ thirteen +

I went back to class with my swollen eyes. The other students gave me confused and curious looks but chose not to question it. I took a deep breath before walking toward my seat. Jay gave me a worried look, "Where were you? I thought you wanted to play volleyball too?"

I scoffed and glared at him, "How can I? You guys wanted to keep playing and I have to always be the one giving in," I didn't even know why I snapped at him. I averted my attention to Ahrin who didn't even ask me whether I was okay or not. She was giggling with Jihu as they looked at each other's phones.

I took out my physics books from my backpack and stormed out of the classroom. I headed to the physics lab and saw Sunghoon sitting at the back of the room. I looked at the physics teacher with a dumbfounded look, "Why is Class B with us?"

"Their teacher is on leave since she just gave birth to her first child. So you'll be learning with Class B for a few weeks."

I nodded and took a seat at the front. I could feel someone's stare piercing through me. I slowly turned my neck around to peek and saw Sunghoon fixing his gaze on me.

"Class," the teacher clapped her hands once before sighing, "I don't like seeing you sitting like this. I'm going to assign you into groups. I want you all to count to six and go to your assigned groups. Now."

I frowned and hoped to God that I was not in the same group as Jihu. I could never know whether she was nice naturally or if there was a hidden goal behind her kindness.

"Six," I heard Sunghoon say behind me. I turned around to peek at him once again and saw him glancing at me before averting his gaze to the view outside the window. My cheeks reddened as I immediately looked at the front again. When it was my turn, there was a foreign sensation in my chest. "Six," I breathed out.

I felt surprised, happy, and sad all at once. Surprised and glad that I was in the same group as Sunghoon instead of Jihu but sad that I wasn't in the same group with Jay.

I silently brought my things to Table 6 and sat across from Sunghoon. He was flipping through his textbook, ignoring my presence. "Hey," I spoke. He looked at me and nodded, not saying anything but I didn't care too much. I knew he was also saying "hey" to me just by nodding. My lips unexpectedly curved into a smile as I changed my attention to the teacher at the front.

💌

There was another volleyball training that day since the tournament was just in a few weeks. I stretched myself and looked around, searching for Jay and Sunghoon. They both would always come together since Jay would always ride his motorcycle with Sunghoon. But that weird sensation came back and filled my chest.

I was confused on why I kept finding myself searching and wondering whether Sunghoon had arrived or not. I closed my eyes and shrugged away the thoughts as I took a ball to practice with.

"Yah!" Heeseung came from out of nowhere and smacked my back. I jumped in shock and smacked his head back, "What the hell?!"

He laughed as he wiped the tears that escaped from his eyes. "You're looking around. Are you searching for Jay?"

"How do you know?" I asked as I avoided eye contact. He scoffed and folded his arms, "You look worried and curious. Don't worry, he'll be fine. I'm sure he's picking up Sunghoon from his house. I have something to ask you."

"What is it?"

"The boys and I are planning to hang out at the mall tonight. Would you like to come? Jay would be there. And don't worry about being the only girl there. Ahrin will also come tonight with us."

My lips curved into a frown as I shook my head 'no'. Suddenly, I had an uneasy feeling in my chest. It was like God was telling me not to go. After what Ahrin did to me, I didn't even feel like spending more time with her. And some parts of me already believed that Jay would have probably asked Jihu to join him. I was hesitant to let out refusing words out of my mouth. But I had to.

"Probably not, Heeseung. I have a lot of studying to do tonight. And my parents are planning to take me out tonight," I lied. "I really thought we could go on double dates!" He whined, "I've been making lots of progress with Ahrin and I promised to help you too. I'm gonna cry if you don't make any progress with Jay."

"It's really fine! I'm okay!" I laughed it off before patting his back. He smiled before scurrying to his friends. My cheeks were hurting from all the smiles I'd been forcing out.

"Okay! Let's start the training!" One of the seniors announced before saying, "Hana-yah, can you sit aside for a while? It's Jihu's turn first to play. You can play later."

I nodded and sat aside, knowing that Jihu would be their most precious junior. My chest was filled with anger and annoyance as I watched her avoid the ball.

How can the team win if she keeps avoiding the ball?

I asked myself the question numerous times as I closed my eyes. I didn't want to watch her play so that I could avoid cursing her.

I turned around and saw Jay arrive on his expensive motorcycle with Sunghoon behind him. They both took off their helmets and watched the others play volleyball. I hid my face as I was embarrassed for sitting at the side and not playing.

"Senior, aren't you going to let Hana play?" Heeseung asked as he glanced at me continuously. "No need. We need to train Jihu. She'll be the first six players during the upcoming tournament."

My heart dropped at the sudden information. "Wait," I said, making them stop the training. "I didn't come here to work my ass off for months, only for the new kid to replace my spot. She can't even receive the ball properly. Why is she one of the first six players?"

I couldn't help but vent out my anger. It was the first time I spoke my mind. It was not fair that I became the reserved player after all these months of working my ass off.

"It's either being a reserved player or not playing at all."

I scoffed in disbelief at the sudden statement. Jihu was looking at me, her eyes showed that she was asking for my permission to play.

Oh, you don't have to give me that look.

You seem happy that everyone is against me.

They all continued playing, ignoring me. I took a random ball and served it, aiming it towards Jihu's head. I smiled in relief when it did. She held the back of her head as she winced in pain, falling to the ground. I ran away from the court.