Querencia

03

Juyeon's routine every evening after classes would be the same - attended basketball practice to show his credibility as a good senior to all the newcomers.

He surely gained many fangirls this semester among the freshmen as today the bleacher strangely was full of girls swooning every time he got the ball.

It was not promising if he would successfully shoot it though he managed to secure the ball in his hands but maybe his good look was all the chaos about.

"They are so loud", Hana complained, covering her ear with her index finger. "I can't concentrate on study."

She put down her book that she brought all along to the court as she waited for Juyeon to go home together. However, her partner who joined her for the waiting was heard cackling, shooting her with somewhat a teasing glare.

"Come on Hana, it's been more than a decade we've been friends", Freya, her best friend since high school said, nudging her shoulder in the process softly. "This book is only your camouflage not to look so obvious that you are admiring all Juyeon's moves. You're also joining them swooning over him."

With a sigh that sounded too deep, Hana kept her book inside her bag, staring far, "Indeed, there is nothing I can hide from you".

The girls ended up laughing together in their own bubble. It almost seemed like they were having a private discussion that no one except them would understand.

And truth be told, none of them understood the game.

They were Juyeon's friends for a decade and they have seen him pursuing his passion for basketball since schooldays but never once had they understood how the game worked though the male had explained it numerous times.

They were there only to show him that he had their support.

"So Eric managed to join the baseball team?" Freya asked, seemed to have missed many things since the first day of the new semester.

"He brags about it all the time", the latter ran her hand through her silky hair, Eric's energetic voice buzzing around her though the boy was not there. "I feel like I've been haunted".

However, little did she know, it was not her imagination. Eric was there physically - at the bleacher, shouting for Juyeon's name every time the male held the ball. At a certain point, Eric's voice was louder than all the girls there.

And Hana was dying to hide anywhere. Never once did she want to let anyone know that the boy who was dancing as he chanted Juyeon's name was his brother.

But, luck was not on her side.

"Eric, there is your sister", Changmin who came with the boy, pointed towards her direction and the youngest started to yell something like 'sister, you are here too?' and everyone turned their heads to find another duplicate of the energetic boy but then pondered when the sister not look like one.

That made Hana freeze, her cheeks reddened by all the attention she rarely received. It worsened when the boy ran, pushing people away from his way and plopped down next to his sister.

"He's more handsome when he plays right?" he whispered, chinning towards Juyeon on the court, who was discussing some strategies with his teammates. "Do I have to collect you in a bottle? Because you seem melted".

"Stop it!" his sister hit him, and groans came out from the boy's lips too loud. He was then hugging himself as if he was a precious thing. That, or he just wanted everyone there to see how violent his sister was.

If the second was his intention, Eric totally succeeded as Changmin scoffed the moment he joined them, saying something about 'don't be so violent with your brother'.

"Everyone loves Eric except for Hana", Freya joked, leaning comfortably against the chair she sat on. "Or maybe Eric loves everyone except Hana. Which one sounds good?"

"The first one", Changmin answered, turning to his companion for the day next to him. "What do you think Kevin?"

The said boy was distracted. From a glance anyone could tell that his eyes were fixated on Eric and his sister but looking closely, it was hard to decipher who he was focusing on actually.

As Kevin felt the nudge on his arm, he snapped out of the dream. Coming back to reality, he then realized that all eyes were on him, anticipating.

"Is this Hana who Juyeon always talks about?" he changed the topic discussed, startling the said girl.

"What did he talk about me?" Hana was flustered, not because her best friend was probably gossiping behind her back but the fact that he was talking about her to someone she never talked to before.

Kevin was Juyeon's latest friend who pursued psychology and it was a question how the two met before. Hana had always assumed that maybe assignments were too hard for the boy and that he might have cried somewhere and Kevin ran into him and casually asked him to pour out everything.

But still, it was all her wild guess.

"What is this chaos about?" and the said boy came, all sweaty and panted after climbing the flight of stairs of the bleacher.

"Juyeon!" Hana jolted up, scooting closer to the boy. "Were you talking bad about me?"

The boy blinked in confusion at the sudden question thrown out to him. He resembled a lost kitten he found in an alley last week, trying to find its way back to its mother. His lips slightly parted as he exchanged glances with every face, trying to comprehend the situation.

"For you", the moment he pulled up a lollipop from a plastic bag in his grasp and passed it to Hana, the girl knew his head had stopped working to think more.

Oblivious as she looked, Hana had never once rejected anything given to her, specifically when it came from Juyeon. Her hands furiously unwrapped the sweets whilst Juyeon fist-bumped his friends and Eric, sharing the sweets with them as well.

And that was when the realization suddenly hit Hana.

"When did you buy this?" she questioned. She walked with him to his practice after their last class, she clearly remembered that they did not have any plastic bags with them. Some more, Juyeon left his belongings with her at the bleacher.

From where did he get all these sweets?

"I got it from them", he pointed towards a direction, which instantly Hana turned on her heels just to spot a group of girls springing on their feet as Juyeon looked at them.

Cursing under her breath, she threw the lollipop she got from her best friend to her brother, knowing the source of it was Juyeon's fangirls.

The thought of it was enough to make her heart flare, knowing that she had rivals.