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Third place.
After three years of leaving her passion behind her and with only one rehearsal, somehow Jiseol managed to help her team—Donghyuck's team—achieve third place. Of course it wasn't an amazing feat, but considering the circumstances, they were truthfully lucky enough to even have a placing. Even as Youngji playfully smothered her face with joyful kisses, Jiseol found it hard to believe, especially since she was so ready to be humiliated instead.
Chenle played the role of an embarrassingly proud father as he let out the loudest cheer when Jiseol and her teammates went on stage. He had also quickly ambushed her once she was free, taking pictures of her with the silver trophy that would soon belong to the faculty and forced a passerby (Sungchan, the nervous wreck from the soccer team as Jiseol recognized him) to take pictures of them together. While Jiseol got sorted out, Chenle picked out the best photo of Jiseol smiling with the trophy to send to a certain someone that had been anticipating it all morning.
In return, Chenle received a photo of their university's soccer team that had won that day's friendly match. He excitedly shoved the photo in Jiseol's face and her first priority was to zoom in on her brother.
"This is his first away game and he won," Jiseol squealed.
Right beside Jisung was none other than her roommate and immediately, a funny feeling erupted in her chest. Donghyuck was grinning while holding their trophy in the air and his hair was a total mess. His unkempt waves had a certain charm to them, complementing the way his face crinkled in glory.
He looked so good.
Though Jiseol was fully aware that Donghyuck was attractive prior to their living arrangements, getting used to seeing him up close all day everyday somewhat got her immuned to him. But seeing him in this different perspective really brought back the attraction she once felt for him and suppressed deep within her. Which was bad news. How was she going to repress that attraction once he got back?
"You can ogle at Donghyuck all you want later, your team is calling you to have lunch with them." Chenle abruptly pocketed his phone and nudged Jiseol into Youngji's direction.
"Aren't you coming?" Jiseol asked absentmindedly.
"I...have stuff to do," Chenle smiled. A bit shyly, which caught Jiseol off guard. She then followed his gaze where it landed on a girl with short hair and dressed in all black. Ah, the philosophy major.
Jiseol snickered. She hugged Chenle tightly, wishing him good luck and thanking him. He ruffled her hair in return and jogged off, while Jiseol caught up with her teammates who were discussing where they should celebrate.
It was a genuine moment of blessing. After everything she went through, the loss of friends and permanent damage to her reputation, Jiseol got to make new friends through this competition and more importantly, she retrieved a part of herself that she thought she had lost forever. She didn't know if it was still surprising that she had Donghyuck to thank.
